Books

I have just finished reading Die Kinder von Eden (The Hammer of Eden in English). I really enjoyed reading it. My first Ken Follet. I think I will read more of his books. Trave could not find The Hammer of Eden in the library (and cannot read in German) so he borrowed The Pillars of the Earth and started reading it yesterday. Looks like a very big and long book to read!

I have just started Le Loup des Steppes (English Steppenwolf), by Hermann Hesse. I had a bookmark left on page 50 so I guess I intended to read it some time ago and gave up. I will try again.

You may have noticed how illogical it is to read an English language book in German and a German language book in French. I would prefer reading the original versions but feel that Hermann Hesse would be too much effort to read in his mother tongue. I find thriller type books easy to read in a foreign language and feel that in order to maintain/improve the knowledge I have in a particular language, it pays better to read regularly something easy than struggling to understand something complicated. This is why I keep the complicated things to read in my mother tongue French or my day-to-day language, English. And I find easier things to read about in German and Spanish.

My Dutch is coming along OK. I have just gone back to it after allowing myself 2 weeks off Dutch learning. I have been through a revision programme tonight and although I have not forgotten everything, I have a bit of work to do before I go any further! I am learning through a "teach yourself Dutch in 12 weeks" book & CDs. I am halfway through. My target is to be able to have a short conversation with customers and partners in September, when I will be attended an exhibition in the Flemish part of Belgium.