Monthly Archives: June 2007

Not another post about books! At least it’s not another one about the rain (everyone loves the sushine). I am finally trying to be a little bit more “reasonable” about my purchases, but I just saw that Haruki Murakami’s most recent novel, After Dark, has finally come out in English. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but I already have a pretty long line of books on deck to finish before going on another book buying rampage. But, it’s Murakami, probably my favorite writer. So, I decided to order the book anyways, and because I hate to waste the effort on Amazon with only one purchase, I added Paul Bowles’ Let it Come Down to the list. Continue reading →

For the past year of so, I have been playing with a certain notion. I had almost forgotten about it until I had read the following passage from Streetwise, the second part in Mohamed Choukri’s autobiography. Streetwise is, by the way, horribly translated from Arabic to English in the edition I am reading, not that I am one to judge — I can only count from wahid to tissa wa tissaoune.

Café Central: 25.9.1961

The woman that I choose to live with for life will only be the right woman for me if she can keep me from going with other women. She must be all women to me. No other woman will have what she has. I’ll be able to pick her out in dark. When the candles go out, each of us will light the other. Even if they cover us with a veil of darkness, I shall see her and she will see me. I have still not found the ideal woman, for she will be a woman of extraordinary light, a woman of transparency.

Poets like to talk and write about love, but if my suspensions are correct, they actually fail miserably or, at best, are incredibly limited in their ability to love. When it comes to love, they are a superficial, shallow lot. Continue reading →