Comfort re-read #1.

Comfort re-read this over the weekend when The Dark Tower was kicking my ass. It did its job admirably.

Well, actually, I will confess that the bleak atmosphere of Cline’s 2045 wasn’t as comforting as it usually is because all the bleakness and decay felt a lot less imaginary and removed than it has in the past. But the gamified storyline and the sheer pleasure of solving puzzles and having adventures and beating the corrupt bad guy in order to win the day was still really fucking appealing. And go ahead, call me naïve, but I really appreciate the underlying message here that no matter how bleak things get, we can always work to make them better. To pop our little turtle heads out of our shells.

Also, I really needed to read this at least one more time before the movie came out and my head-images are corrupted forever. Sometimes it’s okay when that happens (Emma Watson as Hermione). But sometimes I like my head-images way better and they go away forever after an actor takes over (Sam Heughan/Jamie Fraser/Outlander).