International – A Bookwoman’s Holiday

looking for books in the old Habsburg empire, a tale of three cities: pt 3 Prague

Prague is the fifth most visited city in Europe. Millions of travelers are attracted to this remarkably beautiful city by its art, architecture, history, and, it must be said, the amazingly cheap beer. It’s good beer, too, so the price is all the more surprising to the American craft beer drinker used to a ten dollar pint. This is the only place I’ve ever been where the beer in a restaurant costs less than the tap water.

But even with the thousands of holiday revelers filling the narrow streets of Old Town it’s possible to find a quiet pocket and an uncrowded museum. The Postal Museum, for example, where we were (by the guest book) the third visitors in a month. “Yes, yes, we’ve come to see your museum,” we assured the startled security guard. He flitted upstairs and fetched equally startled but welcoming staff who unlocked the cash box and took our admission fee.

Postage stamps carry a lot of political and cultural history between their tiny perforated borders. The Czechs are rightfully proud of their authors and literature so it’s no surprise to see them represented on stamps.

We’ve come to our last day in Prague and the end of our trip. We’ve honored the pledge to buy no books more in the spirit than the letter, but, still, I can lift our suitcases. We decide to reward ourselves and ask the hotel concierge for the best bookstore in Prague. With no hesitation she directs us to Luxor bookstore on Wenceslas Square. A little map study told us it would be a longish walk but doable. A few wrong turns turned it into a very long walk. On the bright side, we saw more of the city and enjoyed a really excellent pastry and coffee just when we needed reviving. And we did reach the Square and had a very pleasurable browse through the large selection of history books. Tired legs are forgotten when you find something special!

looking for books in the old Habsburg empire, a tale of three cities: pt 2 Vienna

Vienna at Christmas time is purely wonderful. All the constant pleasures of the city – the coffee houses and cafes, the museums, the arts and music performances, the shops – are magnified by the seasonal festivity. Huge displays of lights, decorations, and Christmas markets seemingly around every corner make it a delight to stroll the streets.

We did pop in to a couple of bookstores as we passed by, just to enjoy the sight and smell of books, but didn’t go looking for them. For new ones, anyway. The Tyrolia bookshop behind St. Stephan’s Cathedral is an old favorite. Not a big store but it always has something to add to my husband’s library.

Books have a way of finding me, though, or perhaps, being a bookish person, I just notice them more. I was casually viewing the Lower Belvedere’s collection of medieval art when I noticed a book in a saint’s hand. Then another, writing in a book, and another in his study with untidy bookshelves behind him!

The best and most unexpected book appearance was at the Weltmuseum (Ethnographic Museum). Was it really chance that led me down that bland hallway or were my steps guided by some magnetic force pulling me to discover Chaekgeori? And why was the exhibit extended by more than a month until I would be there? Methinks there be mysterious bookish powers at work.

Someone thought it would be a good idea to celebrate the 130th anniversary of Austrian-Korean diplomatic relations. I don’t know that I would have, but I am delighted that it prompted this terrific exhibit. Chaekgeori translates as “books and things” and refers to a tradition of painting an arrangement of books, shelves, small treasures and objects. The style moved from scholarly court paintings into Korean folk art and continues to engage contemporary artists. All completely new to me and so interesting and so much fun.

I bought the catalog, of course, but it’s small and hardly added any weight to the suitcase. Oddly, though the exhibit captions included English, the catalog is only Korean/German. Good thing I’m happy just to look at the pictures!

looking for books in the old Habsburg empire, a tale of three cities: pt 1 Bratislava

Strictly speaking, we weren’t looking for books on our holiday trip. “We’re packing light, right? Only carry-ons, right? So we can’t buy books this trip.” I said. “Only carry-on, keep it light!” my husband agreed, “No books. Unless we find something really special, of course. Surely one or two would fit?” Our good intentions lasted into the second day.

And to be fair, I was the one who broke first. When touring the Bratislava castle the visitor must pass through a really attractive museum shop to reach the medieval tower. One would think it safe for the non-Slovak speaker to walk past the abundant displays of books. One would be wrong. “Oh look,” I said. “The exhibit catalogs are bilingual!”

