Last minute books
For the sake of completeness and because I am using this journal to track my reading during deployment, I am going to do one last update before my wrap-up post.
While struggling through A Paradigm of Earth because of its slow plot, I watched the sci fi movie Sunshine directed by Danny Boyle who also directed the very popular genre film 28 Days Later. It was a good sci fi movie in the way it described the psychological effects of long, isolated space flight. That being said it was a very slow movie. The slowness was necessary to show the monotony of long distance space flight, but it made the movie drag. It also ends with a jarring horror movie twist at the end which disappointed me. I'd recommend it to true sci fi fans, but I suspect non-fans will not appreciate it. I don't think I so much enjoyed Sunshine in it's own right as a standalone especially with the ending, but as an example of a common literary sci fi themes presented on the screen for the first time.
During this same time I read Pay it Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It was an excellent, quick read which I enjoyed tremendously. I found it one night and stayed up too late that night and the following night reading it. A co-worker saw me reading it and asked how it compared to the movie. I said it was just as good as the movie. Basically it's the same plot but the details of the "pay it forward" events and chains were changed to fit film constraints. Obviously I saw the movie first, but I have to say that it has to be one of the best and most true to its source book adaptations I have ever seen. I have to note that the romance between the mom and the teacher is incredibly similar to the fan fiction romance I enjoy so much.
I finished When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger in Al Udeid. I enjoyed it greatly. In part I think the plotting was a welcome change after struggling through the slow moving A Paradigm of Earth. When Gravity Fails is a film noir detective/cyberpunk mash-up. The 1986 novel makes no reference to anything like the Internet though and is a bit out-dated in that regard. Instead its cyberpunk mantle comes from the ubiquitous uses of moddies (personality modifying modules that contain whole new personalities) and daddies (add-on software chips providing technical skills like languages or accounting) which are jacked into a person's head. It's set in an Arab-Muslim dominated world in the Budayeen a French Quarter like (the author lived in New Orleans) entertainment, red-light, criminal quarter in an unnamed middle eastern city. The people that Marîd knows are all barkeeps, prostitutes, drug dealers, drug addicts, pre- and post-op transsexuals. In fact sometimes I wondered if Marîd might be the only non-transgendered character in the novel. There is extensive drug-use (by Marîd included) and lots of body modifications. Once I got myself situated in the setting, it was a fast-moving read. I looked forward to returning to the book so I could find out how Marîd was going to catch the brutal murderers that he was after. A good read in an interesting setting. I will be picking up the two sequel novels and short story collection sometime.
Also once I returned home, I finally watched the last four episodes of Doctor Who season 3 that I hadn't seen - "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" and "Utopia"/"The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords". Of course "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" was just awesome and sad. It makes one think about why the Doctor is such an eccentric character. For a very long time, it was because he preferred the companionship of short-lived humans, but now he has no choice. "Utopia"/"The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords" was good as well. I loved how things segued together - the watch, Professor Yana, the identity of the Toclafane, Lazlabs technology. On the other hands the Master is completely over-the-top and it seems unlikely that such an outrageous personality would manage to gain the level of control he does. I did love the Doctor's solution to defeating the Master. Of course, it's not a weapon. Killing is rarely his solution. I am now ready to start watching season (or series if you prefer) 4 of Doctor Who.
While struggling through A Paradigm of Earth because of its slow plot, I watched the sci fi movie Sunshine directed by Danny Boyle who also directed the very popular genre film 28 Days Later. It was a good sci fi movie in the way it described the psychological effects of long, isolated space flight. That being said it was a very slow movie. The slowness was necessary to show the monotony of long distance space flight, but it made the movie drag. It also ends with a jarring horror movie twist at the end which disappointed me. I'd recommend it to true sci fi fans, but I suspect non-fans will not appreciate it. I don't think I so much enjoyed Sunshine in it's own right as a standalone especially with the ending, but as an example of a common literary sci fi themes presented on the screen for the first time.
During this same time I read Pay it Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It was an excellent, quick read which I enjoyed tremendously. I found it one night and stayed up too late that night and the following night reading it. A co-worker saw me reading it and asked how it compared to the movie. I said it was just as good as the movie. Basically it's the same plot but the details of the "pay it forward" events and chains were changed to fit film constraints. Obviously I saw the movie first, but I have to say that it has to be one of the best and most true to its source book adaptations I have ever seen. I have to note that the romance between the mom and the teacher is incredibly similar to the fan fiction romance I enjoy so much.
I finished When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger in Al Udeid. I enjoyed it greatly. In part I think the plotting was a welcome change after struggling through the slow moving A Paradigm of Earth. When Gravity Fails is a film noir detective/cyberpunk mash-up. The 1986 novel makes no reference to anything like the Internet though and is a bit out-dated in that regard. Instead its cyberpunk mantle comes from the ubiquitous uses of moddies (personality modifying modules that contain whole new personalities) and daddies (add-on software chips providing technical skills like languages or accounting) which are jacked into a person's head. It's set in an Arab-Muslim dominated world in the Budayeen a French Quarter like (the author lived in New Orleans) entertainment, red-light, criminal quarter in an unnamed middle eastern city. The people that Marîd knows are all barkeeps, prostitutes, drug dealers, drug addicts, pre- and post-op transsexuals. In fact sometimes I wondered if Marîd might be the only non-transgendered character in the novel. There is extensive drug-use (by Marîd included) and lots of body modifications. Once I got myself situated in the setting, it was a fast-moving read. I looked forward to returning to the book so I could find out how Marîd was going to catch the brutal murderers that he was after. A good read in an interesting setting. I will be picking up the two sequel novels and short story collection sometime.
Also once I returned home, I finally watched the last four episodes of Doctor Who season 3 that I hadn't seen - "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" and "Utopia"/"The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords". Of course "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" was just awesome and sad. It makes one think about why the Doctor is such an eccentric character. For a very long time, it was because he preferred the companionship of short-lived humans, but now he has no choice. "Utopia"/"The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords" was good as well. I loved how things segued together - the watch, Professor Yana, the identity of the Toclafane, Lazlabs technology. On the other hands the Master is completely over-the-top and it seems unlikely that such an outrageous personality would manage to gain the level of control he does. I did love the Doctor's solution to defeating the Master. Of course, it's not a weapon. Killing is rarely his solution. I am now ready to start watching season (or series if you prefer) 4 of Doctor Who.