sunday reads

despite the forecast, a sunny day. i look for a book to read, then browse short stories instead. and come across a brilliant one in Agni online. print the first 2 pages, to read outside. then print it all.

'Obituary' by Ihab Hassan - a story about a restaurant critic. or rather, a story about eating, living, and dying. here is some: "Oysters, carrot tops, tiger testicles, mandrake roots . . . poppycock! We eat, fuck, and die. Death, not Knowledge, knowledge of death perhaps, came with a bite of that first apple."

in contrast to that (or in counterpart), i browsed 'Happy Days' - a blog the NewYorkTimes initiated after the economic downturn, as a discussion forum about the search for contentment in its many forms. a story from there: 'Self, Meditating' by Robert Wright - a reflection on a meditation retreat. or rather, a story about succeeding, and failing, and .. eating: "What I hated above all was that I wasn’t succeeding as a meditator. Now, as the two leaders of this retreat were known to point out, you’re not supposed to think of “succeeding” at meditating. And you’re not supposed to blame yourself for failing. And blah, blah, blah.
And what was “success” like? Well, to start at the less spiritual, more sensual end: By the time I left, eating the food I’d initially disdained ranked up there with above-average sex..."

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