Read not a further Hugo best novel contender, but a true (i.e., printed on paper!) book for a novel unconcerned by the Hugo Awards, Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang, Who earlier wrote Babel, which I rather enjoyed. This book is not set into a fantasy universe, but deals with a stolen document and the ensuing consequences, mostly in relation with different racial and racist reactions. And accusations of cultural appropriation. This is a very US-centred book, with publishers banking on minorities markets and social media pouring oil on inter-community tensions, and as such not very appealing! Here is yet another infinite-mirror story where an author writes about an author and then more, with too many entries from social media, and an inconsistent, not particularly enticing, main character. In connection with the Hugos, I also read The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar, already a Nebula Award Winner, 2025, and a nice, short, tale of an enchanted land bordering a Victorian England. If nothing like Johnatan Stranger & Mr Norrell (Hugo and Locus awards 2005). The first pages are annoying but then the true story quicks in, more poetical than usual and of a fairy tale quality. And now one more Hugo to go! (Or less!)
Cooked my own okomiyaki in a small restaurant in Omachi, near Nagano, where each table had a hot plate set for this purpose and a detailed set of instructions in Japanese, with pictures. (As well as for the less solid monjayaki.) I had cooked some earlier and it proved as easy this time, with the realisation that many ingredients could be added. Kimchi octopus and black inked squid for ours. And we had cold soba on the menu for most HM meals since buckwheat was grown in the region. (But no luck with soba or raimogi breads on that week!)
