Photo by lilypenelope

Couple of years ago I read a fascinating book about litterally the "small pleasures in life". Small pleasures like those gestures, actions that we, consciously or not, encounter on a daily basis often without even realizing how important / fullfilling they actually are. "Whether it be a croissant in the street, the Tour de France, a potluck, shelling peas, a glass of port, the smell of apples, the mobile library, a garden in August, getting your espadrilles wet, or an autumn sweater".

Lately I have been often talking about the fact that, after years of profound struggling with food allergies / intollerances I tried my very last option to fix/solve these problems. I seriously couldn't handle anymore the fact of getting convulsion, badly sick, sometimes even fainting in restaurants even after telling the waiter(s) I couldnt eat certain stuff (but still finding them hidden somewhere on my plate!). After almost 8 years of trying every type of possible "medical solution", and after being told there was nothing I could do since it was, unfortunately a permanent state I should live with for the rest of my days, a friend of mine told me about an alternative cure (that apparently fixed all of his allergies/intollerances in a couple of months): Magnetic bioresonance. Well, I said, what the heck...one more try wouldn't hurt plus it was completely natural. It turns out another friend of mine had a studio of naturopathy right next to my office and...so I went, without having any expectations.
4 months have passed and my allergies/intollerances are gone, they disappeared!!!!

Why have I started this post with a book on small pleasures of life? Well, right now I'm in the phase of re-introducing all the food I haven't eaten in 8 years. All that food that contains lactose: yogurt, ham, sausages, butter (ohhhh yummy risotto!). Let me tell you...eating just bits of this stuff was like eating the best things ever for the first time ever! A milk shake at the bar on the boardwalk, a sausage at the barbecue with my friends, the famous risotto made by my mom (finally the real way...with butter not with olive oil!!). Well, exactly like those things Philippe Delerm was talking in his book "We Could Almost Eat Outside: An Appreciation of Life's Small Pleasures" (in italiano, en français) Photos by lilypenelope

Books. Writing and reading. Memory. Feelings. Senses. Smells. I have the habit to smell books before I buy them. I love their smell. My mind starts then wondering around, imagining an old writer, with ink and plume, sitting in a room, facing a lake, getting inspirations for a story. The smell of paper in her/his room. A cup of coffee on the side. a small bite to eat. Fog outside. Inside a soft music in the background. A, on top of everything, the smell of fresh ink, ready to create a geography of words on a blank paper.
There is so much about a book, that goes beyond its content and its cover. There is the story behind the story. And a subjectivized story...behind these juxtaposed multitude of other stories!
Photo by lilypenelope

If there is one thing in my life that is absolutely certain is that...there will be books!
Photo by lilypenelope

Packing is an art. Packing is like architecture. The starting point is to look at your suitcase as if it were a city. A place composed by multiple spaces. Spaces that litterally change through time. There are two contextual conditions: the space of departure and the space of return. The easiest one is no doubt the first one. You pack, you stress always knowing that you'll forget something vital, you stack things with one and only criteria...leave some empty spaces. The space of return. It's funny that I always plan the spaces within my suitcase based on the return! It's like planning my future memories!

It is not about souvenirs as they are collectively known. I can care less about those "fill the space above the fireplace with memories" such as those ridiculous snow globes with every possible city inside. I've always wondered why people would buy those balls. And place it on top of their fireplace...isn't that a contraddiction?
I don't consider those souvenirs (from Old French, to recall, memory, from Latin subven re, to come to mind ) but a total waste of space. My souvenirs are my memories, psychologically talking or, my photographs where I capture moments, visual infos that I want to remember.

I adore to collect the stickers they put on your luggage saying where it is coming from and where it has (possibly) to go. My souvenirs don't really take space within the landscape of my suitcase. And the best thing about these sort of souvenirs is that they are not heavy! How much do you think a memory in your brain weights? Who knows? The memory of me and my friends eating at Johnnie's Pastrami is going to be heavier than the one of me eating an apple at the beach reading a book I bought at Barnes and Noble? The thing that I am sure is that the books I'll buy are going to be heavy. Now the art of packing comes handy. Like an urban renewal. Like rethinking a city. The city within the suitcase. Fill it up without disturbing the internal balance that was already there before! You just renew the internal conditions.

