Laura’s cousin Rachel and sister Katelyn went to Mexico for reading week. They arrived back yesterday and today the three of them wanted time for just the three of them.

So I went and did the grocery shopping and then spent the rest of the afternoon finishing another chapter in Hotel Dusk, reading about the (Doctor Who) Time War and finishing the book I was reading.

So now that I’ve finished Octavia Butler’s Dawn (by recommendation of Laura), I might as well talk about it. It was excellent! A science fiction book that deals with how difficult it would really be for humans to get used to aliens. Real aliens. Not the silly Star Trek ones where they’re all humanoids with different coloured skin or brow ridges. Real, disturbingly different, terrifying aliens. Faced with them, you really would be scared. And untrusting… even of other humans who trusted them. It really is quite a well thought out book and worth the read.

Unfortunately, in looking for a link to a page about Octavia, I discovered that she died today. Quite unfortunate as I imagine she had much more to contribute to the science fiction world.

Later on, Laura and I rented ‘Man of the Year’ which was excellent and thoroughly enjoyed. It was approximately what I was expecting, however the overall plot wasn’t what the trailers had portrayed. Which was good. I was worried it would be completely implausible but they managed to keep it reasonably plausible.