Friday Reads

This is going to be a short one because I’m currently on the other side of the country from Los Angeles visiting my wife’s family for Easter.1 

1. This article by Gus Mitchell inspired me to pick up Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon again. I’ve read the novel two or three times, but not for at least a decade. And maybe a long airplane ride isn’t the best way to start one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century. But I am still astonished by how much Pynchon inspired and encompasses. In the first few chapters, I recognize concepts and ideas that other authors —including me— have been batting around ever since it was first published. Pynchon has a reputation for coldness, but there is whimsy and affection for his characters that I’d forgotten. Which makes their impact against death and war all the more painful. Benoit Blanc might say nobody ever actually reads this book, but it’s not true. Like scaling a mountain, even if you don’t finish, it will make your life richer and fuller for the attempt.

2. Finished The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August; got an ARC of Cory Doctorow’s Red Team Blues, a tale of spyware and spycraft which you should also pick up. Always a fan of Cory Doctorow.

That’s it for now. As always, let’s hear what you’re reading and any other suggestions in the comments.