Thanks to you people, I bought the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo last night. I'd actually given it as a gift, but never read it myself!
I'm thinking about buying something very expensive. Maybe an antelope.
Anya ,'Get It Done'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Jesse - Jul 18, 2009 5:05:39 pm PDT #9642 of 28400
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Kat - Jul 19, 2009 10:36:55 am PDT #9643 of 28400
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
Ooooh. Jesse! So enjoyable.
I'm reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle now. Not very far in, but enjoyable enough. Not at the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo level.
Can I also fess up? I find the statistics about abuse at the beginning of each section totally creepy.
Ginger - Jul 19, 2009 2:25:12 pm PDT #9644 of 28400
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
There's a lovely piece about Jack Vance in the NY Times magazine [link]
Volans - Jul 19, 2009 5:02:53 pm PDT #9645 of 28400
move out and draw fire
Thanks for the link, Ginger. I liked Vance even before the NYT called him "the anti-Paul Auster."
I haven't read the whole article; I'll be interested to see if they mention that Gary Gygax based the magic system in D&D on Vance's work.
DavidS - Jul 19, 2009 5:45:33 pm PDT #9646 of 28400
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
I'll be interested to see if they mention that Gary Gygax based the magic system in D&D on Vance's work.
They do.
I discovered Vance in that magic 12-13 zone with The Dying Earth. One of the most pleasurable and decadent reading experiences you can have at that age.
Toddson - Jul 20, 2009 6:32:07 am PDT #9647 of 28400
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"
Someone once asked Isaac Asimov when the Golden Age of Science Fiction was. After some thought he replied, "12".
Steph L. - Jul 20, 2009 6:36:20 am PDT #9648 of 28400
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine
Don't tell Readercon.
(Sorry; I've been sucked into reading the Readercon kerfluffle, and it's just amusing the crap out of me. GRE scores? Seriously?!?)
Seska (the Watcher-in-Training) - Jul 20, 2009 6:40:06 am PDT #9649 of 28400
"We're all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?"
Given that 12 is when I discovered Asimov, I agree with him entirely. (I don't think there's another sci-fi experience that has come close to the first time I encountered the Foundation series.)
StuntHusband - Jul 20, 2009 6:57:57 am PDT #9650 of 28400
Electromagnetic candy! - Stark
I started reading with Asimov - at least, that's my memory (reading "The Martian Way" collection of short fiction at the age of 5...I may have had other things read to me by grandparents earlier, but I don't remember that.)
Foundation totally skewed my idea of "science fiction" - it all has to be space opera, or it just doesn't feel right. :)
Toddson - Jul 20, 2009 7:05:09 am PDT #9651 of 28400
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"
My father read SF early on so his books were around the house and once I learned to read, I read everything I could get my hands on. So ... I started early. Unfortunately, all his books from before, oh 1949 or so, were burned ... in a house fire - not a book burning, mind you.