Reading

I've been doing some reading. One is a new book that I'm kind of squeezing into spare moments, and the other is a book I've had for years and read several times. I like both of them, though they're wildly different.

The older book is Warriors, by Barrett Tillman. Its a fictional account of a retired Navy pilot who is persuaded to come to Saudi Arabia in order to form a unique air force, separate from the existing Saudi air force, whose purpose is to show what can be done with a purely Arabian environment. I like it because it makes me think about the Middle East, and how not all the good guys are on one side. There are no answers in the book -- in fact, it's pretty simplistic -- but it's an enjoyable read, even if you have read it several times.

The other book is Crust and Crumb, by Peter Reinhart. It's a bakers book -- specifically, a bread baker. He is a master baker, and he uses much of the same concepts and terminology that I've seen in other books. I'm on my second 'serious bread' book. The first, I bought, read, and after some time realized that however true the material in it was, I'd never be able to do it. I saved one page from the book -- the cross reference of yeast types and weights -- and gave the book away. The second, which I dip into now, is a bit more accessible, but it, too, tends to have the tone of speaking from the throne -- this is the way to do it; thou shalt not vary one iota. C&C has the same level of authority, but - somehow - it projects the feeling that I can do this -- I can make these breads. That with sufficient care (and we're talking reasonable care, not Julia Child levels), excellence in bread baking is possible. I haven't actually made any of the breads yet, so perhaps I'll feel differently after I try, but right now, I'm enjoying it.