Moving blues
The moving is taking its toll on me. The packing is just the beginning. There’s the paint colours to pick out, the actual paint to pick up, the backyard to decide on, the new furniture we have to get (like a dining table), and I haven’t even gotten to the window treatments yet. Oh my.
So I’m going to take the easy way out and do a quick roundup of what I’ve finished reading recently. It’s been a mixed bag, so let’s begin with the not-so-good, shall we?
Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel
Oh how I wanted to love this book! The setting was wonderful, as are books that seem to revolve around a graveyard (e.g. Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book). But the double sets of twins was a bit much and then that really weird bit (shan’t spoil it for you if you haven’t read it yet) completely threw me off and part of me wanted to throw the book across the room. But I managed to stick it through and finish it. It was eccentric, and ultimately disappointing.
Reservation Blues
I’m not sure about this one. It was very different from the other books I’ve been reading recently, as it was surreal, mystical, yet honest, funny and sad. The magical realism that Alexie uses takes a bit getting used to but it was a pretty good read in the end.
Blame: A Novel
The premise of this book doesn’t make it sound likeable, and it opens a bit disjointedly. But Blame turned out to be a really great read, with Huneven bringing to life some interesting characters and pretty good writing. Everytime I put it down (for some boring necessity like eating or sleeping) I just felt that urge to pick it up and delve back into it again.
Antarctica
My first KSR book – and I was pretty thrilled by it. I seem to have this soft spot for books set in Antarctica and this one (1) is, (2) was inspired by Robinson’s 1995 stay in Antarctica as part of the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. It had pretty good pacing – although some of the technical stuff did slow parts of it down. And he brought in some pretty interesting characters, like mountaineer Val who leads tourists on ‘reenacted’ treks across Antarctica, Senator Chase, a fengshui expert and some bizarre hijackings/sabotage. It reads a little like a travelogue, as Robinson clearly loved his time there. Like when I was reading Blame, I was so absorbed in this book that I didn’t want to read anything else.
Good luck with the moving. Hopefully you won’t have to move again quickly.
Both Her Fearful Symmerty and Reservation Blues are on my tbr list. After your reviews I might have to move them up my list.
I hope so too! It’s amazing that while we don’t have much in terms of furniture (we don’t even have a dining table), there are still so many things to pack and boxes stacking up around the apartment! Argh…
The only book I’ve read from your list is Her Fearful Symmetry. I enjoyed a good 60% of the book, but the end went downhill for me.
Yeah I know what you mean. And it started out so well, didn’t it?
I am reading Reservation Blues right now, and it is definitely a different read. I really got into it in the beginning, but now I feel as though I’m tapering off. Hopefully I can get through it tonight!
Yeah it took me a while to get through it too…. hope you managed to finish it!
So KSR was doing the Antarctic Artist and Writer’s Program at about the same time as Sara Wheeler? That’s pretty awesome! I just finished Terra Incognita, and all I could think about for the first part of the book was how similar the colonies of scientists out on the ice seemed to KSR’s approach to Mars settlement in his Mars Trilogy. Makes sense that he spent time in Antarctica! I really loved Sara Wheeler’s travelogue, so I guess I should look up KSR’s Antarctica this year, too (and I may also be looking up Wheeler’s book on Chile). Incidentally, the technical aspects that you mention slow down the plot are evident in the Mars Trilogy, too.
Yeah, you’re right. I double checked the NSF website, and KSR was there in 1995, Wheeler was on the program in 1994-5. So there might have been a little overlap there? I too will be looking out for more of Wheeler’s work, and am looking forward to reading more of KSR, despite all the technical bits, Antarctica was a good read.