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defrog
If you want book reports ... you got 'em.JUST FINISHED
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Insanely-detailed 900+ page epic about Arbre, a planet similar to Earth where intellectuals are segregated into the equivalent of monasteries (where they study math, science and philosophy, not religion as such, though their studies do take religious overtones), and what happens when one of them discovers an alien ship orbiting the planet. The level of world-building here is the kind of thing I usually avoid – not least because at least half of the narrative is driven by heavy philosophical discussions and, later, quantum mechanics and polycosmic theories. On the other hand, Stephenson (one of my favorite authors) has an impeccably readable style and he keeps it as breezy as possible – so much so that even though technically he could have cut a good 400 pages out of the final manuscript without hurting the plot, the whole concept of Arbre probably would have been less convincing and less rewarding as a result. At least for me. Definitely not for everyone, but if you like a good philosophical thought exercise with yr fiction, I’d recommend it.
JUST STARTED
The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi
In which trade negotiations between Earth and an alien race go sour after a high-tech farting incident leaves both negotiators dead, and the only thing standing between them and interstellar war is a rare breed of sheep. So far, so weird, and in a good way.
RECENT TITLES
The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
MacLeod’s take on the War On Terror and the direction it could have taken as US military action spreads through the Middle East and general xenophobia (and wholesale govt surveillance) runs rampant. The novel starts with an apparent nuke attack on a USAF base in Scotland and follows the impact on a British IT engineer spying for France and his peace-activist daughter, while conspiracy theory blogs serve as disinformation smokescreens to the point that no one knows the truth about anything – which leads to dire consequences later as things get out of hand. Which is a great idea, though inevitably this makes it hard to follow what’s going on. Also, the ending is a head-scratcher. Still, points for setting the story in an alternative future where Al Gore won the 2000 election – the point being that the US response to 9/11 would have been more or less the same regardless of the party in power.
Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley
In which a stuffy but successful Washington D.C. talk show host gets abducted by aliens twice and uses his celebrity to launch a campaign to get Congress to hold hearings on alien abductions. Buckley has a lot of fun with the premise and uses it to poke fun at the Beltway’s high society and power mechanisms to great effect (to say nothing of UFO conspiracy theorists). The explanation for the abductions is hilarious in itself and worth the read. Highly recommended. Also, if it helps, Buckley keeps the humor non-partisan, so don’t let his conservative credentials throw you.
Right Ho, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse
The second full-length Jeeves novel, in which lots of characters are caught up in unrequited love, and Bertie Wooster – annoyed that everyone goes to Jeeves for advice on the assumption that Bertie is a clueless chump – forbids Jeeves to help and sets out to prove that he can come up with better schemes to help his friends and relatives. Naturally, the more Bertie advises his friends, the worse everyone’s situations get, and it’s great fun watching everything deteriorate around him until, inevitably, Jeeves steps in and saves the day within a few hours time. Brilliant.
The Valley Of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The last of the full-length Sherlock Holmes novels, and for my money the best of the bunch. It’s fairly straightforward – a police informant working for Professor Moriarty sends a coded message to Holmes warning (too late) that someone at Birlstone is about to be murdered. The subsequent investigation has a nice twist, and although Holmes solves the murder halfway through the book – leaving Doyle to spend the second half explaining the backstory leading up to it – the second half involving a criminal secret society in America is a good yarn in itself with the book’s second big twist. Nicely done.
Case closed,
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no subject
on 2011-06-07 07:25 am (UTC)My quibble with it isn't the length, though, it's the huge amount of reference to a philosophical history that spans thousands of years. I understand that Stephenson needed to reorganize the history of natural science a bit from the way it happened on our world, and that's fine, but to make up new names for hundreds of fictional scientists and philosophers, sort them into a lineage and then have the characters refer back to them constantly is a bit of a big ask.
I don't know why I don't like Ken MacLeod better than I do. He writes interesting, tech-savvy, politically-aware science fiction that sounds right up my alley, on paper, but which invariably fails to convince me.
no subject
on 2011-06-07 07:27 am (UTC)no subject
on 2011-06-07 12:34 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-06-07 12:40 pm (UTC)Other sites seem to be able to detect that I'm arleady logged into something openID aware and roll with it, but Dreamwidth made me set up and verify a google profile.