Reading List 2023

December

A Train Of Powder by Rebecca West, Viking 1946
description and analysis of the Nuremberg Trials with a few additional essays on notable post-war criminal trials; she was a remarkable stylist

November

Pursuit by Luis Alfredo Garcia-Roza, translated from the Portuguese by Benjamin Moser; (c2003) Henry Holt 2006
intriguing ambiguous psychological mystery

The Murderers by Fredric Brown, (c1961) Library of America Crime Novels: Five Classic Thrillers 1961-1964 2023
smoothly told story of unattractive characters on fringes of Hollywood and the Beat culture

The Name of the Game Is Death by Dan J. Marlowe, (c1962) Library of America Crime Novels: Five Classic Thrillers 1961-1964 2023
compelling amoral protagonist; driving, intense first person narrative

The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes, (c1963) Library of America Crime Novels: Five Classic Thrillers 1961-1964 2023
beautifully written, sharply observant of locale and social issues

Herbie’s Game by Timothy Hallinan, Soho 2014
Junior Bender, burglar and detective in either order, is always a good time

The Score by Richard Stark, (c1964) Library of America Crime Novels: Five Classic Thrillers 1961-1964 2023
very polished style, his popular character Parker robs a whole town

A Killer in King’s Cove by Iona Whishaw, TouchWood 2016
very enjoyable mystery with appealing female sleuth; start of a series set in late ’40s in a small BC town

October

Pompeii by Robert Harris, Random House 2003
a terrifically entertaining historical thriller that also carries lots of interesting information on volcanology and Roman engineering techniques

My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor, Europa Editions 2023
from the neutral Vatican City, an Irish priest and allies organize the rescue and escape of prisoners from the Nazi controlled Rome

Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky; (c2015) New Directions edition 2017
thoughtful, compassionate story of migration; retired professor is drawn into the struggles of a group of African refugees in Berlin; prose is understated and intense and lyrical, a very fluent translation

Disaster at the Vendome Theater by M. L. Longworth, Penguin 2022
smooth agreeable read, death in a Provence theater

Random Acts Of Medicine: The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, And Shape Our Health by A. Jena,MD and C. Worsham,MD; Doubleday 2023
thought-provoking and lively accounts of the authors’ natural experiments that examine the ways unconscious biases, assumptions, and habits impact health care

Waiting to Be Arrested at Night, A Uyghur Poet’s Memoir of China’s Genocide by Tahir Hamut Izgil, translated by Joshua Freeman; Penguin Press 2023
the large scale horror of Uyghur oppression made intimate and personal in this quiet, deeply moving memoir

A Chess Story by Stefan Zweig, translated by Alexander Starritt;(c1941) Pushkin Press 2013
an Austrian man enduring psychological torture in Nazi prison finds first salvation in chess, then obsession to near madness

September

The Acid Test by Elmer Mendoza, translated from the Spanish by Mark Fried; (c2011) MacLehose Press 2016
Mendoza wrings some very black humor from the outbreak of the Mexican drug wars; things have only gotten worse for Detective Lefty Mendieta since we met him and his colleagues in Silver Bullets

Linger Awhile by Russell Hoban, Bloomsbury Publishing 2006
Hoban (author of the beloved/cult children’s novel A Mouse and His Child) is a marvelous singular imagination; an elderly fan obsessed with a 1950s B Western star brings her to life from a soup of video particles and alchemical ingredients blended in “a suspension of disbelief”

The Hanged Man Of Conakry by Jean-Christophe Rufin, translated from the French by Alison Anderson; (c2018) Europa edition 2022
unusual setting in a small African port city and an endearing odd duck detective

August

Summer Lightning by P. G. Wodehouse, read by Martin Jarvis; (c1929) AudioGO 2011
a brilliant reading/performance of one of the Blandings Castle stories

The Order Of The Day by Eric Vuillard, translated from the French by Mark Pollizotti; (c2017) Other Press 2018; 2017 winner of Prix Goncourt
Vuillar uses the Nazi annexation of Austria as a prism to reveal the facets of greed, cowardice, and self-delusion that drive history; it has the “can’t look away” quality of a horror story, I read it one sitting
“We never fall twice into the same abyss. But we always fall the same way, in a mixture of ridicule and dread.”

