My 24th book from The List was Jack Kerouac's On the Road, which I actually finished almost two weeks ago, but whilst on the road myself, did not have the time to write a review. Without further ado, here it is.
Despite knowing Jack Kerouac to be one of the prominent beat writers of that generation, I didn't know what this novel would be. I didn't know if this would be to beatniks what Naked Lunch was supposed to be to drug addicts, or if this would be a great story of a road trip, like The Sun Also Rises set in middle America in the late 40's. As I began reading, it seemed to be pointing at the former, but slowly the pieces came together, creating a story for sure, but really creating a cast of characters who were not easily forgotten..
Almost autobiographical, Kerouac is represented by Sal Paradise, recent college graduate and budding author, who lacks any kind of direction or purpose, but wants to find himself, on the road. He's accompanied by his hero, Dean Moriarty, son of a wino, who has evenly divided his time between pool halls and prison, but who greets every person and event with more enthusiasm than most can ever muster. The two, often accompanied by series of secondary characters, take a series of adventures across the country; finding odd jobs, shacking up with strange women, and 'living life.'
At the time it was first published, Kerouac was seen as the voice of a new generation; the Hemingway or Fitzgerald of post-war America. On the Road looked at America in a way many previous works didn't or wouldn't. It's reception was often frosty from mainstream media, one reviewer describing it as a 'barberic yawp of a book'. But it did indicate that his new generation wasn't silent either, and that while classic writers might not be voicing their experiences, new writers were.
Today, the sex, the drugs, and the carefree attitude aren't as cutting edge as they were in 1957, but it's story of friendship and adventure are as relevant today as ever, if not more so. What seemed like a foolish journey then, travelling across the country for the sake of travelling, today is seen as something everybody should do in their formative, post-college days; almost a right of passage.
I found myself getting more and more involved with the characters and their adventures the more I read. I found myself identifying with their problems, being it their longing for some direction in life, or their fear of facing the consequences of their misadventures. As the years passed, they slowly recognized the need to settle down and take responsibility for their actions. They recognized that eventually one has to 'grow up'. Of course it isn't easy to come to this conclusion, but eventually everybody has to, no matter how reluctant they may be.
You can read TIME's original review from September 16, 1957 here.
I've started book number twenty-five, Herzog by Saul Bellow, and when finished will have reached the quarter pole of my journey to one hundred.
Showing posts with label road. Show all posts
Showing posts with label road. Show all posts
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
If any order might be thought upon
I was looking at the 16 books from The List the I have sitting on my desk right now. Sure, I'll never be able to read all of them before many of them will be due back at the library, but it allows me a few options when I'm selecting my next book, and I'll never have to worry about not having a book ready to go.
I also decided to sort of map out my future reading a little bit better. Up until now, I had just been picking up whatever was available at the library, and reading that. Now with so many books, I thought I should put a little bit more thought into what'll be next.
I have decided I would read Nineteen Eighty-Four last. I had tried to start the list with that book, until I found my copy was missing the first few pages. Then I thought I would read the other two books I had previously read, Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird, 80th and 90th. That would keep with my idea of reading a book I am kind of familiar with every tenth book. That's why I read Deliverance 20th, and why I plan to read Gone with the Wind 30th, A Clockwork Orange 40th, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 60th and The Big Sleep 70th. I also thought I would read the oldest and newest books on The List, 98th and 99th; meaning A Passage to India and Never Let Me Go will be the second and third last. Now I just need to figure out what order I'm going to read the other 67.
There are seven authors who have two books on The List, so I thought I wouldn't read two of their books in the same half. That means I can't read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, or The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene, until after I've finished 50 books. It also means I need to read one book by Nabokov, Bellow, Roth, Orwell and Pynchon before I hit 50. And since I'm reading Nineteen Eighty-Four last, I'll need to make sure Orwell's Animal Farm is before 50.
When perusing The List, I've been, in a way, fearing a couple of books. Sitting on my desk right now are Gravity's Rainbow, Infinite Jest and Gone With the Wind, which clock in at a combined 2,600 pages. Then I was at the bookstore the other day, and spotted Lord of the Rings sitting on the shelf. I noticed each movie has its own book, and each book looks pretty hefty. In fact, the three books total almost 3,000 pages. Then it occurred to me that maybe The List is only counting the first book, Fellowship of the Rings. Looking on Time's website, I wasn't able to find the answer, so I emailed Lev Grossman, literary critic and writer, who was one of the 'authors' of The List.
