tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369127277021590195.post4468329679813190791..comments2023-06-09T15:16:38.867+01:00Comments on It Doesn't Have To Be Right...: Days of Future PastIan Saleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15375389971610069381noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369127277021590195.post-47181735145992654052008-10-25T13:39:00.000+01:002008-10-25T13:39:00.000+01:00Stephenson's fatal lack, to my mind, is rigour. He...Stephenson's fatal lack, to my mind, is <I>rigour</I>. He's an undisciplined writer and storyteller, but he doesn't have the singular voice, or inventiveness of, say, Ian Watson, which would allow him to get away with it. He also writes far too much - something you can never accuse Watson of. I also think Stephenson has yet to master the art of info-dumping - and while some of his exposition in <I>Cryptonomicon</I> was entertaining, it still sat there like a stone in your soup.<BR/><BR/>Lawrence Durrell... writes the most beautiful prose of any writer I've read - see my post on John Jarmain's <I>Priddy Barrows</I> in Nov last year for some examples. I'll admit Durrell often seems to lose control of his plots - which may be part of his appeal, given that my first choice of reading is sf, which is a very plot-based genre. Another element which attracts me to his fiction is the thoroughness with which he dissects his characters. The characters of modern writers such as McEwan and Faulks seem superficial by comparison.<BR/><BR/>Gerald Durrell... I've only read <I>My Family & Other Animals</I>. I wrote about it on here last month. It was a very funny book, but the prose was so wildly over-ornamented - almost as if he was trying to write like Larry. Speaking of which, I wonder how much of your opinion of Larry has been coloured by his characterisation in his brother's books. He certainly comes across as pompous twit in <I>My Family & Other Animals</I>.<BR/><BR/>Funny that, despite being so completely on opposite sides regarding Stephenson, Jones and the Durrells, we both like KSR...Ian Saleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15375389971610069381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369127277021590195.post-7566485638650856102008-10-25T13:17:00.000+01:002008-10-25T13:17:00.000+01:00As you have split your replies, so shall I. (Eithe...As you have split your replies, so shall I. (Either that or I didn't think on in time; you decide.)<BR/><BR/>Jones goes on at great length about what's inside her characters' heads and seems to regard the world-building aspect as merely setting a stage for said characters. (This is, of course, an oversimplification!)<BR/><BR/>Neal Stephenson, it seems to me, tries to inform, educate and entertain (not necessarily in that order) with world-building, and to populate these worlds with interesting, sympathetic, realistic viewpoint characters and symbolic ones who serve his dramatic purposes, from /Snow Crash/'s Raven to the Equity Barons of /The Diamond Age/.<BR/><BR/>I find the latter not only accessible but fun; his books are always a fascinating read, rich feasts packed with delicious detail. I suspect I react so positively to Kim Stanley Robinson for similar reasons.<BR/><BR/>I cannot recall a single character from a Jones piece that I ever found sympathetic. They are sometimes richly drawn, yes, but they're also deeply unsympathetic, uninteresting, and sometimes -- I haven't read enough to say "often" -- they're predictable stereotypes. What was the troubled-rock-star-who-wants-to-make-a-difference in /BoL/? Ax Preston? Evokes the same [ironics on] warm feelings of affection and esteem in me as Bono [end ironics]. And at least Bono bought me a drink once.<BR/><BR/>I'll give you this, Ian. While I always find your opinions on books interesting and stimulating, they're more often a guide what *not* to read than what to seek out!<BR/><BR/>(E.g. Lawrence Durrel - awful, tedious, arty look-at-me-I'm-so-clever Literature-with-a-capital-L. Little brother Gerald: lifelong hero; I own all his books, and find him a wonderful, inspiring person, an insightful travel writer, a fine humorist, an engaging populariser of animals and wildlife and the plight of endangered species, and someone I personally immensely admired and at whose death I wept.<BR/><BR/>In which regard, I think our views differ quite significantly.)Liam Provenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10385367031365009396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369127277021590195.post-14584021896881088882008-10-25T13:07:00.000+01:002008-10-25T13:07:00.000+01:00There's another law of blogs that says you get the...There's another law of blogs that says you get the most hits when you slag something off...Ian Saleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15375389971610069381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369127277021590195.post-16316275151912274382008-10-25T12:59:00.000+01:002008-10-25T12:59:00.000+01:00There's a horrible predictability to being quoted ...There's a horrible predictability to being quoted when I'm ranting. Alas.<BR/><BR/>Randy's piece was in his dead tree TAFFzine a few years back. Details here:<BR/><BR/>http://www.wsfa.org/journal/j03/3/index.htm<BR/><BR/>He may well still send a copy out. I don't know of an online version, though, I'm afraid.Liam Provenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10385367031365009396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369127277021590195.post-26288152075313425302008-10-22T22:02:00.000+01:002008-10-22T22:02:00.000+01:00Ah well, you see I don't get the Stephenson thing....Ah well, you see I don't get the Stephenson thing. I thought <I>Snowcrash</I> was mildly entertaining, <I>Cryptonomicon</I> twice the size it needed to be, and I gave up on the Baroque Cycle halfway through. I feel no burning desire to buy <I>Anathem</I>. But I <I>will</I> be buying GJ's new novel, <I>Spirit</I> when it's published in December...Ian Saleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15375389971610069381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369127277021590195.post-37915246978560617082008-10-22T21:59:00.000+01:002008-10-22T21:59:00.000+01:00I recently read Randy Byers' lengthy ode to GJ and...<I>I recently read Randy Byers' lengthy ode to GJ and the Aleutian books in particular, and it's as if he read something else entirely.</I><BR/><BR/>Where's that then?Ian Saleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15375389971610069381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369127277021590195.post-81040674756528096722008-10-22T14:56:00.000+01:002008-10-22T14:56:00.000+01:00It's interesting the regard that Ms Jones is held ...It's interesting the regard that Ms Jones is held in. I've met her and like her, but I find her fiction almost unendurable. It is, for me, not quite unreadable, but I wish it was; I waded through the Aleutian trilogy and enjoyed it as much as if it were thick sewage. Days of my life that I'll never see again, filled with ultimately unresolved and rather pointless musings on the nature of humanity, some improvised and to me horrendously implausible and unbelievable xenobiology, unsympathetic to downright hateful whinging characters and joyless settings.<BR/><BR/>Tanya was most insistent that I read the "wonderful" /Bold As Love/. From my prior experience, I demurred, evaded and hedged around. So she gave it to me for my birthday, some years ago.<BR/><BR/>Well, since I passed 35 or so, I don't bother finishing any book I am hating, and I gave up on this book, near-invisible under the piles of superlatives lying upon it, within about a quarter of its length. More hateful characters I just want to slap doing things I don't care about in a world I found intensely dislikable.<BR/><BR/>I just don't get it. I can't understand what people see in it. <BR/><BR/>I recently read Randy Byers' lengthy ode to GJ and the Aleutian books in particular, and it's as if he read something else entirely. Very odd indeed.<BR/><BR/>On which note, I've been trying to explain to some friends why I love Neal Stephenson on LJ recently, here:<BR/><BR/>http://lproven.livejournal.com/260589.html<BR/><BR/>(No idea if Blogger lets me insert hyperlinks. Pure-play blogs are far too solipsistic for me; there are millions, and less than 10 I read regularly. Feel flattered. :-)<BR/><BR/>Comments on the LJ discussion sought, incidentally.Liam Provenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10385367031365009396noreply@blogger.com