If I don’t forget… (and I sure hope I don’t…) I will post a monthly wrap-up from now on! I will post about a few categories: books, comics, movies and tv-shows (the ones I finished during the past month). Let’s begin:

1. Books

March was a very productive reading month:

I started with Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow (Morgen en Morgen en Morgen) by Gabrielle Zevin (and loved it!) – I read it in a Dutch translation… I actually read a lot of Dutch (translated) novels! (So bear with me, the titels aren’t always translated here)

Then I read two nonfiction books about the sixteenth century: Pieter Serrien’s In Opstand! and Filips II en de strijd om Europa by Kevin Gony & Natasja Peeters!

Then I participated in a book tour for Dutch writer Hanneke Simons and her novel Witte Muren (White Walls). I also received the ebook for the third book in the Khan-ontrafeld trilogy by Saeed Ajaib, Ontwaakt and couldn’t resist reading it, even though a paperback is on its way soon! And I read another indie story by Christopher Badcock called Hummingbird!

There were another two nonfiction books: Lesbienne worden in 10 stappen and too good to be true but I didn’t complete those two completely…

I finally, after having been reading it for a few months -yes, it took me a long time but it was a behemoth- was Orhan Pamuk’s Night of Plague (De Nachten van de Pest)!

Then I also read a queer book written by cabaretier Jaouad Alloul called De Meisje! Loved it! Brought a tear to my eye!

And I finished the month of March with two thrillers and a horror novel:

November by Dutch writer Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Offer by Belgian thriller writer Toni Coppers and finally a Danish thriller, the third in the Juncker & Kristiansen series: Stikdonker.

I ended my reading month with a nonfiction philosophical essay: Politiek zonder Partijen (by Simone Weil) and a dialogue/answer by Belgian-Polish philosopher Alicja Gescinska.

So quite the month with quite the amount of books, isn’t it!?

2. Comics / Graphic Novels

I’ve read a few comics/graphic novels as I do almost every month:

• F.C. De kampioenen het groot zoekboek
• Thorgal Saga 1. Vaarwel Aaricia
• Galaxa 3. Het Spoor van de Duivel
• Suske en Wiske 367. De harteloze Hein
• De Robbedoesvrienden 1. Een Robbedoesvriend is moedig en eerlijk
• Merel graphic novel
• Guust 1. Flaters Archief
• Guust 2. Flaterfestijn
• Guust 3. Flagrante flappende Flaters
• Guust 4. Heet van de Flater
• Guust 5. Daverende Flaters te koop
• Guust 6. Hoes je voor Flaters
• Guust 7. Flaters Schade
• Jommeke 314. Griezels in het Woud
• The Flash: Flashpoint

3. Tv-Shows

March was a month of a lot of reading but I managed to finish a few series or seasons of a show.

For starters my husband and I watched the second season of Daredevil., which was a rewatch for me. But it had been a while so it was good to watch it again. The Punisher appears in this season as a foe and as a friend!

Then we watched the mini-series of ‘The Stand’, the 2020 edition. And I must say: I don’t get the negative comments thrown around for this one… I’ve read the book twice already and seen the original 1994 mini-series adaptation (which I loved) and I loved this version as well… they made a lot changes but that didn’t bug me (apart from letting out the Lincoln Tunnel scene!) and I didn’t mind the flashback approach either… my husband never saw the original nor read the book (and he never will) so for him this was a great discovery!

And finally I saw a few more seasons of Inspector George Gently, seasons 6,7 & 8 concluding this tv-show. Not a bad show at all. I love how they manage to transport us viewers back to the sixties!

4. Movies

Apart from books my love goes out to movies. And I watched a fair amount again this month:

• Crazy Rich Asians
• De Slag om de Schelde (The Forgotten Battle)
• Urban Legend
• Disturbing Behavior
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• The Black Phone
• The Menu
• Beast
• The Unholy
• Vikingulven (Viking Wolf)
• We have a Ghost
• Day Shift
• Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
• Everything Everywhere all at once

4. Events

In March I went to a few events as well…

I went to see the monologue of Bart van Loo on his book The Burgundians (De Bourgondiërs)

Then I went to listen to a live taping of the ‘Drie Boeken’ (three books) podcast by Wim Oosterlinck, his guest being writer Stefan Hertmans.

And I went to listen to Riadh Bahri, an interview with the journalist who recently wrote a book about his coming out as a muslin gay man and the impact on his life, Uit de Kast, In de Kast (coming out, coming in)!