So many books AND why is my prostate trying to kill me?

You have undoubtedly heard me lament over and over again about how many books I want to read but seldom find the time to do so.  Well, you're going to hear it again.

I really did believe I was going have the opportunity to get caught up over these past two weeks.  Alas, it was not my fate.  If you've read Monday's post about a drone's life, then you know I've been a nursemaid, a laundry folder, a lawn raker, a dog walker, and so on and so forth all the live long day.  All while it rained buckets outside.  Doesn't matter.  I still keep finding books that appear promising and I add them to my "to read" list that grows exponentially by the week.  Here are my latest finds:

Jennifer Government by Max Berry.  Corporations rule the world in this book's future.  So much so that all workers take their corporate employer as their last name (e.g. Jon Nike) and the NRA has publicly traded stock.  The book itself sounds like my kind of thing and that alone makes it worth a read, but Max Berry has taken author promotion to a cool new level.  He has his own online game called NationStates that is based on the novel.  You can play for free.

The Secret Life by Paul McAuley.  An alien virus thriller that takes place on Mars in the near future.  According to Amazon, the book targets corporate greed and Luddism.  Dope.

In the Ocean of Night by Gregory Benford. A hard sci-fi novel of space travel and an overcrowded Earth.

So what exactly am I reading that is preventing me from speeding down my queue of books?  Crytponomicon by Neal Stephenson.  Lord, that thing is a tome.  As I started into it, I seriously wondered why Stepehenson included all of the literary digressions.  Or more to the point, how could an editor have allowed the book to go "into the wild" like that, so to speak.  Now that I see the method and motivation behind the digressions, I have a better understanding of his artistic choices and they are far greater than simply digressing for the sake of postmodernism.  I'll make my way through it eventually and post a review.

In other news, I think my prostate is bloated.  Yep, I've reached that age where men have to think about these things.  Every evening I tend to feel...uhhh, "full," and no matter how many visits I make to the washroom it doesn't seem to go away.  So I'm going to the doctor tomorrow in an effort to ascertain if indeed my prostate is in revolt and attempting to kill me.

Wish me luck and a latte.

Follow me on Twitter: @Jntweets