Slog - Comments on Airplane Reading http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/airplane_reading It used to be, when I went to BEA as a bookseller, I'd try to read a classic, in order to keep my head amid all the shiny new free books. I've read The Scarlet Letter at BEA--if you haven't read that book since high school, you really should; it's amazing--and one year, pretentiously, I brought Billy Budd along with me. But since I started writing Constant Reader, every time that I've flown, I've tried to read something popular. This time, I brought The Broken Window, by Jeffery Deaver. This is a Lincoln Rhyme mystery, which may ring a... Copyright 2008 Thu, 29 May 2008 13:00:00 -0800 Thu, 29 May 2008 18:16:38 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by AMB You should read Lucifer's Hammer sometime. It's by Larry Niven, and a lot of people regard it as classic sci-fi. I found it to be quite silly, and appallingly racist. The racial stuff with the black characters is really over the top. And the pro-nuclear angle of the book is also quite strange.

]]> AMB http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/airplane_reading#c1034694 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/airplane_reading#c1034694 Books Thu, 29 May 2008 13:22:42 -0800 Comment by Dougsf "To a dear friend, the written word."

EEEEEWWWWWW!

I can see the author mailing a screenplay version of this to studios now.

]]> Dougsf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/airplane_reading#c1034724 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/airplane_reading#c1034724 Books Thu, 29 May 2008 13:45:29 -0800 Comment by I see your boobie COMMENT DELETED:Grossly Off-Topic
We'd rather not moderate your comments, but off-topic, gratuitously inflammatory, threatening, or otherwise inappropriate remarks may be removed, and repeat offenders may be banned from commenting. We never censor comments based on ideology. Thanks to all who add to the conversation on Slog.

]]> I see your boobie http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/airplane_reading#c1034738 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/airplane_reading#c1034738 Books Thu, 29 May 2008 13:58:16 -0800 Comment by michael strangeways all those guys, James Patterson and the ilk who sell boatloads of crime novels, are AWFUL. In a former life at "Seattle's largest Internet retailer", I had to "read" tons of those fuckers and they're all poorly plotted and written. They're the literary equivalent of a Jerry Bruckheimer produced, CBS crime drama and just as inanely popular.

]]> michael strangeways http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/airplane_reading#c1034783 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/airplane_reading#c1034783 Books Thu, 29 May 2008 14:22:39 -0800 Comment by Judah I've written millions of words on the internet. Most of those words have been total crap and yet -- I still consider the written word to be a dear friend. Crap sensationalistic writing composing, as it does, the abstract and brief chronicle of our times, etc, etc.

A person doesn't have to be Charles fucking Dickens to be good friends with the written word.

]]> Judah http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/airplane_reading#c1035134 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/airplane_reading#c1035134 Books Thu, 29 May 2008 18:16:38 -0800