SF/F Books: Chapter Two - What Are You Reading?
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Read The Gathering Storm, the 12th book in the Wheel of Time series, and the first one since Robert Jordan died. Brandon Sanderson did a great job filling in, moving the plot quickly, giving us the best WoT book since Lord of Chaos (#6). I really enjoyed the book, and am looking forward to the continuation later this year.
Read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Now I understand why the movie was so bad. The style of this book would be hard to translate to screen; you really need to understand what the narrator is thinking. Great book.
Now on to Glasshouse, by Charles Stross. The beginning of this book is pretty strange. Having trouble getting into it. We'll see where it goes.
Read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Now I understand why the movie was so bad. The style of this book would be hard to translate to screen; you really need to understand what the narrator is thinking. Great book.
Now on to Glasshouse, by Charles Stross. The beginning of this book is pretty strange. Having trouble getting into it. We'll see where it goes.
I read "UBIK" not too long ago as well and loved it.
Speaking of PKD, after "UBIK" I read "The Man in the High Castle". To be honest, I was somewhat underwhelmed. I've come to really enjoy Dick's work a lot. But for some reason I found I couldn't quite connect with this one.
I don't know if I'd basically need to know more about the I Ching or something but much of it I couldn't make heads nor tails of (and not in the usual PKD way of it being slightly strange). For large parts of the book I didn't really know why we were following particular characters in the first place. I simply ended up being rather uninterested in most of them. I'm curious to hear what others have to say about this one.
After that (yes, I'm on a PKD run at the moment) I read "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" which I enjoyed a lot. It's pretty weird in places but IMHO in a good and intruiging way.
Right now, I'm reading a collection of short stories by Dick, "Minority Report" which I'm enjoying quite a bit (though I'm not really far - I'd planned on doing a lot of reading while travelling during the holidays but ended up being far too tired and exhausted each time ...).
World War Z by Max Brooks!
I've read Farscape: Strange Detractors and Farscape: D'argo's Lament. Currently reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Currently: The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
Prior to that: Black Man a.k.a. Thirteen by Richard Morgan
I was a bit unprepared for the fact that Android's Dream is a comedy (well, at least to me). That made the transition from Morgan's ultra-violent/pornographic style a bit tough.
But the book has grown on me now.
Prior to that: Black Man a.k.a. Thirteen by Richard Morgan
I was a bit unprepared for the fact that Android's Dream is a comedy (well, at least to me). That made the transition from Morgan's ultra-violent/pornographic style a bit tough.
But the book has grown on me now.
I didn't particularly care for The Man in the High Castle either, although I read it over 15 years ago when I was in high school and need to read it again to re-evaluate it.
I read The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich about three to four years ago and enjoyed it in the same way I enjoyed David Lynch's Lost Highway: both works are weird and sometimes inscrutable, but they are so effective in conveying an atmosphere that one gets what they're on about almost by osmosis, even if it's hard to put into words.
My two favorite PKD novels so far are A Scanner Darkly and Ubik.
I read The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich about three to four years ago and enjoyed it in the same way I enjoyed David Lynch's Lost Highway: both works are weird and sometimes inscrutable, but they are so effective in conveying an atmosphere that one gets what they're on about almost by osmosis, even if it's hard to put into words.
My two favorite PKD novels so far are A Scanner Darkly and Ubik.
As someone who's reading the book right now, I can confirm that it is indeed a great read.
I wonder what Jim Butcher will be doing next, or if he's just going to stick with just The Dresden Files again for a while.
^Jim Butcher apparently had 2 other series in mind, one a fantasy epic, like Codex Alera wasn't? And a sci-fi series
I finished FLF a couple of weeks back, great read, great end to the series, I want more. I wonder if Jim will ever writer that Canim PI story set in Alera's future he once talked about in a podcast.
I finished FLF a couple of weeks back, great read, great end to the series, I want more. I wonder if Jim will ever writer that Canim PI story set in Alera's future he once talked about in a podcast.
