Tales of Seven

West With the Night

Lyrical and beautifully crafted, West with the Night is among the most wonderful books I have had the opportunity to read in recent years. Though its pages, Beryl Markam tells tale of her remarkable life as a horse breeder, adventurer and aviator in East Africa in the early 1900s. And she tells it with such skill that the reader can taste, smell and feel the air and light of Africa. That it is a highly recommended read goes without saying. Magic.

One of many memorable passages below:

"There are all kinds of silences and each of them means a different thing. There is the silence that comes with morning in a forest, and this is different from the silence of a sleeping city. There is silence after a rainstorm, and before a rainstorm, and these are not the same. There is the silence of emptiness, the silence of fear, the silence of doubt. There is a certain silence that can emanate from a lifeless object as from a chair lately used, or from a piano with old dust upon its keys, or from anything that has answered to the need of a man, for pleasure or for work. This kind of silence can speak. Its voice may be melancholy, but it is not always so; for the chair may have been left by a laughing child or the last notes of the piano may have been raucous and gay. Whatever the mood or the circumstance, the essence of its quality may linger in the silence that follows. It is a soundless echo." 

 

Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

A fond farewell to Arthur C. Clarke, for his vision, imagination and the sense of inspiration he gave us for the future.''

"If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run - and often in the short one - the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative."                                                                       - Arthur C. Clarke

Living in a Foreign Language

Following my recent post, A Week in Tuscany, I found a wonderful book that brings a flavorful taste of life in the Italian countryside. Living in a Foreign Language speaks of the food, lifestyle and culture of nearby Umbria, and makes me once again consider a lingering stay in this beautiful area. -- a nice read to inspire dreams of travel!

"[They] have a way of making breakfast into a full length play which unfolds in long, slow, Chekhovian acts - from yogurt and peaches into the cheese, prosciutto, tomatoes and panini, into the biscotti dipped in chestnut honey, all washed down with tea."

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In German. In Blue.

I was recently feeling a bit nostalgic and did a search on a treasured book I lost years ago to the black hole of 'overseas shipping'; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. My wonderfully unique copy was in German (I lived in Austria at the time and I first read the book in German) and all the ink in it was a royal blue.

Today I searched on "german hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy blue ink", and google faithfully fetched me the opportunity to buy a vintage set in blue and purple ink. I just purchased the happy little pair pictured below. Thanks, Google, for sending me a memorable little piece of my past!

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

With a recent trip to Jordan under my belt, I became interested in untangling the morass of information surrounding the Israeli / Palestinian conflict. In that spirit, I picked up Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, by Jimmy Carter and having just finished it, wanted to share these few comments about the book:

• Carter has had over 3 decades of frequent and direct contact both the leaders and everyday people on both sides, creating a rich and well informed perspective on the situation.
• He does an excellent job presenting the context of the conflict, walking readers through the region's history, players, and political dynamics, and flavoring each with interesting anecdotes.
• He has a strong and informed point of view on the reasons why agreements have failed and what needs to be done to bring peace to the region.

Particularly compelling are the descriptions of everyday life for millions of Palestinians who have lost their homes. I fear the U.S. media focus on cross-border attacks has overshadowed the desperate plight of those refugees, and Carter does an excellent job bringing our eyes back into focus.

A Fog to Inspire

It's been foggy the past few days, and foggy days inspire me to cozy up, light some candles, have a glass of wine, and open a little piece of the world through a book. My next set of books should ...

.... take me into the mind of an austistic savant, reveal something of the Middle East, spin two tales, and give a perspective on religion.

The reading list:

• Born on a Blue Day, Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant, Daniel Tammet
• Peace Not Apartheid, Jimmy Carter
• The Night Watch, Sarah Waters
• The Accidental, Ali Smith
• The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I've always enjoyed books that tell an interesting story while teaching me something about another culture.

I just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, and would highly recommend it. It paints a vivid picture of the lives of people surviving the tumultuous past two decades in Afghanistan, all wrapped in a story that is hard to set down.

 

To Change the Color of Your Sunglasses

It’s been stated that most people develop their core values and political beliefs quite early, and rarely switch those views as they travel through life.

From time to time, we come upon something remarkable in its ability to challenge our core beliefs and change our perspectives, allowing us to see the world through sunglasses of a different color.

I recently read the novel, Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand and would highly recommend for the thoughtful way it challenges some of our core assumptions about the role of government and the free market -- as well as its great story. It has fundamentally changed the way I view many current affairs.

In a similar vein, a friend sent me The Bottomless Well - The Twilight of Fuel, The Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy, by Peter Huber and Mark Mills. The title represents the very opposite of the the beliefs I hold today, and I look forward to seeing the value of their argument.