30/9-6/10
U.S.War novelist Tom Clancy died this week. I
read two of his novels in college: Red Storm Rising, about World War
3 breaking out between Russia, Chechnya and the USA after an attack
on an oil plant, and Without Remorse, featuring a Navy Seal juggling
two missions- seeking revenge on his murdered girlfriend whilst
rescuing Vietnam war prisoners.
The
books were heavy, detailed war novels- technically informative and
very believable- but you have to be able to stomach that level of
military detail. You'll be subjected to pages of information about
EXACTLY how a submarine does an about-turn to face the enemy vessels
that are on its tail.
When
you're 16-17 and reading novels of this weight and depth, your
understanding can be impaired by a number of things. One is your own
vocabulary, and whether you can get a gist of what a writer is
telling you from the context. Another is your knowledge of the world
and its politics. I read both of these before 11th
September 2001, at a time when I just wasn't interested in the news.
It'd be a further 2 years until the World Trade Centre attack, the
point at which I started regularly watching the news and learning
about how- with its religions and warfare and ethics- the world
works.
Also,
when you're in your late teens and you haven't read that many adult
novels, you don't have a great deal of previously read books to
compare to, and your gauge of literary merit isn't as finely honed as
it might be once you're in your twenties or thirties, and you've read
a pile of good and not-so-good books. Unless you've got a big problem
with a book, you might finish it and think, yeah, pretty good. Even
when it perhaps wasn't. Note that Red Storm Rising wasn't optioned
for a movie adaptation.
If
you're prepared for an 800-page epic war story, pick a Clancy novel.
The pace and the twists are good, and the military knowledge laced
into the stories is comprehensive.
Moving
on. I went to London this week to see relatives. I'm going to detail
this in another post I think, as we packed a TON of stuff in-
sightseeing touristy things I'd definitely recommend.
I
got back into the swing of things at the gym, although Ibiza beat the
living crap out of me and I found my fitness had hit a slump. Gym
classes are hard when you've been abusing your body for a week prior.
No records.
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