Books I've Read Recently
But before the books, a few words about George Carlin. Carlin was a guy I felt I grew up with, like so may others on this blog. He was always there on the TV, on Carson or SNL (when I was old enough to watch it) and always touring. he was always funny, always sharp, always right on the money. He poked, he prodded and his words shone. In this day and age of everyone doing stand-up and getting a movie deal out of it that they don't deserve (I'm looking at you, Dane Cook), Carlin was genuinely funny and smart-always. I have to say this though-my sister and I saw him in concert sometime in the mid-Eighties and he was hilarious. And the line we liked the best? "How many times have you heard YOUR mother say "where are the good scissors?'" That was definitely our Mom he was channeling-and everyone else's as well, considering the laughs. So thank you, George, you were a very funny guy who made a lot of people laugh and that's not a bad way to have lived your life.
So, I've been reading a lot of science fiction lately. Usually I go back and forth between mysteries, sci-fi and some random book that sounds good (Basques, trilobites,H.L. Mencken) but it's been sci-fi lately, except for all the Charles Todd books, which just get better and better. So what was good and what wasn't?
I really like Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination. I haven't read that much classic sci-fi, a lot of it seems to have the names Asimov and Clarke on the list and somehow that just puts me off. But I read about this on i09.com and decided to give it a shot. It's the story of spaceman Gulliver Foyle, who gets marooned in space, left there not only by his crew mates but by a space ship that passes him by with no rescue. he becomes determined to seek revenge and to that end, a man described as not very bright and barely literate, teaches himself to run his abandoned ship. Gully has his own travels and he proves to be a not very nice person. He abandons those rescued him, he rapes his teacher (in his own 1950's way, where you can't be sure that's what happened) and he leaves his girlfriend out in the middle of space after he's taken all the loot they were after.
Not very nice, eh? But the thing is, he learns something about himself each time. He transforms from the person in the beginning who could barely say his name to someone who is very self-aware and the process of change is like watching someone being taught and watching them learn. Neil Gaiman in the foreword to this edition likens each change to being reborn and I agree. It's very cool see how Gully transforms each time.
I also read Titan, by John Varley. Apparently this book is very well-known and quite popular (as I told my friend Y, "I'm reading the classics in a very half-assed kind of way) but all it did was annoy me and I'm not sure why. Was it the faint whiff of misogyny? Or the faint whiff of homophobia? Or that the heroine's favorite vice was cocaine? This was written in 1979, so I'm sure all the guys who read it, thought "ooooh! Two girls together and one probably still likes guys! And cocaine! And she becomes a wizard! How cool is this?" Unfortunately, it annoyed me. However, I was at the DMV for four hours that day in my car, in 100 degree heat waiting for it to be inspected, so I was grateful to have something to read, even if it was this.
And now, am I reading another Alfred Bester? No, I am not. Am I reading The Silver Swan, the sequel to Christine Falls? No, I'm not reading that either. I'm reading the sequel to Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds-a book called Redemption Ark. Ah, Revelation Space. The book that each time I picked up, I was never sure who was narrating it at that point. I don't even remember how many different narrators it had-at least three and maybe more. I remember being confused by it and vaguely liking it-but I'm still not quite sure why I bought the sequel because honestly I didn't think I liked it that much and I'm still not sure why I'm reading it when I have MANY other good books I'd rather be reading.
I think I'm doing it because I feel like I'd be leaving something unfinished if I didn't read it (oh God! Does that mean I have to read the sequel to this book too?). I've stopped only two books in my life in the middle and didn't finish them because I didn't like them and I didn't care how they ended (one of Anne Rice's latter vampire books, which was crappy and The General's Daughter which so violent and mysogynist that I couldn't take it-and I have a high tolerance for that sort of thing) and Revelation Space will not join that list. So I don't know how long it will take to finish but at least while there are four different stories going on, I haven't gotten them confused yet and I know what's happening. We'll see how long that lasts.
So, I've been reading a lot of science fiction lately. Usually I go back and forth between mysteries, sci-fi and some random book that sounds good (Basques, trilobites,H.L. Mencken) but it's been sci-fi lately, except for all the Charles Todd books, which just get better and better. So what was good and what wasn't?
I really like Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination. I haven't read that much classic sci-fi, a lot of it seems to have the names Asimov and Clarke on the list and somehow that just puts me off. But I read about this on i09.com and decided to give it a shot. It's the story of spaceman Gulliver Foyle, who gets marooned in space, left there not only by his crew mates but by a space ship that passes him by with no rescue. he becomes determined to seek revenge and to that end, a man described as not very bright and barely literate, teaches himself to run his abandoned ship. Gully has his own travels and he proves to be a not very nice person. He abandons those rescued him, he rapes his teacher (in his own 1950's way, where you can't be sure that's what happened) and he leaves his girlfriend out in the middle of space after he's taken all the loot they were after.
Not very nice, eh? But the thing is, he learns something about himself each time. He transforms from the person in the beginning who could barely say his name to someone who is very self-aware and the process of change is like watching someone being taught and watching them learn. Neil Gaiman in the foreword to this edition likens each change to being reborn and I agree. It's very cool see how Gully transforms each time.
I also read Titan, by John Varley. Apparently this book is very well-known and quite popular (as I told my friend Y, "I'm reading the classics in a very half-assed kind of way) but all it did was annoy me and I'm not sure why. Was it the faint whiff of misogyny? Or the faint whiff of homophobia? Or that the heroine's favorite vice was cocaine? This was written in 1979, so I'm sure all the guys who read it, thought "ooooh! Two girls together and one probably still likes guys! And cocaine! And she becomes a wizard! How cool is this?" Unfortunately, it annoyed me. However, I was at the DMV for four hours that day in my car, in 100 degree heat waiting for it to be inspected, so I was grateful to have something to read, even if it was this.
And now, am I reading another Alfred Bester? No, I am not. Am I reading The Silver Swan, the sequel to Christine Falls? No, I'm not reading that either. I'm reading the sequel to Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds-a book called Redemption Ark. Ah, Revelation Space. The book that each time I picked up, I was never sure who was narrating it at that point. I don't even remember how many different narrators it had-at least three and maybe more. I remember being confused by it and vaguely liking it-but I'm still not quite sure why I bought the sequel because honestly I didn't think I liked it that much and I'm still not sure why I'm reading it when I have MANY other good books I'd rather be reading.
I think I'm doing it because I feel like I'd be leaving something unfinished if I didn't read it (oh God! Does that mean I have to read the sequel to this book too?). I've stopped only two books in my life in the middle and didn't finish them because I didn't like them and I didn't care how they ended (one of Anne Rice's latter vampire books, which was crappy and The General's Daughter which so violent and mysogynist that I couldn't take it-and I have a high tolerance for that sort of thing) and Revelation Space will not join that list. So I don't know how long it will take to finish but at least while there are four different stories going on, I haven't gotten them confused yet and I know what's happening. We'll see how long that lasts.
posted by SHbookworm at 12:06 PM
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