I think he mentioned he'd already written half of the first story in the Sci-fi series about 5 years ago... I'd say Jim Butcher is my favourite author thanks to Dresden and Alera, so I'll read whatever he puts out next.
I am glad it's not just me when it comes to The Man In the High Castle. I've never seen why its so highly rated-as a story it was plagued by weak characterization and as an alt-hist tale there are far better out there. Currently reading Finities, having fun with it.
I'm reading the latest Dozois sci-fi short fiction anthology. There are good years and bad years, and so far this year isn't so hot. But I'm only about a third of the way through it, so it could always pick up.
I'm also re-reading John Gardner's Grendel, and I am once again stupefied by how good it is.
I'm also finally reading Turtledove's The Great War series. I expected to get the next one in the series for Christmas, but my wife managed to buy the wrong book - she skipped one. I actually read about 40 pages before saying to myself, "I think I missed some of the story here." There are so many in the various interlocking series, though, it's an understandable mistake.
With regard to The Man in the High Castle, I don't really judge it by the standards I usually apply to alternate history. I like alternate history that either amuses me with its cleverness or its protagonist's coolness [e.g. Lest Darkness Fall or the Belisarius books] or with its little details [e.g. the Nantucket books] but that's not really what TMITHC is about. In fact, it's not really alternate history per se, but kind of a hallucogenic meditation on whether there's such a thing as history at all. In kind of the same way that Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep isn't really about robots, The Man in the High Castle is not really about alternate history.
I'm also re-reading John Gardner's Grendel, and I am once again stupefied by how good it is.
I'm also finally reading Turtledove's The Great War series. I expected to get the next one in the series for Christmas, but my wife managed to buy the wrong book - she skipped one. I actually read about 40 pages before saying to myself, "I think I missed some of the story here." There are so many in the various interlocking series, though, it's an understandable mistake.
With regard to The Man in the High Castle, I don't really judge it by the standards I usually apply to alternate history. I like alternate history that either amuses me with its cleverness or its protagonist's coolness [e.g. Lest Darkness Fall or the Belisarius books] or with its little details [e.g. the Nantucket books] but that's not really what TMITHC is about. In fact, it's not really alternate history per se, but kind of a hallucogenic meditation on whether there's such a thing as history at all. In kind of the same way that Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep isn't really about robots, The Man in the High Castle is not really about alternate history.
Agreed but still found it curiously lacking in substance.
Enjoy the Turtledove, check out Guns of the South if you haven't already.
How far in are you? I finally finished the series a couple months ago with In At The Death. Turtledove's biggest problem is his tendency towards being repetitive, something that is compounded in a series that ultimately spans 11 books. Nonetheless, I'm glad I stuck with it. A strong ending.
I need to read Walk in Hell. So I've basically just started.
I think the problem is that I said I needed "the third one" and so my wife got me Breakthroughs. Because the series, for some absurd reason, does not have How Few Remain listed as the first book.
Seriously, Harry! How Few Remain is Great War #1. Stop confusing readers and their poor non-genre-reading spouses!
I think the problem is that I said I needed "the third one" and so my wife got me Breakthroughs. Because the series, for some absurd reason, does not have How Few Remain listed as the first book.
Seriously, Harry! How Few Remain is Great War #1. Stop confusing readers and their poor non-genre-reading spouses!
He didn't mean to-it had to do with contract obligations. He was contracted for a stand-alone novel, then a trilogy or some such legal fodder. I asked him about it at a local book-signing. He kind of rolled his eyes and said he answers that question(why isn't the Great war series numbered right?) all of the time.
Has anyone read Scalzi's new novel "The God Engines" yet? This seems to be his first trip into the fantasy genre. (although there seems to be SciFi aspects) I guess it was released just before new year...
Scalzi posted the first chapter on his blog, and it seems interesting.
Has anyone read through it yet? I just want to be sure it is worth the hardcover price....
Scalzi posted the first chapter on his blog, and it seems interesting.
Has anyone read through it yet? I just want to be sure it is worth the hardcover price....
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