the old poet...

Back in February, on the recommendation of two friends, I took Dan Simmon's sci-fi novel, Hyperion, with me on my cruise. I read the book, a story told well in the future in the model of The Canterbury Tales, and enjoyed it but I didn't love it. My friends encouraged me to keep on reading - at least giving the 2nd book in the series, The Fall of Hyperion, a chance. Six months after reading Hyperion, I finally picked up The Fall of Hyperion in August and devoured it. At the end of September I made my way through the third book, Endymion, which is set 274 years after the end of the 2nd, and, today, I finally finished the fourth book in this series, The Rise of Endymion.

All of that is a round about way of saying: I LOVED THIS SERIES.

It's an investment - probably 2200 pages in all - but totally worth it. The Hyperion Cantos is about science, technology, morality, religion, and love. It's about the danger of unchecked power, ambition, and greed and the destructive force of blind faith in pursuit of those aims. It's about living in a universe more expansive than we can imagine and, at it's core, it's a love story. About 3/4 of the way through the final book I was sure I knew what was coming (and I mostly did) and that I wouldn't cry (of course I did).

There's also kick ass time travel in the story. Having just finished the fourth book, I'm overwhelmed at the unexpected threads that carried their way through all four books.

I actually didn't start this post as a book review/rec but there you have it.

Has anyone else read the series? Come talk to me!

This weekend was so productive. Even reading 400+ pages of The Rise of Endymion, I still took care of everything on my list. \o/ That leaves time to watch some CSI tonight. Next up...Pirates of the Third Reich (which I just watched on my iPhone two weeks ago but could watch endlessly).

A few more things:

Dean/Castiel is my new, shiny pairing of choice. I'm pretty picky in the fic I read but if I see it's Dean/Castiel I'll give anything a shot. Kripke makes it so easy to want more.

The Viggo movie promo train continues: Viggo Mortensen's history lessons: The actor, who stars in 'Good,' a film adaptation of a play he saw more than 25 years ago about 1930s Germany, sees parallels between the movie plot, the real world in 1982 and the world now.

I rarely, if ever, see comedies but "Role Models" looks HYSTERICAL. Not as good as Quantum of Solace, though. I wasn't a Bond fan until Daniel Craig came along.

It seems that lilysaid and I are the only people I know who watched last week's House. Anyone??? ( Cut for spoilers and video of the final scene )

What the heck is General Hospital: Nightshift? And is that Robin Scorpio back in Port Charles?