Science Fiction

I love it. I don't know why. I used to think it was boring -I liked Star Wars, but I didn't want to read any books about plasma cannons or aliens. It just didn't seem interesting.

I think it started with Dune, Frank Herbert's book. My great-grandmother gave me her copy (as an aside, my great-grandma and I are the same person, 79 years apart. She sits around and reads all day, wants to be left the hell alone and has a load of turquoise jewelry), and out of respect for her and the prospect of a new book, I started reading it.

Within the first 2 pages, I was hooked. Absolutely hooked. This book wasn't aliens and funny guns that go pewpewpew when you shoot them and no plot -this was politics. This was and human nature and fear. This was amazing!

There are lasery type guns and big-ass sandworms and alien sorts of people, but they make the story real for its setting. The actual story is what got me. The tangled webs people weave, the politics and the science, the theocracy and the myths. It's an absolutely incredible piece of writing. I read it about twice a year, so I don't forget. And every time I pick it up I find something new about it that comes a little clearer, like washing off a muddy uncut diamond and seeing new ways that it will catch the light.

After I read Dune, I didn't have a sci-fi epiphany. I didn't immediately go out and see what there was to see where the genre is concerned. I more or less fell back into my original patterns -mostly fantasy, a little fiction-fiction, eventually some chick it. I hardly read fantasy anymore, honestly, because I have a hard time finding anything new in that genre. The book Legacy actually looks good, but there are just so many same-y fantasy books floating around anymore that it's not worth the effort. Suggestions I'll take, but I no longer have the urge to hunt down good fantasy.

Then I picked up some Terry Pratchett. Some Douglas Adams. And I tumbled headfirst into those -granted, I've only read a few of the Discworld books (I think I'd rather own them than check them out from the library. That doesn't feel right) and I've only read Hitchhiker's Guide once. These books are very different from Dune, but the same general principles applied. The focus was on the ideas, not the pewpewpew and the little green men.

Then came Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451 I have loved from the first time I picked up a copy of the book. Now I have it in graphic novel form as well, and oh my god. I can't get enough of it. If there was ever a book I'd sleep with my arms around, Fahrenheit 451 would totally be it. When I was in the hospital for a few days a couple of summers ago, I took a gigantic book with me -Bradbury's collected stories. I can hardly lift that book, but it kept me entertained and thinking while I was hooked up to an IV and getting contradictory results from various doctors. There's a reason the hospital here is known as Death Valley...but that's another story.

Then (then, then, then) I picked up a copy of the Jane Austen Book Club (which I would totally have joined. Also, Hugh Dancy is in the movie and that is just so much win) and discovered Ursula le Guin thanks to a relatively important plot point regarding her. She is by far one of the best sci-fi writers I have ever had the good fortune to read. Like Herbert, like Bradbury, le Guin is an idea writer. She examines a concept in an alien setting that is nevertheless a familiar or plausible concept. What if, she asks us in The Left Hand of Darkness, gender was a non-issue on some world? Thus comes Genly Ai, to explore it and discover what the answer is -in a way. I mean, it's just brilliant. The book is brilliant, the writing is brilliant... wow.

I watched A Scanner Darkly during winter or spring quarter at school, and the movie was decent. I am not Keanu Reeves' biggest fan, but he plays a drugged out narc really well. ;) So once summer hit, I decided I needed to check out the book. The movie made a striking point, and I wanted to see if the books was the same. It was (of course) better. So much better. Philip K. Dick is another writer who has my unending admiration.

All of these examples from someone who, for the majority of her life, claimed to despise or be uninterested in science fiction. Holy shit, man. Now I'm reading (slowly but surely) some Robert Silverberg. Jonah gave me a bunch of his books, so I've been reading those off and on when I remember that I have a bunch of books stored in my laptop (it still freaks me out a little, non-physical books. I like the Kindle, but I don't know if I'd want one, really)...

It's amazing, science fiction. I know as much of it is as pulpy as a lot of fantasy is -but, like with any genre, if you find a book or an author made of gold (or some fantastic otherworldly gem), you hang on with everything you've got.

