Reading

I read both kinds of fiction:  Science Fiction and Fantasy.  Fantasy is more of 
a guilty pleasure, with a few exceptions.
  
I'm a sucker for a good space opera.  Best one I've recently read was the 
Reality Dysfunction series by Peter F. Hamilton, but that was a while ago.  I 
cranked through the first two books of Kevin J. Anderson's Saga of the Seven 
Suns and it seems pretty good.
  
I'm doing my best to share my interests with Elizabeth.  We are working our way 
through the Harry Potter books as bedtime stories.  We just finished the second 
book.  I hope to catch up and get ahead of the movie releases so they aren't 
spoiling things for us when we read the books.  It's remarkable really how true 
to the books the Harry Potter movies are.  Much moreso than Peter Jackson's 
LOTR.  
  
Other authors I enjoy:
*  * Tad Williams
*  * George R.R. Martin (really, skip the others on this list and go straight
to his stuff.  best.  fantasy.  series.  ever.  OK except maybe LOTR)
*  * Kay Kenyon
*  * Robin Hobb
*  * China Mieville
*  * Tim Powers
*  * Blaylock
*  * Greg Bear
  
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2/10/04
I just finished reading 
<b>[http://ipac.kcls.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=107643D57X33O.177492&profile=dial--1--1--1&uri=full=1100001@!2387498@!0&ri=6&aspect=basic_search&menu=search&source=198.104.63.130@!dial--1--1--1&ipp=20&staffonly=&&aspect=basic_search&menu=search&ri=6#focus 
[http://ipac.kcls.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=107643D57X33O.177492&profile=dial--1--1--1&uri=full=1100001@!2387498@!0&ri=6&aspect=basic_search&menu=search&source=198.104.63.130@!dial--1--1--1&ipp=20&staffonly=&&aspect=basic_search&menu=search&ri=6#focus
The Golden Age]</b> Age] and am thoroughly looking forward to reading the
next volume in this series.  It takes place 10,000 years in the future.
Everyone is immortal.  People spend almost all of their time in their preferred
virtual reality, which can take on many layers depending on which philosophy
they hold to.  Perceptual filters let them screen out advertisements, emotions,
or other features that don't fit into their personal philosophy.  Independent
self-aware artificial intelligences run most of the mundane aspects of society
and the economy, advising the human (and not-so-human) "neuroforms".
Memory redacting is used to erase unpleasant memories.  Oh and they've lit
Saturn on fire, making it a second sun, to harness its energy.  It is a utopia
in which the protagonist, Phaeton, rebels against the status quo and seeks to
take society out of its static safe but stagnant progression.  His offense
against society (which we don't know any details of until about 75% through the
book) has resulted in an agreement wherein his last 250 years of memories have
been erased, along with those of the rest of society relating to his efforts.
There's some stuff that seems derivative of "the matrix" -- physical
bodies kept hooked up to medical equipment in drab cubicles in a ringworld
surrounding the earth, allowing the mind to roam the fantasy worlds of "the
mentality".  Some very interesting plot lines develop from the idea of
memories being erased and not really knowing what is truth versus fabrication or
deception.  I found the book overall to be fairly novel and fresh.  Check it
out!
----
2/19/04
I'm reading Terry Goodkind's last <b>Sword of Truth</b> book, 
[https://catalog.spl.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1U7722823T85B.5407&profile=dial&uri=full=1100001@!2196435@!19&ri=4&aspect=BeginsWith&menu=search&source=66.212.75.148@!dial&ipp=20&staffonly=&term=Goodkind,+Terry&index=&uindex=&aspect=BeginsWith&menu=search&ri=4#focus Naked Empire] and finding it a bit tiresome.  I always end up feeling his books could be trimmed down by about 20%.  He beats you over the head with the philosophy he's trying to reinforce in his never ending battle of good vs. evil.  Reminds me of Ayn Rand.  Or some of the long history lessons embedded in <b>The Davinci Code</b>.  I'm still enjoying it though and will finish it, and probably read the next one, unlike the Wheel of Time books, or the Magic of Recluce series, both of which should have been ended before they ran out of steam.
  
Long as we are talking fantasy, I've been reading the Harry Potter books to 
Elizabeth bit by bit as our bedtime story routine.  She's seen both of the 
movies and we just finished <b>The Chamber of Secrets</b>.  We're 
both looking forward to getting into the next book and not having the ending 
spoiled for us.  I hope it is good but fear it won't be so great.  I'm tempted 
to spin off and read her the <b>His Dark Materials</b> series 
instead, but I've already read them.  I like that they have a female child 
protagonist though, and they seem much more creative than the Harry Potter 
stuff.
  
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2/27/04
  
finished that damn <b>Naked Empire</b>.  The problem with fantasy 
novels is that "magic" lets the author pull a rabbit out of a hat at 
the end and make the major problem that built up through the whole book go away 
literally in a puff of magic.
  
I'm back on John Wright's books now, reading <b>The Phoenix Exultant, or 
Dispossessed in Utopia</b>.  Great books.  I read a lot of sci fi and so 
rarely do you get something that is really good and really different.  Phaeton 
is in exile but hasn't let go of his dream to get his ship back (The Phoenix 
Exultant...what a great name.  If I ever get to christen a boat this name will 
be on the list).