Welcome to Litsy!

Don‘t read K.J. Parker if you want to feel great about the world. Read him if you‘re in the mood for lots of How Stuff Works packaged with black humour drenched in self-interested cynicism.

This particular book is all about a siege, and about the terrible things people do in the name of love. It‘s excellent. Awful, but excellent.

It‘s also the third book in a trilogy, so you maybe don‘t want to start here. Get DEVICES AND DESIRES instead.

I wanted to finish THE ESCAPEMENT today, but I didn‘t even pick it up yesterday in all the monsoony excitement and now I dunno if I‘ve got enough time. It‘ll take me over two hours to hit the last page, if I don‘t get distracted again, and I‘ve got other stuff to do tonight.

I envy all you people who can read 100 pages per hour.

At least I‘ve got this excellent chard tart to console me. The book‘s still great, too.

And now, Shanghai noodles in chicken ramen broth, with kale and sausage cooked in chili paste. Also, a massive book.

I more than halfway expected THE ESCAPEMENT to be a quick bail, seeing as how it‘s been years since I read the two books ahead of it, but I‘m loving it. I‘ve spent so much time telling people I like Parker best at novella length or shorter that I forgot that when his novels hook me, they REALLY hook me.

Honestly, I wanted to watch TV tonight, but I can‘t do that outside and I don‘t dare waste this hot day, so books it is.

THE ESCAPEMENT might be a long shot. It‘s the third book in a trilogy. I read the first two years ago. I really liked them, but I feel no desire to reread them to refresh my memory. We‘ll see how it goes.