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What I've Done (and Read) This Year
Feb. 26th, 2014 02:16 pmAfter three years of storage, I hung up wall art. It only took two trips to the hardware store (six months apart), moving a bedstand and a bed, maneuvering a 10' ladder through a 6' door, and about three hours.
Oh right, I also read more books.
Actually, I listened to more books: in late December I started Dun (Frank Herbert) (1965). When I finished that in late January I turned to A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle) (1962) which was read by the author, a fascinating experience; and when in February I finished that I tried The Forever War (Joe Haldeman) (1974). Audiobooks are in some ways more intense than reading a novel - one cannot skip ahead - but also can be more shallow, if one's attention wanders. The book-reader also makes a difference, more on that below.
It wasn't my intention to re-read three disparate and excellent science fiction works back to back; it just worked out that way.
Dune was a great road trip book. It moves so slowly. The ratio of contemplation to action gets pretty grim. Plots within plots within plots! Wheels within wheels within wheels! At a mellow reading pace! Perhaps the slow unfolding is why I have such a distorted memory of the novel; a great deal of the middle had been compressed in my memory.
Listening to A Wrinkle in Time was much like a bedtime story from a beloved grandmother. L'Engle's reading helped me really appreciate Meg's passionate frustrations, both from her perspective and the perspective of someone who is not (currently) struggling with the challenges teenage girls face. It also kept my sense of humor alive through some very Meg Murry-ish days.
I last read The Forever War in late high school or early college. At that time the SFnal, vertiginous effects of time dilation really stuck with me. This time the story's roots in Vietnam parallels were more obvious: time and experience, or more recent ambiguous conflicts. For the most part I listened to The Forever War in a few circumstances - while driving, that sort of thing - but in the last chapters I desperately wanted to read through the chapters I didn't remember to the sections I did vaguely recall. But I was also enjoying the reader's rendition so much I didn't want to pick up the physical novel! I hadn't expected the auditory component to become such an important part of the reading/listening experience. So I spent a weekend doing house chores with a war-novel-by-way-of-smartphone stuck in my back pocket.
My current physical reading is Street Fight: The Politics of Mobility in San Franciso (Jason Hnederson( (2013). I am bogging down in the first chapter, hampered by a focus on mobility in the cars-bikes-trains sense, with - so far - very little contemplation of the body's ability to get up and do. I love cycling, but I would not recommend it to people with limited strength, or medical conditions which impair endurance.
Oh right, I also read more books.
Actually, I listened to more books: in late December I started Dun (Frank Herbert) (1965). When I finished that in late January I turned to A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle) (1962) which was read by the author, a fascinating experience; and when in February I finished that I tried The Forever War (Joe Haldeman) (1974). Audiobooks are in some ways more intense than reading a novel - one cannot skip ahead - but also can be more shallow, if one's attention wanders. The book-reader also makes a difference, more on that below.
It wasn't my intention to re-read three disparate and excellent science fiction works back to back; it just worked out that way.
Dune was a great road trip book. It moves so slowly. The ratio of contemplation to action gets pretty grim. Plots within plots within plots! Wheels within wheels within wheels! At a mellow reading pace! Perhaps the slow unfolding is why I have such a distorted memory of the novel; a great deal of the middle had been compressed in my memory.
Listening to A Wrinkle in Time was much like a bedtime story from a beloved grandmother. L'Engle's reading helped me really appreciate Meg's passionate frustrations, both from her perspective and the perspective of someone who is not (currently) struggling with the challenges teenage girls face. It also kept my sense of humor alive through some very Meg Murry-ish days.
I last read The Forever War in late high school or early college. At that time the SFnal, vertiginous effects of time dilation really stuck with me. This time the story's roots in Vietnam parallels were more obvious: time and experience, or more recent ambiguous conflicts. For the most part I listened to The Forever War in a few circumstances - while driving, that sort of thing - but in the last chapters I desperately wanted to read through the chapters I didn't remember to the sections I did vaguely recall. But I was also enjoying the reader's rendition so much I didn't want to pick up the physical novel! I hadn't expected the auditory component to become such an important part of the reading/listening experience. So I spent a weekend doing house chores with a war-novel-by-way-of-smartphone stuck in my back pocket.
My current physical reading is Street Fight: The Politics of Mobility in San Franciso (Jason Hnederson( (2013). I am bogging down in the first chapter, hampered by a focus on mobility in the cars-bikes-trains sense, with - so far - very little contemplation of the body's ability to get up and do. I love cycling, but I would not recommend it to people with limited strength, or medical conditions which impair endurance.