enter the New Year
Being blasted by 40degC heat after returning home from a balmy south-NSW camping trip and feeling good - not so much. the camping was fantastic, and i came back feeling fit and healthy (can suddenly see the wisdom of why people long to retire to the coast - a bit of a walk on the beach, a light snorkel, a quick kayak, some low-fuss food and a congenial campfire...) but the re-entering orbit thing was less than could have been desired. dry heat leaves me feeling lethargic and slightly nauseous. luckily, after 10hrs in the car and a lot of packing up and stuff before that, the whole family was feeling the same lethargy. lying on the couch reading, or watching a bit of tube (after a fortnight's absence, we could all indulge), was about all everyone was up for. hard to sleep at night though, when the mercury doesn't drop below 35 until 8 in the morning.
also, the rat infestation we were suffering prior to leaving the house has cleared up after a good dose of Ye Horrible Poison. and now we are paying the price, because the house is infested with...fleas. yes, the fleas appear to have jumped off the rats and onto our couch, beds, cushions...yuck. what's next, bubonic plague? (don't say it, just don't say it)
books i read on my summer holiday:
The City and the City - China Mieville
you should go read this, it's fantastic. Mieville's stuff is wonderful, decribed variously as New Fantasy, Speculative Fantasy etc (he's an anti-Tolkienist and a socialist and erudite - not to mention the fact that i saw him at MWF and he's incredibly buff for a fantasy writer), but overall highly political. the notions of 'seeing' and 'unseeing' in this book are held together with incredible attention to detail and great intelligence, and (i assume) a really amazing copyeditor. whole book is swollen full of (thank you, Jasper Fforde) Original Ideas, political self-awareness, and sensory imagery. loved the whole concept of Breach. could see this being picked up as a screenplay, with a sexy mix of British and European actors (Jean Reno, Tim Roth...). if you want to set yourself up for this book in a smoother way, go read his collection of short stories, Looking for Jake, which actually stage-sets perfectly.
The Host - Stephanie Meyer
because i wanted to see if she was a one-idea writer, and she's actually rather not. but still it's not hard sf, and simply doesn't have the attention to detail that i happen to like in sf, something that brings the reality back to remind the reader of what it all means (i had a TMI question: i mean, does Melanie's body menstruate during this possession? and how do they deal with all that at the bottom of a cave? so it's not all longing glances and heaving bosoms and so on?) sure i know it's not reality, on any level, but these sort of 'minor' ignorances really bug the hell out of me - i had the same problem with Eragon, which i charge with the same issue too: that it's just not particularly good writing. but that's okay, i can live with that. and for all that it's not 'literary' enough for my bourgeois tastes, it's a damn page-turner, in the same way that Twilight was. but i also charge Meyer and Paolini with another crime: over-long. when does your average airport novel ever need to be over 500 pages?
The World Beneath - Cate Kennedy
not over-long, and certainly literary, and yes, i liked it well enough. but i didn't carry this one with me afterwards, which i say with regret, because she's an excellent writer. you couldn't say it was burdened with detail, but Kennedy manages to say so much with usually so little - her story Habit is amazingly tight and just an incredible piece of work - and i felt that the story got a bit bogged sometimes. i could see insights in there, which made me feel for the characters, but...i don't know, i feel bad being critical of someone who's work i really admire. overall i enjoyed it, but i won't feel the need to re-read, at least not for a while.
