Currently reading
Vineland (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)
Tristes Tropiques
Richard III
The Dwarf
The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen
Labyrinths
Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery
Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics
Gravity's Rainbow
A Gravity's Rainbow Companion: Sources and Contexts for Pynchon's Novel
Mughal Empire, The
This is a sturdy, academic history (it is part of the Cambridge History of India series) of the Mughal Empire, a topic of which I knew nothing before reading Monsoon and which formed a gapping whole in my knowledge. It's far more academic than I personally have the need (at this point in my life) for -- given that the topic is not really pressing for me (hence the 4-stars) - but it allowed for a quick review (with some skimming) and it is very good and not terribly dry. Richards seems to be a very competent historian. His account of Akbar is quite remarkable -- Akbar was clearly one of the most enlightened rulers in history - and his model of an enlightened and cosmopolitcan Islamic ruler may set an important canon for the 21st century -- where Islam's attempt to modernize itself, especially in the Indian Ocean littoral and in Central Asia, and its need to adapt to the rise of India and China especially..., will be key, perhaps, to the survival (or not) of all of us.