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A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.


The waves churning in at a beach somewhere. Calverts Beach, South Arm Peninsula. February 2011.

The other day I was fortunate enough to move desks at work. I’ve moved away from strip florescent lighting, a main street-type thoroughfare and some noisy neighbours to a big picture window, with a million dollar view of the river and (best of all), no florescent lighting.

I’m prepared to tolerate the effing and blinding of some of the clients down below.

We might have to talk about all those car horns though.

Onto books!

Circumstances have seen me pressed for time this week, so I only finished the one: Victor Pelevin’s collection of short stories, The Blue Lantern.

As a fan of post-Soviet black comedies, Pelevin is right up my alley. The Blue Lantern appeared in 1992, and is infused with the kind of disorder that you’d expect to find in the confusion of the collapse of the USSR. Very ‘Russian’ in tone, this is a fantastic collection well worth checking out.


Still more waves. Calverts Beach, South Arm Peninsula. February 2011.

Comments

Dianne said…
Fabulous photos of the waves Kris - Now if I were a tad younger I might try some beach surfing.
"Adelaide and Beyond"
smudgeon said…
I read Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Pevelin last year some time. I think I might have been missing something, but it had all the post-Soviet bits & pieces (oil barons & new rich, hitmen, crumbling architecture, etc), and it wasn't too bad.

Congratulations on the desk move - in relative terms, it's one of the few true joys of working for the Gov!
smudgeon said…
Pelevin. My mistake.
Kris McCracken said…
Dianne, well worth it at any age!

Me, the Blue Lantern is well worth having a look at.

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