May's often been an exciting month for me since I moved to Norway :). The explosion of life that is the compressed spring (ha, pun not intended) never ceases to amaze me, having grown up to an altogether different rhythm. It's also never quite the same from year to year.
This time around, for example, the late snow had already come and gone during the unseasonably warm April, and we experienced an early summer. It was fairly warm, particularly on the festive weekends, and when it started feeling like it was being a bit too warm and dry, some thunderstorms arrived. All very civilized.
So, those festive weekends then! First off there was the Holmenkollstafetten weekend! And I'm very pleased to say that our participation was a resounding success! Not because we were competitive or anything, but because everyone seemed to enjoy themselves :). Which, frankly is more important. So much so that we're already signed up for next year!! \:D/
Then of course, there was the proper festive weekend with the Norwegian National Day! We ended up joining our very local parade for the first time :). The weather was gorgeous, people seemed in great spirits and this continued at the barbeque hosted by some friends.
Given the weather, the cycling continued. I have to say though, it did take me a few days to recover from running two of the roughest stages of the relay :/. But since then, the weekly cycle to work has begun, and the occasional trips here and there.
It's nice to be able to watch the spring giving way to summer. The leaves no longer quite the fresh, crisp green of spring, but spreading more thickly. The spring flowers past their prime in the sunnier parts, but still in bloom in the shadows. Summer flowers beginning their march across the hillsides.
The reading's been continuing as well! The remainder of This Much is True did more or less live up to my experience up to the point of my last post. I suppose one of the things that was different towards the end was the more serious nature of the topics of discussion. I suppose at eighty, it's rather inevitable that a memoire would be full of friends, family and acquaintances who have passed away.
There was also her impassioned plea for sanity in the middle east. I had to remind myself that this book was written during the Covid pandemic, long before 7th October 2023. But clearly, for those who knew, a catastrophic flashpoint was nearer than it seemed. And yes, the book club discussion did indeed live up to my expectations, with deep nuanced reflections from all around.
Once I was done with that though, I moved on to Assassin's Apprentice. As I'd mentioned, I'd heard of Robin Hobb, but never read anything by her before this. In many ways, it was quite a fun and engaging read! The magic was subtle, the characters generally enjoyable to follow. But by the end of it I was left wondering, am I interested enough to find the rest of the fifteen (yes, fifteen) books that form the story of this world? I'm not sure. Maybe, but I'm not rushing into it :).
The awesome thing though? By the time I'd finished A's A, Murderbot was back!! I got books four to six from the library and proceeded to devour them :D. The fourth novella, Exit Strategy was a blast! I was so glad to just be back in the company of SecUnit. But equally, having had some distance from the previous books, I could somehow appreciate this one more.
I think one of the things I really appreciate about this series is how, despite so much of this being all out action, it's the emotional challenges and triumphs of this introverted construct that really makes you fall in love with it!
And then of course Network Effect completely takes off :). In a good way. This is the first full length Murderbot novel. And the space is noticeable. Things are given a bit more time. You get to spend more time with some more characters, and that makes for an even more compelling story.
It was only when I was most of the way through Fugitive Telemetry that I realized that the ordering of the books is wrong. So, if anyone's going to read these books, and frankly, everyone who likes fantasy and/or sci-fi should, do it in this order: read all the novellas first, and only then move on to the full length novels. Meaning, read Fugitive Telemetry before, not after, Network Effect. That's actually the chronological order of events, and would have made my reading of Telemetry a lot more enjoyable I think!
Anyway, things being what they are, I was left waiting for the last book for a few weeks, so after haunting the library for a bit, I decided to try The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu. Him that translated the first and third books of the completely bonkers Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. Well, I'm glad I picked the short story collection rather than the first novel of an epic series...
I guess short stories do have that character, a lot of emotion packed into a tiny space, exploding into the reader's mind with time to blossom into so many wonderings. Longer stories have more story to keep the wondering at bay, I find :). Which is not to say the writing isn't great. It's probably just not what I'm after at the moment.
Luckily, yesterday I got from the library. I find myself slightly conflicted. On the one hand it will be awesome to get to the end of the story. But on the other hand, I think I'll genuinely miss Murderbot. It's not The Malazan Book of the Fallen, or Culture. For one thing it's a tiny fraction of the page count. Missing the grand span of scope. But for all that, there's something about these characters, this one character in particular, that just feels unforgettable!
I really need to find another series to get into after :). Maybe I'll ask people at lunch!
