Six Degrees South

Jakarta looks so peaceful on this Sunday morning. This calm photo is actually of the deadliest setting in which I have ever found myself. It is hard to believe the COVID horror unfolding all around me. Cases exploding, no more hospital beds, so many are dying. Almost every member of my staff is sick or has loved ones in peril. Two co-workers are infected, even after having both Sinopharm shots. As I gaze out my window from my 17th Floor perch, I shudder as I contemplate how all this might end, sending wishes for health and life to all those around me.

This month I completed six books, my personal record.  How did I accomplish that you might ask. Was it improved and enhanced time management?  Certainly not.  Or maybe I completed an exceptional speed reading course?  Hardly. Then what is the secret of my reading success?  I can give it to you in three simple words. Read. Shorter. Books. And that's what I did during the month of June--and here are my brief reviews. *Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami:  a coming-of-age novella about a fourth-grade Japanese boy who has a crush on a young woman selling sandwiches in the local supermarket. Good, but nothing special. *Be Here by the Dalai Lama:  Meditations on how we stay in the moment in the midst of the demands and stresses of everyday life. Wonderfully insightful and highly recommended. *Men without Women by Haruki Murakami:  Stories about men who find themselves in fractured relationships with women.  More than anything, this is a collection about loneliness in the modern world. Quir