34/50: an excellent book!

The news from the Middle East is impressively bad--Christmas seems to bring out the worst in all the actors there, for some reason.

However, I can strongly recommend that if you are interested in getting a good grounding in the background and current state of politics, society, and human rights in the Islamic states of the Middle East and North Africa, I can strongly recommend Robin Wright's Dreams and Shadows. I listened to the unabridged recording and, apart from the really atrocious job the reader did of mangling Arabic and Persian names, it was excellent and had me riveted the whole time.( Read more... )

35/50: excellent American history!

Another book on CD I enjoyed tremendously was Jospeh J. Ellis's American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic. I bought this out of desperation because I had a long car ride ahead of me and had forgotten to get another recorded book from the library. I was able to regift this at Christmas, but I might almost be tempted to buy a copy of the book itself at some point to refer to again in the future. ( Read more... )

it's confirmed!

I've just watched Nicholas taking a whizz in the toilet.

Toilet trained HIMSELF, this cat.

I have to say, I think that's pretty remarkable.