Shots in the dark.

[hannah]

At the Seder last night, trying to make conversation, I asked the man next to me if he'd read anything good recently. He said he hadn't read much contemporary stuff in a while. I told him it didn't need to be contemporary, just something he'd read recently - if he'd just read The Tale of Genji, for example.

As it turns out, he'd recently reread certain parts of that one. We ended up talking about translations and philosophies behind preserving language and intent for a good while.