I'm experimenting with a page to write about books I've been reading or conversations about writing that I have with myself and others. I'm seldom current; I often find myself rereading or preferring books that were not written in the United States. The longer breath line of French or Spanish (in translation) appeals to me, as does the greater flexibility in ways to tell stories, or not tell them. Novels coming out of the Near East also share this flexibility. This will be needing specifics. So I promise to read more systematically, noting titles and correct spelling of author names. For example, a used copy of Isabel Allende's Daughter of Fortune came my way. Eliza (the titular daughter) is about to stow away on a ship from Chile to San Francisco in order to be with her lover. I hope the novel is not going to veer into a romance/adventure story. Someone write me an email to warn me off if that is the case.