Fifty Degrees Below

Kim Stanley Robinson's follow up to Forty Signs Of Rain is the middle of his global warming trilogy - sort of The Day After Tomorrow with intellectual pretensions. The world is in the grips of rapid climate change, the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation has shut down, and Washington is gripped by an icy winter. So what does our hero do? Take up residence in a tree house in a city park. Meanwhile a fleet of tankers jammed with salt are heading north to restart the THC. I'll read the third part, but only because Robinson writes well.

Thursday, January 11, 2007 9:42 pm (permalink)

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The Truffle Book

Winner of the Special Jury Award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. "Absolutely rivetting" - a well-known prince. Available as softback, limited edition hardback, and PDF. Free sample PDF.

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It's taking me far too long to read this. I have been a fan of Pynchon since reading Gravity's Rainbow as a student. Against The Day strikes me as one of his most approachable novels, full of fantastic characters and wild invention, but I've been busy doing word things, and sometimes the last thing I want to do is read. But this is like fine wine, keeps tempting me to another glass. At 1085 pages, I'll be squiffy before I'm finished.

just read

I've read two books called Heat in the last month. One was damn scary, and one was by George Monbiot, about global warming (which has a fantastic cover). Some would say I've been and gone and had my mid-life crisis, but it didn't involve doing an apprenticeship at the altar of real Italian cuisine and a tyrannical chef. Bill Buford is not me, and for that I'm grateful. I suspect he may be too. I enjoyed it - the kitchen stuff was pretty compelling (as was the Italian butcher I may just have to visit next time I'm on Italian truffle time), but somehow the whole thing didn't hang together. I know where Bill's coming from - and I can sort of sense where he went - but his own motivation (and his family's reaction) remain mysterious.