Metroland by Julian Barnes

I started this novel yesterday. It's about these two British youths who love to make fun of people - especially bourgeois types. The goal is to scope out an "authority figure" or  some "uptight bloke" and then figure out a way to "pulls their chain." Sort of reminds you of Holden Caulfield - only more self-consciously European. Everyone's a phony, blimey.  But it looks like one of these characters is going to break ranks and actually grow-up. Hurray for that!

Japanese Alphabet

Color as a Source of Revelation

The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald

Visions of Summer in Provence

Summer conjures up dreamscapes like no other season. People often speak of that timeless sensation that you can get on a sunny day in July (if you're not in the middle of a heatwave). And if you're wondering where on earth such  colorful vistas actually exist, the answer is: Provence - in the south of France. 

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

I'm reading this book currently. It's about three aimless Americans exploring North Africa in the 1940s - after the war, who end up feeling alienated from the indigenous French/Muslim culture that surrounds them and confused by the unforgiving desert terrain. Sort of reminds me of a combination of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and Camus' The Stranger.  Was there a "lost generation" following on the heels of WWII? Apparently so...

SAT Words that begin with: "Q"

quackery n. Charlatanry
quadrate v. To divide into quarters.
quadruple v. To multiply by four.
qualification n. A requisite for an employment, position, right, or privilege.
qualify v. To endow or furnish with requisite ability, character, knowledge, skill, or possessions.
qualm n. A fit of nausea.
quandary n. A puzzling predicament.
quantity n. Magnitude.
quarantine n. Enforced isolation of any person infected with contagious disease.
quarrelsome adj. Irascible.
quarter n. One of four equal parts into which anything is or may be divided.
quarterly adj. Occurring or made at intervals of three months.
quartet n. A composition for four voices or four instruments.
quarto n. An eight-page newspaper of any size.
quay n. A wharf or artificial landing-place on the shore of a harbor or projecting into it.
querulous adj. Habitually complaining.
query v. To make inquiry.
queue n. A file of persons waiting in order of their arrival, as for admittance.
quibble n. An utterly trivial distinction or objection.
quiescence n. Quiet.
quiescent adj. Being in a state of repose or inaction.
quiet adj. Making no noise.
quietus n. A silencing, suppressing, or ending.
quintessence n. The most essential part of anything.
quintet n. Musical composition arranged for five voices or instruments.
quite adv. Fully.
quixotic adj. Chivalrous or romantic to a ridiculous or extravagant degree.