i could remember the sheer power of the writing better than i could remember the intricacies of his argument about pierre , or the ambiguities , but those were the hectic berkeley days when id buy stacks of used paperbacks at the store on telegraph avenue and then go across the street to the caf mediterranean and sit for hours drinking coffee and reading myself into a stupor , so my remembering the force of that book in particular seemed worth mentioning when we first met at the welcoming cocktail party given in our honor by the department chairman , christos vanidis .