su-lin told us again yesterday that she's got that copy of a hat full of sky which yen brought back from england, but by this time i'm quite prepared to believe julian, who choonping tells me suspects that the story that yen brought anything back from england at all is completely fictitious, now how else can it be explained that, after all this time that the book is supposed to be circulating amongst us, no one has actually set eyes on it yet? considering how su-lin, yen and i got through both the well of lost plots and monstrous regiment in 3 days, there is definitely a ratty smell about.

i wonder if nlb will get hold of julian barnes's the lemon table before september. i don't really want to read the whole thing, and anyway i never heard of lemons signifying death, or signifying anything at all, come to that. just that i've heard that there is a story in the collection about turgenev reflecting on his life.