Ephemera, 8/20/23

I have a personal interest in the Paris-Brest-Paris ride this year, since my husband is attempting it for the first time. If you're not familiar with this quadrennial 1200-km ride that attracts thousands of people from all over the world, that's fine; most Americans aren't. We always explain it by starting, "Have you seen that America's Test Kitchen episode about a wheel-shaped pastry called a Paris-Brest ..."

Will 2024 be the year I finally read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell? Adam Roberts' piece reheats my desire, which has been cooled off for a while. I've attempted it twice, enjoyed what I read immensely, and yet in both cases petered out about halfway, distracted by life. I actually love big books, but there are big books and then there are BIG books. I'll move it back to the TBR shelves, maybe.

Phil Christman is always entertaining to read, even when he's talking about things in which I barely have any interest, but I am always interested in 1980s college-alternative-new-wave-whatever music, and since I came to it fairly late in the decade, I love a good set of historical recommendations.

Perhaps one of these days, like Phil with '80s alternative and David Bentley Hart with classical, I'll launch a series based on my own esoteric deep-cut interest, which is in "Christian" new-wave/alt-pop from, say, 1981-1987, which was both better and worse than you think from that description. (If you generally enjoy '80s post-punk pop, then objectively speaking, this is just a great song.)