37 & 38 // When We Were Orphans & Infinitesimal

When We Were Orphans | *** | is the least-excellent Ishiguro novel I've read. Which is a bit like making reference to "an average van Gogh painting." Christopher Banks is a British detective, orphaned as a child when his parents both vanished from the international settlement in Shanghai in separate incidents. The novel, set in England and China, details his relentless quest to find them, stretching from the early 1930s past the second World War. It's sparsely told in a manner that vacillates between beautiful and off-putting, and it is a very compelling book. It's just..he's Ishiguro. This book is like watching Babe Ruth hit a solid double.

Infinitesimal | **** | is a sprawling book about math and the church and politics and God and the quest for power and the nature of truth. Just a phenomenal work all around. Read it.