I've noticed I always read a Gibson on a Plane

William Gibson's Zero History is the third novel in the kind-of-trilogy Bigend Books. It recycles some characters, settings and ideas from Pattern Recognition and Spook Country and creates a new narrative within the 'Bigend Universe.'

This is the third Gibson novel I have read, after Pattern Recognition and Neuromancer, and I was expecting it to be as good as the other two. Unfortunately, I was not as blown away as I thought I was going to be. I was somewhat impressed, but there were quite a few things than annoyed me.

The most annoying was the ending. Not trying to give anything away, but Gibson seems to end his novels with a chapter or two tying all the loose ends up. I am not such a fan of this. I'm probably making a huge generalisation here, but I see it as a very American thing. Probably because of the 'Disneyfication' of movies, where the ending is always happy. This annoys me a lot. Zero History's ending is not as Disneyfied as Pattern Recognition, but it comes close. I think it's becuase of Gibson's habit of pairing characters off, something that I don't often feel convinced by.

Other than that, I did enjoy the book. I'm not entirely sure what genre to put it in, because I always expect a Gibson to be Science Fiction, which this isn't, but it still incorporates if not futuristic tech, then very present tech. Gibson's newer novels rely on present technology as a SF relies on speculative tech. I think I would call it an urban thriller, though the 'thriller' aspect of it is not so pronounced. Basically, it is an urban technological detectiveish thriller with bits of speculative fiction thrown in.

I love reading novels set in places where I have been, and when the characters in Zero History began talking about Melbourne, I was really hoping that at least part of the narrative would move to that wonderful coffee-scented city. I think Gibson's style of writing would suit Melbourne, his descriptions of cities are always poetic, fluid, and dead-on. I don't know if there are any scenes set in Melbourne in the novels of his I haven't read, but hopefully one day I will read a Gibsonised version of Melbourne.

Unfortunately I feel as if Gibson's writing will always be compared to Neuromancer, and in my opinion, Zero History is not as good. I had high hopes for Zero History, as I had been following Gibson's twitter during 2010 and had heard all the hype. I bought it at WorldCon that September, only a few days after it was released in Australia. But of course I didn't get around to reading it until late December. Overall, without comparing it to any other Gibson novels, it is a very clever and exciting novel. But I couldn't enjoy it enough to put Gibson's other novels I'd read out of my mind, and found myself constantly comparing it to Pattern Recognition, and couldn't help but hipsterly think 'I like his earlier work better.'

Next on my list is a book I bought at my favourite bookshop, Elizabeth's in Fremantle. It is Mark Gatiss' debut novel The Vesuvius Club. I don't know anything about it other than it is written by Mark Gatiss and it has a cool font on the cover.

No-one Gave Me Books For Christmas!

Usually I get at least one book for Christmas, and this year, even though I suggested one to a couple of people, I didn't get any! Not one!

But that's ok because I own so many books that I haven't read yet. Today I finished one of them, one which I have been reading on and off for the last month: Patrick Suskind's Perfume. I've been meaning to read it for a while, and someone was lovely enough to buy it for my birthday back in August.

Many people have told me how much they love this book, but honestly, I didn't love it. I didn't hate it either, but it didn't grab my attention like I was expecting it to. I think it would get better through multiple readings, but it's a fair way down on my list of things to re-read.

That said, I do think it is a wonderfully written book, and the way Suskind describes the different smells is amazing. The narrative switches from focusing on Grenouille to other characters, but this doesn't detract from the flow, but rather adds a different perspective and allows the reader to experience the story from multiple points of view, even though it is third person the whole way through.

Overall, a lovely book. The Boyfriend doesn't much appreciate the detailed *ahem* 'climax' of the novel, but I didn't find it that bad. I suppose after reading The Story of O nothing really shocks me.

Next on my list to read are Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, American Psycho and Zero History. I think I need something a little more modern, or edgy, or something. That's what I'm craving next. Something like Fight Club but not Fight Club because I read that not too long ago.

What Next?

