Went to the library the other day and picked up somewhere between four and ten books (use your imagination and make up a number, lazy ones; I'm tired of doing all the work around here), among them William Gibson's newest book Pattern Recognition and a favorite from three years back, Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov. I jumped straight into Prelude to Foundation and finished it in well under a day, and was delighted to find that I still enjoyed it immensely, despite the fact that I was reading it mainly for the purpose of hearkening back to the summer after seventh grade. Asimov has a way of describing the far future that's incredibly minimalist but pulls me in nonetheless.
In the same day I finished rereading The Songs of Distant Earth (Arthur C. Clarke) as well. Thoroughly science fiction, and depressing in all the right ways...
Pattern Recognition is quirky but great. Unlike Neuromancer and all the cyberpunk stuff, it's set in the present day; however, it still retains all that grittiness. And the way Gibson has of describing things is formidable - it goes straight to the essence by a route that's often amusing as well as both mind-rendingly specific and brief. Haven't finished it yet but I'm enjoying it.
On to other postings, with the book commentary done with. I felt a need to get that out of my system, but I don't have to feel good about it.
posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003
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