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey 2023
clever and entertaining story set in the remnants of the film industry in ’90s Mexico City; delightful characters, the plot and tone of a classic ’30s horror film

Some Prefer Nettles by TANIZAKI Junichiro, translated from the Japanese by Edward G. Seidensticker; Knopf 1955
subtle study of the strains and conflicts of modernity and tradition in postwar Japan

Gentleman of Leisure by P. G. Wodehouse, read by Frederick Davidson; (c1915) Blackstone Audio 20
delightful “Gentleman Burglar” story; wish I could have seen Douglas Fairbanks in the stage adaptation

The Two-Pound Tram by William Newton, Bloomsbury 2003
a seemingly artless, delightful tale of two young brothers in England 1937

Maude Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks, Harper and Row 1953
glimpses into the life of a young Black woman in Chicago; from girlhood when she saw herself as a dandelion, beautiful in everydayness, to maturity when she shows the resilience of the dandelion which blooms again no matter how harsh the winter (book group)

The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, Sort Of Books 2022
2022 Booker Prize a story of remarkable energy and imagination, a veritable torrent of words – comic, angry, satiric, tender – critiques the Sri Lanka civil war

Flowers Over The Inferno by Ilaria Tuti, translated from the Italian by Ekin Oklap; (c2018) Soho Press 2019
intriguing mystery with an unusual and sympathetic 60ish woman police detective

Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing as We Age by Mary Pipher, Bloomsbury 2019
calm and encouraging observations on living well into old age

Beton Rouge by Simone Buchholz, translated from the German by Rachel Ward; (c2017) Orenda Books 2019
a really well written noir set in Hamburg; Buchholz is a very distinctive stylist creating vivid characters and scenes with exceptional economy

July

Lying Awake by Mark Salzman, Vintage 2000
a beautiful novel, a restrained and insightful exploration of the interplay of Grace and self-doubt in spiritual life

To The Lake, A Balkan Journey Of War And Peace by Kapka Kassabova; Graywolf Press 2020
a unique blend of memoir/travelogue/history; the author’s search for her family’s stories builds a rich multi-layered portrait of the cultural and natural history of the Balkans; exceptionally beautiful prose, a memorable book

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra, Hogarth 2023
bittersweet comic novel centering on the cast of a poverty-row Hollywood studio; it felt overstuffed and overwritten sometimes, but I really enjoyed some of the stories; funny and heartfelt

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane, FSG 2022
deceptively simple Australia 1883 outback story of a lost child; like the title, which is a Swedish not aboriginal phrase for sunset, the human and natural landscapes are complex and full of unexpected connections (book group)

The Shape Of Water by Andrea Camilleri, translated from the Italian by Stephen Sartarelli; (c1994) Penguin 2002
first of long-running series with Inspector Montalbano in Sicily

Kafka on the Shore by MURAKAMI Haruki, translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel; (c2003) Vintage 2005
interesting mix of the magical and the mundane, of philosophy and (tedious) Freudian psychology, of the culturally hip and the mysterious natural world

Travelers to Unimaginable Lands: Stories Of Dementia, The Caregiver, And The Human Brain by Dasha Kiper, Random House 2023
skillful blend of case histories and research into brain function; the author’s unique and valuable perspective illuminates the ways our brains shape the interactions between ‘patient’ and caregiver

June

Claiming Ground by Laura Bell, Vintage 2011
a memoir of a woman who makes a life in the remote Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming; laconic in the best western way; spare honed language carries deeply felt reflections on her own experience and the mountain community

The Mystery of Hunting’s End by Mignon G. Eberhart, (c1930) Univ. of Nebraska 1991
the 2023 “One Book One Nebraska” selection; Eberhart was a major contributor to the “Golden Age” of mystery writing; this is an entertaining story in the Country House category with the guests trapped in a blizzard in a remote Sand Hills hunting lodge

Cold Hearted River by Keith McCafferty, Penguin Books 2017
a particularly enjoyable entry in the Sean Stranahan series set in Montana fly-fishing country; the plot revolves around the possible reappearance of Ernest Hemingway’s lost case of fishing gear

