Second Star - and other reasons for lingering

A still life in motion, Second Star ''consumes the present'' with a patient curiosity, asking us to ''put off tomorrow'' and join Philippe Delerm in tasting, touching, listening, and noticing. Whether biting into a bitter turnip or savouring a summer evening in June, Philip Delerm''s literary snapshots transport us to simple, often overlooked sensations and pleasures, and, pausing, expand a moment or emotion outwards in concentric circles. Vividly translated by Jody Gladding, these evocative vignettes invite us to linger, to ''savour the few moments of silence'' - as if each bite of a ripe watermelon, each exhaled breath on a bitterly cold day, each cloudy evening on the beach, were our last.