Yes. I ride the strange torpedo of a latinically correct word I just made up. (And, I seem to invented the word "latinically" as well, just because there was such a clear need for it.) Ain't coffee grand??
***
I've been reading A LOT lately. First, there was a mighty tidal wave of PG Wodehouse the likes of which the world has never seen. My parents are planning on moving to a smaller place in a few years, and in preparation, have started giving away a lot of their books. Sarah got the Vonnegut, and I got the Wodehouse. Oh, did I get the Wodehouse.

For a while I was obessively trying to figure out the True Wooster Timeline. I kept a notebook and everything. (Ok, this one has Florence Craye and Stilton Cheesewright, but they're clearly recurring characters, so it must be after the one where Bertie grew a moustache, oh, no wait, there's the moustache. Hmm. What in the world happened the first time, then?)

I eventually decided the whole project was kind of creepy, and settled back to just enjoy the ride.

Everyone I talk to is amazed by Jeeves. This is of course perfectly right and proper. However, these are all people who have only seen the TV series. It was the books that made me fall in love with Wooster, B.

"Those who know Bertram best are aware that in his journey through life he is impeded and generally snootered by about as scaly a platoon of aunts as ever was assembled..."

That's the sort of thing that's just not captured in the series. And he talks like that All. The. Time. Who wouldn't love Bertie?

In addition to the Jeeveses, Wodehouse wrote several hundred other books. I am only slightly exaggerating. Bertie is still my favorite, but there were so many other great characters. Ah, Mike Cardinal. Oh, Joss Weatherby. If it's not a Jeeves story, the leading man will consistently be someone clever and enterprising, who says simply wonderful things. Imagine a young Jeeves, not constrained by any sense of feudal propriety, in love. Yes. Exactly.

The point is, my lifetime supply of Wodehouse made me very happy. I read nothing else for about a month. I reacquainted myself with several scores of Mulliners. I discovered the world of Blandings Castle. Gasp! Gally Threepwood! Where have you BEEN all my life?
***
After the Wodehouse orgy, I knew the next thing I read would have to be something good. If I happened to read something that wasn't brilliant, I would have just gotten depressed, and sulked about how Jeeves never would have let the plot go that way.

Fortunately, I had an unread Tim Powers anthology I had been saving for just such an emergency. It was everything I wanted it to be, and led naturally to a re-read of The Anubis Gates.

Then, I was at a loss again. More Powers, perhaps? Maybe some Jonathan Carroll? I was browsing the bookshelves, and realized I'd never actually read The Confusion. I bought it for Rijid for Christmas, and made a point of ignoring it, because it was his, and maybe he should get to read it first. But four months had now passed; he clearly wasn't going to start it any time soon.

I understand. It really does take a certain mindset to look at an 800-page monstrosity that you already know is the second part of a trilogy by Neal Stephenson, (and will thus undoubtedly contain references to all sorts of complicated mathematical theory, AND since it's set in 1700-ish, there's the historical element to contend with too) and read it anyway.

It's not a read for the weak, is what I'm saying. Reading Stephenson is a fairly serious commitment. Slogging my way through Quicksilver damn near killed me. But my brain was still kind of reeling from the Wodehouse overdose, so I decided I was ready.

I was afraid at first that I'd have to re-read Quicksilver before I even started, but I decided to just bluff my way through the first two hundred pages and was relieved to discover I remembered more of the main plotlines that I thought I did.

Also, I discovered a relatively painless way to go about the project. Whenever I noticed my eyes were glazing over, I stopped reading. Revolutionary, I know, but it worked. After even a 1/2 hour of doing something else, I was mentally refreshed enough to jump back in.

I read the whole thing in four days. FOUR DAYS, I tell you! It was simple! Buahaha! I have gone mad mad MAD with my increased powers of reading comprehension! For my next trick, I may just reread Quicksilver or dare I say it, Cryptonomicon itself!

The only trouble is that now my brain really wants a challenge. My brain is all slapping its book-reading penis around, trying to make me dare everyone I meet to say they are as awesome as I am. Yeah, I just finished The Confusion. What have you read, bee-yotch?

These conversations can't possibly end well, so I'm trying very hard not to let my brain start anything.

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