August 10. The new August 14. Kind of.

The most frustrating thing about buying books online is, of course, the wait. The shipping. I got a friendly e-mail from Amazon a couple of days ago when I ordered my books saying the delivery date is expected to be August 10 (4 days before my birthday). I got that e-mail August 4 and figured, "Oh, hey, that's only 6 days -not bad at all, considering the shipping was free and I'm getting 4 books." Here I am two days later, having bitten off all of my fingernails and having begun spazzing every time I see a UPS truck pull onto the street. August 10, although only 3 days away, seems like it will never come. I want my books.

Yesterday I was in a pretty foul mood all day, so I avoided human contact as much as possible. Of course, without a car and sans my own room, it became kind of difficult. The internet/cell phone don't work in the basement and my little brother's room (where I sleep) just isn't built for solitary hanging out. There's nowhere to sit but the bunk bed or the floor...and I sleep in the bunk bed and I try to keep my electronics out of it and my butt goes numb after about 10 minutes of floor-sittage. There are no other viable (read: comfortable) areas in the house where I could sit undisturbed and be a bitch in peace. Alas for all involved. We lived, and I wasn't the only crab-ass in the house.

Today I decided to do something that would a) take my mind off the fact that my books won't be here for another three days and b) would put me in a better mood than the one I was in yesterday. Essentially I beat myself all to hell. 4 games of Wii tennis (all of which I won of course), 3 rounds against those infernal punching bags (there's really no way to win there -the punching bags explode and my arms hurt for two days), 15 minutes on the treadmill (accompanied by the band And Then There Were None -good stuff) and then 20 minutes of Wii fit exercises. These include lunges, the half moon yoga pose, hula hoops (yeah, really), ski jumping, jackknifing and those weird ab twists that supposedly tone your whole waist area.

By the end of all of this, my knees are shaking, I've downed two rather large glasses of water and my head hurts. But endorphins make you happy (remember the Legally Blonde line? Thought so. Not that I have a husband to kill, happy or unhappy as I may be, but the same principle applies). Hopefully this grueling workout will keep me slightly more cheerful than I was yesterday -and who knows? If I keep it up, maybe those ab twists will actually tone my waist. Not that I need that, but it never hurts to be in better shape.

However, all through these workouts, I was still half hoping the UPS guy would show up with my books, despite the fact that I'm wearing red Pirates of the Caribbean men's medium boxers that I got at Disney World and a pink and orange sports bra (my two least favorite colors in one garish garment that should never be exposed to the light of day. Boo-yah). He didn't, of course. It's only just after 11 right now, and UPS guys don't show up in my neighborhood until around 2 or 3, sometimes later. Cue heavy sighing here:_____.

The books that are coming are awesome! I'm really excited about them. They were all paid for by a birthday present from my dad, who is also awesome. His only requirement was the I get one specific book, called The Library at Night. It looks sweet.

The other three books I got were:

1. The Time Traveler's Wife (the movie comes out on my birthday-August 14- and I've been meaning to read the book for ages anyway. Plus Eric Bana is in it. Win-win-win situation.)
2. Secrets to Happiness: A Novel (chick lit that isn't really chick lit. I've read good things about it, and it's about time I found a companion to my favorite chick lit book, English as a Second Language).
   
3. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation (you read that right. If you know what that means, give yourself 1 internet. If you don't, I'll tell you: it means I got Fahrenheit 451 in the form of a graphic novel. Two of my favorite things -graphic novels/comic books and Ray Bradbury's genius -in one package. I couldn't not buy that and remain a whole entire person).
   

So there you have it, folks. This is why I'm more excited about August 10 than my own birthday (well, kind of).

It's supposed to be a review day, but since I plan on applying for a (better paying) job at another site, I'm skipping it. I've put up 3 things this week anyway, so it's not like I haven't met my goal. It's all good. Anyway, I'm sure some of you need refreshers on what I've already written, so go check it out.