What SF/F Book Are you Reading? .. Redux

[Klaus]

It's also available as a free e-book, btw... I d/led it but haven't read it.

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog...ndo-intro.html

[RAMA]

Klaus wrote:

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It's also available as a free e-book, btw... I d/led it but haven't read it.

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog...ndo-intro.html

Nifty...the book is on order...despite having an e-reader and books on my HD, I have had a recent rediscovery of the love of buying books, and I've been collecting mostly hardbacks.

RAMA

[RAMA]

Got "Tides of Light" in hardback in the mail today...its one of 2 books in the Galactic Center series I have not read....now I have both for future reading.

RAMA

[Starbreaker]

Orion by Ben Bova. It was the first sci-fi book I read, nearly 13 years ago. This is my first reread and I still love it. Read over half of it in one sitting today.

[Klaus]

Finished the VALIS trilogy, which was indubitably mind-warping... I think Transmigration of Timothy Archer might have been my favorite, not sure. It's not a casual read, that's for sure... my money's on the idea that if God exists, it's insane as that's the only one that seems to fit the evidence lol. All in all an interesting read for a militant agnostic.

Now on to The Past Master by R.A. Lafferty.

[Kegg]

Reading I Am Legend. I guess speaking Sci-fi-ishly Neville's attempts to scientifically understand the vampire plague make interesting reading, although generally the book's been an evocative read so far. The way Neville's state of mind swigs from giddy extremes seems so terribly real, which is great.

Klaus wrote:

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Finished the VALIS trilogy, which was indubitably mind-warping... I think Transmigration of Timothy Archer might have been my favorite, not sure. It's not a casual read, that's for sure...

They're very personal books, which I think is their strength Valis and Timothy Archer especially (I forget if the novel ever makes it explicit but Archer is based on a real person that Dick knew - Bishop James Pike.) Philip K. Dick isn't just writing about reality unbending and a weaving a surreal hypnotic mishmash of religious and cultural ideas - though, of course, he does that - he's talking about himself. That first line in Valis, the first PKD book I ever read, comes back to me sometimes - he can't get off the dope, and he can't get off trying to help people. PKD's easily one of the best sci-fi authors I've ever read for warping realities, but he never feels cold or clinical about it.

[Ruaidhri]

Just read Old Man's War by John Scalzi. I enjoyed it, some interesting concepts, but it clearly owes credit to Heinlein (mentioned in the acknowledgements) and Haldeman for some inspiration. My biggest peeve with the book was the way-too-witty dialogue. Reminded me of the nausea-inducing dialogue that Orson Scott Card has been writing for the last ten years. Good book otherwise, and looking forward to the sequels.

Now reading Frankenstein, and discovering how much license the film industry has taken with the story.

[Klaus]

The edition of the trilogy I read has an interesting afterword by Kim Stanley Robinson, which said among other things that the friends of PKD/Horselover Fat's in VALIS named Kevin and David are supposed to represent KW Jeter and Tim Powers, which I find amusing and interesting as a big Powers fan. He also argued that Angel Archer was the voice of a reintegrated real PKD, no longer the sundered parts of "Phil Dick" and"Horselover Fat" from VALIS. Maybe that's why I liked Transmigration the best, it was the most interesting authorial voice of the three for me. The Dick/Fat split made for a lot of cognitive dissonance for the reader, which was of course part of the point I think, but it wasn't always that pleasant. Angel stoned and reading Howard the Duck while her husband ranted about Wallenstein and Hitler was classic.


Past Master looks promising, it's about a troubled future society bringing Sir Thomas More ahead in time to help run their world.

I've never read Frankenstein either, it's on the short list going forward.

[Klaus]

Finished Past Master, which was quite the wild trip. R.A. Lafferty has a unique voice, both darkly funny and quite moving at times, and lyrically sly in tone... I can see why it is considered a classic in some circles, I think it deserves more notice. I loved the idea that More wrote Utopia as a joke, as an example of how NOT to design a perfect world, and now he has to try to run one based in part on his book and taking it all seriously! I don't think I've read anything by him before, but I also have a short-story collection of his which is going to be high on the list now.

Next up: Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon.

[Mistral]

Lafferty is just that-a sly and witty genius, at times. His short stories are excellent, btw-truly the genre he shined in.

I'm reading The Compleate McAndrews by Sheffield. Good stories heavily plagued by over-technical explanations. He's one of these guys that figures out all of the science behind a plot device-then includes his research in the story.

[Kegg]

I finished I Am Legend, the edition I have has some Matheson short stories as a bonus feature so going through those. It was a damn fine read and inherently more interesting to me than most zombie stories (and indeed, the films based on the novel) because of the nature of the ending. It's just sci-fi enough to be twistedly neat, which is good.

Klaus wrote:

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I've never read Frankenstein either, it's on the short list going forward.

Frankenstein's alright, but my problem with it is really the only character worth a damn is the Monster. Which is fine - because he's easily one of the great characters of Gothic literature - but when Shelley wanders off to write another pre-sci-fi landmark, the apocalyptic novel The Last Man... I really couldn't escape how terribly boring and sterile her all-too-damn-nice society folk are.

[Flibble]

Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

[RAMA]

Children of the Sky came in the mail today

[Silent_Bob]

At the moment i'm just finishing off Joe Abercrombie's 'Best Served Cold' before moving on to my annual re-read of H.G Wells 'The War of the Worlds'.

[MLJames]

I'm about halfway through Neil Gaiman's short fiction collection "Fragile Things." Finished "Smoke And Mirrors" (his earlier collection in the same vein) over the weekend.