Simon Carmiggelt was famous for the little sketches ("kronkels", or twists) he wrote for the newspaper Het Parool from when it was a clandestine publication of the WWII resistance right through to the 1980s. This particular selection of a year's worth of columns comes from 1963, and it's a mixture of microstories, anecdotes, fragments of overheard conversations, reminiscences, and accounts of personal experiences like trips to the country and walks with his young grandson.

The settings are often Amsterdam bars and restaurants, but there are also plenty of ventures into ordinary homes, where the new phenomenon of television was beginning to change the way people spent their free time. One of the most striking pieces is about a man who buys the TV guide to read on the bus home and plan when he is going to operate his power-tools to disrupt his neighbours' viewing most effectively.

The scale is small, the scope is modest, and 1963 was a long time ago, but there's a lot of skill involved in making a telling and often very funny point neatly and effectively in such a tight framework, without giving anyone grounds to take offence. ( )