It’s been a long day, so I’ll just list stuff:
99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style by Matt Madden
Outline: A Novel by Rachel Cusk
How Russia Learned to Write: Literature and the Imperial Table of Ranks by Irina Reyfman
God’s Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts by Brent Nongbri (thanks, bulbul!)
And some foreign-language movies (thanks, Eric!): The Assassin (刺客聶隱娘), directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu.
I hope all my readers are having a good holiday season, and remember — the days are getting longer! (Unless, of course, you’re in the Southern Hemisphere.)
My five-year-old received among his Christmas presents of book of potential Hattic interest, viz. P Is For Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever, which has apparently been quite the surprise bestseller, according to the trade press. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/78653-worst-alphabet-book-becomes-bestseller.html
刺客聂隐娘 is good, but a bit difficult to understand. I saw it in the cinema and wished I’d read up on the old story before. Very beautiful, though!