Early on in our relationship, Paul and I shared books. I introduced him to Barbara Kingsolver, Maxine Hong Kingston and Toni Morrison (resulting in an interesting moment in an airport, where an African-American airline attendant stopped him to exclaim that she’d never thought she’d see the day when a white boy was reading Toni Morrison). In return, he suggested a variety of science fiction, a genre where I had limited experience.
To his credit, there were a few books that were good. Ursula LeGuin, as an example.
But then he recommended a book so horrendously terrible that he lost book credibility for years. Further, it made me question the entire volume of Science Fiction literature, as this particular book had been given awards.
The book? Snow Crash.
Granted, I find speculative fiction generally boring. In my most critical mind, I would argue it is full of self-importance; creating unsophisticated pretend worlds as excuses for storylines characterized by masturbatory fantasies for the heterosexual male. The epitome of this is Snow Crash. The main character, Hiro Protagonist (oh, Hero. And he’s the Protagonist. Haha… isn’t that author clever? *gag*) who is basically a guy who did some okay work in his past, got screwed by the man (so to speak), now delivers pizza and has, like, a really cool score sword-fighting with his virtual identity in a virtual world. In short: he’s the stereotype of Science Fiction readership. Seriously, though, I LOVE geeks, but let’s be real. Hiro IS the Comic Book guy in The Simpsons.
It gets worse. Hiro’s love interest is a teenage girl — a FIFTEEN year old girl — and yet there is never an issue with the fact that the dude is, ahem, a pedophile.
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Anyway, I digress. The point I’m making is that I’ve approached anything Paul suggests with caution. And Science Fiction? Well, if it’s even remotely related to something in the future, or fantasy, or is written by a possibly-creepy dude, I steer clear.
Which is why it took me so long to come around to Neil Gaiman.
Actually, laloca had more to do with turning me to Gaiman. I figured if she liked him, he can’t be that bad. Also, I’d read Coraline and liked it quite a bit. So a few years back, I gave Paul the book American Gods — because Terry Pratchett hadn’t published anything new at that time.
I recently finished The Golden Compass series (which I read out of curiosity of what strong young women are available in ‘youth’ novels these days — the first two books of the series were in the dollar sale at the library, so I figured I give them a try). I wasn’t ready to go back to my usual nonfiction reading, so I picked up American Gods.
And I really enjoyed it.
So 2010? Let this be my year to be more aware of my repulsions, and work a little harder to experiment. (But please, give me a few months to work up to raw oysters. I’m not quite there yet.)
Amy | 03-Jan-10 at 11:21 pm | Permalink
I wasn’t a huge fan of Snow Crash either, but the mister swears by Neal Stephenson and thinks that Cryptonomicon is the best thing ever.
I do really enjoy Gaiman. “Murder Mysteries” from Smoke and Mirrors is partly responsible for the courtship of the mister and I 🙂
I’m in a Gregory Maguire phase right now, which is great because he has some awesome children’s books I can read with Miss E.
(I haven’t even worked my way up to crawfish yet and look at you, almost to the raw oysters!)
erik | 04-Jan-10 at 2:47 am | Permalink
Even I wasn’t impressed with Snow Crash, and I am a big Sci-Fi buff.
laloca | 04-Jan-10 at 5:55 am | Permalink
oooh. i’m going to have to admit to a whole bunch of disagree here.
i’m not a stephenson fan, but not for quite the same reasons you describe. like you, i tire of his “aren’t i clever”-ness, and in my opinion he has a tendency to go on and on and on and on… (the main problem, IMO, with cryptonomicon – i got bored long before the story finished.)
but. all writers are self-important. you’d have to be, to believe that you’re special enough, intelligent enough, innovative enough to produce anything that anyone besides your dog (and possibly your cat) would have any interest in reading. i think this is as true for authors like frank herbert (the white plague is one of the most interesting books i read this year, and stands up surprising well against the onward march of science – it only felt slightly dated) and toni morrison (who i can’t stomach) as it is for neal stephenson.
i think you’re being a bit harsh with snow crash, though, and taking it too seriously. hiro isn’t a particularly likeable character, and that’s part of the reason he’s named “hiro protagonist.” we’re supposed to like and empathize with protagonists, and here stephenson has written one so totally bleh that he has to give him that name to remind the reader that he’s the one we’re supposed to be relating to.
you’re also ignoring the fact that the love interest (i forget her name at the moment) is written as more mature, more intelligent, more resourceful, and more likable than hiro. the fact that she’s fifteen serves to throw that into even more stark relief. (i have to say i’m a bit surprised that you’d call hiro “pedophile” – clinically, pedophilia refers to individuals sexually attracted to prepubescent children. fifteen-year-olds aren’t usually prepubescent. i think there’s a high ick factor there because of our social conditioning, but labeling hiro a pedophile is a bit much.)
