I'm reading Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War by Susan Southard. It's well researched and very interesting, especially since I've been playing a ton of Fallout 4 lately. Puts a sobering edge on that game for sure.
I've put Worm on hold, while I burn through "The Martian", since it's from the library. It's the best thing I've read in a long time. I'm liking it a lot. "Worm" is also pretty good (thanks to flag for the suggestion).
I'm finally getting around to reading Neuromancer by William Gibson. I've already read Idoru and his latest, The Peripheral. Gibson is so good at creating worlds and describing them in a really evocative way. It's easy to get sucked in.
A great book, and definitely an evocative read. Count Zero, the next novel in the series was my favorite of the three. Gibson shifts his writing style in Count Zero from purely Case and Molly's perspective to alternating chapters focusing exclusively on the perceptions of protagonists. I think that is when he really began to hone his style of having multiple disparate stories eventually converge into a climax. He pretty much maintains that style all through the Sprawl and Bridge trilogies, and it will become familiar to you if you've already read Idoru.
I'm rereading Tailchaser's Song. Nice journey while high. I've also left Neptune's Brood unfinished a while ago. I'm not sure what else but I probably have something sitting around.
Currently blazing through Anna Karenina when I have a free moment. It is, in a word, masterful. Reminds me of a soap opera with all the high-drama between characters (though obviously there's a lot more going on then in a soap) and the writing is so fluid the pages fly by (I'm about 270 deep now). The scene where Levin works in the field with the peasants has to be one of the most beautiful things I've ever read--it's been days now of yearning for life on a farm, admittedly idealistic yearning that is. Anyone else here read it and care to share their thoughts?
So now the plan is for a TV adaptation, not a movie? I've not heard that - but in any case, I'll believe it when it airs, and not a minute sooner :-)
Today I began reading Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography Total Recall, after finishing Vladimir Pozner's Parting with Illusions. Pozner's book was a major influence on my thinking in the short run, and I expect it to remain of such quality as the time goes; I will undoubtably read it again in a few years. Let's see how Schwarzenegger's would fare. Hopefully, I'll get my hands on the English originals of Stephen Fry's autobiography books and find something suitable about Noam Chomsky. Tried to read Mark Waid's Irredeemable/Incorruptable again, as well. Didn't go well: Neil Gaiman's The Sandman does so much better in terms of storytelling and overall atmosphere that it pains me to settle for anything else, much like it happened with Breaking Bad. P.S. I envy you, rinx. I've been trying to run Fallout 4 on my PC, but it didn't give. *sigh* It's at least five years old. No wonder.
Audible had a good sale last week. Since then I read most of Sarah Vowell's The Partly Cloudy Patriot and about a third of Jon Ronson's Lost at Sea. Both are a collection of essays, both are witty and enjoyable but Jon wins out by a mile because his subjects are way more interesting. He looks into the lives of crazy / bizarre people, from Deal or No Deal contestants to Insane Clown Posse. I also got The Red Circle by Brandon Webb because it was recommended by someone. All I know about it going in is that it is about Navy SEAL snipers and that the narrator is awful at pronouncing Navy jargon. We'll see.
Finished Edward Said's classic and monumental Orientalism. He's pedantic and annoying but absolutely goddamn right. I'm glad I powered through. Based on the recommendations of "user inactivated" I'm reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman. It's totally and utterly unsurprising. Pedestrian, even.
Corrected, I would like to add (with the support of Latin memories stretching a bit far...), for the fact that Graham Greene's novel is singular. The original expression in medias res -- in the middle things, literally, no 'of', which is important -- refers necessarily to the plural. res is the direct object, accusative case. Singular would be rem, thus we need the plural. I think. Never miss a chance to brag; my motto.
Let's see. a, ae, ae, am, a - ae, arum, is, as, is es, ei, ei, em, e - es, erum, ebus, es, ebus (Not one hundred percent on those.) Original phrase: in medias res, into the middle things, accusative plural. My change: in media Quiet American, in the middle [of] QA, ablative singular? I suppose an 'of' could have been included but I unconsciously elided it for comprehension's sake. Worth noting: there seems to be some confusion online as to the literal translation of in medias res. Even wiktionary etc have it as 'in the middle of things' but unless I'm missing a subtlety, adding an 'of' changes the case to genitive (rerum). Only by translating the phrase "into the middle things" is this problem avoided.