Frozen

I'm still working my way through The Left Hand of Darkness.   Set in a frigid climate, the plot is moving as slowly as the main character's journey across the frozen terrain.  Seems appropriate that another big snowstorm is headed my way this weekend.

I've never lived in a place where it snows before.  Not going to lie, I'm slightly enchanted when I look out of my kitchen window and see the white, unmarked carpet of snow covering our property.  The frosty branches of the cedar trees outside of my bedroom window are damn magical.  I am fully aware that I am in the honeymoon phase of my winter domesticity, no denying that.  I haven't yet been snowed in.  I haven't had to shovel out my car in order to go grocery shopping.  I haven't slid off an icy road.  So far its been all freaking Elsa/Anna and I'm all in.

My first steps into the world of science fiction, however, are purely Han Solo frozen in Carbonite.  Slow moving.

System Overload

Danger, danger, Will Robinson!

I'm going to be real honest, my foray into science fiction has left my brain a little tired.  Learning a new language, entirely by context, is exhausting.  I find myself skipping over whole chunks of narrative, jumping back in when I see something familiar or when I catch myself doing it and feel embarrassed for not reading every word, worrying that I might have missed something important.

But this is only a book.  About a made up world in an imagined time with a completely fictional language.  Whether or not I read or understand every word doesn't matter a whit.  It won't effect my life one way or another.

It makes me mindful of those who move to new countries where the language is different than the one they already speak.  How draining it must be to walk where the whole world swirls around you, catching only a few words at a time, trying to keep up and make a life without ever making a mistake. Mistakes when one is a stranger in a strange land can be dangerous.  Just thinking these things humbles me.  How fortunate I am to live in a place where the common language is my native tongue.  How courageous it is to live a new life and to learn a new language all in the real world.  I'm only brave in books.

Sci-Fi?

I’ve committed to expanding my genre horizons this year and I’m starting with some Science Fiction. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, specifically.  It’s not starting off well.  I’ll keep you posted.  I might need a glossary and more whiskey.