En smakebit på søndag er et konsept jeg har lånt av Mari på Flukten fra virkeligheten. Alt du trenger å gjøre er å slå opp i boka du leser nå og velge ut noen setninger du synes passer – uten at de avslører for mye av handlingen – før du legger dem ut på bloggen din og legger igjen ei lenke i innlegget til Mari. På denne måten kan vi klikke oss fra smakebit til smakebit, og kanskje oppdage nye skatter?
Jeg koser meg fortsatt med scifi-klassikeren The Day of the Triffids av John Wyndham, så dere skal få en smakebit til derfra. Vaskeseddelen sier fortsatt som følger: When Bill Masen wakes up blindfolded in hospital there is a bitter irony in his situation. Carefully removing his bandages, he realizes that he is the only person who can see: everyone else, doctors and patients alike, have been blinded by a meteor shower. Now, with civilization in chaos, the triffids – huge, venomous, large-rooted plants able to ‘walk’, feeding on human flesh – can have their day. The Day of the Triffids, published in 1951, expresses many of the political concerns of its time: the Cold War, the fear of biological experimentation and the man-made apocalypse. However, with its terrifyingly believable insights into the genetic modification of plants, the book is more relevant today than ever before.
Smakebiten kommer fra side 120, og mye har i grunn skjedd siden Bill Masen våknet opp som en av veldig få med synet i behold:
It was while I was below, investigating the nature of the cases down there that I heard a sound of shouts somewhere outside. Close upon it came a thunder of trampling boots on the floor above me. One man came down through the trap-door and pitched on his head. He did not move or make another sound. I jumped to it that there must be a battle with a rival gang in progress up there. I stepped across the fallen man, and climbed the ladder-like stair cautiously, holding up one arm to protect my head.