Mirror, Sword And Jewel, The Geometry of Japanese Life by Kurt Singer; Kodansha 1973
probing, insightful analysis of Japanese culture and history

A View by the Sea by YASUOKA Shotaro, translated from the Japanese by Karen Wigen Lewis; (c1958) Columbia University Press 1984
a cool, unsentimental examination of the post-war family in prose precise and filled with images

May

How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner, Currency 2023
might have been titled “get done so badly”; eye-opening analysis of those mega-projects that seem always to be over-budget and over-schedule

Life and Death of Harriett Frean by May Sinclair, (c1922) Penguin Books/ViragoPress 1980
well crafted psychological novel prompted good discussion (book group)

I Will Have Vengeance: The Winter Of Commissario Ricciardi by Maurizio De Giovanni, translated from the Italian by Anne Milano Appel; (c2007) Europa ed 2012
it’s 1931 in Naples, the first story of the Commissario set at the opera; distinctive delightful noir

Making the Cut by Jim Lusby, Orion 1995
Irish mystery, well-drawn characters and an entertainingly twisty story

Like A Sword Wound by Ahmet Altan, translatd from the Turkish by Brendan Freely and Yelda Turedi; (c1997) Europa 2018
marvelous language, an engrossing many-layered story of the last days of the Ottoman empire; first in the Ottoman Quartet

The April Dead by Alan Parks, Europa 2021
one of Europa’s World Noir imprint; Parks is an intelligent and skillful writer but his ’70s Glasgow is a very very dark place

April

The Engagement by Simenon, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis; (c1933) NYRB 2007
early non-Maigret novel; unsettling, pitiless and cold even for a noir

American Midnight: The Great War, A Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis by Adam Hochschild, Mariner Books 2022
author is a notable writer of popular histories; examines the social hysteria, paranoia, and cruelties triggered and given license with America’s entry into WWI

Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders At America’s Edge by Ted Connover, Knopf 2023
life on the rural margins if not quite off-grid, a close look at the San Luis valley in south central Colorado (includes Great Sand Dune NP)

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey, Soho 2018
ambitious effort to portray the social and cultural complexities of 1920’s India in a mystery story

Fragile Cargo: The World War II Race to Save the Treasures of China’s Forbidden City by Adam Brookes, Atria Books 2022
fascinating and well-told story of the extraordinary efforts made by the museum’s staff to protect the many fragile precious pieces of the collection

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor, Riverhead Books 2023
sprawling gaudy story of crime and wealth in contemporary India

The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen, translated from the Finnish by David Hackston; Orenda Books 2021
a unique voice in Nordic noir crime fiction; a warm, hilarious, absurdist thriller

Blood Curse: The Springtime of Commissario Ricciardi by Maurizio De Giovanni, translated from the Italian by Antony Shugaar; (c2008) Europa 2018
Naples, 1931 mystery story; beautifully written, wonderfully atmospheric

The Greatest Slump Of All Time by David Carkeet, Harper and Row 1984
an exceptional, insightful comic novel of depression; players on a baseball team struggle with personal “slumps” as the team is mysteriously successful

March

Tokyo Zodiac Murders by SHIMADA Soji, translated from the Japanese by Ross and Shika Mackenzie; (c1981) Pushkin Vertigo ed 2015
complex puzzle story

Killshot by Elmore Leonard, William Morrow 1989
tremendously entertaining, great dialogue leavens the tension

52 Pick-up by Elmore Leonard, Secker and Warburg 1974
first of his crime novels; a blazing fast read because I couldn’t put it down

The Boat of Longing by O.E. Rolvaag, translated from the Norwegian by Nora O. Solum; (c1933) Minnesota Historical Press 1985
a moving story of immigration, its hopes and costs; lovely, lyrical language in the descriptions of the sea and life in Norwegian fishing village (book group)

Picture in the Sand by Peter Blauner, Minotaur Books 2023
pure storytelling pleasure; a young Egyptian man caught up in the political turmoil of post-British Egypt in the 1950’s while working on the deMille production of The Ten Commandments

Nights of Plague by Orhan Pamuk, translated from the Turkish by Ekin Oklap; Knopf 2022
a tremendous novel, expansive in themes and engrossing in character and story; bubonic plague strikes a small island in the waning days of the Ottoman empire

