Category Archives: Restaurants

The Trial

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the posthumous publication of Franz Kafka’s chilling novel of the nightmare world of authoritarian repression and merciless bureaucracy. I remember reading the book only after I saw Orson Welles’ chilling film production. Somehow … Continue reading →

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et cetera

Posted on February 8, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

It was W.H. Auden who said: ‘there are good books which are only for adults, because their comprehension presupposes adult experiences, but there are no good books which are only for children.’ The great discipline of children’s fiction is that it has … Continue reading →

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Remember the Moments

Posted on February 5, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Try to Praise the Mutilated World By Adam Zagajewski Translated By Clare Cavanagh Try to praise the mutilated world. Remember June’s long days, and wild strawberries, drops of rosé wine. The nettles that methodically overgrow the abandoned homesteads of exiles. You must … Continue reading →

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The You You Are

Posted on February 4, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Readers who are in thrall to the genius of Severance will not want to miss the opportunity to get their own copies of The You You Are. Available for free on Apple Books, in both text and audiobook versions. The audiobook is read by … Continue reading →

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We’re dancing animals

Posted on January 30, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

It’s just Kurt Vonnegut talking to his wife about going out to get an envelope (we’re here on earth to fart around):  

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Kafka is not buried here

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

“Frog in Prague” by Stephen Dixon They stand still. “And Kafka?” Howard says. “Kafka is not buried here.” “No? Because I thought—what I mean is the lady at my hotel’s tourist information desk—the Intercontinental over there—and also the one who … Continue reading →

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Orwell is turning in his grave

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

I thought that I had stumble on something from The Onion when I saw a story about a £2 George Orwell commemorative coin being minted in the UK. Shockingly, it was a true story. The Royal Mint will honor author George … Continue reading →

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Oh, horror upon horror!

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

No writer has the ability to evoke a sense of horror and dread more effectively than Edgar Allan Poe, born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe’s parents were actors. Their brilliant and unstable son grew up to be a … Continue reading →

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“back when tigers used to smoke” (호랑이 담배 피우던 시절에)

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Once upon a time… korean: “back when tigers used to smoke” (호랑이 담배 피우던 시절에) czech: “beyond seven mountain ranges, beyond seven rivers” (za sedmero horami a sedmero řekami) georgian: “there was, and there was not, there was…” (იყო და არა იყო … Continue reading →

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heaped with shining hills

Posted on January 16, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

First Snow by Mary Oliver The snow began here this morning and all day continued, its white rhetoric everywhere calling us back to why, how, whence such beauty and what the meaning… The silence is immense, and the heavens still hold … Continue reading →

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