Reading and 'Casting
Jul. 3rd, 2024 02:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouse First of all, the obligatory reminder that if you'd like to listen to me and my co-host, Ka1iban, talk about the original Ghost in the Shell anime movie from 1995, you can do it. Here's the Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5yZxXGcx2E6EAga4k5pmMa. You can also listen on Spreaker, iTunes, or anywhere fine podcasts can be found.
If you listen, please review and/or rate us, subscribe, and all those good things.
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This last week, I continued to keep on reading and listening to the cyberpunk stuff--so, here's what I got through:
The big standout was Feed by M.T. Anderson. I listened to this as an audiobook, which is what I would recommend as the best way to consume it, hands down. The production value on the audiobook is phenomenal. The story is, in part, about social media taking over your brain, and so there's a point where the narrative is broken up with fake advertisements, which are so well done that I initially mistook them for real ones--I thought my phone had flaked out or I'd hit some pop-up. It took several seconds before I realized that these were fake and tailored to the novel. So, that part was EXTREMELY well done. And perfectly hammered in the point of the book, because my brain is so used to being interrupted and bombarded by ads that initially I went into "don't pay attention to this" mode and didn't fully register that my audio book should NOT come with ads. And, of course, we all believe that we're SO good at multitasking, which we all know is at least partly a lie was laid bare by this whole thing. Like, we think we are so adept at tuning advertisements out, when, really, we are subconsciously absorbing them... as I was until I woke up to the fact that this was part of the narrative.
Wake up Sheeple, indeed. ;-)
I finished reading the physical book of 36 Streets by T. R. Napper and... mmmm, I loved the setting of this book a lot. It's a cyberpunk Vietnam, specifically Hanoi. But, the main character never gelled for me and the grim not only stayed grim throughout, but got WORSE. Like, people I had invested in and lied died stupid deaths. So, not what I would call a satisfying story and the text never asks any of the interesting questions of cyberpunk as far as I was concerned even though the main character, Lin, choses to erase huge portions of her memory in order to "fight unencumbered." All of which, to me, felt needlessly macho instead of some kind of treatise or reflection on personhood.
I listened to the short story "Seb Dreams of Reincarnation" by Aimee Ogden which is a great story in the vein of David Levin's "Damage." In which people's minds become space ships. Seb, the titular hero, was once a ship and now he's trying to cope with being a human again and not really doing great--at least not until he takes up the hobby of manning drones. It's a story I want people to read, so I won't spoil it, except to say that the ending is EXTREMELY heartwarming.
I also re-read the short story "Maneki Neko" by Bruce Sterling, which is a story that's sort of like Naomi Kritzer's "Better Living Through Algorithms" (though, obviously, Naomi does it better.)
I gave up on the audiobook The Electric Church by Jeff Somers as it suffered the same problem of T. R. Napper's book, which was excessive machismo. A problem, as much as I hate to admit it, at least in cyberpunk written by men.
I started to listen to the audiobook of Warcross by Marie Lu, which was liking until it became a millionaire boyfriend novel. I'm going to stick with it, but I am adjusting my expectations.
Other things in my queue:
So, what about you? What are you reading lately? Anything good? Anything AWFUL?
If you listen, please review and/or rate us, subscribe, and all those good things.
/advertisement
This last week, I continued to keep on reading and listening to the cyberpunk stuff--so, here's what I got through:
The big standout was Feed by M.T. Anderson. I listened to this as an audiobook, which is what I would recommend as the best way to consume it, hands down. The production value on the audiobook is phenomenal. The story is, in part, about social media taking over your brain, and so there's a point where the narrative is broken up with fake advertisements, which are so well done that I initially mistook them for real ones--I thought my phone had flaked out or I'd hit some pop-up. It took several seconds before I realized that these were fake and tailored to the novel. So, that part was EXTREMELY well done. And perfectly hammered in the point of the book, because my brain is so used to being interrupted and bombarded by ads that initially I went into "don't pay attention to this" mode and didn't fully register that my audio book should NOT come with ads. And, of course, we all believe that we're SO good at multitasking, which we all know is at least partly a lie was laid bare by this whole thing. Like, we think we are so adept at tuning advertisements out, when, really, we are subconsciously absorbing them... as I was until I woke up to the fact that this was part of the narrative.
Wake up Sheeple, indeed. ;-)
I finished reading the physical book of 36 Streets by T. R. Napper and... mmmm, I loved the setting of this book a lot. It's a cyberpunk Vietnam, specifically Hanoi. But, the main character never gelled for me and the grim not only stayed grim throughout, but got WORSE. Like, people I had invested in and lied died stupid deaths. So, not what I would call a satisfying story and the text never asks any of the interesting questions of cyberpunk as far as I was concerned even though the main character, Lin, choses to erase huge portions of her memory in order to "fight unencumbered." All of which, to me, felt needlessly macho instead of some kind of treatise or reflection on personhood.
I listened to the short story "Seb Dreams of Reincarnation" by Aimee Ogden which is a great story in the vein of David Levin's "Damage." In which people's minds become space ships. Seb, the titular hero, was once a ship and now he's trying to cope with being a human again and not really doing great--at least not until he takes up the hobby of manning drones. It's a story I want people to read, so I won't spoil it, except to say that the ending is EXTREMELY heartwarming.
I also re-read the short story "Maneki Neko" by Bruce Sterling, which is a story that's sort of like Naomi Kritzer's "Better Living Through Algorithms" (though, obviously, Naomi does it better.)
I gave up on the audiobook The Electric Church by Jeff Somers as it suffered the same problem of T. R. Napper's book, which was excessive machismo. A problem, as much as I hate to admit it, at least in cyberpunk written by men.
I started to listen to the audiobook of Warcross by Marie Lu, which was liking until it became a millionaire boyfriend novel. I'm going to stick with it, but I am adjusting my expectations.
Other things in my queue:
- Armada by Ernest Cline (audiobook)
- Accelerando by Charles Stross (audiobook)
- Jennifer Government by Max Berry
So, what about you? What are you reading lately? Anything good? Anything AWFUL?