promises, promises

i'm back, but I'm bad. Tired, fighting off a bug, catching up on work, etc.

What's coming up: I've finished (finally) The Death and Life of Great American Cities and plan on putting a cap on that, blogging-wise.

Also, the Princeton Architectural Press was silly enough to send me some free books (dere beeyootiful!) and I need to do right by them. (I started getting sent a few books over a year ago by folks and never got around to posting about those and I feel extra guilty, so I'm correcting the error. I think ...) They asked me if I wanted the two below and I said yes, and they threw in another one gratuitously, which I reviewed here. (Bet they're regretting that now, huh?)

Right now I'm in the middle of Hyper-Border: The Contemporary U.S.-Mexico Border and its Future by Fernando Romero/LAR. "LAR" is not a verbal ejaculation, much as I would like to do that to my name ("Claire Light/Arrrhhh!"), but rather the architectural firm he founded. And yes, the book required a design firm as co-author; if they offer you a review copy, say yes, is all I'm sayin'.

This book review will be followed by a couple of posts on the theme of the Mexico/US border and art, which have been waiting for me to get my azz in gear.

Next up will be The Concrete Dragon: China's Urban Revolution and What it Means for the World by Thomas J. Campanella. Very exciting. I haven't been to China since 1993 so I've missed pretty much the whole thing. I'm about due for a visit, and reading this book will be the first step.

After that, dunno. I have some aging ideas about transportation I finally want to get to, but I might get distracted by shiny baubles. Plus, I never keep my blogging promises.