sentence of the day: benevolent autocrat, with taste

"In a world of autocracies, may we have one benevolent autocrat with taste?" -- Reinier de Graaf, architect with OMA, in an open letter to Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania, quoted in an article in the Guardian entitled "'Starchitects go home': what's the truth behind Albania's astonishing building boom?" by Oliver Wainwright. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/oct/02/starchitects-go-home-albania-building-boom-edi-rama 

By the way, I've read a few books by Reinier de Graaf, and recommend them.

sentence of the day: racist tropes

"For instance, Trump’s lie about millions of undocumented immigrants voting illegally is a moth-eaten cloak he pulled from America’s closet of racist tropes." -- Ron Charles, in a review of Stealing elections, American style, by David F. Walbert (Bloomsbury), on his podcast for September 18, 2026

sentence of the day: momfluencers

"She has a doctorate in sociology for which she researched momfluencers, the 21st century's retort to Tupperware party hostesses." (review by Alexandra Jacobs of The story or your life: how social media shapes the way we experience everything, by Kathryn Jezer-Morton (Viking), in the New York times book review, August 23, 2026)

https://clickamericana.com/topics/home-garden/the-history-of-tupperware-parties-tupperware-ladies

sentence of the day: The drowned world and Tilt

Noah's Ark

from the Nuremberg Chronicle

"The Drowned World," though, remains an odd, woozy bird in his catalog -- a book unusually attuned, as Martin Amis wrote for the 50th anniversary reissue, to the 'world hum' of the 'near-after.'" (in a review of The drowned world by J.G. Ballard, 1962)

She's like Odysseus in an ill-fitting lavender maternity romper, crossing great landscapes of hardship and memory with one holy, imperfect goal: getting home. (in a review of Tilt by Emma Pattee, 2025)

Both sentences come from "Read like the wind. Beautiful disasters / by Leah Greenblatt," New York times book review, Sept. 6, 2026, p. 19