youngwilliam: If it walks like a Marduk and quacks like a Marduk

Useless (

youngwilliam) wrote,
@ 2007-08-31 20:39:00

Current location:	49 Park Street, Bangor, Maine
Current music:	"Shanty For The Arethusa" -- Decemberists

If it walks like a Marduk and quacks like a Marduk
Psst! allegedly, moominmolly, and eh.. how about surreality! I'm about 1/3 of the way through Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (He's the guy who did that Cryptonomicon book that gave me such an Umberto Ecco & Tim Powers feel, allegedly) and I think y'all might like it. moominmolly might want to give it at least until just after we see Uncle Enzo on a skateboard -- it's just after that where I thought, "I know who simply must read this!"

Special Bonus Scandinavian Goth Cartoon!

(Post a new comment)

	allegedly 2007-09-01 01:59 am UTC (link)
	So young Goths in Scandinavia these days are smiley, contemplate joie de vivre, and eat yummy cupcakes?! Back when I was a young goth we drove safetypins through our earlobes, uphill both ways, and we liked it! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	youngwilliam 2007-09-01 02:37 am UTC (link)
	Given what I've read of Nemi before (I'd been trying to keep track of it when I saw it in Russian translations and -just- found a LJ Feed for a UK English translation the other month), I'm betting those are rumcake cupcakes. The nose-thing is generally a "drunk" signpost in Nemi, much like purple bubbles in Scary-Go-Round. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	sandchigger 2007-09-01 02:04 am UTC (link)
	Dude, you're only JUST NOW reading Snow Crash? Well, good on ya. But for the sake of all that is holy, AVOID THE BAROQUE CYCLE. Anything else is good, though (I particularly recommend Zodiac and The Diamond Age) and I suppose the Baroque Cycle is alright so long as you don't mind slogging through long boring bits... (Reply to this) (Thread)

youngwilliam
2007-09-01 02:36 am UTC (link)

I didn't even know about it until now! I think I'd heard some folks mentioning it, but I suspect I thought they were talking about that "plane crashes, folks eat folks" film/book/whatever.

And given how much I like what I've seen of this fellow's writing, I'm sure I can deal with any long boring bits he tosses at us. I was forewarned about the first chapter/scene of Snow Crash being dull (the pizza delivery bit), but I didn't find it dull at all.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	sandchigger 2007-09-01 02:38 am UTC (link)
	Dude, what? The first chapter's not boring at ALL! Who lied to you? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	youngwilliam 2007-09-01 02:43 am UTC (link)
	Mon oncle, when he handed me the book. Mind, he was a wee bit drunk at the time, so he may've been mistaking it for something else (or he just didn't care for it). (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	sandchigger 2007-09-01 02:51 am UTC (link)
	Or he's crazy! (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	youngwilliam 2007-09-01 05:15 am UTC (link)
	He willingly married a blood relative of mine. That makes for a pretty good argument for your theory, there. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	sandchigger 2007-09-01 05:17 am UTC (link)
	You said it, not me... (Reply to this) (Parent)

	youngwilliam 2007-09-10 04:43 am UTC (link)
	PS: Just started Diamond Age last night. I keep wanting to -not- read it, though, since I really don't want anything bad to happen to Nellodee. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	sandchigger 2007-09-10 04:49 am UTC (link)
	Diamond Age is awesome on a brick made of wonderful. =) (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	youngwilliam 2007-09-10 05:17 am UTC (link)
	Just as long as nothing bad happens to Nellodee! First bad thing to happen to her, I'm blaming you. Second bad thing to happen to her, I'm closing the book for good and making up how the rest of the story goes along. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	sandchigger 2007-09-10 12:06 pm UTC (link)
	I can almost guarantee you that things work out for the best in the end... (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	youngwilliam 2007-09-10 12:44 pm UTC (link)
	See else-thread for reply (Reply to this) (Parent)

	saribou 2007-09-01 11:49 am UTC (link)
	I adore(d) Snow Crash. I thought the opening sequence was pure beauty. There was other parts that seemed like internal ramblings, but that's ok. I'll forgive him for the sake of so many great images and characters. Did you know that it was written to be sequential art? That project never worked so he made it a novel instead. (Reply to this) (Thread)

youngwilliam
2007-09-05 12:02 am UTC (link)

Keen! I had no clue. My only "gripe" was the ending; it just seemed fairly abrupt and left a lot of the personal plotlines seemingly open (what about Juanita and Hiro? What about Hiro and YT? What about YT and her unseen boyfriend? Any antivirus to fix up poor scrambled Da5id? How are they going to keep the nuke from going off when Raven eventually dies?).

I'll have to poke around about the art bit -- I was hoping he'd mention it in the afterword but I didn't catch anything about it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	thehornedgod 2007-09-01 03:46 pm UTC (link)
	Nemi is fantastic! (Reply to this) (Thread)

youngwilliam
2007-09-05 12:00 am UTC (link)

I kept seeing Russian versions of it and desperately wondered what was being said (since it looked like it had potential based on their expressions). After poking around I managed to work out what it was called, hit the Wiki to find the original versions (and a few bad English translations) and then did some searching to find the UK English translations -and- a LiveJournal Syndicated RSS feed of said UK English translations.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	moominmolly 2007-09-04 06:18 am UTC (link)
	Totally one of the best books ever. It was tossed my way when I was deep into ancient near-eastern stuff. :) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	youngwilliam 2007-09-04 11:59 pm UTC (link)
	I'm starting to suspect that I'm the last person among my pals to've read it. (Reply to this) (Parent)

Username:		Create an Account Forgot your login? Login w/ OpenID
Password:
	Remember Me
	English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…

About

Help

Get Involved

Legal

Store

LJ Labs