The Mountains Sing – 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 →

From the Valsesia to the Valle d’Aosta in the Italian Alps: « The Eight Mountains » and « The Wild Boy » by Paolo Cognetti and « The Weight of the Butterfly » by Erri De Luca. : Four of us, dashing young fifty-somethings, set off with our backpacks up the Vogna river. Our wives accompanied us through the first part of the valley, walking from hamlet to Continue Reading →

Saudi Arabia: « Girls of Riyadh » by Rajaa Alsanea : Saudi Arabia remained an enigma for me, like a blank on the world map. In 1993, I made a long trip to Asia, from Yemen to Hong Kong, but being 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 →

Vietnam: “The Mountains Sing” by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Posted on April 29, 2020 by Damien

« Somehow, I was sure that if people were willing to read each other, and see the light of other cultures, there would be no war on earth». This sentence summarizes Continue Reading →