What do you think?
Rate this book
City-Lit
Amsterdam
From outsiders to insiders, from classic to cutting-edge, over seventy brilliant writers reveal the many faces, past and present, of Amsterdam
Ian McEwan describes that perfect Amsterdam moment
Alain de Botton find the exotic in the ordinary
Cees Nooteboom celebrates a city of water
David Sedaris visits Anne Frank's House
Geert Mak on a nation within a nation
Doeschka Meijsing takes a swim in the canal
Simon Schama evokes old Amsterdam
Dubravka Ugresic discovers a city of exile
Geoff Dyer spends a wild city weekend
and much, much more ...
Introduction by Sam Garrett
Other titles in the series: Berlin, Paris, Venice, London, Dublin, Istanbul, New York and St Petersburg
Ian McEwan describes that perfect Amsterdam moment
Alain de Botton find the exotic in the ordinary
Cees Nooteboom celebrates a city of water
David Sedaris visits Anne Frank's House
Geert Mak on a nation within a nation
Doeschka Meijsing takes a swim in the canal
Simon Schama evokes old Amsterdam
Dubravka Ugresic discovers a city of exile
Geoff Dyer spends a wild city weekend
and much, much more ...
Introduction by Sam Garrett
Other titles in the series: Berlin, Paris, Venice, London, Dublin, Istanbul, New York and St Petersburg
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
2 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Heather Reyes
23 books17 followersHello. I'm Heather Reyes - writer, editor, publisher,' Londoner'.
I'm co-founder of Oxygen Books and have edited all nine of the volumes in our city-pick series of travel anthologies.
Before setting up Oxygen Books in 2008, I had published a range of things - children's stories, poetry, short stories, articles, and a novel (Zade, Saqi Books 2004). Now that Oxygen Books is ticking over, I'm getting back to some of my own writing again. My novel Miranda Road and two non-fiction books, An Everywhere: a little book about reading and Bookworms, Dog-Ears & Squashy Big Armchairs: A Book Lover's Alphabet, published in 2014, was Reader's Digest Christmas Book of the Month which was very exciting!
This summer my 'fiftysomething' novel Perfectly Fine is out (I guess it must be a beach read as the cover has some rather lovely coloured pebbles on sand - actually made on Aldeburgh beach by my granddaughter Abigail Reyes.)
Talking it over with Genghis Khan, my rather quirky first short story collection, is out this autumn. I think readers will either love or hate it - I hope it's the former! Do let me know either way.
I hope this website gives you the information you need - I guess it depends on why you've looked me up! - but if not, please feel free to contact me at heather@oxygenbooks.co.uk
ABOUT ME ...
Born on the outskirts of London, I've always lived, studied and worked either within or less than half an hour from the capital. I was a non-Catholic 'scholarship girl' at the Ursuline High School, Brentwood, then graduated from Queen Mary College, University of London, in English. I went on to King's College for a post-graduate teaching year, but didn't take up a teaching post until much later. I worked as a freelance writer for a while - stories, articles and children's books - until starting a family. Although a card-carrying feminist, I loved - and still love - being a mother, and elected to stay home and look after my two amazing children until they started school, when I took up a teaching post at my old secondary school.
I had a number of short stories published and was working on longer things, too - 'learning the craft' - and at some point I went back to uni (part-time) and took an MA in modern literature, then a Ph.D (on the work of contemporary novelist Christine Brooke-Rose) - both at Birkbeck College, University of London (a marvellous place!).
After a number of 'near misses' with getting a full-length work published, my novel Zade (set in Paris) was accepted for publication by Saqi Books, and came out in 2004. It made a long-list of twelve books for the Prince Maurice Prize (for writing about love). I was over-awed to find that Zadie Smith (whom I really admire) was also on the long-list (though even she didn't make it to the final three!).
Soon after this I took an editing qualification, left teaching, and worked as a freelance editor for a while - though continuing to work on my own writing when I could.
It was during a trip to Athens in early 2008 that my husband, Malcolm Burgess, had the idea for our urban anthologies and we set up Oxygen Books. For some time we'd liked the idea of setting up our own small publishing house, but it needed that 'concrete idea' - about what we should publish that no-one else seemed to be doing - in order to justify such an all-consuming venture.
Nine anthologies (paris, London, Berlin, Venice, Dublin, Amsterdam, New York, St Petersburg and Istanbul) and lots of good reviews later, we feel we have achieved something worthwhile. We're now both finding a bit more time for our own writing again, while continuing our publishing venture.
I'm currently putting together a collection of my short stories (a number of these have already been published in the UK and USA) and making a tentative selection. It will be called Talking to Genghis Khan. Do let me know what you think of the title!
I'm co-founder of Oxygen Books and have edited all nine of the volumes in our city-pick series of travel anthologies.
Before setting up Oxygen Books in 2008, I had published a range of things - children's stories, poetry, short stories, articles, and a novel (Zade, Saqi Books 2004). Now that Oxygen Books is ticking over, I'm getting back to some of my own writing again. My novel Miranda Road and two non-fiction books, An Everywhere: a little book about reading and Bookworms, Dog-Ears & Squashy Big Armchairs: A Book Lover's Alphabet, published in 2014, was Reader's Digest Christmas Book of the Month which was very exciting!
This summer my 'fiftysomething' novel Perfectly Fine is out (I guess it must be a beach read as the cover has some rather lovely coloured pebbles on sand - actually made on Aldeburgh beach by my granddaughter Abigail Reyes.)
