Category Archives: Books
What to do with all the Churches?
When I walked the West Highland Way in Scotland this summer, I couldn’t have known that it’s possible to experience one week of almost non-stop beautiful weather in Scotland. Therefore I had not brought my sleeping bag and had booked … Continue reading
Easily confused (30) Brothers
The Brothers Grimm: Grim brothers:
Easily Confused (29) Spies, cold and warm
The spy who came in from the cold: The spy who wants to go to a warm country:
Sad Things (7) Language Courses
Language Courses that have barely been used. Or not used at all. I believe millions of homes around the world are full of similar displays of short-lived motivation. One of my problems, apart from time and laziness, is that I … Continue reading
Easily Confused (26) Feminism
Feminism, as seen by women: Feminism, as seen by academics: Feminism, as seen by men:
Charles Ramsey is Burma Jones
My most favorite character in literature is Burma Jones. The only black, the only sane, possibly the smartest and yet the funniest person in A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, he works for “minimal wage” – not his only mispronunciation … Continue reading
Sad Things (# 6) Library Books
Sad: Buying a book in a library book sale which had been in the stock of the library for several decades but which hasn’t been on loan to a reader even once. Even more sad: Not reading this book in … Continue reading
Did you notice the Irony? (# 1)
Quite often when I read something that other people find tragic or outrageous or don’t even notice at all, I find that my first reaction is to think “Look at the irony behind that!” That is why I now start … Continue reading
Easily Confused (10) Big Breasts
“Big Breasts & Wide Hips”, a book by the Nobel Prize winning Chinese author Mo Yan: Big breasts and wide hips in Malta: Big breasts and wide hips in my imagination:
The Mo Yan Poll
My empty, questioning stare when I heard that this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature would go to the Chinese author Mo Yan showed me three things: that I don’t read enough books, that I don’t read enough literary supplements of … Continue reading
The Happy Hermit 