Grossman was quick to respond, saying "...I'm afraid I do consider all three volumes of The Lord of the Rings as one single mega-novel. Tolkien did -- he only agreed to split it into three volumes because the publisher couldn't sell a single book at that length ..." I don't find it very assuring when a literary critic refers to a book as a 'mega-novel.' Either way, I'll have one very long book to read, so I decided to make it the halfway point and read it 50th. I guess that means I'll be reading Lord of the Rings starting around November of 2011, and hopefully finishing before November of 2012.
The rest of the books will, in a way, be left to the fates. I'm still going to be trying to get books from the library, so I'll take what I can get., but this will become increasingly difficult, as I read more and more. With fewer books to choose from, it will obviously become more and more difficult to borrow books from the library. I currently own copies of two books from The List, neither of which I've read; Neuromancer and A Death in the Family. Perhaps I should be saving these for later on, when I get to a point where I have only ten books left. Since I have a copy, I won't need to worry about it being checked out or put on hold.
Now having said all that, I still don't know what I'm going to read after I finish On the Road. It seems I've done more 'mapping' of the last ten books than I have for the next book. I want to make sure I kind of alternate between short and long books, so I suppose I'll just take a look at the pile on my desk when I'm finished, and pick something that fits that bill.
I also decided to sort of map out my future reading a little bit better. Up until now, I had just been picking up whatever was available at the library, and reading that. Now with so many books, I thought I should put a little bit more thought into what'll be next.
I have decided I would read Nineteen Eighty-Four last. I had tried to start the list with that book, until I found my copy was missing the first few pages. Then I thought I would read the other two books I had previously read, Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird, 80th and 90th. That would keep with my idea of reading a book I am kind of familiar with every tenth book. That's why I read Deliverance 20th, and why I plan to read Gone with the Wind 30th, A Clockwork Orange 40th, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 60th and The Big Sleep 70th. I also thought I would read the oldest and newest books on The List, 98th and 99th; meaning A Passage to India and Never Let Me Go will be the second and third last. Now I just need to figure out what order I'm going to read the other 67.
There are seven authors who have two books on The List, so I thought I wouldn't read two of their books in the same half. That means I can't read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, or The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene, until after I've finished 50 books. It also means I need to read one book by Nabokov, Bellow, Roth, Orwell and Pynchon before I hit 50. And since I'm reading Nineteen Eighty-Four last, I'll need to make sure Orwell's Animal Farm is before 50.
When perusing The List, I've been, in a way, fearing a couple of books. Sitting on my desk right now are Gravity's Rainbow, Infinite Jest and Gone With the Wind, which clock in at a combined 2,600 pages. Then I was at the bookstore the other day, and spotted Lord of the Rings sitting on the shelf. I noticed each movie has its own book, and each book looks pretty hefty. In fact, the three books total almost 3,000 pages. Then it occurred to me that maybe The List is only counting the first book, Fellowship of the Rings. Looking on Time's website, I wasn't able to find the answer, so I emailed Lev Grossman, literary critic and writer, who was one of the 'authors' of The List.
Grossman was quick to respond, saying "...I'm afraid I do consider all three volumes of The Lord of the Rings as one single mega-novel. Tolkien did -- he only agreed to split it into three volumes because the publisher couldn't sell a single book at that length ..." I don't find it very assuring when a literary critic refers to a book as a 'mega-novel.' Either way, I'll have one very long book to read, so I decided to make it the halfway point and read it 50th. I guess that means I'll be reading Lord of the Rings starting around November of 2011, and hopefully finishing before November of 2012.
The rest of the books will, in a way, be left to the fates. I'm still going to be trying to get books from the library, so I'll take what I can get., but this will become increasingly difficult, as I read more and more. With fewer books to choose from, it will obviously become more and more difficult to borrow books from the library. I currently own copies of two books from The List, neither of which I've read; Neuromancer and A Death in the Family. Perhaps I should be saving these for later on, when I get to a point where I have only ten books left. Since I have a copy, I won't need to worry about it being checked out or put on hold.
