Dissolution - CJ Sansom

I've bragged many times. I used to read The Economist, The FT, WSJ, The Guardian and The Observer regularly. I'd smash American CEOs in international hotel bars on United States political history because I had the best teacher, Joe Barbera. 

He used to say, 'have you read this?' and if I said no, he'd immediately become animated and tell me why I had to read say Kissinger (Years of Upheaval) or Caro on LBJ (Master of the Senate).

Then I went off-piste and discovered I knew nothing...

Since then, I've pretty much read only non-fiction, so I was half hearted about Dissolution, but it was the best from a bad bunch, so I pressed on.

CJ Sansom is a great writer. Its clean historical fiction set in the time of Henry VIII but not that Cromwell, the other one. 

I appreciated getting granular on Monastic nomenclature, particularly the obedientiaries.

The end was quite exciting and a bit of a page turner but in the final overview, I couldn't believe that intermittent parts of the plot hung on indiscreet revelations made by the protagonist Matthew Shardlake. 

Cromwell's investigator. 

Not only that but he put people's lives in danger by shooting his mouth off. Anyway, I've finished it now and I'm on Fiona Maddocks - Hildegard of Bingen.

The Fermata - Erotic Fiction

The Fermata is a 1994 erotic novel by Nicholson Baker. It is about a man named Arno Strine who can stop time, and uses this ability to embark on a series of sexual adventures. Like Baker's previous novel Vox, The Fermata was controversial amongst critics yet was also a bestseller - Wikipedia

It wasn't my cup of tea, but it wasn't offensive to my soul. 

Every Light in the House Burnin'

I read this to pass the time while hanging out with television addicts. 

Some had complex needs and other's, including myself, were there to care for them.

I enjoyed Andrea Levy's book Every Light in the House Burnin'

At her best, she writes like Bukowski. 

It struck me as poignant when she died shortly after I finished her book.

Chinese Literacy

Chairman Mao was a prolific reader. It's rumoured he would spend days in bed surrounded by piles of books absorbing a diverse selection ranging from philosophy to politics and religion. If his chosen reading was unavailable he'd plump for anything to hand. One of the observations experienced was that a security guard was reading easily the thickest book I've ever seen a security guard read, anywhere in the world. Over the last couple of weeks, I've noticed there are a number of statues around Beijing celebrating the power of books and reading. The one above is outside the Beijing Books Building and was taken as I walked from Xidan through Tiananmen square to Wanfujing over the weekend. Chinese literacy is one of the highest in Asia at around 90% if the CIA world fact book is to be believed. Speaking of facts, asessments of China were recently downgraded by 40% if you were paying attention to what the U.S. controlled World Bank announced yesterday. Makes me wonder what metrics China would use to measure the U.S.

The smog in Beijing at the moment is rather harsh.