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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Tue April 26, 2022 3:59 pm 
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tragabigzanda wrote:
washing machine wrote:
Continued from the podcast thread

tragabigzanda wrote:
washing machine wrote:
Currently listening to a 2019 episode of a pod called Weird Studies about William Gibson's novel Pattern Recognition. Really interesting how prescient that novel was.

https://www.weirdstudies.com/53

never read it. Is that the one about the psychic marketing wizard? Such a cool premise. But I've struggled to connect with Gibson's writing.

What is it exactly about his writing? I find that it's a strange, almost robotic mix of computer jargon, philosophy and poetry and can get why it's sometimes the worst of all three, but somehow that voice works so well with his subject matter for me that I end up not caring too much. The reward of living in his world is worth it when I read his novels.

Here's a classic example, from Pattern Recognition:

Quote:
She knows, now, absolutely, hearing the white noise that is London, that Damien's theory of jet lag is correct: that her mortal soul is leagues behind her, being reeled in on some ghostly umbilical down the vanished wake of the plane that brought her here, hundreds of thousands of feet above the Atlantic. Souls can't move that quickly, and are left behind, and must be awaited, upon arrival, like lost luggage.


Or this, from Virtual Light:

Quote:
Physically transporting bits of information about a grid that consisted of little else, she provided a degree of absolute security in the fluid universe of data. With your memo in the girl’s bag, you knew precisely where it was; otherwise, your memo was nowhere, perhaps everywhere, in that instant of transit.

You got at this with your description, but it really reminds me of an instruction manual or feasibility report. He seems to make a great effort to make a convoluted idea fit into a single sentence, and it never flows. It always feels stilted and kind of herky jerky. I can’t ever settle into a groove; my brain actually has to work to pull together the significance of a passage, but not in a good or enjoyable kind of way.

You know, I said that living in his world is rewarding, but that's not true at all. His worlds are horrifying dystopias that are all the more terrifying considering he's become sort of a prophet for the near-future.

The more I think about why I like the way he writes about it, I can say that his approach has a way of making his worlds feel like sci-fi, an escape. I don't think I love his writing style, but I'm utterly fascinated by it. The poetry is there, buried deep in the detritus.

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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Wed April 27, 2022 2:04 pm 
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Exciting!

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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Fri April 29, 2022 1:03 pm 
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Tiny little pamphlet but technically a book
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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Sun May 15, 2022 2:56 pm 
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I came across this quote today and got the itch; it's been 3 years...too soon?

"Do you know what the worst thing about literature is? said Don Pancracio. I knew, but I pretended I didn't. What? I said. That you end up being friends with writers."

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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2022 11:33 pm 
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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2022 2:33 am 
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Simple Torture wrote:
I came across this quote today and got the itch; it's been 3 years...too soon?

"Do you know what the worst thing about literature is? said Don Pancracio. I knew, but I pretended I didn't. What? I said. That you end up being friends with writers."

That’s Robert Ludlum right?


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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2022 2:40 am 
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bart wrote:
Simple Torture wrote:
I came across this quote today and got the itch; it's been 3 years...too soon?

"Do you know what the worst thing about literature is? said Don Pancracio. I knew, but I pretended I didn't. What? I said. That you end up being friends with writers."

That’s Robert Ludlum right?

Michael Crichton.

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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2022 2:49 am 
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lennytheweedwhacker wrote:
bart wrote:
Simple Torture wrote:
I came across this quote today and got the itch; it's been 3 years...too soon?

"Do you know what the worst thing about literature is? said Don Pancracio. I knew, but I pretended I didn't. What? I said. That you end up being friends with writers."

That’s Robert Ludlum right?

Michael Crichton.

Dan Brown.

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McParadigm wrote:
lol


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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2022 2:51 am 
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Simple Torture wrote:
lennytheweedwhacker wrote:
bart wrote:
Simple Torture wrote:
I came across this quote today and got the itch; it's been 3 years...too soon?

"Do you know what the worst thing about literature is? said Don Pancracio. I knew, but I pretended I didn't. What? I said. That you end up being friends with writers."

That’s Robert Ludlum right?

Michael Crichton.

Dan Brown.

Desert Places.

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There is no digital Tom


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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2022 3:03 am 
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lennytheweedwhacker wrote:
Simple Torture wrote:
lennytheweedwhacker wrote:
bart wrote:
Simple Torture wrote:
I came across this quote today and got the itch; it's been 3 years...too soon?

"Do you know what the worst thing about literature is? said Don Pancracio. I knew, but I pretended I didn't. What? I said. That you end up being friends with writers."

That’s Robert Ludlum right?

Michael Crichton.

Dan Brown.

Desert Places.

Full circle.

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McParadigm wrote:
lol


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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2022 1:56 am 
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TIER 1 Essential Critical Infrastructure Worker
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Spoiler: show
Never mind


Last edited by Biff Pocoroba on Wed May 18, 2022 2:05 am, edited 2 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2022 1:59 am 
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the TV
she reads to me
breaking news and network shows

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Guys I was baked out of my mind, I was just grooving


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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2022 2:14 am 
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Biff Pocoroba wrote:
Spoiler: show
Never mind

Will do.

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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2022 10:37 am 
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Finished Popisho. Really loved it.

Now I'm on:

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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2022 6:05 pm 
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just started this today.

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tragabigzanda wrote:
Guys I was baked out of my mind, I was just grooving


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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2022 6:10 pm 
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dad wrote:
just started this today.

Image

A truly influential read. I hope you enjoy it as much as I and several others on RM have. I knew you'd start reading it soon and that might have inspired me to go on a botched minimalist run this morning.

A personal anecdote: I traveled to the Copper Canyons by train with my parents, sister, grandparents, and some of their friends in the early 90s when it was still safe enough to do it. I remember buying a pair of those same tire sandals described in the book, strapping them on, and literally hopping across rocks and crags with a Tarahumara kid about my age who hung around one of the lodges where we were staying. It's one of the best memories from my childhood that I hope I never lose. I also hope to god I get a chance to introduce my son to those types of experiences.

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I could destroy any ai chatbot you put in front of me. Easily.


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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Tue May 24, 2022 11:54 am 
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epilogue wrote:
Finished Popisho. Really loved it.

Now I'm on:

Image

This was a lot of fun.


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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Tue May 24, 2022 12:31 pm 
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RM's resident disinformation expert.

“And truly, if life had no purpose, and I had to choose nonsense, this would be the most desirable nonsense for me as well."


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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2022 3:05 am 
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An enigma of a man shaped hole in the wall between reality and the soul of the devil.
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_________________
RM's resident disinformation expert.

“And truly, if life had no purpose, and I had to choose nonsense, this would be the most desirable nonsense for me as well."


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 Post subject: Re: What are you currently reading?
PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2022 11:37 pm 
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Started Secret History. :heartbeat:


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