Books and a bit of memeishness.

[newnumber6]

First:

Finished: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by JK Rowling.
Started: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by JK Rowling

Non-spoilery thoughts behind the cut.

Well.

It's not without its charm, I suppose. It's not bad, but I still don't really see what the big deal is. I'm sure it'd be really enjoyable if I was about 11 or 12, though.

I guess part of it is just from all the pop cultureness of it, and commercials and such from the movies, I'd already been familiar with all the characters and a surprising amount of the plot (considering I've never actually seen a movie). I might have enjoyed it more if I came at it fresh. And of course, it could be (probably is) one of those things where for adults it's mildly enjoyable at first but then has more depth as the characters and intended audience age. Chamber of Secrets so far at least I seem to be enjoying a little more (though I'm only like 50 pages in).

I'm committed to reading at least the first four, anyway, since I'm trying to read every Hugo or Nebula award winning Novel, and Goblet of Fire won a Hugo. And I'll probably continue reading the rest of the series, just because I'm a stickler for completeness.

But I still don't understand all the shippiness people associate with it. I guess that probably kicks in a little later.


Still reading: Ilium, by Dan Simmons (Fridays and Sundays)

And, stolen from thebitterguy...
This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.


1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card*
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman*
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson*
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

I enjoyed most of the ones I've read, so I'm reserving 'loved' for the ones that I would willingly reread on a semi-regular basis even though I still remember a good deal of the story.


And a survey meme, stolen from relatively new friend djkirkbride, who created it (and I seem to have been getting a surprising number of just random friends lately, people who stumbled on my journal and decided to friend me without comment. That's fairly new to me. So, anyway, hi to all of you and sorry if I haven't made you feel welcome in the proper way before now).

Anyway, on to the survey!

1. Would you rather have a meh job that paid well or a kickass job that barely took care of the bills? (Okay... that one sucked, but I'm keeping it and moving on...)

I'd like a kickass job that barely took care of bills. But I'm relatively easygoing in that regard and don't have a lot of expenses. Right now I have a meh job that barely pays the bills, but it has the sweet benefit of only being 3 days a week for something like 2 hours each time, leaving me free to lounge about like an international playboy. But without the money or the girls or the travelling outside my house.

2. Could you beat up Elvis Costello? WOULD you? And why or why not?

I could probably at least give him a decent fight, but I don't think I'd win, because I'm a lover, not a fighter, and haven't really been in many fights. I also wouldn't do so because I'm relatively easygoing.

3. Would the Back to the Future films be as kickass if Eric Stoltz hadn't been replaced by Michael J. Fox early in the production of the first (and best) one?

I don't think so. I think Fox brought a special sort of charm to it.

4. Do you order extra cheese on your burritos?
I don't actually order burritos, even though I like them. And I really don't order extra cheese on anything, even though I like cheese (hell, usually when I get a fast food burger I get a hamburger rather than a cheeseburger because the price of adding a slice of cheese just boggles the thrifty lobe of my brain).

5. Kite flying: fun or boring as all fuck?

Boring. Could never see the appeal to it.

6. Superman or Batman. Why?

Batman, given enough prep time.

Really, there's two ways to answer this question. The first is who would win in a fight. In which case, the answer is as above, because Batman is smart and prepared, and Superman is dumb. I mean, Superman probably could defeat him if he used his powers intelligently, but when does that happen? He routinely gets surprised by kryptonite. So in comic-book logic, Batman would win.

The second way to answer the question is which is the better character, and Batman clearly wins that one. Superman is boring. I'm not a fan of characters who have powers that are so awesomely above the rest of us that the only one they could possibly be threatened by is another overwhelmingly powerful force. I prefer my supercharacters to be more or less human, with an advantage.

Plus, I know a lot of people don't like him, but I really like psycho, damaged Batman, who's a control freak, plans to take out his friends, just in case he has to, and won't let people get close to him. Batman is a jerk, and that's the best thing about him.

7. Do you believe in God? Why or why not?

No. It just doesn't make sense to me. There are all sorts of reasons, but I keep going back to one I mentioned in a post on Planescape a while back. I find it hard to believe that an all-powerful being, when designing a universe, would design _this_ one. Not because there's evil in it, but because there are just so much cooler possibilities. Ones with super-heroes. Ones with aliens all over the place. Ones where the laws of physics were more like early SF people imagined they might be.


8. Do you believe in Charles Grodin? Why or why not?

I'm willing to provisionally accept his existence, because I've seen him on TV. But that could always just be an actor pretending to be Charles Grodin. However, the existence of Charles Grodin doesn't strike me as an important enough question to not take his existence at face value. I won't feel terribly betrayed if I find out he doesn't really exist and the people who make money off him where trying to convince us of him for their own ends.

Conversely, nobody threatens me with eternal torture if I happen not to believe in Charles Grodin, which would tend to just make me suspicious. So I'm good with sticking with my provisional judgement.

9. Monkeys: fun or menace?

You ask that like you find the two options mutually exclusive.

10. Have you ever eaten glue?
I have no memory of eating glue, but it's possible they were erased in glue-induced-dementia.


Also, I had an idea for a new gameshow! Cram It! Tough questions on obscure categories. The twist? The contestants are told the categories in advance (in addition to a few dummy categories), the night before!