the plot thickens...

I am really loving Season 2 of "The Man in the High Castle"! I have not had time to binge it yet, but just finished episode 5 of S2 and wow, Wow, WOW! Loving all the angles and dimensions to this alternative history story! And i love the strong and realistic characters! Excellent.

season_2.0

Last night, we finally made it though the last episode of Season 2 of Mr. Robot! (that doesn't count rewatching it to try to put all the pieces together). We are loving this show, and looking forward to season_3.0.

another dystopian tale

After reading, in quick succession, three classic dystopian novels, (Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451) i decided that i am way overdue to re-read another dystopian tale, one that is rooted in historical fact - the History of the United States. It may seem odd that i would group the history of our nation with these other three obviously dysfunctional novels. Isn't our nation the great lighthouse for freedom, justice, equality, opportunity, and peace? Well, the U.S. has certainly been kind to me and my family. But how has our nation treated the "others"? People of color, women, our native people, immigrants from all over the world (my grandparents included), people of other religious traditions, people without religion, people of different sexual and gender identities, people without economic means... the list goes on and on. As i revisit the story of our nation, i expect to find answers regarding these and other questions about our nation, and how we compare to these other dystopian stories in relation to ALL of our people. I'm looking forward to rediscovering the history of the U.S. all over again.

a fun read

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I found the concept of this story compelling; a "new" person waking up in someone else's body and life situation. The modeling of amnesia in this way was pretty cool. But to me, the telling of the story felt contrived and shallow. There were a few times it almost grabbed me - the reunion with a family member for example. And there was no shortage of plot turns, action, and suspense. I did not expect it to wrap up in the way it did. But in the end, it felt two dimensional, and oddly enough, familiar. The message and method of the story seemed to me like a combination of a bunch of stories i already knew: X-Men, Harry Potter, The Hitchhikers Guide, Clue, Ghostbusters, MIB - as if they were all thrown together into a big box and shaken vigorously. In the end, the story felt too familiar to grab me afresh, although it must have been great fun to write. I really wanted to love this book, two of my Goodreads friends loved it, but i just couldn't pull it off. It's a fun read.

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