Not Much Hope, After All
I'm bout halfway through a book (well, a "trilogy in one volume") that I'd never, ever, ever pick up on my own. I'll write a review when I've slogged my way through it, but it raises an interesting conundrum.
If you've known me for more than three minutes, you can figure out the type of fiction I like - steampunk, fantasy, sci-fi, cyberpunk, dystopian, horror, and the like. I want to see L.A. blown up, or dragons, or L.A. blown up by dragons. I also like aliens, virtual reality, and, yes, gears. I occasionally get in a "serious" mode and read Walker Percy or Toni Morrison, but that only happens once a year or so. (I also read some nonfiction, but we're focusing on fiction, here.)
Even more occasionally - once every five years or so - I'll decide to "stretch" a bit and try a genre I don't care for. I'll look around and get a book recommended by a celebrity, because reading someone's favorite book is an interesting way to get to know a person, and it's pretty much the only way I'll get to know a celebrity. This time around, I chose a series praised by Benedict Cumberbatch in a Reddit AMA.
It is not even close to my normal reading material. It's rich, depraved people problems and lots and lots and lots of drugs. No dragons. The only virtual reality is a crazy heroin-and-coke fueled nightmare of a trip. Why, exactly, do I put myself through this? It's good practice, I suppose, for times when someone asks me for a book featuring a drug-addled protagonist with daddy issues struggling to find redemption in a world he could probably buy, he's that rich. There have been a few - a very few - scenes I've connected with, primarily by seeing religious imagery everywhere. (I do that. Don't ask me about meals in stories, because I will talk about it for ages.) When I do this sort of thing, I've occasionally run across authors I like that I wouldn't have found otherwise. Not this time. I do suppose I'll know Ben a bit better. I'm not sure I'll like him quite as much, though; if we don't like the same books, whatever shall we talk about?
Links!
If you've known me for more than three minutes, you can figure out the type of fiction I like - steampunk, fantasy, sci-fi, cyberpunk, dystopian, horror, and the like. I want to see L.A. blown up, or dragons, or L.A. blown up by dragons. I also like aliens, virtual reality, and, yes, gears. I occasionally get in a "serious" mode and read Walker Percy or Toni Morrison, but that only happens once a year or so. (I also read some nonfiction, but we're focusing on fiction, here.)
Even more occasionally - once every five years or so - I'll decide to "stretch" a bit and try a genre I don't care for. I'll look around and get a book recommended by a celebrity, because reading someone's favorite book is an interesting way to get to know a person, and it's pretty much the only way I'll get to know a celebrity. This time around, I chose a series praised by Benedict Cumberbatch in a Reddit AMA.
I'm partial to Gingerbatch, myself.
It is not even close to my normal reading material. It's rich, depraved people problems and lots and lots and lots of drugs. No dragons. The only virtual reality is a crazy heroin-and-coke fueled nightmare of a trip. Why, exactly, do I put myself through this? It's good practice, I suppose, for times when someone asks me for a book featuring a drug-addled protagonist with daddy issues struggling to find redemption in a world he could probably buy, he's that rich. There have been a few - a very few - scenes I've connected with, primarily by seeing religious imagery everywhere. (I do that. Don't ask me about meals in stories, because I will talk about it for ages.) When I do this sort of thing, I've occasionally run across authors I like that I wouldn't have found otherwise. Not this time. I do suppose I'll know Ben a bit better. I'm not sure I'll like him quite as much, though; if we don't like the same books, whatever shall we talk about?
Links!
- This will come in handy: An Epic Chart of 162 Young Adult Retellings.
- Think twice before relying on ereaders for your kids' (or your own) school book reading: The Physical Effects of E-Reading.
- Moving from STEM to STEAM.
- Oops: The story behind the "Too Cool To Do Drugs" pencil.
- This is worrying me: Mysterious polio-like illness affects kids in California.
- This worries me, too: A Secret Trade Deal So Outrageous That Congress Isn't Even Allowed To Talk About It Publicly.
- I do shop at Whole Foods occasionally - they have green tea coconut ice cream. But I also know people who shop there religiously, in faith that the food is healthier. Whole Foods: America’s Temple of Pseudoscience.
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