response 275 of 298:

Mar 17 00:42 UTC 2004

  I think that's more Le Guin than I could stand -- for whatever reason I
  never really warmed to her stuff.  

response 277 of 298:

Jul 8 05:48 UTC 2004

I finished reading _Years of Wonders: A Novel About the Plague_. A very
interesting book based on the 1665 plague in Eyam, England. 

response 279 of 298:

Jan 11 23:54 UTC 2006

The last thing I read (and I'm in the middle of it again) is _A Civil Campaign_
by Lois McMaster Bujold, subtitled "A Comedy of Biology and Manners." I think
it's her best novel (out of 17 total, if I count correctly) -- and that's
saying something, since in my opinion even her worst is as good as or better
than most authors' best. (Anne McCaffrey is quoted as saying, "Boy, can she
write!") The one caveat with this novel is that, unlike all the others in the
"saga," its story depends somewhat (though not enough to preclude reading it if
you could only read one) on the previous novel, _Komarr,_ which is not quite up
to her usual (but that's still very good!), and I definitely regret reading
_Komarr_ second because of the emotional content of the two.

response 281 of 298:

Jan 12 08:54 UTC 2006

 Hah.  You'll laugh at those words if you ever progress to Stephenson's
 "Baroque" trilogy.

response 283 of 298:

Jan 12 18:09 UTC 2006

 Yes, quite, but I wouldn't advise going to the Baroque trilogy next,
 though it is his work which is most similar to "Cryptonomicon" (too
 similar, perhaps -- the affectation of having all of the characters'
 ancestors entangled in the same plot 300 years before is a little
 distracting sometimes.

 But I'd highly recommend "Snow Crash" and "The Diamond Age."

 Also, if you like "Cryptonomicon" you might like Thomas Pynchon, 
 who clearly influenced Stephenson.  In fact "Cryptonomicon" reminds
 me a lot of "Vineland," (and the Baroque cycle, to a lesser extent,
 remind me of "Mason & Dixon") neither of which is the kind of work
 that made Pynchon's literary reputation but "Vineland" is entertaining
 and is a good place to start (much better than launching into the
 bewildering maze of "Gravity's Rainbow.")

response 285 of 298:

Jan 13 21:50 UTC 2006

Wizards of Langley and NIST 800 Series are my current reading material.

response 287 of 298:

Apr 22 22:15 UTC 2006

Just read "In the name of the Law" by Thomas Puccio

response 289 of 298:

Jun 12 17:42 UTC 2006

I very much enjoyed "Freakonomics." I particularly liked the chapter 
about the business of dealing drugs and how labor theory applies even 
to black market labor. 

response 291 of 298:

Sep 16 06:46 UTC 2006

_Independent People_ (1946) by Halldor Laxness, Literature Nobelist in 
1955. This novel is set in the eartly 20th century in northeast Iceland, a 
land of vast treeless moors on rolling hills of volcanic soil between 
enormous glacial rivers. The protangonist is Bjartur, who took up sheep 
farming in the hills, a crofter, to seek independence from the businessmen 
of the cities. Its a rough life in a house made of blocks of sod with one 
room above and the sheep below. There is a story of Bjartur and his two 
wives, a sort-of step-daughter, several sons, and his dog and sheep, and 
his associations with other crofters and the powerful people in the nearby 
cities and their politics, but the evocation of the land and the society 
and social forces far beyond Bjartur's control are the central concepts.

I seldom read fiction, but read this novel after spending two weeks in 
Iceland. The locations in the story are fictional although the geographic 
settings frame the events. What did surprise me is that what surprised me 
in visiting Iceland, the fact that there is no "night" in summer (and, 
what I did not experience, very little "day" in winter), is hardly invoked 
in this story, presumably because it is so much a part of the lives of 
Icelanders that it gets no particular mention in their stories.

Crofting as a lifestyle has disappeared in Iceland today and the lands 
once scattered with crofts are now empty and their primitive buildings in 
ruin. Sheep are still raised for wool but as businesses, not as a way of 
life. 

response 293 of 298:

Dec 24 02:41 UTC 2006

Does reading manga count?

response 295 of 298:

Dec 24 15:48 UTC 2006

RE #293:  Sure, why not?

response 297 of 298:

Aug 8 20:24 UTC 2007

_Under the Glacier_ by Halldor Laxness (published in Icelaandic as
_Christianity at Glacier_, 1968).

Under the Glacier is a tale of a deputy (Embi) to the Lutheran Bishop of 
Reykjavik (Iceland), who is sent to a somewhat remote part of Iceland, the 
town of Glacier on Iceland's Snaefellness <"snowy peninsula">, just below 
Snaefellsjokull <"snowy mountain glacier">. (The mountain is one of the 
most famous sites of Iceland, primarily due to the novel Journey to the 
Center of the Earth (1864), written by the French author Jules Verne, in 
which the protagonists find the entrance to a passage leading to the 
center of the earth on Snaefellsjokull).

Although set in the 60's, Glacier is still pretty remote. Embi was sent to 
Glacier to report on rumors of some problems with the church there; 
apparently services no longer being held, the church boarded up, the 
graveyard neglected, a body allegedly transported in a coffin to and left 
on the glacier, and the pastor no longer performing his ecclesiastical 
duties. This turns out to be the case. Embi (= "Em-basador of the Bi-shop) 
interviews numerous locals in these regards. This book is a record of the 
notes and tape-recordings taken by Embi.

The English translation is by Magnus Magnusseon, and this edition was 
published by Vintage International, with an introduction by Susan Sontag.
Here is what Sontag said of the book in the Introduction:

  "A marvelous novel about the most ambitious questions....It is one
   of the funniest books ever written."

There is certainly an odd cast of characters engaged in odd pursuits (the 
Pastor repairs Primuses, and does other odd jobs around the area). They 
also engage in rambling philosophical discussions. 

The coffin put on the glacier is in the end brought down - and turns out 
to be a sealed metal box containing, frozen in ice, a large salmon. 
Why...you will have to read the book to discover. Oh...there is also a 
love interest, of sorts.

I read the book because we visited Iceland last year, and we have been 
indulging in books and movies by Icelandic authors both before and since 
the two-week trip. Our trip is recorded in slides in two subalbums, at 
http://s111.photobucket.com/albums/n154/ranecurl/ There are several views 
of Snaefellsjokull in the series.