Dutch books written in 21st century - please recommend!

Learning Dutch Forum - Ask a Tutor
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Hi everyone.
I just finished reading Anne Frank’s diary, and wanted to start “Max Havelaar”, but realized that it’s not a good idea to read it now, because it has old spelling. While I’m learning Dutch, I want to read books with modern spelling, so, to be sure, mostly from 21st century.

Could you recommend some? Ideally with pdf/mobi/epub (so that I can import it to LingQ) and audio recording available. Not necessarily free.

Both fiction and non-fiction are good. I’m interested in history, art, philosophy, politics, and I like to read novels (my favourite authors are Albert Camus and Virginia Woolf).

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De donkere kamer van Damokles (1958) van Willem Frederik Hermans blijft een klassieker uit de Nederlandse literatuur.

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Bedankt!

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great book!

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Here are some books that you might enjoy:

De Avonden by Gerard Reve (a classic, a bit like Kafka)
Het Diner by Herman Koch (modern literature with a thrilling plot)
Oorlog’s Winter by Jan Terlouw (Jan Terlouw is great: ▶️ Het pleidooi van Jan Terlouw DWDD 2016-11-30 - YouTube)
Judas by Astrid Holleeder (written by the sister of Willem Holleeder who is a famous criminal)
Dit Kan Niet Waar Zijn by Joris Luyendijk (reportage about the 2008 financial crisis)
Huidpijn by Saskia Noort (a good read if you are looking for a pageturner)
Alleen met de Goden by Alex Boogers (Nice book, but sad)
Het Gouden Ei by Tim Krabbé (a classic, the film Spoorlos which is an adaptation is also worth a look)

I purchased most of these books on bol.com and then used a program called Calibre to convert them into a file which I can import to LingQ.

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Thanks a lot!

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Hi again!
I found some of the books you mentioned on bol.com, but I’m reluctant to buy them, because I’m not sure it’s still possible to download such books. I installed Calibre, but it looks like amazon, for example, improved the protection, and I can’t download anything from it.
On amazon, when I go to “Your content and devices”, click on tree-dots-button near the book, choose “Download and transfer via USB”, all my devices are grey (not selectable) in dropdown menu, and I get this message:
“You have selected content that is not compatible with any of your registered devices. Please remove incompatible content from selection for eligible devices to appear.”

It sounds like I need to have a Kindle reader (a device) to be able to download anything, but I only have Android devices. Likewise, I will probably need a physical e-reader by bol.com. Or won’t I?
Can you please explain the whole path “from bol.com to LingQ” in more details?

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Hi,
It is a fiddly business! Bol.com sell various types of ebooks. There are adobe ebooks, normal ebooks and some pdf files. You can see what kind of file the book is in the item description. All of these products are downloadable, you don’t need any specific e-reader. I just tried for example to download the book Huidpijn (which I bought a while ago) again and it is now downloaded to my laptop as a simple epub which can then be imported directly to LingQ.

The fiddly files are the adobe ebooks - these ones require a bit of work. To be able to convert the adobe ebook into an epub you will need Calibre and also some plugins which will allow you to remove the drm from the file. You can learn how to do this by googling something like “calibre adobe digital editions drm removal” and then follow the instructions. I know that this can sound intimidating if you are not very tech savvy but it is actually easy to do.

If you do have any problems with importing a book you can always get a refund from bol.com - it has happened to me a couple of times and they don’t mind.

Good luck and let me know if I can help you with anything, or if you would like any tips regarding good Dutch tv shows.

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Thanks for the details!

The latest version of DeDRM doesn’t work with the latest version of Calibre. It does work with 4.23 though. DeDRM 6.8.0 ReadMe says it’ll work with Adobe Digital Editions v2.0.1, while the current version of ADE is 4.5.11, so I’m still reluctant to buy adobe ebooks and pdf’s on bol.com - I’m really not ready to read them without LingQ. Did you try Kobo reader translation capabilities? Is it usable if I have 5 unknown words in a sentence, not in the entire page? Kindle app is certainly not usable in such cases.

I managed to get one old public domain book from amazon to LingQ, but that’s only because I borrowed Kindle eInk device, otherwise amazon doesn’t allow to download anything anymore.

Fiddly business indeed.
And the spelling reforms are very unfortunate for language learners. I would be perfectly happy with public domain books, if they didn’t teach me the “wrong” spelling.

  • if you would like any tips regarding good Dutch tv shows
    Yes, please recommend some :slight_smile:
    I only watched “Nieuwe buren” and “De twaalf” (this one is Belgian). It’s not easy to find Dutch series with English subtitles, and I still don’t understand everything if there are only Dutch subs. With short youtube videos I import Dutch subs to LingQ, translate and then watch, but I don’t want to do that with TV shows and films.
    I don’t like sitcoms and comedies, I’m more into thrillers. And I’m also much more likely to find time for a movie than for a TV show.

