Losing it, again

Okay, the first thing I’ve been losing isn’t my fault. Every now and then Haloscan freaks out and stops showing me that you’re commenting, so my apologies for thinking the worst of you (and me, for not providing topics worthy of comment). I’ve reset it, and all is forgiven.

Not long ago I wrote about an uncharacteristic streak of losing things. Add to that an entire book. I’ve never lost a book before in my life. Ever. I even have a guess where I left it — a doctor’s office. If so, somebody else picked it up. It was a fantastic book called “The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life.” To say that its story of a Jewish Azeri oilman’s son who somehow transforms himself into an image of Muslim mystery as part of the community of Russian expatriates living in Berlin during the rise of Nazism is fascinating would be the understatement of all time. Tom Reiss not only weaves the incredible tale of someone who was once one of the best-known writers in Europe, but explains the impact of Bolshevism and revolution on the lands of the East and the changes and repercussions that we see there to this day. I started with a copy from the library, and when I couldn’t finish it in time, I knew I had to have this book anyway, and I special ordered it. And then, just to support Tom Reiss and the new Manor Block Books in Troy, I lost my copy last week, and will now have to order another.