Astute Observations, Books, Diary

When Novels Mattered

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Important article by David Brooks in NY Times. He writes: I’m old enough to remember when novelists were big-time. When I was in college in the 1980s, new novels from Philip Roth, Toni Morrison, Saul Bellow, John Updike, Alice Walker and others were cultural events. There were reviews and counter-reviews and arguments about the reviews. It’s [Read More]
Astute Observations, Diary

Adam Gopnik on JFK

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On the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination Adam Gopnik writes an amazingly insightful review of the event that endless conspiracy literature that it has spawned. You will understand better why the event has been such a fertile ground of conspiracy stories and why the American public never saw the presidency in the same way [Read More]
Astute Observations, Diary

A Few Good Lines by Samuel Beckett

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  “Where I am, I don’t know, I’ll never know, in the silence you don’t know, you must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.”

“My mistakes are my life.”

“We are all born mad. Some remain so.”

“Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order.”

“Nothing is funnier than unhappiness.”

Astute Observations, Diary

The Midterm Election Analysis: In politics, perceptions often matter more than facts

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Hendrik Hertzberg provides the facts behind the defeat of the Democrats and highlights that Obama can show in the next two years that he is a great president by overcoming huge challenges. ELECTORAL DISSONANCE (New Yorker) Barack Obama had the mot juste last Wednesday for what had just befallen him and his party: a “shellacking.” The President’s image [Read More]