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Wednesday, October 20, 2004

backlog

i am suffering from major overload problems.
too much stuff calling out for my attention. some of it is stuff that is just there in the background - the news, social things, cultural things. things to be done, places to go etc.
then there is the stuff i go out and buy (or am given - lucky me!).
so i have a pile of new books - all unread, that can go with the pile of old unread books. some of the books are worthy tomes about the issues of the day and are crying out to be read so i can get a better grasp on the world we live in (and i am sure i said exactly about the handful of books i bought at this years SWP conference, and the year before that.....) it is made worse when i find books i had forgotten i bought.
then there is the growing pile of fiction books i have to read.
so the current reads are
neal stephenson's quciksilver - have only just started this, but have shoved aside another of the bed books that i had just started to get straight on to this. it's a bed book because at nearly 900 pages i am not lugging it around with me. neal stephenson is a wonderful writer of great skill, wit and erudition. i am not ashamed to admit that if i knew a tenth of what he does i would twice as clever as i am! so there are chunks of this work of historical fiction i have to and look up.
for all that i am not sure i like neal Stephenson's website nor am i overly keen on this one but both will give you a feel for the author's work and the start of the wonderful baroque cycle.
if you only read one book this year make it this one (and for at least one person i know - hi paul - it will be the only book he reads for the rest of this year).
the bag books are:
allen steele chronospace - an entertaining SF romp. he writes in a jaunty style that combines interesting ideas with a decent pace and a sense of needing to find out the climax (unlike baxter's space, those last 40 pages still remain beyond me!). all of the steele books i have read in the past have been good. if you like your SF fun then allen steele is someone to check out.
the other book is
american dream global nightmare by ziauddin sardar and merryl wyn davies it is a polemic that seems to be arguing that america is built on fear and lies and that it's mass culture is there to perpetuate this state. i feel i should be agreeing with this book but i just find it a little too "anti" and the supporting arguments never seem to be enough to convince me.
(it may also be that a book that talks about how myth has overtaken truth but uses a film quote "when legend becomes fact, print the legend", i feel it is selling its audience short).
however it is an interesting book.

as for the cds - geez i am so far behind on what i have to listen to it is not true. there are cds i have bought weeks ago i still not listened to, still have 2 more discs from the ELP boxset to go (should i admit to that ?) plus there are copies that have been made for me , and some bootlegs that i have downloaded (3 hours of led zep live at wembley - oh yeah!). so i probably have days of new music to listen to.

then there are the dvds - even more to watch than the cds i have to listen to. and i am expecting two more CSI boxsets to arrive tomorrow.

i need to downshift (a current buzzword) or win the lottery so i can move into a much bigger flat.

i am not sure life is better with all this stuff in it - but i have to say i like to have more options than i know what to do with, it's a nice problem to have.

3 comments:

Shep said...

Strange moments of synchronicity - bullied the Random House rep, slapped him like a bitch and he gave me proofs of all 3 books in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy - put them all together and they look like the complete Encyclopedia Britannica...

Am starting Quicksilver when I've finished Silverfin, the new (oh yes) Young James Bond book by Charlie 'Fast Show' Higson. It's out in March.

pat said...

not fair that you get the proofs - treat them well - thats ebay money i hear calling.
i am hoping that by the time i have quicksilver finished and another 2 books read confusion will be published and that will be a nice old read then another couple of books and system out - basically my reading until 2005 covered.

pat said...

er as i recall, paul, you said crptonomicon took you 4 months - last time i check there were less that 3 months left to the year.

but so far it's been a cracking read.
and that is the sort of critique needed on the man booker prize lists.