Author Benjamin Wood seems to find his stories among the desperately brilliant and talented, who can’t seem to get a handle on their own intelligence. In The Bellwether Revivals, his characters get themselves into trouble because Cambridge somehow isn’t intellectually stimulating enough. Wood’s characters are continually grappling with the anxiety of influence, paralyzing themselves entirely.…
As I have said in past posts, I am an unabashed Orientalist – though, not, perhaps, as Edward Said meant it. I am truly fascinated by those ancient civilizations and I look upon them with respect and admiration. These two books, nonfiction both, only make my curiosity stronger. And make me feel sorry I missed the…
Those of us who are only fluent in English are so fortunate to have had this book translated from the original Turkish. The book incisively mocks bureaucracy from the point of view of clocks. The main hero is Hayri Irdal, who guides us through the strange world of the Time Regulation Institute. In this Turkey,…