I picked it up . . . starting “Anathem”

Well I caved and grabbed Neal Stephenson’s Anathem from the library yesterday.  Here’s hoping that I can get through it, because that book is massive, some 890 pages long, probably the longest book I have picked up in the past few years.  Still, upon starting to read it yesterday, I found it relatively enjoyable and interesting.  Mr. Stephenson has a keen sense of detail and does not want to deny a reader a full understanding of the world surrounding the characters.  The most challenging thing I have found so far is the use of different language and words.  I have mixed feeling about this (see this previous post for better understanding).  On the upside it is obvious that Stephenson is not making up words arbitrarily, that the use of strange language is very purposeful, if not altogether one of the more important factors in the story, which helps in its defense.  But still it presents a challenge to get used to and make sense of.  I assume by the end of the book the reader hardly notices it any more.

Anyway, here is to giving it a shot.  The positive reviews brought me here, lets see if they prove true.

Rivka Galchen’s “Atmospheric Disturbances”

So I am reading this book called Atmospheric Disturbances, by Rivka Galchen, and I am finding that I really enjoy it.  The the fact that I am really enjoying it is not all that special in and of itself, seeing as I have a habit of enjoy a lot of the books that I read.  But my reason for my enjoyment is something which I have not experienced for a great while with a book.  This reason is in that I feel that Atmospheric Disturbances is a book which should be read and discussed in a college environment, because it is the type of book that promotes contemplation about the characters and situations and everything.  It is, so far as I can tell (only being about 70 pages into it) a truly literary work.  To me this makes it wonderfully enjoyable, my only real regret being in that I am not reading it in a classroom where I can talk to others and hear what they make of it as well.  Not only is the story compelling, moving, a wonderful display of postmodern thought and story device, but the very language is just saturated with intelligence, cleverness, and all around beauty.

That being said, I will say that I cannot consider Atmospheric Disturbancesto be, by any means, an easy read.  For a novel of only around 240 pages, it has thus far presented itself as being dense, full of cerebral content and articulate wording.  I would not recommend this for a simple browsing read, because in doing such, one is guaranteedto miss important parts of the story.  This is a book that almost demands close reading and that is why I feel it would be so in place in a college classroom.  I want to write a paper about it, pulling in material from the likes of Freud and Baudrillard both (the latter especially because of the concept of “simulacrum” that exists throughout).

It is fantastic . . . there, I have said it.  Don’t take that to mean that the book is “good” because the measure of goodness is not an easy thing for one to objectively classify.  But it is fantastic in the sense of being a piece of literature that sparks further contemplation beyond just the initial act of absorbing the story.

This Day in Books

On this day, February 2, 1922, James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysseswas first published.  To this day the book has been regarded as both one of the most important works in the English language and also one of the most difficult.  Critics have presented a slew of various takes on what it means and whether or not it is even a valuable contribution to English literature.  Though there does seem to be a general consensus that Ulysses is important piece of work to modernist literature.

I have never read Ulyssesthough, having been in college studying English, I have heard many takes on the book.  it has both been highly recommended to me and also blatantly ripped apart by its detractors.  Personally it is one of those books that greatly interests me, but one which I have not decided whether or not I actually want to read it.  part of me is greatly intimidated by Ulysses.  I have found throughout my life as a reader, and especially since spending my college years studying a lot of literature, that there a number of works that act in this fashion.  The Brothers Karamazov is one example, as is Moby Dick.  It has something to do with the concept of a literary classic, that these books have thus far withstood the tide of time and remain as relevant works in the greater study of the art of literature.  Ulyssesis a massive novel, some publications surpassing 1000 pages.  It is also noted for being very difficult because much of the novel is written in stream-of-conscience style.  I feel that if I intend to continue on in literary scholarship (something which I fully intend to do) this is a book that I need to at least take a shot at.  But as of yet I have not.

But anyhow, there is the big thing in literary history for this day.