Week 52.24

It’s the end of another year. The events of last December feel far away, but the summer feels like yesterday.

I’ve spent the last four days on the island of Langkawi, Malaysia, which I might have visited at some point in the distant past; too distant to remember at all. While others in the family entourage have been jet skiing and kayaking, I’ve been making use of the new Kobo Clara Color that I got as a Christmas present and reading in the shade. It’s still bright enough that I’ve managed to get an indirect sunburn/tan.

The Clara is a nice change from my first-generation, black-and-white Libra H2O, not just because of the color screen (which admittedly only shows up in the menus and book covers), but also the smaller and handier form factor that fits in almost any bag, and even some pockets. You wouldn’t know from looking at it, but it’s almost the exact same height as an iPhone 15 Pro Max. Plus, USB-C charging. I never thought I’d become one of those people who cite USB-C support as a critical feature, but it’s happened.

Aside: I finally got a Labubu as part of a Christmas gift from Kim, and as Sara texted me in shock a while back, its fur truly is “very soft” to the touch. She got it through a connection in Thailand, where it was purchased from a shop that specializes in accessories and clothing for these things?! So mine came with a hat (with a hole for its ears to poke through), and a toy camera that actually produces shutter sounds and flashing lights.

After reading reviews of the new color-enabled Kobos, I was worried that the reportedly fuzzier screens would bother me, but thankfully I can barely see any issues in terms of resolution. Black-and-white text is still rendered at 300dpi and looks sharp enough in daylight. The only drawback of the E Ink Kaleido 3 screen technology compared to Carta is reduced contrast in dimmer environments. It looks like black-on-gray rather than black-on-greenish-almost-white. But with the use of the front light above 50% brightness, it’s a non-issue.

Thanks to this break and the 1.5-hour flight over, I was able to finally finish reading Butter after at least two months of dilly-dallying. Despite being about a serial killer, food, and Japanese culture, I cannot recommend it. The story is mostly a bore, and the writing/translation mostly consists of straightforward “[name] did this, and then did that” and “‘blah blah blah’, [name] mumbled to themselves” sort of sentences. I find this to be true of many Japanese books in English, so I wonder if it’s an artifact of what’s popular in modern Japanese fiction or a translation process that is too rigid.

Whatever the case, it was an immense joy and relief to read the colorful and personable prose of Prayer for the Crown-Shy afterwards; it simply felt like being able to breathe again after a long spell underwater. It’s a nice little sequel to Psalm for the Wild-Built that only took an hour or two to get through, and then I read Book #24 in the Jack Reacher series: Blue Moon. It was the final book that Lee Child wrote on his own, and from here on out, they are all collaborations with his son, if I’m remembering correctly. I believe the plan was for said son to take over the franchise, but then Dad decided he wasn’t ready after all and got involved again, which is such a Miyazaki thing to do.

In any case, it’s one of the better Reacher books, with a cast of ad hoc ex-military partners joining him for one time only, and an interesting strategic problem to solve (not just a crooked sheriff in a small town). And by solve, I mean murder his way out of. Reacher is a certified psychopath in this story, executing more people than I can keep track of.

The flight over was the only time I got to listen to any music, but I’ve been really enjoying the new album from Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, Missionary. The first single released was underwhelming and I thought this was going to be another forgettable collection from Snoop. But Dr. Dre isn’t just producing here, he’s on the mic too, and this work in general reminds me of his final solo album, Compton, which has honestly powered me through a few tough times. The D.R.E. absolutely still has it.