Dispatch #7 from Dylan:

Foul, foul weather today. I was scheduled to go out with the associates ofACAMSERTA (the organic fertilizer-producing co-op in town) to collect materias primas (prime substrate) for the worm compost, but we cancelled when only myself and two members showed up. Don Secundino, the president, has "The Gripe" (a cold), with a horrible cough.

It's 55 degrees, blustery and we're in a cloud. Our shelter is unheated, but it's still shelter, and I'm glad to have it.

Today makes me miss public libraries. If we were in Madison, I would brave the weather to go to Central Library and stay there all morning, then head to the Irish Pub for lunch. Instead, lots of tea and books. We've been devouring the handful of magazines my folks sent last week. I'veread every article in the Nov. 11th issue of The New Republic (except the book review on the biography of some art dealer), and a good chunk of the November Atlantic. I particularly devoured all of the book reviews, but realized that the inherent pedantry of a book review is easy to overdose on if you don't pace yourself.

For those of you not familiar with Doctor Who, do yourselves a favor and read the review in the Atlantic for a brief exposure to a great Brit-Pop phenomenon. For those of you already familiar with Doctor Who, do yourselves a favor and read the review in the Atlantic for a great retrospective full of Whovian character.

Since arriving in El Salvador in late July I have read, in order:

{1} "A Bend in the River" by V.S. Naipaul;
{2} "Foucoult's Pendulum" (for the 3rd time), by Umberto Eco;
{3} approximately 1/2 of "The Collected Fictions" of J.L. Borges (a complete collection);
{4} "Huckleberry Finn" (for the first time!);
{5} "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (meh.);
{6} "The Best Science Fiction of 2003" (with several great stories andmany average ones);
{7} "The Moor's Last Sigh" by Salman Rushdie (for the fourth time?);
{8} a volume of short stories by former Peace Corps volunteers, including one by Paul Theroux that was far and away the best;
{9} "Einstein's Dreams";
{10} "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov;{
11} "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris;
{12} "The Way Some People Die", (a pulp-noir from the '50's that was a lot of fun, recommended);
{13} "Sieze the Day", by Saul Bellow;
{14} "David Copperfield", (all 900 pages in under a week);
{15} "What is the What" by Dave Eggers, (a *highly* reccomended"fictional" biography of a Sudanese refugee - don't miss it);
{16} "Far Appalacia" by NPR's Noah Adams (made me somewhat homesick);
{17} "East of Eden" (for the 3rd time);
{18} "The Past Through Tomorrow" by Heinlein (for the dozenth time?);
{19} "Salvador" by Joan Didion (not as good as "After Henry", but she's really an exceptionally talented observer of culture);
{20} "Friday the Rabbi Slept Late", (a slender, not-very-good pulp-noir);
{21} several lousy pulp-noir short stories;
{22} "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", (which is not as good as I thought it was when I was 20).

Laura has read two books:
1) Foucoult's Pendulum (not overly wowed, but itwas pretty okay).
2) Einstein's Dreams - fun and nice.
3) Currently reading "The Once and Future King" by T.H. White, "Salvador" by Joan Didion, and re-reading "Cien Anos de Soledad" by Garcia Marquez, which will probably take her the next two years. But to be fair, she's been reading bits and pieces of dozens of others, from Plato to Ms. Dalloway.

I'm now re-reading "For Whom the Bell Tolls" which turns out to be anrather difficult read, and I'm surprised that I read it once before, nearly 15 years ago! The surplus of mediocre pulp in this list is a reflection of the contents of the Peace Corps library, which is just the accumulated junk from many years of volunteers buying airport books as they travel back and forth to visit family. There must be a half-dozen copies of the same three John Grisham books, three dozen Maeve Binchy "books", and hundreds of other copies of crap. The reason I'm rereading so many books (for example, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance), is that of the few good books available, I've already read many of them.