Bonfire Night

Happy birthday Guida!
A2 is rereading Seeking Whom He May Devour by Fred Vargas. A1 is reading Polostan by Neal Stephenson, in which we learn much about the Wobblies, the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, balloons and cosmic rays, Magnitogorsk in the USSR, Bonnie and Clyde, the Communist Party of America, the sport of polo, the Bonus Army, quantum physics, Hoovervilles, and much else. Various real figures play pivotal roles: Niels Bohr, Generals (then Major) Patton and MacArthur and Lavrentiy Beria among others. An unsurnamed “Dick” is also very important, who is clearly the womanising polymath genius Richard Feynman. This enthralling read is the first in a trilogy, but the small 300-page size (for a Stephenson book) gives credence to the rumour that it’s actually been finished but the publishers wanted it split into three parts. Well, more money for them…

Heaven and Hell

Thank you for the beer Gez. We had shepherd’s pie and Parkin with custard for our family meal and scored a mighty 11.5 on the GSQ.
A1 is reading Judgement Prey* by John Sandford. A2 is rereading This Night’s Foul Work by Fred Vargas. Can’t believe that any cat, let alone a fat indolent creature that has to be carried everywhere, would run 35 kilometres on the scent of a missing person.

Autumn Colour

A pretty tree. A2 spotted a bloke photographing it and stopped for a quick chat but instead got a lengthy lecture. Mansplainers eh?
We had chicken stew and apple crumble for our family dinner, did 2 old quizzes and scored 10.5 on one and 11.5 on the other.
A1 is rereading Bryant and May and the Invisible Code by Christopher Fowler. A2 is rereading Fundamental Disch by Thomas M Disch.

The Comet Approaches

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is on its way. The image below was taken by the sun-researching SOHO spacecraft, and shows the comet moving into its field of view. Also captured is a solar flare, which — when the CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) hits the comet later today or tomorrow — may disrupt the comet’s tail. CMEs also cause auroras when they reach Earth. The weather is looking clearish for sunset time from 10 Oct, when the comet should start to become visible from here. Here’s hoping.A1 is reading The Mars House by Natasha Pulley, thus finishing A1’s immensely pleasurable tour through NP’s oeuvre (A1 really needed some distraction during recent events). TMH is a cheerful SF tale clearly playing homage to Terry Pratchett (complete with amusing footnotes). The SF elements can be a little ropey, but the writing is so splendidly enjoyable that it’s forgivable. It’s baffling why her previous publisher (Bloomsbury) refused the book and dropped her completely … she’s clearly a terrific writer with much left to say.
A2 is reading Kennedy 35 by Charles Cumming.

Autumn Leaf

And so the foliage withers and falls, the nights draw in, the temperature drops, the sweaters go on, the bills go up… Last month was our coldest, wettest and cloudiest September of all time and yesterday only had 0.3mm less rain than the whole of August.
A1 is rereading The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley. A2 is reading The Future by Naomi Alderman; the tech oligarchs get their comeuppance as is only right and proper.

Another Delicious Cake

Served up by A1 for our family dinner which also featured chicken bacon broccoli cooked in our new shiny cooking pot, homebrew minestrone soup for the veggies and a selection of soft drinks including some very fruity Percy Pig flavoured coffee (thx G&D). We were on a roll and scored a mighty 12 on the GSQ.
A1 is rereading The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley. A2 is rereading Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel, which features some of the characters from The Glass Hotel interacting with visiting time travellers from the Moon.

Friendly Robin

Yesterday and this afternoon A1 and A2 tried to clear some of the rampant brambles, raspberry canes and weeds clogging up our back garden. With an audience: this little chap kept his beady eye on the progress on both days, doubtless hoping for some grub to be unearthed. A1 also tidied the pond a bit, so now we can actually see it. And we still have fish! At least six were spotted.
A1 is rereading Restless by William Boyd. A2 is reading Enlightenment by Sarah Perry (thx A1) in which we all learn a bit about astronomy.

Pop-up Rainbow

Here come the clouds with a surprise transitory rainbow, caught on our weathercam.
A1 is reading Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson. A2 is reading Lake of Darkness by Adam Roberts; a crazy space opera that sucks you in like a black hole, and one of his philosophical novels — a Deleuzian delusion.

Happy Birthday Lee

Cherry, almond and coconut cake, rum and coca-cola and SIX BOOKS: The Conspirators lead us to the Precipice overlooking the Lake of Darkness which receives some Enlightenment from Gabriel’s Moon but ends in Death at the Sign of the Rook. Thank you A1. Sadly the family cannot join us because Gez is hors de covid. More cake for us.
Meanwhile A1 is rereading Holly by Stephen King and A2 is rereading Fatherland by Robert Harris, an alternative history set in 1960s Nazi Berlin which, like so many novels set in that place and polity, features a feisty American girl reporter.