many things make a post
July 17, 2012
* I've long suspected that this was the case.
* Road Trip!
* I have been to Arthur's Seat and had no idea about the coffins.
* The bears will eat you, ladies, because you are filthy.
* How many have you read? (Confession: I've never been able to finish Dhalgren.)
* This is what poverty looks like.
* On behalf of the 10+ minute milers, of which I am one.
* Mercy.
* Nerdgasm.
I read Dune and found it so boring/hard to get through/whatever that I gave myself permission to get rid of it and the 2 sequels I bought at the same time.
I made the mistake of taking Gravity's Rainbow to jury duty with me once and didn't get far. I have the audiobook to Jonathan Strange and loved it--I'm actually surprised that it made the list.
I'm also surprised that Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars didn't make the list. I've enjoyed them, but day-m they're a slog at some points. It's like he just has to throw every piece of science he learned while researching the books onto the page whether it advanced the plot or not.
Posted by: Jen Anderson | July 17, 2012 at 10:54 AM
Dune, Asimov, Orwell, Brackett ... and the others have all been on a "to-read" list since ...?
I am now working on how to draw a Samoyed ;) or a Doodle.
Posted by: bullwinkle | July 17, 2012 at 11:55 AM
What Jen said about Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - I found it very good and very readable, although with the caveat that the first 100 pages or so were a bit hard to get through. I think I was still getting the rhythm of the prose. And they do throw a big pile of characters and introduction at you.
I've never been able to get more than 10 pages into Dhalgren. Cryptonomicon is a brick and I've been unwilling to devote a week of my life to it. K is a huge Pynchon fan and got me reading Gravity's Rainbow. And while it's definitely hard to get through, I found it very satisfying and I've reread it a couple times. I get immersed in his style kind of like I get sucked into Faulkner. Although my favorite Pynchon is Vineland, which is supposed to be his throw-away lark of a book.
Posted by: Big Alice | July 17, 2012 at 12:57 PM
Well, I can claim Dhalgren and Dune as books I actually finished, thanks to an English class on Science Fiction that I took as an undergrad back in the day. (I think Dhalgren was still relatively new, and Dune had at most two sequels at the time, to give you an idea how long ago and far away that was. Also, there was only the one Star Wars movie.)
However, on the rest I'm a wash. Even on 1984, which I can't believe wasn't assigned for some high school English class. And I probably should have read Foundation, as I did most of the Grand Old Men of SF during my prime-reading adolescent years. But I think I didn't find his prose style or characters compelling enough for novel-length writing, so I left the longer stuff alone in favor of the short stories.
Posted by: Robert Faires | July 18, 2012 at 08:21 PM