Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton (4.7🌟)

Judas Unchained is the second book in the Commonwealth Saga. See my post on the first book Pandora's Star.

So much happens in this book (actually in both books) it will take me days to digest. However it was a great conclusion to the story and a great read. Not much to comment but to recommend this saga to any Science Fiction fan. It was worth the 4 weeks it took me to read the two books.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (4🌟)

A psychological rollercoaster or a ghost story, or both? A young governess notices two people wandering around the house where she works. However when she asks, she is told that the people she is describing are dead. To find out the truth she investigates the history of the house and the owner. She asks questions. The children she looks after say they don't see anyone, but she thinks they are lying. No one else in the house can see them. Are the visitations "real ghosts" or is the governess going mad?

No matter how much she wants to help, with every turn of the screw, the crisis worsens.

Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton (4.8🌟)

This a is well written, gripping story. Three hundred years in the future, humanity has colonised over 400 hundred planets. This was possible due to the invention of wormhole technologies which allow people to travel through space without spaceships. Wormholes also allow faster, almost instant communication between planet's light years away. Humanity is enjoying immortality with rejuvenation treatments which reverse the ageing process, and re-life procedures ( resucitation!) in which digital copies of people consciousness and memories are uploaded into new bodies made with DNA information.

Anyway this is only a snippet of this universe created by Hamilton. The action kicks with the discovery of what seem to be Dyson Spheres enclosing two solar systems. A decision is made to travel more than one thousand light years to investigate them. Political, economic and scientific struggle arise from this decision, but the focus of the story is set on answering a couple of questions. What kind of civilisation could have the technology to build a dyson sphere? And why would they do that?

A Cyborg Manifesto. Science, technology and socialist feminism in the late twentieth century by Donna Haraway

Cyborg Manifesto is an essay on feminism, part of Simians, cyborgs and women. A book of essays on feminist theory.

I can't say I enjoyed this read. Its dense academic writing isn't easy to read. Add to that my ignorance of historical and theoretical context. Add to that, that after reading the introduction to the book (which I kind of enjoyed) I went on reading the first 3 essays (the plan was to read Cyborg Manifesto only) which discuss work on natural sciences in the late 19 century and early 20 century. Haraway explains how some reputed scientific work of the time was biased against women. Scientists applied socially constructed ideas on violence and dominance in their studies acknowledging them as natural. Can't say more because, not my thing...
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Skip to the Cyborg Manifesto,... I realised this essay doesn't discuss much (not as much as I had wished) the concept of cyborg. What it does (in my limited understanding) is to use, the concept of "cyborg", first to acknowledg the humanity of cyborgs (they are humans!), and second to emphasise the non-natural  aspects of their construction to use them as theoretical tools to improve modern world feminism. Ideas like "women should stay at home" or "women should be mothers" would not apply if we thought of ourselves as cyborgs. Why? Because cyborgs are not natural but constructed. Cyborgs can reconstruct themselves the way they want given the tools available in our time. (I wish I could develop this idea more but I can't ) Anyway I guess theorists such as Haraway used the concept of cyborg to dispute structures such as men dominance over women which are, I think, not natural.

I downloaded a pdf version of the book from my university library.
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Fun bit, Haraway, mentions science fiction authors such as Octavia Butler, Joanna Russ and Samuel R. Delany. .

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (4🌟)

Solaris is a science fiction novel. It is considered a classic of its genre. Originally published in Polish in 1961. It was translated to English by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox.

The story follows Kelvin, a psychologist who arrives at a space station orbiting Solaris. He finds the crew suffering from hallucinations or so he thinks. After one day or so Kelvin is visited by a a woman who resembles his wife. Only his wife has been dead for over a decade.

Throughout the story we see Kelvin's state of mind deteriorate while at the same time he does some research to understand what's going on on the planet. However I do not consider this novel a character study but an exploration of ideas.

This novel not only explores the emotional and psychological effects planet Solaris has on humans but also the strange ocean-like organism which seems to be the only inhabitant of the planet. There is also a fair amount of historical scientific accounts of in situ exploration and theories about the nature of the Solarian ocean. Is it sentient? Is it alive?

My edition is a paperback published by Faber and Faber in 2016. 214 pages.

The Walking Man by Jiro Taniguchi (4🌟)

Stories about a man who walks. Very little dialogue. This book is more about sensations than action. Beautiful city views and natural landscapes. The man goes out with his wife, dog or by himself to enjoy those little things in life most of us tend to ignore.

Not sure which story I liked the most. I liked all of them but I certainly liked some scenes more than others. For example where the walking man relaxes on a tree or when he helps an old lady or many in which he just wanders the streets with no clear purpose but to enjoy the walk.

East Asian Film Noir. Transnational Encounters and Intercultural Dialogue. Edited by Chi-Yun Shin and Mark Gallagher. (3.8🌟)

12 essays exploring East Asian Film Noir or at least with film noir elements.

My Favourite essays :

Chapter 1. Out of the past: film noir, whiteness and the end of the monochrome era in Japan by Daisuke Miyao. Discusses Jasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Twilight and Conflagration by Kon Ichikawa.

Chapter 2. Ghost in the Shell: the noir instinct by Dan North. Discusses noir elements in the anime films.

Chapter 11. Tony Leung's Noir Thrillers and Transnational Stardom by Mark Gallagher. On The famous chines actor's hability to portray noir characters. (You may know Tony Leung from the Infernal Affairs trilogy and In the Mood for Love)

Chapter 12. Double identity: the stardom of Xun Zhou and the Figure of the Femme Fatale by Chi-Yun Shin. On The actress's portrayal as femme fatale characters. (I've seen this actress before in The Banquet (2006) Now I'm more interested in seeing more of her filmography, particularly Suzhou River and Painted Skin.) #filmnoir #eastasianfilm #chiyunshin #markgallagher #readstagram #nonfictionbook #marzoasiatico