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30 day book meme: Day 5
May. 12th, 2019 06:07 pmSaw my first swifts of the year today! A week or so later than last year, possibly because I'm a bit further north than I was this time last year or possibly because the bad weather last week put them off—in any case they're back now and it feels like summer isn't far away.
And another book post...
Day 5. Doesn't belong to me.
I have several books on my shelves borrowed from a friend who now lives far enough away that she probably won't get any of them back for a while. Which is good, because I haven't read all of them, but one of the first ones I read last year was The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.
In theory, I feel like should love science fiction: I love science, after all, and I have the sort of systematising mindset it's supposed to appeal to. In practice, however, whenever I try to read sci-fi books they always seem to be appealing to the wrong part of my mind, as compared to other books, and the effect is too much of a clash to be enjoyable. Instead of getting invested in the characters and enjoying the story, I get distracted by the worldbuilding and speculative-science elements and end up not really caring about the rest. And that's what happened with this book. I thought the worldbuilding was fascinating, and I wanted to know everything about this post-nuclear apocalypse world and its history and ecology and just how do these 'mutants' work anyway, and I didn't care about the plot or characters apart from thinking it got very weird towards the end. I liked the book, but it really wasn't the same sort of experience as liking a realistic or even a fantasy book (for some reason the harmony between worldbuilding and story generally seems to work better for me in fantasy, or at least good fantasy—this is why Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is so amazing, etc. etc.).
Anyway, I also have The Day of the Triffids, and will probably get round to reading it at some point. I'm sure it will also contain much fascinating ecology!
And another book post...
Day 5. Doesn't belong to me.
I have several books on my shelves borrowed from a friend who now lives far enough away that she probably won't get any of them back for a while. Which is good, because I haven't read all of them, but one of the first ones I read last year was The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.
In theory, I feel like should love science fiction: I love science, after all, and I have the sort of systematising mindset it's supposed to appeal to. In practice, however, whenever I try to read sci-fi books they always seem to be appealing to the wrong part of my mind, as compared to other books, and the effect is too much of a clash to be enjoyable. Instead of getting invested in the characters and enjoying the story, I get distracted by the worldbuilding and speculative-science elements and end up not really caring about the rest. And that's what happened with this book. I thought the worldbuilding was fascinating, and I wanted to know everything about this post-nuclear apocalypse world and its history and ecology and just how do these 'mutants' work anyway, and I didn't care about the plot or characters apart from thinking it got very weird towards the end. I liked the book, but it really wasn't the same sort of experience as liking a realistic or even a fantasy book (for some reason the harmony between worldbuilding and story generally seems to work better for me in fantasy, or at least good fantasy—this is why Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is so amazing, etc. etc.).
Anyway, I also have The Day of the Triffids, and will probably get round to reading it at some point. I'm sure it will also contain much fascinating ecology!
