Non-fiction 10 Non-genre 4 SF 5 Doctor Who 2 Comics 4

There’s nothing objectionable, but nothing terribly interesting either.

Recommended: Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel

Every night, one of the men Ron McAndrew killed would sit at the foot of his bed and stare, blankly, into his tortured soul.

There are two parallel timelines and it took me a while to work out what was happening when.

Sandstorm, by James Rollins

It’s not particularly epic, but it satisfies the itch.

Recommended: The Prestige, by Christopher Priest

Here we go again.

Tom Sawyer is a boy somewhere around twelve, the book never pins it down, who lives with his Aunt Polly, his dead mother's sister, in a little town on the Mississippi River called St.

Vividly described landscape, well-sketched set of characters.

Mid Autumn Festival, Trump-Xi summit, Xi vs Deng / Hu, the future of Taiwan, and shuaqi

The festival is a celebration of harvest and family in Chinese culture – a time to gather with relatives and friends under a full moon

The warning signs are everywhere!

Last books finished  Christopher Priest: The Interaction An Adventure in Space and Time Every Heart A Doorway The Long Journey of Joan Miró Marple Rory O’Kelly – An investigation

A good, passionate, and convincing analysis of what’s happening with the EU-US relationship.

A compelling insider account of a slow-motion car crash.

A major new memorial celebrating Tolkien’s creative vision and storytelling by artist Stephen Broadbent will be revealed at a dedication ceremony in Spring 2027.

A field guide to the bar, where the rules are unspoken and everybody knows them but you.

The art is good and the stories competent.

By Giorgi Gvalia and Ivane Lomidze

Fascinating stuff.

Recommended: Belfast, c. 1600 to c. 1900: The Making of the Modern City

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, by Rashid Khalidi

A lovely book about exploring ancient monuments across the UK and Ireland.

There is no mystery about what is going to happen, but we still race through the pages to find out.

Anglo Jewry should be leading the call for a nonsectarian Britain

Last books finished  Kristin Lavransdatter II: The Wife Blake’s 7: Afterlife Fear Itself Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble Léopoldville 60 Charles Darwin and the Silurian Survival …

In my limited experience, forests are not the best places to find cake.

Overcapacity, Taiwan and hydropower

Economist challenges the case against China’s industrial policy, subsidies, and domestic demand, and argues that competitiveness itself should not be treated as a fault.

Lake sturgeon may be among the longest-living vertebrates, second only to Greenland sharks, according to recent research. However, scientists note that follow-up work is necessary to clarify the speci...

Turns the TV scripts into fairly vivid – though very male gaze-y – prose.

We live in a new liminal time for Doctor Who. Curiously both like and unlike the period we’re covering in the The Long Way Round section of this newsletter,...

Welcome to the APCO Geopolitical Radar (AGR), an overview of geopolitical risks posed to corporations operating globally. AGR reflects our understanding of the regional risks facing businesses and how...

A detective story which maps Japanese society’s evolution from 1945 to 1960

Essays about being black online in the age of Black Lives Matter and COVID.

Recommended: George and Sam, by Charlotte Moore

Co-Wives, Co-Widows, by Adrienne Yabouza

A fascinating insight into 1960s British political neuroses.

Starts with a British secret agent dead on a bus and ends in a London skyscraper.

Recommended: Wild Swans, by Jung Chang

Links about China and China-EU relations that caught my eye this week