Books I've read this year so far.
Submitted by smi2le on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 10:02
Tags:
- All Tomorrow's Parties - William Gibson
- Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
- The Worlds of Nam June Paik - Guggenheim
- Stardust - Neil Gaiman
- Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco
- The Reenchantment of The World - Morris Berman
Author Comments:
It's been a busy year so far and I haven't been able to spend as much time reading as I would have liked. I think there's a few that might have sliped through. I'll add them as I remember.
It took me a whole year to read _Foucault's Pendulum_ (I think it was 1991) but I really loved it (it's on my favorite list). I wish it would come out on tape (unabridged), I hate to 'waste' actual reading time on a book I've already read.
I also liked _Neverwhere_ but hated the wimpy main character.
How was that Gibson book? I've only read _Neuromancer_ but I liked that a lot too.
Foucault's Pendulum was great. I read it in under a month. Well, I read it while walking down the street, while eating, would have read it in my sleep if I could. Great fun. The ending was a bit disapointing, but I can see why it had to be.
As for Neverwhere, that whimpy main character is what passes for a "hero" in the UK. Look at aurther dent in Douglas Adem's books. The idea that the main character has to be this strong, together super-hero is an American thang.
Gibson's a lot of fun. If you liked Neuromancer you'll love Stephenson's "Snowcrash", IMHO the best cyberpunk novel ever.
Snowcrash was indeed great. Have you read the rest of Stephenson's stuff?
Yea I guess you're right about the hero thing. I hate it when the hero has to have this big retinue of characters to save him from anything bigger than a garden snake (and I'm definitely American). I guess authors use the whimpy hero as a way for normal people (who probably aren't strong, together, super-heroes) to relate instead of itimidating them with a flawless hero that they could never hope to be.
Everyone tells me that I would really like _Snowcrash_ a lot and that it's my kind of thing so I guess I should read it sooner or later. I have been keeping my eye out for a copy but I'm really cheap so it could be a while. If I like it a lot I'll probably do _Diamond Age_ but I don't think I'll ever get to _Cryptonomicon_ it's just too damn big and somebody said there's math in it.
_Diamond Age_ was good as well, but keep in mind that the ending SUCKS. _Cryptonomicon_ is a different beast entirely but I liked it as well.
_snowcrash_ was his most thrilling book. Great endung. I didn't think _Diamond Age was all that bad. The ending was a bit weak, but then again a good ending is a rare beast. Cryptonomicon was a whole lot of fun.