Ear candy

Lately I have been mired in a small but detailed book that has slowed my pace a bit still Wallerstein's Historical Capitalism.  It's truly fascinating and I have to really think about it.  Also reading Peter Edelman's recent discussion of U.S. poverty policy, So Rich, So Poor, a good summary of his body of work on the issue.  And some anthologies on globalization and global economics.  Complementary.

I made up for this by reading tasty snack Lee Lynch's classic Naiad novel The Swashbuckler, which is good and as a bonus focuses on the inner world of butches in early 60s NYC (IIRC the years) who have their doubts about the rules and healthfulness (hi Anita - I still think healthiness sounds better) of the gay scene and the nuclear family imperative.  The main character, Frenchie, is from a French immigrant family and her main love interest is a Puerto Rican recent immigrant, and their relationships with her families are weaved into the story in interesting ways.  Not the usual gays in the ghetto without larger lives story, yet the ghetto's importance at the time is primary.

I've also been supplementing the study of historical capitalism with listening to the audiobook of Cory Doctorow's For the Win, which focuses on capitalism's social effects and bases in the current 'globalization' incarnation.  Or avatar.  It's full of protests and strikes, a 'Webblies' gold farmer union, As You Know Bob yet useful explanations of a wide range of historic and new social engineering-based economic scams, and tales survival in the urban wastelands shaped by the web economy.  And stuff. 

The wide range of characters are likeable and make bad choices that we all make as a matter of course in HC that keep things moving rapidly.  Some aspects are kind of...  It's Cory, and it's aimed at American geek boys is how I will put it.  But it makes for good commute- to- downtown day job well- entrenched- in - the- system listening.  While cooking and doing chores too...

I tried listening to French SF novel Gringoland by Julien Blanc-Gras, but its wackiness and literary style make it difficult to follow without really focusing.  Not sure I'll have the time right now.

Otherwise, I've been trying out a bunch of SF podcasts and queer podcasts.  Galactic suburbs, a feminist SF podcast from Australia, the Outer Alliance 'quiltbag' SFF writers organization podcast, and various interview shows have been the most interesting. 

It's an easier way to find out what's going on in fandom, the world of cons, and the writerly web networks than keeping up with blogs and livejournals.  For someone who does not Facebook and uses a phone on the run much more than a computer.  Web bookmarks take up phone dataspace, but the podcast app saves to the SD card...  So thanks podcasters for all your hard work!