The six hundred and eighty-ninth album: #689 Julian Cole - Peggy Suicide
For a British made album, one that lyrically focuses on that fairly frequently, its sound resembles the country-influenced Americana music more than anything - there's a lot of Springsteen in here, for example, It gets more artistic than that on a bunch of the tracks, but there's such a clear basis it builds on that it stands out as a deliberate style choice. It's a heavily music-focused track - Julian Cole's voice is certainly not the strongest, even if it builds well onto the existing sound. The album holds up well, even considering its length, and it stayed enjoyable.
The one hundred and thirty-second book: #1023 La Reine Margot - Alexandre Dumas
In the spirit of "Why waste time on something I'm not enjoying", I'm calling this book early. I think there's a few factors that made this one difficult. First, while the Three Musketeers has some good action, banter and flawed characters, the upper class royal adventures combined with historic figures means a lot of the fun is lost. It relies heavily on historical incidents that are difficult to keep track of with the knowledge I have or lack, and the intrigue loses a lot of its power because of that. Maybe I'll try a bit more later - with a bit more of a guide - but it's not one I can focus on as much and get more out of it.