Readings: Last month I said I was going to talk about what I have been reading, but I really don't have much interesting to report.

I continue my multi-year quest to work my way through the entire 20 novel Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin series (link: Patrick O'Brian at Amazon). I recently completed novel number 15, Nutmeg of Consolation. They continue to be entrancing, and I continue to believe they will, in time, be seen as one of the great literary achievements of the 20th century, although in tone and topic they are very much 19th century novels.

Do not take up reading them other than at the beginning and do not underestimate the days and weeks of your life you will spend plowing through them. However, if you are willing and able to put in the time and effort, you will be rewarded with wonderful stories centered on two of the most complete characters in the history of literature.

I have been using Ian Fleming's original James Bond novels as my staple distraction for airplanes and hotel rooms. They are uneven, but they are what you might call quality escapism. They don't require a lot of involvement, yet they aren't embarrassingly shallow like most genre fiction. At times they are a fascinating look into the mores of a bygone era and Fleming was a better than average stylist who knew how to structure a story. These books bear varying resemblances to their associated movies and of course have none of the campy irony, Bond having yet to become a cliche.

If you're interested, I would suggest starting at the beginning with Casino Royale, of which I wrote a review ages ago. Most of the remaining efforts are above average episodic action thrillers -- like I said, good travel reading. If you want to take a short cut, the exceptional selections from the series are what might be considered the "Blofeld trilogy": Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and You Only Live Twice. These might benefit from a back to back reading and will cover whatever humanity there is in Bond's character. (link: Ian Fleming at Amazon)

At the moment I have just dived a few chapters deep into Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore. I won't even begin to try to describe it yet, but I'm sure you will hear all about it once it is digested. You can read my now ancient review of a couple of other earlier Murakami books over at Slashdot (of all places). I sense that this one will along the same lines.