Seoul, December 11th
In light of your recent baklava tastings and us repeatedly returning to talking about coffee, you asked me about coffee traditions in Korea. In short, there are none. Traditions that is. Coffee is part of Korean society for a long time now, but became a crazy trend in recent years. The amount of coffee businesses opening is incredible. With this both the quality and the price of coffee took a large jump. Wherever there’s coffee, there’s cake. And a croissant or a madeleine. But a tradition of serving een koffiekoekje, or biscotta, or baklava, we have not. It does remind me of something else though. There is a small coffee place in our town, named 더 느림 (deo nurim) (meaning ‘slower’). The town has only two main streets accessible for cars and this coffee place sits at the corner of where the two streets meet. It’s the beating heart of the town, this crossroad. Have a look here for a little feel. Unlike the trendy, hipster, self-roasting places operated by young Koreans, coffee is served by the older couple who own the place. It took a little while for them to understand the idea of a tall, non-Korean person frequenting their cafe but they have been the sweetest since. The cafe is operated with a figurative bible at hand; little psalm-like texts scribbled on the walls, nothing too aggressive. They open 7 days a week, but Sunday closure time is noon to ensure the owners can go to church after. The best place of the house, if weather allows, is the one table on the wooden platform outside. Drinking coffee amidst the daily Changsin life. Scooterbikes blaring by, pedestrians trying to cross unharmed, the occasional traffic jam. The butcher on the other side of the street is either whacking carcasses with a knife that looks like a machete, or squatting down for a little cigarette break. I could sit here for hours. I don’t. But I could. A notebook for a little writing, a book, the camera. Maybe I should. The reason I bring it up though is not for its location, but for the self service toaster. There’s a toaster between the plants, behind the coffee machine, where one can toast some bread to eat with strawberry jam. A free of charge extra, accompanying many a hot coffee, and if you ask me, beating most of the koekjes served with coffee in The Netherlands.
On closing the topic of coffee for this letter, I’m still to find a combination that beats the black coffee with a fresh croissant perfection.
I read several ‘best of 2022 books’ articles last week and listened to the NYT podcast you mentioned. Is it me or do official book reviewers often (always?) try to sound more dramatic than the book they’re reviewing? I can’t stand the way most of them talk, is this a book reviewer trait? They’re not doing the author’s work justice. Trust by Hernan Diaz has been awaiting me on the e-reader for some months now and indeed, the rest does not sound all too appealing. For a light read in between though, I have been considering Jennifer Egan’s Goon Squad, prequel to the book mentioned on this podcast. A clear hit or miss, I’m sure. And as for the ‘Reading The World’ project and book, I read the following in the book’s Goodreads description:
”It wasn’t easy. Many languages have next to nothing translated into English; there are tiny, tucked-away places where very little is written down at all; some governments don’t like to let works of art leak out to corrupt Westerners.”
I get the feeling the author was sitting on a very high western throne looking (down) at the rest of the world. I’m sure you and I can do this better. But to be honest, I have no ambition to be so rigid on rules for reading projects. I enjoyed the approach we took, and if you are suggesting to do it again, I’m all for it. We could think of structuring the actual reading and reviewing a little by adding three to five review rules per book. What’s (one of) your favourite lines in the book? Who would you like to gift the book to and why? What’s interesting about the author or the place of origin? But I’m not interested in ticking off as many countries as possible.
I have been absorbed by Saul Bellow’s Herzog lately. It’s beautiful. And at the same time it’s one of the slowest reads I ever experienced. With the covid infection and the World Cup screwing with my routines and screaming for my attention, I struggle to find that perfect mood for reading a book that demands focus. The fact that Herzog has been pulling me back every day, speaks to the quality of the writing. Given the interest you’ve developed for Bess Roth’s son in 2022, and how he and Saul Bellow are often listed as likeminded writers, you may want to add Herzog to your 2023 plans. And as for ‘something epic, a tome of several hundred or thousands of pages’ – obviously – count me in! Adding some titles to your suggestion: Infinite Jest, 2666, A Suitable Boy. I’ll follow your lead here, but how about a January 1 start? High on firework fumes, slightly hungover. First the ski jumping in Garmisch Partenkirchen and then the epic tome. Oh wait, no tv for you, so no ski jumping either. I’m wondering what one does on January 1 without a tv. Probably just books and sleep.
I won’t be able to produce a similar list to yours of the World Cup finals and where I watched those. I simply don’t remember. Just the 2010 final with The Netherlands, as that same Museumplein where you were is just some blocks away from my friend’s house where I watched. We could hear the crowds, but avoided it purposely. You were there and I struggle to picture you in the drunk orange mass. I’d guess you didn’t wear anything orange and on the train from Utrecht to Amsterdam you had a Dutch flag painted on your face. Silently accepting your fate and surrendering to everything you couldn’t influence that day. As for this edition, it’s not what I had hoped. Many say it’s one of the best in years, but not for me. The Korean time zone does not help. And I miss the specialists Jack. A soft first touch, controlling an impossible pass, the outside touch of a left foot. Angels With Dirty Faces spoke of an Argentinian term for holding a ball just a little longer, the confidence to wait for the more ideal moment to pass. I can’t remember the word. It’s in the notes I wrote down and I will add it here after. My favourite part of the book. Come to think of it, two highlights of the World Cup center around that concept. Son Heung-Min’s assist for the decisive 2-1 against Portugal, a moment of brilliance. Sonny, as everyone calls him here, failed to deliver as he struggled with his face mask, and even more with his feet. But that pass, wow!
And then there’s Luka Modric.
You mentioned Zidane in earlier cups, and I’m happy you did. For me Modric is Zidane’s successor. There were some before Zidane, but so far only one since. As with Zidane the 21 others on the pitch, around Modric, are just necessary stuffing. Just a camera on Modric may be a silly idea, but it’d be enough for me. Did you ever watch the documentary they shot on Zidane, where they follow just him during one match? Some twenty camera’s and multiple microphones around the pitch and only Zidane for 90 minutes. Real Madrid against Villarreal if I remember correctly. Again, irrelevant details. Just the master at work, the rest is necessary but redeemable.
My 2022 Prediction has the benefit of the remainder of the quarter finals being played now: Argentina vs France. My heart ached for Modric and his Croatia not making it to the final, and Ziyech and his Morocco ditto. I watched it on the laptop, stretched out on our couch. It was 4 am on a mid-December morning. Inyoung was definitely vast asleep, and temperatures were freezing. Jack who I corresponded with at the time, predicted the game to be boring. Games were often boring. I remember Ziyech and Modric, two of my favourite players at the time, who faced each other a day earlier for the bronze medals. Modric won and announced his retirement. I fell in a deep well and lost most of the little interest I had left in football. During the final I was mainly concerned if I should eat a big breakfast before running my favourite trail to wrap up the cup. France won. Jack and I both predicted Argentina before the cup, and therefore we read 700 pages on Argentinian football. Humans are weird.
La Pausa. The term I was looking for. Not as colourful as I remembered it, but still. Sonny’s La Pausa and Modric entire performance has been the highlight of the cup. “Bochini became a master of that most revered phenomenon in Argentinian soccer, la pausa, the moment when a number 10, poised to deliver a pass, delays a fraction, waiting for the player he is looking to feed to reach the ideal position.”
A night without football ahead. I look forward to reading Herzog and sleeping early.