Now having said all that, I still don't know what I'm going to read after I finish On the Road. It seems I've done more 'mapping' of the last ten books than I have for the next book. I want to make sure I kind of alternate between short and long books, so I suppose I'll just take a look at the pile on my desk when I'm finished, and pick something that fits that bill.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
#23 - "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson
With only two days left until the unofficial one year anniversary of my starting this list, it doesn't look like I'm going to reach my goal of 25 books in the first year. But, I have finished Snow Crash, my 23rd novel. I've learned a few things, and I'm confident I can read 27 books in the next year, to make up for this year's short comings.
Snow Crash is the first Sci-Fi book from The List I've read, and one of only a couple on The List. While I enjoy the odd Sci-Fi movie, I'd be lying if I said I was a fan of the books. For that reason, I was a little nervous going into this one; worried that I'd become disinterested like I did with Neuromancer, and that it would take me forever to read. I'll be the first to admit it, that wasn't the case, and I actually enjoyed reading this book quite a bit.
The protagonist, or hero, is aptly named Hiro Protagonist (I'm not making that up). He's a computer hacker who delivers pizza to make ends meet, and is known as the greatest sword fighter in the world. He spend his time in the Metaverse; a virtual-reality world that people hang out in, socialize on, run businesses, own homes, travel, communicate and learn. After meeting a young female kourier (there is no post office in the not-too-distant future) named Y.T., they become entangled in a plot to spread a deadly virus known as Snow Crash. This virus not only disables the computer it's opened on, but also the mind of the person who opens it. Hiro and Y.T. must find the source of the virus and help destroy it, before it destroys them and their world.
The world they live in, in this not-too-distant future, does contain many of the elements that tend to drive me crazy about Sci-Fi novels. Why does the future have to be so bleak all the time!? Why can't it just be like today, with more technology? But despite the world Hiro and Y.T. live in not having countries (they've been replaced by privately run 'burbclaves') or laws, or seemingly any order, it doesn't come off as bleak as other books I've read or movies I've seen.
While the time period is never specified, I get that feeling that since the book was written in 1992, the story takes place sometime in the early 21st century, or to put it another way, what is currently referred to as "the past." And it is this I found so interesting about the book. Many of Stephenson's descriptions are very accurate for his future, our past.
The Metaverse, the virtual-reality world so many spend their time in, isn't much different from the Internet today. While there isn't any real reference to a similar type of social networking, the Metaverse is a place where people meet from anywhere in the world, not unlike Facebook. Relationships tend to be less personal, like Facebook, but often more informative, also like Facebook. One of Hiro's ex-girlfriends hates using the Metaverse for relationships, complaining they "...distort the way people talk to each other, and she wants no such distortion in her relationships." It fits Facebook and Twitter friendships to a tee if you ask me.
Another program frequently used throughout the book is the Librarian, which I have equated to Wikipedia or even just Google. The Librarian is simply a computer program in the Metaverse that is there to answer questions. From anywhere in the world, one can access the Librarian to find out the information they need. When Hiro needs to learn something about ancient societies or if he needs the blueprints of a famous cargo ship, he heads to the Librarian to find the answer. Like most answers found on-line, the Librarian's information is merely a compilation of information entered by various different people, from all over the world. But, unlike Wikipedia, it seems it doesn't need to be taken with a grain of salt.
And perhaps the most similar program Hiro uses to today's actual programs is called 'Earth.' Basically, it's Google Earth, providing satellite imagery of the entire planet and directions on how to get anywhere from anywhere. It even provides street views to the more prominent locations and lists businesses and attractions; exactly like the program so many people use everyday now. The only difference between the Metaverse version and the Google version might be that in the Metaverse the images are only a few minutes old, where as on Google Earth they can sometimes be a few years old. (The horrors!)
For all his accurate descriptions of future technologies, there were a few misses. While everybody in this future records video of nearly everything, they do it on 'videotape.' And while people in the future listen to music everywhere they go, they still use Walkmans. Ironically, these were officially discontinued by Sony last week, where I would have thought they had been discontinued ten years ago. Who has been buying Walkmans the past ten years to warrant their continued production? Lastly, not really a technological miss, but I found it funny; Hiro describes how it is possible to stop a viral idea, then says, "...as happened with Nazism, bell bottoms and Bart Simpson t-shirts." I guess Stepheson could never have imagined that a show only two or three years old at the time this book was written, would still be on 18 years later, so I'll cut him a little slack.
