On Special Circumstances

Yes, as expected, July was generally more chilled out workwise. No, I didn't end up doing much cycling :). With the exception of a nice 45k ride today that is. Which was great! And left me hoping for some more cycling in August... I guess we shall see how that goes.

It is a bit disconcerting (although in a good way...  what's a feel good version of disconcerting?) to think that at the beginning of the month we ended up taking a detour through Helsinki to get back to Oslo from London! Yup, the flight chaos in Europe did catch us even though we weren't really travelling all that much.

But let's rewind a bit. The trip to the UK was actually really great! Seeing some of the more distant members of family after years. Some for the first time! (This was aided somewhat by a proliferation of Covid babies :D.) Despite the short duration of the trip we did manage to stay with all the close family for at least a night.

But when we got back to Heathrow to catch our flight back on Saturday, having checked in successfully and all that, we found "flight cancelled" notices on the boards. Long story short, the quickest way back to Oslo seemed to be Finnair flights via Helsinki :). I'd never been to Finland, so we decided to make the best of it and try and get as much time as possible in a new country!

We ended up walking around Helsinki in amazingly sunny weather for the best part of 3 and a half hours! And what a lovely place it turned out to be :). There was a distinctive feel to it that was quite different in some ways from Oslo. The architecture, for instance. The older stuff was much more grand and fancy feeling. The newer buildings, however, had a recognizable swish yet simple vibe. So yes, there were a lot of familiar bits too.

Not sure I had a particular favourite bit, but the streets of the older part of town around the cathedral with their profusion of interesting facades and almost hidden green parks were a lot of fun! One thing that was quite a surprise to me though (ignorant as I was of Finland in general) was the amount of Swedish language used, particularly in signage and announcements!

Since then it's mainly been a rather quiet month of enjoying the sunny days with walks in and around town. Enjoying the quiet part of the year :). Or should I say the even quieter part of the year. I guess I've become quite Norwegian if the regular bits of life here feels hectic and busy :).

There's also been some reading happening. Since getting back to The Culture, I've finished reading The Player of Games, Use of Weapons and The State of the Art. And could there have been more different reading experiences offered up by the same author? Not sure. And I consider this a very good thing.

The last first. The State of the Art is a collection of short stories and one novella. I think I rather prefer the novels. The short stories were intriguing, but left too many bits hanging. Which I suppose is the thing with good short stories, yet, really good short stories do allow you to gain some closure within the space of a few short pages. (I'm thinking Gaiman, unsurprisingly.) The novella provided more space for the ideas to grow a bit, but there was still something missing, I felt.

There was no such issue with The Player of Games! In some ways this was quite a straightforward story, without meaning to say that that was any less interesting. Somehow it felt to me like a bit more of a classic sci-fi story. It's possible that by this point I'd become a bit more accustomed to the Culture universe, so to speak.

Use of Weapons on the other hand, with it's interleaved storylines flowing alternately backwards and forward, was a fascinating read. I thoroughly enjoyed getting immersed in the many histories of Cheradenine Zakalwe. And then the end happened. There's a part of me that's still trying to come to terms with that ending. I still thoroughly enjoyed the book, but the twist was quite something.

So, it is with some excitement that I've now started off with Excession. I wonder what this one will be like :). A friend recently mentioned that Iain M Banks was one of, if not the, best science fiction writer of the last fifty years. I am beginning to see why :).

Midsummer reflections

Another month gone, and we're nearly halfway through the year already!! Crazy how this year seems to be disappearing. (Or do I feel like that every year? Hmm.) One contributing factor is the travelling that's ramped up again after the Covid enforced hiatus. Most of this month though, has been spent mainly at home.

Looking back now, the drive back from Trondheim at the beginning of the month feels like a distant memory. Since then, work's been busy, but cycling has begun somewhat more in earnest :). We've had nice weather for it, generally, and made reasonable use of it! 

So far it's mainly been the regular haunts, but there's been the odd foray further afield along stretches I haven't cycled in a couple of years or more. It's funny how some things remain clear in my memory and others fade. For example, the steep climb up from Nærsnes to Slemmestad is probably something I've only done a handful of times, but remains vivid in it's misery :P.

I feel like I'm back to reading a bit more again. Finished with Consider Phlebas with a distinct sense that here I've found something really interesting here!! The books definitely do have a sense of being self-contained. Each a novel on it's own, but together, building on the legend of Culture. I'm now about halfway through the second book, The Player of Games, so this sense is less imagination and more observation :).

The couple of things that I'm particularly fascinated with (trying not to give away too many details here) are the timeline and the extent of volume in space the series seems to be dealing with. On the first point, there are definitely aliens, but the majority of the protagonists are humanoid. Whenever I've come across such a setup before, it almost invariably means that said humanoids have in some way or other descended from humans from Earth (aka us). 

