36: Jorge Luis Borges: Conversations, edited by Richard Burgin

Some bits that grabbed my attention:

Borges on languages and nationalism:

If every American possessed two languages, a much wider world would be opened to him; he would have access to two cultures. Perhaps that would be the best means of exorcising the worst enemy in the world—nationalism. I believe it would be of the utmost importance to the history of the world if every man born in America had access to two cultures, the English and the Spanish. For me, knowledge of two languages doesn't mean the possession of a repertory of synonyms; it doesn't mean knowing that in Spanish you say "ancho" and in English "wide" or "broad". What is important is to learn to think in two different ways, and to have access to two literatures. If a man grows up within a single culture, if he gets used to seeing other languages as hostile or arbitrary dialects, his mental development will be constricted. If, however, he gets used to thinking in two languages and to the idea that his mind has developed from two great literatures, that must surely benefit him. [...] I believe it would be one means of achieving world peace.

On why sex appears so rarely in his work:

I suppose the reason is that I think too much about it.

This reminded me of Luria's patient S. and his synesthesia:

[...] of course, the word "oeste" is rather an uncouth word, while the word "sur" is a fine word [...]

And this reminded me of how Irina wrote her short stories about the white room, etc.:

When I am writing a story, a poem, I do not think of it as a symbol of myself. I think of the story as being interesting to me and as being likely to be interesting to other readers. For example, I don't think I've ever written a fable in the sense that I have begun with something abstract and then gone on to find a symbol. I begin by a symbol. I am interested in a symbol. And then I find out the moral of the symbol that's beyond it, and it is not my task to work that out.

35: We Called It Music: A Generation of Jazz, Eddie Condon, Thomas Sugrue

Eddie's combination of hyperbole and understatement is hilarious.

Joe Costello telling Eddie Condon about culture, civilization, and the difference between Ireland and the United States:

"The delight of a good society is that a man can develop the best part of himsefl and use it to give pleasure to others. It may be as small a thing as painting a pole, but if he does it better than anyone else he is distinguished and happy and the country is full of beautifully painted poles."
He gave me some water in a small glass.
"Over here," he went on, "a man is expected to do his job poorly for as much money as he can get frlom his employer by either personal or collective bargaining. Usually his employer doesn't know the difference between a good job and a bad job so it makes no difference; the high price and the bad work are passed on to the consumer. There are a lot of poles and they all have flags on them but very few are beautifully painted. It's a wonderful country, but it has very little art; everyone is too busy being succesful—getting more money for doing less work."

34: Thief of Time, Terry Pratchett

Death, the Auditors, and the history monks.

Not as good as some of the earlier Death ones, I think.