Read [on the way back home (and during the following jet-lagged nights)] the Ninth Rain and its sequel the Bitter Twins, by Jen Williams, for which she won twice a British Fantasy Award. I am twice as surprised given that it is quite a poor series, with a simplistic approach to its world building, a dreary time-line repeating the all-too-common pattern of a very few individuals saving the planet from a recurrent alien invasion, and bickering about mundane issues like clothes or food while facing an alien invasion. The only thing I appreciated was the character of Vintage (!), both vignerone and femme savante. But I particularly disliked the mix of fantasy (kingdoms and a mostly primitive society) and science-fiction (spaceships, magic-driven trains). The cliffhanging final chapter of the Ninth Rain was rather predictable and the inconsistency in the character psychology a major flaw. The second volume is even poorer, with new major elements of the world being suddenly revealed, more bickering/whining, and even less consistency… I had also brought west the massive Les Furtifs by Alain Damasio, which I bought in De Gaulle airport months ago. But I just could not finish it, due to both the pretentious if clever style and the charicaturesque depiction of rebels within a highly numeric capitalistic society.
Came home to solve electrical problems (by calling the right company!), harvest the very first harvest of potatoes [a small basket amounting to more than my yearly consumption], and clean the garden to try to reduce the population of mosquitoes that exploded this (wet) summer. Due to the hot weather, cooked very little, having instead all sorts of salads, including a refreshing radish marinade vaguely inspired by Murakami.
Watched the (short) second season of D.P., a Korean series on the pursuit of deserters from the Korean Army (during their military service). Rather a serialised movie since the story sketches over the six episodes, quite dark in its depiction of hazing within the troops and cover-ups by the hierarchy. Despite strongly unrealistic situations, as e.g. at the end, I rather enjoyed it, in part because of its criticism of the Korean institutions, stronger than in other series.
