It's strange. I never seemed to remember when was the last time I read a book, until it hit me that besides loads of technical references and a couple of chapters from The Dreamcatcher, I really hadn't! I was trying to think of a realistic reason for that while I was staring at my wife's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that she bought a month earlier. Maybe reading was just not my thing? Can reading be "a thing" of that sort anyway? Why can't I just get something and read it? what the hell, why can I just start reading this one?
So I grabbed the book that is said to be one of best of the Harry Potter, all-buzzy, series. I started reading. I thought I will get bored after the first couple of pages, but I wasn't. I actually liked what I was doing. I don't know if it was the book that I liked, I mean I do like these sort of magical stories; besides, Rowling have this really attractive writing style that was, at least for me, very appealing. It wasn't the novel though. It was really the practice of reading that captivated me. It was how I started to vividly imagine whatever is written before my eyes. How I, nearly unconsciously, pulled out a notebook and began to doodle an Amulet here and a House-elf there. I seemed to have forgotten how much I liked to read back in teen years. It seems to me that being busy at work, at home, and in being a nomad had really taken me away from one of my favorite lifetime hobbies.
I've always been attached to Science Fiction, for some reason other than being a science geek back at elementary school. And besides the obvious two (Star Wars and Star Trek), I never really found any work of animation (Movie, TV show..etc) that would captivate me as much. I mean yes, there were great ones, just not really the ones that tackled that deep, dark lust for a real sci-fi adventure, or epic if you will.
A question in #habari solved that. Good Chris pointed me to a short story written by Cory Doctorow. Simply amazing. That guy is a genius if you ask me. Also, I finally got to start reading his first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and I really like the pace with which Cory wrote it. I can't wait to finish it to start with another of his. And I am already wondering what should I read after I do. I am tempted to grab Little Brother but I am also considering Eastern Standard Tribe to be the next, taking that it was his 2nd novel.
Now a question for my dozen readers, have you read any of these? what do you suggest for me to read next?
mikelietz
Wanna read some fun Science Fiction but without the Disneyworld overtones? Check out John Scalzi's _Old Man's War_.
Or for something else lighthearted and fun, Jonathan Lethem's _Gun, with Occasional Music_.
For a good book that has a bad message about IP/copyright matters, read K. W. Jeter's _Noir_.
Also in the dystopian future cityscape is Michael Smith's _Spares_.
If you want something a little lighter, but fun and fast to read, check out _Pretties_ by Scott Westerberg (and the subsequent three novels).
I get the impression Westerberg's a stand-up guy. Not so with this next one, though his books are engaging and good, Orson Scott Card. Start with _Ender's Game_, if you can get past Card's personal stuff.
That should be a good start.
September 8, 2008 11:24am