Reading Wednesday

Read The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville, a bizarre (I mean, it's Miéville, so like, coincidentally, water is wet) novella set in a WWII-era Paris where the fight between Nazis and the Resistance has been complicated by the addition of demons and "manifs," the manifestations of Surrealist art as the result of an "S-Blast" that warped reality itself. This never really clicked for me, but in fairness, I am definitely not the target audience— I don't know anything about Surrealism, or most of the people featured as characters in the pre-"S-Blast" chapters. Anyway, that's my annual Miéville read sorted.

Currently reading Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar, which is what it says on the tin (nonfiction). I feel like this strikes a good balance in how to fill the gaps of the historical record while centering the story on a woman who couldn't leave much of one— there's a lot of she would likely have...s in describing Judge's experiences, without veering too far into presenting speculation as fact or putting words in her mouth, as it were.

Currently listening to The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, a mystery in a fantasy setting (my go-to niche for audiobooks, I guess?); the vibe is like sticking the Sherlock Holmes stories, Pacific Rim, and Annihilation in a blender, with Fantasy Roman Empire aesthetics on top. Enjoying this!