(no subject)
I've hit kind of a snag when it comes to watching movies. Not only because of the never-ending 'Ben Hur'. I'm simply in the phase when I don't feel like watching anything. Sort of a movie-watching apathy. Well, I get those. I've learned over the years that the best remedy is swift decisive action. Today starts The Spanish Week at one of Kraków's cinemas and I already have the tickets for all its 14 features nice and ready. Not because Spanish cinema tickles me all that much (it's alright, I guess, I've got nothing against it) but because I have to break through the hold-up. I already have the tickets, now I have to see the actual movies, don't I?
Not that the Spanish Movie Week isn't a bit of a gamble. Monday to Friday I have exactly one hour to get from my beloved place of employement into the cinema seat. Which is very much doable. Well, if you don't take into the account the fact that somehow I've already had to put in about 15 hours of overtime in March alone. Seriously, why is March always such a shitty month? Anyhow, I try to remain optimistic.
I might not have much success with movie watching at the moment, but my book reading is going just fine. I'm on book no. 7, which means I'm well on schedule (the schedule being 24 books a year, meaning 2 books a month - a sadly unimpressive limit, but that's all I'm capable of). What I've accomplished thus far:
1. Charles Stross 'Accelerando' - one of the best books ever, that one. Even reading it makes you feel like you are on the brink of Singularity. Not an easy read, it's full of complex economics and requires way more knowledge about computer and communications technology than my humble self possesses to truly comprehend everything that's going on, but it's so cleverly written that, instead of fill you with frustrution, it sweeps you up like a currect. Really, it's positively mindblowing. Especially the early Manfred sequences are quite possibly the best thing I've ever read. My only nitpick is that the very ending is a little bit too neat, but, hey, not every book can be (or has to be) the 'Perdido Street Station' in the gut-wrenching-finale department, can it?
2. Astrid Paprotta 'Die ungeschminkte Wahrheit' - part of my Teaching Myself German Through Reading experience. At least it goes faster with every book. I still remember that it took me a year to get through the first. Anyway, that one was a pretty solid police procedural about a nicely fleshed-out female detective solving a mystery of a serial killer murdering homeless people. In German. Frankly, I was more focused on piecing together what the words on the page meant than on how well written it all is, so I really have little to no opinion on the book itself.
3. Chris Moriarty 'Spin State' - not only it is a riveting science fiction thriller, but it has a kick ass female heroine. And it throws in some thought-provoking bits about human rights. Not to mention an enthralling interracial romance between a human and an AI. I can't remember when I've enjoyed the romantic subplot that much, usually it's the first one to go under the knife. All in all, a great book, the sequel already ordered.
4. Robert Charles Wilson 'Axis' - a good enough book on its own, but as a follow-up to 'Spin', it feels somewhat, I don't know, minor. It's got pretty interesting characters, a fairly intriguing plot, but it has nowhere near the scale of its predecessor. 'Spin' seemed epic. In comparison, here the stakes are barely up.
5. Sarah Langan 'The Missing' - a feisty, gripping horror story. Lovely written, too. That woman has a terrific writing style. It's basically about a small American town slowly descending into chaos and madness after a deadly epidemic. Chilling stuff. Extra points for having so many characters in the forefront and making me care about all of them. Good job, Sarah Langan.
6. Sarah Rees Brennan 'The Demon Lexicon' - YA fantasy, which I generally have little love or patience for, as it often features vexing characters, simplistic plotting and melodrama cranked up much too high for my taste, but this time I just couldn't resist. That girl wrote some of the best HP fanfiction I've ever read (when still in my HP fanfiction reading phase, which, happily, ended years ago) so my curiosity was picked to the point where the temptation was just too much. And it's a good thing that I caved, because that book was kind of awesome. The main character is downright fascinating and so refreshingly unsympathetic to boot. The twist at the end is brilliant. The secondary characters mostly manage not to be irritating (and are actually cool more often that not). It is a little too breezy a read at times, and, while the author clearly has a great skill for writing memorable lines, she should rein in her oneliners a bit (sometimes she's like a female YA fantasy Brian Michael Bendis on that front, to throw in a comics reference), but, on the whole, it's definitely a win.
