Saturday

Sunny and warm. Finished reading Robert McCammon's Swan Song last night, and ... I'll recommend it, conditionally. It's a good page-turner, but there are some passages of mighty purple prose, along the lines of "Let's put on a show and save the school!" except here it's "Let's defend our little settlement and save the planet!" There are also some really unfortunate characterization choices. What do I mean by "unfortunate"? Well, one character is described as having a "hooked nose." Can we guess what his last name is? Yep, it's Epstein. Oy, as the kids say. Plus "Oriental" gets used as a descriptor, and while this may have been more common in 1987, when the book was first published, it's a jarring off-note today. It's still a decent read, and McCammon surprised me a couple of times, which is good, but this is what I'll say: if you want to read something apocalyptic and you haven't read Stephen King's The Stand, read that first. Or you could read Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon. Or (and this is one I REALLY recommend), Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz. All I'm saying is that while McCammon's Swan Song is fun, there are better books out there. Much better books.

So. Have taken everyone's kind advice in mind, and am working on something like a Rec Page. :D

In the meantime, have a couple of links: State Trooper rescues fawn near Bellingham, WA, and a live feed from cameras in and around a puffin's nest on Sumburgh Head in the Shetland Islands. This is awesome, especially the view from Camera 4, which shows the sea and coast and flying birds.