The dimming of light

After a rather surprisingly warm early November things seem to have gone back to normal. Well, kinda. The temperature dropped below zero, finally killing the plants that had been rather confused up until that point, even sending out some more flowers wondering if spring was arriving really early I suppose. Then came some snow!

That didn't last long however, as the temperature's gone back into the reds (i.e. above 0 degrees C) and the precipitation turned first to sleet and eventually to plain old rain :(. So most of that early snow's now been washed away. And that's taken with it the sense of brightness that snow cover seems to bring to the otherwise dark and miserable beginning of winter.

To add to the general sense of misery, after a couple of years of socially isolated winters, this year the early winter colds, sniffles, fevers and flus seem to be back with a vengeance. The Covid prevention habits are probably coming in handy though, as people seem to be getting things from their school-aged kids or public transport but then not necessarily passing it around too much :).

So yeah, it's been a great November so far :P. To be honest, I've hardly noticed its passing as I've been somewhat buried in work. The only travel further afield than Oslo coming from a one day work trip to Stockholm. My first visit there, and all I managed to see was mainly the insides of meeting rooms and the ever present water from taxis. To be fair, the weather wasn't exactly inviting either. Maybe another time I'll get to see more :).

Reading's been a bit slow as well. I did manage to finish Matter. Definitely the longest Culture book so far. And now that I'm done with it, not sure what to make of it to be completely honest. There were loads of bits I really liked. The ending left me feeling quite sad though. I was hoping Djan would make it through.

I think the main feeling I'm left with is a sense of being left hanging. The abruptness of the ending (yes, after nearly 600 pages, it still felt abrupt) leaving me oddly frustrated. I keep getting reminded of Phlebas in that sense. Although that book had a much better sense of conclusion and closure thanks to the epilogue.

I wonder what the last two Culture books have in store :). But instead of finding out, I decided to read next month's book club book, Lessons in Chemistry. And it's been quite the journey! I'm more than three quarters of the way through, so there's a lot of space for twists and turns still, but so far I've enjoyed reading it!

Which is not to say it's a "fun" book. There are definitely bits that make me laugh out loud. But many others that make me mad, leave me shocked, frustrated or just sad. And I think that's exactly what the author is going for. One of the more chilling aspects of the book is how even though it's set in the 1950s and '60s, it actually came out earlier this year, and the issues of sexism and gender based discrimination in workplaces is still so rife, making this a completely relevant book for this day and age.

Looking forward though, it's finally my turn to suggest books again! And instead of just being lazy and dredging up things from my to-read list, I went hunting through the fantasy section of our local library! I'm leaning more and more on the library these days actually. The last several book club books I've managed to find in the local one, and those that weren't available here, could be ordered free of charge from some public library or other further afield! Long may it continue :).

PS. Decided not to watch any World Cup matches this time around. This is actually much less of a sacrifice than it may sound. I'm not sure if I'm taking a stand specifically. Or if I am, what that stand is for or against precisely. But there we have it. I am checking the scores off and on though, and was happy to see that Messi got Argentina one step away from the brink yesterday.

Of long awaited conversations and the new amidst the old

It's sunny today! This is newsworthy because for the last week or two it has been anything but :|. Rain, mist, and fog have been taking turns, and on occasion joining forces, to make the world in general somewhat miserable looking. But as I say, today it's sunny, and we'll hopefully go out and make some use of it :).

In the mean time though, life's been generally ongoing in fits and starts. One of the constants has been the reading, so let's start there. Having finished with Look to Windward, and having thoroughly enjoyed it, I thought I'll just dive into Matter right after. However, for some reason I'm still not entirely sure of, I couldn't really get into it straightaway.

When I gave it some thought, it occurred to me that the Culture series could actually be considered in a way to be a trilogy of trilogies. If you put aside The State of the Art seeing how it's not actually a novel, then the first three, next three and last three novels have been written (or at least published) somewhat close together, but with a greater gap between each group. Does this do something to the tone of the books in some way? 

I do feel like I read Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games and Use of Weapons rather close together, and though the books were completely their own stories, there was a sense of crescendo, a building up of tension, as if Banks was shifting through the gears a bit. 

I had something of a similar feeling with the next three novels. There was something of a gap between my reading of Use of Weapons (partly just to recover from the end of that book and partly to catch up on the book club readings) and Excession. But then I read Excession, Inversions and Look to Windward in quick succession. And again, I definitely felt this sense of build up.

