story: Live Life King-Sized
author: Hester Kaplan
year: 1998
where: JFK, Etihad lounge
note: recording hiatus, apologies
a line: βI sent Jensen another beer, which he received with a verdictless shrug, and I turned on the ceiling fan to blow the death smell of Henry Blaze out to sea .β
story: The Hermit’s Story
author:Β Rick Bass
year: 1998
where: Burjeel cafe, English breakfast tea
note:Β read twice
a line: βA cold snap comes in October, freezes a skin of ice over the lake — it’s got to be a shallow one, almost a marsh.β
story:Β One Day A WeekΒ
author:Β Mohammad Al Murr
year: 2008
where: Reem Island after the blackout
note: I can only say ‘Rashidiya’ like the metro man
a line: βFive days a week she passed in a torment of anticipation.β
story:The Best Girlfriend You Never Had
author:Β Pam Houston
year:Β 1999
where:Β home, wooden kitchen table
note: such long sentences
a line: βI pointed myself west down the endless two lanes of Highway 50 — The Loneliest Road in America say the signs that rise out of the desert on either side of it — all the way across Utah and Nevada to this white shining city on the bay.β
story:Β Flower Hunters
author:Β Lauren Groff
year: 2016
where: kitchen table, cold tea
note: female friendships, the invisible shipwrecks of life
a line: βShe is frightened that there arenβt many people on the earth she can stand.β
story: Friend of my Youth
author:Β Alice Munro
year: 1991
where: pool, Khorfakkan
note: a Munro story is total immersion
a line: βGod rewarded lust with dead babies, idiots, harelips and withered limbs and clubfeet.β
story:Β In the House of the Jackal
author: C Pam Zhang
year: 2016
where: between meetings, Saadiyat “Happiness”Β Island
note: a new voice for me
a line: βTry to imagine a whole country past your walls.β
