so many books, so little time

Rating deleted. I can't in good conscience keep ratings for books by any of the 204 writers who signed the letter protesting the award for courage PEN gave to Charlie Hebdo. Such willful obtuseness by writers, of all people, toward freedom of expression is very troubling.

This makes me want to go back and reread Death in Venice very soon, one of many Great Books I've Read But Lost To Cognitive Disfunction.

Dyer seems to have a knack for chatting along and then off-handedly saying something important. Both characters in the Venice/Varanasi portions have little epiphanies that can seem so trite they become something deeper and universal, or do they? Jeff even notes at one point that he's reminding himself of Tom Hanks Gump/Cast Away character.

In India the narrator who is probably the same Jeff from Venice, reflects that there must be a desire to give up desiring. The art world is all about desire and excess. In it's own way Varanasi is about the excesses of the spirit, and that desire. Not making much sense here, but I'm going to continue to be thinking about this one.