Sunday, April 12, 2009

I Finished Two Books...

I finally finished To Heaven by Water. While it wasn't as bad as I feared it was going to be, it's not my literary cup of tea. But I did enjoy the way the author layered his story - I cringed, thinking it was going to be one particular storyline, but that was only the opening scene. The novel unfolded, and seeing how each of the main characters struggled to move on after the death of their mother/wife drew me in quite a bit. Good stuff.

I also finished a re-read of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. You know when you're in the mood to revisit an old book friend? I'd gotten a jonesing to reread H2G2 a few weeks ago, so I hit the library and ended up with that, A Canticle for Leibowitz, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - I've been on a Blade Runner kick since I got my suitcase of DVDs a couple of weeks ago.

I have to say, I enjoyed re-reading H2G2, but the re-read didn't make it any clearer than it was the first time I read it almost two decades ago. Which, I guess, is the point. It was a lot of fun, and I still love Marvin the manically depressed android. Having Alan Rickman voice him in the movie was an example of perfection in casting. I think I want to sit down and watch the movie again, having the book fresher in my mind now. I do remember them covering a bit more in the movie than the book had, so I may have to check out Restaurant at the End of the Universe sooner rather than later. I've only ever read the first book in the series. Feedback, anyone?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and/or Passover!

3 comments:

Lauren said...

Restaurant is GREAT!! Read them all.

lunaticraft said...

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was kind of a dissappointment for me. I'm a big Bladerunner fan, and was really excited to read the book as part of a class I took, but I actually found that I liked the movie much better. I'll be interested to read your take on it.

Roe said...

Lauren, I was going to ask you about the other Hitchhiker books; I've only ever read the first one. I'll definitely check out Restaurant!

Lunaticraft, I'm enjoying Androids, but I agree - it is SO unlike Blade Runner that it seems as if Ridley Scott just decided to keep the basic storyline and rewrite much of the story - in this case, a good thing. I do like, however, the background it gives me for certain things that come up subtly in the movie, like the owl.