When trying to decide what to read next, I picked On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I currently have 18 books from The List, sitting on my desk; 13 from the library, and two that I own. As a result, I recently incurred three fines, $0.70 each for On the Road, Gravity's Rainbow and Herzog. Since I've had these books for over a month, I figured I should start reading one of them instead of going to one of my more recent checkouts.
Snow Crash is the first Sci-Fi book from The List I've read, and one of only a couple on The List. While I enjoy the odd Sci-Fi movie, I'd be lying if I said I was a fan of the books. For that reason, I was a little nervous going into this one; worried that I'd become disinterested like I did with Neuromancer, and that it would take me forever to read. I'll be the first to admit it, that wasn't the case, and I actually enjoyed reading this book quite a bit.
The protagonist, or hero, is aptly named Hiro Protagonist (I'm not making that up). He's a computer hacker who delivers pizza to make ends meet, and is known as the greatest sword fighter in the world. He spend his time in the Metaverse; a virtual-reality world that people hang out in, socialize on, run businesses, own homes, travel, communicate and learn. After meeting a young female kourier (there is no post office in the not-too-distant future) named Y.T., they become entangled in a plot to spread a deadly virus known as Snow Crash. This virus not only disables the computer it's opened on, but also the mind of the person who opens it. Hiro and Y.T. must find the source of the virus and help destroy it, before it destroys them and their world.
The world they live in, in this not-too-distant future, does contain many of the elements that tend to drive me crazy about Sci-Fi novels. Why does the future have to be so bleak all the time!? Why can't it just be like today, with more technology? But despite the world Hiro and Y.T. live in not having countries (they've been replaced by privately run 'burbclaves') or laws, or seemingly any order, it doesn't come off as bleak as other books I've read or movies I've seen.
While the time period is never specified, I get that feeling that since the book was written in 1992, the story takes place sometime in the early 21st century, or to put it another way, what is currently referred to as "the past." And it is this I found so interesting about the book. Many of Stephenson's descriptions are very accurate for his future, our past.
The Metaverse, the virtual-reality world so many spend their time in, isn't much different from the Internet today. While there isn't any real reference to a similar type of social networking, the Metaverse is a place where people meet from anywhere in the world, not unlike Facebook. Relationships tend to be less personal, like Facebook, but often more informative, also like Facebook. One of Hiro's ex-girlfriends hates using the Metaverse for relationships, complaining they "...distort the way people talk to each other, and she wants no such distortion in her relationships." It fits Facebook and Twitter friendships to a tee if you ask me.
Another program frequently used throughout the book is the Librarian, which I have equated to Wikipedia or even just Google. The Librarian is simply a computer program in the Metaverse that is there to answer questions. From anywhere in the world, one can access the Librarian to find out the information they need. When Hiro needs to learn something about ancient societies or if he needs the blueprints of a famous cargo ship, he heads to the Librarian to find the answer. Like most answers found on-line, the Librarian's information is merely a compilation of information entered by various different people, from all over the world. But, unlike Wikipedia, it seems it doesn't need to be taken with a grain of salt.
And perhaps the most similar program Hiro uses to today's actual programs is called 'Earth.' Basically, it's Google Earth, providing satellite imagery of the entire planet and directions on how to get anywhere from anywhere. It even provides street views to the more prominent locations and lists businesses and attractions; exactly like the program so many people use everyday now. The only difference between the Metaverse version and the Google version might be that in the Metaverse the images are only a few minutes old, where as on Google Earth they can sometimes be a few years old. (The horrors!)
For all his accurate descriptions of future technologies, there were a few misses. While everybody in this future records video of nearly everything, they do it on 'videotape.' And while people in the future listen to music everywhere they go, they still use Walkmans. Ironically, these were officially discontinued by Sony last week, where I would have thought they had been discontinued ten years ago. Who has been buying Walkmans the past ten years to warrant their continued production? Lastly, not really a technological miss, but I found it funny; Hiro describes how it is possible to stop a viral idea, then says, "...as happened with Nazism, bell bottoms and Bart Simpson t-shirts." I guess Stepheson could never have imagined that a show only two or three years old at the time this book was written, would still be on 18 years later, so I'll cut him a little slack.
When trying to decide what to read next, I picked On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I currently have 18 books from The List, sitting on my desk; 13 from the library, and two that I own. As a result, I recently incurred three fines, $0.70 each for On the Road, Gravity's Rainbow and Herzog. Since I've had these books for over a month, I figured I should start reading one of them instead of going to one of my more recent checkouts.
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