Comments on The Vigorous North: Best Reads of 2011

Good selection!

2012-01-08T11:56:00.838-05:00

Good selection!

@ Anonymous - Ubik was another one I'd read in...

2012-01-05T11:34:19.323-05:00

@ Anonymous - Ubik was another one I'd read in the past year, and it's probably my favorite of the PKD novels I've read so far. But very weird. I've been meaning to check out something by Hofstadter for a while now, thanks for the suggestion.

@ Tim - Goon Squad has also been on my radar for a while now, and I'll check out Matthiesen as well. Thanks for the recommendations!

Just finished A Visit From the Good Squad by Jenni...

2012-01-04T16:19:22.055-05:00

Just finished A Visit From the Good Squad by Jennifer Egan and am really just deciding when to re-read it.

Also, if you haven't read Shadow Country, by Peter Matthiesen, it seems like it would be right up your alley: sprawling, excellent characters, and a rich portrait of the ecosystem of the Florida Gulf Coast.

Nice list. I can't tell, is UBIK in that PKD c...

2012-01-04T15:42:28.183-05:00

Nice list. I can't tell, is UBIK in that PKD collection? That one was the most mindbending for me, to the extent that I can't even remember how it worked.

I remember having that mind-expanding feeling you described while reading I AM A STRANGE LOOP, by Douglas Hofstadter... (I've heard it's kind of a condensed and simplified version of GODEL, ESCHER, BACH, which I have never tackled) Crazy feeling thinking about consciousness and realizing you are a consciousness that's thinking about itself thinking about how it's thinking etc etc.