In each case, the third book in the sequence has been my favourite. The narrative has been more layered, the protagonist(s) much more shaded in grey, the conclusion emotionally charged. Which is not to say the other books didn't have those elements, just maybe not in the same way.

Anyhow, I did end up really enjoying how Look to Windward played out in the end. It wasn't the sort of shock to the system the ending of Use of Weapons was, but felt powerful nonetheless, especially the epilogue :). Banks does have an amazing way of putting things in perspective.

Then, as I mentioned, I couldn't really get into Matter, possibly partly just because I needed to give myself a bit more time to think about ..Windward. Fortunately, there were more book club books to read :). This month's book was actually one I'd been looking forward to! The latest (although since then there's another one been released I think, anyway) in the Jackson Lamb series, this time rather obviously called Slough House :).

Anyone familiar with my history with the series would be pretty surprised, I think, to read that I genuinely enjoyed this book! Partly this could have been the setting, I read mostly on the trip the US, either on planes, or in between happenings with the family in New York or Asheville (more on which later). Reading it in bits and pieces meant I could actually enjoy how Herron writes! I have a feeling I'd never really paid much attention to that before.

I have to say, of course, that the ending wasn't much fun for me. However, (and here I must warn you, some spoilers follow) given the ambiguity, and the previously telegraphed reappearance of Sid, I'm more at ease with River's situation this time around rather than a quarter of the way through Spook Street when it seemed like the OB had shot him in the face! Now I can look forward to reading the next book :).

And then, once we were back from the trip, the next book club book which I'd ordered from the Library was waiting to be picked up, so I thought maybe it'll be fun to read The Beekeeper of Aleppo sooner rather than later. Not wholly unexpectedly, this turned out to be a book I'd probably not have read had it not been for the book club. 

Regardless, I'm glad I did, because it speaks compassionately yet unflinchingly about the ongoing horrors of war, displacement and separation. Something that is otherwise altogether too easy to just hide from (in my privileged position of not being in one of those warzones, of course).

The Syrian refugee crisis is not over, but here in Northern Europe it's been rather buried by the war in Ukraine. Unsurprisingly and somewhat understandably. Regardless, it felt timely to be reminded of the ongoing issues in other parts of the world. But even beyond that, the story of Nuri and Afra itself was worth experiencing. Having finished reading it, I now feel myself gravitating back to the world of the Culture, so Matter will probably be my companion for the next few weeks :).

The post for this month, however, would be in no way complete without mention of the much awaited and anticipated trip to the US for a long delayed reunion with some of my family there as well as some visiting from India! And what an amazing trip it turned out to be!! :) For one thing, all the travels - the flights to and from New York as well as the long drives from New York to Asheville and back, worked out like a charm. (With the one exception of the hour spent trying to get through Lincoln Tunnel from New Jersey, but that was really nothing in the grand scheme of things :D.)

We spent a lovely day in Manhattan, lazily exploring bits of the Upper East Side, Central Park and a brief tour into Midtown. The weather was amazing, some of the locations familiar from previous visits. But the biggest source of enjoyment was just being able to spend time with family again, not through chats and emails, or even through screens on video calls, but finally in person :). The last day of the trip was spent similarly in NYC, with some added catching up with friends we hadn't met in five years!

The week in between though, was utter bliss! The familiar long drives to and from Asheville served as an interesting counterpoint to the days in Asheville spent relaxing, walking, chatting, birding, catching up, cooking, eating, laughing and just generally enjoying being together :). Even got to catch one of my mum's concerts live for the first time in ages! And celebrated my aunt's birthday in style :).

The weather all through served us very well too! And for the first time in my many years of visiting Asheville, the autumn colours were on full and gorgeous display! In fact as we headed south, there seemed to be more colour than in the north east. Then through the week we were there the trees changed in front of our eyes from the occasional reds, oranges and yellows amidst the green to progressively more fiery riotous colours :). It was a fun time.

The fact that we had a week meant that things didn't need to get too hectic :). There were quiet times to take it all in. I suppose it can be easy enough to cruise along the path of one's own life. Stay (or grow) insulated from the other lives being lived all around us. There's good reasons for it, I'm one of those that does find social interactions beyond a point somewhat burdensome. But being able to share life does have the possibility to bring so much joy!

Well, it's been something of a travel filled summer-autumn this year. Especially after the enforced seclusion of the last couple of years. But now it's likely to be a bit more of a settled couple of months till Christmas. Traditionally not the most fun time to be living in Norway, what with the darkness creeping over everything and the loss of colour from the world around. But I feel the memories of the fun trips to Greece, Belgium and the US have fortified me somewhat :).

