Sort of a poem in novella form, this book is probably the closest I’ll ever get to visiting outer space.
It takes a look into “a day in the life” of astronauts (and cosmonauts) on board the International Space Station. A day orbiting the Earth is quite different from a day down here on the surface, and it certainly was a unique setting.
There are a lot of descriptions of the views from the ISS as it circles the planet, calling out countries and areas as they pass. Sometimes I felt like these were going on longer than they needed to, to the point of wondering if the author is trying to call out every country on Earth. This is divided into several sections in the book – so I think the author knew that it might be overwhelming in one block.
It was not a long book, and I think I did myself a disservice by reading it in chunks. I’d recommend reading it in as few pieces as possible to get a feel for the structure.
Next I am reading The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard.
