Michael Ondaatje – Travel Readings

Java, Indonesia: “Beauty is a Wound” by Eka Kurniawan : Can a square become a circle? It’s the inverse of the classic geometric problem of squaring a circle. A visit to Borobudur on the Indonesian island of Java gave me Continue Reading →

Montevideo: “The Truce” by Mario Benedetti : One of the reasons I write this blog is that I like to read novels that describe the place I’m traveling to. For my recent stay in Montevideo, I chose Continue Reading →

Kanchanaburi, Thailand: « The Bridge over the River Kwai» by Pierre Boulle and « Kwaï » by Vincent Hein : Probably the most famous cadence whistles in cinema history. As I was spending a day exploring the Bangkok area, my Lonely Planet reminded me that the famous “Bridge over the Continue Reading →

Rwanda: “Jacaranda” by Gaël Faye : I just missed Gaël Faye’s visit to “La Page d’Après”, the bookshop my sister-in-law Floriane opened in Louvain-la-Neuve just over a year ago. Interest was so great that they had Continue Reading →

Walking London

Posted on October 20, 2018 by Damien

About 25 years ago, during my stay in London as an intern in a law firm, the couple who had invited me to stay with them gave me a book Continue Reading →

Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka: The Shadow of the Crescent Moon by Fatima Bhutto, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai and Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje

Posted on April 4, 2018 by Damien

If I were to pin on a map the three books I am grouping in this post, it would create an inverted triangle framing the Indian subcontinent. High up on Continue Reading →

Siena and Tuscany : Il Palio delle contrade morte by Fruttero & Lucentini and The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

Posted on September 7, 2017 by Damien

This summer I spent a few days among friends in a very nice house in the South of Tuscany. A happy life in Chianti’s perfectly mastered but enchanting landscapes: Continue Reading →

Sri Lanka: Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje

Posted on September 13, 2015 by Damien

Tea time. Served in china on the veranda of the Viharagala bungalow. In the middle of tea plantations, leaning on Haputale’s mountain, this is the former residence of the English Continue Reading →