Doesn't stop me from already looking forward to the planned trip to the UK for Christmas though :D.

Obligatory Virginia interstate signage photo :).

Of changing colours and Flemish ale

It's definitely autumn now. I mean, it's not been summer here for probably more than a month, but now there's not even the faintest chance of pretending :). The colours are changing. Pretty slowly I have to say, for Norway. But the leaves are still mostly on the branches. Which is extra surprising given how wet and windy it's been lately.

Another birthday came and went. A reminder of time passing, life being lived. The world around us changing as it rotates and revolves and does all sorts of other things we don't notice, and us changing with it. Somehow I've ended up leaning towards the calendar year as a more natural way of keeping track, rather than my birthday. I suppose in many ways 1st January is more of a coincidence than my actual birthday right? Only insofar as it concerns my life that is. But there you have it.

The travelling has been ongoing in the mean time. This month it was Belgium! Yet another country I'd never actually been to before, and now I have! And it definitely did not disappoint!

We were in Mechelen for a long weekend, tagging along at a conference. Lots of interesting conversations, seminars, discussions. Even some spilt beer (not my fault!). But the town (city?) itself was really awesome too!

There was a certain amount of rain, but mostly not when we were out and about taking in the sights! Which was very convenient! Situated between Brussels and Antwerp it's squarely in Flanders, the Dutch (or Flemish) speaking part of Belgium. There's a river that flows through it, but does so in such a civilized sort of way that I kept thinking this has got to be a canal! There was even a floating walkway along a significant length of it which we very much enjoyed :).

The thing of particular interest was the imposing tower of St Rumbold's cathedral! At close to 100m tall, it's easily the tallest thing for a long way around. (It helps that Belgium is also spectacularly flat!) In keeping with our luck with the weather, the sun was out and the skies were clear the afternoon we decided to climb up to the top!

As we walked up to the skywalk at the top, the views through the tower windows were fantastic, but so were the museum-like presentations of the various layers of bells and their associated paraphernalia inside! There were even several times when the bells rang while we were in the tower itself! (Although I later realized that one of those times was just some speakers :|.)

I suppose we weren't there in peak tourist season, but it was definitely nice to even have the skywalk all to ourselves for a bit of time. And the weather to be able to enjoy the vistas stretching out on all sides.

As for the rest of the city, it was full of amazingly beautiful buildings in various styles. Lots of cobbled streets, and roads. And lots and lots of places to eat and drink at! We didn't necessarily have the time to sample it all, but did at least manage to try some proper Belgian ales at the local brewery and a tub of fries with the famed variety of sauces :).

Belgian beer is a particular favourite of mine, and I was extremely happy to see that the original local stuff is genuinely awesome :D!!

Otherwise this has been a pretty crazy busy month. What with one thing and another I feel as though the upcoming holiday couldn't come fast enough! Everyone has their visas and flights and so on, and this time next week I'd be seeing some family for the first time in many years! Probably not too surprisingly, I find myself trying to keep my excitement contained mainly by not thinking about it too much :).

On to the now more or less permanent section of my posts, the books :)! Inversions did more or less turn out as I was expecting, to my great joy! And yes, as anticipated, you never really get told who's who, but it seemed pretty obvious in the end :).

Then it was time for another book club book! This time it was The Memory Wood. The blurb was not promising. Seemed altogether way too dark for my general taste. And guess what? The cover didn't lie! Barely a chapter or so into the book and I was about ready to give up thanks to the simply terrible turn the story seemed to be taking. So I decided to do something I almost never do, and just read the last page.

Satisfied (sort of) that there was at least something to look forward to that wasn't demented and twisted, I managed to get through relatively unscathed. Oh there were definitely good bits to it. The writing was pretty captivating. Some of the characters, very interesting, and if not then at least thought provoking. I guess my trouble is just that if I wanted to get depressed by the depths to which human nature can sink, I can get plenty of that just by reading the news!

So now it's back to the much nicer Mr. Banks. The thing is, it's not like people aren't devious and awful and what not, just that that's not all there is to it. Look to Windward is again, fascinating in its scope, structure and the general way in which it flows. Yes, I'll say it again, having now read seven of the ten books of the series, I still wouldn't be able to say that I've found any sort of common pattern or simple structure to the stories. They continue to be gloriously and awesomely different :).

Haven't managed to get to the end yet, but this seems like another one with interleaved stories running in different layers. Now that I'm getting to the business end of it though, things are beginning to come together! So I'm rather looking forward to how it all ends. In the mean time though, I'm also just enjoying the ride :)!