Random Thoughts, Sunday Edition

Some Random Thoughts, only related by being in my brain:

Random Thought #1

I was contemplating dinner last night, and I thought about going out to the local country club. Then I asked myself why? They've changed the main venue to a sports bar. It's nice, and there's nothing wrong with it, but it's very generic. There's frankly no particular reason to go there, so I didn't.

Random Thought #2

I had to get some work done on my car, and so I was exposed to daytime TV while in the dealer's waiting room. Doctor Phil had as a guest some 17-year-old who was dating a 30-year-old man. Her man had a history of beating on and cheating on his exes, but since he hadn't (yet) beat on or cheated on her, she was still good with him. After a commercial break or two, we learned that the girl's mother alternated between neglect and abuse and that the girl's father was AWOL.

In what I suspect is a case of the blind squirrel finding an acorn, Doctor Phil said that sometimes people focus so much on what they are running from that they don't look at what they are running towards.

Random Thought #3

I am what's politely called a "discovery writer" which means that when I start writing I don't have a firm outline or plan as to what's going to happen in my books. Sometimes, as in the current WIP, working title "What the Bank Robber Saw" that means I write myself into a corner and then need to back myself out of same.

Review of The Night Guest

I bought this book because I am a friend and fan of the translator, Mary Robinette Kowal. I have to say, if you are expecting something like what Mary Robinette writes, this is most definitely not it. This short book (208 pages in print) did, however, knock my socks off!

Having recently visited Iceland, I found it especially interesting, but I don't think any local knowledge is required to appreciate the story. I will note that Mary Robinette chose to render Icelandic names in the Icelandic alphabet, which (for example) means that sounds which would phonetically be "th" are spelled with a funky-looking "p" letter.

In the book, Iounn, the narrator, keeps waking up exhausted, then she discovers she's walking 40,000+ steps every night. This is not, alas, a normal sleepwalking situation, as we discover during the course of the story, which moves along quite briskly. It's chilling, both in terms of atmosphere and temperature, and definitely for an adult audience. Overall, this was a great read.