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Not very often, but...
I will get a cravings for a specific genre. Until after I read this collection of stories, it was science fiction.
PEACE AND WAR, The Omnibus Edition, by Joe Haldeman
Has been my bedtime read of choice for the last few weeks. This collection of stories that are novel length, each, stick to these three themes: war, freedom, peace. The stories have existed in various forms for over thirty years, but in this edition they're all brought together in versions that the author believes are definitive.
William Mandella: The Forever War, and Forever Free
The first two stories in the collection centre around William Mandella, a man thrust into the Forever War from its beginning, and who is there at its end, over a thousand years later. Mandella is forced to fight in a war where Earth does not even know the enemy its fighting when it begins its assault.
The second book takes place after the war, as Mandella tries to find his place in a universe he no longer has a stake in. This is a future that Mandella cannot endure.
Julian Class: Forever Peace
The final story is set in a different universe, on Earth. An Earth where not everyone is equal.
Julian Class fights for the Alliance in the Ngumi War, because he is 100 percent American. Julian is a mechanic, he does not go on the battle field, his Soilderboy does, controlled from thousands of miles away using a brain jack. However, Julian is also a physicist and when his girlfriend asks for his help in trying to figure out whether the end of the universe is about to begin, killing innocents on the battlefield seems the least of Julian's worries.
Not light hearted reading
The war scenes that are described in these stories are brutal and nightmarish. Joe Haldeman admits to drawing on his experiences when he served in the Vietnam War, and it shows.
Recommend it?
If you're looking for some serious science fiction to read this summer, hunt down this collection published by Gollancz Science Fiction, 2006, ISBN: 0-575-07919-3, RRP: £8.99.
Related links
Wiki entry on Joe Haldeman
TWILIGHT, and hitting the right notes
I finished reading Twilight, the first novel in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, last night. It certainly has made me want to read the next novel in the series New Moon.
When I say it hits the right notes, I mean it. Likeable characters, with plenty of flaws, sexual tension, mystery and romance. Stuff that makes a teen novel good.
So, you're going to read the rest of the series?
Yes, I'm pressing on with reading New Moon. The Twilight series may not be high literature, but it's entertaining stuff to read. I can quite honestly see how it's become so popular with teenage girls, and thinking of books that deal in the realms of the supernatural, Meyer's books seem to deal with teenage emotions and worries better than the Harry Potter series ever did.
What about the film?
I will watch the film some day, but I have this awful feeling that it's probably not a very good adaptation. Again, I won't outright criticise or praise it unless I've watched it.
Related links
Stephenie Meyer's website
Wiki entry on Twilight series
Pardon?
Philip K. Dick's last wife, Tessa Dick, has written and self-published a version of a novel that Dick was working on before his death. The novel is entitled The Owl in Daylight.
Full story from Guardian here.
Philip K. Dick fan then?
I do like his writing quite a bit. Out of the several science fiction writers I've had a gander at over the years, I find his fiction some of the best examples of the 'speculative fiction' side of science fiction. Sure, the scary political and war scenarios that exist in his short stories and novels may not noticeably exist, but there are definitely some similarities between his fictional worlds and our own. Think paranoia, wars no one really knows why they're fighting, and misuse of technology.
Plus his ponderings on the human condition that are present in his novels and short stories are pretty good as well.
So you want a copy of the book?
Well, yeah. However, I think it's going to be hard to get hold of a copy due to the thing being self-published. Oh well.
Related links
Guardian article
Official Philip K. Dick website
Wiki entry on Philip K Dick
I chose to read it
I picked up Ways to Live Forever, by Sally Nicholls, sometime last month. I knew that this children's/young adult's novel would probably make me cry, and despite having this foresight I was unable to stop the tears for quite some time when I got to the end.
Waterstone's made this their winner of their 2008 Children's Book Prize.
Story
This novel follows a boy called Sam in his final months as he slowly dies from leukaemia. We're not treated to some third person narration, but a first person narrative that Nicholls has obviously carefully constructed from interviews and research she has done on the issue. The insights the reader gains into the feelings of the character's around Sam, such as his parents and little sister, also shows the level of research that Nicholls has put into the piece. It's all tastefully done.
Thoughtful
The novel features some extremely thought provoking sections where there are inclusions of notes made by the character Sam (titled: 'Questions Nobody Answers'), these sections ask such things as 'Why does God make kids get ill?'
Related link
Official site for the novel
Not very often, but...
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