The six hundred and eighty-third album: #683 Sonic Youth - Goo
Although at its core a solid alt rock album, goo shifts between the simple, Nirvana-like alt rock to the more esoteric and experimental sound collages. It feels like the vocals are on the simpler side - interesting lyrics that address things but keeps it simple, with a singing voice that doesn't stretch things too far, but works to make its point. Then the music underlying that stays simple, but goes bigger outside of it, to have a soundscape when it wants to but not keep it up constantly. It's an effective mix, creating some engaging music while keeping to quite a raw core.
The one hundred and thirty-first book: #1021 Martin Chuzzlewit - Charles Dickens
I am starting to think Dickens isn't for me. I get that there's social commentary and accessible writing in it for its time, but the word count ends up too excessive, tracing a few too many different threads filled with needless detail and verbose conversations I quickly get bored with. Over halfway through, I feel there's still enough I don't know and feel like the story gets pulled in all sorts of directions. Maybe later it comes together, but the book requires too much time to get there.