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Reading
I've been reading Neal Stephenson lately--now half-way into The Baroque Cycle. I really loved Snow Crash and Diamond Age, but couldn't get into Cryptonomicon--it seemed too much like Pynchon, whom I love, but one is enough.
But when I finally did get started on Quicksilver, I loved it. It's not fantasy, at least not like his earlier books, but historical fiction with many a real character tossed in--Newton, William of Orange, etc. Like Eco and others (yes, still Pynchon), Stephenson mixes in lots of intriguing information from science, history, etc., along with wildly bizarre characters and events. I'm getting started now on The Confusion and liking it too--expect to finish the trilogy.
At the same time I've been reading some YA fantasy: Tamora Pierce, Robin McKinley, etc. I'm noticing a real difference in the way I read these two very different kinds of books, not surprisingly. The adult books, like Stephenson and also like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell fascinate me and absorb me, but I'm always aware with a part of me that I'm a mind reading a book. But YA fantasy seems to absorb me completely into the world of the book. There's no distance, no critical mind (that's when it's well-done, of course). I seem to get that effect mainly from books originally meant for younger readers, even when adults love them too: Tolkien, Harry Potter.
Wondering if there are books for adults that have that same completely absorbing quality. Right now I don't think of any. It's not a matter of good vs. bad, or even of preference, just a difference in the nature of the reading experience.
But when I finally did get started on Quicksilver, I loved it. It's not fantasy, at least not like his earlier books, but historical fiction with many a real character tossed in--Newton, William of Orange, etc. Like Eco and others (yes, still Pynchon), Stephenson mixes in lots of intriguing information from science, history, etc., along with wildly bizarre characters and events. I'm getting started now on The Confusion and liking it too--expect to finish the trilogy.
At the same time I've been reading some YA fantasy: Tamora Pierce, Robin McKinley, etc. I'm noticing a real difference in the way I read these two very different kinds of books, not surprisingly. The adult books, like Stephenson and also like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell fascinate me and absorb me, but I'm always aware with a part of me that I'm a mind reading a book. But YA fantasy seems to absorb me completely into the world of the book. There's no distance, no critical mind (that's when it's well-done, of course). I seem to get that effect mainly from books originally meant for younger readers, even when adults love them too: Tolkien, Harry Potter.
Wondering if there are books for adults that have that same completely absorbing quality. Right now I don't think of any. It's not a matter of good vs. bad, or even of preference, just a difference in the nature of the reading experience.