Everyday life in the later Roman Empire
Things found in books
Kingsley Amis and stiff drinks go together like stiff drinks and more stiff drinks
November has always struck me as distinctly blue. 'Blue pencils, blue noses, blue movies, laws, blue legs and stockings, the language of birds, bees, and flowers as sung by longshoremen, that lead-like look the skin has when affected by cold, contusion, sickness, fear...'
Pair this one with some Nick Drake if you, too, revel in autumnal melancholy.
In the endless universe there has been nothing new, nothing different. What has appeared exceptional to the minute mind of man has been inevitable to the infinite Eye of God. This strange second in a life, that unusual event, those remarkable coincidences of environment, opportunity, and encounter...all of them have been reproduced over and over on the planet of a sun whose galaxy revolves once in 200 million years and has revolved 9 times already
Lem the absolute madman! Like Kafka...IN SPACE
I've been devouring this one. Top-notch summer reading.
Been mighty excited to pick this one up. So far, so good!
NYRB 'til infinity
I kept thinking of Albert Camus, with not quite such sympathy as usual, and without coming to any conclusion, either.
