Posts by Kimberly Sullivan
Views from the top of Berlin’s Television Tower
I love to travel, and whenever I go to a city it’s only a matter of time until I find its highest point. I generally try to make this visit early on so I can see the layout of a city clearly. It helps me when I’m exploring by foot later on. So on a…
Read MoreFarewell to novelist Shirley Hazzard
Earlier this month, Australian author (later turned American citizen) Shirley Hazzard (1931 – 2016) died at the age of 85. Hazzard was probably best known for her novel, The Transit of Venus, which won the National Book Critics circle Award in 1980. But for me, the book I most closely associate with Hazzard is the…
Read MoreGetting into the holiday spirit in Berlin
Those who know me or who follow my blog know what a hopeless Italophile I am, with a ridiculous soft spot for my ‘hometown’: Rome. BUT, there’s one time of year when Rome disappoints me, and that’s the Christmas season. It’s not that there aren’t beautiful Nativity scenes in the churches – the traditional Christmas…
Read MoreNew-to-me authors in 2016 I’ll want to read more from…
Since discovering the excellent Book Date site, I always get great ideas for reading or posts for book lovers, such as her post New-to-me authors in 2016 I’ll want to read more from. What a great idea – each year I discover new writers whose work I enjoy, and it leads me to look up their…
Read MoreEnjoying the season at the Weihnachtstmarkt in Berlin
Earlier this month I was in Berlin for a weekend with my family. Berlin has become somewhat a city of family lore because some years ago, we missed a flight to Berlin for a similar weekend, albeit in springtime. When I booked those tickets, the airline was scheduled to fly from one Roman airport, and…
Read More‘Tis the season … to gift books!
I’m not one of those people who want or expect lots of expensive gifts under the Christmas tree, but I do appreciate the ever-thoughtful gift of books! Christmas is always a good time for me to curl up, a steaming cup of tea or cocoa at hand, ready to crack open the covers of a brand-new…
Read MoreNew York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
I once spoke to someone who visited New York in the cold of January. She complained on and on about how freezing and miserable the city was. I couldn’t help but ask her why she didn’t go to one of the ridiculous number of museums New York boasts to warm up and soak up some…
Read MoreHow cool is this? #Booksonthesubway
I absolutely LOVE this idea. And now I find myself kicking myself, why one earth did I not discover this when I spent all of last August in New York? Okay, definitely time to get back to scour the subway for these books. The idea is remarkably simple. Every few days, Books on the Subway carries…
Read MoreCoffee and people-watching in Prague’s Obecní dům cafe
I moved to Prague right after graduating from university – ions ago. I used to work as a journalist and between interviews and my shifts at the radio and television stations where I worked, I used to come to this fabulous cafe and write up my stories, slowly nursing a coffee and admiring the faded splendor…
Read MoreThe art of translation
Every translation is an act of negotiation. -Umberto Eco I only recently saw this quote from the recently deceased Italian novelist, Umberto Eco. He would certainly have known about this first-hand, as his novels, especially his most famous, The Name of The Rose, were translated into numerous languages. But Eco was also a linguist and semiotician, so he…
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