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The Clarke is on my list to read, too. I hadn't read much about it, but was sucked in by the cover design at Borders one day and flipped through it. Looks interesting. I'm also intrigued by the Stephenson.

I'd branch out beyond the DFW, if I were you. You already know what it's going to be like if you've read other DFW fiction. :)

Posted by: raquel at December 9, 2004 09:07 AM

avoid stephenson at all costs ... or at least i tend to. i can't stand the vapid tone and the spewage of useless adjectives. poor writing rarely gets so elevated ...

i can't speak for the others. (currently reading: boorstin's "the creators", and "the company of strangers", paul seabright's look at the evolution of economies, along with others on my nightstand like "cia diary" by phillips agee and a book on stochastic methods in simulations.)

Posted by: jose at December 9, 2004 09:16 AM

Two that I've read this year that you might like (these aren't by any means new, although I wish I had time to keep up with new fiction):

Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides

and

The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger

And if you haven't read it already (but you probably have, of course), Cryptonomicron. That one got me through two intensely dull train trips and an overseas flight. Totally enthralling.

Posted by: kristine at December 9, 2004 09:16 AM

I generally liked Neal Stephenson's stuff until I got to Quicksilver. It was really, really long. I had trouble keeping track of all the characters. I was so happy when I finally finished it that I threw it away. I have to admit, I'm considering re-reading it to see if it's as bad as I remember, but maybe I'm just a masochist like that.

Posted by: jgt at December 9, 2004 09:33 AM

powell.com's "daily dose" is a great source of other books you may like. dig through their archives, lots of good books have been recommended on that list. daily reviews, and then they have a second list that contains reader submitted suggestions, old and new.

Posted by: jose at December 9, 2004 12:16 PM

Platform by Miche Houellebecq

Posted by: musclehead at December 9, 2004 06:35 PM

Michel.. my bad

Posted by: musclehead at December 9, 2004 06:36 PM

I usually really like Stephenson, but this tome is so overwrought. He did handwrite it thinking that the longer the thoughts stayed in the mental buffer the better it would be. He was wrong. I got half way and put it back on the shelf for good.

Instead I recommend Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem.

Posted by: quasi in r.e.m. at December 10, 2004 02:01 AM

I am sad to hear the negative responses about Quicksilver. darnit. That was on my winter reading list, too. I'm scratching it off. I love DFW, but tend to prefer his essays to his fiction. The Time Traveller's Wife is on my list. Glad that's still getting a thumbs up.

I don't know if you've read any Jose Saramago, but I'm a huge fan of his. If you like Calvino, he's a good choice. Darker than Calvino, but a similarity in style. Blindness was incredible. Not a happy tome. But excellent.

Posted by: Cinnamon at December 10, 2004 02:09 AM

I second on Middlesex by Jeff Eugenides. However, if you do read the Clarke, lemme know cause I was wondering whether I should pick it up.

Posted by: Beanie at December 10, 2004 02:31 AM

It's too bad Quicksilver is getting such a bad rap - I actually enjoyed it, but then again, I had a lot of time on my hands.

I can wholeheartedly recommend "The Time Traveller's Wife," but sticking with your list I'd have to choose Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

As a longtime Gaiman fan, this book I think takes the reader into a similar world - a world that's a lovely escape from the realities of law school finals. Accordingly, that's the one I'd choose!

Good luck!

Posted by: In Limine at December 10, 2004 08:13 AM

Peeps, you're making me so sad w/all the Stephenson trash talk. I loved Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Zodiac, and Cryptonomicron, so how can Quicksilver be so bad? As I mentioned here, I've heard Quicksilver is sort of rough going, but that it's worth it b/c the second book in the Baroque Cycle is so good. Any experience in that direction, or should I just fuggedaboudit?

Also, Strange and Norrell is sounding better. Someone just said it was like Harry Potter for adults -- with footnotes! I'll check out some of your other great suggestions after this next final...

Posted by: ambimb at December 10, 2004 10:43 AM

I admit that Stephenson's prose can be overwrought. But an important thing you need to recognize about this book, which no one has seemed to think worth mentioning, is that it is part of a "cycle" of works. There is a larger narrative arc that this work is a part of and as such it needs to be considered in relation to that larger whole; "Quicksilver" is really part of the effort to establish characters, develop themes, etc. in a larger narrative arc. Recognizing this after having read ALL the books, what I thought were problems in "Quicksilver" (like the excessive amount of time devoted to Jack and Eliza or the way Daniel's story seems to just sort of end) really are a result of Stephenson setting up the action in "The Confusion" and "The System of the World;" he has said on several occasions that he conceived (and wrote I think) them all together. In fact, the narrative arc that Stephenson is thinking about even reaches beyond that of the Baroque Cycle. Connections can be drawn that link the story and themes of the Baroque cycle to that of "Cryptonomicon." Stephenson has, in fact, talked about them as part of one another.

In any event, I find "Cryptonomicon" to be more profound considering the relation of the system(s) of value it explores to the Baroque Cycle's exploration of the genealogy of a generalized system of value. "Quicksilver" is further historically accurate in its details (Newton's role in developing English coinage, the Newton- Leibniz debate over the creation of the calculus, Leibniz's attempt at creating a generalized language of knowledge, one of the more obscure aspects of his career, etc.) testifying to the great deal of research that Stephenson put into crafting the work. And overwrought or not, Stephenson's prose is simply fun to read.

Considered as a whole, the Baroque Cycle is a wildly ambitious work. This is overstating the case a bit, as I don't think it has the same aesthetic ambitions (it is much too didactic), but the only real comparison in terms of scope are Joyce or Musil or Proust. And it is equally inventive in terms of its story and plot. Further, Stephenson has a great ability with his characters that allows them to transcend their obvious implication in the symbolic system at the base of any literary work. Daniel Waterhouse or Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds, are as vividly drawn and vital as say, Hiro Protagonist in "Snow Crash." And they are set in a world that is just as vivid. The excessiveness of Stephenson's prose in these books seems to me a part of the era which he is writing about. Listen to the Brandenburg Concertos or look at the architecture of the time period, its paintings or writings and tell me that they don't partake of a similar delight in ornamentation that reaches excessive lengths. It's the intoxication of the Enlightenment. It's a measure of the joy found in crafting a work as much as it is an attempt to create a vessel suitably elaborate for the ideas that originate the work.

So, no, it is perhaps not the best book that Stephenson has ever written. And it stands by itself as a book with some difficulty. But it is not without merit, something that becomes clearer when you recognize the work's relation to a larger whole. From that perspective whatever problems it has are greatly diminished if not erased. Take it with a grain of salt and be prepared to read through the whole Cycle. It's a pretty amazing ride.

Posted by: Famous P. at December 10, 2004 01:06 PM

Ohh.. and I would third the rec of Middlesex. Eugenides can write the f*ck out of just about anything. I just wish he did not take 10 years between books!

Posted by: musclehead at December 10, 2004 04:33 PM

I second the Jonathan Lethem Fortress of Solitude recommendation, and also suggest the Jean Heglund Into the Forest, because it's both semi-post-apocalyptic AND a quick read, so you'll have enough time to read another book as well.

Posted by: care at December 10, 2004 05:06 PM