March 2025

Imagination means kicking out incomplete fragments of reality, then summoning desire's magic to bring them back as something whole. That's when the unstoppable real breaks through. I'm talking about the act of reading, the way it transforms us.

Today I'm celebrating René Char, one of the essential voices of 20th-century poetry. His verse cuts through pretense. Summer and our lives were woven together. The countryside devoured the color of your fragrant dress. Hunger and restraint made peace.

Writing follows a path as unpredictable as butterfly flight. When you love books, you love writers. When you love writers, you wonder what happens inside the minds of these strange creatures who build entire worlds from nothing but words and obsession.

Life is mostly a string of minor chaos—nothing dignified about it. Yet we pour all our time and energy into these messes without growing an inch. Yeah, I know. I said I was done with Philippe Djian. I said what he writes doesn't speak to me anymore. I lied.

Today I'm reading Paul Eluard to mark the 50th anniversary of Gallimard's Poetry collection. "I have an easy beauty and that's lucky. I glide over rooftops of wind. I glide over rooftops of seas. I've become sentimental..." Words that still cut to the bone.

Has the world been invaded by fictional characters? Are you sure you're not one yourself? How would you react if you discovered you'd become, without your knowledge, a character in someone's novel? That's exactly what happens to Abel Romero in this mind-bending tale.

Should we mention it's unwise to buy screwdrivers in bulk, knowing they quickly develop a bad mob mentality? In the "Makes No Sense" category, I present Jean Echenoz's latest novel—a story that starts nowhere and ends somewhere else entirely. Total chaos. I loved it.

Far from me, within me, I exist. Apart from who I am, shadow and movement in which I consist. The 18th Poetry Spring Festival celebrates 20th-century verse under the theme "The Great Twentieth." I'm taking this chance to dive deep into forgotten masters.

Taxi rides in New York are like love affairs: we surrender to strangers, trusting they'll take us where we need to go. Places we can't reach alone. Ten stories about love. Well, sort of. The title's a bit misleading. But that's what makes it interesting.