watch this space

I've kept up with the reading, if not with the blogging. I think I might redevote myself to this project. Keep an eye here if you're interested.

Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch

Camp Concentration

Even thought it was published in the late 60s, this one felt very old school to me. The journal format, the paranoia specifically of a wartime government, even the "voice" all felt very 1984 or Kallocaine to me. Which worked in its favor. I could excuse some stilted description as a stylistic choice, I feel like, rather than sketchy writing.

But I guess "sketchy" really is the word I want to use here. The characters felt like a sketch (especially the one woman). The science - and I use that term loosely - wasn't given any details. The end seemed a little tacked on, barely fleshed.

That being said, not a bad read. It wasn't meant to be realistic, more of an thought exercise. How much are we willing to give up for intellect? How important is it? Health, taste, skill, life? Do they even attain intellect, or just speed? No answers given, but isn't that true of most dystopian literature?

Big Brother actually is watching them

In a move worthy of William Gibson's nightmares, the Lower Merion School District (a Philly, PA suburb) is being sued. Why? Because they issued a bunch of laptops to students and didn't tell them that the computers came equipped with webcams that could be covertly activated by the schools' administrators to record what was going on in front of said webcam without the students or parents having the slightest idea. This came to light when they decided to punish a student for "improper behavior in his home", behavior captured by the secret spying.

Makes you wonder who all is watching you sleep, don't it?

reading update

Just wanted to say that I finished Camp Concentration a few days ago. I'll be posting a review of it in the next day or two. Now I have a few options on the next book to read.

Which do you think I should open up:
- Feed by M.T. Anderson
- Dayworld by Philip José Farmer
- Memoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanislaw Lem

Too Too Abstract Individual Yagharek Not To Be Respected, the Garuda, stands on a rooftop near Perdido Street Station

(I saw this on the always awesome blog, Uncertain Times.)

Dear Journal:

Froom what I can tell, keeping a journal is pretty much the most important thing an individual can do in the face of an oppressive regime. 1984, We, Camp Concentration, Anthem, Kallocain, Level 7 - whether the frightened citizen hiding his notebook under the bed or the prisoner writing at his captors' request, dystopian authors just love their diaries.

Seriously, though, is this just lazy writing, an easy way to get in plenty of explanation without having to come up with realistic dialogue? Is it the echos of an older style? Classic works having their patterns borrowed through the decades?

To me, I guess it's like anything else. I like it when it's done well (Kallocain, We), but after I've seen it over and over it just serves to remove me from the action. Your feelings?

2010, where to begin

I've read about 2/3 of these over the last two years, but that still leaves enough beautiful books to make me drool a little.

Just a little.

Where should I start? Dayworld? Feed? Camp Concentration?