A Conversation for Talking Point: A Good Read
Clever
Nightowl Started conversation May 6, 2003
Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson is a YUM. Good story, snappy dialogue, clever writing in a great style.
Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins. Great balance, informative, and very funny. Some of his other work is too self-indulgent, but this one sings. If you have been looking for the perfect taco, look here next.
A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, by Julian Barnes. A very good writer, a clever book. And for starters, if you were wondering what really happened on the ark. . .
The Shipping News, by E. Annie Proulx. Clever writing, lovely characters very well drawn. A mediocre newspaper writer who sees and thinks in headlines, Quoyle comes alive and will stay with you long after the book is over. Of course he is nothing like Kevin Spacey, so don't get distracted there. Quoyle is a literary character to rival some of your perenial favourites.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Persig. Still my favourite head-trip, a lovely discussion of quality: "an inquiry into values".
Stephenson; Pratchett; Aldiss; Wodehouse
The Biggest Hairiest Scotsman in the Land Posted May 6, 2003
I agree wholeheartedly with Cryptonomicon. A great read. Densely plotted, and it hangs tgether on a number of levels. Recommended. (I even bought a second copy, because I left my first in Spain! It's that good!) I've also recently read 'The Diamond Age' which I thought to be absolutely riveting, up until the last few chapters. I found the ending rather trite, but overall the book had a lot going for it... many of the ideas made me think of 'the difference engine' meets 'mona lisa overdrive' meets 'do androids dream of electric sheep?'. Not to suggest it's at all derivative, but there are only so many permutations.
Read recently and also worth a look:
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett (also see the Pratchett threads here). I love all of the discworld books - and I was reading them before they were famous!
Supertoys last all summer long - by Brian Aldiss. A collection of very aldiss short stories, including the 'supertoys' stories that formed the foundation for the spielberg movie AI (but don't hold that against them!). As Stanley Kubrick said of him: Aldiss' has two modes of writing brilliant or not so damned good. (truly it's seldom anywhere in between).
Ring for Jeeves by P G Wodehouse. in fact ANY Jeeves story for that matter. If you've ever pondered on the possibilities afforded by the english language for a well turned phrase fraught with expectation and delight... then Wodehouse is (was) the man to deliver. Fabulous, funny, frightfully frolicsome fun
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