I finished Gravity’s Rainbow last Thursday. Took me about a month, but I managed it. I need to read more Pynchon. It was fascinating and hilarious, a romp through the ruins men’s souls and the Europe. I recommended it to my friend Von. I hope he can handle it. He usually reads stuff like Steven King, Tom Clancy or that dude who writes all the stories about lawyers – Grissom? No, Grisham. Pynchon is a little more dense than those mass market potboilers. But the payoff is so much better.
Picked up Diaspora by Greg Egan on Friday. Polished it off on Sunday. Tasty science fiction, full of interesting ideas about humanity’s future. The idea that our destiny lies within a constructed digital existence as immortal, sentient software. Compelling reasoning.
Started reading The Lord of the Rings on Sunday evening. Last time I read Tolkien I was 14 or 15. That’s twenty years. Time to get reacquainted with Frodo, Gandalf and Company. This is a special volume; all three novels in one book, as it was originally intended. So far it seems much more simplistic than I remember it.