(Debby) (writing about reading, but i would actually rather be watching Twin Peaks. Well done, Amanda! Did you buy or library or Netflix? Please please have bought and be about to mail the DVD series to me)

Arthur C. Clark died a few weeks ago. When he died, he was in his late 80s or early 90s, and he had written dozens of science fiction books, some of which were made into movies such as 2001: Space Odyssey. To commemorate his life, I thought I’d check out one of his books from the library. Well, they only had 2 books by him – 2069 (or some year like that – the 3^rd book in that series) and then another book about a war on the Moon. And that was when I remembered that, really, I never liked Arthur C. Clark’s books all that much.

Well, I don’t think it’s disrespectful to his memory to say so. I mean, millions of people loved his books. They were good books, based around good ideas. For me, though, they are just too focused on the hard science of ‘science fiction’ and interested in things that I’m not so much interested in.

So in commemoration of Arthur C. Clark, I checked out a Ray Bradbury book, Golden Apple of the Sun. It’s a collection of short stories. In general, I don’t like to read short stories. The really good ones tend to really upset me. Maybe they pack too much of an emotional punch? And then, you don’t really get the character development that I love so much in novels. Mostly, a short story is about the revealing of some Big Point. But there are always exceptions to every rule, and my exceptions to this rule include fairy tales, folk tales, and the short stories of Ursula K. LeGuin and Ray Bradbury. Ray Bradbury’s best short stories are sentimental and beautiful, and they don’t depend on any gimmicks. They might take place in a spaceship, but they are just as likely to take place in a small town in America or Mexico. My favorite story from this collection follows a middle-aged Mexican man who stands up to fashion photographers determined to photograph a model in front of his house, with its aesthetically cracked foundation.

I’ve never read a Terry Pratchett book. I hear that he is donating a lot of money to Alzeheimer’s research, and that he has been diagnosed with an early version of the disease. From what I understand, he writes funny fantasy books ? Well, my library and the used bookstore don’t have any of his books, which is why I haven’t read him before. But I did recently get a book from the used bookstore (Bookstop Ltd – it’s a great place. Some of the used books are more than I want to / can pay for them, but the collection is wide ranging, the shelves well stocked, they play good music, and the owner is extremely generous in giving credit for returned books) – Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Although I’ve only read one Neil Gaiman book, I loved that book (American Gods) enough to consider myself a Neil Gaiman fan. (oh, and I saw Stardust twice on an airplane, and really thoroughly enjoyed it). Well, Good Omens is a really enjoyable book. A funny, light read, with great characters (including an angel, a demon, and the Anti-Christ who is an 11 year old boy