My Cheatin' Heart

Post-It
Post-It

My harmless flirting is about to become full-fledged cheating...

...after about a month, I am around 200 pages into Quicksilver. And I love it.

But...like a drive across Texas, for all my traveling, I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere. I prepared really well for the trip, too! I got a nice, compact British edition. I finished off all the other books I was reading to dedicate my full attention to Mr. Stephenson's beautiful prose. I have even recently re-watched The Day the Universe Changed which actually inspired me to finally start reading The Baroque Cycle. I was ready! Full tank of gas, snacks from Trader Joe's, an awesome mix tape...

But after making nary a dent in the first of three giant tomes, my gaze began to wander. The rationale was easy at first: reading a comic is hardly cheating. It's just a comic...

...Scott Pilgrim Volume 3 is just a comic. Invincible Books 5 & 6 are just comics. Buffy Season 8 Books 1 & 2 are just comics. What started as flirting, became heavy petting. I did go back to Quicksilver after each, but felt guilty and kinda dirty each time.

So, I'm coming clean. I am asking Quicksilver for a trial separation. It doesn't mean I love Quicksilver any less, it's just that I need things that it just won't, or can't do for me. Tonight, I'm seeing an old love that I haven't seen for a while, and frankly, probably wasn't ready for the last time I did. Tonight, I go to bed with Stranger in a Strange Land. 

I will be back, Quicksilver, and I know you will wait for me. The way that Cryptonomicon waited for me...

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Debkakes
You are having the same confusing relationship with Quicksilver (which as we speak is sitting near my desk, taunting me....) as I have with Gravity's Rainbow. I don't know if, as I get involved with it, I flee because I'm intimidated by the commitment, or whether it's just really not for me. Because I love it, I really do. I have been cheating on GR for 15 years now, and still, it takes me back each time. Am I doomed to another such liaison if I try to read Quicksilver?
Tensegrity Dan
Stranger in a strange land is like hooking up with a high school sweetheart. Or something.
lori
Yeah, a kind of loopy and crazy high school sweetheart.

I called it quits with Gravity's Rainbow a few years ago. Against the Day, however...
Enola
I dunno, maybe this makes me some kind of uberdork (or way too patient?) but I became sucked in and smoked through the whole Baroque cycle. It can happen, I guess is what I'm trying to say? It took me a while to get into Cryptonomicon, but by the time I got to Quicksilver I was fully indoctrinated or perhaps had built up the appropriate resistance. Who knows?! I also didn't have a problem with another book people seem to have the same complaints about, Foucault's Pendulum, so obviously GR is next. Although it's been in my house for 8 years now, and I've always found SOMETHING ELSE to read... maybe I've finally met my match!

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