The Soul of Kiel (2)

So... preparing myself mentally for a month in the northern Germany town of Kiel (which is approximately the same size as Utrecht) I went looking for some current German literature.
Not being very structural -I did not look for an overview or guide to start with- ànd running on a low budget, the public library was an obvious first stop. A monumental building right in the centre of town (used to be a department store) on 10 minutes walk from my house.
They do have a 'foreign literature' section, mainly English, then German (4 or 5 bookcases), then French, then others. Here I pulled out Der Reservetorwart by Burkhard Spinnen and Tote essen keinen Döner by Osman Engin, the first one short stories, the second a humoristic detective.
Yes, a light diet as I don't have much time left before September 1. And in my own bookshelves I do have some German comicbooks and magazines to plough through.

Next I visited Broese, in the same block as our library and the largest bookstore of Utrecht. Just to check. Here the German literature section consisted of one (1) meagre bookcase, with a lot of non-German authors. I think mainly directed to German visitors looking for something to read during their stay here.
Knowing my way around I didn't have to investigate further. In a city like Utrecht, which has a large intellectual population and boasts about its creative spirit, the cultural influx of a neighbouring country (and biggest tradepartner) is practically invisible. Or at least: one has to work hard to find it.
It is safe to say the Netherlands are more oriented towards Anglosaxon than European culture.
Big words, I know.
Will make it smaller now.
In previous post I talked about a comic I made about my German background. Wurzeln was first published in Zone5300, in a 1999 special on Germany (also featuring work by Calle Claus, Ulf K and Anke Feuchtenberger). I had it a couple of times on my website, and in German translation on Splashcomics. The latter is featured below, slightly reconstructed as I lost the original files in a harddisk crash.
Until I am in Kiel I'll post about this and that and personal Germany-related shit, after September 1 the blog will be dedicated to the Soul of Kiel-project. Please have patience :-)

Sorry, color files are lost...