Things We Didn't See Coming - Steven Amsterdam
this i will re-read, and again, and again...this is an amazing book. i lent it to someone to read, and i'm longing to get it back now, only a week later, so i can go through my fave bits again. this really is the most concise, eloquent, perceptive, wonderful thing i've read since The Road (without the awful despair-inducing mood that enveloped me in afterwards, even though the themes/settings are similar), and Amsterdam writes with almost the same economy, and incredible lyricism. i loved this, and i'll be amazed if i pick up another book this year that gives me the same feeling afterwards...go read it right now.
anyway, i've changed the look here, and there's more to update, but it's getting late, and i'll keep stuff up my sleeve for another day. fic coming soon, for a bit of light entertainment. and i saw Avatar (with my 2 older boys, which hints perhaps at the target demographic). and i've got loads to do - writing, calendar-making, organising, comps to prep for...endless, basically. and i got a beautiful Moleskine for my birthday!
stay well, have fun.
also, the rat infestation we were suffering prior to leaving the house has cleared up after a good dose of Ye Horrible Poison. and now we are paying the price, because the house is infested with...fleas. yes, the fleas appear to have jumped off the rats and onto our couch, beds, cushions...yuck. what's next, bubonic plague? (don't say it, just don't say it)
books i read on my summer holiday:
The City and the City - China Mieville
you should go read this, it's fantastic. Mieville's stuff is wonderful, decribed variously as New Fantasy, Speculative Fantasy etc (he's an anti-Tolkienist and a socialist and erudite - not to mention the fact that i saw him at MWF and he's incredibly buff for a fantasy writer), but overall highly political. the notions of 'seeing' and 'unseeing' in this book are held together with incredible attention to detail and great intelligence, and (i assume) a really amazing copyeditor. whole book is swollen full of (thank you, Jasper Fforde) Original Ideas, political self-awareness, and sensory imagery. loved the whole concept of Breach. could see this being picked up as a screenplay, with a sexy mix of British and European actors (Jean Reno, Tim Roth...). if you want to set yourself up for this book in a smoother way, go read his collection of short stories, Looking for Jake, which actually stage-sets perfectly.
The Host - Stephanie Meyer
because i wanted to see if she was a one-idea writer, and she's actually rather not. but still it's not hard sf, and simply doesn't have the attention to detail that i happen to like in sf, something that brings the reality back to remind the reader of what it all means (i had a TMI question: i mean, does Melanie's body menstruate during this possession? and how do they deal with all that at the bottom of a cave? so it's not all longing glances and heaving bosoms and so on?) sure i know it's not reality, on any level, but these sort of 'minor' ignorances really bug the hell out of me - i had the same problem with Eragon, which i charge with the same issue too: that it's just not particularly good writing. but that's okay, i can live with that. and for all that it's not 'literary' enough for my bourgeois tastes, it's a damn page-turner, in the same way that Twilight was. but i also charge Meyer and Paolini with another crime: over-long. when does your average airport novel ever need to be over 500 pages?
The World Beneath - Cate Kennedy
not over-long, and certainly literary, and yes, i liked it well enough. but i didn't carry this one with me afterwards, which i say with regret, because she's an excellent writer. you couldn't say it was burdened with detail, but Kennedy manages to say so much with usually so little - her story Habit is amazingly tight and just an incredible piece of work - and i felt that the story got a bit bogged sometimes. i could see insights in there, which made me feel for the characters, but...i don't know, i feel bad being critical of someone who's work i really admire. overall i enjoyed it, but i won't feel the need to re-read, at least not for a while.
Things We Didn't See Coming - Steven Amsterdam
this i will re-read, and again, and again...this is an amazing book. i lent it to someone to read, and i'm longing to get it back now, only a week later, so i can go through my fave bits again. this really is the most concise, eloquent, perceptive, wonderful thing i've read since The Road (without the awful despair-inducing mood that enveloped me in afterwards, even though the themes/settings are similar), and Amsterdam writes with almost the same economy, and incredible lyricism. i loved this, and i'll be amazed if i pick up another book this year that gives me the same feeling afterwards...go read it right now.
anyway, i've changed the look here, and there's more to update, but it's getting late, and i'll keep stuff up my sleeve for another day. fic coming soon, for a bit of light entertainment. and i saw Avatar (with my 2 older boys, which hints perhaps at the target demographic). and i've got loads to do - writing, calendar-making, organising, comps to prep for...endless, basically. and i got a beautiful Moleskine for my birthday!
stay well, have fun.