Here are my plans; let me know if you're around—I'd love to grab a cup of tea.
London: 2nd to 6th August
Cornwall (Rock): 9th to 19th August
London: 13th to 19th August
TBC: 23th to 26th August
My week in books 📖
A Fortune-Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani
I'm impressionable, and this book has left a substantial impression. Terzani over-lands the world for a year after hearing a worrying premonition. On his journey, he dives into the occult. While consumerism consumes the world, Terzani finds that soothsayers still have a role in peoples (and politicians) lives--much more than we'd expect in the west. A must-read for those who like travelling, or who have a wigi board.
A Time to Keep Silence by Patrick Leigh Fermor
A Time of Gifts, by PLF, shook me when I read it at 18. This time, the author escapes from his life in Paris to monasteries in France, the UK, and Turkey. After some days of discomfort, Leigh Fermor falls in love with the silence and the discipline. As a monk, life is hard. On his journey, some monks greet each other daily with the words: Frere, il faut mouir (Brother, we must die). Plus, the duties of the monk include digging his own tomb, a few spadefuls a day.
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
A spiritual journey, and so beautifully written. An extract: 'But out of all secrets of the river, [Siddhartha] today saw only one, this one touched his soul. He saw: the water ran and ran, incessantly it ran, and was nevertheless always there, was always at all times the same and yet new in every moment! Great be he who would grasp this, understand this!' Everything around us is new in every moment. This is the principle of anicha, from Theravada Buddhism, that all things, including the self, are impermanent and constantly changing.
Have a great week,
Hector
Really love this. And pretty special to have you here xxxx