Currently reading
Take Down
Leading an Inspired Life
Shadow Of The Titanic
The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft
The Emperor's Blades
Grave Peril
Words of Radiance
11/22/63
Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil
You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself
Dhalgren
I really loved the language, some of the characters, and the strong sense of setting in this book. Delany draws you in and is absolutely captivating with his style but holy crap was this book brutally pointless. Just wandering around with no real structure or reason for being. There's lots of grime, gloom, violence, and sloppy sex (both gay and straight). All that's fine, I suppose, but you have to give us a reason for staying with it. I actually went twice as far as my "100 page rule" and read to about the halfway point but eventually decided to shelve it, at least for now, because I simply ran out of patience and waaay too many books on my groaning to-read pile were beckoning me. Part of me is really disappointed to have put it aside because I really do enjoy the author's writing but, hey, life's too short to plod through a dense book with such a distinct lack of direction and story. Maybe this will be one of those books you keep around to dip into an occasional chapter for a break once in a while.
I might look at a few of Delany's other SF books later on (ie. maybe the Neveryone series). I have heard positive things about some of his other titles so I'll probably end up giving him another try. I will tread carefully though since I don't want to inadvertently stumble onto one of his disturbing gross-out pornography books that's fixated on the messy homosexual scenes (Phallos comes to mind). Not really my thing.