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raw oysters? heavenly. (you’ll want to watch out for warm-water oysters in the summer months, though. they’re often contaminated with vibrio vulnificus. i think the FDA’s response was a bit careless, but there’s a legit health concern there – and a good reason to follow the “only in months containing an R” oyster-eating convention.)
Meagan | 04-Jan-10 at 11:09 am | Permalink
If you haven’t read Ender’s Game (Orsen Scott Card), that’s a Sci Fi book definately worth the time. Asimov’s work is a good starting spot for good genre reading. Good Omens (co-authored Pratchett and Gaiman) is quick and hilarious, but still manages to have great characters. If you’ve enjoyed Terry Pratchett at all, but haven’t read his children’s fiction, that’s quite good. Douglas Adams is a bit goofier than Pratchett even, but quite deservingly classic. Also in the YA/children’s sphere-anything by Dianna Wynne Jones is fantastic. For strong female characters in fantasy try Tamora Pierce and Sarah Beth Durst. Finally, I’ve never managed to get into Snow Crash either, but if you’re willing to give Stevensen another try, pick up The Diamond Age. Deals quite well with class issues and the shaping of a human being.
Unfortunately I tend to shy away from unfamiliar authors in Fantasy because I find such a lot of it either cliched or showy, but this tends to be less of a problem in children’s fantasy.
Laura | 04-Jan-10 at 11:26 am | Permalink
You liked Harry Potter, right? There are two great Young Adult series that I got to review for the newspaper where I work (being a reviewer is a great excuse to read books that are supposed to be for people 1/4 my age). Skulduggery Pleasant and the Michael Scott Nicholas Flamel alchemist series. Sort of sci-fi, teens help save the world, adventure, mystery. The Nicholas Flamel books were the best I read all of 2009–all the characters, except the twins who might save the world, either actually lived or are mainstays of different cultures’ mythologies. Can’t recommend them highly enough.
magpie | 05-Jan-10 at 8:23 am | Permalink
Did you like the Pullman trilogy? I loved it. I should re-read it.
I don’t eat fish, but I actually have grown to like oysters, much to my surprise. A perfect half dozen oysters, a glass of Muscadet = quite a lovely little treat.
Randy | 05-Jan-10 at 9:35 am | Permalink
I have gotten a bit burned out on Sci-Fi and it is hard to wade through the dragons/cyborgs are cool dime a dozen books to find the authors that are staying true to the roots of speculative literature (social or political commentary that might get the author shot, jailed or ostracized).
But I am still very interested in authors presenting the world in a skewed, dreamlike, or unrealistic POV. My favorite from last year was Lowboy http://us.macmillan.com/lowboy. Jose Saramago is good if you have the patience to wade through page long sentences. I don’t always have that patience, I couldn’t get through The Double but loved Death with Interruptions.
Randy | 05-Jan-10 at 9:38 am | Permalink
Forgot to mention Junot Diaz’s Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. Which a book about a Sci-Fi nerd, so I guess meta Sci-Fi…
Amy | 05-Jan-10 at 7:22 pm | Permalink
I have Son of a Witch and will be receiving A Lion Among Men from paperback swap. I’ll bring Son of a Witch in for you. (I think we will be in on Thursday)
And I do have to disagree with writers being self-important. Most of us suffer from incredibly low self-esteems and have complexes about whether or not people would want to read us and why. At least I have found that to be pretty true – perhaps it is different for authors of sci-fi.
alejna | 06-Jan-10 at 11:18 pm | Permalink
I’m glad you liked Ursula LeGuin. The Dispossessed was one of those novels that really stayed with me. And I loved the Pullman books, too.
Do you know Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series? It’s fantasy for children, but I have read it plenty as an adult. In the first book, the main character is named Will.