Reading List

Blatantly lifted from Sara, this is just a rough list of the books I'm reading, (not including comics, magazines, or news articles). I like seeing what others are reading, and this is a good way for me to track my literary consumption.

Clicking on the title of any of the books below will take you to the appropriate page on Amazon.com, where you can get more info or buy the book. Yes... I get a small referral bonus if you buy something. But it costs you nothing extra, and may make me a few bucks towards my next book.

Now reading…

Accelerando by Charles Stross

The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison

September 2005 – July 2006

Zodiac by Neal Stephenson

Heavy Weather by Bruce Sterling

Distraction by Bruce Sterling

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown — Crap. I openly admit that I tend to avoid books and movies and other entertainment that manages to become mass cultural phenomenon. But the movie was coming out, that I wanted to see for Audrey Tautou if nothing else. So I felt like I should read the book first. Boy... wrong choice. At least the movie was strictly boring. The book was one dense block of data with a few "a's, and's and the's" thrown in. He has all the info-fetishism of Neal Stephenson without any of the ability to write an interesting story.

Interface by Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George — The 3rd and last known apocryphal Stephenson book. Very heavy on the characterization. Politics and dirty politics, as fodder for serious money. (Something which doesn't get examined in itself very much). Although the questionable timeline was bugging me throughout the book, it remained interesting. The ending may have been a bit forced though, as nothing in the book particularly leads up to it logically, so much as it's a stock "this is a badass way to stick it to the bad guys" ending.

The Cobweb by Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George — Another of the apocryphal Neal Stephensons. A little less information-dense than his major books. But you can still see his style showing through, even when co-writing with his uncle. Believable characters. A story that starts out slow but entertaining, and finishes off with a political-action-adventure bang.

Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling — Sterling himself, in the intro, calls this the epitome of his cyberpunk work. And yeah, it has everything that I consider cyberpunk, (any story about how technology affects humans and their interactions). But it doesn't "feel" like cyberpunk to me. Can't nail down, why, though. I do have trouble every time a "cyberpunk" story takes place in outer space. Or more precisly, I think I have a probllem with cyberpunk in a clean, Star Trek-sh outer space. I think cyberpunk's major authors and stories really connected with their audience because they made technology very human... imperfect, dirty, and questionable. But in stories like the Schismatrix series, while the techology is intimatly mingled with humanity, it is too clean... and not human enough itself.

The Big U by Neal Stephenson — One of Stephenson's apocryphal books, (there are 3 so far that it's known he wrote or co-wrote, for which he publicly never mentions). I could actually identify immensly with it. It is almost a perfect picture—be it the people, the architecture, or the actions—of my own former university. This book stands out among Stephenson's writings as the only major fictional work that doesn't fetishize information itself. But I loved it as a pure, pulp fun.

Syrup by Max (Maxx) Barry — His first major book, AFAIK. I hesitate to compare it to Dilbert. It's much more intelligent and thorough in it's portrayal and lampooning of corporate culture. Barry writes "real-er" people than most authors.

Denial and Deception by Melissa Boyle Mahle — She's not an engaging author, and wears her heart on her sleeve. But I wasn't looking for a particularly enjoyable read. What it offers is an insider and in-depth telling of the major activities of the CIA during the late 80s and 90s, personal bias and all.

August 2005

Globalhead by Bruce Sterling — A collection of short stories, cyberpunk in nature. Sterling is a little post-cold war/militaristic/political obsessed. And everything is said with a sly grin. If you can deal with those...then yes, he's a hellof a writer, and this collection shows it. Great collection of stories with diverse story telling methods and ideas.

July

A Wizard of Earthsea, Tombs of Atuan, and The Furthest Shore by Ursula LeGuin — The Earthsea Trilogy - a well-known fantasy trilogy. I've had these sitting on my shelf for probably 15 years or more. Must have come from an auction or library sale. I can't complain too much about how deliberate they are, since they are geared towards young adults. But there wasn't much in the way of thought involved… you just follow the story along. It's not particularly fantastic, either. Despite being—you know—a fantasy book. No sense of wonder or beauty. It's good enough... probably should have just read it years ago.

