It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?

» Posted by Alissa on Feb 1, 2010 in What I'm Reading | 6 comments

It’s Monday What Are You Reading? is a group blog hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog. You can link your blog by clicking here.

A week spent traveling all over creation or thereabouts doesn’t necessarily lend itself to lots of reading. I did manage to finish up This is Me, Jack Vance by Jack Vance, the other two books I got through this week were audios I listened to while driving around, Feed by M. T. Anderson and Superfreakonomics by  Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.

This is Me, Jack Vance

I’ve always loved author memoirs. Jack Vance is one of those science fiction authors I discovered when I was younger after reading a short story in an anthology. When the internet was still young, I found a great website that sold all sorts of old science fiction paperbacks and went about tracking down every Jack Vance book I could find. Even though his books contained a lot of the classic science fiction themes, there was something about his writing that was always a notch above the average science fiction book. This memoir was not exactly what I expected. It read more like a travelogue recounting the various adventures he had, mainly with his wife as they journeyed around the world. I suppose that writing about writing can be sort of boring, but I would have preferred a bit more of that and less descriptions of meals consumed, but that’s just me. It was an interesting book, nonetheless. Jack Vance lost his eyesight later in life, and so this book and his other recent stuff was written via dictation. Perhaps because of that, the book has the feel of someone sitting down and telling you a story about their life.

Feed

This is one of those novels I’ve been meaning to read for awhile, but never got around to. M. T. Anderson imagines a future in which nearly everyone has a device implanted in their brain that allows them to communicate instantly with anyone around them, but also tracks all their behaviors and is constantly streaming advertisements into their head. This was a book where the audio experience was definitely different than reading the book. The portions where we caught a glimpse of what the feed was like was done with different voices and sound effects to bring it to life. That said, there were points when the sudden intrusion of the feed startled me as I was driving and made me jump a little. It’s one of those science fiction stories that paints a dark view of the future, and gives one plenty to think about.

Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

This is one of those non-fiction books that is full of quirky facts that I find fascinating. The book covers it all from the disturbing – the centuries old problem of doctors not washing their hands – to the wow – a man who has discovered a cure to the common hurricane – and even just interesting stuff like the fact that child safety seats are no safer than standard seat belts. This “sequel” (though, I assure you the order in which you read the books doesn’t matter) was another great compendium of things that make you think a little differently about the world around you.

What’s Next

Right now, I am reading Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. The audio version of An Abundance of Katherines by John Green will keep me company during this week’s travels. I’m not sure what else will be on tap. I think it will depend a lot on my mood.