William Gibson, Spook Country

[mappchik]

There was mention made of the release of this book on the Harry Potter thread... I was wondering, has anyone started (or finished) reading this yet?

I really enjoyed Pattern Recognition, and was looking to download an audiobook for my ride tomorrow morning. It's between "Spook Country"
http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/ProductDetail.jsp?productID=BK_PENG_000698&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes
and "The Professor & the Madman" http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/ProductDetail.jsp?productID=BK_HARP_000661&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

The Professor.... is one that's on my wishlist anyway (especially after discussing it with Caren at Porcfest), but a good thriller would definitely make a great distraction from the soaring temps during my 4-hour trip.

[error]

Ooh, a new Gibson book? I'm going to have to pick this up.

[Nicholas Gilman]

    I've been utilizing audiobooks quite a bit lately.  They
do a good job of preventing highway hypnosis as well.

    I cant stand listening to the radio unless I bring music along. 

[Friday]

There was mention made of the release of this book on the Harry Potter thread...

Um, that would be me 

I was wondering, has anyone started (or finished) reading this yet?

I bought it, but haven't started it yet.  I reading something else to cleanse my palate in between HP7 and Gibson.

[mappchik]

I bought it, but haven't started it yet.  I reading something else to cleanse my palate in between HP7 and Gibson.

I opted to listen to "Life, the Universe & Everything" today. It's been sitting on the iPod for a couple weeks waiting for me to finish. Turned out I needed the laughs once the temps hit 97+ and I was still 10 miles from my car.

My reading of HP7 is still continuing, since I'm reading a chapter each day to my chilluns. For my own reading, I took a break before "Team of Rivals" for book 9 of The Dresden Files. Was a rollicking good read.

Let me know what you think when you get into the book, please?

[d_goddard]

I bought it, but haven't started it yet.  I reading something else to cleanse my palate in between HP7 and Gibson.

Hear, hear. I just finished Hunters of Dune, the Dune series rekindled with Herbert's son and a collaborator. It's very light & easy, but damn fun. A good palate-cleaner, though the Machine Crusade was much better.

Let me know what you think when you get into the book, please?

Well I picked up Spook Country in the airport. It's like his last books: even more dense than before. Style reminds me a lot of Pattern Recognition. I'm only a few pages in, and the braids of plot are just unifying in an interesting way.

[BaRbArIaN]

I bought it, it awaits me finishing a very thick hardcover fantasy trilogy first tho.

[Friday]

Let me know what you think when you get into the book, please?

Well, it's compelling so far.  And like most of Gibson's novels, I find it atmospherically stunning (i.e. can really picture the scene in my mind), but with characters I don't feel particularly warm and fuzzy about.  Now that I think about it, that's kind of odd that Gibson is one of my favorite authors, because characters are usually very important to me.  Hmmmm 

[fangirl moment]
I have got Gibson's autograph 2 or 3 times!  But I think I loaned one of my autographed first editions to a former friend, who never returned it.
[/fangirl moment]

[d_goddard]

characters I don't feel particularly warm and fuzzy about.

Only 30 pages into the book and I love Tito... dude speaks 3 languages (including Russian), counterfeits government papers of all kinds, plays trippy soundscapes on keyboard, and still thinks wool socks are a pretty neat idea.

Don't tell me that ain't badass.

[Friday]

mappchik, this book is really good!! 

Denis, did you read chapter 29 yet?  Don't you just love William Gibson?!   

[d_goddard]

I don't know what chapter number I'm on.... I'm about halfway thru.

And yes, I love Gibson; like I said at the top of this thread, I've read every book he's ever written, many of them multiple times. In Spook Country the reader has the clear sense that one is in the hands of a Master of both the Art of story-telling and of the English Language. He's getting almost Joycean (hmmm... closer to Faulknerian, really).

[Friday]

I was referring to the chapter where he talks about the War on Terrorism. I don't know what his political leanings are, but he sure "gets it" on that topic.  He also shares my view of the lottery.   

[error]

The lottery is how the state robs poor people and those who don't understand math.

[d_goddard]

I was referring to the chapter where he talks about the War on Terrorism. I don't know what his political leanings are, but he sure "gets it" on that topic.  He also shares my view of the lottery.   

Yeah, he sure gets that the CIA/FBI/ICE/DHS is not exactly composed of "angels"

"Brown: one of the Gang of Thugs"

I do kinda like Milgrim. I'm just pissed at him for being addicted to Rize (or whatever)