Archive for the ‘Reading’ Category
When I was growing up, my parents would take me to the local library and I’d rent about four to five books. They encouraged me to read and, with the majority of the books being fiction, it was great escapism. The library had always been a mystical place with so much to discover—new worlds lined up right next to each other. As I grew older and could go out on my own, I’d venture to the library every so often, hang out for a bit and rent a book or two. However, at some point, I stopped going and even lost track of my library card. I found myself spending more time at Waldenbooks, then Borders and began buying my books.
I don’t know exactly why I stopped but the cut in library operating hours and the slow accumulation in inventory could have been factors. I also began to prefer acquiring my books and creating a collection. The benefits in doing so meant I always had a book handy and didn’t have to worry about returning it. Yet, I found myself becoming very picky about which books I’d buy and thus began isolating myself from new discoveries. Many people say that the Internet is a major cause in lower library attendance, and while somewhat true, it wasn’t a reason for me because I couldn’t read a book on the computer. I need to touch the book, rifle through the pages and smell them. I needed the subtle tactile feedback where the printing press imprinted the words onto the paper. I needed the creaking of the spine of a well worn book—its soft sigh welcoming me. Reading can be a sensual, intimate experience.
The experience has a different texture with “borrowed” books than purchased ones. The ones you buy most often are entirely read by you, whereas there are added personalities with borrowed books and sometimes it makes you think, “Did the previous reader enjoy this passage or did s/he interpret the story as I have?” Sometimes I think I ought to go the library again and spend some time there, remember the past and create new memories. Do it while libraries last, for according to a recent analysis, library attendance in Hawaii is down. There are initiatives to bring attendance up, like wireless Internet and a coffee shop, but change must happen soon, or we may lose some (or all) libraries.
A metamorphosis needs to happen. Libraries can no longer just be the vast vault of unexplored worlds and a repository of knowledge, they need something more. A social aspect that’ll entice people to spend their time in a library instead of a Borders or Barnes & Noble. Nostalgically, I realize that the vast vault was enough for me when I was young and a little place in my heart will be saddened to see how much my library has changed over the years and will need to change in the coming future.
In my latest reading binge, I picked up Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds. Set years into the future, mankind has begun to mine comets for ice. Instead of breaking chunks off and dismantling these comets, the miners rig up mass driver equipment to steer the comets back to Earth for processing, hence the term “pushing ice.”
One such mining vessel, called the Rockhopper, and its crew are conducting an operation on a comet when they receive a request to drop what they’re doing and follow the Jupiter moon Janus as it has inexplicably left its orbit and begun an acceleration out of the solar system. Well, the speed and direction of the not-moon is such that the Rockhopper has a very slim window of catching up with it, getting any data from it and returning to Earth. Are they able to do it? Will they discover why Janus has sped out of its orbit and will they find out to whom the not-moon is heading to?
Besides being a pretty involved space drama, the technology in the book is pretty nifty. There are items, like a page of paper, that operates as a computer terminal, diagnostics tool and control panel. It also recharges its batteries off the body heat of its owner. Part organic, they have a limited lifespan but still, they last for quite a while. Pushing Ice is a fun read, although I did have some problems with a couple of characters and their developments. The stress of their job and the possibility of never getting back home may be a strong influential source, I still think some of them changed their attitudes and personalities a little too easily. Still, it’s worth a read and I’ve begun to re-read it again as I’m almost done with Spook Country.
One of the Sci-Fi “what-if’s” I’ve read had power and internet connections on airplanes. Well, Virgin Atlantic is already offerring power and USB connections and now JetBlue is testing out limited email and instant messaging capabilities. It’s only a matter of time before full internet access is made available. It’s an exciting, albeit also scary, thing for fiction to be made real.
Richard Calder’s Cythera visualized PDA‘s with full color video and music playback in 1998. And only a year before in Idoru (or here for LibraryThing Fans) is there mention of native power and internet access on airplanes (to what I mentioned above).
In Pat Cadigan’s Synners, there’s even the proliferation of television channels and their shows that the word “porn” took on a slightly different meaning. For example, Food Porn is the term for the overload of food shows and channels.
What’s next? Will we have full 3D holographic communication devices? Pleasure bots? Slices of silicon and circuitry that operate as a personal computer terminal, newspaper and diagnostics tool that recharges off of our body heat while attached to us?
The future is now.
The second book of the Night Watch series titled Day Watch continues with the perspective of a Day Watch agent, the Dark witch Alisa Donnikova.
I was apprehensive to read this book because Alisa was one of the antagonists in the first book and I wanted to continue seeing the exploits of the Night Watch. In the end, I picked it up and am glad I did. Turns out that the entire book doesn’t really follow just her perspective and, surprisingly, I was disappointed in that fact. However, things begin to heat up as an artifact was stolen from the Inquisitors, a group of Light and Dark Others that keeps and eye on the Watches, both Night and Day, to ensure they are not breaking the Treaty and that neither side oversteps the rules to gain an advantage over the other. The sudden appearance of a seemingly powerful Dark Other also makes things more complicated. And lethal.
But, in the end, it appears that love is the greatest deciding factor, for good or ill.
In my latest reading binge, I’ve picked up Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. It has a different spin on vampires and werewolves, witches and sorcerers. There are two types of people, normal human beings and the Others, people who have magical powers. The others are split into two different factions, those that follow the Light and those that follow the Darkness. While the basic idea that Light equals good and Darkness equals evil is sound, it’s not that simple. The most simplest way to say it is that those that follow the Light use their magic to help others, while those that follow the Darkness use their magic for themselves.
Both sides are, of course, at war with each other. But now there is a Treaty that’s keeping a peace. To enforce that peace, each side has set up “Watches” to keep an eye on the activites of the other faction. The Light side has the Night Watch while the Dark side has the Day Watch.
Interestingly enough, even normal humans can create a sort of magic called curses. While normally non-lethal, curses by humans can still wreak havoc. Especially a mother’s curse, which is said to be violently potent even if it doesn’t last long. And sometimes, someone who is originally human, but destined to be an Other, can create a particularly nasty curse.
The first book, Night Watch, tells the tale with the perspective of a Night Watch agent, Anton Gorodetsky, recently recruited for field operations from his comfy spot as a computer programmer. Initially a low level magician, his destiny sees him doing great things. Sad things, which involve and affects a woman whose destiny has yet to be fully realized.
Overall, I enjoyed the read a lot. While the formula is familiar, the political intrigues that govern how the Light and Darkness agents behave and operate tends to blur the lines between what is right and what is wrong.
