Far side of the moon

It's such a hopeful time in Norway, April :). At least meteorologically speaking. The days are already really long, still light past nine in the evening, but still getting longer. It's starting to get warmer but still with a definite chill in the air. Actually, this is what May usually feels like, but you know, who's keeping track anyway?

And it's still not green and lush here at the end of the month in the way England was at the beginning :). But hey, geography. Anyhow, it's most definitely spring, and summer is just around the corner. Garden prepping and sorting has begun. You can already see people spending more time on their balconies and terraces than the weather strictly warrants, but there's that hopefulness.

So the England trip was really fun! Seeing family, hunting for Easter eggs, drama-free travel, what's not to like :). And since then it's mostly been weeks passing happily, if somewhat unremarkably on the whole. Except for the hail, of course! And the small matter of Artemis.

The running's is still happening, which is good, because Holmenkollstafetten is just around the corner, and for the first time in three years, we have a full team!! I mean, there's still a week to go, so fingers crossed, but I'm sticking with that hopeful theme :).

Been reading a fair bit too! Witch King didn't really throw any curveballs to speak of. Would I read the next instalment? Maybe? But given that it's not available in the local library, probably not any time soon.

Then it was back to Asimov. Prelude to Foundation, followed swiftly by Forward the Foundation. Even after a gap of sixteen years, I did remember the big reveal towards the end of Prelude :). But that didn't make it any less enjoyable. And Forward I think has always been my favourite of the whole series.

It's easy to read so much in retrospect isn't it? But it was his last Foundation book, and it's almost impossible for me to not think of Asimov looking back on nearly half a century of his work. The Hari Seldon who comes across as so distant, so all knowing, all powerful in the original Foundation stories, is just so different in the prequels.

Every single time I find myself moved to tears at the end of Forward the Foundation. And no matter what else people say about the quality of Asimov's writing, that always counts for a lot in my book. I did rather enjoy reading Foundation immediately after! As I have done in the past :). I suppose one could say that highlights various discrepancies here and there, but they always feel minor to me, in the grand sweep of history.

One thing I do have to say, I'd thought the beginning of Foundation was significantly more distant to the end of Forward than it actually is! Which makes sense I suppose. And then I started Foundation and Empire and hit a few roadblocks.

Firstly in the form of the arrival of this month's book club book, A Spy Among Friends. It's my second Ben Macintyre spy non-fic. And like the first, I did rather enjoy the book. I particularly like how the author weaves a coherent narrative through what could otherwise be a rather convoluted landscape. Naturally, liberties may be taken with the facts, but more often than not the reader is given enough room to reflect on what might actually have happened in a given situation.

The story overall seemed more about Nick Elliott than Kim Philby. The latter is of course the inescapable centre of the book, yet, Elliott seemed to me to be more the one the author wanted to explore. This may have been a matter of practicality, seeing how Philby spend the latter part of his life in Moscow, while Elliott remained in the corridors of MI6, and thus more accessible.

This feeling may well have been reinforced by the afterword by John le Carre in the copy I had. Fascinating, that - including as it did direct notes from conversations with Elliott mixed in with le Carre's observations. Overall though, the inescapable feeling I was left with was how inept capable human beings can become when blinded by their preconceptions and biases. The history of humanity in a nutshell in some ways. :/

Anyway, when I got back to Asimov, I seemed unable to get very far along. Having said that though, the original trilogy almost seems ideally read with random gaps. Maybe I'm only thinking that because I know that the book was put together after the fact, having originally been written as a series of short stories.

It's crocus time again!

And just like that, winter is over. I mean, if you go high enough up or far enough inland you'll still find snow. Although at this point you'd probably have to do both :/. But yeah, around us it's practically spring.. In a way I've made peace with it. Even decided to go walking instead of snowboarding in the slushy snow for what has become the annual work ski day. I mean, I've never really been the type to be too keen on snow activities out of season, and while a usual March should not be out of season for downhill, this year it certainly feels like it.

So it's probably a good thing that we're going to be in the UK for the Easter break this year :). No dashed expectations of wintry weather. The weather's actually supposed to be pretty similar, but I guess for England that's to be expected in spring, which is what the end of March is... And once we're back, I'm hoping the promised double digit temperatures are here to stay, maybe we can start cycling!

Otherwise the month seems to have sort of slipped by quite quickly! With that slightly unsettling feeling of not being quite sure what happened in the mean time. The running's something I've managed to keep up with, the change of season cold/sniffles/sore throat notwithstanding. And of course, reading!

The library finally delivered on the final three Murderbot books! So Prelude to Foundation got put on pause yet again while I finally got to read Fugitive Telemetry in what I think of as the right order! So the thing is, the first time I read the series, I was unaware of the fact that Network Effect and Fugitive Telemetry actually occur in reverse publication order! Why didn't they get published in order? I don't know, there's some weird stuff about the author wanting readers to meet certain characters in a certain order, but none of it makes any sense. Anyway, if you're reading them again, it most definitely doesn't make any sense to not read them in chronological order.

(For reference, a lot of people from the book club got really into the series after reading All Systems Red and all of them found it really helpful that I'd pointed out the problem with reading in publication order. Every single one that read it in publication order found ..Telemetry a lot less enjoyable and wished they'd listened to me, so there.)

This time around, I really enjoyed reading Fugitive Telemetry. It's a bit different from the preceding books, in that it all happens in "one place". Which does give it a bit of a different vibe in some ways, but given that I didn't read it sandwiched between what's basically a continuous story in Network Effect and System Collapse, I could just enjoy it for what it was, a nice little murder mystery. Murderbot style :D.

Another positive was that reading NE and SC back to back meant that I had a lot of the details from the first book really fresh in mind, which felt nice while reading the latter. I mean, the first four novellas basically read like a four part novel/space western. Then there's the murder mystery interlude at Preservation Station. And finally the Lost Colony drama.

In case you can't tell, I had a blast reading it all again :). I'm curious where Platform Decay is going to take things. I'm guessing (= hoping for) a multi novella/novel arc of the space adventures of ART and MB, but I'll trust Martha Wells to take the story to the right places :). (Even if it's not always in the right order :D.)

So then the book club book for this month arrived. One that I wasn't exactly looking forward to, but thought, well, there's been a number of books I've not expected to like, but did enjoy at least some aspects of, so why not try. Mistake. I mean, maybe the whole premise should have put me off anyway, but Missing Time just really felt like a big waste of time :/. It's generally a reasonable hint when not a single public library in all of Norway has a copy of a book. In this case the only copy was in the National library archive/depot ◔_◔. Oh, and in Norwegian. But you know, like I said, I figured I'd give it a go. And after a week and fifty odd pages, I gave up. (And discovered the relatively new addition to Goodreads.com, the Did Not Finish shelf :D.)

So, to try and break this down a bit - I've never really been that into the whole alien abduction and UFOs thing. And it seemed like the author knew it. Basically the book's written to a less than credulous audience, and the whole vibe is really tiring. There's all these attempts at dressing up what's essentially a series of inexplicable experiences as scientifically researched hypotheses. Which, sure, might have been a bit more interesting if the writing wasn't quite so incredibly dry and boring :/.

While I was toying with the idea of giving up on Budd Hopkins, and not quite ready to give up on Martha Wells until the arrival of Platform Decay, I found a copy of Witch King in the local library! Much more my speed! I mean, I'd been meaning to try and find one or other of her non-Murderbot series anyway, and this felt like as good a place to start as any.

It's, unsurprisingly, quite different from the world of Preservation and the Corporation Rim. Weirdly though, it feels a lot more genre-standard than Murderbot felt. Fortunately, I wasn't really looking for another Murderbot :). The interwoven worlds are kinda fun! As are some of the characters. There's almost too many characters though. Which is not something I'd usually say about a fantasy series. I suppose there's definitely a feeling of things being set up. So far it's been a fun read, but I think after this I'll definitely head back to Asimov :).

One random night when everything changes, you won't reply and we'll go back to strangers

I've actually been thinking about posting for a few days, but between one thing and another didn't quite get around to it. The thing on my mind for the last week or so has been Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. It's been the book club book for February, and I'm still not totally sure exactly how I feel about it :|.

To be entirely honest, I don't think the week or so since I finished reading the book has helped at all! If anything, the strong feelings I was left with as I put the book down have dissipated somewhat, and I'm left with a sense of vague contrasts. Sweeping passages of time versus intense moments. Deep exploration of feelings in some relationships versus others left barely half sketched.

One of the things that does stick with me though, is how central gaming is to the characters. They aren't just making games, they live with them. In more ways than one. As someone who's gamed off and on for the last three decades, it was nostalgic to revisit the late '90s and early 2000s as an era of dramatic changes in the world of video games. The evolution of technology allowing people of interact with games and each other in profoundly different ways. A change that promises to continue, of course.

But personally what I found resonating with me much more was how gaming is treated as a properly "grown up" thing. I think it may well just be the company I keep. I'm not surrounded by avid, or even that many casual, gamers. So the world around me is not screaming - yes, gaming's a perfectly normal and sensible part of life. It's not just about unplugging from the daily grind, not just about passing a bit of time. That gaming can actually be about doing something you positively enjoy rather than just something you do to avoid things you don't enjoy much... I'm not sure I know quite how to express what I mean, exactly.

Going back to the story itself (be warned, possible spoilers ahead), I did rather enjoy, even though felt occasionally confused by, the sometimes dramatic shifts of style between chapters. The ones that stand out most obviously are of course The NPC and Pioneers. The first I found particularly poignant, I mean, you know what's happening, and it's gruesome, but it plays out so poetically... The second was pretty obviously in-game, but there were definitely sections when I found myself second guessing a bit. The end of the chapter of course makes things amply obvious.

When it comes to the characters, Sam and Sadie seemed to oscillate wildly between completely relatable and almost absurd. Although as place holders for how we humans can be irrational, loving, cynical, selfish, etc., they did very well. On the other end there was Marx. I mean, of almost all the characters in the book, if there was one who existed almost exclusively to be a contrast to Sam and Sadie, it was Marx. I'm left feeling the poor guy got hard done by, like seriously!

The other somewhat odd thing about the book was that when I got into it, it was almost impossible to put down! But there were certain points when I did feel like I had to stop, and then found it almost as difficult to pick it up again... So much so that I ended up re-reading Murderbot 3 and 4 in those gaps. So yeah, in the end how much did I like it? In some ways a lot, and in others not so much. But I'm glad I read it :).

As for the rest of the month, it was pretty cold for the most part. Sometimes really really cold. And there was some snow, so we went out cross-country skiing a bit. Maybe not as much as we could have, but oh well :). In the mean time though, I've actually managed to start up with the running again! It's quite different running in -11 °C and snow than in +11 °C and dry :D.

There were also the Winter Olympics, where Norway did amazingly well, and I discovered that watching cross-country races is a lot more fun when you know more about what's going on :). Oh, and ice dance is a fascinating new addition to the list of things I find simultaneously awesome and terrifying :P.

Since then though, the temperatures have shot up and the snow is slowly disappearing. One almost wishes that it'll get properly warm so that the footpaths and roads don't turn to ice every morning and slush every evening. I guess we shall see!

Something different

The familiar thing about January this year is the temperature and snow. Particularly given the weather we had at the end of last year. The unusual thing was that we ended up spending two weeks of it in India :). And honestly, while it was only half the month, it rather overwhelms the other impressions from this last month :).

It was the first trip in three years, and it was really nice to visit! And the weather, while cold for local conditions, was rather more like a temperate summer week in Norway :D. So yeah, rather perfect! Having not lived full time in India for the best part of two decades though, there are certain things that take longer for me to adapt to. 

One thing is the noise of course. The crowds of people is another. The thing that is new is the level of particulates in the air. Well, new compared to when I was a kid at least, but something locals just have to put up with, which is not great for their respiratory health :/. Fortunately, for part of the visit we'd planned a getaway to the Dooars region in the northern part of West Bengal, nestled beneath the Eastern Himalayan foothills close to the Bhutan border.

I'd never been to that particular part of the country and it was beautiful! Not as close to the hills as my last trip to North Bengal and therefore not quite as wild. But the fact that the area is essentially a patchwork of nature reserves and tea gardens with settlements and roads in-between does make for a pretty amazing experience.

It may have been the time of year, but I was rather taken aback by the lack of water in the massively wide riverbeds. On a guided foray into the Buxa Tiger Reserve we were told that there are hardly any tigers around, mainly because the lack of large water bodies means their prey have moved on...

In between the relaxed days of visiting various sites, nice food and enjoying time with family, it was also nice to enjoy the cleaner air and the blue skies. (You can't really see the blue in the sky any more from Kolkata, even on a perfectly cloudless day :/.) Large parts of the travel between places was also done by train, which given the services now available, does make for a much more relaxed way of travel than by road :).

There was also plenty of time to relax and catch up with family without feeling run down from travelling constantly from one place to another. And of course, plenty of amazing home cooked meals :).

The week between the UK and India trips feels so long ago now :). I guess it was mostly just unpacking and repacking to be honest. Note to self: don't book long holidays too close to each other :P. And then this last week back has felt simultaneously relaxed and hectic. It's nice to finally be home for a little while without feeling like we're going to be heading off again. But catching up on work has been.. well, hectic.

The travel has also allowed for quite a lot of reading! The book club book for the month was an old favourite of mine, All Systems Red. And having enjoyed the books the first time, I ended up reading the first four novellas again :). I'm not sure there were many great revelations beyond the first read, except the confirmation that I just find the characters really fun to spend time with. One of the few series that I'd probably be happy to read again and again. Not least because they are such quick reads :).

Then I went back to Asimov. Robots and Empire was the only robot novel left, so I started on that first. Once again the feeling of a simple murder mystery was replaced with a wider intrigue. That didn't make it any less enjoyable of course. But I was left reflecting on how different the storytelling is between Robots and Murderbot.

Instead of moving straight onto Foundation, I decided to take the detour through the Galactic Empire novels. It's probably not so surprising, but I had almost no memory of the plots of the three novels. After the last Robot book, it was interesting to again be back in Asimov's writing from the '50s :). 

It was also interesting to see the gradual evolution of the Trantorian empire and the position (and cultural memory) of Earth over the course of the three episodes. Somehow though, I could help but feel that the overall tone of the Empire novels were rather grim...

It was also interesting to read on my Kindle again after a number of years. I'd just decided it was easier than carrying books along for the India trip :). Now that I'm back home though, it's back to book-books :D.

All the light you see is from the past

The last few weeks of this year have turned out to be rather busy and hectic. Happily, it's largely been in fun and interesting ways! Which is a bit of a departure from the more usual end of year craziness at work coupled with my dwindling ability to deal with the lack of daylight and generally being low on energy.

I should definitely plan more breaks in October/November going forward, and do it early enough so that it doesn't end up feeling like so much of a chore that we end up not doing anything at all :|. Speaking of which, the end of November ended up rather packed with travel! 

First, there was a short trip to Zurich for work. Being later in the year compared to last time meant that it was proper winter rather than late autumn. One big difference? Christmas markets! There seemed to be loads of them, one could barely walk five minutes in any direction before finding one :). 

The schedule made things rather packed, yet with enough time to appreciate the city a little. I left feeling like I was a bit less run down compared to the trip last year. It also helped to have a later flight back, gave me a certain space to decompress. Which came in handy, because the very next day we were off to Amsterdam!

I've travelled through Amsterdam many times in the past, not least because of family living in the south of the Netherlands, but had never actualy stayed there before. This was a weekend trip to catch up with some friends and explore the city :).

It ended up being a largely relaxed meander around parts of the city center, with occasional rest stops at a variety of fun eateries :). We tried, amonst other things, freshly made stroopwaffels from a street market, the "best ribs in Amsterdam", a very yummy Dutch-Indonesian place and Thanksgiving dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe :D.

We also enjoyed a lovely evening canal boat trip which doubled up as a tour of the annual light festival. The various installations were fun, mesmerizing, intriguing and confusing, sometimes many of those things at the same time! The audio commentary track was often interesting in its own right, but only occassionally illuminating the actual subjects :).

So all of that was even before we got into December! Which was also a rather weird month when it comes to the weather. Not only did no snow arrive, it was too warm for any snow to have stayed had it arrived! For the first time in my time living in Norway the ground wasn't rock hard a week before Christmas! On the upside, that meant we could continue to go running without worrying about the conditions underfoot :).

Soon enough though, it was time to wrap things up for the year. The work Christmas party served as something of a closing off point for most. Since then, we've been in the UK, with some very sunny but bitterly windy weather to accompany us during the festive period! Maybe there's even been a bit of snow back in Asker!

In between the fun family time, awesome food and the walks to recover from said food, I've also had some time to get through the few hundred remaining pages of The Covenant of Water.

I'd say that my feelings about the book are not very straight forward to articulate. Or at least that I'm not finding it easy to articulate them. On the one hand, the writing is beautifully evocative of both characters and the environment. There is  such careful focus on the characters' feelings, without resorting to the coarse artifice of each character expounding in detail about their feelings.

Yet, that same feature of the writing means I've found it very difficult to feel detached from the lives unfolding on the pages. This I suppose is what authors want, so as far as that goes, excellent. The difficulty I've had with Covenant I think, is that the story seems to progress through the gradual build up towards a series of catastrophes. And these genuinely are catastrophes for various protagonists in various ways. I've found it necessary to stop and absorb these impacts, so to speak. Being unable to quickly move on.

Which is not necessarily a bad thing. Having generally given it some days, in one case over a week, I've had the opportunity to then appreciate how the story does eventually move on, with compassion. Characters find peace, redemption, closure, often merely finding their various ways towards acceptance.

For me, what stopped a frequently distressing story from becoming depressing was the compassion with which the distress was accepted, or otherwise dealt with. And I found Big Ammachi to be the anchor for that through much of the story. 

There can hardly be space for two such deeply explored characters in the same story, so I can understand why Digby is very much in the background for most of the time. And to be fair, I'm not sure I wanted to see much more of him. In a large caste of flawed characters who often seem to transcend their flaws one way or another, Digby seemed a bit of an outlier, although quite how I can't say.

A reader cannot help but bring their own context, biases and prejudices into the reading of a story of course. Of all the thoughts and feelings evoked by reading the work of another, how does one know which parts are one's own and which are not? Maybe in the end it doesn't matter.

One last thing about the book - the passage of time, like that of water, happens regardless of whether one wants it to or not. And at a rate that is not always anticipated. Yet, the only point where the narrative flow is broken is of course quite inescapable, and rather natural. Thinking back on my musings about the narrative style in my previous post, I'd say there is little need for scepticism. The omniscent voice is benevolent, never deceiving, yet sometimes concealing. Not always for the worse.

I think, rather than diving into the specifics of the highs and lows of the last orbit around the sun, I'll leave it with a thought borrowed from one of the artworks of light in Amsterdam. Everything we see is a version if it from the past. Sometimes recent, sometimes less so. It is similar with stories. But our pasts inform our futures, in simple and not so simple ways.

Here's to facing the future with hope, compassion and acceptance. Happy new year!