Welcome to Litsy!

This book had been on my shelves for years and I now finally picked it up. It‘s set in Amsterdam, where I live, in the 17th century, when we sailed the oceans and colonized countries and were a very wealthy trading country. That background is interesting to me, more interesting than the plot to be honest. But all in all a fairly good read and a light pick.

I did not know much about this book going in. It was not at all what I expected, but I loved it.

We are past our #foodandlit month for #Netherlands but this little story and painting are too sweet not to share:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DF6ffAUJpl1/?igsh=MTAwdXN5cjl2M2ptZQ==

@Catsandbooks

Anyone who has ever seen goldfinches fluttering and chattering and alighting on seedheads in meadows, or watched them bumbling through the thistledown they love, will know why the word charm was chosen for their collective noun. A charm of goldfinches soars at dusk, swoops at dawn, sings upliftingly in summer trees. In flight, the yellow stripe spreads into a golden cape.

[CT scans of The Goldfinch] ...show...the painting bears the traces of a blast, the minuscule indentations of hurtling matter, broken shards, hard pellets blown scattershot....
the explosion registered in a surface that did not split or shatter because it was not dry. The Goldfinch was still wet, still drying
.... when I stand in front of this painting it carries the last of his energy....
The painting lives. The creator survives.

Because of this challenge I have less than 10 unread kindle books. Lots of holds on Libby, but some will take ages. Thanks @CBee !!! That is why I covered the numbers. 😀 #readyourkindle #february

I once saw, in a hotel in Algiers, a Dutch still life of redcurrants glinting silver dish and was on a momentarily transported to a long-ago Delft day. Paintings can take you anywhere, but they are also a land in themselves, a society, a place to be.
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So many fascinating pictures reproduced in this book.

My final challenge check in for January is this slim novel by a Dutch author for #FoodandLit.

I‘m not sure enjoyed is the right word here - and after reading some of the “rules” for what content gets left up, flagged, or taken off the fictional social media platform in the book, you‘ll see that words matter - but this book made me think about how we strive to put things (and people) into boxes vs seeing the bigger picture.