My blog name has never been more relevant. Where is Kim going in 2020? Physically speaking, Kim is going nowhere, but mentally Kim is still going places.
In the past few months I revised a short story I wrote for this year’s Luitingh Sijthoff Fantasy contest. It is not something I can post here because of the contest guidelines, but if you’re interested in short story snippets you can read about the Traveling Robot. Part 9 is out now.
My luck with NetGalley ARCs has been a bit less this month. In the past few weeks, I read I Live in the Slums by Can Xue (China), The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos (France) and Long Live the Post Horn! by Vigdis Hjorth (Norway). These books were very interesting, but they didn’t give me this ‘wow’ feeling I always hope for.
I also read four books for the Hebban Debuutprijs 2020, a prize for the best Dutch debut novel. Two of them I really liked, the other two were okayish. I’ll be posting book reviews for these books in summer when the shortlist has been announced (only on the Dutch part of my blog). I’m now reading The Law of Lines by Korean author Hye-young Pyun: it’s time to work on my general awareness of Korean literature in translation.
The coronavirus situation in the Netherlands has changed a bit in the past few weeks. More is possible every day, but for now, I am still patiently staying at home until I see no increase in hospital admissions and deaths. If all is still well in June and the museums open as planned, I will probably give it a try and visit a museum nearby. The contenders: Stedelijk Museum Schiedam or Museum Vlaardingen. The runner-ups for my first museum visit are two open-air museums: Museum Beelden aan Zee in Scheveningen and Watersnoodmuseum in Ouwerkerk (if they open). Have you been to any of them?
What’s also still possible: visiting parks and taking a walk outside. I really like exploring the Broekpolder in Vlaardingen, but lately, it’s been so crowded there that I will patiently wait until I can take a walk in my own 1.5-meter bubble.
I’m thinking about future travel plans a lot. How to travel after corona? Where can I go and when can I safely do so? Renting a holiday home in Iceland or France becomes a more interesting option every day. Especially the latter, as I can thoroughly limit the people I meet on the road by driving to my destination. In that scenario, I’ll only come in ‘close’ contact with other people when I buy groceries or eat at a restaurant. By only exploring open-air hotspots, like watching architecture and landscapes, I keep it safe for everyone. Fortunately, I have always liked sightseeing like that! Iceland is trickier because it involves taking a flight, but once there…
The next few years will ask for different itineraries. Let’s see it as a challenge?
Do you know what you’re gonna do when travel is possible again?
