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Much has been made about this novel--set in 2018--being John le Carré's Brexit and Trump novel, and the fury with which it was written. And, while that is true to a certain extent, and even plays a crucial role in the plot, it isn't a scathing polemic on the matter. What I believe will happen is left-leaning reviewers will praise it, and right-leaning reviewers will condemn it, solely on political grounds. What you won't be hearing in all the hubbub, though, is a lot of praise for its literary merit.

For the initiated, this is le Carré lite. Loyal readers noticed a change in style--and not just subject matter--after the Cold War ended. They also noticed a change in 2000 to a more political and social mantra. With his previous novel, A Legacy of Spies, there was another simplification of his narrative style. I originally thought it was because, it being a sequel to The Spy Who Came in from the Cold--which itself had a simple narrative style owing to le Carré's early days--he didn't want to bowl over readers who may not have kept up with his writing in the interim. (In addition, I also think he's trying to increase the exposure and "filmability" of the novel now that his sons are in the movie-making business and have sole rights to his catalog.) So I'd say this is the new le Carré for modern audiences. The man who had previously elevated the spy novel to Literature status and made it about the journey has now resorted to plot twists.

The narrative moves fast, if not the plot--not that his plots ever did. There is little time for exposition or building much in the way of credibility. Everything has to be taken at face value because it has been written down and is staring the reader in the face, so therefore we have no choice but to accept it. It is neither a slow nor a long read, so it won't consume much time or effort either way.

The title, and both the US and UK covers, seems misleading as well. There is no running in the novel. I believe someone mentions jogging, and they do play badminton, but nothing that breaks a sweat off of the badminton court. That leads me to believe the title has another meaning. It could be a punctuation issue, instead being Agent-Running, in the Field, but it isn't really a novel of espionage tradecraft. Rather, I believe it refers to the directionless, zig-zagging of someone crashing haphazardly through an unfamiliar space. In that regard, the title is very post-modern, because that also seems to be how le Carré wrote the novel.

Who should read it? People who like straight-forward page-turners with ups and downs and twists. Who should not read it? Anyone who admires and respects what he published between 1974 and 1989.

On the surface the story seems simple enough: in medieval England, plagued by a magic that causes everyone to forget the things that happened in the recent and distant past, an old couple decides to travel to a nearby village to visit their son whom they haven't seen in a very long time. However, this being Kazuo Ishiguro, there's so much more to what's really going on.

Much of the story's mystery stems, not from why they can't remember, but from what it actually is they have forgotten. Slowly, as the story progresses, we are given pieces of the couple's, as well as the country's, past. Along the way, they meet up with several other characters who also have a role to play in this forgetfulness and in trying to find a way to undo it.

While there are dragons, ogres, pixies, magic, and a devil dog, this is not a traditional Fantasy novel. Interestingly, though, I think people who either like or dislike Fantasy can still enjoy it for what it is. The message is very relevant to the history of humanity over the centuries, but it's also particularly timely for our age. (And that's all I'm going to say, because even a hint of what it's about would ruin the effect of the story.)

The writing itself is very gentle--perhaps a bit too gentle considering they are on an adventure of sorts. While the setting lacks much in the way of description, the characters of the old couple are definitely the highlight of the novel next to its message. I can't stress enough how excellent the relationship is between this wonderfully written old couple. Never is the story or writing more tender than when it is sharing a conversation between the two of them.

And, yet, I give it only three stars. That's because, even though the novel starts and finishes strongly, there's a part in the middle that just seems out of place. For a stretch of the novel, it was as if Ishiguro himself suffered from the same plague of forgetfulness as to why he was writing the novel and just had the characters do things. Gone was the loaded narrative that had previously let us know this story was about more than just an old couple and a land that forgets. It just felt so empty and out of place that it completely ruined the flow of the story.

I don't want to discourage anyone from reading this novel. I gave a similar rating to Never Let Me Go, for a completely different reason, yet I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to call it brilliant. This one is, too, but it is a slight step down from that one. And both pale when compared to The Remains of the Day, which is about as perfect as any novel can hope to get.

Essentially a collection of a hundred or so vignettes (I didn't bother to count), this book seems incredibly mis-titled because Arthur's death is only the last section. Even calling it The Life of King Arthur would've been incorrect, as his story really only bookends the collection. Not even bookending it, actually, as it starts with Merlin and finishes with both Guinevere and Lancelot. So if stories of Merlin, Guinevere, and Lancelot are the bread of this sandwich, Arthur's account is the butter--how he went from peasant boy to literature's most regal cuckold...and accumulated the service of 150 knights along the way. It is really their exploits that make up the bulk of the book.

