World of Tau

Land of the Thunder Dragon

Reading at least one book from every country in the world and thus broaden my horizon even more, that's my new reading habit from now on.

The first stop on this adventure is the Land of the Thunder Dragon!

These words were first written by novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, in his historical play Cardinal Richelieu.

After the terroristic attack on Charlie Hebdo in France in January 2015, we heard them a lot.

Time to use them again now for our friends in Ukraine!

Did you know that March 1 is World Compliment Day?

The perfect moment to cheer up the people around you by telling them nice things!

You can do it verbally, but you could also try following original idea 😉

... TED, an organization devoted to spreading ideas.

Usually in the form of short but inspiring TED Talks, which only require between 5 and 20 minutes of your time.

If you prefer to read this article in Dutch, you can head over to this blog article.

What a marvellous short story!

It can be read in book form, but you can also watch the gorgeous animation movie on which it's based.

Lots of people choose a 'Word of the Year'.

It helps them to focus on a certain aspect in their life.

Have you already chosen one?

If you've got some time to spare in between the festivities today, here's some Christmassy inspiration.

Whichever book genre you prefer, there's a little Christmas movie to everyone's taste 😉

"So many books, so little time."
Every reader knows this expression all too well.

But what if you could increase your reading speed and discover much more books than you expected?

It has been quiet here the past few weeks.

But now this blog is back in full force!

Have you ever heard a 9 year old talking so convincingly about the importance of reading?

No wonder that his little speech was turned into a TEDx Talk!

Books about war … some people like to read them, others don't.

But … even though I belong to the latter group, the graphic novel Four-Fisted Tales by Ben Towle approached the subject from such an original angle that it kept me totally hooked from beginning to end!

Especially in coronatimes like these - when travelling is not an easy feat - reading books about special places all around the world really inspires me.

Thanks to Atlas of Improbable Places by Travis Elborough I visited some that were totally unknown to me.

If you want to discover a few of them, just read on!

It's time for a major clean-up!

Both at home and at work I'm going through all my stuff.

At home there are two big piles: one with things that are still great and that I'll give away (mostly to a friend who does yard sales) and one with things I'm going to throw away.

Although I might rethink that last option …

"There are places in the world that feel alive."

All places have their own personalities.

The Romans believed that the spirit of the land - also known as 'genius loci' - protected his own area.
Nowadays some people might dismiss this as mythology.

But have you ever had that strange feeling that you can sense a landscape's atmosphere?

Have you any idea what books are doing when nobody's watching?

Last week we got an impression of what a night at the bookshop looks like.

This week we're diving even further, right into the inner world of books.

Let's go!

Do you want to listen to an original bedtime story?

Or have you ever wondered what books are up to during the night?

Read on to discover both!

Book shops and libraries are heaven on earth for book lovers.

If they have an original concept or location, they attract even more visitors.

Did you ever hear of 'book churches'?

Let's discover some of them in Europe and Canada!

Have you ever dreamed of going on a treasure hunt?

But did you believe that this was something you could only experience via books and movies?

Think again!

Whether you like to drink coffee or not,
I bet that this kind of art will be your cup of tea 😄

Have you ever heard of mirrored rooms?

They give you such a feeling of liberty, wonder and infinity!

Time to discover some artists who made them.

Sometimes inspiration lies in small things.

Everyday objects, their shadows and a pen.

That's all Vincent Bal needs to create his imaginative art.

Welcome to the world of Shadowology!

Every Sunday another lesser known artform is presented through this 'Wild Art'-series in which artists venture off the beaten path.

Tomorrow summer begins!

What better way to celebrate this than to introduce you to 'beach art'?

Some artists venture off the beaten path and create 'wild art'.

In this new blog-series you can get to know some of the artforms and artists that inspire me with their originality, beauty, ingenuity, …

Every Sunday I'll introduce you to some new talent(s) 😊

Have you ever heard of (a)estivation?

In fact it's the opposite of hibernation.
Some animals sleep their way through summer.

Learn all about this interesting phenomenon and some amazing creatures in this blogpost!

Fractals are an amazing phenomenon.
You'll find them everywhere.

Both in nature and in art.

Or in artful nature, like this beautiful picture I captured two years ago on a winter morning 😉

Normally books are full of letters.

Or pictures.

Or both.

But have you ever seen books like these before?

This is the reason why you didn't hear me the past few weeks.

At the end of February I discovered 'Book Bingo'.
The goal is to read at least 25 SFF-books (in which SFF stands for Science-Fiction & Fantasy) and to fill up your bingo card with different categories.
If you manage to make a row - be it horizontal, vertical or diagonal - you can win a prize.
And if you manage to fill your whole card, you get a 'Reading Champion'-flair.

Although I first thought this probably wasn't my cup of tea, I soon became kind of addicted to it!

Are you alone or in a relationship?

It doesn't matter.
This heartwarming romantic comedy musical short film is for all of you!

Happy Valentine's Day 😄

Today is Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year.

In 2005 British psychologist Cliff Arnall calculated that the third Monday of January was the day on which most people feel down.

They struggle with keeping resolutions, the holidays are still a long way off, it's very dark and usually gloomy outside, for many people it's also the first day of the workweek, ...

Later it turned out that all of this was a PR stunt by a travel agency and that they had recruited an academic to promote their idea and thus give it more credibility.

Two years ago I visited Museum Hof van Busleyden in Mechelen (Belgium).

In one of the museum halls there was a white book.

It lay open on a white table next to a white wall with a white frame.

