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Slow on catching up on reading.
Ghoulishly inspired by death, I read Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. He's certainly an engaging writer, slinging grammar with abandon. There's maybe too much emphasis on naughty boys (and they are invariably boys being naughty) being naughty. ANd some of the stories of dissolution strain credulity, but maybe that's what makes a good story. Despite the brashness and braggadocio, there are also brutally honest sections where he outlines his shortcomings, and in many cases, overcomes them. He gets an early start in the kitchens of Provincetown, and it brought to mind some of the stories Jackie has told of her time working in Ptown. I doubt the chronologies line up, but an interesting coincidence. A scattershot and uneven combination of reminiscence, autobiography and a very short smidgeon of how-to. But never boring.
--
I'm a bit more than two-thirds of the way through NK Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy. A rich unusual world well worth spending some time in. The debut novel won the Locus for best first novel, and one can see why. As a chunk of a 'trilogy' however, the first book veers dangerously into überplot. Nothing wrong with that, but it makes it hard to write another book in the same world. Jemisin does a good job picking a related story in a different vein. I think the books are less a trilogy than three novels set in the same universe. The books describe a world where there is much commerce between mortals and the gods. The gods are more in the Greek vein, in that they (can) interact freely with humans, and not uncommonly bed them (and very good they are at that, it would seem). The books follow characters, both mortal and divine through various arcs, and the whole somehow adds up into a developing mythology.
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The Royal Caribbean cruise was solidly in the middle of our (admittedly limited) cruise experience. Since we're only up to about 5 cruises, it's not as though we're experts, and I worry that the industry may have changed over the years. Sure, we loved that Celebrity Cruise in 2000, but that was almost 20 years ago. Maybe, like air travel, cruises have gotten steadily worse since then, so that a Celebrity Cruise today would be no better.
Anyway, the good stuff:
Everything ran quite smoothly, which is a big plus.
In the prestige bar in the center of the ship, they knew their business.
Great itinerary (but it's clear that any of a half dozen other lines will give you substantially the same)
The buffets were quite good with a wide selection.
Staff were all friendly, but not grotesquely friendly (which can be a problem, especially when they are obviously angling for additional gratuity).
The not so good
Main dining hall was consistently adequate to good. I was surprised at the lack of a sommelier and a rather limited wine list. Meals were three course: app, main, dessert. I see that Celebrity still seems to have 4: app, soup/salad, main, dessert.
The staff did not, in general, seem as skilled or trained as our experience has led us to expect.
--
Nobody in the places we visited gave us any guff about Trump, but a couple (out of a couple thousand) of the fellow guests were ugly MAGA Americans.
Ghoulishly inspired by death, I read Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. He's certainly an engaging writer, slinging grammar with abandon. There's maybe too much emphasis on naughty boys (and they are invariably boys being naughty) being naughty. ANd some of the stories of dissolution strain credulity, but maybe that's what makes a good story. Despite the brashness and braggadocio, there are also brutally honest sections where he outlines his shortcomings, and in many cases, overcomes them. He gets an early start in the kitchens of Provincetown, and it brought to mind some of the stories Jackie has told of her time working in Ptown. I doubt the chronologies line up, but an interesting coincidence. A scattershot and uneven combination of reminiscence, autobiography and a very short smidgeon of how-to. But never boring.
--
I'm a bit more than two-thirds of the way through NK Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy. A rich unusual world well worth spending some time in. The debut novel won the Locus for best first novel, and one can see why. As a chunk of a 'trilogy' however, the first book veers dangerously into überplot. Nothing wrong with that, but it makes it hard to write another book in the same world. Jemisin does a good job picking a related story in a different vein. I think the books are less a trilogy than three novels set in the same universe. The books describe a world where there is much commerce between mortals and the gods. The gods are more in the Greek vein, in that they (can) interact freely with humans, and not uncommonly bed them (and very good they are at that, it would seem). The books follow characters, both mortal and divine through various arcs, and the whole somehow adds up into a developing mythology.
--
The Royal Caribbean cruise was solidly in the middle of our (admittedly limited) cruise experience. Since we're only up to about 5 cruises, it's not as though we're experts, and I worry that the industry may have changed over the years. Sure, we loved that Celebrity Cruise in 2000, but that was almost 20 years ago. Maybe, like air travel, cruises have gotten steadily worse since then, so that a Celebrity Cruise today would be no better.
Anyway, the good stuff:
Everything ran quite smoothly, which is a big plus.
In the prestige bar in the center of the ship, they knew their business.
Great itinerary (but it's clear that any of a half dozen other lines will give you substantially the same)
The buffets were quite good with a wide selection.
Staff were all friendly, but not grotesquely friendly (which can be a problem, especially when they are obviously angling for additional gratuity).
The not so good
Main dining hall was consistently adequate to good. I was surprised at the lack of a sommelier and a rather limited wine list. Meals were three course: app, main, dessert. I see that Celebrity still seems to have 4: app, soup/salad, main, dessert.
The staff did not, in general, seem as skilled or trained as our experience has led us to expect.
--
Nobody in the places we visited gave us any guff about Trump, but a couple (out of a couple thousand) of the fellow guests were ugly MAGA Americans.
