I loved Catch-22 . That and Up the Down Staircase were 2 of my favorites. They just fit so well into my cynicism-stemming-from-idealism way of viewing the world.

No, I didn't like Catch 22. Crime and Punishment was torturous. 1984 was interesting, but not really my cup of tea. Brave New World was also interesting, but good lord, could he use the word pneumatic a few more times? It just did not grab me, at all. I found it really easy to distance myself from those last two, even as I was reading them. And sometimes I'd have to go back and reread a few pages, because my mind had wandered.

I've always really really enjoyed Ray Bradbury, though, as old science fiction writers go. Even though I haven't read much of his stuff, mostly just short stories. He's always interesting, and very well written. And that's all I require.

I think most of Ray Bradbury's best stuff is his short stories. Of which he has written billions. (I only exaggerate a little.)

I think a lot of books that are read at a certain time, or written in response to a certain idea, or even in response to a certain time in history, effect many people in a big way. That does not mean, however, that everyone is going to have that same response.

Oh, this is certainly true. A great number of novels become irrelevant with the passage of time, and people stop reading them except to re-discover the historical moment of which they are a part. Other novels manage to stay relevant, through reference by their literary descendants, or through the cycles of history/culture. I wonder, e.g., how soldiers in Iraq right now feel about Catch-22.

One of the reasons why I found Asimov's Foundation books so laughably bad, aside from the crappy prose, was that he talked openly and approvingly about concepts of empire that I find repugnant. Sometimes, the pure strength of the writing can overcome that cultural drift -- this is true, for me, of Alfred Bester's Stars my Destination -- but most of the time, not.

I loved Catch-22 . That and Up the Down Staircase were 2 of my favorites. They just fit so well into my cynicism-stemming-from-idealism way of viewing the world.

I have tried, several times, to read Catch-22. I just can't get into it. Maybe if I take it on a trip where I have nothing else to read.

I'm trying to get more details about the webcast -- they're planning it at the last minute, as usual. Word is Tracie Thoms and Katie Finneran will probably be there. I'm not sure about the others; I know they've been invited, but they're kind of scattered all over the place.

Has Tyron Leitso vanished off the face of the globe? I haven't heard a murmur about what he's doing since early last year.

Tyron Leitso is set to appear in House Of The Dead II, the sequel to Uwe Boll's masterpiece, as an uber-zombie.

...just kidding...

:p

I appreciate that people don't have the same reading tastes and what strikes me might not them. But, really when I see "I don't like Catch-22" or "THGTTG did nothing for me" the words make no sense to me. Which is funny, because I hate hate hate Steinbeck, and I imagine someone will look at that and go "whuh!?!"

I wonder what makes that so. Is it that Steinbeck's level of detail that drives me batty because I just want him to "GET ON WITH THE STORY ALREADY!!!" adds to the story in profound ways for other people? The way Catch-22 wanders back and forth, peeling back the layers of the characters and the absurdity of their situation works for me, but it could just as easily irritate other readers, and I wonder what makes that the case. Does it depend on our personalities or what we're used to reading or what?

The way Catch-22 wanders back and forth, peeling back the layers of the characters and the absurdity of their situation works for me

The whole exchange with the chaplain and his liver disease, or something like that? Cracked me the hell up.

And then people start dying and you're like, wait, I thought this book was funny.

Tyron Leitso is set to appear in House Of The Dead II, the sequel to Uwe Boll's masterpiece, as an uber-zombie.

You laugh, but the combo of H.P. Lovecraft/Stephen Dorff fandom will force me to see Boll's latest "masterpiece" Alone in the Dark sometime in the next couple of weeks.

What happened to Stephen Dorff? He used to make really interesting, good indie films like Entropy and S.F.W and he was awesome as Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat. Now he's appearing in a bunch of craptastic horror movies like Fear Dot Com.