I’m in the middle of reading Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, which I stole from Brian’s shelf when I thought I’d have to sit in the dentist’s office for hours waiting for him instead of assisting the dentist during his (Brian’s) emergency root canal.
If it wasn’t 1000+ pages, it would be a quick read. It is essentially a thriller/spy novel - the pacing is quick, and even though it’s heavily referential, the references are in-your-face obvious. (or maybe I’m not geek enough to pick up on the references–ha!) It’s a big step up from Dan Brown, but not even close to Pynchon or even DeLillo, who always seem to get pulled in for comparison’s sake.
While Snowcrash is an essential part of the literate web geek’s canon, this book moves into the hacker realm. I am not a hacker, a programmer, or anything close to that. I do not get “root” jokes even though I can tell you why they should be funny. In fact, I suppose it’s significant that one of the character’s names is Root, but eh - I’m only half way though the book - if it’s obvious to me now, then I almost hope his name has no significance. That’s too “over the head with a brick” for me. I like subtlety.
Take this passage, which made me feel really cool that I knew exactly what he meant, and then really lame & obnoxious for being taken in that easily:
They take seats across the head of the table which is wide enough for a Last Supper tableau. In the Jesus position is a really big chair. It is the kind of thing you’d get if you went to a Finnish designer with a shaved head, rimless glasses, and twin Ph.D.s in semiotics and civil engineering, wrote him a blank check, and asked him to design a throne.
Still, it’s good beach reading and since I’m in Florida at the moment it’s only fitting.
This gets me thinking…it’s been a good 10 years since I’ve approached Gravity’s Rainbow. I’ve read the first few pages so many times that every time I think about it, I get a craving for banana pancakes (apparently I’m not alone). This summer maybe…
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