Another of my bad book habits is buying so many books that I can't possibly read them all. This results in a bookshelf overflowing with books I haven't yet read. Now that I've run out of money, and have some time on my hands, I think I should start reading some of these unread books. So where should I start? Here is a small list of some of the books I have on my shelf that I should get to reading:

• Zero History William Gibson
• Perfume Patrick Suskind
• The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Laurence Sterne
• The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco
• Perdido Street Station China Mieville
• Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro
• Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
• American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson
• The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham
• Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Douglas Adams

And that's just my bedhead bookshelf. And I still have many pages of lists of books I still want to buy. I like books. Anyway, what book should I read next?

-Elimonster

I am No Longer a Student

And to celebrate, I finished reading Robert Shearman's collection of short stories about love, Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical. This, like his first, is subtly absurd, quietly heartbreaking and entirely brilliant.

I'm not yet sure which story is my favourite, though I did enjoy 'Luxembourg,' in which the entire country of Luxembourg disappears.

In a collection of stories about love, of course there is going to be some sex. I'm always a little wary of sex scenes in novels, sometimes they can be horrifying, like any of the sex scenes in Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes (don't judge me, I had to read it for uni) or the scene in William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's The Difference Engine which are so awkward and full of euphemisms. But the sex in Love Songs isn't horrifying. perhaps it's because Sherman actually uses the word 'penis' instead of euphemisms. Or perhaps it's because the sex flows so naturally within the narrative. However he does it, I'm impressed.

One of my favourite sections in the whole book that I loved comes from a story called 'Jolly Roger' which does have a rather disturbing sex scene in it, but it is disturbing for a whole different reason. The passage that I like:

'The first port of call was Vigo. Roger had never heard of Vigo before, but didn't hold that against it -- after all, there were lots of places he hadn't heard of, it didn't mean they were rubbish. However, Vigo was rubbish.'

Shearmans's writing is so calm and casual, and a pleasure to read. Another book to go on the 're-readable' shelf.

-Elimonster

I Have a Bad Habit

My bad habit is that I start reading a book and only rarely finish it without starting another book first. Just looking at my bedhead bookshelf alone, I can see five books that have been started but not finished, their bookmarks waving at me, like flags reminding me that I can never finish anything I start.

I'm still half-way through Robert Shearman's Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical and still have an essay to write, but after kendo training last night I was feeling sore and miserable, so I had a hot bath with Mr. Stephen Fry. Well, with his latest autobiography, The Fry Chronicles.

Words cannot describe how much I love Stephen Fry. I've only got to half-way through the second chapter of The Fry Chronicles but Mr. Fry's gorgeous language shines through even just the introduction. His talent of organising words into the most poetic, colourful, amazing narrative is mind-blowing, and I can only wish that I could write half as well as he can.

Hopefully in the next weeks I'll have more time for baths and actually finish reading this book. I don't think I'll be able to stay away from it long.

-Elimonster

It's Not Quite Holidays Yet But...

Hello! Welcome to Monty's Summer Reading Blog. I have decided that, after a year of reading stuff for my thesis, I will spend the Christmas holidays reading whatever the hell I want!

So I began a bit early, reading Robert Shearman's Tiny Deaths before my thesis was due. This collection of short stories is AMAZING. I cried at nearly every story (which is a good thing). Shearman creates slightly odd worlds that are so subtle and smooth that I had no trouble believing when Hitler's dog starts talking, and the like. He manages to capture human emotions through simple yet beautiful narrative. Also I love the cover art, 'Black Holes' by Rachel Goodyear.

My favourite story in the collection is 'Static,' a story about a man who wakes one morning to find that his TV is bleeding. It's a heartbreakingly beautiful story.

Tiny Deaths is a collection that I will most definitely re-read, to the point that the pages are so dog-eared and smeared with tears and tea that I'll have to buy another copy.

My holidays still haven't started yet, as I still have an essay due, but I have the second collection of Shearman's short stories, Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical. And yeah, I couldn't resist starting to read it. I'm seven stories in, and loving it. I'll post a proper review when I've finished the book, and also my essay.

I hope you all will join me on this reading adventure, and maybe some of you can read and blog along with me.

Happy readings!

-Elimonster