Literature


Faster Reading

Very much faster then I have been. Eugene Volokh has already finished Stephenson’s The Confusion.
I’m still crawling through Quicksilver which I have been enjoying for much longer then I anticipated as noted here. In fact I’ve been enjoying Quicksilver enough that I already have The Confusion waiting on the bookshelf (I wanted needed to have a 1st edition).
I’d feel bad if my only reading over the past year had been several hundred pages of Quicksilver but I’ve been able to sneak in other reading at the rate of about 1 book for every 9 pages of Quicksilver and, of course, uncounted blog postings.
Update: Via Catallarchy a pointer to this Salon interview with Neal Stephenson (I had to visit a one screen add to get to the premium content).


Reading e-books

Tegan read the e-book version of Gaiman’s Coraline last night. She provides a brief review

So this one gets a strong recommendation from me along with a warning to adults to not read it at night.

Probably the 9-12 year olds that Coraline is targeted at should not read it at night either.
I read this a few months ago, enjoyed it and, like Tegan, found it creepy but without the creepiness it would not have been near as fun to read.
Tegan also has some thoughts on e-books

Another downside is the mere act of reading on a computer screen. While I can handle it now, I’m sure my eyes won’t let me in a few years.

Which is why I haven’t read any e-books yet. I still find myself printing longer material to read the old fashioned way.


Buffalo Blog Selling Books

Jaquandor who wants to get back to Google’s # 1 spot for Buffalo Blog is selling some of his books.
Normally I would consider this a form of blasphemy but, needing room for incoming volumes, I am slowly sorting through my library looking for books to sell.
So I was about to give him a pass on this until I found that one of the books he is selling is The Danzig Trilogy by Gunter Grass. The Tin Drum, volume 1 of the trilogy, is one of my all time favorites and my copy is filled from front to back with marginalia. I hope that Jaquandor is selling an extra copy and still retains a well used version.