Changing tastes...

These are two of the books I was given for my birthday. Over the years I've read all the Rebus novels by Ian Rankin, some of them more than once, but I've now reached the stage where I find them to be a little too far-fetched and lightweight. I finished Midnight and Blue very quickly, and I don't think I'll be revisiting it in the future.

In contrast, Spice by Roger Crowley is shaping up to be an excellent read. Back last century I studied the Age of Discovery for A level history, so I have some grasp of basic facts behind this work. However modern scholarship such as this goes so much deeper than the names, dates, and key events approach of my school days to produce a narrative that I find far more compelling than most works of fiction.