Jo’s Reading Room

“Craft, unlike inspiration, is explicable, and hence learnable. Its moments can be slowed down, isolated into discrete choices. One choice after another, one word after another, watching all the moving parts doing their thing, even when you’re working with a tool as maddeningly fiddly as language.”
― Daniel Hahn, Catching Fire: A Translation Diary

“Cristobalina, trostruka udovica, o kojoj se govorilo da ima papra u krilu, bila je najstarija kći Don Clementea. Ona je malog Azuleja, kojemu je majka umrla uskoro poslije poroda od neke nepoznate bolesti, odgojila kao prava majka.
Starac je o svojoj kćeri uvijek govorio:
“Cristobalina, ona je bumbar; leti preko brda i dolova, ali je ona, na kraju krajeva, slobodna žena i može raspolagati sa svojim tijelom kako god hoće.”
― Adalberto Ortiz, Juyungo

“In front of the entrance to the Hall, he lit incense, reverently standing to the side of the copper cauldron, he folded his hands in prayer and bowed his head.
Then, he said within himself: May the Buddha be merciful, and grant me some light as to where I should seek.
Then he said within himself: May the Buddha be merciful, and tell me if there is any meaning at all to this seeking.
And then he said within himself: We do not know what you thought about the world. We misunderstand every one of your words. We are utterly lost.
And, to conclude, he added: Just as you once prophesied, dear, sweet, unforgettable Buddha.
The grandson of Prince Genji then lowered his hands, holding them tightly to his sides, raised his head, and bowed deeply, twice.”
― László Krasznahorkai, A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East

“Tenía el don de ofrecerse y no darse.”
― Alicia Yánez Cossío, Bruna and Her Sisters in the Sleeping City