Books, Books, Books

[MechDeus]

Random grab at Borders: Jennifer Government by Max Barry. I don't like the way a couple things were handled in terms of how characters turned out, but overall I'm loving it to death. It's a satire about a could-be future involving the complete saturation of the planet with American commercialization. I like!

Stone: You can use spoiler tags to hide text, written like <spoiler> and </spoiler> but use [ instead of <.

[Sqoon]

Originally posted by radiant
Heh, I'm reading V right now. It's a bit.. challenging, but I'm really liking it so far. The Crying of Lot 49 is excellent as well.

I read about 10 pages of V. a while back and I also thought it was a little dense, so I was a bit surprised at how accessible Vineland is. It jumps back and forth between the trashy and poetic pretty often, but I think it's great how whenever Pynchon mentions a movie, it is always followed with the year it was theatrically released. I'm not sure what he plans to do (if anything) with this pop culture self-reference, but it's funny regardless.

[radiant]

Originally posted by MechDeus
Jennifer Government by Max Barry

I read this last month. It was a lot of fun, very fast paced, but I was expecting a bit more out of the ending. I might pick up Syrup some time.

[Lobo]

Has anyone read Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino?

I just finished it, there’s little info about it on the net, and I want to get someone else's opinion on it.

[Sqoon]

Originally posted by Lobo
Has anyone read Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino?

I just finished it, there’s little info about it on the net, and I want to get someone else's opinion on it.

Oh neat, another Calvino reader. Unfortunately though, I haven't read much of Cosmicomics yet. From what I can pick up from all his books and short stories that I have read, they're all written in a similar fashion (literal and amused). If you're interested, I suggest Marcovaldo, If on a winter's night a traveler, and The Baron in the Trees if you haven't read them yet.

And this site is an excellent online Calvino resource (excerpts, links, essays, and other what have yous).

[Jimmy Carter]

Originally posted by spacecowboy
How about his new one, Prey? Anyone read it?

I got it for Christmas. It's actually a very good read. Very reminiscent of Jurassic Park, really. It's very tense. You get the idea that the entire situation is real and happening all around you. Very good if you need something to keep you up at night.

[Nick]

I always have about two or three video games and five or six books going at the same time.

Currently, I am reading Greek Thought: A Guide to Classical Knowledge, edited by Jacques Brunschwig and Geoffrey Lloyd. I am fascinated with Ancient Greece, as some of you may know, and this is the latest in a line of comprehensive overviews of pre-Socratic through Aristotelian thought I have tackled. I am starting to move on to Aquinas and his peers, but there's plenty of time for that.

Still working on finishing James Joyce's Ulysses. Sometime this summer, I gather, as I have started it over. I have read Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man multiple times and heartily recommend both.

In preparation of finally getting to Royko's Boss - an examination of the administration of Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, I am reading Mike Royko: A Life in Print, by F. Richard Ciccone.

I also am working through a couple of computer books and a couple of language books, but that is standard operation with me.

[Stone]

What point are you at in Ulysses, Nick? I almost wrote a thesis on it; it's one of my favorite books.

[Korly]

While shopping for Exist 2 Inspire the Hardy Boyz autobiography (which was actually really interesting, albeit extremely short) I discovered my Barnes & Noble discount. I forgot that B&N owned Babbages. Now, if only B&N had DVDs...

[Diff-chan]

Originally posted by Korly
While shopping for Exist 2 Inspire the Hardy Boyz autobiography (which was actually really interesting, albeit extremely short)

Its the Hardy Boyz... how much could have actually happened in their life to date?