Finished reading The Citadel of the Autarch (as the second half of the Sword & Citadel compilation). This was far and away my favorite of the four books, with a narrator who finally seems human, and something of an explanation for some of the seemingly-irrational events of the earlier books. Was the payoff worth it? Yes; I’m still not a fan of the semi-inscrutability of the earlier books, but they had their own compensating virtues.

Tonight’s kitchen victory: beef/mushroom hand pies, and chocolate crème brûlée for dessert.

Finished reading The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe (as the first half of the Sword & Citadel compilation). The narrator seemed even more of a character, and less a pawn of the author, than in book two. Not coincidentally I enjoyed this book more than the previous two.

Took the bus and light rail to Capitol Hill, then walked back home, following the route of the rail tunnel as best I conveniently could: four hours, 11 miles.

Got this part of the site under version control, finally, and updated the style to match the main site (e.g. better link colors in dark mode).

I wrote a little bit about nut-free granola.

Finished reading Light Chaser, a novella by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell. A fun, short, fairly simple story about a woman traveling a route through colonized space at near–light speed.

Finished rereading The Surgeon’s Mate by Patrick O’Brian, book seven of the Aubrey/Maturin series. As usual, the book is split between sea and land, and on land, as with the previous book, Maturin’s spycraft is more foregrounded than had been typical of the series.

Walked up the Interurban to Hall Lake, then over to Mountlake Terrace and down Lyon Creek: about eight miles.

Thanksgiving dinner with Mom yesterday at Greg and Jocelyn’s, also with Marco and Ches.

Finished reading The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker, the sequel to The Golem and the Jinni. I wasn’t sure it actually needed a sequel, and on the one hand, sure, it stood perfectly on its own, but on the other, it was great to spend a little more time with these characters, even if they made some bad choices. I think the rough edges of the first story were filed off, and the stakes were even more personal this time.

Current earworm: “Feels So Good” by Chuck Mangione.

Went to Tom’s memorial service.

We all went to Nathan and Miller’s new place for dinner last night, and had a wonderful time.

Finished reading Perhaps the Stars by Ada Palmer, the fourth and final book in the series.

A fitting end, perhaps a little more neatly tied off than I’d like, but perhaps that’s appropriate for a story of this length and intensity. I do sincerely appreciate that it barely hints at an answer to one of my big questions I’ve had since the first book — I don’t think an answer would have improved the books one bit.

The series is a little too weird for me to recommend whole-heartedly to just anybody, but I loved it, and will probably reread it one of these days.