one more miracle

( Sniffle. Spoilers! )

On a different note, I'm not sure how much I'm going to be around in the near future. I'm leaving for Dublin in a week, and in the meantime I'm trying to get a set of experiments done in my lab so I can have the results for Jason before I leave. At the same time, I'm trying to have more healthy sleeping habits - I went to bed at 12:30 on Monday because I had received an upsetting email at 11, shut off my computer and didn't open it again, and as a result I was happy and rested all day yesterday. It was a really nice feeling and made me realize that I really do need to cut down on the internet if I hope to be successful in my work, at least right out of the gate. I've already been falling behind on my flist, so here's the official heads up that that's likely to continue. I've pretty much quit Tumblr already. I'll still be around, just likely with less frequency. Perhaps no one would notice? But maybe putting it down in writing will actually encourage me and I'll start getting 7 hours of sleep a night instead of 5. And obviously while I'm in Dublin I'm not going to be on the internet all the time! So... yes. Play nice, kids! ♥

A couple days ago, I finished the most incredible book. It's called Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson and it is truly a tour de force. It's also a beast, clocking in at 1130 pages in my paperback version, but honestly? Worth every page. I had my doubts at first, doubted whether I'd be able to stick with it, whether it could really be that good, but my dad had read it in three days (!) over Christmas and I was intrigued. Three months later, I have an incredibly battered and spine-creased copy that I can only gaze at in awe now that I know what it contains.

I'll give a spoiler-free pitch outside of the cut, then go into details behind the cut in case anyone wants to come flail with me/help me wrap my head around it. So! Cryptonomicon is an epic story about three different lives. There's an American code breaker in World War II who's personal friends with Alan Turing and whose mathematician perspective on life is both fascinating and frequently hilarious. He's my favorite. There's also an American Marine who starts in Guadalcanal and goes on a wacky ride around the world, getting caught up in all kinds of crazy missions that he doesn't really understand. Then there's a modern day (read: late 90s) computer scientist/entrepreneur who is working in the Philippines to develop the first major "data haven" in the world. He also happens to be the code breaker's grandson! All three of these lives are separate for the first, oh, half of the novel, but slowly they start to wind in towards each other, crossing and parting and crossing ways again, until at the end it really is all one story and you are astonished at the sheer skill it took to weave that many strands of narrative into a satisfying and startling conclusion. At first I was a little put off by how plot-driven it was, how the characters were almost sketches of people, but over time, the three main characters especially became quite vivid and sympathetic and I found that I definitely never wanted to leave the book without finding out what happened to them.

( Now some specific, spoilery flailing that perhaps will only interest Elle! )

Elle Elle come talk to me about Cryptonomicon! Tell me your favorite parts and whatnot, because I will likely be all "OMG YES THAT!" and it will help flesh out my memories of the whole book, as well as perhaps my understanding of the story? Cause I'm not sure I got everything, haha! Anyway, COME FLAIL. ♥

Reading that book felt like an accomplishment, goddamn. Been a long time since a book felt that satisfying. Next up: Stephenson's Snow Crash! :D