I just finished Seek, by Denis Johnson. I started it on the plane to London and read about half of it then. You can see I’ve been busy since.
This is a recommendation with a disclaimer. At first I didn’t like this book; at first I couldn’t figure out if the stories contained in it were true or fiction. Eventually I figured out that they were all true; and in the end I enjoyed and connected deeply with this work. But the reason I connected with it was because only through the absurdity of Johnson’s experiences could I properly filter the relative sanity of my own absurd experiences here my first three months in Bosnia. In other words, nothing like a little perspective.
Everything is arranged doesn't mean you should expect to get anywhere or accomplish anything. In fact, for sanity's sake, those two ideas have to be banished: the idea of getting somewhere and the idea of accomplishing something. Everything is arranged means that all is complete, the great plan of the universe is unfolding before our eyes. So eat, drink, sleep. Everything is arranged.
Of course the sins of the U.S. government touch this region as all regions; but I can repudiate those sins effortlessly. There're merely the sins of people with too much power. I'm not one of those. I didn't wreck this place.