Finished: Townsend of Lichfield, by James Branch Cabell 📚. This volume of Cabell’s collected works starts with an essay explaining why the actual book Townsend of Lichfield was never written. It then proceeds to collect a bunch of Cabellian miscellany: prefaces to other books, bits of verse, short stories, court documents. This is far down the rabbit hole and likely appeals to almost no modern readers. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Finished: Imperial Woman, by Pearl S. Buck 📚. Next up in my trip through Buck’s major works is this romantic novel of Tzu Hsi (these days usually rendered Cixi), the last Empress of China. I suspect there is more romance than history here, but it’s a sweeping story that I knew nothing about, so that doesn’t bother me.
Finished: Conquistador, by S.M. Stirling 📚. This alternate history is one of several that Stirling has written with the general theme of “what if modern technology and military in a new world?” In this case there’s a silly MacGuffin that gets 30 ex-soldiers to a copy of the earth in 1946 where Europeans never visited the new world. A coup-in-progress drives the plot forward, but there’s always the impression that the author is just having too much fun world-building to care as much about the story.
“Me! Me! Pick Me!”
Olympus E-M10 IV, M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens @ f/6.3, 1/25s, ISO 640. Along the Fisher Creek Trail.
“Fungus Family”
Olympus E-M10 IV, M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens @ f/10, 1/3s, ISO 800. Along the Fisher Creek Trail.
“Trail Ends Here…for now”
Olympus E-M10 IV, M.Zuiko 14-42 kit lens @ 14mm, f/9, 1/60s, ISO 250. Waldo Lake Wilderness somewhere around where Fisher Creek Trail is supposed to be.
Are watermelon seeds the next breakthrough in plant-based milk?
I think the word “milk” has jumped the shark at this point.
“Dodgy Bridge”
Olympus E-M10 IV, M.Zuiko 14-42 kit lens @ 14mm, f/9, 1/15s, ISO 2500. Crossing Fisher Creek at the edge of the Waldo Lake Wilderness.
Finished: The Weight of Glory, by C.S. Lewis 📚. Lewis remains my favorit Christian apologist, and this collection of sermons and addresses from the WWII era was a delight. I especially enjoy “Transposition” which gives much food for thought about our imperfect understanding of religious matters.
Finished: The Harrad Experiment, by Robert H. Rimmer 📚.
Finished: The Harrad Experiment, by Robert H. Rimmer 📚. I was given this copy of the “Sex Manifesto for the Free Love Generation” (as the cover banner proclaims) by a friend’s girlfriend in High School (did I miss something? I’ll never know.). Hadn’t reread it for decades. Well, this story of a co-ed college that encourages premarital sex was certainly exciting for a pubescent boy, but these days, it’s pretty weak sauce. The ending political manifesto, about taking over some state in the PNW to educate a whole generation of free-loving self-actualized people, seems especially quaint now.