One more time ... I'm trying to read, "Neuromancer" ...

[GregW]

I make it a point of always buying books that win the Hugo and Nebula Awards in the same year ... have had Neuromancer for over 10 years and STILL can't get all the way through. Don't know why ... I just lose interest.

This time I will succeed!

[mark0rama]

1. Welcome to the club

I have also enjoyed starting to read "Neuromancer".

Someone should start an Unfinished Book Club. I nominate "Gravity's Rainbow."

P.S. No slam intended against these books. I've really, really wanted to read them, but they've proven to be too much of a commitment at the time. One of these days, though.

On edit: spelling like a moran

[Kellanved]

4. unfinished Book club

Umberto Eco

I loved Neuromancer; but I think Stephenson's Snow Crash offers a fresher, more entertaining view of Cyberpunk.
(and Zanzibar shouldn't be forgotten)

[mark0rama]

5. I love Snow Crash

That one I finished. Twice.

[BigMcLargehuge]

9. Snow Crash was fun

made me want to order Pizza just to see what the delivery guy drove.

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. Fantastic book! And Stephenson's next book is out next month

yay!! And then the next 6 months after that, then one more.

Looking forward to the set! The pre-history to Cryptonomicon. Should be a blast!

[BigMcLargehuge]

11. I'll pick them up and add them to my list

I don't read fiction when I am in the middle of a fiction writing project. I find myself coopting styles and language from the other source... and i have several projects I want to finish before I start reading again.

Snow Crash is the only one of his I've read, but I'll look into the others.

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. I think you'd love Cryptonomicon!

It's a huge book, takes some time, but it's incredible. I was blown away, and just reread it a few months ago after a three or four year pause, and it was still just as good.

There are few books I recommend to people so highly that I actually buy them copies just to make sure. Cryptonomicon is one of them.

[LearnedHand]

20. Cryptonomicon is ABSOLUTELY one of the best novels I've ever read!

(Of the type, that is.) Stephenson rocks! I keep recommending it to people, too, but they take one look at the number of pages, or read a few chapters, and give up. :shrug:

Loved Snowcrash! Have you read "In the Beginning was the Command Line"? It's a long, long essay he published in text format online. Not sure if it's still available that way.

P.S. I got so interested in the Alan Turing character in Cryptonomicon that I'm reading a biography about him now!

[Kellanved]

15. They're all fantastic

Only the Bury books aren't up to the standard. They feature interesting storylines, but the style is lacking IMHO.

[WilliamPitt]

7. snarf

Gravity's Rainbow is sitting on my shelf, mortally unread. I tried. I honest to God tried.

[Porkrind_Power]

16. Unfinished from high school

when i was in high school, my teachers assigned books to read & then gave us lame-ass multiple choice tests afterwards.. i could always pass just by reading the blurb on the back cover & guessing..

just recently, i got into reading a little bit & i read a couple just to see what i missed: animal farm, catcher in the rye, the stranger, etc.

my conclusion: i was a CHUMP for not reading them way back then!!!

[mark0rama]

18. I'm expieriencing exactly the same thing.

I breezed through "Catcher in the Rye" in a weekend. I don't know why I couldn't finish it then.

Next stop: "Slaughterhouse Five," as Vonnegut is coming to town to speak next month.

Having an adult's attention span is... ooo, shiny... what was I saying?

Oh, yeah, having an adult's attention span is GOOD.

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Yes - push yourself through it!

Read tha tbopok, read that book, read that book....

[BigMcLargehuge]

3. Hmmmm.... work you way in with Gibson's short stories

two stories (I think only two) in Burning Chrome live in the Neuromancer universe:

Johnny Mnemonic and Burning Chrome

[mark0rama]

6. Great idea

I like using a writer's short stories as a way of getting warmed up to his/her style.

[BigMcLargehuge]

8. Johnny Mnemonic is my all time favorite short story

of ANY genre too.

Gibson's short work is punchy and fun.

The stories in Burning Chrome that I liked most (and I liked them all) were:

Johnny Mnemonic
Burning Chrome
Spads and Fokkers
The Gernsback Continuum
New Rose Hotel

I rarely "reread" (my memory doesn't make it fun, just boring), but I've reread Burning Chrome and the Virtual Light Trilogy.

[Javneh]

12. Unfinished books

hadn't gotten through Inferno by Dante. Got a copy with english and original language side by side. I only got 2/3 of the way through it was so depressing.

Neuromancer had a slow start but was a good read

[usual_suspect]

14. Same thing happened....

to me with another Hugo winner called Dalgren. I forget the author’s name. Tried it three times. Couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

[Bossy Monkey]

17. Or try it on tape

which of course defeats your purpose of reading your specific copy, but still. Former girlfriend and I listened to Virtual Light on tape and were utterly captivated. Gibson is a master of rhythm. He would probably be tiring to read, relaxing to let somebody else read him to you.

[Xithras]

19. Am I the only one who LIKED the book?

Seriously, I finished it in a weekend, and I didn't think it was all that bad.