Spirituality for the Skeptic: The Thoughtful Love of Life
and
don’t you like how the titles go together?
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
brief mentions of relatively recent reads, and commentary on A Short, Sharp Shock by Kim Stanley Robinson
brief mentions of relatively recent reads, and commentary on A Short, Sharp Shock by Kim Stanley Robinson. 6 days ago
Let’s see… I know I’ve read Eragon, Cloud’s Rider by C.J. Cherryh, and oh yes The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram (5 stars! and a longer review later, probably after discussion with Kalibebti, who is reading it now). Eragon is great writing for a fifteen year old. Cloud’s Rider (sequel to Rider at the Gate) is interesting and compelling… if you can get past the set-up of the story, which drove me crazy.
me: “What? Don’t do that! You know what will happen if you do that! Oh well…”
That kills me.
That is why I can’t watch horror movies.
me: No, DON’T go investigate that growling sound outside your window on the full moon, carrying nothing but a plastic flashlight and/or a fly swatter. Hello??? Recent slayings in the neighborhood???”
But the rest of the story is so good… I think I’d give it a 3.5.
I finished A Short, Sharp Shock by Kim Stanley Robinson last night, and I have to wonder… Is it like The Wizard of Oz, full of symbolic political and social commentary (that I didn’t pick up on)? Is it a side story from another novel of his (that I haven’t read yet), that he explores more fully here? Or what?
It reminds me of a certain French movie I saw (I’m drawing a blank on the title) where some sort of apocalytpic collapse of civilization had occurred (you never find out what), and the main characters spend the entire movie trying to get to a safe place, interacting with other people as they come across them, and then the movie just ends, with absolutely nothing resolved and no one the wiser. Only, the movie was set in France. ;)
If it is a comment on the absurdity of life, I have to say I much prefer The Trial. That was just as bizarre in many respects, and yet I enjoyed it greatly. This book, I have no idea why anybody did anything that they did (except when Thel and co tried to reunite or escape murderous foes). SSS seemed very formulaic and convenient; the antagonists did what they did because it was what the author wanted them to do. I have to say I don’t think I cared for it very much at all. So, maybe I am missing something?
I really loved his Mars trilogy (4-5), which was very different, but I wasn’t expecting anything like that in this little book. Still, I wasn’t expecting what I read, either.
As my understanding of it is right now, I would give A Short, Sharp Shock two stars. and I haven’t rated anything that low since The Life of Pi.
:\
Let’s see… I know I’ve read Eragon, Cloud’s Rider by C.J. Cherryh, and oh yes The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram (5 stars! and a longer review later, probably after discussion with Kalibebti, who is reading it now). Eragon is great writing for a fifteen year old. Cloud’s Rider (sequel to Rider at the Gate) is interesting and compelling… if you can get past the set-up of the story, which drove me crazy.
me: “What? Don’t do that! You know what will happen if you do that! Oh well…”
That kills me.
That is why I can’t watch horror movies.
me: No, DON’T go investigate that growling sound outside your window on the full moon, carrying nothing but a plastic flashlight and/or a fly swatter. Hello??? Recent slayings in the neighborhood???”
But the rest of the story is so good… I think I’d give it a 3.5.
I finished A Short, Sharp Shock by Kim Stanley Robinson last night, and I have to wonder… Is it like The Wizard of Oz, full of symbolic political and social commentary (that I didn’t pick up on)? Is it a side story from another novel of his (that I haven’t read yet), that he explores more fully here? Or what?
It reminds me of a certain French movie I saw (I’m drawing a blank on the title) where some sort of apocalytpic collapse of civilization had occurred (you never find out what), and the main characters spend the entire movie trying to get to a safe place, interacting with other people as they come across them, and then the movie just ends, with absolutely nothing resolved and no one the wiser. Only, the movie was set in France. ;)
If it is a comment on the absurdity of life, I have to say I much prefer The Trial. That was just as bizarre in many respects, and yet I enjoyed it greatly. This book, I have no idea why anybody did anything that they did (except when Thel and co tried to reunite or escape murderous foes). SSS seemed very formulaic and convenient; the antagonists did what they did because it was what the author wanted them to do. I have to say I don’t think I cared for it very much at all. So, maybe I am missing something?
I really loved his Mars trilogy (4-5), which was very different, but I wasn’t expecting anything like that in this little book. Still, I wasn’t expecting what I read, either.
As my understanding of it is right now, I would give A Short, Sharp Shock two stars. and I haven’t rated anything that low since The Life of Pi.
:\
the allure of Cherryh's Assassins
those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, god bless you. those of you who do know what I’m talking about, god bless you.
I am quite taken with C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series, space opera though it may be, for several reasons. one is the main character, Bren, who is an ENFJ and therefore very similar to me sometimes. so is his situation, at least symbolically. but one very important reason is the Assassin’s Guild.
and WHY, you ask, WHY?
part of it is the alien other. but, after struggling to define it, I came across a passage I had marked wherein Bren explains why the assassins fascinate him, and it’s perfect. Bren and I do have a lot in common.
I just feel like quoting it today:
there are other books I’ve read since my last entry, btw, I just haven’t logged them in yet. I’m sooo behind.
I am quite taken with C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series, space opera though it may be, for several reasons. one is the main character, Bren, who is an ENFJ and therefore very similar to me sometimes. so is his situation, at least symbolically. but one very important reason is the Assassin’s Guild.
and WHY, you ask, WHY?
part of it is the alien other. but, after struggling to define it, I came across a passage I had marked wherein Bren explains why the assassins fascinate him, and it’s perfect. Bren and I do have a lot in common.
I just feel like quoting it today:
There seemed a quality to people the Assassin’s Guild let in and licensed. He didn’t know what they had in common, except perhaps an integrity that touched chords in his shades -of -gray soul, a feeling, maybe, that one could do things that rattled one’s conscience to the walls and foundations and still – still own a sense of equilibrium.
Banichi was going to teach him about doors. It wasn’t what he wanted to learn from Banichi. What he wanted to understand was something far more basic. Invader, 388
there are other books I’ve read since my last entry, btw, I just haven’t logged them in yet. I’m sooo behind.
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