So I had to read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro for a class. I love Ishiguro’s, he’s probably my favorite contemporary author. I didn’t like Never Let Me Go very much when I started it, though.
So I’ve been sitting around having read like the first quarter of the book and I’m several weeks into the class and need to actually finish the reading, right?
I read three quarters of the book today. Once I got about a third of the way in, I knew I was going to finish it today. When I reached the climactic moment in the book, I had to put it down for a half hour and just walk around processing what I had read.
It’s sublime. It’s not just good, it’s sublime. I don’t think any other author has managed to tap into the spirit of my generation as well as Ishiguro has, and Ishiguro isn’t even a millennial. He is the modern Tolstoy, and I don’t feel silly saying that.
Of course, it’s tragic, though there is perhaps some acceptance of the universe. However, the postmodern attitudes that have been wreaking so much havoc and the artificiality of our society are carried in the pages in a way I have never seen anywhere else.
I also got 22,000 steps in (because I pace while reading) and attended a local writer’s workshop. It was really fun and kinda cool, though it’s clear some of the people there don’t like each other very much (though they are still civil about it).
Not a whole lot of writing, but I’m going to chalk that up to being consumed in Ishiguro’s work. I’d chalk this up as one of my most productive days in a while, actually.
A new Spiderweb Software game, Queen’s Wish, came out and I gave it a short little try (didn’t have a whole lot of time). I’ve been finding it enjoyable, though it’s mechanically a lot more simple than the predecessors outside combat.
That would’ve bothered me a while back, but I’ve come to accept it. In fact, I think it pushes more of the narrative toward meaningful interactions instead of having a lot of little checks and encounters that are “filler”.