Hello, all

[Daniel Harper]

Thanks for the welcome. This looks like an interesting list. I'm currently 
working as a magazine specialist at the local Books-a-Million. A nice job, 
for retail, even though the pay's a bit low.

On Tuesday 06 March 2007 12:03, you wrote:
> nice find....welcome....what bookstore? ...I have been in the book business
> and still am (consultant).
>
> Daniel Harper <daniel_harper at earthlink.net> wrote:  I've been reading this
> list for a few weeks now, but never really got the chance to add to the
> conversation. I work in a bookstore, and discovered Pynchon when ATD was
> released -- the store lets me check out books as if from a library, and I
> decided to give it a try. A hundred or so pages in, and I was hooked -- I
> bought the book, and finished it about six weeks ago. Now I'm going through
> all of Pynchon's other works. I've read COL49, and am currently working my
> way through Vineland. (After ATD I wanted to try his shorter works.)
>
> Sometimes it's the most obvious thing that blindsides you, especially with
> Pynchon. I'm most of the way finished with Vineland, and read this:
>
> "Hector knew the classic chill, the extra receptors up and humming,
> gathering in the signs, channels suddenly shutting down, traffic scrambled
> and jammed, phone trouble, faces in lobbies warning you that you don't know
> them. Could it be that some silly-ass national-emergency exercise was
> finally coming true? As if the Tube were suddenly to stop showing pictures
> and instead announce, "From now on, I'm watching you." (p 340, Penguin
> mass-market paperback)
>
> ...And suddenly I stop and go, "Oh, right, the book takes place in
> _1984_...." An obvious reference, that subtly changes the entire tenor of
> the book, that I just entirely missed until that moment. I'll go stick my
> nose in the corner for awhile now.

-- 
No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred.
--Daniel Harper