So, uh, that was a politics, am I right. Let’s talk about books instead.

What have you recently finished reading?
The last thing I finished reading was The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu (trans. Ken Liu). I’m still processing what I thought of it. The hard science passed me by, but other aspects intrigued me. I wasn’t that much of a fan of the translation, and yet I feel that it probably did catch something of the original prose. It’s just that the aesthetics are different between Chinese culture and mine. I think I’ll pick up the next book, soon.

What are you currently reading?
I picked up my ARC of The Lost City of the Monkey God, after noticing it on Bob @ Beauty in Ruins‘ blog. I’m fascinated; it is a bit populist and treasure-hunty, but that’s part of the fun of it, too. I’m also reading Nick Clegg’s Politics: Between the Extremes. I was a Lib Dem voter at one point, so I was interested to see what account he made of himself. So far, so self-pitying. He has a point about the way politics needs to be shaped as a story, though. Why he seems to have been surprised that the heart rules the head when the average person makes political decisions, I don’t know. It feels particularly topical today, given the US elections.

But that’s politics again.

What are you planning to read next?
I’ve actually assembled a shortlist of books to read by the end of 2016, so ideally I should just pick from the list. I’m thinking I should get stuck back into Cleopatra’s Heir, by Gillian Bradshaw — I’m partway through it, and it’s a very interesting exploration of Caesarion and what could have happened to him.