My "light" summer reading

A million years ago, I'd diligantly sign up for our library's summer reading program/contest. My choices tended toward the lengthy end of my reading level, so I certainly never won. I didn't much care—summer vacation just meant having the time to read as much as I liked. Drove my mother nuts, my staying inside all day long. I could become so engrossed in what I was reading that I'd completely tune out everything else (further nuts-driving, of course).

Nowadays, designing my graphical butt off doesn't leave lots of time for recreational reading, but I still enjoy big honkin' novels. So, instead of denaturing my brain with summer television, I am tackling The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy his densely written, earthy style. At a length of somewhat more than 900 pages, Quicksilver (Vol.1) is definitely a meaty read. When his characters aren't discussing the finer points of alchemy and natural philosophy, they are quite the lusty bunch. I admit to having had to reread some discussions when I didn't pay close enough attention, but all in all I thoroughly enjoyed the book. That era of European discovery fascinates me no end, and by not limiting himself to actual events, Mr. Stephenson's epic strikes me so far as something of an alternate history—one of my most favorite genres.

I'm only a dozen pages into Vol. 2 The Confusion, but by the time I read the cover blurb and first two paragraphs, I was captivated all over again. True, the former alerted me that Jack is/was still alive (as I hoped he'd be) but the book immediately picks up the thread of his story so that's a nit only marginally worth mentioning. I hope to finish the series by Labor Day weekend, which would make for quite a worthwhile summer of reading.

From the dust jacket of Vol.2 The Confusion:

In the year 1689, a cabal of Barbary galley slaves—including one Jack Shaftoe, a.k.a. King of the Vagabonds, a.k.a. Half-Cocked Jack, lately and miraculously cured of the pox—devises a daring plan to win freedom and fortune. A great adventure ensues, rife with battles, chases, hairbreadth escapes, swashbuckling, bloodletting, and danger—a perilous race for an enormous prize of silver... nay, gold... nay, legendary gold that will place the intrepid band at odds with the mighty and the mad, with alchemists, Jesuits, great navies, pirate queens, and vengeful despots across vast oceans and around the globe.

Meanwhile, back in Europe...

The exquisite and resourceful Eliza, Countess de la Zeur, master of markets, pawn and confidante of enemy kings, onetime Turkish harem virgin, is stripped of her immense personal fortune by France's most dashing privateer. Penniless and at risk from those who desire either her or her head (or both), she is caught up in a web of international intrigue, even as she desperately seeks the return of her most precious possession—her child.

While...

Newton and Leibniz continue to propound their grand theories as their infamous rivalry intensifies, stubborn alchemy does battle with the natural sciences, nobles are beheaded, dastardly plots are set in motion, coins are newly minted (or not) in enemy strongholds, father and sons reunite in faraway lands, priests rise from the dead... and Daniel Waterhouse seeks passage to the Massachusetts colony in hopes of escaping the madness into which his world has descended.

Tags: The Baroque Cycle, The Confusion, Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver, summer reading