Milan Kundera

Milan Kundera died in Paris. 

The Third Martini

The Third Martini by Chris Benson offers "[g]ood poems, incredibly inexpensive for the value."

Letter from Amish Country

Rachel Yoder visits the Amish in the July 2023 Harper's Magazine.

we didn't have much

"Vincent Jeanbrun, the mayor of the Paris suburb of L'Hay-les-Roses, whose home was attacked while his wife and children were asleep inside on Saturday, on Monday described the situation as 'a real nightmare.'

"'I myself grew up in L'Hay-les-Roses in these large housing blocks,' Jeanbrun, a member of the centre-right Les Republicains party, told BFM TV. 'Our life was modest, we didn't have much, but we wanted to overcome it, we had hope that we would make it with hard work.'"

Happy Birthday, America

It feels like we're nearing global catastrophe in the form of total world war, but for now, enjoy "the Rockets' red glare, the Bombs bursting in air" as one nation's goofy, if patriotic, song.

that's business for you

"He didn't go for lawyers and headaches . . . With this little spot of cash he was going to buy some simple straightforward business . . . something in the mechanical line . . . a going concern . . . repairing small cars . . . second-hand jalopies . . . That's always a profitable deal . . . In addition he'd take back his customers' lamps and horns . . . that was down his alley . . . He'd modernize them . . . There's always demand for little nickel and copper accessories . . . All you've got to do is keep up with the styles . . . You fix them up . . . and then you find a customer good for a three hundred percent profit . . . that's business for you! . . . He wasn't worrying . . . He knew all the tricks . . ."

~~ from Death on the Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Celine