Three May Be Too Much

Despite my better judgment, I've started reading another book, bringing my current count up to three. It's a crazy thing, trying to read more than one book at once. You've got to make sure they are different enough that you won't confuse them with each other.

The book I can only read at home is The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. It's a major exercise in "postcyberpunk," which differs from cyberpunk in that the characters are either trying to maintain the status quo or improve it. In cyberpunk, the protagonists tend to try to tear down their societies, or at least fight against them to some degree. This is the kind of book you can only read alone. Having any real distractions will pull you far enough away that you can't comprehend anything from the text.

The book I'm reading for fun is Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. It's a spinoff of American Gods and is completely twisted and fun. A quick read, as most of Gaiman's books are. With little effort, I've blasted over a third of the way through the trials and tibulations of Fat Charlie Nancy.

The third book is a book I have been compelled to read. A friend of mine, upon hearing about Vitamin F said it reminded her, to some degree, of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. It's a dystopian novel about the persecution of women in an infertile world, all orchestrated by a theocracy. I'm curious to see how Atwood plays with infertility, since it's not total infertility like in The Children of Men (another book I still need to read).

Remarkably, I've kept the three titles distinct so far. Let's hope I can keep it up.