June

Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry — Started this yesterday. About two-thirds the way through. Very realistic... very relatable. For me, at least. The introduction claimed many people interpreted the characters actions as civil rights moves. I don't see that. The author, in fact, goes to great lengths to show that there's nothing crusading or epic about Mama's actions. *shrug* We'll see how the story finisheds up. Wish I could have seen the original cast performing this.

Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch — I don’t know that I would call this a book. If it had been set in a reasonable type size and leading on a standard page size, it would've come out to 40 pages. A long story. Just had to get that out there… annoyed me, considering the cover price. The book is fairly well written... a very literary feel to it. Disch must have studied writing. There were no surpises, right up until about the last 3 pages. The final plot twist isn't particularly original... but I didn't see it coming. One thing that bugs me, is how the protagonist seems to completely forget about his wife. Everyone else brought into his program supposedly were chosen for few outside attachments.

The System of the World by Neal Stephenson — Finally finished The Confusion last month. This is the third book in the trilogy. Again, about 900 pages. Jack seems to have taken a smaller role, while Daniel Waterhouse is being featured again, having survived his return trip from Massachusetts. The characters are starting to swirl around eachother, approaching the drain at the end of the story. I'm enjoying the story a lot, and don't look forward to the end and no more of these characters. Update: Finished! 2,700 pages. A little less techno-fetishism in this book than a normal Stephenson book. More political intrigue and mystery. Interesting to note: The more: The vanity and ego of the characters tended to be in opposite proportion to their level of wealth and power. Le Roy and William the Conquerer, the two most truley powerful characters in the trilogy, were both extremely down-to-earth and practical. Similarly, the Malabar Queen and Jack. While the Philosophers and associates, who had little practical power, thought quite a lot of themselves and what they were doing. No suprise endings or anything. Just rounding out a involved, well-told story. I'm a little disappointed at the Hollywood ending of the last few pages. They could have been completely left off. If you're a geek who loves to read, then yeah... I'd recommend this series. Probably a bit heavy for anyone else though.

February

The Confusion by Neal Stephenson — Finally finished up Quicksilver a few weeks ago. Took a brief respite from the Baroque Cycle to read Rent Girl, and went back to this book. Picks up shortly after the last one left off. In an uncharacteristic move, the author skipped over what could have been a monotonous an unmomentous period in the story. The only thing I'm missing in this book so far is the stories of Daniel and Issac. Stephenson's great talent, IMO, lies in his ability ot write about technical, historical, and all things geeky, in a manner that is interesting and brings them to life. Caught myself today comparing the current political and international climate to the times and places represented in this series. UPDATE: Finished the book in March. Yes... it took me abnormally long to finish it. Good book though. Daniel and Issac did eventually show up. But the real fun in the book is the story of Jack and company's travels, literally around the world. King of the Vagabonds to actual King to prisoner of the Inquisition in Mexico.

January 2005

Rent Girl by Michelle Tea and Laurren McCubbin — I blatantly picked this book up to fuel my innapropriate lust for Laurren McCubbin and her artwork. And the artwork doesn't disappoint. There are some amazing pieces in this book. Sadly, the story didn't impress me as much. The writing itself is good. But the story(ies) lacked something. It was like Steven Wright (sp?) narrating a porn movie. It was an atmosphere of "look at these outrageous things I did... no... really... quite outrageous". So on the whole... I'd read it if someone offered to loan you the book.

November 2004

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson — The first book in Stephenson’s new Baroque Cycle, a.k.a. The Trilogy of Big-Ass Books. About 900 pages, in hardback. Just got into it. Enoch Root, from Cryptonomicon is back, albeit 250 years in the past. Update: So I finished in early January. The book does pick up after the first third. Definate shades of Cryptonomicon here... same setup. Same characters. I know this trilogy is essentially a pre-quel, but even so, the similarities are incredible. Stephenson may be obsessed with the idea that we are all swept along by the tide of fate and history.

