arab street

we spend a time moseying about the rug shop, HOM and i. the old magic comes back, of smells and touch and colors and whimsy, of places and weavers and back alleys and bargains. we almost commit to a gabbeh. we promise to return.

 

the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy - douglas adams (1979)

sneaky snarky and satisfying in the sense that sufficient incomprehensible and impossibly frayed threads are tied together at the premature end. 

i love:

• his sly style
• the line drawings
• and irreverent craziness

one can hardly believe one avoided this book earlier thinking it was an over-aspirational tourism brochure.

3 unfinishable reads

• the stuff of thought - steven pinker (2005). as mentioned, too pedantic to finish
• good economics for tough times - banerjee & duflo (2019). fascinating and rambling. the rambling won out in the end
• what's wrong with china - paul midler (2017). not being a sinophile but nevertheless having some rudimentary cultural awareness, i find this really tough going. the facts are okay but his interpretation is just a little off. it sounds like an angry white man rant

my recent abortive list is giving me a new perspective to the adage about kissing frogs.