Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Currently reading . . .
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Interesting thus far . . . it’s a murder mystery with a dog as the victim, a 15-year-old with Asperger’s syndrome as the sleuth. I’m not sure how well this novel gets inside the Asperger’s mind, but the arguments in the comments at Amazon suggest that even the Asperger’s parents are undecided on that one.
While on vacation, I finished Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. Books like Blood Meridian always make me doubt my intellect. Am I too dense to figure this one out? Is the author being too obscure? I get the basic idea (evil is real, and eternal), I understand Holden (the judge), but why is he a judge? And what the hell is up with that epilogue?
I also finished Vernor Vinge’s Rainbows End (note, the lack of apostrophe is intentional), in which the author created a believable near-future and populated it with a number of one- and sometimes two-dimensional characters. I’d had high hopes for the novel’s main character, Robert Gu, a celebrated poet whose decline into Alzheimer’s is rolled back by the miracles of modern medicine. Gu had been the sort of poet laureate who is loved by his fans but hated by everyone who knows him. As he sheds the last shadows of dementia, his old nasty personality returns. Does he make good, does he become a decent human being? SPOILER yes, but is his transformation believable? Not in the least. Add to that an ending that’s a clear setup for a sequel, one that leaves way too many questions unanswered*, and you are left with an all too common question when assessing hard SF: do all the clever ideas make up for the novel’s other shortcomings?
And then in desperation, with nothing left to read, I picked up the second Bartimaeus novel, The Golem’s Eye, which Jake had just finished. (I finished it earlier today, which is why I downloaded Curious Incident to my Nook.) If you’re not familiar with the Bartimaeus trilogy, you’ve missed a good one. I think Kate turned me onto this, if I remember correctly. It’s kiddy lit, but fairly dark stuff, certainly darker than the Harry Potter saga. The second novel isn’t as good as the first or third (as usual for a trilogy) but still had lots of good snark from our favorite djinn.
How about you folks — read anything good lately? I’d have to say that True Grit still ranks as the best thing I’ve read lately, but Curious Incident may give it a run for its money.
D.
*Including, most unforgivably, the identity of the antagonist.
I liked The Curious Incident. I had started reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson when I was home, then misplaced it during unpacking. What I read so far was pretty good, but then I really like his stuff. His last trilogy was brilliant.
Oh, after your post on Inception dragged a group of colleagues off to see it. Loved it! Gorgeous people (can’t decide whether I’d rather have Arthur or Eames more and tend to think I’d just take both), great story, incredible visuals. Went to see it again. Maybe one more time. Then saw Batman Begins at home. Definitely Mr. Nolan and his long-time cinematographer have a specific style.
I’m rereading Sylanus Now.
I don’t think you’d care for it, but I love Donna Morrisey’s voice, and the Newfoundland setting.
Cheers
Just started “Tinkers” by Paul Harding.
I’ll second the recommendation for Anathem, but then I’m a raving Stephenson fan-girl. I also liked the Kage Baker Company novels (and am very sad there won’t be any more). Sadly, we’ve packed up most of our reading material to make the house look bigger, so I’m reduced to stealing books from the kids. HA3.0 read the Bartimaeus books at school and loved them – his school library has a way better selection than mine ever did.
I have to admit that I lost patience with Stephenson with Cryptonomicon, since it struck me as hopelessly padded and unedited and to a large degree predictable. Not what I had hoped for from the author of Snow Crash, which I loved.
Kira, you’ve been a huge fan of Stephenson for a long time now. I remember you sent us his first (The U? The Big U?) but I’m not sure whatever happened to that book. I hope I hung onto it, since I suspect it’s a rarity.
I remember reading an interview with Stephenson wherein he said he loves writing hugely bloated books (I’m sure he didn’t use that language) and if his readers didn’t like it, they could read someone else (and I’m not sure he used THAT language, either, but that was the drift). So I gave up. I like tight.
Maureen, you’re probably right — I’m not in the mood for bitterness and crushed dreams (I read the Amazon blurb). Curious Incident is more my speed.