BW22: Virtual Reality

 

Happy Sunday!  Ever since the 1980's when I first read Brian Daley's Tron, a story about a computer geek who gets sucked in his own computer world, stories about virtual reality have fascinated me.  Tron lead me to Larry Niven's Dream Park series to William Gibson's Neuromancer through the years to Ernest Cline's Ready Player One and Two, and now my current read, Armada.

"Zack Lightman has never much cared for reality. He vastly prefers the countless science-fiction movies, books, and videogames he's spent his life consuming. And too often, he catches himself wishing that some fantastic, impossible, world-altering event could arrive to whisk him off on a grand spacefaring adventure.

So when he sees the flying saucer, he's sure his years of escapism have finally tipped over into madness.

Especially because the alien ship he's staring at is straight out of his favorite videogame, a flight simulator called Armada--in which gamers just happen to be protecting Earth from alien invaders.

As impossible as it seems, what Zack's seeing is all too real. And it's just the first in a blur of revlations that will force him to question everything he thought he knew about Earth's history, its future, even his own life--and to play the hero for real, with humanity's life in the balance.

But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can't help thinking: Doesn't something about this scenario feel a little bit like...well...fiction?"

Join me in immersing yourself in Virtual Reality. 

Happy Memorial Day! 

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BW21: U is for ...

 

BIG U, little u, what begins with U?

Uncle Ubb’s umbrella and his underwear, too. 

~ Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book!

Sunday!  Big U, little u, what begins with U?  How about under, unique, utopia, umbrella, unicorn, ugly, and universal to name a few.   

Read a book with these words or any word that start with U on the cover.  

Read a utopian novel. 

Read a book with an ugly cover or with the word Ugly in the title and fulfill yet another one of our 52 books bingo categories.  

Read a book by an author whose name begins with U. 

Read a book that will make you 'ugly cry.' 

Read a book about an ugly duckling. 

Under The Moon

by 

Bayard Taylor

I.

From you and home I sleep afar,

Under the light of a lonely star,

Under the moon that marvels why

Away from you and home I lie.

Ah! love no language can declare,

The hovering warmth, the tender care,

The yielding, sweet, invisible air

That clasps your bosom, and fans your cheek

With the breath of words I cannot speak, --

Such love I give, such warmth impart:

The fragrance of a blossomed heart.

II.

The moon looks in upon my bed,

Her yearning glory rays my head,

And round me clings, a lonely light,

The aureole of the winter night;

But in my heart a gentle pain,

A balmier splendor in my brain,

Lead me beyond the frosty plane, --

Lead me afar, to mellower skies,

There under the moon a palace lies;

There under the moon our bed is made,

Half in splendor and half in shade.

III.

The marble flags of the corridor

Through open windows meet the floor,

And Moorish arches in darkness rise

Against the gleam of the silver skies:

Beyond, in flakes of starry light,

A fountain prattles to the night,

And dusky cypresses, withdrawn

In silent conclave, stud the lawn;

While mystic woodlands, more remote,

In seas of airy silver float,

So hung in heaven, the stars that set

Seem glossy leaves the dew has wet

On topmost boughs, and sparkling yet.

IV.

In from the terraced garden blows

The spicy soul of the tuberose,

As if 't were the odor of strains that pour

From the nightingale's throat as never before;

For he sings not now of wounding thorn,

He sings as the lark in the golden morn, --

A song of joy, a song of bliss,

Passionate notes that clasp and kiss,

Perfect peace and perfect pride,

Love rewarded and satisfied,

For I see you, darling, at my side.

V.

I see you, darling, at my side:

I clasp you closer, in sacred pride.

I shut my eyes, my senses fail,

Becalmed by Night's ambrosial gale.

Softer than dews the planets weep,

Descends a sweeter peace than sleep;

All wandering sounds and motions die

In the silent glory of the sky;

But, as the moon goes down the West,

Your heart, against my happy breast,

Says in its beating: Love is Rest.

Please share your thoughts and reviews. Link to your website, blog, Goodreads, Google+, Tumblers, or Instagram page. If you do not have a social media account, please leave a comment to let us know what you are reading. The link widget closes at the end of each book week. 

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Bw20: Happy Mother's Day

 

Happy Mother's Day!  

T 

is for

Terrific and tenacious, 

Timeless and tireless,

Tangible and transparent, 

Tough and tolerant,

Trusting and tranquil, 

Thoughtful and true! 

Please share your thoughts and reviews. Link to your website, blog, Goodreads, Google+, Tumblers, or Instagram page. If you do not have a social media account, please leave a comment to let us know what you are reading. The link widget closes at the end of each book week. 

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BW19: 52 Books Bingo - Space

“The three rules of the Librarians of Time and Space are: 

1) Silence; 

2) Books must be returned no later than the last date shown; and 

3) Do not interfere with the nature of causality.”

― Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

Happy Sunday! A door opens up and you see...Space.  You look up into the sky and see...Space.  You climb aboard a train and look for...Space.   

According to Dictionary.com: 

Space is the unlimited or incalculably great three-dimensional realm or expanse in which all material objects are located and all events occur.

The portion or extent of this in a given instance; extent or room in three dimensions: a space your body occupies. 

In Fine Arts, space is the designed and structured surface of a picture, or the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional surface.

In Mathematics. space is a system of objects with relations between the objects defined.

In Storytelling, space is an interval of time; a while. 

In Music, space is the interval between two adjacent lines of the staff.

In Telegraphy, space is an interval during the transmitting of a message when the key is not in contact.

Outer Space which is the space beyond the atmosphere of the earth or Deep Space which is the space beyond the limits of the solar system

Oh my. Space travel sound rather perilous.

 I can assure you they will never get me on 

one of those dreadful Star Ships. C-3PO from Star Wars.

In our household, we are big fans of everything Star Wars, so if you have a hankering to explore through their extended world,  check out these massive list  of canon in chronological order and legends in chronological order. 

 

Have fun traveling in, out, and about space! 

Please share your thoughts and reviews. Link to your website, blog, Goodreads, Google+, Tumblers, or Instagram page. If you do not have a social media account, please leave a comment to let us know what you are reading. The link widget closes at the end of each book week. 

In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field paste a link to your post, then check the privacy box and click enter.