Cool, I read Shogun a few years ago and was surprised by how much I like it, I will have to pick up Taiko. Thanks for the recommendation!
No prob. It’s a good 'un. 
Shogun focussed on the (fictional) version of Tokugawa (“Toranaga”), the third of the “three unifiers” of fudal Japan. Taiko focuses on Hydeoshi, the second one - Tokugawa’s immediate predecessor. The first was a very nasty man name Nobunaga.
Hydeoshi’s rise to power is a Horatio Alger-like rags-to-riches one - if it wasn’t true, it would be very hard to believe (he goes from itinerant needle-peddler to sandal-holder … to unquestioned warlord of Japan!)
There is apparently a saying about these three, illustrating their different approaches to rule, goes something like this:
You have a bird that will not sing. What do you do about it?
Nobunaga says: “Kill the bird!”
Hydeoshi says: “Make the bird want to sing”
Tokugawa says: “Wait. Eventually, the bird will sing on its own.”
…
Also, if you liked the Shogun story, you may be pleased to know it was based in part on fact. I recommend Samurai William, which is about the English pilot marooned in Japan on whom the hero in Shogun was based.
Hi, Le Ministre de l’au-delà.
*[side chat]*It marks me as a terrible snob, I’m afraid ;).
I know only a handful of Desnos poems but like all of them. I’m not enthusiastic about all of Lutoslawski’s music but his best pieces are among the greatest of the late 20th century IMHO. So, to answer your question: both but leaning Lutoslawski. As a matter of fact, I chose it first and foremost because I love the phrase and the images it conjures up.[/side chat]
I have a short attention span so I’m also reading Goblet of Fire and A Game of Thrones. I figured it’s about time I read those.
So shortly after (or before, I forget) takeoff from LGA to my interview in Columbus, I polished off When America First Met China. Excellent book, but it does raise a gripe I have with kindle books. I was watching my percentage complete, and so I expected another 40% or so. Unfortunately, that last 40% was all of the foot/endnotes. So I found myself rather suddenly without book. Kindle/Amazon needs to segretgate the foot/endnotes into a separate section that doesn’t count towards the percentage complete of the book.
Anyway, I wound up at 10K+ feet with nothing to read, so I broke my usual [del]cheap[/del] frugal rule against buying internet access in-flight to get another book. From all of the Lovecraft talk in here this month, I wound up re-downloading my Complete Works. Instead of going for the Mountains of Madness, I went for a personal favorite–The Dunwich Horror. I’m almost, but not quite done–but loving every word of it. Reminds me why I fell in love with Lovecraft–though my first read was The Rats in the Walls. Lovecraft is one of those things where I wish I could be a virgin again–I’ve not read the Dunwich Horror in probably ten years, but the familiarity is still there, so while I hang on every word, the visceral horror is a bit lost. Will probably be puttering around w/ Lovecraft for a while now, I think.
The new thread is up and running over here.
I agree. One of the best books I’ve read in recent years. I describe it as “if Jane Austen wrote a Harry Potter book.” The BBC will soon be making a miniseries of it, if that makes a difference.
I’m an *Outlander *fan, too. My husband was recently reading The Wee Free Men out loud to our son, and he mangled the Nac Mac Feegle accents and struggled with the dialect. I told him he hadn’t read nearly enough books featuring men in kilts.