Schizofrench - la chronique de John von Sothen

My moleskin, that leather bound notebook I used to write in, no longer inspires me - probably because everyone, it seems now, has one.I see mothers with Moleskins writing down the number of naps their kids take. Guys at the gym tote around Moleskins to mark down their workouts. I even noticed my shrink taking notes on a Moleskin. Moleskins have become the new Ray Bans.

I don’t care if Liberation folds. I really don’t. I’m done with mourning newspaper deaths, and ever since my native Washington Post sold out to Amazon, I swore I’d never get attached to one again. I also don’t really care if Liberation becomes a Starbucks either or a Foundation Cartier or an Office Depot. What I do care about though, is that if Liberation does go down, that means I’ll never be on the back page of Liberation, and that my friends, would be a tragedy.

If you find yourself aimlessly wondering around supermarkets like I do, still floating on that expat cloud of finding otherwise tedious and painful shit like grocery shopping exotic, you may then stumble upon a peculiar section near the wine and orange juice, where small bottles of alcohol are sold in heavily packaged plastic.

Si on se retrouve comme moi à errer dans un supermarché, flottant sur un nuage « expat » qui fait trouver charmant et exotique une chose normalement pénible et assommante comme de faire les courses, on peut échouer dans une zone étrange entre le vin et les jus d’oranges, où de petites bouteilles d’alcool sont vendues dans d’épais emballages plastic.

Désolé de ne pas avoir répondu plus tôt. J’étais absorbé par un article très intéressant – « Le Top 5 des romans français surévalués ». Mais si, celui qui classe Madame Bovary, Le Rouge et le Noir, et A la recherche du temps perdu aux 3 premières places…

I’m sorry I haven’t responded to your email yet. It’s just that I’ve been reading a really interesting piece called - “The top five French novels that are actually overrated.” You know the one that lists Madame Bovary, The Red and the Black, and A la recherche du Temps Perdu in the top three?