Absinthe Recommends

Let's start by saying we do NOT recommend seeing "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Very sad to say about Indiana Jones. (But "Iron Man" was quite cool.)

We've recently read and enjoyed I'd Like by Amanda Michalopoulou, translated by Karen Emmerich; Factory of Tears by Valzhyna Mort, translated by Franz Wright and Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright; and Diary of a Blood Donor by Mati Unt, translated by Ants Eert.

In addition, in an interview with Haaretz, Jonathan Littell, the American-French author of the notorious novel Les Bienveillantes, states that there are no authors he'd like to meet: "most writers are totally uninteresting." ArtInfo.com interviews the Picasso biographer John Richardson. The Goethe Institut discusses new trends on the German stage: "many of the most striking new plays ... have been penned by very young playwrights." The Financial Times profiles the "Sons of Sartre," and Bernard-Henri Levy (BHL) is called "a pretentious little jerk" by French president Sarkozy's speechwriter, Henri Guaino.