Now reading

Eat the Rich by P.J. O'Rourke, in which the author realizes he knows nothing of economics, and sets off to visit several countries in a quest to determine why some are "prosperous and thriving while others just suck." For instance, "Free-market capitalism [as experienced on the floor of the NYSE] was terrifying under the best circumstances. What it was like under the worst circumstances, I couldn't imagine. And because I couldn't imagine it, I needed to go someplace that had no rules and was full of crooks. I considered Washington, D.C., but Albania looked like more fun." I haven't learned much about econ yet but we're still on the tour--I'm just getting to "Good Socialism", i.e. Sweden--and I'm enjoying it.

Horizons, which is the fourth book in the Sharing Knife series by Lois Bujold. "By Bujold" doesn't automatically mean it's wonderful--I didn't care for the Paladin of Souls books--but she is one of the very few for whom I'll shell out the funds for hardbacks. The series tells of the courtship and marriage of a young woman of the farm people, and an older, experienced ranger whose people have a talent for magic, and of his struggle to figure out how to use his talent, and particularly how to use it for the good of the farmer folk. I read it under about 1:30am last night and would have read longer if Diana hadn't insisted that I come to bed.
The Sharing Knife books have what I'd describe as a thin texture--not much embroidery, just what's relevant to the story. In other books, such as Lord of the Rings, you know there's a whole detailed history with all kinds of interactions and connections going on. I think of that as being a "dense" story. The Miles Vorkosigan books had some of that, with throwaway mentions of things like Kshatriyan mercenaries who could just as well have been undifferentiated soldiers. The best example that occurs to me offhand of a dense book is Courtship Rite, in which the whole history is behind the scenes, often referred to but never explained unless really necessary, and you have to go back and read the book a second time so you can figure out what was going on. Another example is Kipling's Kim, which includes little details--e.g. Dogra troops dye their beards green--which are irrelevant to the plot but are wonderful for making the setting. Lacking that doesn't make Sharing Knife a poorer story, just very focused on what's at hand.