down by the river in the early evening sunshine: book reading, people watching. joggers, dog walkers, half the neighbourhood washed up along the shore, soaking up the warmth.

an impromptu game of football, but with real goalposts in the flood plain; no jumpers or school bags here. no kids either: everyone here is that much older, more involved in real life. a dog on a lead on the sidelines, bouncing up and down, cheering on his team.

a pair of crows, chasing in mock-anger, switching and tumbling and cawwing into the tree above the heads of four augustiner-drinkers.

for the briefest of moments i forget where i am, what country i'm in, disoriented as i cross the road in front of the oncoming traffic.

I don't Know - Lisa Hannigan Music Video from Stitch Films on Vimeo.

Charlie Harper

Being reminded of Charlie Harper's genius from all angles today.

2011: over already

52 weeks, 32 books. slacking, obviously...

Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Black Sea - Neil Acherson
The Reader - Bernhard Schlink
The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
An Island in Time - Geert Mak
Portugal: a companion history - Jose Haermano Saraiwa
The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy
A Concise History of Bulgaria - R J Crampton
The Road to Oxiana - Robert Byron
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
When Will There Be Good News? - Kate Atkinson
Absolute Friends - John le Carre
Paradise Lost: the destruction of Islam's city of tolerance - Giles Milton
Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson
The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami
The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obreht
Red Dust - Ma Jian
Luke and John - Robert Williams
Walden - Henry David Thoreau
Our Kind of Traitor - John le Carre
The Snow Leopard - Peter Matthiessen
The Story of the Night - Colm Toibin
Untold Stories - Alan Bennett
The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes
Hackney, That Rose Red Empire - Iain Sinclair
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell
Number 9 Dream - David Mitchell
Germania - Simon Winder
Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto
Dead Europe - Christos Tsiolkas

backtracking: 2010

52 weeks, 57 books

Chile - Travels in a Thin Country: Sara Wheeler
Nine Lives - In Search of the Sacred in Modern India: William Dalrymple
Another Day of Life: Ryszard Kapuscinski
The Last Mughal: William Dalrymple
The Emperor: Ryszard Kapuscinski
The Aerodynamics of Pork: Patrick Gale
The Balkans, 1804-1999: Mish Glenny
In an Antique Land: Amitav Ghosh
Leviathan: Philip Hoare
Along the Enchanted Way: William Blacker
The Other: Ryszard Kapuscinski
English Passengers: Matthew Kneale
Vagabonding: Rolf Potts
The Gypsies: Angus Fraser
The Whisperers: Orlando Figes
How I Live Now: Meg Rosoff
Sum: David Eagleman
Catfish and Mandala: Andrew X Pham
Blue River and Black Sea: Andrew Eames
After the Fire, a Still Small Voice: Evie Wyld
Map Addict: Mike Parker
The Wild Places: Robert Macfarlane
Cleopatra's Wedding Present - Travels Through Syria: Robert Trevor Moss
The Street Philosopher and The Holy Fool - A Syrian Journey: Marius Kociejowski
Mirror to Damascus: Colin Thubron
Going as Far as I Can: Duncan Fallowell
The Peregrine: J A Baker
Brideshead Revisited: Evelyn Waugh
Never Let Me Go: Kazuo Ishiguro
About This Life: Barry Lopez
From the Holy Mountain: William Dalrymple
In Xanadu: William Dalrymple
Journey into Cyprus: Colin Thubron
Rough Music: Patrick Gale
Things Fall Apart: Chinua Achebe
On the Road to Kandahar: Jason Burke
Bitter Lemons of Cyprus: Lawrence Durrell
Byzantium - The Early Centuries: John Julius Norwich
Hokkaido Highway Blues: Will Ferguson
Byzantium - The Apogee: John Julius Norwich
Let Our Fame Be Great - Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus: Oliver Bullogh
Notes From an Exhibition: Patrick Gale
Byzantium - The Decline and Fall: John Julius Norwich
Mr Norris Changes Trains: Christopher Isherwood
The Whole Day Through: Patrick Gale
Last Night in Twisted River: John Irving
The Year of the Flood: Margaret Atwood
Freedom: Jonathan Frantzen
The Flaneur: Edmund White
The Book Thief: Markus Zusak
Zeitoun: Dave Eggers
Lords of the Horizons - A History of the Ottoman Empire: Jason Goodwin
Salonica - City of Ghosts: Mark Mazower
The Corrections: Jonathan Frantzen
Between the Assassinations: Aravind Adiga
What am I Doing Here: Bruce Chatwin
Crossing to Safety: Wallace Stegner

flying ants