I watch NOSop3 and “Zondag met Lubach”. I still didn’t manage to find a youtube channel about Dutch painters that I would enjoy, and that would have Dutch subs that I can import to LingQ. I’m subscribed to Mauritshuis and some other museums, but they only have English hardsubs.

I also still didn’t find Dutch-language music that I would enjoy. I love The Gathering and Anneke van Giersbergen, but their lyrics are all in English.

Text me on facebook if it’s ok with you, Jeyana Morozenko Redirecting...
I really appreciate recommendations :slight_smile: I chatted with several Dutch people on HelloTalk, but none of them ever reads Dutch books, watches Dutch films or listens to Dutch music XD

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And today I discovered that I can’t download “bol.com Kobo” app, “not available in your country” :frowning: I’m stuck in Ukraine right now, and there’s no way I can change my country to NL on google play. None of the books you mentioned are available to me on amazon.

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My favorite Dutch band, hands-down, is Normaal (just search YouTube) who created a style known as boerenrock (farmer rock) in the 1970’s, but I have to warn you, they sing in an Achterhoeks dialect, so don’t be surprised to hear ‘bunt’ instead of ‘zijn.’ My favorite Dutch film director is Alex van Warmerdam (all of his films are quirky with dark humor), some of which are available on Amazon Prime. He writes, acts, directs and composes the music in his films, so I would really call him an auteur. And there are a number of outstanding Flemish TV drama series on Netflix, including Tabula Rasa, (Hotel) Beau Sèjour, Undercover and De Bende van Jan de Lichte. If you like a good thriller with horror elements, I highly recommend Tabula Rasa.

THE Dutch talk show was De Wereld Draait Door (De Wereld Draait Door gemist? Start met kijken op NPO Start). It pains me to speak of DWDD in the past tense.

I was never happy with the plays written in the 1950’s about Anne Frank, or any of the productions based on them, so I was really excited and moved that the Dutch seem to have finally gotten it right with the all-new production, in today’s language, of ANNE in the newly built Theater Amsterdam in 2014, with Rosa da Silva playing Anne. This is a great documentary about the making of the new play ANNE (The making of Anne, Theater Amsterdam - YouTube) which really should be made into a (Dutch language) movie.

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Thank you for the recommendations!

I tried listening to a couple of songs by Normaal - not for me, unfortunately.
I’ll check out the films and series :slight_smile: Do they sound close enough to standard Dutch in Flemish TV series?

The host of DWDD talks so fast that I’m tired after two minutes XD Maybe in a couple of months I won’t be. But then, talk shows lose relevance very quickly, don’t they?

I watched the documentary about “Anne”, fascinating! I wish I could see the play.

Why are you so fond of NL? I’m just curious :slight_smile:

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I think there are enough similarities with the standard language that you can, or I can, enjoy a good Flemish show. It does take some time to get used to hearing ‘gij zijt’ in place of ‘jij bent’, or ‘ek ik’ as in ‘wa doe ek ik hier?’ in place of ‘wat doe ik hier?’ or ‘zunne’ in place of ‘hoor’, or ‘den ene’, ‘den andere,’ etc., ‘efkes,’ ‘amai,’ the seemingly countless uses of ‘allee’, not to mention merci/mercikes, çava/çavakes, salut/saluukes, etc.

But the differences are not so stark that you can’t immediately recognize it as Dutch. There are actually so many different dialects and accents of Dutch. From city to city, dorp to dorp, person to person. “Flemish” is really just a way of distinguishing with a broad brush between Belgian Dutch and Netherlands Dutch.

For me, it largely depends on who is talking and what they’re talking about. I just recently started watching the Flemish soap Thuis (- YouTube) and I’m having quite a bit of trouble understanding. Sometimes I can make out the conversation (Jenny: “Als 't nu ooit zover zou komen dat ge… allee, dat er iemand is.” Bianca (haar dochter): “Dan zal ik 't u op tijd wel laten weten.”) Other times I can hardly make out anything. I didn’t have nearly as much trouble watching Tabula Rasa. Maybe because the storyline was so much more intriguing than a soap opera, I don’t know. Some TV dramas today are like extended movies. The production is outstanding.

I have to admit, I’m kind of hooked on the original opening theme song to ‘Thuis.’

“Geen vertrouwder huis dan thuis.
Nergens zo geborgen.
Van de nacht tot aan de morgen altijd thuis.
Waar je leven ooit begon.
En waar je groot werd in de zon, zoveel warmte kreeg je altijd
thuis.
Het leven neemt je mee naar het leven en je lacht om elk gevaar.
Soms ben je veel te lang gebleven, want naar huis dan gaan je zwaar.
Geen vertrouwder huis dan thuis.
Nergens zo geborgen.
Van de nacht tot aan de morgen altijd thuis.”
(Notice how the singer pronounces the word ‘geen.’ That threw me a bit at first.)

