Welcome to Litsy!

Throwback to yesterday afternoon, when it hit 9° and I got to hang out on the deck with two decidedly not stray dogs and another selection from this strong short fiction collection. We‘re gonna repeat the scene later today.

3.5⭐️/5⭐️

Great writing, but some of the stories were too philosophical. Some were really strong. I would try more from this author

“Tonight, ghosts of misery will invite themselves in & feast upon my sorrow, leaving me in hunger & solitude.”
Lebanese Canadian Rawi Hage taps into quiet desperation & the absurdity of humanity in his new collection of stories. The protagonists—eccentric intellectuals, dreamers, sad clownish men—have the temperament & peculiar ideas that keep them out of step with other people. Dark humour & exquisite prose kept me enthralled. #shadowgiller2022

In the evenings, feeble sounds escaped from the night guard‘s radio and carried songs along the hallway and into my cell, sweet tunes like little steps that danced, reminding me of different times.

My father lit a cigarette, his lips transforming into a fuming locomotive hauling a chain of silent wagons, doors sliding open.

(Image from the 1936 animation Play Safe: https://youtu.be/8k9jbPHAg1Y )

Lebanon‘s bird population was almost wiped out in the late 20th c.
A cry of alarm went up from environmental organizations & ironically, from eager hunters—who in the absence of birds began turning their guns to imaginary flying goats—& the Lebanese government banned hunting in 1995. But politicians eventually turned a blind eye to the plight of the birds, the warlords found the law amusing, & the clergy would not challenge widely held beliefs ⬇️

One night, Hannah confided to me that Lukas had lost hope in the world. He had lost his belief in humanity. He talks about his causes, Hannah told me, but their defeat has been too much to bear. The radical in him has diminished, and he‘s retreating into himself.

A garden is every warrior‘s final objective, I said.