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

[nvek86]

"Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang" by Kate Wilhelm

That's one of the books where the title alone is nearly enough to make me read it (the other part is that it's in the "SF Masterworks" series which I'm slowly making my way through). It was good and I liked the use of clones to make a point about the importance of individuality.

 

[Silvercrest]

Finished re-reading Simak's City for the first time in over 20 years, and was again stunned at its power and depth. There are few future histories as simultaneously entrancing and disquieting as these tales of evolution and loss. Man leaving Earth to become aliens [or succumbing to ennui] and dogs striving to build a new world without killing and war -- and whether there is any hope for humanity to overcome its essential violence and inhumanity. Mutation, philosophical breakthroughs that can transform a society overnight, alternate universes, putting human [and canine] consciousness in alien bodies, robots of uncommon humanity and vision... this one has it all and more. Mournful, even elegiac at times, it reflects the postwar idea that perhaps humans had come about as far as their innate limitations and bloodlust would be able to take them.

I got "The Trouble with Ants" as part of a collection called "The Last Man on Earth", years and years ago. It seemed weird. Later I ran across "Epilog" in another collection and realized that it was a series of stories. I eventually ran across the collected "City" and picked it up, although I haven't read it in a while.

Iceworld by Hal Clement. It's a fun book and it's nice to have humans be the Aliens once in awhile!

I have Clement's "Cycle of Fire" and re-read that earlier this year. Quite a bit of the same theme there, too.

Finished up Zoe's Tale and thus the Old Man's War novel series. Moved on to David Brin's Sundiver (and thus the Uplift series), and so far this book's been doing a good job of holding my attention and throwing out some odd stuff. The concept of Uplift - species raising other species to sapience across the universe, and humanity as the only known example of a species which raises ourselves (although we've been helping chimps and dolphins) is just a really cool premise, and would be more than enough to hang a novel on - but Sundiver seems to have more going on than just that. Think I'm gonna enjoy this overall.

I've had "Sundiver" sitting on my "maybe" shelf forever, but had a tough time getting into it. Finally a few weeks ago I decided to skim the book and see if could grab me that way. It did. Now I'll have to sit down and read the whole thing, although I realize I've been spoiled on most of the developments.

 

[Klaus]

Finally finished Pohl's Coming of the Quantum Cats, which was a lot of fun and one of the better multiple-universe stories I've ever read. I'm not sure which I find more amusing, the thought of Nancy Reagan as president or Stalin as a bank robber turned clothing tycoon. Thanks a lot for the suggestion, it's a perfect example of why this is a crucially important thread!

On to Crompton Divided by Robert Sheckley.

 

[Starbreaker]

Spoiler: Books Read in 2011

Star Trek: Typhon Pact - Zero Sum Game by David Mack
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King (reread)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands by Stephen King
Omega by Jack McDevitt
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
Subterranean by James Rollins
Orion by Ben Bova (reread)
Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt
Star Trek: The Buried Age by Christopher L. Bennett
11/22/63 by Stephen King
The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson

The Skin Map (Bright Empires #1) by Stephen R. Lawhead

ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY Kit Livingstone has led a terribly humdrum life. Even his girlfriend is dull. But soon all that changes when, with the help of his deceased great-grandfather, Kit is catapulted into worlds unknown in The Skin Map, the first book of the Bright Empires series by prolific writer Stephen R. Lawhead. Dynamic settings are mixed with unpredictable adventures as we follow Kit through his new life, which includes parallel worlds and time travel. Most interesting is the lost map many are battling to find, the map that is crucial to traveling the cosmos and, more importantly, getting back to Earth. And yes, it's tattooed on the mapmaker. But soon the reader discovers that, as intriguing as the map is, that's not the real prize. It's only square one.

It's alright so far. It's not particularly well written, but it's been a quick read so far, so I'll probably go ahead and finish it up.

 

[Lowdarzz]

Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

It's been more than a decade since the last time I read it and I figure I've forgotten enough by now that much of it will seem new.

 

[Klaus]

^good call, I've been getting the itch to do that again soon.

Crompton Divided looks promising, it's about a guy who apparently had multiple personality disorder which was "cured" at an early age by having two of his three personalities taken out and put into other bodies -- and now as an adult he wants to find the hosts [who live on different planets] and reintegrate the three together again.

Never read anything by Sheckley before, this should be fun.

 

[Mistral]

I'm in full re-read mode, having recently finished Foundation and currently working my way through Alternities due to a thread about similar stories that cropped up recently.

 

[The Lensman]

Just started "Swords And Deviltry", the "first" Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser book. While I've read a story here and there, and had the excellent Chaykin \ Mignola mini, I've never sat down and just read them all in order.

Seemed like a good winters read and I'd forgotten how much fun these books were.