Why am I so fond of Dutch? I’m beginning to wonder that myself. I just think you have to find subject matter that is interesting and engaging for you. I too started learning Dutch by reading Anne Frank’s diary. I’m always reading something, trying to expand my vocabulary. On my Kindle I’m currently reading a collection of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror short stories (which I think I bought for a dollar) called EdgeZero: de beste Nederlandse genreverhalen van 2016.

Here are a few short video clips that I found interesting or entertaining on YouTube:

discussion about Black Mass (the film with Johnny Depp) (Het echte verhaal van crimineel James Bulger - RTL LATE NIGHT - YouTube) RTL Late Night

a short interview with a teacher in Suriname about the languages of Suriname (Atlas Suriname: de taal - YouTube)

clip from a nature series (Wild in Nederland: de jacht - YouTube)

Wij Zijn Bang (K3 - Wij Zijn Bang | Musical De 3 Biggetjes - YouTube) from the musical De Drie Biggetjes

maybe you’ll like this song by Normaal (Normaal Deurdonderen - YouTube) Deurdonderen (donderen door)

graphic designer Irma Boom (Dutch Profiles: Irma Boom - YouTube) Dutch Profiles

a clip from De Noorderlingen (Geniaal stukje uit De Noorderlingen - YouTube) Alex van Warmerdam film

Tussen de Schapen (Tussen De Schapen - YouTube) short documentary about sheepherding

Enjoy!

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Update: Rakuten Kobo is available.
Kobo Plus subscription is not available in Ukraine, but I can buy books separately.

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Your latest comment doesn’t have “Reply” button. I guess it’s LingQ bug, the max number of levels set for comments was exceeded. Let’s connect on facebook, Redirecting...

It’s too early for me to listen/read in non-standard Dutch. I want to be able to speak and write in standard Dutch as soon as possible, this will help me to get a job in NL. After that happens, I can dive into dialects without worrying too much, but for now I stick to Randstad Nederlands.

I found Edge.Zero, it’s 2.50 EUR on bol.com, thanks!

The intro song is nice. I don’t like sitcoms that much right now, although I enjoyed some of them several years ago.

Thanks for the links! I’ll check them gradually.
Already listened to “Deurdonderen”, still not for me. I didn’t really understand the lyrics, except that it’s something vulgar.

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Sorry Джейана, ik ben geen lid van Facebook. Van Twitter wel (mijn ava is Theo van Gogh: https://twitter.com/BruceCarney12 “Vincent of Theo”), maar ik heb nog nooit getweet. Ik gebruik Twitter (de zoekfunctie op Twitter, kan ik beter zeggen) eigenlijk als een soort hulpmiddel om de Nederlandse taal te leren.

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Oh nee, ik ben geen lid van Twitter, en ik heb al te veel actieve sociale netwerken en messengers. Do you have instagram, linkedin, viber, whatsapp or telegram? I installed each one of these to keep in touch with one person, or max three people, I also never post anything (except on FB very rarely) but I have way too many apps anyway =/

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Nee, ik ben ook geen lid van instagram, linkedin, viber, whatsapp, telegram of social media in het algemeen. Ik heb eigenlijk een hekel aan die zogenaamde ‘social media.’ Ik heb geen zin om mijn privéleven en gedachten met de hele wereld te delen. Ik ben zo’n 3 weken lid van Facebook geweest (zo’n 11 jaar geleden), maar daarna niet meer. Na 3 weken heb ik mijn profiel verwijderd. Of zo dacht ik. Maar zo’n 6 jaar geleden wordt het profiel door Facebook geheractiveerd. (Door mij niet.) Dus nu is er nog steeds een profiel van mij op Facebook (Redirecting...), maar ik kom er nooit meer op. Ik heb er geen zin in en ik vind het echt niet leuk dat mijn profiel door FB is geheractiveerd.

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Never mind then, I’ll just click “reply” on the old comment.

I watched the videos you suggested. Boeken gemaakt door Irma Boom zien er zo geweldig uit ___
“Wij Zijn Bang” is grappig. Zoals Cats, maar Wolves.
Waarschijnlijk ga ik binnenkort “Black Mass” en “De Noorderlingen” kijken.
“Tussen de schapen” ziet eruit als zo’n eenzaam leven.

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De laatste tijd luister ik dagelijks naar Radio 1 op https://www.nederland.fm/. Vooral Gaan! De extra vroege ochtendshow tussen 4 en 6:00u 's ochtends Midden-Europese Tijd. Ik luister ook naar de NOS flash briefing skill van Alexa. Het NOS Journaal (radionieuws) geeft elke uur een update. Elke uur 24/7.

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