Surtac wrote:

That's a great quote, Star.  And a good basis for a personal reading philosophy, it seems to me.

 

🙏💕📚

You are so right about that, Star. My inclination is taking me to some odd places right now- while I go on my long walks, or long drives, I am listening to a podcast about revolutions, which  started with the English Civil Wars, then did the American one, and is now nearing the end of the French one, before going to Haiti and then Russia. Which has made me return to a book I think I obtained 40 years ago, called Fire in the Minds of Men: the Origins of Revolutionary Thought, and Mantel’s A Place of Greater Safety, which fictionalizes Danton, Robespierre and Desmoulins,  and  it all reminds me of The Dawn Of Everything, which was also focused on where these ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity came from in truth. Sort of a random walk through a bunch of somewhat related stuff. 
 

Surtac wrote:

Still going on Hopeland and still absolutely loving it.
Laughing out loud in places at the sheer bravado of how MacDonald has put some of these ideas and themes together. 
I understand completely now why it reminded me of Sarah Pinborough early on and there are so many other implicit and perhaps covert references to other works of London Phantasmagoria that it maybe deserves a micro-essay on the topic. One that I of course won't have time to write - but I might come back later with a list of books it has so far reminded me of .  And of course after Chapter 8, I now have to add re-reads of Moore & Campbell's From Hell and Reppion's Spirits of Place to this years reading plan (such as it is).

Oh, and this book now has its own definite soundtrack in my head.  To the point that I am building a Spotify playlist to capture it. Yes, really.
 

it has been quite a while since I read a new MacDonald. Is it up to par with his best? Cause his Very best is wonderful. River of Gods, Dervish House…
 

starexplorer wrote:

it has been quite a while since I read a new MacDonald. Is it up to par with his best? Cause his Very best is wonderful. River of Gods, Dervish House…
 

Yes.  He's definitely back at the top of his game. This may even be his best yet. 
 

Yes.  I too can see tones and shades of KSR in there, particularly in the second half.
Which brings us back neatly to consideration of the Johnson quote above and I wonder:  if those of us who have read Hopeland (or any other specific title) were to list all of the books and authors it reminded them of, what overlap or commonality would there be across those lists?
It is a question I have pondered about a number of times here over the years. Some books just seem to be more prone to discussion than others - Cyteen, Dhalgren amongst others. Is it just the book, or is it also a function of how we as individual readers have come to that book via our own unique individual paths?