The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
Book Notes Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 21:12 on 29 September 2015
Okay, another book of Mom's. I feel this is one of those "classic" books I should have already read already, along with some Lovecraft (check) and Dostoyevsky (check). So, through this slog of a month (holy moly, barely any books this month, and yet I am right on schedule with my original goal of one book a week - goals are weird sometimes), I finished this one just as the month was ending.
Holy crap, the ending of this book.
This book is worth reading for the ending alone.
The book, aptly titled, is about a spy who came in from the cold, which is to say, he'd been a spy in the post World War II, East vs West Berlin, Cold War not-quite-around era. A large part of the spy's network had been killed off, with the protagonist, Alec Leamas witnessing the death at the beginning of the book of his last spy, who almost got out of East Berlin.
So, for Alec to retire, he needed to do one more job, one more before he could come home, a final clean up job. It meant defecting, so he did. In the process he fell in love.
Such things never end well in the spy world.
There were many references to George Smiley, which I vaguely recall as the hero in a series of spy books that a high school classmate of mine really liked and devoured. I suspect, as a result, that this is an offshoot of that series, tangential to the series, maybe a wrap up.
I enjoyed the book, as far as spies doing spy things and the uncomfortable secrecy and the people being cruel to people sort of things involved in those spy things can go. If spy thrillers are your thing, and you haven't already read a bunch, this is a good one to start with.
But that ending. Wow.
Site performance matters
Blog Instead of being asleep at 13:15 on 26 September 2015, kitt created this:
That whole thing about web site performance and how no one turns off javascript, especially on mobile devices?
Again, I'll mention that, actually, yes, until the mobile device has downloaded all your javascript and executed, your site does not have javascript on it. If you depend on javascript for your content or webfonts, your site both is unusable and looks like ass.
I don't have a slow connection normally. When I travel, I do. If this is your website for 20 seconds, I am neither staying on your site nor coming back to view it.
Just a note. performance matters.
The Devil's Star
Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 12:52 on 26 September 2015, kitt created this:
Oh, good lord, when is the list of books from my mom going to end? I swear, I've read more of her books this year than I have of mine. No, wait, that's not quite true. Feels like it, though.
And what is it with all the Harry books? Harry Dresden. Harry Potter. Harry Bosch. And now, Harry Hole.
I am not kidding on that name. The main character's name is Harry Hole. Just let me die of laughter now.
He's a detective. The plot is set in nominally Oslo. There are deaths and they are murders. At least there isn't any Mab. Or tunnels. There is a BAD COP, though, so maybe this is just a Norwegian Bosch tale. No, wait, no tunnels.
This book was a fast read. I know that Mom enjoys Nesbo's work. I also know there are Stieg Larsson comparisons. Blah blah blah. Right. Fast read, somewhat interesting. This Harry is, as just about every other Harry also is, flawed in ways that adversely affect the outcome of his life. He's an alcoholic. He obsesses. He makes mistakes. In the end, he solves the murders, and I really didn't see who-did-it coming, so there's that.
Not recommended, not not recommended. If it's on your night stand, go ahead and read it.
Updated: This is book 5 of the Harry Hole series. If you read them in order, they are great, and more recommended than if you jump into the beginning of the series.
Puer tea
Blog Posted by kitt at 16:38 on 24 September 2015
When in Portland earlier this month for XOXO, Jonny Gotham and I walked over to the Tao of Tea off Belmont, as I had wanted to pick up some tea sipping cups similar to the ones I had purchased at the Chinese Tea Garden years ago. When I asked recently at the Tea Garden entrance if I could forgo the Tea Garden admittance fee, as I had just wanted to make a purchase at the Tea Garden's shop, and would leave straight away, I was told no, to make that $8 purchase, I would have to buy an $10 dollar admittance ticket. Not worth it to me, and visiting the SE Belmont store was added to my "Do in Portland at some point."
While there, I did pick up my tea cups, and also some teas that I hadn't tried before, but looked interesting. One of them was a puer tea.
For the uninitiated tea drinker, exactly like myself, puer tea is fermented tea. Originally, named for the town of Puer, such teas were pressed into bricks then sent out into the world, often by horse and camel. You can imagine as this bricks of tea travelled slowly, they went over different terrains, through varying climates, and with ranging weather. Which is to say, the tea basically rotted somewhat on its journey.
But you can't stop a tea drinker, especially one who has waited for his tea. So, early drinkers of such tea from Puer embraced the flavor.
Which is to say, this dark, inky color tea tastes like shit.
I'm glad I have a small tin of it, because I really can't stand the taste. I might just compost it, since that's where something that tastes like this belongs.
And then there was one
Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 11:05 on 23 September 2015We said good-bye to Shadow today.
