The Hole in the Flag, Andrei Codrescu, 1991. 


This is what I'm reading right now. It was the only book I read about Romanian history before I went to Romania, mostly because it was the one that looked most interesting in the library system. There aren't many history books I could read more than once. This is definitely one of them. 


While I wouldn't quite call it a memoir, it has many of the qualities--the personal story, the immediacy, the emotion. It's the story of a Romanian poet who left Romania when he was nineteen, believing he would never return, and went back twenty-five years later--just days after Ceausescu was executed. It's story more than history, reminiscence more than facts, but it's filled with details that are perfect for bringing the time period to life. But what I'm enjoying most about it is simply the mindset that underlies it--the Romanian way of thinking. Reading it makes me almost think with an accent. It's reminding me of so many things I'd forgotten about Romanian culture--ways of talking, ways of interacting, ways of thinking. Things that I'll never really understand, but at least I observed them. It's like getting a little glimpse back into that world, like a short visit back to Transylvania. 


I wish I really could go back, even for a visit. To all my Romanian friends: mi-e dor de voi. I miss you.