Crashed by Timothy Hallinan, Soho Press 2012
a Hollywood comic crime novel with sharp writing and great characters; if you like this kind of thing, which I do, it’s a delight – I rationed the pages to savor the dialogue

In The Morning I’ll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty, Seventh Street Books 2014
1980’s Belfast, police detective solves a classic locked room mystery to catch an IRA bomber

Counting Sheep, A Celebration of the Pastoral Heritage of Britain by Philip Walling; Profile Books 2014
a remarkably interesting and enjoyable guide to all things sheep in the UK, historically and today; really a delightful book, especially for anyone who has enjoyed the sight of “woolies” dotting the hills and countryside of Britain

China After Mao, The Rise of a Superpower by Frank Dikotter; Bloomsbury 2022
a superbly readable account, dense with economic and historical detail and enlivened with anecdotes and personalities; the consistent repression and economic mismanagement described should finish the foolish expectations of democratic change; the chapter on the Tiananmen Square massacre is masterful and devastating

Iced In Paradise by Naomi Hirahara, Prospect Park Books 2019
another enjoyable, well written story from Hirahara; the mystery has a nice twist but the chief pleasure is in the picture of life on one of the smaller Hawaiian islands

Three Roads Back: How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded To The Greatest Losses Of Their Lives by Robert D. Richardson; Princeton Univ. Press 2023
a slim, thoughtful reflection on the impact grief had on the thought and lives of the three men and how their resilience can be models for each of us

February

Idol, Burning by USAMI Rin, translated from the Japanese by YONEDA Asa; (c2020) Harpervia 2022
sympathetic portrayal of a teenage girl and her obsession with a J-pop idol; winner of Akutagawa Prize

Billie Starr’s Book of Sorries by Deborah E. Kennedy, Flatiron Books 2022
2nd grader Billie collects the “Sorry” excuses and explanations she hears from adults

Second-Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta, George Braziller 1975
strongly autobiographical novel of a woman determined to be educated and independent; propulsive narrative takes Adah from childhood in Nigeria to the London slums as a young mother

A Death in Tokyo by HIGASHINO Keigo, translated by Giles Murray; (c2011) Minotaur Books 2022
a classic procedural with Detective Kaga; psychological insight, deeply moral

Evil Things by Katja Ivar, Bitter Lemon Press 2019
solid mystery story set in early 1950’s Finland, introduces an interestingly complex female detective who solves a tricky case in Lapland

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo, Tom Doherty Books 2022
modest novella about the value and importance of stories, personally and culturally; set in an appealing China-ish fantasy world

Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah, Bloomsbury 2017
deceptively powerful novel; a story of lives disrupted in the post-colonial turmoil of 1970’s Zanzibar told in such measured subtle prose that I was immersed before I noticed my feet were wet

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker, (c1991) Scribner 2021
a very witty, very odd novel, a bit unsettling but wonderfully entertaining for the language and dark comedy (book group)

January

Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer, (c1944) Poisoned Pen Press 2021
a delightful entertainment, like the classic elements of a Golden Age mystery exuberantly exploding from a Christmas Cracker

The Heretic by Liam McIlvanney, Europa 2022
intricate procedural in darkest Glasgow

Gaia, Queen of Ants by Hamid Ismailov, translated from the Uzbek by Shelley Fairweather-Vega; Syracuse Univ. Press ed. 2020
the stories of intriguing empathetic characters, all shaped by the political turmoil of their homelands, are intertwined with myths and folktales of Central Asia; lots of food for discussion in Book Group

Double Wide by Leo W. Banks, Brash Books 2017
I’m calling this very entertaining western mystery/thriller ‘noir light’ – lots of tough and snappy dialogue, characters on the fringe of Southwest society, but the exbaseball player protagonist is just too likeable for Noir (that’s a good thing)

The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan, translated from the Ukrainian by R. Costigan-Humes and I. Stackhouse Wheeler (c2017) Yale University Press 2021
an intense, gripping story of war at the Ukrainian-Russian border as a trip across town to reach the orphanage becomes a three day nightmarish journey; brilliantly conveys the confusion of identity and loyalty in the community, the confusion and uncertainty of the military action, and the misery and suffering of everyone

