Jelle Noorman Book order (chronological)

A Best Book of 2023 by the New York Times and The New Yorker and Longlisted for the National Book Award A gripping literary mystery in the vein of Bolaño’s Savage Detectives, this coming-of-age novel unravels the fascinating life of a maligned Black author, based on Yambo Ouologuem. The first Sub-Saharan African winner of France’s top literary prize, the Goncourt. In 2018, Diégane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer in Paris, discovers a legendary book from the 1930s, The Labyrinth of Inhumanity. No one knows what became of its author, once hailed as the “Black Rimbaud,” after the book caused a scandal. Enthralled by this mystery, Diégane decides to search for T.C. Elimane, going down a path that will force him to confront the great tragedies of history, from colonialism to the Holocaust. Alongside his investigation, Diégane becomes part of a group of young African writers in Paris. Together they talk, drink, make love, philosophize about the role of exile in artistic creation. Diégane grows particularly close to two women: the seductive Siga, who holds so many secrets, and the photojournalist Aïda, impossible to pin down. The Most Secret Memory of Men is an astonishing novel about the choice between living and writing, and the desire to transcend the divide between Africa and the West. Above all, it is an ode to literature and its timelessness.

Julian Barnes heeft kunst en literatuur zelf moeten ontdekken, en dat gebeurde pas op latere leeftijd. Op een dag bezocht hij het Musée Gustave Moreau, zonder precies te weten wie de schilder was, en werd getroffen door zijn ongewone, weelderige werk. De mystiek van de schilderijen in combinatie met het feit dat hij een `eigen ontdekking¿ had gedaan, zette hem in vuur en vlam. Julian Barnes weet hoe kunst je hart kan veroveren en hoe dat op de lezer over te brengen. Hij neemt de lezer mee op ontdekkingsreis langs de romantiek, het realisme naar zijn favoriete stroming, het modernisme. Gepassioneerd en uitnodigend leert hij ons het werk kennen van grote schilders als Delacroix, Courbet, Manet, Cézanne, Degas, Redon, Bonnard, Magritte, Howard Hodgkin en Lucian Freud.

Think more about sex by thinking about it in a different way.

All of us, whether religious, agnostic or atheist, are searching for meaning. And in this wise and life-affirming book, non-believer Alain de Botton suggests that religions, far from being nonsensical as atheists maintain, are instead full of good ideas on how to live. And that we should steal from them. Picking and choosing from the thousands of years of advice assembled by the world's great religions to get practical insights on art, community, love, friendship, work, life and death, Alain de Botton will show how each of us may find our place in the world.

The election of Barack Obama as President of the USA is a defining moment for all of us. After years of failed policies and a failed politics from Washington, change has arrived. Barack Obama now has the chance to reclaim the American dream. 'Change We Can Believe In' outlines his vision for America and its standing in the world.

Mijn Frankrijk is een alfabetische reis door een land waar parken grenzen aan woestijnen, waar sanitair extreme vormen kan aannemen, waar het brood de revolutionaire beginselen uitdraagt en waar het wegverkeer een ode brengt aan de beschaving.

The Achitecture of Happiness is a dazzling and generously illustrated journey through the philosophy and psychology of architecture and the indelible connection between our identities and our locations.One of the great but often unmentioned causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of walls, chairs, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. Alain de Botton starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be, and argues that it is architecture's task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.

Drawing from the fields of history, psychology, politics, and economics, a look at the anxieties associated with a pursuit of status explains how humans have sought to cope with their fears and offers suggestions on ways to deal with the problem

An exploration of the human desire to travel presents a series of essays on airports, museums, landscapes, holiday romances, and hotel mini-bars, offering suggestions on how to render travel more fulfilling. "Aside from love, few activities seem to promise us as much happiness as going traveling: taking off for somewhere else, somewhere far from home, a place with more interesting weather, customs, and landscapes. But although we are inundated with advice on where to travel, few people seem to talk about why we should go and how we can become more fulfilled by doing so. In The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton, author of How Proust Can Change Your Life, explores what the point of travel might be and modestly suggests how we can learn to be a little happier in our travels."--BOOK JACKET.

This new translation is based on the second edition of 1868, and includes the important `Preface', in which Zola defended himself against charges of immorality.

Een afgezette Noordafrikaanse dictator overdenkt voor het vuurpeloton zijn bloedige loopbaan.