I forgot: I wanted to briefly plug the book I read before Deathly Hallows. "The Diamond Age," by Neal Stephenson is a must for any fan of Philip K Dick, Gaiman, or other similar SF/postapocalyptic-type writers. The story takes place a century or so into the future, when society is dominated by nanotechnology and the ability of humankind to matter-compile everything from stuffed animals to islands with the push of a button. Within this world, one of the captains of industry worries that his granddaughter and her generation are too pampered, ill-equipped for the challenges of being renegades, which he believes is necessary for the future quantum leaps of human civilization. To help instill a modicum of rebellion, of independent thinking and inner resourcefulness, this tycoon enlists an engineer of bespoke technology to develop a Young Ladies' Primer -- which ends up hijacked and bootlegged, until it's shared its lessons with the intended young ladies and thousands of others . . .
The story-within-a-story is complex, funny, educational, and FULL of living, breathing characters -- even those who only show up on a few pages are fascinating. It has a lot to say about what makes people bond into ethnic (or other) groups and the benefits of that practice. There's a lot of sex and violence, manipulation and intrigue. Imagine with him, if you dare, what a world would be like where an entire stratum of society didn't need to read, things were no longer manufactured, people wore projectile weapons inside their foreheads, and the very air in and around one's lungs was the site of epic battles of nanomachines.
I read this book at least as voraciously as Deathly Hallows -- but it took a week. It's juicy.
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