Talking it over with Genghis Khan, my rather quirky first short story collection, is out this autumn. I think readers will either love or hate it - I hope it's the former! Do let me know either way.
I hope this website gives you the information you need - I guess it depends on why you've looked me up! - but if not, please feel free to contact me at heather@oxygenbooks.co.uk
ABOUT ME ...
Born on the outskirts of London, I've always lived, studied and worked either within or less than half an hour from the capital. I was a non-Catholic 'scholarship girl' at the Ursuline High School, Brentwood, then graduated from Queen Mary College, University of London, in English. I went on to King's College for a post-graduate teaching year, but didn't take up a teaching post until much later. I worked as a freelance writer for a while - stories, articles and children's books - until starting a family. Although a card-carrying feminist, I loved - and still love - being a mother, and elected to stay home and look after my two amazing children until they started school, when I took up a teaching post at my old secondary school.
I had a number of short stories published and was working on longer things, too - 'learning the craft' - and at some point I went back to uni (part-time) and took an MA in modern literature, then a Ph.D (on the work of contemporary novelist Christine Brooke-Rose) - both at Birkbeck College, University of London (a marvellous place!).
After a number of 'near misses' with getting a full-length work published, my novel Zade (set in Paris) was accepted for publication by Saqi Books, and came out in 2004. It made a long-list of twelve books for the Prince Maurice Prize (for writing about love). I was over-awed to find that Zadie Smith (whom I really admire) was also on the long-list (though even she didn't make it to the final three!).
Soon after this I took an editing qualification, left teaching, and worked as a freelance editor for a while - though continuing to work on my own writing when I could.
It was during a trip to Athens in early 2008 that my husband, Malcolm Burgess, had the idea for our urban anthologies and we set up Oxygen Books. For some time we'd liked the idea of setting up our own small publishing house, but it needed that 'concrete idea' - about what we should publish that no-one else seemed to be doing - in order to justify such an all-consuming venture.
Nine anthologies (paris, London, Berlin, Venice, Dublin, Amsterdam, New York, St Petersburg and Istanbul) and lots of good reviews later, we feel we have achieved something worthwhile. We're now both finding a bit more time for our own writing again, while continuing our publishing venture.
I'm currently putting together a collection of my short stories (a number of these have already been published in the UK and USA) and making a tentative selection. It will be called Talking to Genghis Khan. Do let me know what you think of the title!
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 20, 2015
Having enjoyed the books in this series on Paris, Dublin, New York and Berlin on trips to these cities, when we booked a trip to Amsterdam (from where I'm posting this review), this was the first book that I looked for, and was delighted to see that the city had its own published title.
Featuring the usual format, extracts from books, both fiction and non fiction arranged into 'chapters' with a specific theme, this collection includes iconic writing, in the form of extracts from Anne Frank's diary, writing from Dutch writers I've heard of, like Geert Mak, writers translated into English for the first time specifically for this anthology, and writing by outsiders, either from the perspective of having settled in the city, or from the viewpoint of visitors.
Featuring extracts written during or about the city in the 17th and 18th centuries to contemporary times, and effectively addressing thorny areas like the city during WW2 and the role of its citizens played in the deportation of the majority of the Jewish population, as well as themes like the city's permissiveness, the collection is a thorough and enjoyable exploration of the city from both an historical and sociological perspective, and like the others in the series, the title is a worthwhile read, both for a city visitor, or someone wishing to find out more about Amsterdam.
My first port of call after we book our next city break will be to see if there's a book from this series published about whichever place it is that we intend to visit!
Featuring the usual format, extracts from books, both fiction and non fiction arranged into 'chapters' with a specific theme, this collection includes iconic writing, in the form of extracts from Anne Frank's diary, writing from Dutch writers I've heard of, like Geert Mak, writers translated into English for the first time specifically for this anthology, and writing by outsiders, either from the perspective of having settled in the city, or from the viewpoint of visitors.
Featuring extracts written during or about the city in the 17th and 18th centuries to contemporary times, and effectively addressing thorny areas like the city during WW2 and the role of its citizens played in the deportation of the majority of the Jewish population, as well as themes like the city's permissiveness, the collection is a thorough and enjoyable exploration of the city from both an historical and sociological perspective, and like the others in the series, the title is a worthwhile read, both for a city visitor, or someone wishing to find out more about Amsterdam.
My first port of call after we book our next city break will be to see if there's a book from this series published about whichever place it is that we intend to visit!
March 13, 2015
I really like the way that these books are split up into small sections each relating to a different aspect of the city. I like the way that this book reflects quite heavily on the past as it has many famous people associated with the city. It has given me lots of new authors to try as the book is made up from extracts of other books, just pulling out sections that are relevant - some of which I have read in their full context and others that I haven't. It makes it easy to pick up and put down reading small sections at a time. My main criticism is that many of the same pieces of writing were used in different sections of the book.
January 28, 2015
I really liked this book, lots of good stories. I felt like I was immersed in Amsterdam without really knowing it was happening. I read the book before I went and found that I was looking out for the things I had read about. I think they style of this book is definitely the way forward for travel books.
I did get a little bored with some of the stories, but subsequent stories kept me interested.
I did get a little bored with some of the stories, but subsequent stories kept me interested.
July 13, 2021
A good selection of travel writing for my city break to Amsterdam.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews