It's an odd time to be living in. Earlier this month Norway practically ended all Covid-19 related restrictions. Especially if one is vaccinated. No, life didn't switch back to the normal from two years ago, but there was definitely a sense of breathing a bit easier. But now this.
I'm not exactly a politically active person, and by no means knowledgeable in any of the historical context that is being bandied about as to the causes. Regardless, I'm deeply unsettled by the events of this last week in Ukraine. Actually it's more than that. Somehow I almost feel like parts of me have become paralysed. Not an hour goes by without my thoughts turning to the war. And of course there's the sense of utter helplessness.
We can of course pray, and I do. For sense to prevail. For solidarity and love to overcome anger and hate. For people to come to their senses? But what do I know about what makes sense. That's one of the worst things about the last four days. There seem to be no easy answers, or even right answers. I guess as they say, in war everyone loses.
(And then there is another part of me that points an accusing finger to say, why is it that I feel so much more strongly about this than the wars that have gone on for decades in the middle east? Purely because I know friends whose families are in Ukraine? Or maybe because it's so much closer to home? I don't know.)
In situations like this I feel the happenings in one part of my mind colours pretty much everything else. Keeping that in mind, my current feelings about the last few books I've been reading should be taken maybe with a pinch of salt.
I've been going to the local library a lot. They do seem to have a pretty decent collection of fantasy, sci-fi as well as graphic novels. I found a couple of Frank Miller Batmans! The Dark Knight Returns and The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Now, the only other Frank Miller stuff I've ever read is the Sin City series. So the hard hitting, gritty, tough as nails story-telling did not come as a surprise. But I feel like the sense of foreboding and being trapped was amped up even more. Especially in the latter.
On a happier note, I was so pleased with Project Hail Mary that when I found another book by the author in the library I snapped it up. Fortunately, Artemis did not let me down :). It was maybe a bit less awe inspiring compared to the previous book, but thoroughly enjoyable. I must say, while there was a distinctly recognizable writing style across both books, the protagonists were thoroughly different characters and as such not at all one-dimensional like they can be sometimes.
No such luck with Armada. So, I remember being distinctly underwhelmed by Ready Player Two, but still, when I found Ernest Cline's non-Ready Player.. offering in the library, I figured, let's give it another shot. To be fair, it's probably better than RP2, but that's not saying too much :). I guess I was just not particularly sold on the underlying premise. And the tone of the narrative was too similar to the previous books to make this a clean break from all the negatives of the past. I now wonder if I somehow enjoyed Ready Player One because, a) that was the first time I'd ready a book by Cline and/or b) I'd actually really liked the film!
Anyhow, I then decided to go for something entirely new (to me anyway) and when I found the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy on the sci-fi shelves, I thought, why not? So now, a third or so of the way into The Three-Body Problem, I'm wondering if I really can get through it all. It's a dark book. As in, not Frank Miller dark, just, disturbing around its edges and unfriendly. But at the same time really intriguingly enticing. There are hints of great things, of mystery, haunting memories that I'm having a hard time telling if they are past present or future.
Or is this all purely a function of my current state of mind? Who knows.
