On holiday I again turned to my Kindle. This time a February retreat to a beautiful villa in a wind farm on Tenerife. The weather matched the dystopian mood of the book as a storm carrying Sahara sand descended. There was no sea, whitish emptiness where it was supposed to be. The wind turbines, by …
The notebook that burned, then. People who make a study of old documents have a name for this very kind of thing, a missing piece. lacuna, it's called. More memories bubble up every day. The sea cave in Isla Pixol, cold water on prickly boy-skin. Images, conversations, warnings. The first time seeing Frida in the …
I bought this book a few years ago in a second-hand bookshop. Then in the new apartment, it ended up on the dreaded shelf with all the books over 380 pages. I probably have some book commitment issues, because any book longer than 380 pages terrifies me. I feel like it's going to eat weeks …
I bought this book during my trip to Dubai in July 2019. While there I decided I should work on my reading of Middle Eastern writers since it was practically not existent. The book was shortlisted for The Man Booker International prize in 2018 and won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, so it felt …
The first book by Kate Atkinson I read was Life After Life, which I read before this blog existed, hence I won't torture you with a review. Then I read a few more and I feel like with every single one I am less and less convinced by Atkinson's style (Not the End of the World, …
'Do you want to fire me?' Juliet asked. 'You can, you know. I really wouldn't mind.' He clutched his hands to his heart in horror. 'Oh, goodness, Miss Armstrong. Of course not. I wouldn't dream of it. It's sound and fury, nothing more.' Juliet felt a pang of disappointment. She had been horribly attracted to …
It maintains that this insecurity is the result of trying to be secure, and that, contrariwise, salvation and sanity consist in the most radical recognition that we have no way of saving ourselves. There is, then, the feeling that we live in a time of unusual insecurity. In the past hundred years so many long-established …
Continue reading Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety – Alan W. Watts – Quotes
The principal thing is to understand that there is no safety or security. I bought this book last April when I was in New York for work. It was a really unstable time and even though I would normally steer clear of this type of book (or any books I perceive as self-help ones) I …
Continue reading Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety – Alan W. Watts
This is the second book in many ways: my second Remigiusz Mróz, second of his books I got as a gift and second in the series about Gerard Edling. I got it as a gift from my Bigger Half this year, which was a kind of no brainer, given that all Polish bookshops before Christmas …
In lieu of smoky jazz clubs, Parisian garrets and unsuitable boys, Simon took me out for birthday tapas last night and I got a bit more drunk than I meant to. I did achieve the inappropriate skirt and the whisky, though. Sadly, the whisky was just part of a cocktail in a very wanky hipster …
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