A city reader in Chelsea this afternoon on my walk.

 

This obituary of Eloise Greenfield was in the Times. She wrote a lot of books. When you read this, you’ll like the way she wrote her poems. The way her language worked, which makes the poems work. You’ll maybe want to read some lines again.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/books/eloise-greenfield-dead.html?referringSource=articleShare

 

How to open your own bookstore. Here are some tips from someone who did:

One of them: ‘Don’t start a bookshop just because you love books – start one because you have something new to bring to the table. Figuring out what that is will be a crucial move.’

https://apple.news/A2ju2OizkRP-T3fY4UQET7w

‘There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women.’

—Malala Yousafzai

 

THE LITERACY RATE in Afghanistan is 43%, among the world’s very lowest. Countries whose difficult names you’d think might be that low are in the 90%. Female literacy in Afghanistan is 29%. And these numbers are appreciably better than they once were.

 

After a lifetime dedicated to expanding literacy, Daniel Goldin now wants to build public spaces for Mexicans of different backgrounds to read, rest, and play. I’d never heard of him till I read this piece in ‘Tablet’ magazine:

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/mexico-epicurus-goldin-alan-grabinsky

‘Books taught me that things that tormented me the most were the very things that connected me to everyone who is alive and who had ever been alive.’

                                                                —James Baldwin