On wrong books for traveling, and fated new ones
“There is something charmingly serendipitous about the English books you find in strange countries.”
“There is something charmingly serendipitous about the English books you find in strange countries.”
Housing Works Bookstore has organized a group reading of Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” in support of Occupy Wall Street, 11/10, 3 p.m. Join us if you’re free. 60 Wall St.
Despite being a relatively committed agnostic, I’ve recently become obsessed with Bertrand Russell. I’m working my way through several of his books at once, and especially enjoying his autobiography. So far, not quite a fifth of the way through, it’s perceptive, precise, and often funny, but also serious — tormented, even — without being pretentious. “Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly . . .
The first installment of my new microcolumn, “The Historical Record,” ran in The New York Times Magazine on Sunday alongside some other quickies, including Lizzie Skurnick’s brilliant (and useful!) “That Should Be A Word.” This one concerns astrology, from Chaucer to Susan Miller. A friend who, like me, is drawn to the stars, says astrology shouldn’t and possibly doesn’t work . . .