StoriesI read much less than I would like to, and if I do read a book, it mostly is non-fiction. I think the dividing line between fiction and non-fiction is vague. I very much love descriptions of other societies than ours, that even if they're made up from a to z are presented as being 'real.' There is a list of inspiring literature on the subject of geofiction here.
Some of my favourite writers of fiction are Franz Kafka and Willem Elsschot. I have read the complete works by the both of them, and I think all is in the range from beautiful to brilliant. I have also read a lot by Hermann Hesse, and I think Narziss und Goldmund (1930) and Das Glasperlenspiel (1946) are his most beautiful books (I read German books in a Dutch translation).
Myths and sagas fascinate me, for instance the Edda, the Egyptian book of the dead, the Gilgameš-epic, the Kalevala, Ovid's Metamorphoses, the Te-Tao Ching, and many others.
Laura reads a lot more than I do.
I do not like the word 'graphic novel' very much. I think the story is still told using words, only with the aid of pictures and text-balloons. Besides, 'graphic novel' sounds quite pretentious. But I dislike the American word 'cartoons' even more (that implies that it is one big laugh, or that it is just a story about supermen), so I'll stick with 'graphic novel.' The most important thing is that readers and listeners know what I talk about.
In graphic novels I prefer to read fiction. There isn't that much non-fiction around in graphic novels, almost all written and published only recently. I for instance very much like the stories Safe Area Goražde (2000) and Palestine (2001) by Joe Sacco.
In fiction I love the first four stories about Giuseppe Bergman by Milo Manara, HP en Giuseppe Bergman (1982), Een schrijver op zoek naar zes personages (1983), Dies Irae (1984) and Dromen Misschien (1989). I think the series about Max Fridman by Vittorio Giardino is very beautiful, especially Hongaarse Rapsodie (1982). I also find the series Donald Duck very inspiring (especially the stories written by Carl Barks and those by Keno Don Rosa), and also the series Thorgal and the series about the Freak Brothers. I admire Carl Barks because of the far-fetched but still imaginable situations Donald Duck manages to get himself into, and because of the creation of Duckburg and its inhabitants. The series Thorgal by Jean Van Hamme is interesting because in it a society is portrayed in which magic has a common, everyday place, a society that doesn't keep on asking for explanations. The Freak Brothers are hilarious anyhow.
Some of my books. From when Laura and I moved in toghether our books are mixed.
I very much like movies with a story that put the viewers on the wrong track. My favorite director by far is Terry Gilliam, and my favorite screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. I have seen almost all films by both of them, and I thought those were all fantastically beautiful. I record many movies from television onto a harddisk-recorder, and afterwards cut out the commercials and burn them on DVD. The most beaufitul movies I buy on dvd.
Apart from the movies by Gilliam and Kaufman I also very much like the following movies: Crash (Paul Haggis, 2004), American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1999), Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994), Happiness (Todd Solondz, 1998), Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999), Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000), The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966), Fargo (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1996), Identity (James Mangold, 2003) and Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936).
And nonsense like Monty Python And The Holy Grail (Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, 1975), Lucky Numbers (Nora Ephron, 2000) and Ice Age (Carlos Saldanha and Chris Wedge, 2002) deserves to be mentioned too.
Some of the movies I like.
The following links to stories I wrote are mainly holiday-accounts. My short stories have not been translated because of their more or less poetic nature. Some of the holiday-accounts have not been translated because of their length. The links therefore will sometimes take you to the Dutch versions of the texts. The holiday-accounts often simply sum up from day to day what happened, and were initially only meant to be a reminder to myself. If a link is designated with a 
, that means it is a collection of photos on Picasa.
Out of respect for privacy I have sometimes renamed the people that play a part in these stories, especially so in the older holiday accounts. I renamed myself into Bo.
 | Como 2011 |
 | Holiday 2011 (Venice, Petriano, Siena, Turin) |
 | Xhoffraix 2011 |
 | Portugal 2010 |
 | Holiday 2010 (Lake Garda and France) |
 | Hall's Green 2010 |
 | Zeeland 2010 |
 | Bruges 2009 |
 | Holiday 2009 (France, Andorra and Spain) |
 | Bergen 2009 |
 | Ireland 2009 |
 | Meppen 2008 |
 | England 2008 |
 | Enkirch 2008 |
 | Vakantie 2007 (France, Italy and Switzerland) (only in Dutch) |
 | Luxembourg and Val Sinestra 2007 |
 | Iens 2006 |
 | Holiday 2005 (Ardèche and Bédoin) |
 | Marokko 2004 (this is also on the website Huize LaMa, along with an account of the same holiday, written by Laura, all only in Dutch) |
 | Roemenië en Turkije 1992 (only in Dutch) |
 | Lissabon 1986 (only in Dutch) |
 | Egypt 1984 |
 | Dreams |
 | Van lezen schrijven (only in Dutch) |
 | De waan van het etmaal (only in Dutch) |
 | A list of books I'm still looking for |
 | A list of movies I'm still looking for |
