A fractious month of January calmed somewhat near the end, providing a relatively peaceful space to finish reading the year’s opening novel: The Island of Second Sight by Albert Vigoleis Thelen (1903-1989), who was German by birth but opposed Nazism throughout his life. Thelen’s work is a fictionalized account of the author’s self-exile on the … Continue reading Hip Hops: On old books, new beer labels and timeless bung-starters