A bumper crop of reading this month.
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Altered Carbon, Richard K. Morgan. Talked about this previously, but I love the book as a great mix of William Gibson and Raymond Chandler.
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Neuromancer, William Gibson. Also discussed previously. One of my all time favorites. Still holds up well despite being 25 years removed. I’d forgotten how much of a low-life sleaze bag Case was.
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A Batman Canon, Various. I piled up four Batman graphic novels into one big reading session. After finishing Batman: Year One, Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: The Killing Joke, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, I felt like I’d read three or four books. Still think The Dark Knight Returns is the penultimate Batman tale no matter what anyone else says. The Dark Knight‘s Cold War sensibility is a jolt though. Somewhat disappointed in The Long Halloween. The Godfatherish aspects could have been a little more subtle.
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Count Zero, William Gibson. The sequel to Neuromancer, I actually enjoy this book more than it’s predecessor. I recognize the greatness of Neurmancer, but connect with the Count Zero characters, and the tri-arc story, more. There’s something spellbinding about the creation of the Cornell Boxes. Other than a lapse into an extended dialog as an expository device, Count Zero would be Neuromaner‘s equal.
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The Stone Canal, Ken MacLeod. A little bit more frenetic than the other two books of The Fall Revolution I’ve read, The Star Fraction and The Cassini Division, but I still liked it. An interesting mix of Singularity and politics. MacLeod doesn’t really go on political rants but varying political systems play prominently in his tales.
That’s 23 completed for the year. Still slightly behind pace for my goal of 35, but now that I’m in the flow that total is quite attainable.
And just another point on The Dark Knight. A good argument can be made that you can divide US comic book history into before The Dark Knight, and after The Dark Knight. And I’m including Watchmen in that division. Other than some of the first issues of the titanic characters (Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Captain America) I think you’re hard pressed to find any other inflection points like that.