Monday 22 November 2021

Book Review - Dune

 I enjoyed Dune so much at the cinema that I went back and re-read the book. It was written in the 60's and I last read it in the 90's.

My view on it hasn't really changed – it's a wonderful science fiction book hiding inside an overlong and pretentious one. The story and the characters are great. The world which the author has built is interesting and believable and the way that he introduces it to you is very compelling. By the end  of the book it's a real page-turner. The problem is that there are just so many words. We have conversations where we're told what every character is thinking about every word which is said. He makes up words when perfectly normal ones would do. He makes up proper nouns for things on the planet but gives you no clue whether you have to commit them to memory or just let them wash over you. He uses difficult words when easy ones would do. He puts hundreds of words of metaphor and allusion in front of you rather than just explaining what's going on. Even though I loved it, it felt like a chore to read.

Richard "Damn You Frank Herbert" B


Heavy Weather Shopping

 A couple of weeks ago I got caught in a rain storm. I had stopped at a supermarket and the rain became ridiculously heavy while I was inside. Most people didn't dare venture back out into the carpark but I was pretty much dressed correctly for it as I had on my wet weather motorcycling gear. I put on my crash helmet (it is amongst other things a waterproof hat) before I left the shelter of the shop. The thing was that the rain and wind were so oppressive that I had to put my visor down just to be able to walk across the car park to my bike.

The leather of my jacket is waterproof, but the pockets weren't properly closed (they were filled with items from the shop). When I got home the pockets had about half a pint of rain water in each of them and I had to turn the jacket upside-down to empty them.

Richard "talk about the weather" B

Tuesday 2 November 2021

Wedding

 This weekend I attended a wedding. I'm almost exactly the same age as the groom and the bride is a few years his junior. The reception took place in a holiday cottage and professional caterers fed us and ran a bar. I was talking awkwardly with the woman running the bar as I had to get something on her side of it. She asked me if I was the father of the bride. To start with I thought this was either insulting to how old I looked, or flattering to how important and distinguished I looked in a suit. Obviously she was really telling me how young the bride looked in her finery.

Richard "witness" B