Insight, or something
Jul. 20th, 2025 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Unrelated, but I can't decide and want opinions: is saint worship a form of ancestor cult?
Catti runs into an ally
1. How has your reading year been so far? I’ve read as much litfic as I have fantasy, which is unusual for me, 20 apiece. And I’ve read 8 classics! Proud of that bit. Average rating is a 3.95 overall, which is pretty good!
2. What is the best book that you’ve read so far this year? I've got three.'
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1846). An absolute banger. Expertly plotted, exquisite characters, delicious drama, a total page-turner for preeettty much all 1240 pages. Edmund Dantes is one messy bench. He's basically Batman, the greatest Gary Stu of them all, and I love that for him. Revenge, righteousness, justice, loyalty, filial piety and rebellion -- Dumas packs it all in, along with a bunch of historical context. The wrongs done to Dantes are appalling, the villains reprehensible, and the vengeance he orchestrates so deeply satisfying; I'm so glad we get a (ridiculous) hero we can cheer for.
He loses half a star for drawing out Morrel's misery for 200 pages and for the random epic drug trip, and for everything involving Haydee. Eek. In a book of normal length, these flaws might be fatal, but over 1250-some pages, these bits were relatively easy to skim over. WHAT A STORY. Read this in June. 4.5 *s
This weeks bread: a loaf of Dove's Farm Organic Heritage Seeded Bread Flour, v nice.
Friday night supper: penne with bottled sliced artichoke hearts.
Saturday breakfast rolls: eclectic vanilla, strong white flour - perhaps just a little stodgy.
Today's lunch: kedgeree with smoked basa fillets - forgot the egg due to distractions and basa cooking rather more slowly than I had anticipated, still quite good - served with baked San Marzano tomatoes (we entirely repudiate the heretical inclusion of tomatoes in kedgeree but they are perfectly acceptable on the side), and a salad of little gem lettuces quartered and dressed with salt, ground black pepper, lime juice and avocado oil.