And let me tell you how frustrating their exploits are. It is basically just story after story of non-graphic sex and violence, where supposedly honorable knights fight each other over insults or else follow some mysterious woman on an unknown adventure. The most important thing to these knights is their pride and their name. These are the most noble men in the land--except when they are not.

I imagine these stories were supposed to encourage people to act more chivalrously, but following the examples laid out here seems to be the cause of major blundering--even on down to today's politics. The narrative is extremely spare, probably owing to the cost of paper and copying, as well as the high illiteracy of the time (think reading The Bible). Each story is about a page or two long and probably worked better as a tale told by the fire than read collectively in an armchair.

At best, this is a one-star read. My only reason for giving it two stars is the insights it gives to the time period it was written and understanding how it impacts Western culture. It's somewhat interesting to see how far we have come--and, ironically, how far we actually haven't--but this is a book I can only recommend to completists of the Arthurian legend.

The focus of this book is primarily on Venice's empire. It does not concern itself much with the city proper or the life therein. Not really until the empire is well into decline does the city get much discussion--probably because there's less and less empire remaining to write about.

The book deals mostly with the 13th to 16th centuries. The story of Venice is quite fascinating, even if you disagree with the approach the city took regarding trade and their policy towards other countries. Much of the discussion is about Constantinople, Crete, Negroponte, the Black Sea, the spice trade, the Genoese, the Mongols, the Mamluks, and the Ottomans. The best part of the book for me was how the Venetians lost modern-day Euboea to the Ottomans at what has come to be known as the Siege of Negroponte. That lesson--coupled with the following defeat at the Battle of Zonchio--is worth the read alone.

The writing style is very approachable, and the information never gets bogged down. It's a relatively short book, so perhaps it could have been expanded a bit more, but that may have turned off more casual readers. However, because it deals so little with the actual city of Venice, it may not be the best place to start reading about the history of Venice (unless you know you're specifically interested in their overseas holdings). It would make a good second book to read about Venice, though.

The "official" story of how Han Solo got his start on the path to becoming the smuggler we all know and love in the Star Wars movies.

This is the novelization of the movie, so it can't veer far from the script. And it doesn't. It's also billed as the "Expanded Edition", which is somewhat misleading because it is (ever so slightly) expanded, but also contracted.

It's expanded in the sense that it offers a few extra scenes with a bit more information. Some of these work. For instance, Val's situation and a bit on Qi'ra's background add nicely to rounding out the story and give motivation to their actions. The best one is the added epilogue. The ones with L3-37 didn't work for me, but others may enjoy those. Unfortunately, it's not expanded where the movie needed it most, namely Han and Qi'ra's interactions and relationship.

The novelization is contracted in the sense that the author knew only people who had already seen the movie would be reading it, so there was no need to describe anything very clearly. Just watch the movie again if you want to know what a character, location, or item looked like. This is just sloppy, negligent writing on the writer's behalf, and almost sinful considering the excellent directing and cinematography in the movie. Also, the narrative style is very thin. It is Young Adult at best. Basically, just think of a screenplay with slightly expanded descriptions of things and action.

For those familiar with some of the Star Wars novels, this one is more Kevin J. Anderson than it is Timothy Zahn. There is no real need to read it. Just know that there is a good reason for Val's actions and go to a library to read the epilogue if you have absolutely nothing to do on the weekend.

Let's get this bread!

This is a very good book for beginners to moderately skilled bakers. It details the bread-making process nicely and makes it easy to understand. The concepts and recipes are well-described, and there seems to be something in here for everyone. There are different schedules for making bread so that you can incorporate one of them into your own schedule. Best of all, you are given all the information you need so that you can tailor any of the recipes to accommodate your schedule. And the recipes are super easy to scale up or down.

I focused my reading on the straight breads and the ones using a starter as those are the recipes I'm likely to try now. I just skimmed the levain (sourdough) recipes, focaccia, and pizza recipes. I'll give them a second reading later.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's quite likely the only bread book you'll need if you just want to make something delicious and healthy for your family and have a little fun doing it at the same time.

And, as an extra bonus, the author has put some videos on YouTube which show some of his techniques so that they're easier to understand:

https://www.youtube.com/user/KensArtisan

EDIT: The author has since written a separate book dedicated to pizza (The Elements of Pizza) which contradicts the method he used in this book. The method in this book isn't bad, but you may want to read the new book for what he describes as a better way to make the dough (and the tomato sauce, too, I believe).