October 2004

Solar Lottery by Phillip K Dick — Dick’s first novel. Picked it up at a used book sale. Definitely a more classical sci-fi story than I’ve been reading, but even in his first book, you can see Dick obsessing about what makes people tick. He always seems to be a bit obsessed with the 'one man against the system" thing. And with a pessamistic outlook on the future of man. It apparently involves large amounts of Scotch and cigarettes.

September 2004

Software by Rudy Rucker — A very ireverant book. Rucker seemed to be purposely blow through the parts of the story a classical sci-fi writer would obsess about. As a reader I felt carried along by characters living fast lives without time to stop and ponder. Lots of jabs at modern life, throughout the book.

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson — I was hesitant to read this book. The Diamond Age had made me question whether Stephenson had just gotten lucky with Snow Crash, and maybe he wasn't really that good of a writer. Plus, Cryptonomicon is really a huge fucking book. Well over a thousand pages in paperback. But only a couple chapters in, I knew The Diamond Age was the aberration, and Stephenson really is a great writer so long as he stays true to himself. He is maniacly obsessed with the history that they don't teach you in grade school. And he can tell you about it in ways that make you not want to put down the book. You can almost see him researching these stories with the obsession of one of his characters. NOTE: I finished the book finally. Really fucking good. I so did not want it to end. Of course, that may just have something to do with my unnatural love obsession with Amy Shaftoe. But you gotta be a damn good writer to make cryptography, corporate law, and a prison camp exciting.

2002-2004

To start with, an abridged list of some of the books I’ve read in the last year and a half, or so, in no particular order:

