Dawn by Octavia E. Butler - review

Once again, I nearly ran out of time for A More Diverse Universe. My time management is exceptional, especially since I finished work.

I had planned on reading three books, including a book of poetry by Hone Tuwhare, but the end of the fortnight is approaching, and Salem's Lot is calling to me.

Anyway.

I did manage to read Dawn, by Octavia E. Butler, book one in the Lilith's Brood saga. I bought it on iBooks because my library - which is usually great - has exactly 0 books by Ms Butler.

Dawn begins with Lilith being Awakened - over and over again. She has no idea where she is, or what is going on. She knows that the Earth is by and large destroyed, but beyond that, nothing.

Finally, one of the times she's Awakened, she finds out where she is, and who's been watching her, and for quite a while, Lilith struggles with that knowledge.

The Oankali are an alien race, who have brought the remainder of humanity on board their ship to rescue them. However, the Oankali want something in return - they call it a trade. But is the price of the trade too high?

I have to say, I love sci-fi like this. It's high-concept, it has aliens, and it has a woman at the centre of it who is deeply flawed, very human and struggles with all of the demands the Oankali - and the coming Awakened humans - place on her.

Dawn is a deeply satisfying read and although I did find myself getting impatient with the way some of the humans acted, I thought their actions and reactions fit with the wider arc of the story.

The Oankali - who have three genders, male, female and ooloi, were fascinating. Completely alien in their appearance and in their reactions and it added a rich layer to the overall narrative.

I'm already eyeing book 2 on iBooks.

:)

A More Diverse Universe, and #SalemAlong

With no apparent infrastructure to my days, time slips away on me, and two things almost escaped me entirely:

A More Diverse Universe hosted here: http://www.aartichapati.com/ and, of course, the Salem Readalong hosted by Care, Trish and Melissa. Here's Care's post: https://bkclubcare.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/october-and-uncle-stevie/

However, I have managed to pull myself out of the trenches long enough to sort out some books for the former, and assure myself that yes, I do own Salem's Lot.

I actually finished The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri on Saturday, which would have been a perfect #diversiverse read. However, I cast about, and found a short story called Bloodchild by Octavia E Butler on my iBooks. I read it yesterday, and went poking about. Unfortunately, my library has exactly zero books by Ms Butler, so I went back to iBooks. I had to break my own self-imposed $10 ebook limit, but I purchased Dawn, the first book of the Xenogenesis trilogy. I started it today, and so far so good.

Also on the #diversiverse list is another book by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland. And also, I'm hoping to dig into a poetry collection by Hone Tuwhare - possibly No Ordinary Sun, which I have a feeling I own. Otherwise, it will be off to the library for that one.

So #diversiverse is:
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
Poetry (probably No Ordinary Sun) by Hone Tuwhare.

Salem's Lot I will likely dig into over the weekend, or next week, when spawn is back at school and I can put the book in the freezer if I need to. :)

Sunday post - 9

Hosted here by Kimberley: http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ the Sunday Post is a chance to catch up on what's been happening around the blogosphere, as well as updating your own blog/life/everything.

I missed last Sunday, I don't think I felt I had a lot to say. Along those lines, I've only done a couple of posts in the past couple of weeks, too.

One life one: http://lifetheuniverseandcats.blogspot.co.nz/2015/09/life-in-void.html

and one review: http://lifetheuniverseandcats.blogspot.co.nz/2015/09/the-calling-by-david-gaider-review.html

Other than that, eh. It's school holidays here now, so I'll have spawn home for a couple of weeks. I have a few more meetings with the job search consultant and then I'd better put on my big girl pants and start applying for jobs.

My super payout did come through, so that was a relief. We are - as of right now - credit card and debt-free, which is a very good feeling.

I finished Dragon Age: The Calling, which took me far longer to read than it should have, for no good reason.

Now I'm reading The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, which I'm liking a lot so far.

I keep tripping up on the dates of things and losing track, so I've started writing things down. With no framework (ie work), my days are merging together a bit.

I know that A More Diverse Universe is coming up at http://www.aartichapati.com/ and Dewey's readathon is on the 17th of October, I believe: http://www.24hourreadathon.com/ and there's a readalong of Salem's Lot coming up also: https://bkclubcare.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/how-about-a-pie-post-ilovepie-salemalong/

There's way more than that of course, but those are the nearest things that I'm invested in taking part in, anyway.

