1986 / Audiobook / 239 pages / USA***
A vintage exhibition from inside the wave, this is more diverse and interesting than a modern retrospective would likely be, making time for Renaissance time travel and Gothic fantasies rather than being preoccupied with repetitive iconography. Bruce Sterling's commitment to showcasing more obscure works not widely anthologised elsewhere was considerate to ravenous readers of the time, but makes for a weaker legacy.
Faves: William Gibson's 'The Gernsback Continuum,' Greg Bear's 'Petra,' Paul Di Filippo's 'Stone Lives.'
Worsties: Tom Maddox's 'Snake-Eyes,' Rudy Rucker's 'Tales of Houdini,' John Shirley's 'Freezone.'
2006 / Audiobook / 294 pages / UK
***
"Books are gay."
While neon American teenagers were getting up to Stranger Things-style sci-fi adventures, their English counterparts were watching telly and failing to get off with girls. I don't know how much of this is fiction or memoir. I can't even remember which are my own memories any more.
2009–10 (collected 2011) / Audiobook / 928 pages / Japan
****
The magic realism plot could be wrapped up in a short story or Twilight Zone, but Murakami decides we should really get to know these characters. He provides regular 'previously-on' reminders in dialogue, in case this boxset's taking you a while.
Ernest Cline, Ready Player One
2011 / Audiobook / 385 pages / USA
****
My own false nostalgia for the 1980s doesn't share most of the touchstones that the 2010s revival was tapping, but it usually does the trick anyway. I found this laughable at first – the ultimate nerd fantasy of being rewarded for all those years spent playing games and watching movies, drowning in superficial references and paradoxically targeting the nostalgia of people too old to be reading it. It took about half the book before I realised those are the points he's making and that I didn't seem to be putting it down. He could've written a dry history of pop culture and tried to explain the appeal of crap graphics to kids, but he decided to show them instead.
Anne H. Zachry, Retro Baby: Cut Back on All the Gear and Boost Your Baby's Development with More Than 100 Time-Tested Activities
***
This common-sense advocation of traditional parenting over unnecessary gadgets wasn't especially eye-opening, but there were some good reminders and I took some notes. You'll save money, help your child's development and avoid cluttering your house with shit they don't need. The catch is that you have to actually give them your time and attention, what a bummer.