Strange …

Flying Books

The beginning of a new year always brings up lots of good intentions in people.

Goals are set (be it on reading level or in other areas) and sometimes we'll attain them and sometimes not.

But even if our good intentions may not come true, life's too short to regret things.

Except maybe like Françoise Sagan said: "The one thing I regret is that I will never have time to read all the books I want to read." 😋

Inspired by a discussion with a friend about regrets and the allegory of 'books of regret' that are 'flying away', this seemed the perfect moment to let you all discover one of my favourite short animation films.

Let it inspire you to discover plenty of books in 2021 and above all - regardless the amount of books - to enjoy reading!

These are my wishes to all of you for 2021:

Soms ben je eens toe aan verandering.

Dat is ook bij mij nu het geval.

Auteurs met een goed gevoel voor humor zijn redelijk dun gezaaid.
Het is dan ook telkens genieten wanneer je er eentje ontdekt!
Onlangs las ik Pundragon, het nieuwste boek van Chandra K. Clarke.
Met haar humoristische talent kan deze Canadese schrijfster zich duidelijk meten met gevestigde waarden in het komische fantasygenre. In mijn ogen is ze dan ook de vrouwelijke Terry Pratchett :-)
Benieuwd geworden? Lees dan hieronder mijn recensie en mijn interview met deze veelzijdige vrouw!

Authors with a good sense of humour are pretty hard to find.
Therefore it's always a joy if you discover a new one!
Recently I read Pundragon, the latest book of Chandra K. Clarke.
With her humorous talent, this Canadian writer can definitely compete with established names in the comic fantasy genre. Thus in my opinion she's the female Terry Pratchett :-)
Is your interest piqued? Then read further to find my review and my interview with this versatile woman!

De meesten onder ons hebben als kind nog met Lego gespeeld. Maar wist je dat Lego ook voor volwassenen heel wat creatieve mogelijkheden biedt?

Ontdek er hieronder enkele van!

Most of us have played with Lego as a kid. But did you know that Lego also offers a lot of creative possibilities for adults?

Discover a few of them below!

De door corona opgelegde onthaasting van de laatste maanden heeft heel wat voordelen gehad. Niet alleen probeer ik veel nieuwe dingen uit, maar ik ontdek ook nog dagelijks nieuwe inspiratiebronnen.

The slowing down imposed by corona during the past few months has had many advantages.
Not only do I try out a lot of new things, but every day I discover new inspiration sources as well.

Eén daarvan is Goodreads.
Aangezien deze boekensite een internationaal publiek trekt, is de voertaal er Engels. Daarom heb ik besloten om mijn blogartikels in het vervolg zowel in het Nederlands als in het Engels te schrijven. Op die manier kunnen zowel mijn 'oude Nederlandstalige vrienden' van Hebban als mijn 'nieuwe Engelstalige vrienden' van Goodreads lezen wat mij in het dagelijks leven inspiratie geeft.

One of them is Goodreads.
Since this book site is visited by an international audience, the language used to communicate with each other is English. That's why I've decided to write my articles both in Dutch and English from now on. That way, both my 'old Dutchspeaking friends' from Hebban (Dutch booksite) and my 'new Englishspeaking friends' from Goodreads can read about what inspires me in everyday life.

Wie schreef 'De zwarte tulp' van Alexandre Dumas?

Hoewel dit een strikvraag lijkt, is deze titel eerder een vraag om erkenning.
Van wie? Dat kom je zo meteen te weten.

Dat creativiteit gestimuleerd kan worden wanneer twee mensen samenwerken die aan elkaar gewaagd zijn, is het centrale thema van het boek De kracht van het tweetal van Joshua Wolf Shenk (Goodreads/Hebban).
Uit eigen ervaring beaam ik deze visie volledig.
Dat Alexandre Dumas deze theorie ook in praktijk bleek om te zetten, is echter door weinig mensen geweten.

Trumps talenten

Wist je dat Trump aanleg heeft voor poëzie?

Zo presenteert Rob Sears op basis van uitspraken en tweets van de Amerikaanse president originele gedichten in het boek 'The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump' (Goodreads / Hebban).

Daarnaast blijkt Trump ook over muzikale kwaliteiten te beschikken.
En soms zelfs over spectaculaire dansmoves ...

Over boeken en lezen zijn er heel wat fijne, grappige, interessante quotes te vinden.
Via deze rubriek deel ik deze bekende en minder bekende uitspraken met jullie.
Mijn bedoeling is om met jullie van gedachten te wisselen:

Zijn jullie het eens met de quote? Waarom wel of niet?
Waaraan doet deze jullie denken?
…

De hele samenleving draait op een ander ritme in deze tijden van corona.
Sommigen hebben een veel drukker werkrooster (zorgsector, onderwijs, ...) en dus minder tijd om te lezen.
Anderen hebben dan weer een beetje extra tijd door thuiswerk of technische werkloosheid, maar de concentratie ontbreekt hen dan weer om veel te lezen.
Over het algemeen lijkt er dan ook minder gelezen te worden.

In deze moeilijke tijden is het belangrijk om je goed te verzorgen en te verwennen.
Veel fruit eten hoort er ook bij om het immuunsysteem wat aan te sterken.
Mijn ontbijt vorig weekend bestond dan ook uit enkele heerlijke kleppers van aardbeien begeleid door een glaasje bubbels.

Maar het is niet over die kleppers dat ik het hier vandaag ga hebben.
Laat ons eens even terugspoelen naar het begin van 2020.

Pagina's