Finished rereading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, about the return of English magic during the Napoleonic era. This massive book proceeds at an appropriately stately pace, but the intensity ratchets up a notch every time the gentleman with the thistle-down hair appears. In addition to her well-crafted writing, Clarke’s footnote game is top-notch.
Finished reading The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, which was recommended by one of the owners of the new bookstore. I super-enjoyed this, based on Russian mythology, about a girl who can see spirits at a time when Christianity was driving them away. I wasn’t fully hooked until about halfway through, but then devoured the rest of the book.
Finished rereading Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin. It’s still one of my favorites.
Surprise dinner and beer and bookstore with William, in town for a few days.
Finished reading On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder. Quick and bracing; nothing I didn’t already know, but a good refresher.