a travelogue
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12/23/07
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Book:
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Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus by Robert D. Kaplan
Fantastic portrait of the Balkans and beyond. Kaplan more or less does the exact route I’ve been wanting to do — from eastern Europe through Turkey, Syria and several ‘stans. He doesn’t go all the way across Mongolia and China …continue reading »
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09/09/07
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Book:
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Blindness by José Saramago
Saramago said, when accepting the Nobel Prize in 1998. “The possibility of the impossible, dreams and illusions, are the subject of my novels,” and I would basically agree with him. Quite possibly one of the darkest most disturbing books I’ve …continue reading »
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09/09/07
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Book:
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Gravity and Grace by Simone Weil
Weil published during her lifetime only a few poems and articles. With her posthumous works — 16 volumes, edited by Andre A. Devaux and Florence de Lussy — Weil has earned a reputation as one of the most original thinkers …continue reading »
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09/09/07
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Book:
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Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
A novel of what, as Salman Rushdie wrote, “America has been doing to itself, and to its children, all these years.” I’m a huge Pynchon fan, but I have to say it wasn’t until the third try that I actually …continue reading »
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10/15/07
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Book:
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Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
"Vladimir Nabokov was a literary genius. There is no other word with which to describe a writer who, in mid-life, became a stylistic virtuoso in a language that was not his mother tongue." —The Guardian Unlimited.continue reading »
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10/15/07
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Book:
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Nicaraguan Sketches by Julio Cortazar
Julio Cortazar is a giant. You know you’re good when Borges sings your praises. But this book was not up to par compared to Hopscotch or Blow Up. Without having seen a Spanish copy my guess is that its a …continue reading »
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10/15/07
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Book:
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Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
I needed to take a break from Proust and I happened to be in a book store the day this came out so I went for it. You never know what to expect from a Pynchon novel but almost three …continue reading »