Quote de jour
"People die, but books never die."

Get ready to rock and scroll...

Every day for the past few weeks, I look out the bathroom window to the front garden, waiting for the leaves to fill in and hide the street and neighboring houses. As of this rainy morning, I'd say we're done.


Not too long ago I raved about Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. It was published posthumously and became a huge bestseller sixty odd years after her death at age 39 in Auschwitz. The author enjoyed success as a novelist, but I can't help wonder what other marvels she could have written had she survived the death camp. Her words carry extra weight in a recent poignant collection of recently translated short stories Dimanche and other Stories.  I've only read two so far, but I'm struck by
her timeless voice and loving her flawed and juicy characters navigating the ups and down of family life in France.



I like showing both views of book jackets but this morning I had an aha moment. What about the inside flap with the author photo and other credits? I don't know about you, but when I pick up a book, I immediately turn to the flap copy. I want to read the short blurb and see what the writer looks like. If I'm going to be spending a few hours with the author's words, I want to have a sense who they are. I also Google them to see if they have a website. I'm shocked that only one writer of this bunch has a website.



The Ask, the recent novel by Sam Lipsyte is a bleakly funny and smart social satire, but not a recommended bedtime read unless you want to feel like you've ingested a triple espresso. His dialogue heavy pages crackle at lightening speed. The first sentence reads, "America, said Horace, the office temp, was a run-down and demented pimp." If you like your humor black and corrosive and your protagonists loser anti-heroes, this one's for you.

Just when you think there's nothing new under the sun, there it is: something so quirky and clever words fail me except to say, Delighted States by Adam Thirlwell left me in a delighted state, and green with envy. It should be a crime for someone so young to be this clever. The book? New literary art form? has two front covers, loads of illustrations, photos, famous authors from four centuries as characters who reveal the art of the novel and the pitfalls of translation. The novel flips over for Mademoiselle O, a story by Nabokov translated by Thirlwell.



I've enjoyed reading articles by Staff writer for the New Yorker, Atul Gawande but for me, the most interesting thing about The Checklist Manifesto by the dear doctor Gawande.com were the crazy scribblings of a reader in this library copy. I confess to dog-earing books at times, but defacing them? If it's your own copy, go ahead, have a marginalia party. But, a library book? What narcissistic moron does that? The book is an elegantly written treatise on how life threatening mistakes can be avoided by implementing checklists. Note to self: re-size photos for a sharper image.





Of all the words and images contained in this pile, Nation Geo's feature on water is still haunting me. A staggering percentage, 1 in 8 people on this planet do not have clean drinking water. Clever solutions at CharityWater.org




If you've read something lately that you think is a 'must read' for me, let me know.