The Marshal at the Villa Torrini by Magdalen Naab, (c1993) Soho Press 2009
one of an excellent series of mysteries set in Florence; beautifully written with a very appealing and singular detective character

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman, Viking 2022
the Thursday Murder Club solves a cold case in this third book of the improbably entertaining, witty, and warmhearted series

The Slowworm’s Song by Andrew Miller, Europa 2022
subtle, exquisite prose; a story of finding a way out of the trauma and guilt from a tragic mistake, the possibilities of healing and reconciliation

Book News – “The Passenger”

The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz is another forgotten novel having a belated popular success. The Deutsche Welle news site gives an interesting back story to the novel’s creation and rediscovery.

https://www.dw.com/en/the-passenger-how-a-forgotten-nazi-era-novel-became-a-bestseller/a-57608623

One has to wonder at and admire the determination of small publishers everywhere who continue to bring fresh voices and viewpoints to the marketplace. How boring would it be to see only mass market titles in your favorite bookstore? Readers unite! Show your appreciation, take a chance on an unknown author. Go to that favorite (independent one, I hope) bookstore in person or online and buy a small-press book today!

https://www.dw.com/en/how-do-independent-publishers-in-germany-survive/a-48196635

2020 in books

I try always to carry a book with me for those times when I anticipate or fear I might have to wait – the doctor’s office, obviously, but to smooth all those little gap times between the activities in a day too.

“Waiting” is what this past year has been about and books have helped a lot. I read more, though not as much as I thought I would. Streaming K-Dramas helped a lot too, and going for walks. And of course, food must be prepared and the house cleaned even when largely housebound, so, all in all, more books were read but not an especially large total.

I read 77 books in 2020, 25 non-fiction and 52 fiction. 28 titles were works translated into English. The desire for escapist entertainment must account for the number of mysteries in the list, but the quality was generally quite high across all genres. It was a bit hard to pick only ten for the years’ “best” list. See the Post ‘Reading List 2020’ for more information on each book.

10+3 Favorites for 2020

Non-Fiction

A House in the Mountains by Caroline Moorhead
Black Count by Tom Reiss
Enemy of All Mankind by Steven Johnson
The Anatomy of a Moment by Javier Cercas (transl. Spanish)

Fiction

The Return by Hisham Matar
Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb (transl. Hungarian)
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin (transl. German)
Death is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa (transl. Arabic)
Darkness At Noon by Arthur Koestler (transl. German)
Measuring The World by Daniel Kehlmann (transl. German)

I reread The Lord of the Rings trilogy and must put it in the “always a favorite” category.

Special recognition in the ‘just plain fun’ category for The Glorious Hussar by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Best new-to-me mystery discovery is Death On Demand by Paul Thomas. The earlier titles in the short series aren’t readily available here. I liked this so much I sent to a bookseller in New Zealand for copies of the other four novels featuring Maori Detective Ihaka. The internet is good for some things!

wounds of melancholy

( in medieval Estonia, a student hopes to make a fresh start at a new University)

Laurentius sighed in exasperation, closed his eyes, and started making a serious effort to get to sleep. The carriage shook monotonously, the wheels engaging the furrows in the weathered road surface with a regular measured rhythm, like the swinging of a clock’s pendulum. He imagined that the carriage was a large golem made by Rabbi Eliyah, with people stuffed into its stomach like strips of paper, each one with the name of the Lord written on it. But how does that strip of paper feel inside the mchine’s stomach? Does it have its own place there, or is it just passing through, whiling the time away in boredom? What is it like inside a human? Where does the soul come from, and where does it go? What about inside his parakeet?

Laurentius shook his head and looked around uneasily. He didn’t want to get bogged down in those kinds of thoughts – he had to make sure he stayed rational. But he couldn’t help himself. Fragments of thoughts, individual sentences and memories permeated the edge of his consciousness like blood soaking into a bandage. This was the wound of his consciousness, which he dressed and treated, but to no avail. Laurentius had tried to immerse himself in learning, literature, theatre, other people’s company, anything to soothe this wound and help it heal. But it festered; the same thoughts kept recurring and the bad blood kept rising to the surface.

from The Willow King by Meelis Friedenthal

you’re old when…

“…maybe I’m getting old.”

