New year, new book

“Many used the pretext of seeking a book for the pleasure of seeing Nancy. A brief chat with her would brighten the rest of the day for them. Among the habitues were Evelyn Waugh, Lord Berners, Sir Osbert Sitwell and Raymond Mortimer, and the very books seemed to join in the laughter during their exchange [...]

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Book reader’11

Following Irene’s example, I’ll record my impression of the books I read in 2011r. These  few are among others I read in between blogs and job ads; the choice and opinion will tell you more about my state of mind in the past year than any lengthy description. Вслед за Ириной составила [неполный] список книг, [...]

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Biblical Zoo

Линор Горалик так пишет об Израиле, даже мне захотелось поехать. Приезжаешь к родителям на пару дней отдохнуть. Родители живут в Беэр-Шеве, самом, как мне кажется, еврейском городе мира: университет плюс больница плюс 4000 сотрудников муниципалитета. Лежишь в пижаме посреди гостиной, вокруг красиво расставлена мамина еда: богатая палитра, крупные мазки — рыбы заливной килограмма три, борща [...]

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Some are more equal

…”His [Shakespeare's-ETat] writing illustrates the artist’s struggle to work out a utopian vision, Sergeant. A vision that goes beyond a feudal society and deals with all mankind, not just a select group of individuals who happen to be born with a silver spoon on which to suck. As such, the body of his work is [...]

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Say what? or Эллочкин словарь

Here’s a test on English vocabulary that I swiped from seminarist‘  journal. You said you loved the challenge, huh? Try it. I’ll tell you my score: I got 31,300 (74percentile), but it turns out I misremembered the meaning of 2 words (that I  recall, there might be more), so 30,000 is probably closer to the [...]

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Bachelors and bachelorettes

…old bachelors have no excuse whatever for their condition. If we omit the natural and necessary exceptions, which are few enough, then pure selfishness and cowardice must account for every other case. Their despised old-bachelorhood is all their own fault. They have always had the tremendous privilege of asking for what they wanted; and half [...]

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Ode to attic

It’s been another fruitless, miserable week, and I needed a shot of slapstick. Preferably with architectural/design twist.

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Lamb chops with mint

Here’s a recipe I promised to Ars_Longa; it is taken (but not tried personally) from French: delicious classic cuisine made easy, by Carole Clements and Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen

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Barbara Pym, Excellent Women

I am very grateful to Irene for recommendation. For the last week I have been reading Kingsley Amis – or, rather struggling through – and took Barbara Pym as distraction. What a marked contrast it is; what a quiet, thoughtful and unpretentious style; sheer delight next to Amis with his self-conscious vain posturing. The time [...]

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Drawing live

Посвящается деликатнейшей розовоперстой Аврории, в сопровождении нехитрого замечания: ” Всё зависит от освещения…” She has disclosed a dull pink body with rather short legs and red elbows; like most professional models her toes are covered with bunions and malformed. Young Mr. Maltby sets her on the chair in an established Art School pose. The class [...]

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