I'm probably forgetting some but oh well, this isn't a perfect historical record.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (reread) -- unmarried, fat, and wise Precious Ramotswe sets out to open up shop as Botswana's first and only lady private detective. It's a series of vignettes about her cases, loosely tied together by one ( Read more... )

I just tried to groom Pixel-cat's disgusting rear end and she peed on me in self-defense. You win this round, you terrible feline.

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The Thief by Megan Whelan Turner -- a 4th Street Fantasy 2011 Recommended Read™ and, apparently, also recently read by alecaustin. As I said to David, I was never going to love the book, because the main character is so ( Read more... )

I am behind!

Packing for Mars by Mary Roach -- recommended to us at 4th Street by tiger_spot, and boy, was she right! This book takes a peek at the various research NASA has done to develop the technology to get people into space, from zero-g toilets to flash-frozen rats on centrifuges, in a way that's both quirky and yet totally enthusiastic and reverent ( Read more... )

Just some random notes on midpoints that I wanted to remember observing. No purpose behind them yet ( Read more... )

A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage: explores the history of beer, wine, spirits (rum and whisky), coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola, and the ways in which those six beverages parallel and helped influence the development of Western civilization. I enjoyed it, though it felt kind of ... light, somehow? I can't say what more specifically ( Read more... )