Reading on cut grass lies frail

reading log

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

2026

[in progress] To Rule All Under Heaven: A History of Classical China, from Confucius to the First Emperor • Andrew Seth Meyer
The Left Hand of Darkness • Ursula K. Le Guin
[in progress] We Had It Coming: and other fictions • Luke O’Neil
Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 • Eric Foner
How China Works • Xiaohuan Lan
Spring Snow • Yukio Mishima
The Great Global Transformation • Branko Milanović
The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View • Ellen Meiksins Wood
A Brief History of Commercial Capitalism • Jairus Banaji
The Jakarta Method • Vincent Bevins
What Every Web Developer Should Know About HTTP • K. Scott Allen
The Perspective of the World • Fernand Braudel
The Wheels of Commerce • Fernand Braudel

2025

Clown Town • Mick Herron
The Structures of Everyday Life • Fernand Braudel
Murphy • Samuel Beckett
The Age of Empire: 1875-1914 • Eric Hobsbawm
L’ère du capital: 1848-1875 • Eric Hobsbawm
The Age of Revolution: 1749-1848 • Eric Hobsbawm
Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union • Vladislav M. Zubok
The Wars for Asia, 1911-1949 • S.C.M. Paine
The Penguin History of the USA • Hugh Brogan
Kleine Geschichte Chinas • Kai Vogelsang

reconstruction

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Capsule review: Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (Eric Foner)

The inability to plan for the consequences of a war and what to do with the conquered ; the haste to move on to the business of America, business ; a childish faith in free market and free labor ideology ; the prerogatives of Capital when challenged by Labor sweeping all other concerns away ; and, of course, ineradicable white supremacy, violently enforced. Quintessential America.

Like many historians, Foner sometimes spends too much space on the details of political horse-trading and backroom deals, but he is otherwise excellent when focusing on the ground-level social realities of the period.

Rating: ★★★★☆

spring snow

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Capsule review: Spring Snow (Yukio Mishima)

A perfect novel. Mishima writes prose with Flaubertian control, detachment, and elegance (a word itself often used in the story) and every element comes together masterfully. Even parts that may seem extraneous to the central story—the visiting princes, Honda’s attendance at a criminal trial, various philosophical digressions—offer their own counterpoints and add meaningfully to the whole.

A striking image, coming after Satoko reflects on her time with Kiyoaki inevitably coming to its end:

Behind him [Honda] heard the sound—so faint that he thought he must be imagining it at first—of Satoko pouring the sand from the shoe she had taken off. To Honda, it sounded like the most enchanting hourglass in the world.

Rating: ★★★★★

wars for asia

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Capsule review: The Wars for Asia, 1911-1949 (S.C.M. Paine)

Like catnip for middle-aged dads. Impeccably researched and well written. Paine manages to make legible the hash that was the long Chinese civil war.

Rating: ★★★★★