BOOKPATHS

World

The extremely wise Rebecca Solnit writes about the care and feeding of hope.

Hope, on the other hand, is based on uncertainty, on the much more realistic premise that we don’t know what will happen next.  The next thing up might be as terrible as a giant tsunami smashing 100 miles of coastal communities or as marvelous as a new species of butterfly being discovered (as happened recently in Northern Ireland). When it comes to the worst we face, nature itself has resilience, surprises, and unpredictabilities. But the real territory for hope isn’t nature; it’s the possibilities we possess for acting, changing, mattering -- including when it comes to nature.

World

Author Mark Vanhoenacker offers "a world tour of bookstore cafes."

After an espresso or two has kicked jet lag into the long grass, I find no better place to plot a course in a city than at an independent bookstore cafe.

World

Novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafón chooses his “top 10 20th-century gothic novels.”

A basic list of great 20th-century gothic novels could include at least 100 but, since space is limited, here are a few places to begin your explorations. As always, try to get out of your comfort zone and ignore conventional wisdom on what is good or bad. – Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Guardian

Earth

Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us, wonders if the Earth is striking back.

Both Iceland and the United States exalt democracy as a social achievement worthy of lasting an eternity. Yet the latter's unprecedented strength has derived not just from enlightened government, but from the release of its own hot clouds: exhaust from its vast industries, fleets and mechanized agriculture. – from “Is the Earth Striking Back?,” by Alan Weisman, CNN Website

World

Author Carsten Jensen chooses his “top ten seafaring tales.”

Given that men have sailed the seas for thousands of years, it's perhaps surprising how few great works of literature have been inspired by the seafaring life. Sailing may have promised adventure, but in reality it was a dangerous profession that attracted only the toughest, few of whom were equipped with a talent for writing. Their yarns remained fixed in the oral tradition, and in general, writers directed their attention elsewhere. But the exceptions are majestic. – by Carsten Jensen, The Guardian

World

Steven Heller recommends four books about maps.

There’s nothing like sitting by the fire with a good book, except maybe sitting by the fire with a good map — or better yet, a good book about maps. I’ve noticed an upsurge in cartographic interest these days, especially for maps’ value as conceptual artwork. They can be maps of the designer’s mind as well as maps of terrain, concerned not just with topography but with typography too. – from “The World as Their Canvas,” by Steven Heller, The New York Times

World

Take a virtual tour of Charles Darwin’s “voyage around the world.”

World

On last week’s Bill Moyers Journal, Mark Danner talked about his newest book, Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violence, War; “Obama’s challenges in resetting the mindset of American from war to peace; and redefining the US as a nation.”

MARK DANNER: I wish I could -- you know, there's this sense, and I say this in the book, that the wonderful voluptuous thing about reporting, the great voluptuous pleasure of it, is that you will look at a place from afar and it will seem-- will think you understand it. You will look at Iraq and you'll say, ‘My God, look at what's going on. I understand it. Well, I can say to you this and this and this?’

And as you get closer, as you set foot on the ground, as you talk to people, tens of people, you know, scores of people, as you travel around, as you see what's going on the ground, bit by bit, your certainty is stripped away, and you know less and less. Until you reach a moment, a couple weeks in, usually in my case, where you've been bombarded with sense impressions.

You've been bombarded with opinions. You've been bombarded with descriptions. And you suddenly think, I know nothing. I know nothing about this place. And that is a wonderful place to reach because you've achieved a kind of tabula rasa. You know, now I can try to understand it on my own terms. It's a wonderful thing about reporting, but unfortunately, it's not necessarily very good at understanding the ultimate ontological questions that you push-- that you just put to me. – from Bill Moyers Journal Website

World

Novelist Edward Hogan chooses his “top 10 out-of-town tales.”

I grew up in a village, and loved it – it had a park, the woods, and a Co-op. When I got older I realised that the notion of a perfect small community wasn't always that simple, especially if you didn't play your prescribed role. I am still drawn to stories set in such places, where everyone knows your name, for better or worse, and the natural world is always creeping in. I love spare novels about a handful of people and their passions. These stories show that you don't need to write about big cities to say big stuff. – “Top 10s,” by Edward Hogan, The Guardian

World

Novelist Elise Valmorbida chooses her “top 10 books on the migrant experience.”

‘If there's one common element in all my writing, it's an interest in migrants and migration. I guess it's natural given my own multicultural origins, but it's also at the heart of storytelling: the migrant brain is prone to metaphor – the perpetual balancing of here and there, different worlds in simultaneous play. And being translated. Being found in translation. Suitcases. Secrets. Invisible cities.’ – from “Elise Valmorbida’s Top 10 Books on the Migrant Experience,” The Guardian