hard boiled wonderland and the end of the worldit had been a loooong time since i'd read this book, and i am very glad i'm doing it again. i got inspired by cap'n O's amazing sci fi / fantasy book list, which was of course inspired by libby's post on the same subject. i started to think, gee, if i was going to recommend a book to read, or if i was going to try to hip someone to something i really dug, what would it be? i like to read a lot of stuff, but somehow murakami's work resonates hard with me. it is very strange stuff, i really don't know how exactly to tell you what it is you are going to find there. but for what it is worth, murakami is most likely my favorite author of all time. at least, if i had to pick one, he'd win by a nosehair or two.
Hard Boiled Wonderland is part sci fi, part fantasy. no trolls or ogres or ray guns. but still, it leans real hard in those directions. there are some mysterious creatures known as INKLINGS. it is about a guy who is trying to do a job, he seems to be a contractor of some kind, sort of, and possibly a government agent, or both, and he gets mixed up in some fantastic circumstances. fantastic as in unbelievable, not as in great. even though this book has the whole sci fi thing going on, it is essentially a very real book at the same time. but you should read it, i don't want to give too much away.
btw rob, i did order the riddle-master complete trilogy. got it in my backpack. once i'm finished dusting off this good old murakami book (and reading a new one) i'll be settling down with this one.
i think thanks are in order captain, you finally got me reading something beyond Java in a i'm-going-Nuts-hell.
;-)
discussion thread| 1 |
...after that kind of buildup!
Of course, Riddle-Master is *nothing* like your description of HBW, but I'm sure you gathered as much from the Amazon reviews. I was surprised to see negative reviews, because I've never known anyone who read the books but didn't enjoy them. I particularly loved the reviewer who complained that the book would have made a much better trilogy! McKillip's language is full of imagery, so if you aren't used to that style it can be confusing. But it is truly amazing these days to see a story told well in fewer than 1000 pages - all three of my original paperbacks in the trilogy take up less space on my shelf than a single Robert Jordan (or any typical recent SF/F) book.
| 2 |
my wife looked at the back cover and said, "i don't think you are going to like this".
so i looked at it, and had to admit that i probably wouldn't have bought it if someone hadn't recommended it to me.
this is a good thing because i find that the lower my expectations are, the better i like whatever it is i'm reading / viewing etc. i haven't read straight up sci fi / fantasy in a loooong time. i've always considered myself a hard core sci fi person, but mainly just in terms of what i watch on tv or in the movies. (never been to a dragoncon or anything.) when i was a kid i read a lot of comics, but i don't do that any more either. although i wish i had a few sandman's around.
so this is the first plunge back into this genre for me after a long hiatus (at least 15 years, i think?) oh, i did re-read A Wrinkle in Time fairly recently (maybe a year ago) and enjoyed that, to some degree. the thing is, it doesn't take much for me to suspend my disbelief, so as long as the writing is pretty good, i'm there.
mainly i'm just glad to have an excuse to stop reading books on Java all the time. getting a little burned out.
btw, i seem to recall libby chiming in that she enjoyed it as well, so it wasn't just your recommendation alone...
;-)