Love, death, ghosts, and history. What a sad, funny, interesting and heart-squeezing novel. From Wikipedia: Many years ago, during a visit to Washington DC, my wife's cousin pointed out to us a crypt on a hill and mentioned that, in 1862, while Abraham Lincoln was president, his beloved son, Willie, died, and was temporarily interred …
I miss Thinking
In my late teens I used to go sit in all night cafe's by myself and think for hours on end. I imagined ways in which the world could work, other universes, strange consciousness, other creatures, alien landscapes--all without a smartphone or even a book. Just free refills of coffee and my imagination. I miss …
365 posts
With this post I have gone 1 full year in a row of posting every day. And that, is the result. I've had almost double the number of views this year than I had on my last highest year. And I've had more LIKES than I had views last year. And... I don't see a …
Despair, by Vladimir Nabokov
Schadenfreude--pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune. Nabokov, I am coming to find, is the master of this. The key to it, is to not identify too much with the person experiencing the misfortune, otherwise it becomes uncomfortable, cringy, awkward... but this, is not. You find yourself laughing with the most perfect satisfaction. And …
Mystery on the side
I'm listening to another Nabokov novel, and no surprise, it's great. This one is about a struggling businessman who also seems a bit mentally unstable, running across a vagrant who happens to look exactly like him. The instant he sees this face, a plan sparks in his mind. You can tell, but, you don't know …
Jonas David 