Recent Reading

Wow - it's been a long time since I did a Recent Reading post. Sadly, it's because I didn't have a whole lot of time this past spring and summer to read for pleasure. And with my teaching coming up in the new year, that probably isn't going to change anytime soon.

It took me months to slog through it, but by God, a few weeks ago I finally finished Near A Thousand Tables: A History of Food by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. It was quite a bit drier than I'd expected, but happily became more readable towards the end. I don't want to think a whole lot about theories of consumption and the like just before bed, you know? But there were sufficient fun facts and anecdotes to spur me on to finish reading it. I enjoyed Margaret Visser's Much Depends On Dinner far more, though.

During the dog days of July, I really needed a ripping yarn to transport me to another world - and fortunately, J. had just loaned me her copy of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. As was the case with his American Gods, I really wasn't sure if I'd like it - but after reading just the first few pages, I was completely sucked in, and flew through it in no time. A gripping tale of parallel universes, set in London (though not the London we know) - great stuff. I guess I'm going to have to seek out more Gaiman now.

I've just started Ancestors of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson (after the fashion of Marion Zimmer Bradley), but am proceeding cautiously - J. has already read it and was not particularly impressed. And after that, I'm going to give Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle a go. This is another very popular title that I've been resisting for quite a while as it didn't really seem like my cup of tea. But J. says it's great and that's opinion enough for me. ;-)