More Books, and Some Soldering Equipment

Friday
Pay Less Books Warehouse Sales @ 3K Inn, Subang Jaya. Picked 5 fiction, mum bought some cheapass music books and a couple extras. Just getting William Gibson's Pattern Recognition was worth the trip to Subang (50km to and fro, the petrol...).

Saturday - 'Book Fair' at Atria, Damansara Jaya & a stop at electronics shop is SS2. Misaa says the 'book fair' is an all-year round affair. Brand new novels, and just slightly more than what I pay for secondhand books at normal price. Book-buying spree, naturally. Moved on to SS2 for lunch with parents, before that, stopped at the electronics shop to buy soldering equipment. Had prepared a list of components for a couple electronic projects, but joy of joys, the shop had beginner kits.

All the books. Couple months of book supply. Bye bye, studies.

Clarkson's book for RM8, way lower than Kinokuniya's price. Just finished the fourth Artemis Fowl at time of posting. Need moar Artemis Fowl books!!!

3 more Neal Stephenson novels, bringing the count of Stephenson novels to 5.

The gems, Cryptonomicon and Pattern Recognition.
Very nearly overlooked Cryptonomicon, and was the last available one. Close call there.

Brand spankin new soldering equipment.

This week's loot.

Snow Crash

Author : Neal Stephenson
Genre : Science-fiction, Cyberpunk
Pages : 468
Notes : Times 100 Book List

Net diving, online community MMO-style, hacking by coding, what more could I ask for?

Stephenson seamlessly weaves in Sumerian mythology into the story. Throughout the book, you'll come across whole sections quoting and explaining Sumerian myths. No surprise that the story is pro-altheism. In the story, the Christian ideology of speaking in tongues is thrashed. Well, it was a good story anyway.

I did, however, find some characters loosely tied-in to the plot. Perhaps I hadn't been thorough enough, but felt the supporting characters' motives, or lack thereof, odd. I'm the type that likes details like these to be made clear. Oh yes, and there's the no-nonsense ending, which doesn't give us any epilogue or anything.

The Blind Assassin

Author : Margaret Atwood
Genre : Fiction
Pages : 538
Notes : Booker Prize 2000

The Blind Assassin is a story within a story, much like a nesting doll. There are three distinct stories, all which will late relate to each other. Summary here.

It was all good, but I have to admit that it was a weary read midway through the novel, where we have a very cynical old lady narrating about her marriage. Maybe I have had too much of a dose of strong-willed characters, which might explain why I was quite annoyed with the novel's protagonist. She seemed so complacent, leaving everything to run its course while her (evil, duh) husband & sister-in-law usurped every aspect of her life.

Needless to say, persevering through the novel had its rewards. Towards the end the paces picked up really fast, as Atwood reveals the connection between all the different story lines and presents really nice plot twists. In terms of writing, it was definitely enjoyable, Atwood's prose was what kept me reading during those dreary middle chapters.