Yeah, Moose and the opening chapter are annoying, but it takes off from there. Def one of his best.

I finished it last night. It's long at nearly 1000 pages (I read it as an e-book, but when I read on my iPad I find myself going on to Amazon to see what a physical book's length is), but I pretty much agree with Enrique. Fun certainly; and, yes, silly at times (yet, paradoxically, also very intelligent and well-informed). Worse, it's sloppy in a few places. (Stephenson clearly wrote this one in a hurry and it could have used some editing.) So maybe not awesome; but immensely readable. After some opening moves, it's pretty much action-adventure all the way. The gaming stuff is very clever and, because of it, this book updates Snow Crash in an interesting way. The social commentary, which Stephenson occasionally throws in, adds to the novel. (The Northern Idaho sections are funny.) And Stephenson's ongoing investigation of how money works in the modern world adds to the book's interest.

I haven't read Snow Crash, so I'll have to figure out what you mean by the update later. I agree on the social commentary, it is one of my favorite bits of Stephenson.
Even though the book is full of ridiculous moments, they don't feel ridiculous until I pushed myself away from the page. They all seem logical when they happen.

One problem I had a bit after finishing reading was the character of Abdullah Jones. He just seemed to Western to me. A bit out of sync with the other jihadists. But upon thinking about it more, I realized making him Western accomplished several good things: 1) He could say funny one-liners, 2) He could navigate the Western world easier since he spoke fluent English and knew how Westerners think. The second bit is obviously the one that makes it more reasonable, since it is a very useful trait to have.

I bought Chaos Walking Trilogy off kindle store from their daily deals this week. Read how Lions Gate is producing a movie off it. Decided to give it a shot.

I really hate the kid, I just finished part one of book one. But this kid Todd is like Carl from the walking dead...

I thought Stephenson's fondness for having his characters make funny quips (or intelligent observations, for that matter) while in the midst of death-threatening situations was one of the weaknesses of the book--one of the things that took me out of the intensity of the action narrative.

(Though often they were witty.)

Just ordered In Cold blood and a book about the making of and influence of the Capote book. Also ordered the Baroque Cycle and Reamde by Stephenson.

Page 943 out of 1150 for Storm of Swords ... 200 pages to go is the homestretch right?

Sometimes they took me out, sometimes they didn't. The intelligent observations are usually not spoken aloud, so those didn't take me out of the book.

An example of a scene that I didn't like was

I know I sound a bit grumpy, given that I really did enjoy reading the book. Just not as much as the other Stephenson I've read. I think the moment where I most felt the author nod was in the scene on the plane where Zula is being attacked.

Looking for a good novel to read over vacation, preferably one thats not to daunting of a task to read, but still relatively profound, no stephan king like recommends please.

A Prayer for Owen Meany

that one looks intriguing, does anyone here have any thoughts about ' 100 years of solitude' ?

I liked Love in the Time of Cholera farrrr more. I found 100 Years to be a slog.

Are you looking for something within a particular genre?

If you want something deep:

The Thirteenth Tale

Revolutionary Road

The Road



If you want something fun and light:

Replay

True Grit

True Grit is amazing. Read that.

Iirc, I'd have preferred it to be about 80 years of solitude, although I did like it.

Thanks busto and others, been meaning to read 'The Road' for a while I'll go with that first then possibly 'True Grit' although I've seen (and loved) the movie, does that matter?

Solo,

Can I ask which one you read first? Because I had the opposite opinion. I read 100 years first and just found Cholera derivitive. It could be whichever one you read first you enjoy more.

I just read the short story 'The Man who would be King' by Kipling. I'll be damned how John Huston managed to capture the spirit of this story in the movie.

Good short story, btw. Here's a link to it on Gutenberg if anyone wants to try it (it's in the public domain):

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8147

Read 100 Years first. I just found it too long, and I didn't like the magical realism stuff that was in the novel. I almost didnt' read Love Cholera because of how much I disliked 100 Years.

I don't really remember the specifics at this point as to why I didn't like 100 Years, but I know that I liked Love much more. Maybe someday I'll revisit 100 Years.

Book #30 of 2012 was Storm of Swords ... forgot last 100 pages or so is all family lineage and notes ... Pretty exhausted from the whole SOIAF series, have read the first 3 books in the last couple months ... will take a break before tackling the next two

Other than Blood Meridian nothing has totally grabbed me yet this year ( tho I guess I did just read 3,000 pages of fantasy genre )

Maybe I'm just older and more cynical, but getting back into reading hasn't sparked the excitement or love of books like it did growing up. Reread Catch in the Rye recently and if it had been my first time I would've given it more along the lines of a 3*/5 rating rather than the 5*/5 I currently have it marked as on Goodreads

Same with The Hobbit ... it's good, it's great, but I don't feel much from reading it, and I don't believe that's because I'm too familiar with it ( it's been about 15 years since I last read it )

I don't know if I need to switch genres, or discover a new author or what, but I hope something soon rekindles my love of reading

I didn't like that either. But I guess the key difference is desperation.

I know not everyone on the list agrees with me, but for me reading The Art of Fielding took me back to that feeling I had when I was reading as a kid.

The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Sense-En...3392921&sr=8-2

Just finished this, and a very enjoyable read. May be a bit too 'English' / 'UK'ish?? for my American friends, but concise, intelligent, sad and profound IMHO.

Mchael Chabon - Kavalier and Clay