I have spent enough time in countries where I do not speak the language to know that Google Translate is a liar. It will give you words. It will not give you meaning. A direct translation might be technically correct, but it almost never lands the way you want it to. Meaning lives in context, […]
I have a complicated relationship with The Catcher in the Rye. I read it at seventeen, the right age, and I found Holden Caulfield insufferable. I read it again at thirty, and I found him heartbreaking. But one thing has not changed across either reading. He is right about the phonies. Holden hates anyone who performs. […]
I have lived in Thailand, Germany, and China. Nine years across three countries, where I arrived speaking almost none of the language each time. You learn quickly that communication is not about knowing the right words. It is about reading the room. In Thailand, I learned to simplify. The Thai language relies heavily on context […]
I first read Fahrenheit 451 as a teenager and understood it as a book about censorship. The government burned books. That was the horror. But I reread it recently while watching the internet fill with AI-generated listicles, formulaic content, and brands shouting into a void, and I realized I had missed the point. Bradbury was not only […]
I have watched a lot of people overpack. Friends who bring seven pairs of shoes for a weeklong trip. Backpackers whose bags are so heavy that they have to sit on them to zip them shut. Travelers who pack for every possible scenario instead of the one they are actually walking into. I understand the […]
I have a tattoo on my hand. It is a small asterisk, the kind you might see at the bottom of a page pointing to a footnote. Most people do not notice it. The ones who do usually ask if it is a star. I tell them it is a reminder. Kurt Vonnegut started his […]
I first picked up Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita because of my 100 Greatest Novels project. I knew its reputation: beautiful prose, impossible subject matter. I assumed the experience would be academic. I would admire the sentences from a safe distance and return it to the shelf. Instead, it broke something in me. Not because I sympathized with Humbert […]
So I’ve never done this before, spotlighting a single author’s work. There’s not often when I come across an author, I immediately need to rush through their whole bibliography. Also, if something like that happens, it’s not often that the author doesn’t seem to be read or even known by many readers. That last sentence […]
Three months ago, we had an addition to our family. A son was born, happy and healthy, here in Shanghai. It’s been an experience trying to figure out fatherhood, a new baby, and everything that entails while being abroad. Our families visited during the first month but since then, it’s just been us. The amazing […]
It has been an impressive 5 years since my last “Music You Need in Your Life” post. I apologize. So let’s restart this series by introducing to you one of my new favorite bands: FIZZ. They are an independent “supergroup” specializing in chaotic, fun indie pop out of the UK. This group includes Orla Gartland, […]
Tyson Peveto 