Contrary to said assumption, just by way of some comments in passing, one realizes that the history of Culture is proceeding as we speak! And our solar system just happens to be some backwater neighbourhood where the locals have yet to crack faster-than-light travel and is just an offshoot of general humanoid development ongoing in the rest of the Galaxy.

Speaking of. Despite the clearly fantastic hyper spatial travel capabilities of the Culture, they only really speak of the one Galaxy! Ok, so TPoG is already reaching out into the nearby clouds, but that's still a far cry from say The Remembrance of Earth's Past -like idea that intergalactic travel as merely a natural extension of interplanetary travel.

As I said, interesting. And there are other ways in which Iain M Banks seems to be the purveyor of a very different brand of space based sci-fi than what I've come across before. Which I'm thankful for, and enjoying greatly :).

In between the two though, I finished reading this month's book club book, The Sympathizer. I'm not sure I liked it very much. To be fair, there's a lot that was new to me, historical context-wise, which I suppose I appreciated. But there was a sense of  jumpiness. Restless angst. Frustrated sarcasm. Maybe that was intended, given overall how the story went, but it left me rather unable to empathize with any of the characters. This I suppose left the overall reading experience feeling a bit flat.

Then, on a brief foray to the library, I decided to somewhat randomly pick up a couple of graphic novels. The first, Blade of the Immortal (Omnibus vol1), was immensely fun! It's been a long time since I've come across anything like it. But manga, especially samurai stuff, seems to be quite popular among the local youth these days, hence the volume's in the library I suppose. I don't think I'm going to go find any more volumes, but I'm very happy I read this one.

Loki: Mistress of Mischief on the other hand was less fun. I guess it was just a bit too straight and simple in some ways. Straczynski, while perfectly good, doesn't really operate in the same rarified atmosphere as say Gaiman or Miller. Shame. So after that I figured I was done with further distractions and went happily back to Culture :).

The end of the month brings with it another short trip over to the UK, for yet another long overdue family get together. Then hopefully July will be another nice and cycling-filled month in Norway. One I hope is a bit less stressful workwise, given most people will be on holiday, but who knows. At least some of the local trains are still running through the summer this year :).

Of dandelions and reunions

I have a headache. Mainly because the weather is totally awesome :|. It seems that I've inherited my mum's ability to sprout a headache when spending significant amounts of time in hot sunshine without some kind of head covering. Oh well. One gets older... On the upside, Trondheim in nice summer weather is really pretty!

But let's back up a bit. May has been a month of a fair bit of travelling for me. First there was a work trip to the UK. (Yes! Those have started happening again. And while I'm happy that Covid is slowly relinquishing its grasp on the world, I still feel travel is more fun when not for work.) Heathrow was a bit of a nightmare with delays and such, but otherwise it was reasonable, as far as these things go.

The week after, when we were visiting the in-laws for a weekend of gathering and celebration, the Heathrow experience was curiously smooth! (Maybe they figured how I feel about leisure travel vs work travel!!) The weather was great! We met loads of people we hadn't met in some years. Ate loads of great food :). There was even time to actually relax and enjoy some quiet time with family.

Then we were back home for a week, and off again on a long awaited visit to mid-Norway, visiting friends! Rørvik is one of those places that when you mention to people you're going there (assuming they know of its existence) are likely to respond with why?! Of course, seeing good friends we hadn't seen in ages is probably a good enough reason to go anywhere, but the place was really nice too!

Norway is a very long country though, so driving halfway up it was a task best split in two. We stopped for a night in Trondheim on the way there for a preview. Even managing to meet up with some friends who were headed to Rørvik using other modes of transport! The next day we met yet other friends who were headed the same way on the ferry on route (although we promptly lost them as soon as we were off the ferry).

Finally, when we did make it there, it was to much excitement and joy :). I was particularly excited that the kids were as excited to see us as we were to see them. Three years is a long time when you're 12 :). The weather, while indulgent, wasn't exactly out and out glorious. But it still allowed us enough opportunities to explore a bit. Most of the time though was spent catching up!

So now we are back in Trondheim again. Norway's capital back in the Viking times, it's well known today for the largest technical university in Norway. Which means that a majority of Norwegians I know have spent some time up here :). We'd long heard about its awesome restaurants and great vibes, so it seemed like a good idea to spend two nights instead of one before heading back.

The weather, as I mentioned at the top of the post, has been exceptionally gorgeous. And we've spent it exploring, dozing on random bits of grass and trying out some of the famed food. So far, it has all been really great! (If only I'd remembered my hat.)

In between all the travelling, we finally managed to go out on the bikes. But then I promptly had a puncture courtesy of a particularly sharp piece of grit :(. Oh well, hopefully some more summer cycling will happen in June, July and beyond.

