books

Anyway, about to reread Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré.

Looking for a lighthearted swords-and-sorcery book along the lines of “Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser starring Gwendoline Christie and Maisie Williams”.

Finished reading The Orphan Tsunami of 1700, finally. I’d put it down for a while, but the subject and presentation are like catnip to me: a popular explanation of the 1700 tsunami with the meticulousness and rigor of an academic paper. (It’s available as a PDF for free if you’d like.)

The dude is reading, and delighting in, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.

I keep thinking about Ursula K. Le Guin’s Always Coming Home as our modern economic system staggers.

Currently reading The Orphan Tsunami of 1700: Japanese Clues to a Parent Earthquake in North America by Atwater, Musumi-Rokkaku, Satake, Tsuji, Ueda, and Yamaguchi.

Slowly making my way through The Art of Eating Cookbook by Edward Behr, a Christmas present from Meghan that we’ll be enjoying for years.

Haven’t picked up Why Buddhism is True for a couple weeks now, and I wasn’t reading all that quickly or diligently before, so I’m going to put it aside and start reading … I don’t know. Something else. I’ll be back to this at some point, though.

Now reading Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright.

Not sure what to read next: There’s new Neal Stephenson, and Empress of Forever briefly touched its hat to Gene Wolfe, but I’m not sure I want either the commitment or to read another old white dude right now, but I also don’t have anything else lined up.

Empress of Forever was really good. It took a left turn at chapter 3, then fell into a structure so superficially standard that I didn’t notice the very interesting thing Gladstone was doing until about halfway through. Another book I’ll be thinking about in the next weeks.

Now starting Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone.

Ritz & Escoffier was fascinating, a little chatty and gossipy but perhaps that’s appropriate for the subject matter. I wasn’t aware how much those two shaped the modern hotel and restaurant businesses.

Now starting Ritz & Escoffier: The Hotelier, the Chef & the Rise of the Leisure Class by Luke Barr.

The Raven Tower was a fascinating little puzzle-box of betrayal, revenge, and metaphysics. Highly recommended.