Your pizza delivered on time by Yours Truly, Hiro Protagonist

Hiro Protagonist - pizza deliverer (The Deliverator!), hacker, swordsman - lives in an alternate reality/future where the United States has been carved up into franchises, each ruled independently; all which feels very real and highly possible. With the help of fifteen year old Y.T., a skateboarding Kourier, he’s racing to discover the mystery of Snow Crash, a computer virus/drug that has been striking down hackers in the metaverse and is known for causing people to speak in tongues.

I really really really liked Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I love how it’s written from the point of view of someone in this alternate/futuristic society. There’s no dictionary to refer to for the slang or charts or maps to show how California has been carved up into these franchises. You have to insert yourself into this world and keep up. Nobody is going to hold your hand or explain everything to you. You just have to hold on and go along for the ride.

I found it refreshing that Neal Stephenson didn’t feel the need to have to explain everything to me. I had fun as I read, realizing that over time we could possibly adapt and evolve into this kind of society. It’s a smart read that moves quickly and while there’s not a whole lot of background on the characters, you like them. There’s no hokey, cheesy sympathy story that says you HAVE to like them. They are there, they are in this situation, and while there is some background, you ultimately get to judge. It doesn’t feel like the author is forcing you to have certain feelings for them. Does that make any sense?! Well, it will if you read it. HINT HINT.

And I guess this means I'm ready to read Reamde now!

Hello, My name is Sarah and I’m a Book Hoarder

Last year my husband, Steve, surprised me with a Sony Reader. I’d been debating with myself whether to get one or not and he took it upon himself to decide for me. And I’m so glad he did! It’s wonderful!

I had known of Project Gutenberg for a while and knew of all the free ebooks available. But while I can spend hours wasting time on the internet I can not read long and involved stories on a computer. Thank goodness for the ereader! I immediately loaded it up with all the classics as soon as I could. Now, take a guess what the first thing I read on the ereader… actually, forget it, you’ll never guess because it was a surprising choice even to me. It was The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

Why that one? So I could conquer nations, of course.

This weekend the reader was in need of some recharging… and some new additions!


The Alchemist by Ben Jonson
I saw a recommendation for this in a comment on some blog I can not track down. Darn you internet and your nearly untraceable web of link sharing!

Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lewis Wallace
Lew Wallace was governor of New Mexico Territory from 1878 to 1881. He was mentioned in To Hell on a Fast Horse, a book I recently read, for having tried to make some sort of deal with Billy The Kid over the Lincoln County War. It’s also the book Anne Shirley got in trouble for reading in class.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri
One of those classics to read to Venessa.

Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
This was a recommendation when looking up Lost Horizon on Amazon and it sounded interesting. I immediately went to Project Gutenberg to see if it could be downloaded for free and there it was!

Le Mort d’Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory
I liked the title and I have some interest in the Arthur legend.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Recommendation from another book blog, Vintage Pop Fictions.

The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
This was recently added to Project Gutenberg and featured on their index page. I also did some research on Rebecca West and what an interesting woman!

But just because I have the ereader doesn’t mean I’ve forsaken real books. Not all books have been digitized yet... and of course I get distracted by pretty book covers. So this weekend I picked up these three books:


Watership Down by Richard Adams
I gave this one a try a few years ago and didn’t get very far. I thought I’d give it another go. Besides, a vintage copy in great condition for twenty five cents at a church rummage sale, who would pass that up?!

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
This was another recommendation from my friend Caz. I read half of Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson but had issues with a character and stopped reading. I want to give him another try with a different story. Also, he has a new book coming out so if I like Snow Crash then I’d like to read Reamde. I bought this one at Loud Voice Books. It reminded me of my favorite bookstore in Clearlake, Wild About Books; small, quiet, cozy with new and used books mixed together on the shelves. I’ll be back for sure.

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma
So Venessa and I went to the library to return some books and DVDs. I intended to just get more books for Venessa, for her 15 minutes of reading she has to do for homework each day. Yes, I'm weak. I picked up Imaginary Girls. So sue me!