SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I enjoyed the collection of stories called Burning Chrome. Did you? What Gibson books have you read? How do they compare to Neuromancer?

I have the second Sprawl novel in my library stack right now, so I'll have to remember to check back in to this thread later in the month.

I've read all of the Sprawl Trilogy, the other trilogy that I can't remember the name of right now (Virtual, Light, Idoru, All Tomorrows Parties)and Pattern Recognition, and apart form Pattern Recognition (I found the storyline kind of weak, and since it's set in the present day you don't get sucked into one of Gibson's amazing visions of the near future like you usually do with his novels)I enjoyed them all thoroughly. If you like Burning Chrome I think you'll find something to like in most of his cyberpunk books.

I hated "Neuromancer", but I loved "Pattern Recognition" and "The Difference Engine" (with Bruce Sterling). I haven't read anything else by him.

I also loved Pattern Recognition. His latest wasn't as good, but I still really enjoyed it.

I have read all of Gibson's books and one thing I will say about him and all his works is this:

He has only ever finished three books. Neuromancer, Burning Chrome, and the Difference Engine.

All of his other books are endless attempts to rewrite the same book. Maybe he wants to make it "better". Maybe something in him is unsatisfied and needs to continue to get that one story out. But while he does it to varied effect (Idoru- excellently, Pattern Recognition- crappily) he keeps doing it.

Oh and Thomas some parts of Burning Chrome were incredibly masterful, the title story in particular. Like all anthologies it has its ups and downs but more ups, fortunately, and some of the stories in there, such as The Winter Market make any amount of bad stories tolerable.

I couldn't get through Neuromancer but maybe I'm just not used to Gibson-type writing style. I say thins because I listened to IDORU on CD while driving and I am completely in love with it. The storyteller read the novel in a way that made complete sense to me and I was astounded by the action and hidden meanings of the plot. Maybe I should giver the (written) Neuromancer another shot?

I read Pattern Recognition several years ago and liked it, it was vastly different from Nueromancer and an enjoyable mystery/suspense-type book. But I can't remember much about the plot. I don't even recognise the other titles you've mentioned!

Thomas wrote: "I enjoyed the collection of stories called Burning Chrome. Did you?"

I mostly enjoyed Burning Chrome -- Gibson is pretty hit-or-miss for me. The link between the short story "Johnny Mnemonic" and Neuromancer was one of the highlights of my recent read of the latter. Too bad about how Keanu ended up...