June Books 12) Sphere, by Michael Crichton

[nwhyte]

One of the few remaining sf books available on Bookmooch that I vaguely felt like reading; a Big Dumb Object is found on the ocean floor, and though it turns out to be of future human manufacture it also contains another Smaller Dumb Object which is alien. (I see that there was a film version starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L. Jackson as the three surviving scientists, which completely passed me by.) It teeters on the edge of becoming interesting, especially when it seems like the psychologist who is the viewpoint character may be an unreliable narrator, but basically all of this has been done better before, and Crichton's desperate attempts to address race and gender are rather painful to read. You can skip this one in good conscience.

And that brings me to the end of my travel reading catchup. Though I am also well behind in writing up the Doctor Who audios I have been listening to...