The Witcher

Tucked away in my previous post was the fact that I have now finished my read through of the Witcher novels - eight volumes comprising two short story collections, five novels in the 'main' sequence, and then a prequel novel.

They were very much a mixed bag.

I really enjoyed the first two volumes, especially the second. They did have the weakness that most of the stories had already been adapted for the Netflix series, but that was okay - there was enough different here to be interesting, and it also provided useful context for the series.

The main cycle, unfortunately, was very much a case of diminishing returns - I enjoyed the first volume, but a bit less than the short stories, then enjoyed the second less than the first, the third less than the second, found the fourth to be a real slog, and then faced the final volume as an ordeal rather than an enjoyment. Which was a real shame. It did, at least, have an ending that was... different, which is always worth trying.

The prequel volume, "Season of Storms" was actually my favourite out of all the volumes. That was a great way to round out the series, and rather improved my impression of the whole. Which is a good place to end.

Book-keeping

I've read quite a few books lately, and haven't really had chance to capture them here. So here's the update of the count.

I'll note that I'm now almost caught up, which is nice - I'm about 300 pages short of where I 'should' be at this point in the year. Unfortunately, I suspect the weekend will see me slip again, but I'm still hopeful that I might just pull it back by the end of the year. We'll see, I guess.

#47: "Lady of the Lake", by Andrzej Sapkowski
#48: "The Monogram Murders", by Sophie Hannah
#49: "Copperhead", by Bernard Cornwell
#50: "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants", by Ann Brashares (a book from The List - eight to go)
#51: "Season of Storms", by Andrzej Sapkowski

Experimental Cookery 2021: Pulled Pork

This was motivated by circumstance: we had people coming for dinner, we wanted to serve something nice, but I didn't want to go to a lot of effort. The method comes from the Hairy Bikers' "Meat Feasts", a book I thought I'd like, and use, rather more than I have done.

As expected, this one was nice and easy - apply a dry rub, then roast low and slow for many hours. Then pull it apart. The result was also impressive - no complaints there.

The only thing that was really noteworthy was that the book suggested it would serve 5-8 people, but I think that was a serious underestimate. That said, I also think this probably works best if served to many more people, but alongside some other choices. (And, actually, it would be an ideal addition to my birthday BBQ.)

The upshot is that we'll no doubt have this again, but I won't be cooking it for just us. Which is no bad thing - different meals can have different purposes, after all.

Anyway, good to have a success to report after the last couple of disappointments!