A couple of months ago, my #1🌞 bought me a copy of this book so we could read it together. That doesn't happen very often ('cause he's a busy bee), so it was important to me. But I'm now on page 130. Of xii + 982 = 994. Which is amazingly piss poor. Part of the reason is that aforementioned #1🌞 hasn't been doing much better, and I need a 🐇. Part of it is that the words of this novel keep slipping through my fingers. In fact, I'm sorry to admit that I couldn't tell you a thing about what is happening in this book at this point. Literally. And couldnt name a single character. It's all just wisps of clouds.
And that ain't right.
So...I'm going to reboot my reading and see if I can conquer it via DDR.
Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it, chile.
Day 1 (DDRD 2,530) October 4, 2024
Read to page 32. Still not an easy read...neoligisms abound, plot is minimal, many characters thrown at you...but at least I'm getting SOMEthing out of it this time. Those clockworks, for instance. Yowza.
Day 2 (DDRD 2,531) October 5, 2024
Read to page 62. Much better than my first pass. I actually understand the basic plot this time...and "know" a couple of the main characters.
Slightly disguised references to the trial and death of Socrates and to Star Trek (48 - 49). Kinda cute.
ADDENDUM: read A little more...to page 75.
Day 3 (DDRD 2,532) October 6, 2024
Read to page 112.
Day 4 (DDRD 2,533) October 7, 2024
Read to page 160. And will probably read some more later today. I've now passed the point I read to previously, and whereas before I had no idea what was going on, I now feel that I have a good grasp of the story and the characters who inhabit it. In fact, I'm actually getting pulled into the story now, whereas before I was barely cognizant of its existence.
Speaking of bullshyt...funny how if someone says something untruthful that you can say, "Bullshit!" but you would never say, "Shit!" Nor, for that matter, would "Chickenshit!" be meaningful in this context. How is it that the bull came to bear the disposition toward untruth?
ADDENDUM: Read to page 171. I'm about 200 pages behind #1☀, so it's time to put the hammer down.
Day 5 (DDRD 2,534) October 8, 2024
Read to page 217. Have to switch over to The Last Dangerous Visions now...which I picked up at Barnes & Noble yesterday (after cancelling the Amazon order which was a week late).
ADDENDUM: Choir practice for Jacqueline from 6:30 to 8:00, and nothing for me to do but read, so...read to page 233 250.
Day 6 (DDRD 2,535) October 9, 2024
Read to page 300. Don't know if #1☀ has read farther, but if not, then I'm closing in on him fast. I think I'm going to have to check with him...but I might read a few more pages first.
ADDENDUM: read to page 321.
Day 7 (DDRD 2,536) October 10, 2024
Read to page 403. And I just texted with #1☀, and looks like I've passed him. Which gives me a problem: I really would like to read a bit more tonight, but I don't want to get too far ahead of #1☀. I'll switch over to The Last Dangerous Visions and see if that does the trick.
This cracked me up:
Fraa Jad is staring at the packaging for a disposable razor. He looks up and asks, "What principle explains the powers imputed by this document to the Dynaglide lubri-strip? ...Is it permanent, or ablative?" (327)
More ha ha:
"Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs," I said. "We have a protractor." (334)
As I was reading this morning (still 4:57 am now), I suddenly thought, "This 1,000 page book is going to end too soon." I think because as soon as Fraa Jad was introduced and Barb took a more prominent position in the narrative I realized that I did not want their story to end in 600 more pages.
Day 8 (DDRD 2,537) October 11, 2024
Read to page 460. Actually pretty exciting reading at this point. And again I'd like to read more, but I'll soon be 100 pages farther than #1☀, so...what to do?
Day 9 (DDRD 2,538) October 12, 2024
Read to page 490. Busy day.
Day 10 (DDRD 2,539) October 13, 2024
Read to page 553. (Early church, choir practice.) 981 - 553 = 428 pages left...so 14 days (at most) to go. Not bad considering what a big fuckin' book this is.
Day 11 (DDRD 2,540) October 14, 2024
Read to page 600.
Here's a pretty exciting thought: "You're saying that my consciousness extends across multiple cosmi...." (573)
So starting with the idea that the are multiple realities (essentially the multiverse...or, as here, multiple cosmi), the supposition is that our consciousness has access to at least more than ONE of those cosmi...and at most, ALL of them. That's pretty exciting, isn't it? Isn't it safe to assume that if this is true, than when my consciousness dies in one of these cosmi, that it continues on without missing a beat in another? Isn't this essentially a doctrine of the immortality of the soul?
Hmm. 47 pages so far today...and I'm itching to read more. I don't think I'm going to be able to put the brakes on (so that #1☀ can catch up with me). Sorry! Sometimes it just be like that.
ADDENDUM: Oops. Read to page 631. Still feeling like I could read some more, too.
Day 12 (DDRD 2,541) October 15, 2024
Read to page 674. It's ridiculous how easy it is to put away 40 pages of this book! (And it's only 7 a.m. as of this writing!)
On page 653: "She paused to whet her whistle." Interesting error...and one that no machine could catch, I think. But "whet" means sharpen, and in this instance "whistle" means mouth, so it's obvious that Stephenson meant "wet."
Page 660: with no ado whatsoever, Barb is back in the story...he just walks into the dining room carrying some plates. But it's been a hundred (hundreds of?) pages since we last saw him. Could he at least have a line or two?
Update: a bit later Barb does speak, but there's not enough of him. Hopefully he'll move back to center stage for a bit.
ADDENDUM: Read to 701. Ooops.
Day 13 (DDRD 2,542) October 16, 2024
Read to page 756...but I'm pretty sure that more is coming.
Yep. Read to 773. And you know, I've already read from page 955 to the end, since I read the Calcas when they were referenced. And 933 to 953 is Glossary, which I've dipped into but will still try to read when I get there. But that means that I've actually only got 159 text pages (to page 932) left to read. At the rate I've been going, that's like two more days. Yowza. Guess it's time to start thinking about what's next, isn't it?
Day 14 (DDRD 2,543) October 17, 2024
Read to page 833. Which means <100 pages to go. Woo hoo! I also read every one of the Glossary entries, so there's that.
Y'know, the whole Monks In Space thing is fun, but I'm having a hard time believing that these folks who lived with mostly primitive technology their whole lives have been transformed into skilled space pilots / walkers in the space of a few short days. And why are they the ones on this mission anyway? My credility has a Charlie 🐎.
P.S. To his credit (I suppose, Stephenson has his characters discuss this (↑) very thing. I wasn't convinced by the rationale, though.
Day 15 (DDRD 2,544) October 18, 2024
Read to page 909. Leaving 23 pages to go. Well...you KNOW I've got to go ahead and finish this off now.
So let's go.
6:29 pm: The End. And, as I predicted earlier on, it ended too soon for me. I'm going to miss Erasmus and Barb and Orolo and Jad and...well, all of them, really. A very good read.
Y'know, I could (re-) start Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle tomorrow....
🤔
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