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alobearIt seems I haven't finished a book since August, which is a bit worrying. I have four monthly magazines to read at the moment, and I've also been reading Malazan (450 pages in and still 800 more to go), but still - it seems my reading has been rather reduced lately.
However, yesterday, I finished The Man Who Fell To Earth by Walter Tevis. I shall come to my reason for reading it in a moment. As far as 1960s sci-fi goes, I rather enjoyed it overall. The only female character was presented in a less than stellar way, but I guess that's fairly usual for the period, so I won't go on about that. The book has a lot of themes - isolation, masks and identity, transformation, pretence and reality, drive to find meaning, fear of the different, the shallowness of society, suspicion of success, patriotism and sacrifice. The opening is very effective, with all the descriptions of Earth highlighting what the alien finds strange about it, thus hinting at aspects of his own planet without the author actually having to describe it. The alien, Newton, is very human in his emotional responses to everything, which makes him very relatable.
I particularly liked this exchange:
"My God," he said, "it's hard to believe. To sit in this room and believe that I'm talking to a man from another planet."
"Yes," Newton said, "I've thought that myself. I'm talking to a man from another planet too, you know."
The conclusion is very cynical, though I suspect realistic in its prediction of what would happen if an alien was discovered on Earth, and also desperately sad, which was a bit of a downer. But, for the most part, it was an interesting read. It was turned into a David Bowie movie in the 1970s, which I plan to watch next week, after I go to the stage musical version on Tuesday - and I'm fascinated to see how it's been adapted, because it's actually quite dry and cerebral. I'm writing a review of the show for a literary magazine, so thought I should read the source material for comparison.
Yesterday, I spent the day with quintus_marcius at the London Film Festival and saw two very different filmes.
Chi-Raq is a rhyming adaptation of an Aristophanes play, transplanted to modern day Chicago, with a very strong message about gang violence and the deaths of black people, especially children. Subtle, it wasn't, but I think that was part of the point - that even such sledge-hammering is unlikely to make much of a difference. Unexpectedly, given the themes, it was very, very funny in places, and largely quite bonkers, but also very affecting. Mostly excellent - and both enjoyable and thought-provoking. Sadly, I don't think it will reach a large audience, as some will think it too hard-hitting, while others will think it too flippant. And odd mix, but very well done.
The second film of the day was a documentary - Richard Linklater: Dream is Destiny. It followed Linklater through his career as a film-maker, including interviews with both him and many of his collaboraters. I have seen and enjoyed quite a few of Linklater's films, so it was interesting to me from that point of view. It also had a very definite message that you should get out and create things you're passionate about, and it certainly inspired me to want to get excited and make things again, after quite a slump on the writing front. Consequently, I have just plotted out a new short story for an upcoming anthology submission, and written the first 2000 words, all in the last three hours, so I'm feeling quite productive today!
However, yesterday, I finished The Man Who Fell To Earth by Walter Tevis. I shall come to my reason for reading it in a moment. As far as 1960s sci-fi goes, I rather enjoyed it overall. The only female character was presented in a less than stellar way, but I guess that's fairly usual for the period, so I won't go on about that. The book has a lot of themes - isolation, masks and identity, transformation, pretence and reality, drive to find meaning, fear of the different, the shallowness of society, suspicion of success, patriotism and sacrifice. The opening is very effective, with all the descriptions of Earth highlighting what the alien finds strange about it, thus hinting at aspects of his own planet without the author actually having to describe it. The alien, Newton, is very human in his emotional responses to everything, which makes him very relatable.
I particularly liked this exchange:
"My God," he said, "it's hard to believe. To sit in this room and believe that I'm talking to a man from another planet."
"Yes," Newton said, "I've thought that myself. I'm talking to a man from another planet too, you know."
The conclusion is very cynical, though I suspect realistic in its prediction of what would happen if an alien was discovered on Earth, and also desperately sad, which was a bit of a downer. But, for the most part, it was an interesting read. It was turned into a David Bowie movie in the 1970s, which I plan to watch next week, after I go to the stage musical version on Tuesday - and I'm fascinated to see how it's been adapted, because it's actually quite dry and cerebral. I'm writing a review of the show for a literary magazine, so thought I should read the source material for comparison.
Yesterday, I spent the day with quintus_marcius at the London Film Festival and saw two very different filmes.
Chi-Raq is a rhyming adaptation of an Aristophanes play, transplanted to modern day Chicago, with a very strong message about gang violence and the deaths of black people, especially children. Subtle, it wasn't, but I think that was part of the point - that even such sledge-hammering is unlikely to make much of a difference. Unexpectedly, given the themes, it was very, very funny in places, and largely quite bonkers, but also very affecting. Mostly excellent - and both enjoyable and thought-provoking. Sadly, I don't think it will reach a large audience, as some will think it too hard-hitting, while others will think it too flippant. And odd mix, but very well done.
The second film of the day was a documentary - Richard Linklater: Dream is Destiny. It followed Linklater through his career as a film-maker, including interviews with both him and many of his collaboraters. I have seen and enjoyed quite a few of Linklater's films, so it was interesting to me from that point of view. It also had a very definite message that you should get out and create things you're passionate about, and it certainly inspired me to want to get excited and make things again, after quite a slump on the writing front. Consequently, I have just plotted out a new short story for an upcoming anthology submission, and written the first 2000 words, all in the last three hours, so I'm feeling quite productive today!
