I just now finished Anathem. I’m a bit proud of that, actually; it only arrived yesterday afternoon, and it is by no means easy reading. It’s a great deal of fun, just not easy. Also, it is a thousand pages long.
I’m going to have to take some time to really digest this book before I [...]
(In reverse chronological order:)
Shogun, James Clavell. It’s not a bad story, really; it’s extremely detailed, and he does a good idea of giving an impression of 16th century Japan. I just couldn’t get past the fact that he absolutely butchered the Japanese language, which he scattered throughout for a well-intentioned but disastrous attempt at verisimilitude. [...]
When George Orwell wrote 1984, the technology to implement the sort of surveillance state he feared didn’t yet exist. It still didn’t exist when 1984 actually rolled around; a person might be forgiven for having assumed at the time that the relevant tech would stay uninvented for the indefinite future.
Just over two decades later, we [...]
I am looking for a specific novel. I read it as a child in a Reader’s Digest condensed version, in an omnibus which included a number of other Reader’s Digest condensed novels. I believe that the title included the phrase “Don Quixote” in a metaphorical allusion to the plot, though I do not entirely trust [...]
Well, I finally finished translating the prologue of the novel. A bunch of people have asked me what it’s about, and until now all I could say was “I haven’t finished nearly enough to even know.” Now I have at least an inkling, and you can too.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Prologue
I don’t know [...]
After my most recent shipment from Amazon Friday afternoon, I have read four books. Two were the Dirk Gentley books; having finally read them, I think I will agree that they represent some of Douglas Adams’ finest work.
Then, I read a book by an author I had never previously heard of: A Dirty Job, by [...]