The billboards give the streets a cinematic quality.
Ain`t they beautiful?
Stay tuned
The Highsmith was obsessed by snails. She kept about 300 in her home and took her favorite, Hortense, on travels. It is not surprising that the collection has 2 snail stories. The famous "The Snail Watcher" (10 pages) is about scientific interest that turns into obsession and then into horror. The 2nd snail story, "The Quest for Blank Claveringi" (19 pages), is a fairy tale that reminds of Brother Grimms`and also a bit of Robert Louis Stevenson´s South Sea Tales, set on a remote tropical island. The Highsmith showed that she is also a master in the genre of old fashioned (in a good sense) adventure stories.
"When the Fleet was at Mobile" is a sad story about an unfortunate girl. Highsmith`s tales are usually not friendly to women, but here she was. The story "Mr. Afton, Among the Gree Braes", focuses on a psychological analyst, inspired by her deep interest in psychology and the lectures of Sigmund Freud. In "The Heroine" a family hired a very strange girl as a nurse for their children and trusted her blindly? Really a good idea? In "The Barbarians" rowdy people play noisy ball games and destroy plants in the back yard, making the residents suffer. Reminds me of Manhattan´s Lower East Side and the late nightly open air parties.
Alone the snail stories are already worth reading the book.
I rekindled my interest in beer when I began to live in the US and got introduced into the varieties of American craft beers, especially IPS, and become a connoisseur of artisan fermented grain juices.
The little booklet "Exploring The Fascinating World Of Beer" by Marc Ferrari gives a nice introduction (about 75 pages amazon ). The author describes the history of beer - starting with the Sumerians - and tells how barley - or other grains - are turned into malt and then fermented into beer; he names the importance of the different kinds of yeast & hops and sketches the divergent brewing methods for lager beer ( including Pils ) and ales (including IPAs) and the importance of the mineral content of water. Ferrari also covers the economics of beer brewing, the influence of the industrial revolution & technological progress.
Health Aspects
I find especially the health aspects interesting. Beer reduces the risk of heart disease! "Beer contains antioxidants that help prevent to oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, also known as ´bad`cholesterol, which can lead to the formation of plaque in the arteries. Additionally, beer contains flavonoids, which have anti-inflammatory properties that can further reduce the risk of heart disease."
The book was written in a simple language - with plenty repeats - , but has a lot useful information and it hits the spot.
During Covid the rise suddenly accelerated and peaked in January 2021. The pandemic forced many to stay at home, to avoid crowded shops and to buy online. Therefore internet sales jumped up to 37.8% of the total retail sales. But when the pandemic came to an end, people went out again and restarted visiting shops - and e-commerce dropped relatively.
I expected that the pre-Covid trend will restart after a while - just on a lower level. But so far I have been proven wrong. In the recent 12 months the quotient dropped from 26.3% (April 2024) to 25.9% (April 2025).
What are the reasons? There are no reports that could explain the setback, I can only speculate. I suppose that many people had enough from the Covid curfews and enjoy going out even more. Maybe they prefer to go shops - crowded or not - where they can meet & watch other people?
But I believe that the advantages of online shopping - like fast & free deliveries to the home door and huge selections - will get even stronger over time and the upwards trend will return. Time will tell.
I just finished the collection "Valuable Humans in Transit and other Stories" (amazon ). The crisp 9 shorts and essays did not disappoint.
I have 3 favorites:
"Gorge", a slick space opera. The staff of a space ship discovers a sphere drifting in space that has very strange properties. They begin to explore it, with disconcerting results (this is a spoiler free block). The tale reminds of the best stories of Asimove & Clarke
"A Powerful Culture" belongs to the best alternate worlds & parallel universes stories I read - and I had read a lot
"The Frame-by-Frame" is a funny tale where the diverse software threads of a self-driving car are discussing with each other about a suddenly approaching challenging traffic situation, using all available information
The rest includes musings about cutting edge physicists and those who support them, digital brain enhancement, a hostage situation, a meteor disaster and more.
I indulged into qntm´s dry style. Here a taster: "The town is like fog; so spaced out that you barely notify you`ve entered it. I failed to find anything resemble a center. I couldn´t help but think it must be made entirely of suburbs".
Highly recommended for readers who are interested into cutting edge science fiction.
(Drivebycuriosity)
- The 17th century in England was a bloody mess, full of violence. After the death of Elizabeth I the Stuarts became kings. The son and the grand sons of Elizabeth`s nemesis Maria Stuart intended to turn England`s history back and tried to nullify the Anti-Catholic reforms of the Tudors. Especially the regime of Charles I, an absolutist and tyrannic ruler, ruined England and cost the lives of many. Charles`tyranny lead finally to a revolution and his execution in the year 1649, followed by a republic, led by Oliver Cromwell (very well described in Jonathan Healey`s "The Blazing World - A New History of Revolutionary England" my review ).
Robert Harris`novel "Act of Oblivion" begins about 20 years after the execution (amazon ). Another Stuart became king, Charles II, the son of the executed, another absolutist ruler & tyrant. It goes without saying that the new king started a bloody revenge and ordered a hunt for those who participated directly or indirectly on the execution, the regicides. The plot follows two of the regicides, who had fled over the ocean and tried to hide in the English colonies, and one (fictional) man, who has just one target, to catch the regicides and to kill them.
It is a sad & sinister plot, maybe about karma - this comes from that - and also about revenge, obsession, fanaticism, bigotry, superstition and politics. The plot is well told. Harris describes 17th century London, the roughness of the English American settlements, the violence of conflicting radicals and more impressively. "It seems that wherever you go, disaster follows".
But the plot became too depressing and the finale seems ridiculous & implausible too me. I stick with Healey`s history.
The post starts with "Disconnect" (2025, oil, pigment sticks and charcoal on canvas 96 x 120 inches, 244 x 305 cm) followed by "In a Trance" & "Hold Me".
Above follow "Time"; "Blue Moon" & "Power II".
To be continued