eastern standard tribe by Cory Doctrow — a good writer, and a central character I could very much identify with. quirky sense of humor. quick read.
Crawlers by John Shirley — keeping in mind I don't like horror stories, this was a pretty good book. very graphic once the shit hits the fan. the dialog and thoughts of the youth characters comes off as forced, though.
Arslan by M. J. Engh — I picked this up to see how a person could conquer the world without firing a shot, like the blurb says. But that turns out to be the least part of the book, and even then it's rather vanilla. the book is all about characterizations, and what drives people.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson — one of the quintisential cyberpunk books. has everything: the dystopian future, the anti-heros, the cool tech, and the hot chick who kicks ass. People upset the Internet never became the online world we always dreamed it would be should read this book to see how we could best do it.
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson — Stephenson's second major book. Felt kind of forced... like he was trying to write something that stretched the boundries of 'his genre', instead of just writing what he wanted to write. It's still an interesting story. Falls more under the classic sci-fi section than the cyberpunk title he is normally given.
On the Road by Jack Kerouac — So I’m told, this is one of those books that inspired a generation. Yeah. That must be one of those things where you had to be there to understand the context. The first half of the book left me rather unmoved. But after 2 or 3 trips across the country, Kerouac seemed to find his pace. Finished off a better book than it started. And I've found myself referring frequently to it, lately.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley — My sister put it succinctly when she pointed out that Aldous Huxley is one warped fucker. 1984 was kind of thick and monotonous to read, which went well with it's story. But BNW has a frightening, disturbing energy to it. As if you were quite stable when the story starts, and it only goes downhill from there.
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson — Yes, I admit it. I want to have William Gibson’s love child. I don’t care that I don’t have a uterus or ovaries or any of those icky female things. The man is a master writer. Maybe he has some mental block against it, but I think the man could probably write beautifully in any genre. Or maybe the bleeding edge just offers more fertile ground. This book definatly proved Gibson doesn’t need a dystopia to write an excellent story.
Burning Chrome by William Gibson — A collection of the author’s early short writings. Some very good shit in here. Johnny Neumonic is so much better here than in the movie... to the point where they feel like they were written by different people.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson — This is another one where I'm sure I don't quite grasp the context it was written in. But the writing did more for me than Kerouac’s. I could identify so many of the characters as my friends and enemies. Think I need to go buy Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail.
The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul DiFilippo — What I love about cyberpunk is that it is/was such a thing of the moment. Reading it, it speaks to you in a way that you know past or future generations won't fully understand. Which is probably why most steampunk doesn’t do much for me. It's a much more literary genre. It's specifically set at a time in the distant past, making it digestible for the masses.
What was I saying? Oh, yeah. All that aside, DiFillipo is a good writer. And he borders on the disturbed, which always makes for a better story. Not cyberpunk no matter how much they try to lump it in, but still a good story.
Idoru by William Gibson — Part of the Bridge series, which is my favorite of Gibson’s trilogies. But probably the least interesting of the three. I don't think sci-fi authors were meant to write from the mind of cute, innocent little girls. (See John Shirley’s Crawlers).
All Tomorrow’s Parties by William Gibson — Again... part of the bridge trilogy. But a much better part. I soo want to have a scarey time with a woman like Chevette.
City Come a Walkin’ by John Shirley — Possibly my second favorite book, (after Ray Bradbury’s Farrenheit 451). It's described as the birthplace of cyberpunk, which instills faith in my definition of the genre: The effect of unbridled technology on mankind. Not that there’s much tech in the book. But it’s a great, warped, fast-paced story about where we’re headed.
Foundation by Issac Asimov — One of Asimov’s many epics. Clever plot twists. Stands up over five main books, which says something for it’s writing. The last book, Foundation and Earth is a bit Hollywood in its ending.
The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells — I’ve seen this story done as several movies, but none of them captured the feeling of the book. For one thing, none of them are even set in the time of the book. I’m sure there's some moral here about the effects of alienation from society, but it's a good horror story primarily.
Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson — Can we just agree all William Gibson books kick butt and you should be reading them right now?
Count Zero by William Gibson
A Good, Old-fashioned Future by Bruce Sterling — A short story collection. Some of the best cyberpunk I've read since finishing Gibson’s books. Some very Cory Doctrow-ish stories here.
Foundation and Earth by Issac Asimov
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne — Interesting as an early literary epic. No discernable moral or strong theme.
Foundation’s Edge by Issac Asimov
The Difference Engine by WIlliam Gibson and Bruce Sterling — The epitome of Steampunk. Really fucking long. But by the time I finished, I was really enjoying it. Not much about the direct effect of technology on culture, so much as the secondary effects. The back and forth across London was epic.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams — yeah... just plain silly. makes you think about everything you say, and just how ridiculous you are.
Neuromancer by William Gibson
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. — This one totally caught me off guard. All I knew is that some consider it a classic. The ultimate data-haven project, if you will. Sad what it says about self-destruction, though.
Ape and Essence by Aldous Huxley — yes, we know you’re still a disturbed man, Aldous. Far more graphic than BNW. Hardly a moment when someone isn't fucking, dying, or running away. Less restrained than his more famous book.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Virtual Light by William Gibson
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury — The ultimate summer reading material. Bradbury, when writing in novel form, is the great American writer. He captures a mood and puts in down in words more beautifully than anyone else I’ve read. Some of the more mystical aspects of his stories get him labelled as a sci-fi author, but in reality he is simply creating the American lore and myth, for a country too young to have its own. Neil Gaimen’s true father.
Foundation and Empire by Issac Asimov
Second Foundation by Issac Asimov
Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn by Issac Asimov — Yes... campy mid-century sci-fi. But sometimes it's just fun to read.
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury — One of several Bradbury short story collections.
Jennifer Government by Max Barry — An economic dystopia, attacking the libertarian desire for an end to regulation. Frankly, I think Barry just reads the newspaper, and then rewrites the articles, taking them to their illogical extreme.
The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque by Jeffrey Ford — Ford is a writing teacher, and it shows. The book has a very literary feel to it, almost overwhelming the story. But the story comes through anyway. Do your desires control you?
A Medicine for Melancholy by Ray Bradbury — One of several Bradbury short story collections.
The Golden Apples of the Sun by Ray Bradbury — One of several Bradbury short story collections.