Like a city, a suitcase has memories. More than what it can hold inside. Like a city, a suitcase will hold stories, anecdotes you will carry on in the future. But a suitcase, when old and useless you can keep it as a rememberance, as a souvenir. An old building will either be demolished. Why not keep it. Renew it. And hopefully reintegrate it in the urban landscape. A future memory. An urban souvenir. For real. In no ball. With snow. Over your fireplace.

TGIF! We are closing the office til tuesday! Working a little this morning and then...off to the lake! As every day, my routine hasn't changed. Coffee in front of my window contemplating. A cigarette to start the day and then...the reading begins!

I start with mails. Personal and work. Then, with online papers (this, this and this) just to be aware of what happens around the world! Then a sneek inside my blog(s) and others. When the office officially opens (8am) I sit down going through the local newspapers (only this and quickly!). I honestly enjoy it. Real paper cannot be replaced! Its smell, tiny stains of ink on your finger...a beautiful routine! Then, after my "reading-break-rotuine" I finally sit down at my desk...work work ork. Lunch and a similar routine: but other newspapers...the big italians (this, and this).

The day goes y very quickly and finally the evening arrives. Now it is the time for a book! Or a magazine!

My weekly routine is always interesting "news-wise". Everyday something new to discover. Sometimes bad news but mostly good ones. I rather prefer those!

What do you like to read?

This weekend I am going to read books like crazy and relax! I'll be back on tuesday! Happy Easter to you all!

In the previous post I didn't tell you what I actually got in my suitcase coming back home! First of all let me say one thing: since I left LA I've never had the chance to speak english here in my home town so, I love to read in english almost everything I buy, especially fiction. But, since I'm swiss (!!) I have the luck to speak italian (mother language), french and some german. so, when I am in france, I try to buy french books, at least those that are originally written in french.

I love then to sit down in a café, with an espresso and read.

These are the books I bought in Paris:

1. Saul Leiter (Photo Poche) . Photography book (in french)

2. "Ce jour -là" , Willy Ronis (Folio) . Photography book (in french)

3. "Le testament des gouttes de pluie", Einar Mar Gudmundsson. Fiction (in french) English version.

4. "Le bateau du soir", Vonne van der Meer. Fiction (in french). English version.

5. "Le spectateur émancipé". Jacques Rancière. Non-fiction. (in french). Not yet translated but check out his other titles.

6. "Les Mystères de l'ile Saint-Louis". Roger de Beauvoir (in french).

Then I got to the airport and I needed something to read since all these books were already checked in and so I got 2 other books:

7. "City of Bones". Michael Connelly. (in english)

8. "Chasing Harry Winston". Lauren Weisberg (in english)

Premise: I love reading. I love books. Everytime I go somewhere I have to watch really carefully what I put in my suitcase. Not too much since I know that, when I come back, the luggage is heavier because it's filled up with books. This time I decided otherwise. I left home with a lot of empty space, just in case! But I promised myself not to buy the very heavy exhibition official books! And that's what I did! But obviously walking around a city where you find bookstores at almost every corner was a very hard job. Temptation is a very tricky thing! I love all those little bookstores in the streets of the Latin Quarter. I went inside each one of them, even those specialised in medicine books!! No kidding!!!

Books, their cover design, their smell, the stories they hide inbetween their covers, how can you just walk away from them??

These two shots where taken close to the Sorbonne University. Books were stored in these drawers that actually come out from the facade of the building! To tell you the truth I didn't buy any...at this particular store. But I would lie to you if I told you I came back home empty handed: I left switzerland with a 9 kg suitcase. I left Paris with 16 kg...!!!!