I read David Szalay’s All That Man Is and decided to book a day trip to Dresden from Prague, where I’d been staying for five days. It was a spur of the moment decision. But this is what my books do to me. In any case, the trip proved worthwhile. (Pssst…have you ever taken…
If reading is a form of escape, then travel is a way to enhance your imagination and deepen your experiences with the world. I spent a serene day walking into a world that could be a novel. Malá Strana Prague is an area also known as Lesser Town, or Little Side. Lesser Town was once…
Whenever you hear about Franz Kafka, the esteemed writer from Prague, the book you will hear mentioned is often The Metamorphosis. It is a book that bridges generations. I was recently in Prague, when a teenager in our tour group praised this book so highly. She and I—and our semi-retired tour guide—were able to get…
You may think of reading as a luxury, that it takes up the time your busy life cannot sustain. How about thinking of reading this way: it is a way to calm the nervous system and provide restoration. Reading is the medicine you need for the many challenges life tosses your way. An article published on…
I enjoy reading books about how people navigate love, loyalty, and conflict, because they provide a glance into how we handle internal monologues and decisions close to the heart. But reading about relationships from around the world offers an even better view of cultural nuances and helps me appreciate the many ways we relate to…
This year I returned to Liberia after three decades. I felt as if I needed to return to the source of my turmoil in order to be brave enough to venture on this new path of reading around the world and to slowly overcome my reclusiveness. I had to do so in order to heal….
I went to Argentina and searched for books. While I was familiar with Julio Cortázar and Jorge Luis Borges, my favorite Argentine writers, I wanted to find others. In Buenos Aires, I discovered Victoria Ocampo and Adolfo Bioy Casares. Whether you are reading about Argentina or planning to visit, here are four Argentine writers you…
I enjoy reading memoirs because I find the experience transformative. Memoirs introduce me to the intricacies of a culture or place that I may not have discovered otherwise. When I read personal stories that carry universal truths, I am reminded that I am not alone in this world, that there are people in other continents…
Walk around San Telmo, the oldest neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and you will find art. Art dances on the street, a slow street tango; it lingers in bookstores, on paperbacks written by Jorge Luis Borges; it simmers in coffee cups of artistically designed café con leches, it sits on street corners in frames, canvases,…
The ancient Greeks pioneered genres of world literature like philosophy, the epic poetry, and tragic drama, but this is not the sole reason you want to read the classics in Greece. My recommended reading from a Greek author is Homer’s The Odyssey, one of the earliest extant European literary works (I may talk about that…