Reading Endangers Dullness

On the way home from work, I got off the bus a few stops early and went to my two favourite shops. First, the natural food store, to pick up the condiments for dinner: white asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, potatoes, a mixed salad with fresh dates, mango, and avocado.

Then, my favourite local bookseller, Catarina to pick up some books I ordered in German:

• Measuring the World, by Daniel Kehlmann
• Nachtrichtnen aus einem unbekannten Universums (literal translation: News from an unknown Universe), by Frank Schaetzing (who also wrote The Swarm: A Novel of the Deep)
• The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless, by Ahmet Zappa (his father, Frank Zappa, was one of my teenage heros)
• Die Rückkehr des Hexenmeisters (literal translation: The Return of the Witch Master), by Kai Meyer

Catarina has some tote bags from a large publishing company with the printed slogan “Lesen gefährdet die Dummheit” on them. This loosely translates as Reading Endangers Dullness. Though Dummheit is much more than just dullness: fatuity, brutishness, foolery, stupidity, etc.

My dear friend, Maria, two of her daughters, Nomad Son, Nature Girl, and I are all converging Friday on Rosa in Berlin for the long weekend. So, my first and only thought, as far as travel preparations goes, was to secure proper reading material for the journey.

Berlin is slowly but surely becoming one of my favourite big cities. There is a large street festival going on in Kruezberg this weekend, which should be lots of fun.