Why Read?
Nothing better protects a human being against the stupidity of prejudice, racism, religious or political sectarianism, and exclusivist nationalism than this truth that invariably appears in great literature: that men … Continue reading
Underline.
Read sparingly but ardently. That way you’ll look far more knowledgeable than those who read a great deal but enjoy nothing. -Orhan Pamuk. The Black Book. (One might even trade … Continue reading
Nice to Meet You
His mother always started up a conversation with the other people on the train. She was like an old bird dog just unpenned that raced, sniffing up every rock and … Continue reading
Love Can Also Be Restless, Ferocious.
I know now, what I didn’t know then, that affection can’t always be expressed in calm, orderly, articulate ways; and that one cannot prescribe the form it should take for … Continue reading
Still Here
He also felt an excited touched surprise that such a complex of emotions could still exist in such an old man. “Such an old man,” he thought to himself until … Continue reading
Last Minute Turkish Lessons Because…
Being in the foreign country means walking a tightrope high above the ground without the net afforded a person by the country where he has his family, colleagues, and friends, … Continue reading
A Traveler’s Wish
After this, I want silence, time to wonder, to think & to feel, to look at different cities & speak different tongues, & become wonderfully anonymous & lonely. -From Iris … Continue reading
An Icelandic Sky and A Rushdie Sigh
A sigh isn’t just a sigh. We inhale the world and breathe out meaning. While we can. While we can. -Salman Rushdie. The Moor’s Last Sigh.
Hustle Up
And when you die will it have mattered a damn whether you ever lived or not? -W. Somerset Maugham. Christmas Holiday.
Any Day Now…
All that he had now was an idea that one day something would happen. And he would be taken by a set of events to the place he should go. … Continue reading
Reasons to Skip Rome
Italy he associated with grown-up matters, such as the fathering of children, and he secretly feared it, with the same instinctive fear he had of strong sunlight, the scent of … Continue reading
Get In Someone’s Way
Pen at the ready, the old man attempted to fill out his check, clutching the checkbook in one hand and scrawling with the other, so as not to hold up … Continue reading
before you go to the mall…
One of the secrets of the happy life is continuous small treats, and if some of these can be inexpensive and quickly procured so much the better. -Iris Murdoch. The … Continue reading
May We Never Be Intelligent
Intelligent people after the age of 30 read nothing at all. -W. Somerset Maugham. Cakes and Ale.
enjoy this particular day
One never took the time to savor the details; one said: another day, but always with the hidden knowledge that each day was unique and final, that there never would … Continue reading
The Nice Thing About Strangers 