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After all these years, I finally picked up Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive, so I figured I'd enjoy this one again to get started.

Credited with more or less inaugurating a new sub-genre of sf (well, along with a few early Bruce Sterling things.) For all that, I never much cared for it.

I loved it, but I had that feeling while reading it that Gibson would be one of those one trick pony types. I can't say Count Zero completely knocked that impression out, but I was pleasantly surprised with it. On the other hand, I decided to put off Mona Lisa Overdrive for a bit; it isn't really a series, but rather more of a set of books with a common background. Instead I went with this to follow:

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Nowhere near the level of Childhood's End, but still a good read.

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I am re-reading Rushdie's Midnight's Children -- possibly his best novel. I've decided to go ahead and see the movie, so I wanted to have the book fixed in my head before it can be "spoiled" by the movie. But just in general, I'm hoping to read or reread some decent novels, after a really long string of duds.

I also have a couple of much shorter novels that I may end up tackling on the bus: Futility by William Gerhardie and The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre.

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Not a book, but I've been enjoying the latest issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. I remember a while back someone started a thread asking about newer SF writers, and if I remember correctly, they were quite generous in the time frame to qualify as 'newer'. I couldn't name a one. So, I figured that while I'm delving back into the field, why not check out some of the newer folks and subscribed to the remaining SF magazines I remember (F&SF, Asimovs and Analog). A rare splurge on my budget these days, but once in a while you just have to jump...

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After all these years, I finally picked up Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive, so I figured I'd enjoy this one again to get started.

Credited with more or less inaugurating a new sub-genre of sf (well, along with a few early Bruce Sterling things.) For all that, I never much cared for it.

I loved it, but I had that feeling while reading it that Gibson would be one of those one trick pony types. I can't say Count Zero completely knocked that impression out, but I was pleasantly surprised with it. On the other hand, I decided to put off Mona Lisa Overdrive for a bit; it isn't really a series, but rather more of a set of books with a common background. Instead I went with this to follow:

2909573.jpg

Nowhere near the level of Childhood's End, but still a good read.

After years of being a Clarke fan, I concluded that none of his novels are as good as Childhood's End.

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After years of being a Clarke fan, I concluded that none of his novels are as good as Childhood's End.

I haven't read too many novels by him; that's too bad. On the other hand, as good as Childhood's End was, it's understandable.

Actually, growing up I think there were times when I preferred his science fact writing.

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After years of being a Clarke fan, I concluded that none of his novels are as good as Childhood's End.

I haven't read too many novels by him; that's too bad. On the other hand, as good as Childhood's End was, it's understandable.

Actually, growing up I think there were times when I preferred his science fact writing.

That's the way I felt about Asimov, believe it or not. :g

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Just wrapping up Futility by William Gerhardie. This is an unusual book. It was written in 1922 by an Englishman who basically grew up in Russia. I believe this book is somewhat autobiographical, so it seems that in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, he was sort of an Russian expert attached to the British army and saw some of the post-revolution chaos. The main plot centers on a man with an extremely complicated family -- by the end he has two mistresses and innumerable hangers-on who keep hoping that his gold mines in Siberia will actually produce anything (he has been borrowing on them all this time). I guess the best way to describe it is the lassitude of Chekhov's Three Sisters with some of the desparation of Dostoevsky's The Gamblers, but all played for comic effect. Nonetheless, it is a bit exhausting (despite being a short novel), and I certainly don't care for any of the characters. It is basically a curiosity, but probably worth reading if one likes Russian literature. There is one small moment that I like quite a bit, however, where the narrator is talking to one of the Uncles, who says that rushing around makes one feel that life is purposeful (even if nothing at all is accomplished). I think I fall victim to this from time to time -- rushing around to avoid thinking about the void...

Am about halfway through Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart.

After that, I will finish up with Mill on the Floss (stopped right when the mill ownership is transferred). Then Faulkner's The Reivers. So things are looking up a bit from the last couple of months when I really didn't enjoy what I was reading.

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Michael Chabon: Telegraph Avenue

Just another Chabon entertainment. I'm through reading his stuff. I can think of a few people here who might enjoy this book much more than I did.

So, you would not agree with this blurb off Amazon:

"An intimate epic, a NorCal Middlemarch set to the funky beat of classic vinyl soul-jazz and pulsing with a virtuosic, pyrotechnical style all its own, Telegraph Avenue is the great American novel we've been waiting for. Generous, imaginative, funny, moving, thrilling, humane, triumphant, it is Michael Chabon's most dazzling book yet."

I'm still debating about getting this one, it would be a nice trip down Memory Lane, to relive my six years in Berkeley, but I'm not overly fond of Chabon, I completely gave up on The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (in fact, threw it in a dumpster, I was so frustrated by it), might go into a used book store in a couple of months and buy it -- bring back memories of Telegraph from back in the day, and when I was much younger.

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Michael Chabon: Telegraph Avenue

Just another Chabon entertainment. I'm through reading his stuff. I can think of a few people here who might enjoy this book much more than I did.

So, you would not agree with this blurb off Amazon:

"An intimate epic, a NorCal Middlemarch set to the funky beat of classic vinyl soul-jazz and pulsing with a virtuosic, pyrotechnical style all its own, Telegraph Avenue is the great American novel we've been waiting for. Generous, imaginative, funny, moving, thrilling, humane, triumphant, it is Michael Chabon's most dazzling book yet."

I'm still debating about getting this one, it would be a nice trip down Memory Lane, to relive my six years in Berkeley, but I'm not overly fond of Chabon, I completely gave up on The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (in fact, threw it in a dumpster, I was so frustrated by it), might go into a used book store in a couple of months and buy it -- bring back memories of Telegraph from back in the day, and when I was much younger.

I guess if you were there, the book might bring back some memories. I wasn't, and the book didn't do much for me. I wouldn't even recommend it to soul/funk jazz afficianados. What's written about the music is fairly superficial, imo.

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