An orgy of consumerism (by my standards)

Friday was Pip's party, which was lovely, and, as always, filled with beautiful decorations and nibbles. *hugs* Thank you!

Over the weekend mum came up to visit, which was nice. On saturday we went out for lunch and had an evening in, and on sunday we did a spot of electronics shopping and had a walk round Milton country park.

It was pleasant, we had a chance to chat, and relax, and swap technical war stories, and watch some firefly and torchwood. I'd forgotten how good Firefly was. And decided on balance I really do quite like Torchwood. I will report tonight :)

Also this weekend I have:

* Bought mum a Tesco own brand DVD player. I splurge on my early Χmas presents, yes. (As for actual χmas, well...)
* Set up my coffee machine. It's official I like my coffee like I like my women: cyborg and futuristic and on my kitchen table I have been converted to drinking real coffee.
* Set up bookcase #₁2. Maybe I should sort books by ternary goodness, binary height, author, and publishing order.
* Um. OK, I haven't been very decadent after all. I've thrown away some cardboard that might in theory have been useful one day.

Jesuits in Spaaaace

The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russel. It was recently pressed upon me, and I liked it very much, though I find it hard to describe. Good features were:

* Jesuits. I apologise to real Jesuits, but I invariably come across Jesuits in fiction, as intellectual greyeminences, good or evil, and are fascinating to read about.

* The characters. There are really quite a lot of main characters, from all over, but their interaction is so touching, and funny, it's a wonder to read.

* The major theme. What if God does have a plan for you? Would it be evident? Bad things happen to other people, did they deserve it? Would your life make sense if it happened to you? The Sparrow lays out both sides of it, which fascinates me (as an athiest always interested in belief).

Analagous to the Descartes' Demon[1] in the Matrix. No-one can answer the question, that's *why* it's a fundamental philosophical point. But it can explain what the question is, in a way you grasp emotionally, which is a major revelation in understanding.

* Many books start with two threads, one before a great event, and one after, showing a much changed character. Mostly they mess it up, and the two characters don't seem the same at all. Also, invariably, the hinting at the event is a lot cooler than whatever it turns out to be, presumably because the author thought up a cool way of angsting, and then tried to fit an event to it. The Sparrow does it right.

In the later thread, Emelio is broken, tortured, silent. But you still feel who he was, still feel for him, and cheer his growing out of it, rather than saying "Get over it, already."

* The transference of guilt, from what you've done but don't speak, to what you're accused of and don't deny, is a theme I come back to. Normally very minor in my life, but here I empathise so so so much with Emelio.

* The aliens. Reasonably generic looking, but a fascinating two-species'ed world, with lots of concepts I've never seen precedented.

All in all, I'm sorry I can't describe it better, but I highly recommend it, and if you like any of the things I say I like, you may like it too.

( Footnotes )