The post-graduation books post (post post)

I've been reading a lot more than I've been posting here, so I'm behind on saying anything about most of what I've been reading. Instead of saying anything substantial about any particular book, I'll make brief comments about the things that I've read and the things that I still haven't. Before I do that, I'll note that there are two major exceptions. The first is Frederik Pohl's Heechee Saga, a series that I finished a while back. I intend to write a more detailed post about that series at some point in the future. If I fail to do so, feel free to call me out on that. But it's not going to be any time this month. Probably not even next month. There's one more book that, as I understand it, is not part of the main series but does share some characters with those books. I may or may not read it before posting about the Heechee books. The second exception is George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. I am arbitrarily refusing to use this blog to say anything substantial about those books until I've read all of them. Two of them haven't even been published, so maybe that'll never happen. We'll see.

Dying of the Light by George R.R. Martin
I had a hold coming in, but knew that I'd need more reading material. I saw the same author name as A Song of Ice and Fire. I'd also read his foreword to The Jack Vance Treasury and it had me interested in reading some of his earlier work. The pacing feels a bit weird and the character development sometimes seems forced. For such a short book, it seems as though a lot of the work goes into building an interesting world that goes beyond the specific setting in which the actual narrative events occur (the book devotes a lot to background information). But that's sort of a common trap for science fiction. Overall, I liked the characters and the presentation. If this had been the only book by the author that I'd ever read, I'd be quite willing to check out more of his work. Good, just not great.

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
I was torn between noting this and not noting this, but I'll do it. I figured I probably didn't need a long book, but that something besides Dying of the Light would be necessary to hold me over until holds started coming in. I saw this in the fiction stacks at the library and thought, "I've been wanting to read this for many years and it's short and it's here right now, so it's perfect!" Even so, I almost avoided checking it out. It had cover art that was obviously from a 1950's or 1960's reprint that was deliberately racy and gaudy (or if I was being generous I'd say "exotic" because that's probably what the publisher was going for). Since about half of my reading time was on trains and buses, I initially put the book back on the shelf because I thought about other people seeing me reading a book with that cover. So then I slapped myself. Or probably not, but I should have. I was actually rather disturbed that such a thought had even occurred to me. I certainly hadn't anticipated it. So I checked the book out. It was everything I'd expected. While I don't know exactly how I'd rate the quality, I did like it enough to put a hold on the second book in the series. Also, I'll note that I'd love to learn to write in a way that captures that style. It's not specific to Burroughs. I'm thinking of the general writing style of authors in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
I'd heard good things about it and I've finally gotten around to reading it for myself. A deeply intriguing book, but not a very compelling one. Where it's good, it's often very, very good. I read this very quickly and got into it, enraptured by it. But in the end, I was disappointed, with a sort of sinking feeling leading up to the conclusion. The Diamond Age is either too long or far too short. I would explain why, but that would be saying something substantial.

All Seated on the Ground by Connie Willis
This was another sort of "filler" book I'd grabbed because I didn't want to get stuck with nothing to read before I could make it to the library. Having limited room in my bag on account of how often I was dragging my p-chem textbook to school meant I was looking for something thin. If not for that, I'd not have read this one. Connie Willis never really seems to disappoint. This is a really short, really simple novel with the premise that aliens land on Earth in a spaceship, but don't do anything other than glare at people in an annoyed manner, while the government scrambles to set up a research team to figure out how to communicate with the aliens. It's fun.

Revolt in 2100 & Methuselah's Children by Robert Heinlein
I decided that I was overdue for reading some more Heinlein. When I saw both of these books collected in one volume, I knew I had to check it out. I was thoroughly enjoying reading this, and then I reached the postscript to Revolt in 2100, a six-page note expounding on stories in the same continuity as the stories in this book (and some of his earlier stories, some of which I've also read) that he gave up on. In the middle of the postscript, Heinlein explains why he used two of the circumstances in the Revolt in 2100 stories, which may or may not have been further detailed in the "stories never written." The first circumstance was that we might develop and advance space travel, then allow it to become deprecated. The second was that there could be a theocratic takeover of the United States.

I am aware that the themes of the unwritten stories linking the second and this the third volume thus briefly stated above have not been elaborated sufficiently to lend conviction, particularly with reference to the notions; the idea that space travel, once apparently firmly established, could fall into disuse, and secondly the idea that the United States could lapse into dictatorship of superstition. As for the first, consider the explorations of the Vikings a thousand years ago and the colonies they established in North America. Their labors were fruitless; Columbus and his successors had to do it all over again. Space travel in the near future is likely to be a marginal proposition at best, subsidized for military reasons. It could die out—then undergo a renaissance through new techniques and through new economic and political pressures. I am not saying these things will happen, I do say they could happen.

 The postscript is dated October of 1952. That's five years before Sputnik 1. And the next paragraph was the same sort of thing, but on the topic of the United States falling into dictatorship. Oh shit.

The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Like I said, I was sufficiently enamored of A Princess of Mars that I put the second book on hold. I haven't read it yet, but it's next on the list.

Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge
This will be the first full Vinge novel I'll read that isn't part of the "Zones of Thought" series. I'm really looking forward to this one.

I also grabbed four books that the Covington Library put in a "free" box to make room for other stuff for their book sale. I don't know that I'll read any of those any time soon. I was going to say insubstantial things about them too, but I'll just remark on the existence of those books and end this post, as it has enough book titles in it already.