Tuesday's Literary Briefing

Those Are NOT Our Mandals

Our mother raised us to properly thank gracious hosts and gift givers. Oftentimes, though, we’re told that we say “thank you” and “I’m sorry” too much. Which brings us to this past weekend: A platonic female friend helped us catch some crabs. No, not those kind of crabs; the kind you eat. Nevertheless, saying “thank you for the crabs” is, to say the least, awkward. And “thank you for catching crabs” sounds like it necessitates an “I’m sorry” as well. We’ll be sure to keep you posted on how this perplexing drama is resolved. But for now, on to the reading. Here’s an interview with Eva Illouz on consumer love addictions. Speaking of addictions, some people are addicted to places. At least that’s the case with many of the stories found in Joseph Epstein’s new collection. Soccer/football is on the mind for the next month, so Worldhum gives us the World Cup’s sense of place through the eyes of travel writer Steve Bloomfield. The Wall Street Journal evokes certain geographical specks through the eyes of philosophy. Gosh, traveling this much sure does make us hungry. So let’s finish up our last leg with a giant helping of Anthony Bourdain’s food porn. Thank you for reading, and we’re sorry if you don’t like the links. — Andrew Geer