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These appeared in my newsfeeds on the same day.

St John’s Dancers in Molenbeeck, by a follower of Pieter Bruegel the Elder

500 years ago this month, a strange mania seized the city of Strasbourg. Citizens by the hundreds became compelled to dance, seemingly for no reason — jigging trance-like for days, until unconsciousness or, in some cases, death.

Read The Dancing Plague of 1518 in The Public Domain Review.

And twenty years ago, one of my favorite movies opened in theatres.

When I was living in New York and working on a newspaper, I’d get off work at 2am and we’d go to clubbing at Studio 54. There weren’t a lot of other places in the neighbourhood to go to. I had a tailor-made blue suit that was my sole legacy from my father. It was my magic charm for getting into the club. I was scared of Studio 54 at first – but it wasn’t in the least bit scary once you got in. My first date with my future wife was there.

Read Whit Stillman and Kate Beckinsale: How we made The Last Days of Disco.

Chloe!

Make another movie soon, Whit.

This weekend it’s pouring rain and blazing sunshine, often simultaneously. It takes at least 30 minutes to get a Grab car, and the fare is high, and if you decide to take a taxi the driver blames you for the trouble in the world. Every restaurant you want to try in Poblacion seems to be packed so you end up at the usual, where you should’ve gone in the first place. If you’ve already seen Hereditary and passed a sleepless night leaping out of bed because you think you heard a clucking noise, it’s the perfect time to stay at home and read our Bibliophibian Selection for July: Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada.

Our Reading Group got started over coffee at Commune

and we were so engrossed that we kept on reading over margaritas.

Books and booze, they go together.

Our Bibliophibians Reading Group discussion starts tomorrow. Grab a copy (if you can find one in stores) or get the e-book and join us in Comments. If you don’t have the book, join us anyway. We’d like to hear your thoughts on novels with non-human protagonists, especially animals.

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Monday, 2 July

Roni in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia

Roni: It’s like I have stumbled head-first ontp a landscape that’s familiar but not really. I feel kind of like how a blind man feels, seeing Yoko Tawada’s world for the first time, trying to make sense of the colors of things and reconciling it with the way I picture them in my mind. She is leading me by the hand—my guide in this wonderful, bittersweet land.

Tuesday, 3 July

Allan on his way to the office

Allan: I stepped into Memoirs of a Polar Bear knowing nothing much about Tawada or the book itself. I often like spoilers, but in this case I decided to walk in blindly. My assumption had been that the title was just symbolic; even the synopsis on the book’s jacket didn’t disabuse me of that notion. So it was quite a surreal and somewhat jarring experience when I began reading it and was confused for couple pages about what was happening. Then it all clicked in my head. It’s a pretty challenging world to create, one that swings from realism to fantasy seamlessly once you get into it. I’m still in the first part, but it certainly has me intrigued. Plus, polar bears.

Wednesday, 4 July

Joey reading in the woods

Joey: I feel like I’m turning into a polar bear. “If human beings want to possess human rights, they have to give animals animal rights. But how do I justify the fact that yesterday I ate meat?”

Saturday, 7 July

Do not try this yourself. Deo reading while walking on the street where cars pass.