When I got back from work today, the postman had delivered two delights. One is this collection of David Remnick’s journalism. He’s such a graceful writer — the kind that leaves you staring at a sentence and wondering how anything can be so succinctly elegant.

The other delight is Bob Dylan’s new album, Modern Times. It’s astonishingly original and fresh, with some tracks (Thunder on the Mountain, The Levee’s Gonna Break) which remind one of why rock music changed the world.