Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson. Brilliant book. It brings out all my latent space-geekery. I want to read blogs about NASA and the space station and astronauts and the future of space travel and colonization. I love the hard science, the politics, the corporate maneuvering, and the characters. I’m about halfway through the 2nd book in the series.

Summerland, by Michael Chabon. A perfectly respectable book about Faerie (they’re not fairies, they’re ferishers) and Baseball and travelling in a zeppelin. I enjoyed it far more than I was anticipating I would after the first two pages were all about a boy who didn’t want to play baseball. This book needs, desperately, to be a movie. It’s a big book but appropriate for patient young adults.

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, by Michael Chabon. I first heard about this on NPR or Nextbook or somewhere - sort of a Maltese Falcon detective noir story told in an alternate universe where, after WWII, the Jews were given refuge in Alaska.. essentially leased the land for 50 years. And well, the 50 years is almost up and the US government is going to be taking over the land again and probably kicking all the Jews out. Also there are murders, an ex-wife as your boss, mysteries, Hasids, the guy that hangs string everywhere so people can carry stuff on the Sabbath, airplanes, Tlingit, and a conspiracy to retake Palestine. It’s certainly not a light-hearted adventure like Summerland (which isn’t terrible light-hearted either), but the depiction of the world and the style of writing are top-notch.

Chabon quickly leapt onto my list of “Favorite Authors, Must Read Everything”.. and after I finish the Mars books (and then Burroughs’ Martain Trilogy), I will.

In other news, I had a productive weekend that was still relaxing. Very Satisfactory.