Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book appears to have the seeds of other better books like Anathem and Ready Player One, but it's fun, imaginative, and delightfully detailed.

I participated in the 24 in 48 Readathon this weekend, and as part of the readathon, I finished this book. I didn't make it up to 24 hours, but I'm satisfied that I got to enjoy so much of this story over the weekend.

Readathoning

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Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Meh. Maybe I would have liked it better if it weren't so unrewardingly long. In a strange way, it reminds me of Gravity's Rainbow, if GR were readable and even a tiny but enjoyable- which it is not.

I enjoyed the fun little math sketches in the book and the characters were good. The plot veered between boring and stressful with only small sections in the beginning and middle that I really enjoyed. I'm sad I didn't like it more. I see a lot of enthusiasm for the book in the other reviews and I want to share in that. I loved Anathem, and I'm not giving up on Stephenson. I might need to try for a shorter Stephenson novel next time though.

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Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Anathem by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It helps if you know about the current state of physics though. I'm not sure what reading this book would be like without any physics background at all. It would either be more or less fantastical but I'm not sure which.

In any case, I loved it. I loved the Consents, the Saunts, the little romances, adventure, but most of all the physics. Can't wait to read more Stephenson now.

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Dad's Favorite Books

I recently found my dad's Goodreads.com profile. I'm sure I asked him to join, and I'm not sure how much effort he put into writing his profile but he listed his favorite books:

Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter (1979)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (1966) (review here)
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (1992) (review here)
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1973) (review here)
The Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman (1985)

I've read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but it was many years ago. I do remember loving it. I've tried and failed to read Gravity's Rainbow, but I will try again. I'm afraid of whether or not I got rid of Gödel, Escher, Bach and The Shining Mountain even though I got rid of very very few books, but I will look for them. Maybe starting out with this smaller list will help since it's been two years now and I've made no progress in reading his books.

The Big U by Neal Stephenson

The Big U by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is like a futuristic Lord of the Flies inside a big city university and dorm. The book is not good. It took me two months of slogging through it to finish it. I gave it two stars instead of one because I liked the idea (kind of) and the characters, but not the insane execution.

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