Lethem

I’ve been on a “new things” kick lately. Picked up some books by a new author, and found a new band I like.

New author is Jonathan Lethem. I’ve read his first two books (he’s got five so far), and I like what I’ve read. At some point I’ll post actual reviews of them, but for right now I just wanted to post my favorite quote.

In “As She Climbed Across The Table”, Alice is a research physicist on a project to create a wormhole, or something. The project actually creates a void, an area where things disappear. Well, some things do; other things don’t. Alice begins to rationalize that the void is making choices… and infers a personality from those choices… and then falls in love with this vacant area of space. She calls it “Lack”.

The story is told from Phillip’s (the heartburning boyfriend) perspective, as he watches this all happen. At one point, when he goes to confront Alice about loving Lack, he says:

“I can’t possibly compete. I could never offer you as little as Lack does. He’s playing hard to perceive.”

(I guess this turned into a mini-review anyway).

The book is very good, and I recommend it. Very creative, dryly humorous, and focused more on character (or lack thereof (sorry, couldn’t resist)) than on the science.

Update: Added links to author and book. 4 May 2009 – BAM