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Its a good list of classics, but dropping Doctorow in there seems a bit incongruous. I've never cared for his novels. They always strike me as little more tha
by patja 12y ago
Its a good list of classics, but dropping Doctorow in there seems a bit incongruous. I've never cared for his novels. They always strike me as little more than pandering spackling together of snappy glib dialogue with pop culture tropes and memes. They leave me feeling about as satisfied and intellectually stimulated as eating ice cream for lunch does for my nutritional needs. I say the same about Scalzi.
- brudgers 12y agoRapture of the Nerds and Makers are both competent utopian/distopian novels respectively. Little Brother etc. are sound as teen fiction. If spackled memes aren't appropriate, then Orwell probably should not be on the list unless pandering to anti-communists in an English accent counts as gravitas. At least Doctorow takes on the world wide media machine that is the Rat of Orlando.
- nicholassmith 12y agoEarly Doctrow fiction is pretty good, he doesn't attempt to push his political beliefs as much. I actually don't disagree with a lot of the ideas he espouses, but his last two books were as subtle as a stomach pump.
- geuis 12y agoHmm I entirely agree with your description of Doctorow, but disagree about Scalzi. I've been enjoying most of his books quite a lot. I wasn't a big fan of Old Man's War and won't read any more of that series, but I still quite like his other books.