I found this one to be a nice little diversion after such a weighty undertaking. It probably wouldn't win any awards, but I found the characters engaging and the world delightfully quirky. I think I might even read the rest of the adventures of Special Operative Thursday Next. All in all a very fun read.

Started: 2004-08-25 | Finished: 2004-08-29

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I'd never read anything by Nabokov before, and perhaps this wasn't the best book to start on. Nabokov's last book, Ada, or Ardor is also one of his longest. Given the man's dense prose style, it's a wonder that I finished in a mere three months. (I had actually anticipated that it would take me another two months.) One of my favorite authors, Gene Wolfe, is often compared to Nabokov and now I can see why. Both authors have a passion for language, for the written word. Both write complex characters set in rich worlds and use dense, amazing prose to show them to us. Ada is an amazingly beautiful book, a real pleasure to read. But I hesitate to call it a beautiful story, because even though it is an intriguing, romantic, erudite, sexy story, it is also a rather disturbing one. The book follows the love between Van and Ada Veen from beginning to end, a love that is passionate and complete but nonetheless wrong as it is an incestual love. I found myself completely drawn into this story at the same time that I was slightly repulsed by it. The love story would have been enough, but there's so much more to Ada, a lot of which I didn't fully understand despite taking nearly three months to read it. For example, the book is also an examination of the nature of time. Part of this is made explicit later in the book as we read a lecture that Van gives on just that subject, but it's actually interwoven into the very structure of the book. I'm sure there's a lot I missed, and some day I'll have to come back to it. For now, though, I think I'm ready to dive into something nice and light.

Started: 2005-05-26 | Finished: 2004-08-24

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I sort of wonder if getting to know more about Orson Scott Card has affected my impression of his writing. I respect the man enormously, but I disagree with him on so many things that it seems like it would be impossible for that not to alter my judgment of his work. I did like this book. It was engaging and well-paced, and the inclusion of two real-life friends of mine as characters certainly didn't hurt. But it doesn't seem to hold up to the rest of his works for me. Books like Seventh Son, Ender's Game, Hart's Hope, and Treason have a sort of magical quality in my memory, while ones like Pastwatch, Speaker for the Dead and Lovelock stick out for having really interesting central ideas. This one really had neither of those for me. Still, I did enjoy it, and I don't think I could point to anything specific to criticize. I just can't find anything wonderful about it.

Started: 2004-02-15 | Finished: 2004-03-04

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Kim Stanley Robinson has been sort of hit or miss with me before. Some of his books keep me up reading into the wee hours of the morning. Some are a struggle. This book was kind of both for me. The idea of the book—what the world might have been like if Europe had been completely wiped out by the Black Plague—fascinated me. Robinson has a real gift for alternate timelines, as evidenced by his Three Californias series. The problem is that the scope of the book is so sweeping that it's a little difficult to get involved with the characters. When the story arc covers multiple centuries, individual lives tend to become a little less important. So it was hard for me to really connect with the book. On top of that, much of the book involves long discussions of the nature of history, and while the ideas were interesting, it didn't make for an exciting read. Fortunately, something about the ending resonated with me, so I walked away from this book with a good feeling.

Started: 2004-01-03 | Finished: 2004-02-14

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Before I picked up this book, I had liked everything I had ever read by Neil Gaiman. Now that I have finished it, I still do. Neverwhere held flavors of Dark City and The Wizard of Oz for me, and the fact that I've been to London (admittedly only for a very short time) only heightened the sense of magic about Gaiman's London Below.

Started: 2003-12-29 | Finished: 2004-01-02

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In the years between Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, Stephenson seems to have matured quite a bit as an author. His style has become much more refined, and the story is much more complex. Still, many of the problems I had with his earlier work are still present here. The story ended very abruptly, and he insists on using the present tense for much of the book. Still, I did enjoy the book. Stephenson manages the right mix of action and nerd appeal, for me at least; your mileage may vary. Despite its flaws, I think this one has convinced me to read more of his work.

Started: 2003-12-16 | Finished: 2003-12-29

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I've heard so much about Neal Stephenson that I felt I had to check him out for myself. I find he's neither as good nor as bad as he's made out to be. On the one hand, I did find Snow Crash engaging and fun. It's no ground-breaking, Earth-shaking thing, but it was entertaining. On the other hand, I found Stephenson's constant puns (the main character's name is Hiro Protagonist?!) and use of the present tense to be jarring and pretentious. The book's premise is also one that I could easily see many people finding offensive, and I think his portrayal of memetics shows a sensationalist and ultimately flawed understanding. And, creatively speaking, he doesn't do much that people like William Gibson and Tad Williams haven't already done. Still, for all that, I did enjoy the book and found many of the characters intriguing.

Started: 2003-12-14 | Finished: 2003-12-15

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Quite a remarkable book. It's a story about a castaway (I found it slightly reminiscent, in tone at least, of Eco's The Island of the Day Before) so it is a tale of hope, despair, courage, wonder. Yet it is also deeply concerned with God and religion, and, even more, the faith that underlies all religions. I think this may become one of those books I'll keep coming back to. All in all, a great read.

Started: 2003-12-15 | Finished: 2003-12-15

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As you peruse the contents of this list, you may notice that this book has taken me considerably longer to finish than any of the rest. It was worth it. Meriwether Lewis was a fascinating man, and Ambrose's biography is a great read. Ambrose has little time for political correctness, so he doesn't hesitate to call Lewis a great and important man. At the same time, he's an honest historian and doesn't gloss over Lewis' faults and mistakes. As may be expeceted, Lewis and Clark's expedition takes up the majority of the book. What I would give to be able to see the America that Lewis saw, still wild and pristine, beautiful and new. But I also found, somewhat unexpectedly, that Ambrose's description of the American sociopolitical landscape both before and after the expedition was most intriguing. You might say that a great book should both interest and educate. This one certainly did both.

Started: 2003-09-19 | Finished: 2003-12-14

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This was my fourth attempt at reading this book, and I finally succeeded. What the heck was wrong with me those other three times? I tell you, it takes a really good writer to tell you everything that will happen before it happens and still keep you emotionally involved in the story. I read almost the entire book in a single day.

Started: 2003-09-01 | Finished: 2003-09-06

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