Silk Roads: A New History of the World - Peter Frankopan

An excellent new look at the history of Central Asia and the Silk Road.  Frankopan begins the book with a brief chronological overview and then moves on to look at the movement of goods and ideas from the Far East to Europe from several points of view - luxury goods exchange, idea exchange, culture exchange, religion exchange, slave exchange, disease and plague exchange.  He also pursues the topic beyond the traditional overland route and includes the move to trade by long distance European sailing ships in the concept of Silk Road.  He pursues it into the modern age, looking at the Suez Canal and the eventual Suez Canal crisis as part of the history of the Silk Road.  The book continues right up to contemporary times where Central Asia is undergoing a little recognized renaissance as a trading centre due to its rich natural resources - overlooked perhaps because the benefits largely seem to accrue to the top social echelons, which is actually the traditional wealth distribution structure in Central Asia way back to early Silk Road times.

He also notes patterns in this trade route through the ages - the importance of slave trading as a generator of wealth and capital at the beginning of each group's period of dominance - arabs, Vikings, Europeans.  The tendency of wealth to accrue at the top of society.

Worth rereading.

One Good Story, That One - Thomas King

Another side to Thomas King's writing.  He has spent time with traditional native stories, and this is him playing with the form and bringing in other modern concerns and observations.  Interesting, but for me, not as enjoyable, as deep, as his novels.

Medecine River - Thomas King

Brilliant book.  A novel set out west in a town beside a reserve.  The plot is loosely ties together, more a suite of events tied together by a set of recurring characters.  Classic Thomas King - very human, very humble, with a subtle biting sense of humour.  I especially like how he explores both the characters' humanity as people and at the same time hints subtly at the differences in world view, in "ground" that may be part of being native in Canada.  He both avoids stereotypes and pokes fun at them.  He has a compassionate understanding of human weakness and a fine ear for all forms of bullshit.

The Gaze - Elif Shafak

An odd book about an enormously fat person and a dwarf, although the fat person features as the main focus and sometimes narrator.  There are some magic realism asides which explore earlier events that are supposedly linked to the modern story.
The idea is interesting - the human gaze and how it affects others.  Unfortunately I find it hard going, with too much rambling and too much time recounting the shifts of the main character's inner dialogue.  Not sure I will finish it...

The Toronto Carrying Place - Glenn Turner

A nice bit of local historical work brought to life by an actual ramble along a rough route of the old Carrying Place portage.  Turner works in a lot of early native and settler history along the way, with glimpses of how that history lingers even today.
There are some sections he mentions near the top of the trail by the Holland River that sound like they might be worth walking.
(Book is on my Kindle)