Genesis takes the form of a four-hour oral examination for entrance into a nebulously prestigious institution called The Academy, and it takes less than four hours to read. The novel’s setting is the kind of dystopian future that won’t surprise you. The world has been ravaged by political and environmental disasters, there’s mention of a virulent plague, and there’s something called the Downfall, presumably when the worst disasters coincided.
Against this backdrop and that rather boring sounding structure, Genesis turns out to be a quick, heavily philosophical novel about the ethics and existential questions of artificial intelligence. And it’s quite a bit more gripping than that might sound. … Continue reading »
The Skating Rink is the most recent contribution to Roberto Bolaño’s growing body of work in English. Unlike the recently discovered missing volume of Bolaño’s masterwork, 2666, The Skating Rink is one of Bolaño’s older works. In publishing this so soon after his latests, seminal work, New Directions has given the English-only readers an interesting opportunity to take a look at Bolaño’s career as a whole.
In his slim novel, Bolaño sets up a tight murder-mystery in the fictional Spanish city of Z, involving a beautiful figure skater, a business owner, a vagrant poet, a local bureaucrat, and an impoverished opera singer, among others. Bolaño creates a lot of suspense and tension by playing these characters off each other, and by using the shifting narratives to alternately frustrate and satisfy the reader. But the context of the novel’s publication is just as interesting as what goes on inside the book’s covers. … Continue reading »
So after taking last Wednesday off for haiku, we’re back with two weeks’ worth of scuttlebutt:
Creative (maker of the iPod’s poor, homely, and ignored cousin) threw their hat into the ring with the Zii Mediabook. I’d like to go on the record as saying this is an even dumber name than Nook or Alex. Speaking of, the makers of the Alex have sued Barnes & Noble over the Nook’s dual screen design. Also with dual screens, I can’t decide if the Entourage Edge looks cool or crappy, but I’m leaning toward crappy.
The inexpensive Jetbook Lite is available now (thanks to reader Ben for the heads up). And on the horizon, ASUS wants in the ereader game after all their netbook success. And so does Bridgestone, after all their tire success? It’s bendy, which is cool. Apparently there are some snazzy new E-Ink processor chips in the pipeline, so hopefully we’ll seem even more creative new tech soon. Lots of ereader hype this selling season, might we finally be at the verge of the Great eReader Adoption?
Outside of ebooks, a new Beatles b-side has been discovered, as has the creepiest thing I’ve seen–except for maybe Wii Baby and Me–in a long while: a ventriloquist choir singing “Yesterday.”
and finally, I’m mesmerized by this Carl Sagan auto-tune video:
Homer and Langley follows Homer and Langley Collyer, a pair of nearly inseparable brothers, for most of the twentieth century. The novel is episodic and slowly meandering, as events both personal and historic wash over the two of them, and their house on Fifth Avenue, across the street from Central Park.
At various times, the house is a dance hall, the resting place of a Model T, a crash pad for hippies, and the setting of a myriad of personal and interpersonal dramas. Each of these events comes along and leaves alone, and while they’re loosely connected, Homer and Langley resembles a collection of linked stories moreso than a proper novel.
And while it’s worth a read, it’s not a book to be devoured on a bus ride. It’ll go down better a chunk at a time, the way you would read a story collection. … Continue reading »
Author: Bernard Beckett
Author: E.L. Doctorow
