Orhan Pamuk

a bit of good news: last week, the case against writer Orhan Pamuk was dropped by the Turkish government. Pamuk faced charges of "insulting Turkishness", largely because he has dared to write of the 20th century Turkish genocide of Armenians and Kurds. Pamuk is one of Turkey's best-known novelists, and his case drew criticism in the EU. it's probably because of EU pressure that the case has been dropped - but Turkey currently has eight other freedom of speech trials coming up, so Ankara shouldn't get any bouquets of flowers just yet.

on the café table today...a box of kleenex from monoprix (i have a cold), Hugh Kenner's The Elsewhere Community (which i read a few years ago & am finding, on rereading, that it's every bit as brilliant as i remembered, pulling in Ezra Pound, the internet, modernism, travel, Paris expats...) and Nikki Giovanni's poems, Those Who Ride the Night Winds (the first half is so good that the dated second half of the book doesn't change my enthusiasm).

and if you are celebrating Chinese new year, happy year of the dog!