Image of the moors in Belgium (Photo courtesy of Herbert Aust)
Club members were very excited about the book choice this month with many noting they enjoyed the variety of genres. However, there was a clear winner as you’ll see below.
Before we get to the club read, I wanted to introduce a different author—one that a friend recommended to me noting “since you enjoy Bill Bryson’s funny travel writing & also love foodie things, I think you’ll adore Harry Pearson.” I haven’t read him yet, but his books look great & here, he’s writing about his time in Belgium!
Most British travel writers head south for a destination that is hot, exotic, dangerous or all three. Harry Pearson chose to head in the opposite direction for a country which is damp, safe, and of legendary banality: Belgium. But can any nation whose most famous monument is a statue of a small boy urinating really be that dull?
Pearson lived there for several months, burying himself in the local culture. He drank many of the 800 different beers the Belgians produce; ate local delicacies such as kip kap (jellied pig cheeks) and a mighty tonnage of chicory and chips.
A Tall Man in a Low Land commemorates strange events such as the Festival of Shrimps at Oostduinkerke and laments the passing of the Underpant Museum in Brussels. No reader will go away from A Tall Man in a Low Land without being able to name at least ten famous Belgians. Mixing evocative description and low-grade buffoonery, Harry Pearson paints a portrait of Belgium that is more rounded than a Smurf after a night on the mussels. <-(Did you know Smurfs are Belgian in origin?)
“Funnier than Bill Bryson!” —The Independent
“Pearson is as tall as he is funny and, believe me, he is very tall.” —The Face
As a bonus, he also is an avid cyclist & wrote a book about biking across Flanders…
Shortlisted for The Telegraph Sports Book Awards 2020
Longlisted for the William Sports Book of the Year 2020
In The Beast, the Emperor and the Milkman, committed Belgophile and road cycling obsessive Harry Pearson takes you on a journey across Flanders, through the lumpy horizontal rain, up the elbow juddering cobbled inclines, past the fans dressed as chickens and the shop window displays of constipation medicines, as he follows races big, small and even smaller through one glorious, muddy spring.
Ranging over 500 years of Flemish and European history, across windswept polders, along back roads and through an awful lot of beer cafes, Pearson examines the characters, the myths and rivalries that make Flanders a place where cycling is a religion and the riders its lycra-clad priests.
But what book are we reading for the club?
The beautiful medieval architecture of Bruges belies the dark longings of her residents…
When the wealthy and powerful Ludovic Degroof’s jewelry store is broken into, nothing is stolen, but the jewels have been dissolved in jars ofaqua regia, an acid so strong it can even melt gold. In the empty safe is a scrap of paper on which a strange square has been drawn.
At first, Inspector Van In pays little attention to the paper, focusing on the bizarre nature of the burglary. But when Degroof’s offspring also receive letters with this same square, Van In and the beautiful new DA Hannelore Martens find themselves unraveling a complex web of enigmatic Latin phrase and a baroness’ fallen family and Degroof’s relationship with a hostage grandchild, ransomed for a priceless collection of art.
“A very likeable and very politically incorrect group of detectives. Humor is permanent, the plot well constructed, and the whole story extremely exotic.” —L'Express (France)
“To sell a million copies in only ten years! This never happened in Flanders before.” —Het Laatste Nieuws (Belgium)
“Aspe is and always will be one of our favorite authors. An exciting murder mystery, a pinch of humor, and a generous serving of romance are among the highlights of the series.” —Crimezone Magazine
(Group read suggestion from Julie Jacobs, book club moderator.)