In December, John gave me a homework assignment: “You want to include some sort of ‘mystery’ element in your stories? You better get familiar with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.” It seemed like a simple enough request. Get down with the classic, defining bodies of pulp noir. Sam Spade? Philip Marlowe? You better know these […]
I forget where I came across GoodReads.com the first time around but I had basically just removed the link from my del.icio.us “todo” set when Sarah pops up and tells Wranglers to get on board. So, several Wranglers later, I cave and join up as well. Short versions of immediate impressions: The concept is neat […]
Hot damn. Beyond the Beyond has been a treasure trove this week. Via B^2: “Bradbury denies free speech message in Fahrenheit 451” — Doctorow writes: Fahrenheit 451 was seminal for me, the book that turned me into a believer in free speech, a cause I’ve devoted my life to. It’s pretty heart-breaking to hear Bradbury […]
Reading list for the week while we’re laid up, kickin’ it on the beach? Christopher Moore’s A Dirty Job. Why? Lamb was incredibly good, Blood-Sucking Fiends was entertaining beach fodder in the past, as was Island of the Sequined Love Nun. Plus, I am sooooo judging this book by its cover. (Who wouldn’t?) Plus, this […]
Just wrapped up Ian McDonald’s River of Gods and have decided to go with the “highly recommended” rating on this one. When you pick this up and hold the hard cover in your hands, its heft is a little intimidating. When you put it down 597 pages later, you’ll wonder how he managed to keep […]
Hot off the heels of Blindsight, I decided to stay in the scifi realm for my next read and made John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War the novel of choice. You might say that I decided to give “harder scifi” a second chance. In this instance, I’m not entirely certain that was a good idea. I’ve […]
Saddening indeed is the passing of Kurt Vonnegut. His prose was like none other, his insight into humanity preternatural, his sense of humor as scathing as it was sympathetic. A history teacher in high school first exposed me to him through God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. While I have forgotten much of what that story […]
I first caught wind of Peter Watts’ Blindsight via B^2 back in December and promptly added it to my “to read” list for 2007 based on the following remark: Peter writes the angriest, darkest sf I’ve ever read, heart-rending stuff that makes you glad you’re alive if only because you’re better off than his characters. […]
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Since you asked: yes, I did finish Hesse’s Demian. I was… It was OK. I found the novel slow to start, difficult to deliver its theme, and a bit pale in the spectrum of existentialist literature. I have a feeling that I may have enjoyed it more at age 17 but it held no new […]