What are you reading 2023

That old thing?😁

Finished Anthony Bourdain’s COOK’S TOUR. Quite a remarkable book. It’s about food, of course, in all sorts of worldwide locales and in all sorts of eating establishments— including Vietnamese street vendors. But it’s also, perhaps mainly, about people. Bourdain’s relationships with people are at the center of this very valuable book and you are struck by his constant, unvaried respect for those he meets. There are some exceptions: he is hyper-vigilant for phoniness, pretension, or cruelty. But he is never easy on himself either. He is his own punch line in self-directed joke after joke. And always his food writing will make you hungry. Maybe not for a still beating cobra heart downed like an oyster, but there are plenty of alternatives. Bourdain was a brilliant writer.

There are clues to his tragic suicide throughout the book, but I wouldn’t presume to even comment on my take. Suffice it to say that his loss is a very great one and he will be missed. Very much.

Just finished an anthology of lost science fiction short stories from the 20s,30s,and 40s. Pretty good stuff, maybe 20% dated. Mostly the stories set on Venus.
Now reading Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko.

The Winged Hussars too?

Deeply into THE SURVIVAL OF THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER, by Matthew Lewis. Lewis doesn’t have a solution, but examines the various theories surrounding the fates of the young Edward V and his brother. There will likely never be a conclusion to this great historical mystery but Lewis hacks away at all the version with logic and a great deal of research. Real mysteries are always more interesting than fictional ones, even Shakespeare’s.

The truth is often stranger than fiction.

I looked it up and saw that is the case. There are a a couple of sets of unidentified bodies in some royal tombs that the Queen wouldn't give permission to examine. They think Chuck 3 will allow it. A real Game of Thrones mystery. It sounds evil and crazy, but the danger they represented to the stability of the kingdom was real, even if it was no fault of their own.

It seems that that declaring them illegitimate would protect them. Somewhat.

Yes. But the problem was that the declaration was coerced out of a parliament, which could just as easily reverse itself. Lewis is not going to declare a “winner” here. It’s up to the reader to decide. Almost 600 years later the case is too murky for a definitive solution.

As I've been reading a William Gibson novel or two and then switching back to a Dostoevsky novel or two these past couple months, I once again find myself instantly appreciating Dostoevsky's prose as magnitudes greater than William Gibson. As much as I've enjoyed Gibson for the cyberpunk science fiction and the arcing storylines I can't help but juxtapose just how forced and basic Gibson's writing style is by comparison. Dostoevsky really sucks me in with his character development and how he can be comical with debasing and slandering them simultaneously. Gibson constantly writes with what's supposed to be a US Southern accent in writing form, leaving out words and often writing like shortened slang and after seven of his novels it's grown old. Five more Gibson novels to go this year and I really hope he grows out of that bland style in the next jump to the Blue Ant Trilogy.

I've been reading some contemporary Russian novels and I find the prose addictive. I suppose the translator makes a big difference, but there has to be a lot there to begin with. The Russians are obsessed with the internal.

Started Washington Irving's Sketch Book. Something I have not picked up since school days. His description of the sea voyage over to Europe is quite amusing. He is a much better writer than I recall from 55+ years ago. I look forward to "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and the Van Winkle story. 

Fiction: An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England, Brock Clarke, 2008.  I don't know why I've never read this guy.  It's light, but not fluff; humorous,  but not (very) silly.

Non-fiction: Michael Fanone's book.