A plethora of interesting new books showed up on my desk today. What should I read after Olympos (about three quarters of the way through now)?

• The Forever War by Dexter Filkins: Everyone I’ve spoken with who has read Filkin’s book has nothing but high praise. I’ve avoided reading most books about the Iraq war but this one seems like a must read.
• Everything but the Squeal: Eating the Whole Hog in Northern Spain by John Barlow: The author lives in Galicia and decides to drive around eating hog. Sounds like a winner to me. I’ve never read Barlow before but this is published by FSG so it has to be good, right?
• The Fires of Vesuvius by Mary Beard: I love her. She’s what I wish I could have become if I had stuck with my degree. She writes exciting prose, not the typical dry scholarly stuff that I had grown used to in school. This book explores Pompeii–what it was like before the volcano.
• Under Pressure: Cooking with Sous Vide by Thomas Keller: Yes, I’m the kind of cooking nerd who likes to read cookbooks. Will I ever tackle sous vide? Probably not, but at least I’ll know how.
• The Journey by H.G. Adler: I need to read more literature in translation and what better way to start than with with this lost masterpiece of Holocaust literature?
• Hyperion by Dan Simmons: Should I take a break from science fiction or continue on the Simmons path. I also have a galley of his upcoming book Drood, which explores the last years of Dickens.

I love my job.