50 book slog.

The Moral Basis of a Backward Society, Edward C. Banfield. Amoral familism -- catch it! I long for the good old days of social science research, when you could land in a dirt-poor Italian village, rely on your hard-working wife to translate all of your subjects' conversations, then basically write a longish diary entry padded with a chapter in which you coin a new phrase, and publish it. Ok, that is too harsh. This was pathbreaking work in its day, to give it its due.

 

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke. Sadly, my expectations for this book were perhaps too great, because I was a tad disappointed. For one thing, too long! Look, editors, just because you have a very very good first novel on your hands (I'm looking at you, whoever edited Ms. Niffenberger), it doesn't mean you shouldn't feel free to, like, chop the thing by a third. Anyway, in this instance, I felt like the book lacked significantly for plot propulsiveness in the first half or so, though at the same time it was a wonderful introduction to an alternative, magical history of England. Blurb comparisons to Austen (!) on the jacket were way wide of the mark. Still, I am an overly critical person, and thus I have to say -- much recommended.