The Weight of Numbers, II
May. 8th, 2006 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coalescentA little while ago I mentioned Simon Ings' new novel, The Weight of Numbers. I also linked to this Guardian review, which seemed to do a pretty good job of putting the book in context. Now I notice all the reviews on Ings' webpage, and in particular this review from The Independent, which is on a whole other level:
It's also weird--in a good way--to see a review that recognises and engages with the context of the book appear in the pages of The Independent rather than, say, Foundation. Though I wish Murray had gone into more detail (or had had the space to go into more detail) about why he thought it didn't work. "The plot works but the story doesn't" is an interestingly loaded turn of phrase.
(I would like to see lots of discussion of this book, so everyone should go and read it now, please. And as it happens, a review of the book by Abigail Nussbaum will be appearing at Strange Horizons next week.)
In a not-entirely-dissimilar vein, this discussion of reactions to Never Let Me Go may be of interest to some.
Science fiction: which way to the exit? The history of SF over the past half-century has been a balancing act. On one side is its adolescent drive to create slam-bang adventure stories set against the most exotic backdrops; on the other, its adult imperative to extrapolate the impact of social change and new technology on culture, politics and the wider society.Discuss.
Plenty of authors still guard the hardcore turf, but many others have made common cause with literary fiction. Novels like David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas make the Man Booker shortlist despite occupying territory which would have been indisputably considered SF even a short while ago.
It's also weird--in a good way--to see a review that recognises and engages with the context of the book appear in the pages of The Independent rather than, say, Foundation. Though I wish Murray had gone into more detail (or had had the space to go into more detail) about why he thought it didn't work. "The plot works but the story doesn't" is an interestingly loaded turn of phrase.
(I would like to see lots of discussion of this book, so everyone should go and read it now, please. And as it happens, a review of the book by Abigail Nussbaum will be appearing at Strange Horizons next week.)
In a not-entirely-dissimilar vein, this discussion of reactions to Never Let Me Go may be of interest to some.
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Date: 2006-05-08 03:04 pm (UTC)There does seem to be some crossover between rock criticism and sf criticism in general: Ian MacDonald's wonderful book on The Beatles, Revolution in the Head, includes a detailed chronology of the 60s with entries for significant sf novels published each year. From memory, he also cites Greenland's The Entropy Exhibition and talks a bit about New Worlds as a part of the late-60s London avant-garde scene.
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Date: 2006-05-08 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 03:24 pm (UTC)This book is not out in America :(
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Date: 2006-05-08 03:26 pm (UTC)(Yes, yes, I know, exchange rates.)
Also, have you read Black Swan Green yet?
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Date: 2006-05-08 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 04:07 pm (UTC)More like still in trauma from the $1000 error I found in my checkbook this morning (ouch!)
Also, have you read Black Swan Green yet?
Not done yet - I didn't expect you to come back having read it.
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Date: 2006-05-08 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 04:21 pm (UTC)http://www.librarything.com/profile/Talvalin
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Date: 2006-05-08 04:31 pm (UTC)I'm aiming to post about BSG on Thursday or Friday ...
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Date: 2006-05-08 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 04:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 06:01 pm (UTC)My unread count will remain high until I get down to the charity shop.
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Date: 2006-05-08 06:11 pm (UTC)Oh, and this book: this would be the one that's winging its way over here courtesy of Amazon, right? It'll be next on the list, then...
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Date: 2006-05-08 06:12 pm (UTC)I don't think I even own 668 books (I'm talking fiction here).
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Date: 2006-05-08 06:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 06:23 pm (UTC)Anyone associated with sf is shady.
Oh, and this book: this would be the one that's winging its way over here courtesy of Amazon, right? It'll be next on the list, then...
That's the badger. :)
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Date: 2006-05-08 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 07:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 04:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 07:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 08:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 08:53 am (UTC)I've got more books at my sister's house that I haven't added yet, primarily a big box of non-fiction but that's a hundred at most. I reckon I can get into fourth or perhaps even third place, but getting beyond that would require more physical space for storage than I currently have access to.
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Date: 2006-05-09 08:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 03:05 pm (UTC)According to Library Thing Graham is my best match. I hear hearts breaking all over this journal.
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Date: 2006-05-09 03:24 pm (UTC)*snerk*
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Date: 2006-05-09 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 04:52 pm (UTC)It was bad when I was just doing it with science fiction, it got very bad when I discovered that contempory fiction is good too, and it went into total freefall when I started working at a charity shop.
I understand that normal people, if they're interested in a book, wait to buy it until they'll be able to read it. Me? I'll just buy it anyway, even though I know it'll be years before I get around to it. Me am genius, clearly.
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Date: 2006-05-09 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 06:45 pm (UTC)It just so happens I did the same thing.
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Date: 2006-05-09 07:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 09:06 pm (UTC)Excellent site, but most of messages here are not related to its contents...
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