On the book front it feels like it's been a while since I've read anything. But that's probably because there hasn't been time to read lately :). Dune Messiah didn't really change my mind in the last few hundred pages. Although, I had this distinct feeling that had there not been the same sense of foreboding throughout the whole book, I may actually have enjoyed it a bit?! I guess we'll never know.

I figured it was time to take a brief break from sci-fi and read the book club book. Which this month was Olga. I enjoyed it quite a lot actually! There were many layers to the book, I felt. Once again, as a book translated into English, it's hard to say how much of the original feel to the story has carried over. Overall though, both the style and the story seemed really interesting.

Since then I've jumped back into the world of sci-fi. This time, in the form of the strange and wonderful world of Culture. As a series, it seems more Asimov than Malazan, in that, subsequent books don't happen immediately one after another, and often with a different cast of characters. I'm nearly done with the first book, and Consider Phlebas is an excellent advertisement for the late Iain M Banks. Courtesy of a friend, I do have the rest of the nine volumes sitting behind the sofa, just waiting to be read :D.

Spice, dreams and fragments in blue

Another month seems to have disappeared at light speed. This time, the most significant thing for me personally was finally catching Covid-19 :(. Got to experience most of the milder symptoms for a couple of days. But thankfully beyond a bit of residual tiredness that has been about it since.

Before that though, there was the very nice Easter week with lovely weather and visitors! As usual for much of the week Norway more or less shut down, so we spent a lot of time outdoors. The ice cover that has since completely disappeared from the lakes was still very much in evidence. But flowers and green leaves were starting to make their way through.

Now, usually I hold the view that the plant life here waits for the National Day (17th May) before exploding forth, but this year spring seems to have come early! There's noticeable amounts of green more or less everywhere you look and the crocuses have come and gone, to be replaced by a variety of colourful flowers everywhere. The one downside I suppose is that it's been rather dry. Maybe there'll be some welcome rain soon.

Speaking of dry, finally got around to Dune! And what an experience that was :). But first I did finish Rejoice. To be honest, the latter half of the book didn't do much to change my initial impression. Which is not that I disliked it exactly... It just left much to be desired as a sci-fi book.

I suppose lately we've read enough books at book club that are of the thought-provoking and sometimes philosophical nature, so this one fits right in with that. I had just hoped that there would be more character. As in character building, interesting protagonists, interplay of individuals and relationships. All that things that made The Book of the Fallen such a treat. I guess this was just a totally different book.

The feeling remains that this was more or less a vehicle for Erikson to just get his opinions on politics, the environment, morality to some extent and a variety of other topics across. I mean, don't get me wrong, the premise of the story itself is kinda interesting. But there's not that much story going on, and whatever there is, is just smothered in the rest of it.

Moving on to Dune, then, was positively mesmerizing! (I have to mention here, that I'm already a third of the way into the second book, Dune Messiah, and that may somewhat colour my opinion of the first book. I will, however, try to recapture the actual feeling of awe and amazement that accompanied my reading Dune itself!)

It's been interesting how the rather diverse books I've been reading lately nonetheless have threads connecting them. There was the pure exploration of space and its impact on the human being that tied in the Weir books to The Remembrance... series. Then the more social and cultural themes that connected Remembrance... to Rejoice. And finally themes of ecological balance, interdependence and in some cases chaos that thread together Rejoice and Dune. Or maybe it's just that in reading one after the next my mind builds these connections.

Frank Herbert, however, takes the reader on a very interesting journey in the way the story unfolds. There's almost a sense of detached wonder as the perspectives shift swiftly from one character to another. I've never read anything quite like this before. You get to feel like you're in each character's head as the story unfolds, and yet Herbert manages to keep secrets, surprises, twists if the plot!

I will, I think, forever wonder if the book would have been a very different experience had I not seen the film before. (This being the new 2021 film.) I suppose the answer must be yes, but I'll never know quite what sort of a different experience it might have been. For anyone reading this who still has a choice, my unequivocal advice would be to read the book first :).

It's not that the film isn't good. It's just that the way the story unfolds in the book is so unique, there's no way any film can really do justice to it. Having seen the visual treatment in the film though, and knowing some of the facts, that colours how you read the book. To be sure, things in the film don't happen quite like they do in the book, so there's plenty of room for discovery.

The same thing is true of the way very early in the book (and this happens in Dune Messiah as well), the reader is pretty much given a blueprint of how the story is going to unfold. Luckily, that does not stop things from being interesting still! After all, there's things none of the characters know :).

I feel as though Dune is a book I will happily re-read. There seem to be aspects of the world, the characters, the story itself that I haven't yet fully grasped. There is more to explore, savour. Can't say I can say the same about Dune Messiah. But I think I'll actually finish it before I say more about that :).

We're now moving into the part of the year where traditionally travel dominates the agenda. After a couple of years of everything being turned on its head, some level of normalcy seems to be creeping back. A few long overdue visits are planned. We shall see how it all goes down.

And all the while we continue to pray for Ukraine.