Notes of Orwell’s on the dimensions of one of the houses en route to Wigan Pier.

He notes, ‘Anyone not knowing the house is liable to step through cellar door into vacancy.’ From his archives. ‘The Road to Wigan Pier‘ is one of the great books, along with others such as James Agee’s ‘Let Us Now Praise Famous Men‘ (with photographs by Walker Evans) that tries to address the economic, environmental and political burdens and disparities faced by the poor in the early 20th century. A must-read.

One week to go for daily posts (seventy years to the day) from George Orwell’s diaries! 

Falling Man.
Taken by Richard Drew at 9:41:15 a.m., on September 11, 2001 

Three friends have now recommended Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Jack, Amy, Bjorn, your joint pointer carries a lot of weight and it is the next book I read. Palimpsest has some interesting discussion about the book.

While feeling my way through the information cloud around Foer and this book, I came across another fascinating book: Giles Goat-Boy by John Barth. Anyone else read it?

Looking at takahashi’s scapes, here is the other  land + moon:

by Taha Muhammad Ali, from ‘New and Selected Poems. 1971 - 2005

“The Bell at Forty: The Destruction of a Village

The past dozes beside me
as the ringing does
beneath its grandfather bell.
And the bitterness follows me,
as chicks trail
after the mother hen.
And the horizon…
that eyelid tightly shut
over the sands and blood—
what did it leave you?
And, what hopes does it hold?

30.VIII.1988

  Nazraeli Press has just published a debut book by Kazumi Takahashi (don’t think this is the same person as the filmmaker), “High Tide Wane Moon“. Richly printed, exquisitely sequenced, and a quiet ode to the moon and the sea, this is among the most pensive books I’ve seen. It is available through PhotoEye Books.