Summer Reads

For me much of summer-time is spent indoors not being hot and sticky. While it has been quite nice, overall for summer in Kansas--some cooler days, and more rain than I'm accustomed to--overall its still hot enough that staying where there's air conditioning is my preference. Its been two weeks since Bob (Bobd'cat) came to live with us. At this point we are planning on keeping him. He is currently exploring the house while the two others hang out with the husband in the bedroom. He is looking much healthier and is such a sweet guy I have a hard time imagining who would ever have wanted to abandon him. (We know he was some one's pet before he found me as the vet estimated that he was between five to seven years old, and a neutered male in pretty good shape i.e. has all his teeth, and is well socialized to be with people).

So along with treating Bob's minor ailments, I've been hanging out reading lots. I finished the three Tiffany Aching novels The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett. More or less great young adult books, but very funny and with a fresh take on what it takes to be a witch (its not so much about doing magic as it is being nosy, thinking about things, and caring about others.) I also just finished really great book by Susan Palwick call Shelter. Shelter is near future science fiction novel filled with a society that views excessive altruism as a mental illness, is grappling with whether or not AI should be considered alive or person's (with the same rights as humans), and the effects of CV ( pandemic virus where instead of getting just one virus individuals fall ill to a whole train of them at once.) The main characters, Meredith Walford and Roberta Danton both are survivors of CV and while strangers to each other are brought together while trying to help Meredith's adopted son Nicholas (who survived CV in utero) and was damaged by both the virus and being born into an isolation unit. What I found so compelling about this novel, which in some aspects reminds me of Connie Willace's Doomsday Book, is they way that characters try to go on with their lives even after terrible traumas. Ultimately this novel is about forgiveness (which doesn't erase past harms done) but allows individuals to move forward with living. This novel works on a lot of levels and while there's more I could say, right now I need to think about it some more first.