My first entry over at Identity Theory is up, and I'm excited to have one more place to shoot off my worthless opinions.

(There is probably some awful neologism for using one of your blogs to link to another. Please, no one tell me what it is.)

The Red Carpet

A short and sweet review of The Red Carpet by Lavanya Sankaran, at East Bay Express.

Kafka on the Shore

My recent review of Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore is now available at January Magazine.

Liner Notes

(And while I'm up here posting old things, let's add these - )

For several years I've been constructing themed song compilations and accompanying liner notes for my wonderful friend Lucas. Here are two nice examples: Notes on the Narrative Song and Notes on the Advice Song.

Herodotus and de Selincourt

Here is a collection of quotes from my edition of Herodotus' Histories with explanatory footnotes provided by translator Aubrey de Selincourt. I originally compiled the quotes as an email to Lucas, to share the wonderful dialogue between the frequently ridiculous Greek man-about-town and his extremely literal-minded British editor.

For example,
H: He was caught trying to raise a revolt amongst the Egyptians, and as soon as his guilt was known by Cambyses, he drank bull’s blood and died on the spot.
A: Suicide by drinking bull’s blood is common enough in ancient literature, the more surprising in that the drink is not fatal, as could easily have been demonstrated (one assumes).

More available here: Herodotus and de Selincourt.

Hmm - apparently the Barnes and Noble is having some sort of Harry Potter-related hoopla and cancelled the reading this Friday - I'll be reading Friday, August 5th instead - more info to come.

I was just invited to join in the blog discussion over at Identity Theory, an online discussion of books and reading.

My first public poetry readings are coming up soon: first, on July 15, at 7pm, at the Barnes and Noble in Campell; then, on August 7th, at 7pm, at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park. (Note: I have a reserved slot for the first reading, but the second reading is first-come, first-served, so there's a slight chance I won't be able to read, depending on how many people show up.)

Meanwhile, I'm slowly starting to add material to this weblog - this week I plan to post some past letters and essays that I hope you will find amusing, all the while stalling on creating any actual new material.