You got the same book twice for Christmas, which is either a sign that you're very predictable or that you have excellent taste and people know it. Jenny Erpenbeck at 71 pages—that's the correct spine width for December. Things appearing and disappearing, East Berlin, expensive cheese vanishing, the death of courtesy, the decline of German pastries—this is exactly the kind of melancholic European meditation that makes you feel smart and sad at the same time.
"I'm not interested in the variations, I'm interested in the essentials." That's good. That's the whole thing right there.
Your essays bring me such joy! Thank you for sharing your lovely words with the world!
your last paragraph !!!! yes!!
You got the same book twice for Christmas, which is either a sign that you're very predictable or that you have excellent taste and people know it. Jenny Erpenbeck at 71 pages—that's the correct spine width for December. Things appearing and disappearing, East Berlin, expensive cheese vanishing, the death of courtesy, the decline of German pastries—this is exactly the kind of melancholic European meditation that makes you feel smart and sad at the same time.
"I'm not interested in the variations, I'm interested in the essentials." That's good. That's the whole thing right there.