FF: The Shift Has Happened

Roary Has Reached A Year Old

As this week ends, I have made the shift to non-fiction, pretty much entirely.

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading. 

Recently Completed:

The Renaissance by Will Durant.  Audiobook.  Moving into the end of the Italian Renaissance.  A balanced look at how many of the wonders (both of art and of thought) we remember were purchased in a fashion that led to the fall.  Some of Durant’s terminology is dated (he genders qualities as “male” and “female” for example), but if you can get around that, there’s a lot to enjoy.

Flashman and the Mountain of Light by George MacDonald Fraser.  Victorian imperialism told from the point of view of an anti-hero.  Not PC.  Great prose, and liberally footnoted both in text and with appendices.  I enjoy Flashman, but he’s not to everyone’s taste.

In Progress:

The Age of Faith by Will Durant.  Audiobook.  I was about half-way through this one before I decided I need a break from the history of an age often termed “Dark.”  I’m giving it another try.  Looking at some of the smaller Balkan realms.

The Irregulars by Jennet Conant.  I read reviews of this when it came out, then promptly forgot it until one of my sisters mentioned reading it.  A look at, as the subtitle says “Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington.”

Also:

A variety of scattered magazine articles, from scattered sources.