One that always stayed with me is from a coming-of-age story:

If truth was a crayon and it was up to me to put a wrapper around it and name its color, I know just what I would call it—dinosaur skin.

• Sarah Weeks - So B. It

If you’re curious, here’s the rest of the first chapter which really ties the first sentence together nicely:

I used to think, without really thinking about it, that I knew what color that was. But that was a long time ago, before I knew what I know now about both dinosaur skin and the truth.

The fact is, you can’t tell squat about the color of an animal just from looking at its bones, so nobody knows for sure what color dinosaurs really were. For years I looked at pictures of them, trusting that whoever was in charge of coloring them in was doing it based on scientific fact, but the truth is they were only guessing. I realized that one afternoon, sitting in the front seat of Sheriff Roy Franklin’s squad car, the fall before I turned thirteen.

Another thing I found out right around that same time is that not knowing something doesn’t mean you’re stupid. All it means is that there’s still room left to wonder. For instance about dinosaurs—were they the same color as the sky the morning I set off for Liberty? Or were they maybe the same shade of brown as the dust my shoes kicked up on the driveway at Hilltop Home?

I’d be lying if I said that given a choice, I wouldn’t rather know than not know. But there are some things you can just know for no good reason other than that you do, and then there are other things that no matter how badly you want to know them, you just can’t.

The truth is, whether you know something or not doesn’t change what was. If dinosaurs were blue, they were blue; if they were brown, they were brown whether anybody ever knows it for a fact or not.

Thanks!

Thank you!

That looks delicious! Could you tell me how this works? Just chuck everything in for a certain amount of time or cook the rice first or…?

First I thought of: The Bitterbynde Trilogy from Celia Dart - Thornton. She created an amazing world and I loved her way of storytelling and the characters she created. I’ve read them in Dutch, but the original books are English so that shouldn’t be a problem. Highly recommended!

Fun read, thanks for sharing!

Hallooo!

Hi! Ik vind het heel leuk dat je dit initiatief neemt. Een tip van iemand waarvan de examens inmiddels al een hele lange tijd geleden zijn: als je merkt dat je alles lijkt te zijn vergeten, weet dan dat de kennis nog steeds in je hoofd zit. Je kan er alleen op dat moment even niet bij. Stop met het kijken naar je opgave en pak een punt voorbij je tafel om naar te kijken. Zet je beide voeten stevig op de grond en focus op het punt waar ze contact maken met de grond. Adem rustig in en uit door je neus. Drie tellen in en vijf a zes tellen uit (het tellen helpt je hersenen afleiden). Richt je ademhaling op je buik en voel hoe je buik uitzet en weer intrekt bij het in- en uitademen.

Als je merkt dat je weer tot rust bent gekomen, kijk dan opnieuw naar de opgave alsof je die weer voor het eerst ziet. Volg de stappen die je misschien al hebt gezet wanneer je 'm al een gedeelte hebt opgelost. Waarschijnlijk zul je merken dat je brein het vanaf dat moment weer oppakt!

Het lijkt soms zonde van de tijd om zo’n ademhalingsoefening te gaan doen, terwijl je een test hebt, maar de tijdswinst die je uiteindelijk maakt door je hersenen uit die paniekstand te halen, weegt er bijna altijd tegenop. Alvast heel veel succes!

It’s possible that she hasn’t got aphantasia, but something called face blindness (prosopagnosia). The Wikipedia might be an interesting read for you guys!

Former (Dutch) teacher here! Diary of a wimpy kid is easy reading for a lot of kids and I always found that the really engrossing books could help them move on to their actual reading level. For my students who liked comic mischief in class, I could always get them hooked to reading with The Saga of Darren Shan.

Don’t let the ‘horror’ genre fool you: the story is dark and funny. Based on the books you named I think your kid might love it!

Mijn collega vertelde over ‘Alle geschiedenis ooit’: een podcast over de beste verhalen uit de wereldgeschiedenis. Ik heb 'm zelf nog niet geluisterd.

Een die ik zelf erg leuk vind, is ‘De Grote Vriendelijke Podcast’ voor volwassenen over jeugdliteratuur. Ze interviewen schrijvers op een hele prettige en toegankelijke manier. Ook leuk om te luisteren wanneer je zelf al een tijd geen jeugdboeken hebt gelezen!

Nog een niche waar je van moet houden: ‘Beyond the Game’: meestal interviews met escaperoomeigenaren, maar ook over escapegerelateerde onderwerpen. Als je fan bent van escaperooms is het zeker een aanrader!

Same for me!

Did I meet those potatoes before?

So happy that this got implemented, thanks!

That was fun, thanks! I made it till rule 24 on my phone. I give up haha

Thee recommendations from the Netherlands:

Casanova kept extensive memoirs and only briefly mentions Lucia, his first love. He names her as one of the few women he wronged, but offers no explanation. In Lucia’s eyes by Arthur Japin tells the (fictional) story of Lucia and offers a story that fits into the gap that Casanova left in his memoires. It’s one of my favorites to recommend as an introduction into literature. The Dutch title is Een schitterend gebrek.

A true Dutch classic is The Assault by Harry Mulisch. It covers 35 years in the life of the lone survivor of a night in Haarlem during World War II when the Nazi occupation forces, finding a Dutch collaborator murdered, retaliate by killing most of the family in front of whose home the body was found.

And if you really feel like sinking your teeth in some literature you would have to read The Discovery of Heaven, the magnum opus of Harry Mulisch. I can’t really manage to give a summary, I think it would be best if you just start reading without any spoilers about the story. Maybe read the other books first and then decide if you trust me ;)

If you end up reading one of those, I would love to hear your thoughts!

Thank you, I think you are right. The comments on my comment have been nothing but helpfull and kind. It’s really encouraging for a new Lemmy-user like me!

I did not know. Really kind of you to take the time to react on my comments and giving all these suggestions, cheers!

Thank you and thank you so much for the prompt as well, you are so kind! :)

I did it! Or something like it, I learned about DNS and I installed the AdGuard app and begun my free trial period :) Thank you!