The Content Reader

This is an interesting book, and a good introduction to Belgian history. The volume is an outcome of a symposium Belgian Revealed , which was held at Trinity College in Dublin in 2005. In the foreword: ”Before a substantial audience, four prominent authors from Belgium and the Netherlands each highlighted a specific (mostly critical) vision of the origins of Belgium’s independence and of what that complex notion of ’belgitude’ is ultimately all about.” Belgium gets a bad press. A small country - the size of Wales, with a population of just ten million - it rarely attracts foreign notice; when it does, the sentiment it arouses is usually scorn, sometimes distaste. Charles Baudelaire, who lived there briefly in the 1860s, devoted considerable splenetic attention to the country. His ruminations on Belgium and its people occupy 152 pages of the Oeuvres Complètes; Belgium, he concluded, is what France might have become had it been left in the hands of the bourgeoisie. Karl Marx, writing...

As usual on the weekend we try to take a walk in the forest, close to us. Yesterday, we made a little bit of a shopping round instead. Walking, in stead of taking the car as usual, we went to various shops along the main road. Imaging what you see when you walk, rather than taking the car. We discovered new shops and managed to buy a birthday present for a friend's 60th birthday next week. Today we made it to the woods. It must have been a special day, because I have never seen so many people here. This is a popular spot for people living in Brussels. They come out here to walk in the woods and then to go for one of the many restaurants that are covering the area close to the woods. Not entirely matured blackberries! The wood, or more like it a forest, is so huge so, once your inside and choose your own paths, you are quite on your own. A lovely day, 19 degrees C, and the autumn colours of red and yellow fight with the still green plants and trees. There were leave...

This has nothing to do with books, but I think this championship is part of our life during two weeks. My husband, Martin, and I have just been down to the municipality house where they had an open viewing of the game between Belgium and Argentina. It was very atmospheric, and people were dressed up in whatever with the Belgian colours, yellow, red and black. There has been a good atmosphere all over Brussels since the game started since things were getting well for the "Red Devils" as they are called. It seems it is also something that unites Belgium, more than anything else. However, in the end, after quite a good game, and with a lot of opportunities for the Belgians, Argentina won with one goal, made after only 8 minutes. Nevertheless, the 'stimmung' was great and people were happy. Here some photos, rather dark from the event. The 'Bosuil' meaning the 'Forest Owl' and situated next to the forest, where we normally take our walks. The good B...

18 June 1815 Napoleon was defeated by the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo, in present day Belgium. Battle of Waterloo 1815 On June 16, 1815, Napoleon defeated the Prussians under Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher at Ligny, and sent 33,000 men, or about one-third of his total force, in pursuit of the retreating Prussians. On June 18, Napoleon led his remaining 72,000 troops against the Duke of Wellington's 68,000-man allied army, which had taken up a strong position 12 miles south of Brussels near the village of Waterloo. In a fatal blunder, Napoleon waited until mid-day to give the command to attack in order to let the ground dry. The delay in fighting gave Blucher's troops, who had eluded their pursuers, time to march to Waterloo and join the battle by the late afternoon.