Reading now: Joe Abercrombie's 'Best Served Cold' (I'm yet not as sucked in as I expected to be at nearly a 200-page mark, but there is still, like, 600 pages to go, so I still have my hope up), Norbest Horst's 'Todesmuster' (first person narration, which is bad, since my German is not good enough to distinguish honest narration and character's commentary that easily) and, totally randomly, a Polish book about Australian cinema after 1960. It's funny how all my reading nowadays seems to be divided into SF and fantasy in English, police procedurals in German and non-fiction in Polish.
.
Not that the Spanish Movie Week isn't a bit of a gamble. Monday to Friday I have exactly one hour to get from my beloved place of employement into the cinema seat. Which is very much doable. Well, if you don't take into the account the fact that somehow I've already had to put in about 15 hours of overtime in March alone. Seriously, why is March always such a shitty month? Anyhow, I try to remain optimistic.
I might not have much success with movie watching at the moment, but my book reading is going just fine. I'm on book no. 7, which means I'm well on schedule (the schedule being 24 books a year, meaning 2 books a month - a sadly unimpressive limit, but that's all I'm capable of). What I've accomplished thus far:
1. Charles Stross 'Accelerando' - one of the best books ever, that one. Even reading it makes you feel like you are on the brink of Singularity. Not an easy read, it's full of complex economics and requires way more knowledge about computer and communications technology than my humble self possesses to truly comprehend everything that's going on, but it's so cleverly written that, instead of fill you with frustrution, it sweeps you up like a currect. Really, it's positively mindblowing. Especially the early Manfred sequences are quite possibly the best thing I've ever read. My only nitpick is that the very ending is a little bit too neat, but, hey, not every book can be (or has to be) the 'Perdido Street Station' in the gut-wrenching-finale department, can it?
2. Astrid Paprotta 'Die ungeschminkte Wahrheit' - part of my Teaching Myself German Through Reading experience. At least it goes faster with every book. I still remember that it took me a year to get through the first. Anyway, that one was a pretty solid police procedural about a nicely fleshed-out female detective solving a mystery of a serial killer murdering homeless people. In German. Frankly, I was more focused on piecing together what the words on the page meant than on how well written it all is, so I really have little to no opinion on the book itself.
3. Chris Moriarty 'Spin State' - not only it is a riveting science fiction thriller, but it has a kick ass female heroine. And it throws in some thought-provoking bits about human rights. Not to mention an enthralling interracial romance between a human and an AI. I can't remember when I've enjoyed the romantic subplot that much, usually it's the first one to go under the knife. All in all, a great book, the sequel already ordered.
4. Robert Charles Wilson 'Axis' - a good enough book on its own, but as a follow-up to 'Spin', it feels somewhat, I don't know, minor. It's got pretty interesting characters, a fairly intriguing plot, but it has nowhere near the scale of its predecessor. 'Spin' seemed epic. In comparison, here the stakes are barely up.
5. Sarah Langan 'The Missing' - a feisty, gripping horror story. Lovely written, too. That woman has a terrific writing style. It's basically about a small American town slowly descending into chaos and madness after a deadly epidemic. Chilling stuff. Extra points for having so many characters in the forefront and making me care about all of them. Good job, Sarah Langan.
6. Sarah Rees Brennan 'The Demon Lexicon' - YA fantasy, which I generally have little love or patience for, as it often features vexing characters, simplistic plotting and melodrama cranked up much too high for my taste, but this time I just couldn't resist. That girl wrote some of the best HP fanfiction I've ever read (when still in my HP fanfiction reading phase, which, happily, ended years ago) so my curiosity was picked to the point where the temptation was just too much. And it's a good thing that I caved, because that book was kind of awesome. The main character is downright fascinating and so refreshingly unsympathetic to boot. The twist at the end is brilliant. The secondary characters mostly manage not to be irritating (and are actually cool more often that not). It is a little too breezy a read at times, and, while the author clearly has a great skill for writing memorable lines, she should rein in her oneliners a bit (sometimes she's like a female YA fantasy Brian Michael Bendis on that front, to throw in a comics reference), but, on the whole, it's definitely a win.
Reading now: Joe Abercrombie's 'Best Served Cold' (I'm yet not as sucked in as I expected to be at nearly a 200-page mark, but there is still, like, 600 pages to go, so I still have my hope up), Norbest Horst's 'Todesmuster' (first person narration, which is bad, since my German is not good enough to distinguish honest narration and character's commentary that easily) and, totally randomly, a Polish book about Australian cinema after 1960. It's funny how all my reading nowadays seems to be divided into SF and fantasy in English, police procedurals in German and non-fiction in Polish.
.