Sara's reading log

I am a book hoarder and reader. My main genre is SF, but I also love magic realism, fantasy and general fiction. Favorite authors are Iain M. Banks, Ursula K. LeGuin, Haruki Murakami, José Saramago, Isaac Asimov, Ben Aaronovitch and more. My rating system is based on five stars. I rate books based on my expectations and what a books aims to be. This means that the brilliant 'Fahrenheit 451' gets five stars because I thought it would be good, people said it was good, and it was good, but 'A Closed and Common Orbit' also gets five stars because in its series, in its style, I really enjoyed it and was not disappointed.

Meneer Beerta by J. J. Voskuil

  • Started on: 2011-02-24
  • Finished on: 2011-02-26
  • Read in: Dutch
  • Rating: *****
  • Genre(s): General Fiction

This is an autobiographical novel about the authors work at the Dutch Meertens Instituut. The story starts in 1957 and ends in 1965, although the whole series (seven parts) goes to 1987. The author (and main character) doesn’t take the scientific world (humanities) too seriously, and neither his work. This clashes with other people he meets during his work as head of the department for popular culture, especially with the director, Mr. Beerta (based on Mr. Meertens).
I love the dry humor, the slowness of the story, the language used, the reactions, the people. I recognize some situations in a modern form from my daily work. I found this book very enjoyable and couldn’t put it down. I cannot wait to start part 2.

  • Started on: 2011-02-24
  • Finished on: 2011-02-26
  • Read in: Dutch
  • Rating: *****
  • Genre(s): General Fiction

This is an autobiographical novel about the authors work at the Dutch Meertens Instituut. The story starts in 1957 and ends in 1965, although the whole series (seven parts) goes to 1987. The author (and main character) doesn’t take the scientific world (humanities) too seriously, and neither his work. This clashes with other people he meets during his work as head of the department for popular culture, especially with the director, Mr. Beerta (based on Mr. Meertens).
I love the dry humor, the slowness of the story, the language used, the reactions, the people. I recognize some situations in a modern form from my daily work. I found this book very enjoyable and couldn’t put it down. I cannot wait to start part 2.