Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Recent Reading Part 3

The book I'm reading right now is Connie Willis's Doomsday Book. This is a fantasy or science fiction story, depending on whether you think time travel is possible. The novel is set in 2054 England and treats time travel as a science, so I guess for me that would categorize it as SF. In the novel, the Medieval Department sends a woman historian back to 1320 without many precautions, and then a bout of influenza or something breaks out, quarantining Oxford, where the time travel is taking place. So, the historian is living in 1320 not sure if she'll get back, and because of the quarantine, the scientists haven't been able to check on her in preparation for bringing her back in a couple weeks. The narrative moves back and forth between the time periods and makes me wonder what will happen. I am enjoying reading it and looking forward to my half hour before bed when I can find out about the next events.
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2 comments:

  1. KevinJuly 20, 2010 at 11:02 AM

    Nancy,

    Sounds like a very interesting book. I read your posts on my blog and wanted to respond. The Haiku was on the sport of soccer, in particular the World Cup. I am a big soccer fan and like many other sports things can change so quickly. When the ball is kicked very hard or placed well within the frame of the goal we refer to that as a good hit or a "strike". Of course when the ball goes in the net you live to play another day. I appreciated your interpertations. I was hoping I would get a response. I thought someone would make a reference to baseball because of the word "strike" in there.

    I think you are right on the money with the Neil Young song. I think many of the students may be saying Neil who? I play guitar and am a big fan of his song writing.

    Thanks again, Kevin.

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  2. Natalie TrotterJuly 21, 2010 at 3:50 PM

    "The Doomsday Book" sounds very interesting. I wrote it down and will probably read it some day when I have time again. I think reading fictional books that take place in the past can help make your history books make more sense and help with your understanding of what things were really like during the time period.

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