Our Civilisation

"Our civilization, bequeathed to us by fierce adventurers, eaters of meat and hunters, is so full of hurry and combat, so busy about many things which perhaps are of no importance, that it cannot but see something feeble in a civilization which smiles as it refuses to make the battlefield the test of excellence."

James Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941)

Beers & Books CCLXXXVI – Diary of a Bookseller

Thursday, 24 April
An elderly customer told me
that her book club's next book was Dracula,
but she could not remember what he'd written.

 

Saturday Night Music – Gulda plays Mozart

 

Friedrich Gulda (16 May 1930 – 27 January 2000)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) 

Beers & Books CCLXXXV – English Short Stories

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Beers & Books CCLXXXIV – Irish Stories

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Beers & Books CCLVXXXIII – Irish Short Stories

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Beers & Books – The Fable of the Bees

The Fable of the Bees

Bernard de Mandeville (15 November 1670 – 21 January 1733)

Beers & Books CCLVXXXII – Irish Mystery Stories

Fine authors, nice anthology.

Beers & Books CCLVXXXI – John Banville

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John Banville *8 December 1945

Beers & Books CCLVXXX – John Hume

Difference is of the essence of humanity.
Difference is an accident of birth and should therefore
never be the source of hatred or conflict.
The answer to difference is to respect it.
Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace:
respect for diversity.

John Hume (18 January 1937 – 3 August 2020)

Beers & Books CCLVXXIX – Other Stories and Other Stories

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Ali Smith *24 August 1962

Mo(o)nday Poetry

Dice la tarde:
"Tengo sed de sombra!"
Dice la luna: "Yo, sed de luceros."
[...]
Says the afternoon:
"I'm thirsty for shadow!"
Says the moon: "I want stars."

Yo tengo sed de aromas y de risas.
Sed de cantares nuevos
Sin lunas y sin lirios,
Y sin amores muertos.
*
I'm thirsty for scents and for laughter.
Thirsty for new songs
Without moons and without lilies,
And without dead loves.

 

Excerpt of Federico García Lorca's poem Cantos nuevo / New songs

Federico García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936)

Nâzım Hikmet had a dream

Yaşamak bir ağaç gibi tek ve hür
ve bir orman gibi kardeşçesine,
bu hasret bizim.

To live like a tree and at liberty
and brotherly like the trees of a forest,
this yearning is ours.

Nâzım Hikmet (15 January 1902 – 3 June 1963)