how is one supposed to do work in a library? books everywhere! allsortsa fun books, like, for example, the one that leapt off of the shelf and into my arms: white teeth (i don't have white teeth. i was looking in the mirror in the bathroom, which you should never do, and commenting disconsolately to myself that my teeth are not white and my skin is not good. my hair's kinda frizzy at the moment too if it comes to that. how is it possible i have friends?) by zadie smith. sez the back of the novel, this is her debut. astonishing. i'm 30 pages in.

i've also been derailed by cyrus. he's fixated on the middle east despite having never been there or knowing anyone in the vicinity. whenever the subject comes up in a class, you can count on either him or me or both raising our hands. we're happ'ly met in the middle, more or less; he's slightly more to one side and i to the other. but we have good conversations because we agree on the basic principles, such as: both sides have a right to exist; media is unreliable and extreme; and the subject is complex. there is no Right Answer.

but white teeth -- mm. and smilla's feeling for snow, which i started last nite. i find it amusing when people say they read when they have time. what priorities! a paper is only a paper: you'll rarely remember it once it's handed in. but a novel is fruit and cake.