Book 12 - Brian Aldiss "Hothouse"

Brian Aldiss "Hothouse" (Penguin)

What a luxury to read a book where a child dies horribly in the first couple of pages, where the earth’s temperature has risen to the point where almost all mammals are extinct and small groups of humans cling to a precarious existence, where women lead those human groups and the men are protected and pampered because reproduction depends on their survival, and where none of these things is weighed down by real-life concerns about child protection, anthropogenic global warming or hegemonic patriarchy.

I think the main thrust of the reader’s interest is the world that Aldiss has created here, rather than the character’s story within it, which seems more a vehicle to explore the jungle, its inhabitants, and the history of the remains of humanity rather than to tell their story which is essentially one of flight and fear. The principal character, Gren, is allowed a little personal growth (sorry, I couldn’t resist), but considering all he’s gone through, is basically unchanged by the end. When the elders of his tribe ‘go up’ to heaven – that is, hitch a ride in airtight urns on the legs of mile-long space-travelling spider-plants, he leaves his childhood friends when his desire to lead the group is challenged, and from then on gains and loses travelling companions as he battles with the dense, dangerous undergrowth, one of which is a parasitic intelligent fungus that takes over his brain.

Hothouse was first published in 1962 when gender politics and ecological anxieties were dots on the horizon for most people, and it was possible to approach in a spirit of joyful play subjects that are now matters for earnest, urgent and often acrimonious discussion.

This book hearkens back to a time when sci-fi writers were willing to take many more risks, when they were as willing to put the same effort fantasy writers do into world building.

My tweets

• Tue, 22:14: New Romney and Hythe Visit http://t.co/fAJLSAAifK


• Tue, 22:55: Book 11 - Slavoj Zizek "The Metastases Of Enjoyment" http://t.co/mmPK0D3S0D


• Wed, 08:11: I might try that Deezer site for the personalized music stream


• Wed, 09:04: Book 12 - Brian Aldiss "Hothouse" http://t.co/QeZUqikd8l


• Wed, 11:24: Informed by Office to do scanning job tomorrow so i am now off to Tenderden via Maidstone

Tenderden and Headcorn Visit

What a lovely sunny day it turned out to be and just so right for a trip down to picturesque  Tenderden and Headcorn to do four covert shops - all chazzers as the guys at www,verygoodplus.co.uk would say.

Picked up a mixed bag of CD's and books, plus a DVD recommended by ex-landlord of the Dover Castle Inn (Phil) which is "Futurama,-  Bender's Game" from one of the shops in Tenderden.

The books are paperbacks, except for one on runes -

Julian Barmes - A History Of The World in 10 1/2 Chapters (Picador)
Spike Milligan - The Essential Spike Milligan (Fourth Estate)
Simon Van Booy - Love Begins In Winter (Beautiful Books)
Sue Bruley - Women In Britain Since 1900, Social History In Perspective (Palgrove)
Ralph Blum - The Book Of Runes (Michael Joseph Ltd)





The CD's are -

Edvard Grieg - Piano Concerto in A Minor, Concert Overture,Symphonic Dances ,
            Havard Gimse (piano), Royal Scottish National Orch. / Bjarte Engeset (Naxos)

The Ipamenas - Afro Bossa (Far Out Recordings) - best described as Latin electronica with a bossa feel




Animal Collective - Spirit They've Gone Spirit They've Vanished / Danse Manatee (Fat Cat)
Ladyhawke - s/t (Modular Recordings)
The Flaming Lips - At war With The Mystics (Warner Bros.)
Liars - They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top (Blast First)
Radiohead - Hail To The Thief (EMI)

Great getting the Liars album and the first Animal Collective double album. Both got excellent reviews from the Wire magazine when they came out.. I also love the music of Grieg which i am listening to as i write.

Talking of the Wire magazine, which is still the best music mag around for its erudition and breadth of genres it covers, i bought the latest yesterday as it has a primer on the music of Steve Lacy. Mr. Lacy has been a jazz saxophonist of great artistry and intelligence moving between cool jazz to bebop to avant garde improv wig-outs.

Headcorn Photos

I forgot to add a couple of pictures taken with the phone whilst i was in Headcorn today.- so here they are -







And i had a beer at the pub yonder the road next to the Kitchen Connections place., the appropriately called Pitchfork Ale.