Neuromancer & After Dark

Neuromancer has a little reference to Johnny Mnemonic, which I instantly recognized, and then I read that Gibson had a trilogy of books along with short stories in the same world. I'd read The Winter Market back in my Pleasures of Genre class in college, but I'd never read any other Gibson, but I clearly need to remedy that. Shouldn't be too hard. I pretty much need to read more cyberpunk stuff in general. Or, alternately, read more in general. With traveling, it is far easier, because plane rides and long metro and bus rides, along with no internet access lends itself to reading far more than having a computer with internet access and TV does. Anyway, I really liked Neuromancer.

After Dark is the latest Haruki Murakami novel, this one about a pair of sisters, the elder one a model and the younger a student who is not as attractive, and their experience over one evening. It's differently structured than his other works, being sort of real-time and only set in one evening, plus its third person omniscient narration. But it's as good as his other stuff, extremely well written (and translated by my preferred Murakami translator, Jay Rubin. Yes, I have a favorite translator of Haruki Murakami.). The younger one meets a jazz trombonist/law student in a Denny's, translates for a beaten Chinese prostitute, considers a long-distance relationship while studying in China, and discusses her older sister, who apparently is asleep in her room when an unplugged TV turns on. It's full of name brands, jazz music, cats, supernatural aspects, and discussions about sex. If you want to know why I like Murakami so much, that's why. Although the book is short (I read it pretty much on the way to Cleveland, which is just as 30 Rock says it is, and if you aren't watching this show, you are wrong), I loved it.