Wow, what a sprawling book. Big enough to serve as a decent door stop in a minor gale. Characters and events galore. All tied together by the invention of the digital computer in WW2 for the Brits (using mercury) and the Americans (using vacuum tubes) and cryptology and cryptanalysis, then and today, more or less, for the creation of an Internet data haven in a fictitious monarchy in the vicinity of Malaysia.
Along the way, there are submarines, gold bullion, Guadalcanal, Douglas MacArthur, lawsuits, computer hacking, and the harrowing creation of (and escape from) a granite crypt for the storage of stolen German and Nipponese gold. That ought to be enough to interest anyone. Although the author, Neal Stephenson, is generally considered a science fiction writer, there seems to be little enough of scifi in this tale. But it suffers not a bit for the lack thereof. Heckuva read.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
Take a breather, then get started on the sprawling Baroque Cycle.
Told ya.
My breather is Arthur Koestler’s “Darkness At Noon,” which the young ‘uns seem to have read in high school, but I never did.
A perfect description of a book with a list of everything that will never ever interest me. Every single subject.
Dang, what would interest you, then? Ach.
Chandler. Nabokov. Strugatskys.Cortasar. J. Barnes.
You want more, Scott?
I don’t know the last three — I found the first two on Wikipedia, and I’d probably like the Russki brother’s stuff. What should I start with?
Sure, pile ’em on, too. Always on the lookout for new-to-me authors.
Strugarskys Broth.: Roadside Picnic. Then you can read everything else.
J.Cortazar: “History of Cronopios and famas” (sorry for earlier misspelling). Then you can get “The Winners” and “Hopscotch”.
Julian Barnes If you like Conan Doyle, read “Arthur and George” first, for a doze of real Victorian England. “Flaubert’ parrot” is my favorite, and “Lemon table” is good as a sampler – it’s a collection of stories.
You’re obviously hard to please, Tatyana, but I knew that. But thanks for the ideas. I’ll poke at them a while and see if they interest me.
Well, scratch Barnes. The blurb from Garrison Keillor does me in. Anything GK likes probably isn’t for me. Onward to the rest of the list.
Dick: never mind Mr. Keillor. I can care less what he likes; I know what I do: a sceptical, erudite, curled-upper-lip Brit in a best ranting mode imaginable.
Re: “hard to please”.
I am of the opinion that people who are easy to please are not worth pleasing.
Well, it depends (for me) on what he’s ranting about. I’m more than a little tired of ranting Brits.
Of life and death. Men and women. Doubts. Egos. Loneliness. Fairness. Any combination of the above.
Of course, the brothers Strugarsky aren’t on the Kindle.
I’ll pass on the Latino dude. Every one of those South Americans I’ve ever read have bored me to tears with all their magical realism hooha. Yes, I’ve tried more than one.
I think I’ve read at least one Julian Barnes book. Something sounds familiar.
Had I know that was Tatyana, I wouldn’t have wondered. Stephenson writes thrilling tales for boys. I never met a single girl who liked them.
Sorry to disappoint you, Scott. No, I don’t like the tales of “submarines, gold bullion, Guadalcanal, Douglas MacArthur, lawsuits, computer hacking”. Although some girls might. After all, there are girls who are lawyers, serve in the Navy, or are computer geeks.
I’m not disappointed at all, Tat. You’re missing out on a rollicking good read, though.
I’ve ordered Roadside Picnic from Amazon. It sounds good. I checked the library first, but couldn’t find it.
I found The Lemon Table at the library and will try it that way. Thanks for the tips.
Tell me your impressions later, I’ll be very interested to know your opinion.
Hmm… I better stifle it then.
Or else what, Snoopy? Does someone threatens you?