Wednesday Media Consumption Roundup

[mousetrappling]

Books

Fiction: Still reading "Debt of Honour", Tom Clancy - only read a tiny bit in the last two weeks (didn't take it away with me) so nothing new to say.

Read "Valour's Trial" and "The Truth of Valour", both by Tanya Huff & books 4 & 5 in the series respectively. Mil-SF. Book 5 sits a bit oddly, especially as I think it's the end of that series (there's another follow on one) as it's more of a coda than a continuation. Still liking them.

Read "The Delirium Brief", Charles Stross. Most recent of the Laundry Files series - Lovecraftian horror meets Civil Service bureaucracy in a world where magic is a branch of mathematics that's a close cousin of computer science. Here we have the perils of outsourcing your magical defence department ... The series is really changing as it goes on, it started reasonably light-hearted but now is definitely not. Still enjoying it.

Non-fiction: still reading Gerald Harriss's "Shaping the Nation: England 1360-1461" - finished the chapter on relations with France in the second half of this period (with England gradually losing the ground she'd gained), and now about halfway through the chapter on domestic affairs in the same time frame. Henry V did well at that side of being a king as well, but his son was pretty much indifferent to the whole thing even after his minority (and before he went catatonic off & on).

Also read a bit of "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat", Samin Nosrat, which was one of my Xmas presents - a book about cooking as well as a cookery book, I'll read it properly as my next book when I'm finished with the history book.

Hidden Meanings: 1.1.27-1.8.1 - all of chapter 1 is about symbols of blessings, bats, butterflies, Buddha's Hand citron, the Fu character (the word for blessing), Fuxing (the God of Blessings), Tianguan (the Heavenly Official), lions and plum blossom. I like that one of The 5 Blessings is "a peaceful death", says a lot about the world these were originally from.

Listening

Podcasts: ep 1.D-2,5 of History of India - returned to the historical narrative, still concentrating on Pataliputra.

Music: while running I listened to "Lungs", Florence + The Machine; "The Dark Third", Pure Reason Revolution; "Vampire Weekend", Vampire Weekend; "LCD Soundsystem" LCD Soundsystem; "We Started Nothing", The Ting Tings; "A Certain Trigger" Maxïmo Park.

Watching

ep 6 of Rick Stein's Road to Mexico - still making us hungry. I now have the cookery book :)

U2 at the BBC - both the 1hr version and the 1.25hr version, songs & snippets of interview. I like U2 so I liked the programme.

ep 2 & 3 of Egypt's Golden Empire - only half watched this, it's something J's parents had recorded for us and I was reading my book at the same time as it was on the TV. Covered Amenhotep III/Akenaten in one episode & Ramesses II in the next. Reasonably good.

Egypt Unwrapped: The Scorpion King - as above I only half watched it. Seemed good, shame there didn't seem to be more of the series for them to record. Nice to see something about older & more obscure Egyptian history rather than just the few well known Pharaohs.

Great Egyptians: Cleopatra - again, only half watched it, bit less impressed tho.

Journey into the Valley of the Kings - half watched, again. Seemed good but a bit dated.

Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time - really liked this, a bit less fluffy than the usual Xmas special. Liked the juxtaposition between Doctors One & Twelve, liked the humour around the First Doctor's "old-fashioned" attitudes. Liked the use of the Christmas Truce, too. I think they did the call backs to the rest of the Twelfth Doctor's episodes well, and avoided the trap that the 10th Doctor's farewell fell flat into (too long, too soppy, and felt he should just bloody get on with it by about halfway through) whilst mining some of the same territory. Dunno where they're going with it after the ending, but looking forward to it!

Film: Dad's been telling me to watch The Godfather for ages, so on Xmas day we sat down after lunch & did so. Enjoyed it a lot.