> anyway, sends suggestions my way. anything will do. torrid dirty novels
> would be good. whatever!
The last vacation-worthy reading I've had was William Gibson's _Pattern Recognition_. It's perhaps his best but not too heavy, very funny in places, and spawned its own high-end line of clothing for the discerning working class. :-)
I've also enjoyed working through the recommendations of Bruce Sterling's old BITNET-era newsletter Cheap Truth:
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~erich/cheaptruth/
I've particularly liked Nifft the Lean, and Jack Vance's Lyonesse and Dying Earth series. Very imaginative, but just don't expect a lot of feminist consciousness.
Currently I've been captivated by the Aubrey–Maturin series, but that takes more work since the language is all contemporary to two centuries ago and heavy on maritime jargon.
-- Andy