My Philosopher Crush!

One of the writers I enjoy reading the most, is Roland Barthes. Not only because he is a theorist who is actually not too hard to read or because he is French, but because he writes incredibly beautiful.
His most famous books are probably Camera Lucida and Mythologies but my personal favorite is A lovers discourse which I read more than once.
My next reading from him will be his lecture series on How To Live Together. It is conveniently placed in the pile of my dissertation research books, and once when I pull myself together I will start for real on a little essay in French called Le Plaisir du Texte which I know will require a lot of energy.  
He is one of the people I would most like to meet, but since he is died before I was born this will remain but a dream. Instead I have to settle for reading his books (which is not too bad) and look at the few pictures that exist of him from his study where he looks so cool.

Summer Readings!

I have a big pile of heavy summer reading for my dissertation ahead of me, and then it is sometimes nice to go somewhere to have a coffee and relax with my feet up while reading.

Return To London!

Now I am back in London and it more or less looks like itself.

The past couple of days I used to unpack my things and settle in. It feels a bit weird to be here again but also very familiar. The weather is behaving quite strange; one moment sun the next moment hail. Sky changes every few minute and is really beautiful but at the same time it is a bit depressing. I started reading an amazing book that I have had for almost a year. It is called "The Future of Nostalgia" and deals with questions about nostalgia and homesickness. Something which I am really interested in these days also in relation to my work. Turns out the term arose under the many European wars where soldiers who were placed thousand of miles from their home country suffered from what they called maladie du pays, and that it at that point actually was considered as a sickness. 

Sunday Is (no.1)!

Getting an extra hour for sleep

Catching up on some reading

Making coffee at home

Put on the heat and look out through the window on the cold outside

Knitting

Sitting on the couch under a blanket

Eating wintery food

Blogging while waiting for the exiting "The Killing" season 3 to come on.

Hot Days In The City!

If I have to be honest I am a bit annoyed that the weather didn't show itself from this side while I was still in Denmark. Cause it seams a bit unfair on days like this to be trapped in a city several hundred kilometers away from the beautiful and fresh sea.
Berlin is not the worst place to be and I try to keep could be eating ice lollies, nice summer food and drinking my coffee in the shadow.

I still have a lot of summer reading to do.

But there is also time for meeting up with friends to have lunch

My new office aka. Vincents Kitchen

More reading and coffee

Cold gaspazio matching the chair

Coffee and Books!

I am currently reading "A Lovers Discourse" by Roland Barthes, and even though it is worth the trouble I find myself asking why it has to be so hard to read philosophy.

So some of the weekend I spend sitting at a cafe reading. 

I also had time to meet up with friend and go for walks.

Ever since I discovered this little pony collection, I could not wait to I had my camera so I could take a picture. Very cute.

They Say You Shouldn't Judge A Book By Its Cover..

But I am glad that Vincent did when he bought this book for me. It is as great to read as it is to look at.

Deux Grandes Lettre Sont Arrivées!

Today I came home to a full mailbox.
It made me fell almost like was it my birthday.
I received a parcel from amazon that I knew I didn't order myself.
It was a book.
In my attempt to learn how to speak french I wished for George Perec's "Tentative d'épuisement d'un lieu parisien" which I already know in English.
Since it has a lot of one line sentences it should be manageable for me to relate the two, and maybe learn some new words and ways to say things.
I guess a close French speaking person is as eager for me to speak as I am to learn.
So I received it with love.

Airmail also came all the way from the land of Oz. Angie wrote me a sweet letter and send me the Movie "Paris je t'aime".
A whole lot of French for one day!

The Joy Of Books!

I just saw this video that I thought I would share with you all.
I wonder if my books do the same when I am out of the house.

Country and Anolog Photographs!

These past days I have been reading Moyra Davey's "Long Life Cool White", with essays and photographs, while listening to Moriaty. Somehow the two goes really well together.

 

Photographs by Moyra Davey

Is There such a Thing as Too Hot?

The past couple of days I have spend sitting on a bench in the park, knitting and reading. Cause even though the calendar tells us it is fall, Indian summer has arrived, and it makes me a bit sad that I didn’t bring any of my summer clothes to London. Honestly I didn’t think I needed it. After such a fall like summer, it was hard to expect that it would suddenly get better. So while people are walking around in flip-flops and sandals, my feed are being held hostage by my canvas shoes. I guess they don’t have to suffer for so long, from Monday the weather forecast is promising rain and 16 degrees. That’s more how I imagined London would be.