Closing tabs

I did something sensible on this trip and only brought five monographs to read out of the diverse heap of books that have come my way for the Studies in English Literature eighteenth-century roundup which I will be writing in another month or two (still waiting for more books to come in - it's much fewer so far than in previous years, more like 40 or 45 rather than 110+, and I need to figure out whether they don't exist or whether, for instance, review copy budgets are down across the board). Four and a half down, half to go (but I have read it before, in manuscript - I saved it for last because I know I like it!).

Brought a few other substantive books as well as part of resolution for 2016 to read more nonfiction and not quite so much "fodder"....

I always bring any agitation I may be experiencing with me when I come to Cayman, which can be a bit of a trial for all concerned (bouncing off walls!), but fortunately on this trip I am experiencing an unusual degree of peace of mind. (One factor: gratitude that this January is so much less stressful than last January. January through March of 2015 were of sufficient dreadfulness that I really hope I'm not going to have another sequence of months like that any time soon - fingers crossed, anyway.)

Will do the aquabike on Sunday out on the East End; have been doing a lot of hot yoga and similar. A few meals with friends, more quiet time at home, minor work obligations that can be aquitted by phone and email (as B. says of his own work, "Can do it anywhere. Might as well do it on a beach!"). Spa week(s)! Feeling optimistic about the spring semester - the load for the tenure committee will be extremely heavy, but I have gotten into good mental and physical shape in preparation....

Closing tabs:

An interview with Tom Stoppard.

National biscuits?

A fascinating long account of an elaborate con.

Doveman covers David Bowie's Lazarus.

Is reheated pasta less fattening? (Via Jane!)

Miscellaneous light reading, including a couple of real standouts:

Asne Seirstad, One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway. I couldn't put this down - the narration is rather melodramatic (the narrative framework is like that of a serial killer novel) but the reporting goes deep and it is an incredibly compelling read. Strongly recommended.

And Charlie Jane Anders, All the Birds in the Sky - I loved this one (it's kind of like The Magicians but completely in reverse!), I had it via Netgalley but will perhaps see if I can get Charlie Jane to do a blog interview bit in publication week

Also (much that I really loved here, but it can't be said that January is the best month for new releases):

Reread of an old favorite, William Boyd's Armadillo (I still think it's very good, but I now have read a lot more other books in this vein, which somewhat lessens the impression).

Becky Chambers, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (loved it!).

Linda Nagata, The Red and subsequent installments (brilliant, haunting, wouldn't have minded if it were a bit less unrelentingly military in its episodes - would make great TV series).

Kim Stanley Robinson, Aurora (quite enjoyed it but it caused me to ruminate on why I have such a strong preference for Neal Stephenson even though it can similarly and fairly be charged that his female protagonists might as well be male - but there is something about Stephenson's explanatory and descriptive sentences that is itself compelling to me in a way that Robinson's are not).

Marcus Sakey's Brilliance trilogy (excellent light reading - that's good value for money!).

Pam Brondos, Gateway to Fourline (wasn't sure about this one at first - it reminded me a lot of Charlie Stross's Merchant Princes series, my least favorite of all his books - but decided I was keen, then realized with horror at the end that the next installment isn't out yet! But it is pre-ordered for January 19, which means I can read it in the airport on the way home).

Lila Bowen, Wake of Vultures (at first I found the writing a little too formulaic/polished, but it grew on me - in the end I really liked it - reminded me of the excellent Joan Vinge novelisation of Cowboys and Aliens!).

Sam Hawken, The Night Charter (like a sort of cross between Lou Berney's caper books and Lee Child but with a female Reacher equivalent - I liked it but didn't love it, will definitely seek out more by this author).

Kirsty Eagar, Raw Blue, a very good recommendation from Justine Larbalestier (this is the very best of contemporary YA I think in the non-fantastic vein - really beautifully written and rendered).

Elizabeth Little, Dear Daughter (pretty good, though I never quite bought into the voice - but it is better than Gone Girl!).

Several crime novels by Belinda Bauer (not bad but I am really tired of the serial-killer-close-to-home trope)

Two books about overeating (am on regimen of nutritional soundness which makes me want to read books about people who eat too many doughnuts), Allen Zadoff's Hungry and Lisa Kotin's My Confection: Odyssey of a Sugar Addict. The writing in the latter is very good but it becomes pretty repetitive, I am not sure there was really a whole book in it as opposed to a few very good essays.

That's it for now.

Catch-up

Feeling randomly and irrationally cheery this morning. Had a short run early, then self-imposed exile from B.'s condo (the cleaners come Wednesday morning, and I think it is better to give them free rein): first "five for five dolla" breakfast at Cimboco, and now I am ensconced for a morning of Clarissa work at Cafe del Sol.

Lots of light reading to log. I was in a state of despair about ever finding anything I wanted to read, I started and put aside almost a dozen different novels (several of which really are things I like very much, and when I am having this feeling very strongly the problem is more with me I think than with the books!). But school finished and I got a little more wherewithal to find stuff and enjoy it and now I have had an extremely good run of stuff:

A short memoir-essay by Ellis Avery, The Sapphire and the Tooth.

An amazingly appealing novel by Daniel Price, who really is a genius of light reading (I am impatient for the next installment in his newer series): Slick.

Laurie R. King's new Mary Russell installment (not bad, a bit silly in parts), Dreaming Spies.

Robin Black, Life Drawing (very well-written, but a little too domestic and depressing for my taste).

Charlaine Harris, Midnight Crossroad and Day Shift (slight but fun).

Marisa de los Santos, The Precious One (her novels are invariably delightful).

Suzanne Munshower, Younger (not bad, though not more than adequate).

Peter Higgins's final installment in the Wolfhound Century Series, Radiant State. I think this trilogy is superb, though I have to admit that the final installment is less to my taste than the earlier two (we miss the two main characters too much, and in general it's not character-driven - the modernist affiliations in the writing are particularly clear as he wraps up the grand-historical themes - shades of Gravity's Rainbow!). I especially love how he uses "real" poetic epigraphs for this alternate history (I still remember how delighted I was by one particular Heaney allusion, not even an epigraph, in an earlier installment - that's against the rules in a particularly appealing way!) - can't wait to see what he writes next.

Naomi Novik's wonderfully appealing new novel (she is another with the true light reading gift - this one's slightly reminiscent of Robin McKinley, but only in the sense that it's a kind/category of book I especially like, not that there's anything derivative) Uprooted.

Bridgett M. Davis, Into the Go-Slow (I liked it a good deal - coming-of-age story featuring return of young Black American woman to Nigeria in the 1980s).

Henry Marsh, Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery, which is alternately enthralling and dispiriting (it certainly does not make one wish to be working in the present-day NHS). But - BRAINS!

And last, a novel that I am only sorry to have read because it means I will never read it again for the first time, certainly one for my top ten of the year: Neal Stephenson's absolutely amazing Seveneves. SO GOOD. I think I loved it almost as much as I loved Anathem, which is saying a great deal; his last novel was enjoyable but minor, and I was very glad to see this return to absolute top form.