Schottenfreude: German Words for the Human Condition By Ben Schott
08 Jan, 2023
Lovely clever book to dip into
For years, a few friends and I have shared a joke that starts "The Germans must have a word for..." and then we'd state the unusual situation. Most recently, I said, "The Germans must have a word for the feeling you experience near Christmas when you see books on your shelf that you received LAST Christmas that you still haven't read." One of my friends said, "I used to have a book about that...but it's out of print and expensive." I found a cheap copy on eBay... and it's a wonderfully funny little book to leaf through and dip into.
Humphrey Lyttelton - Humph Experiments (brand new CD 2008)
24 Apr, 2019
Old fashioned and marvellous!
Lovely old time jazz.
Terry Bisson Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories (Paperback)
28 Feb, 2024
Delightful, unusual volume -- charming stories
I first read about Terry Bisson (as I read about most science fiction or fantasy authors) in the pages of Interzone magazine, which much later I was proud to write for myself. There was something compelling and quirky about the Bisson interview and then, as a boy, I remember trying to find his work. I found TALKING MAN and VOYAGE TO THE RED PLANET, but the interview's reference to an award-winning story called 'Bears Discover Fire' had always been in the back of my mind. When the author died recently, I thought I'd do what little I could to honour his memory, and I bought the book with that story in it, also called BEARS DISCOVER FIRE. I'm about halfway through and it's a delightful volume.