I haven't signed up for the readathon yet, but I think I'm just going to be a reader this time, because I'm the world's most useless cheerleader. Having said that, cheerleading is fun and awesome, and you should give it a shot, if you can't make the time commitment for reading.

What else.

The library here is having a book sale. I went on Friday morning and did all right, I think. I also went to the local gaming store and got Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls 3 and 4. I've never played either game but they were both GOTY editions and also super-cheap.
For the books, I got The Autumn Castle by Kim Williams, The Year's Best Fantasy second edition, ed, Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling, The Secret Books of Paradys: The Complete Paradys Cycle by Tanith Lee, King of Ithaca by Glynn Iliffe, The Wood Wife by Terry Windling, Memoirs of a Master Foger by William Heaney (actually by Graham Joyce), Myrren's Gift by Fiona McIntosh and Jingo by Mr Sir Terry Pratchett. That little haul cost me a whopping $3.50. I had to remind myself I couldn't save all of the books.


I started my Grey Wardens pattern over - I found an "I" for the first word of each line that I liked better than the one I had, and threw some colours at it. I'm pleased with the progress I've made so far. Also I'm glad I did start over, because in my head I had the first two lines transposed.  So far so good and hopefully the end product will be worth it. :)




I caught up with friends this week and had lunch which was nice. I was meant to go to one friend's last night for our weekly stitch and watch, but Spawn had a stomach bug, so I begged off. It turned out to just be a 24-hour thing but friend's mother has dementia and is rather fragile, so I didn't want to unwittingly carry any bugs with me.

Instead I did a bit of stitching (see above) and finally watched Mad Max: Fury Road, which was insane. And great. And insane. I'm planning on reviewing it this week.

What else. I've also been playing Inquistion a lot, because I keep mistaking game progress for actual productivity.

How was your week? What's coming up?

Sunday post 4

Hosted by Kimberley here at http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ the Sunday Post is a chance to reflect on the week that was, talk about what we've been blogging about, and also a chance to plan the week ahead.

I actually managed to sort of get my act together this past week, and I've posted two reviews.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making here:
http://lifetheuniverseandcats.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/the-girl-who-circumnavigated-fairyland.html

And I'll Give You the Sun, here: http://lifetheuniverseandcats.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/the-girl-who-circumnavigated-fairyland.html

I have to say, for anyone unfamiliar with my ... style, I'm not the most insightful reviewer ever. I'm enthusiastic about the books I'm enthusiastic about, and I will get my rant on about the books I don't like. Beyond that ... Well, if I can make you smile or laugh, then job done :D

(I'm also lazy. But let's not get into that.)

Let's see, what else ...

I have a little less than three weeks to go at work, and I'm sure my last day will be emotional or something, but right now - having made the big grown-up decision - I'm ready to move on, and every week day is just that much more irritating right now.

I'm trying to get through My Cousin Rachel by Tuesday - a 300 page book that's taken me something like a month to read, between losing Morgana, getting sick, and picking up books that are decidedly NOT My Cousin Rachel, but I'm nearly halfway through now and I'm optimistic I'll have a post up in time for the book tour.

With Aarti's More Diverse Universe challenge coming up: http://www.aartichapati.com/2015/08/sign-up-post-diversiverse-is-coming.html and with recent world events, I've been musing in my own quiet, non-intellectual way about how I can better educate myself.

One way, of course, as always, is reading. I think my reading does tend to skew/default to white writers, something I'm sort-of conscious of but then it sinks below the surface again.

So, with Aarti's challenge on the horizon, and with this post that popped up on tumblr: http://catagator.tumblr.com/post/126007994444/committing-to-diversity-when-youre-white-a I'm going to ... try and diversify my reading. Because it's important.

That post suggests setting a challenge for yourself, and so I'm going for every third book I read will be by a non-white writer.  I haven't chosen a book for A More Diverse Universe yet but between now and then, I'm hoping to expand my horizon.

So, after My Cousin Rachel, I'm diving into Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay.

Also, today, I burned my arm on my lamp. Riiiiight where it rests against things.

How was your week? What's coming up?