“Don’t be cute. You’re not even fifty.”

“What’s that got to do with it? At my age, not long ago, people were already old, or almost. My father died at fifty-seven; my other didn’t live much longer. Now everybody wants to be young; I understand, but it’s a bit stupid. It seems to me the fun in all this is being young when you’re young and being old when you’re old; in other words: you’re young when you don’t have memories and you’re old when behind every memory you find a bad memory. I’ve been finding them for a while now.”

from the novel Outlaws by Javier Cercas

The Cemetery of Forgotten Books

As I walked through the tunnels and tunnels of books…I felt myself surrounded by million of abandoned pages, by worlds and souls without an owner sinking in an ocean of darkness, while the world that throbbed outside the library seemed to be losing its memory, day after day, unknowingly, feeling all the wiser the more it forgot.

Destiny is usually just around the corner…But what destiny does not do is home visits. You have to go for it.

from The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

the book as keepsake and souvenir: Shots from a Lawyer’s Gun

Among the many reasons I have too many books in my home, one of the most difficult to resist is sentimental attachment. I have practiced a fairly ruthless approach to the memorabilia issue, what might be called the detritus of a life. Precious little of it remains, making what does, perhaps, more precious than any evident value. And books, for me certainly, are among the most potent carriers of meaning and connections. Beyond its intrinsic merit, a book can also serve as a tangible link to a special person, a connection to the past, or a prompt for treasured memories.

I think a well-worn copy of Cheaper By The Dozen by Frank Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey is the only relic of my early school years. Holding it, seeing my name so carefully printed on the endpaper, I feel like laughing again with that lively family and at the memories conjured of my own family growing up.

I like receiving books as gifts but am wary of the danger of conflating gift with giver. I also like to give books, but almost never write an inscription. No pressure, you’re free to pass it on as you like. A written name works a kind of binding magic on me. One day while sorting books for the library book sale I opened an old dictionary to see my husband’s name and college address. It was an artifact of a time before I knew him, finding me somehow forty years later. Of course I brought it home.

My husband and I buy lots of books when we travel, only a few of which, museum guides for instance, might be classified as trip souvenirs. Many will prompt memories of a trip, of course, but that is an incidental function. Possibly only one time did I buy a pretty random book just to have a keepsake. The purity of its purpose can be seen in that I only got around to reading it this month, 17 years later, when a memory of carefree travel seemed especially desirable.

So, my daughter and I were walking across England – I love saying that, and it was absolutely one of the best things I have ever done – when our knees demanded a rest day. We took a tiny bus, slowly, sharing the road with many sheep, into the town of Shap where we spent a delightful day. We watched lawn bowling, walked to some ruins, ate Stilton with apricots (who knew it came in anything but blue?), and found a used bookshop. The shop keeper seemed very dubious about two Americans in boots and packs, and was rather short with my query for “something about sheep”. Undeterred, I browsed until I found something that looked rather jolly.

I was looking at a book about English Game Laws, popular enough to have gone to a 6th edition in 1927. The author’s preface was highly humorous and many charming pen and ink cartoon sketches enlivened the text. No sheep, alas, but stories of real life in English countryside seemed a good alternative. I paid a few pounds, tucked it into my pack, and eventually carried it across the ocean to sit until whim should call for it.

So there it was, waiting for this right moment when I really wanted something that would take me traveling again if only in memories. And it turned out to be an interesting and rather entertaining account of a slice of English life and law. The author has a sharp wit and flair for anecdotes. The drawings are a welcome leaven to the mind-boggling intricacies of the laws and their application. The layers of laws, rights, and customs and the contradictions implicit and in practice are beyond the explication of even so skillfully plain a stylist as our author.

Really, although entertained, I felt quite baffled and concluded this was definitely more than I wanted to know about when and when not one may within the law shoot a particular animal/bird, or the circumstances when it is acceptable or prohibited to carry same away. My confusion seemed generally shared among the characters populating the stories of poachers, tenants, and feuding neighbors who seek counsel from Mr. Six-and-Eight in his chambers. At least, much work is made for lawyers and much talk for the pub. As learned counsel has it, “Nothing is certain in law except the expense.”