JANUARY 2022
I have new book recommendations for you! I finally read some books that I found good or amusing enough to actually recommend and you will find them in this blogpost. To make this an extra cheerful blogpost, I also included my dahlia pictures of November 2021. A friend spotted beautiful dahlia fields for me, so I had to take a quick visit in between the rain showers. Super unexpected to find these gigantic fields in November so close to my home. I am currently preparing for the upcoming flower season, so this is the perfect timing to include them in the blog.
Book recommendations
The Culture Map by Erin Meyers: I read this book for the work course “Cross Cultural Competences” and found it super insightful. The book explains a method which can help when you are working in a cross cultural team. The book is written very lively, with lots of examples of intercultural misunderstandings and how to solve them.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig: I found this a very enchanting book. It is about a women who gets to see how her life would turn out if she would have made different choices. I personally find this a theme that is very relatable as we all have our struggles thinking over the choices that we made and especially the choices we didn’t make. It is a quick read, with short chapters, that I found very enjoyable.
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari: I was very late to jump on the Sapiens bandwagon, but I am glad that I eventually did. This book gives a brief history of humankind. I am no history buff, though I am very interested in history and this book gave just enough details for each timeperiod to keep me on my toes. It certainly helps that the writer is a historian as well as a philosopher, giving this book just the right edge.
The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett: I love family dramas that span a large period of time and I am always eager to learn new things when it comes to racism. This book does both very well as it is a family tale about black identical twins, of which one lives a life -white passing- with a white husband who doesn’t know she comes from a black family. Because of the different choices they made, the sisters live a very different life, which at times is difficult to read. I am personally very greatful for the good relationship that I have with my sister and found some of the dilemma’s very heartbreaking, which kept me really involved in this story.
Miss Austen by Gill Hornby: I used to love Jane Austen’s books, but it has been some time since I read a period drama. This book is a fictional story, that is based on Jane Austen’s life, where we get to meet Jane through the eyes of her sister Cassandra. Once I got used to the language again, this book took me back to my youth reading Jane Austen’s book as the vibe is very similar.
The Rainbow Atlas by Taylor Fuller: One of my favorite travel books, I loved all the recommendations in the Rainbow Atlas, which main goal is to inspire you to visit colorful places. I have already visited many locations which were featured in the book, but also discovered so many new gems. The writer did her research well!
The Therapist by B.A. Paris: This is the first book by B.A. Paris that I liked again after having written some misses. It is typical thriller about a woman that moves into a new neighborhood “The Circle” and discovers some secrets about the house she lived in and the previous owner who was a therapist. This is definitely not amazing literature, but it is a fun, quick read.
The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth: I love all of Sally Hepworth’s books, so I expected this one to be a thriller too, but I found it more of a romance novel meets Eleanor Oliphant/The Rosie Project. It is about a girl who decides to have a baby for her sister,
Dahlia pictures
A friend happened to run into these gigantic dahlia fields during his bike rides near Uden and informed me of this amazing spot. My sister, Hugo and I were quick to go to the fields before they would be cut and ended up taking lots of pictures. Can’t wait for flower season to start again!
