the old-school guestbook archives
my amazon wish list... my favorite astrologer... my favorite artist... yerba mate revolution! erowid: a travel guide for interior journeys... no more war: MoveOn.org United for Peace and Justice True Majority seek the truth: Common Dreams Unamerican Activities The Nation people I adore, diaries I read: rev.raikes ariana cubiclegirl epiphany glitter333 laurakay wammo the music: the asylum street spankers backyard tire fire blue highway bill camplin wendy colonna freedom tribe joules graves guy forsyth band hamsa lila hanuman libby kirkpatrick leftover salmon pamela means medeski martin & wood the motet the nice outfit nickel creek open road rose polenzani railroad earth south austin jug band string cheese incident taarka tha musemeant the devil makes three tim o'brien band trolley wild sage keller williams yonder mountain string band |
in bed with neal stephenson ~ April 7, 2003 - 5:24 p.m. feeling much better now... I did take one more day off of work today, just for safety's sake, because I developed a dry cough over the weekend. that is one of the symptoms of the scary disease, but the cough has only gotten better. I'm fine. and can I just say? blessings on the head of neal stephenson. as far as I'm concerned, he and william gibson are what make contemporary science fiction worth reading. I've read both snow crash and cryptonomicon, but hadn't gotten to the diamond age until it landed in my hands last week. I'm almost done with it, and feeling that sense of sadness that comes with finishing an absolutely delicious book. the man is gifted. I couldn't have asked for better company during a sick-in-bed weekend. and that's one of the fun things about buying books here. you never know what you're gonna find. I generally go to one of two used book stores here. they are exorbitantly expensive for used books, since english-language books are somewhat hard to come by. you wind up paying between 1-5 US dollars for a book, but the good news is that you can sell them back for half price when you're done. so I go in every so often and cruise the shelves. you really do never know what you'll find, especially since much of the merchandise has been carried around by backpackers of all persuasions. I found a jeanette winterson a few weeks ago. and neal stephenson, of course. a couple of anne mccafferys. the ones that make me giggle are the classics-- catch 22, gravity's rainbow, war and peace, that sort of thing-- that you know people brought with them backpacking in hopes that they'd finally get through the damn thing. I did that with zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. it took me five years to get all the way through that damn book. wading through it was just so much work, and I didn't feel like I was getting enough payback. not to mention the fact that I developed a real dislike for the narrator and his crappy parenting skills. but it felt like I needed to read it. so I brought it to southeast asia, and finally got all the way through it. I'm glad I read it, although I don't really feel like I ever need to read it again. neal stephenson, on the other hand, makes my brain tingle, and delights me with his deliciously crafted phrases. particularly in the diamond age where he resurrects such victorian gems as "gallimaufry", interweaving them flawlessly with slick cyberpunk language. delicious.
(((rings))) |