Quite unusual p reference

[jochen stremmel]

I edit the German translations, otherwise I doubt I'd have read through
Anathem. But I remember The Diamond Age as being nearly as much fun as
Snowcrash. The idea of a smart book (as extension of the idea of the smart
wheels) appealed to me a lot.

But one interesting thing about Anathem that didn't occur to the author or
the translators (and to me only after I was halfway through): that the
stuff under the feet of the people of the Planet Anathem could hardly be
called "earth", don't you think?


2013/6/20 Joe Allonby <joeallonby at gmail.com>

> Gotta agree on Anathem. I think he got too wrapped up in his own
> language and just bored the bejesus out of me trying to read it, to
> the point that I didn't give a damn about the story itself.
>
> I think "Snowcrash" caused him to be lumped in with Gibson because of
> the virtual world setting, though the name Hiro Protagonist should
> have tipped people off to his influence.
>
> "Cryptonomicon" and the "System of the World" novels really owe a debt
> to Pynchon. "Reamde" is just a lot of fun, and reintroduces the
> partial virtual world setting.  "Zodiac" has nothing to do with any of
> the others, but has an additional source of amusement for anyone who
> has ever lived in Allston/Brighton. He gets the geography right (and
> places the toxic criminals in Everett, right municipality but the
> historically polluted river is the Malden not the Everett).
>
> On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 5:17 PM, Christopher Simon
> <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Stephenson is really uneven. Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle were
> more
> > fun than not, but Anathem was miserable trash. I own all his novels, but
> > Anathem was bad enough to keep me away from the rest for a long, long
> time.
> > ________________________________
> > From: David Morris
> > Sent: 6/18/2013 1:58 PM
> > To: Monte Davis
> > Cc: Joseph S. Barrera III; pynchon -l
> >
> > Subject: Re: Quite unusual p reference
> >
> > I can't read Stephenson.  His writing is so dull. I couldn't get even 1/2
> > way through Crypto. Snowcrash was so juvenile, but I did finish it. No
> more
> > for him for me.
> >
> > On Tuesday, June 18, 2013, Monte Davis wrote:
> >>
> >> I finished Cryptonomicon, but wouldn’t re-read it. In retrospect, it
> gave
> >> me the beginnings of the over-stuffed, under-worked-through feeling I
> got
> >> from Quicksilver.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
> >> Behalf Of Joseph S. Barrera III
> >> Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 11:49 AM
> >> To: Monte Davis
> >> Cc: 'pynchon -l'
> >> Subject: Re: Quite unusual p reference
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On 06/18/2013 08:29 AM, Monte Davis wrote:
> >>
> >> I liked most of Stephenson’s SF well enough, and was primed to like the
> >> Baroque Cycle – I can’t think of anything more Pynchonian in its themes
> --
> >> but could barely flog myself to the finish of Quicksilver.
> >>
> >>
> >> But you did make it through Cryptonomicon? I found that immensely fun
> and
> >> have re-read it a few times. I've never felt compelled to re-read
> Snowcrash.
> >>
> >> - Joe
>
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