Adelphi1 prints in book form two unpublished speeches by Milan Kundera, one from 1967 and the other from 1983, in which the great Czech writer reflects on the fate of the small nations in central Europe and the cultural drift of (western) Europe as a whole. As we read along, thanks to Kundera’s acumen and depth of analysis, we find many surprising ante-litteram references to today’s critical situation (Russian-Ukrainian war). ...

As a Shirley Jackson fan, I couldn’t pass on this new collection of unpublished short stories. A good chunk of these was unheard of for thirty years until someone unearthed some cardboard boxes in a Vermont barn and then sent them to her heirs. Unlike The Lottery, where all tales followed a distinct theme, Just an Ordinary Day has little to unite the stories. Several genres are represented: classic family stories, supernatural, horror, and unsettling accounts of day-to-day life in the fifties all make up the list. Not all stories are of the same level. While most are mature for prime time, a few could have used some more tinkering, yet they were worth publishing as a precious testimony of an (infinitely talented) writer’s creative process. At one point, two versions of the same tale are put side by side, thus allowing a look into how Shirley Jackson revised her stories and perfected them over time. I think my Italian (Adelphi) edition includes a selection of the original collection of more than fifty, which is probably a good thing (I read somewhere that a second book with the missing pieces is planned). ...

Suppose you are looking for a juicy and thought-provoking read on Italy’s twentieth-century crucial moments. In that case, I heartily recommend Italica by Giacomo Papi, a significant collection of short stories by prominent Italian writers of the period including the likes of Italo Calvino, Elsa Morante, Beppe Fenoglio, Natalia Ginzburg, and Giorgio Scerbanenco. A short essay introduces each tale. I thoughtfully appreciated these introductions, sometimes even more so than the story itself, as they are quintessential to comprehending the tale’s historical background. Papi’s remarks are insightful, brilliant, well-written, well-documented, and often heavily data-driven. ...

I am happy and humbled to have been awarded the Microsoft MVP Award for the seventh consecutive year. July 1, the award assignation day, always comes with curiosity and a bit of trepidation. Being a member of the MVP community has been a very positive experience for me, especially in the years before COVID, when the MVP Summit, the main MVP event, was held in person in Seattle at the Microsoft HQ. That assembly of experienced developers from all over the world is an exhilarating experience. Smart guys and gals from different cultures gather to meet the people responsible for their daily drivers’ tools and technologies. There are countless networking possibilities, both with fellow MVPs and Microsoft personnel. ...

Last week, I got a mail from PyPI, the Python package index. They informed me that one of my open source projects had been designated as ‘critical,’ and I was therefore required to enable two-factor authentication. If I didn’t oblige, I would soon lose the ability to add new releases or modify the project. The project in question was Cerberus. The ‘critical’ designation happens when a project has been in the top 1% of downloads over the prior six months. Given that there are currently 388K packages on the Python Package Index, I must admit that having one of my projects in the top 1% does feel good. ...

Last year I hiked the Translagorai route while accompanying my nephew and his friend on their first hiking and wild camping experience. To go full circle, I soloed the Alta Via del Granito last weekend, which covers the parts of the Lagorai mountain range not included in the Translagorai. The AVG is supposed to be a three days effort, with overnights to be spent in managed huts (“Rifugio”), but I wanted to make it in two days while camping in the wilderness. On Day One, I experimented with recording some moments on my GoPro. ...

W.G. Sebald is widely considered among the best modern German authors, so I approached this book with curiosity and high expectations. The Rings of Saturn records the author’s walking tour along the East Coast of England. As W.G. Sebald resides in the intellectual world, his tour naturally brings up literary, cultural or historical reminiscences. An astute Goodreads reviewer noted that Britain’s decline’s eccentric and grotesque aspects are this work’s central theme. The peregrinations of Thomas Browne’s skull, dubious capitalism, carpet bombing of Nazi Germany, 20th-century Imperialism, the case of Roger Casement, Belgian Congo genocide, quasi-repatriation of Michael Hamburger, Tai-ping rebellion, Joseph Conrad’s Congo excursion, Edward Fitzgerald’s life and times, etc.—and how these end, or, indeed, constitute decay, dissolution and death. That’s a lot of output for a few days-long walk-about. ...

It’s been a long time coming, but I’m glad to announce that Eve 2 has finally been released today. This release drops support for Python 2, Python 3.5 and Python 3.6 hence the major version bump. Other than that, expect some fixes, a new uuidRepresentation setting for MONGO_OPTIONS, and an alignment to the latest Werkzeug/PyMongo idiosyncrasies. The full changelog is available on the project website. The Eve project has been out for ten years. As said elsewhere, I believe it’s mature and stable enough for most use cases. I consider it done in terms of features, and it is now in ‘maintenance mode’. ...

“Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his.” So begins Italo Calvino’s compilation of fragmentary urban images. As Marco tells the khan about Armilla, which “has nothing that makes it seem a city, except the water pipes that rise vertically where the houses should be and spread out horizontally where the floors should be,” the spider-web city of Octavia, and other marvelous burgs, it may be that he is creating them all out of his imagination, or perhaps he is recreating fine details of his native Venice over and over again, or perhaps he is simply recounting some of the myriad possible forms a city might take. ...

After two years of avoiding it, I finally got Covid. First two days, I had a few symptoms but was testing negative (it was likely to be Covid because one of my daughters was positive.) On day three, I tested positive. It’s ten days now, but only during the first three or four I didn’t feel good: a light fever, pinching throat, some coughing and sleepiness, that’s all. I did not have to miss any working days (I’m self-employed) and only had to skip two of my daily training routines1. I’m in my early fifties, healthy, fully vaccinated and boosted. ...