 

[Ridcully]

Surface Detail by Iain M Banks...
First sci-fi I have read in a long long time...
Have been on an extensive Fforde and Pratchett trip....

 

[nvek86]

"Blackout" and "All Clear" by Connie Willis

I actually read "Blackout" during the summer and finished "All Clear" last week, but the break didn't really matter (it was easy to pick up on all characters and what their current situation were).
The great part of the books: The setting. Willis description of life in WW2 London (during the Blitz and later the V-1 and V-2 attacks) is extremely detailed and believable. Honestly, there were parts where I was wishing she hadn't written a time travel story and just focused on characters living during that time.
The not-so-good-part: time travel.

Spoiler: plot of both books

Not the time travel itself, but I never had the feeling that the characters could actually change the past/lose the war. And since a lot of the time they are worried that they did exactly that, these part could become quite boring.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling

 

[Klaus]

Just finished Crompton Divided, the first Robert Sheckley I've ever read. It's about a man on a quest to reintegrate two parts of his personality that were removed in childhood and placed in cloned bodies [because he was a murderous schizophrenic] and now against doctors' advice he's trying to combine his disparate mental parts back together.



Wow, what a loon! A stunningly talented, witty, laugh-out-loud-funny loon. In the blurb in my copy Harlan calls him the literary equivalent of the Marx Brothers, and Ilúvatar help me if it isn't a pretty damned good comparison. There are some riffs in this book that Groucho would have loved! I've got a couple more of his books in the collection, and they just jumped WAY up the list.

And now for something completely different... Philip Wylie's end-of-the-world thriller Triumph.

 

[Mistral]

Just re-read The Cosmic Computer by Piper. Not sure what's next. Christmas broke me, so no new books for a while.

 

[timothy]

reading the john carter of mars series by edgar rice burroughs currently reading book #3 warlord of mars plan to read strieght through and then onto the DUNE saga.

 

[nvek86]

"The Female Man" by Joanna Russ

It was... a book. I can't really say much more, because to say that it was good or bad, I'd have to understand it. I read the description on wikipedia afterwards and while I remember most of the stuff mentioned there, there were whole chapters I still have no idea what they were about.
So: A great premise (four people, who are the same person just from different realities, meet), but a very confusing book.

 

[Klaus]

Finished Philip Wylie's Triumph... Good grief, what a sobering book. It centers around 14 people who survive a truly worst-case scenario nuclear war between the US and USSR in the fabulous underground shelter of a Connecticut millionaire [an amusing touch for me as I live about fifty miles from where it's supposed to be lol]. It details their physical and psychological travails and also describes the devastation. desperation, and chaos outside in what I can only describe as loving detail. It was written in 1962 [and refers to the 2nd Kennedy administration ] and is set later in the century but not too long afterwards.
It is vehemently anti-Communist but also critical of the naivete and materialism of the West as well, and follows a line of not-illogical reasoning from the last war that if another one came, it would a war of annihilation, not mere victory... and that the Soviets would have been willing to destroy most of the world if that ensured their rule over most of what was left. And one has to buy the idea that the entire northern hemisphere could be scoured and rendered uninhabitable in a mind-blowingly thorough series of nuclear attacks while weather patterns kept the fallout away from most of the southern hemisphere. It is notably a book written before the "nuclear winter" theory was developed!
The character interactions are predictably dated in their gender and racial dimensions given when it was written, but entertaining nonetheless. The main character is a good one, and it even sort of deserves the title by the end, though I'm not sure a book with a billion-plus dead can be said to have a happy ending!

On to Camp Concentration by Thomas Disch!

 

[WarsTrek1993]

I said this in the TrekLit area: I am currently reading:

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda.
-As a huge fan of the Splinter Cell series, this is a solid book with lots of sneaking and some action.

And-DS9: The Search.

So far, it's an okay book, but Diane Carey uses the strangest metaphors.

 

[stonester1]

The Dark Tower, Book 4: Wizard and Glass...when I got past the cliffhanger from book three and realized the lion's share of this book was going to be a prequel/flashback, I at first was "Really"? SK said, "Trust me". Glad I did, this has been a gripping, tragic ride.

 

[Mistral]

Finished Philip Wylie's Triumph... Good grief, what a sobering book. It centers around 14 people who survive a truly worst-case scenario nuclear war between the US and USSR in the fabulous underground shelter of a Connecticut millionaire [an amusing touch for me as I live about fifty miles from where it's supposed to be lol]. It details their physical and psychological travails and also describes the devastation. desperation, and chaos outside in what I can only describe as loving detail. It was written in 1962 [and refers to the 2nd Kennedy administration ] and is set later in the century but not too long afterwards.
It is vehemently anti-Communist but also critical of the naivete and materialism of the West as well, and follows a line of not-illogical reasoning from the last war that if another one came, it would a war of annihilation, not mere victory... and that the Soviets would have been willing to destroy most of the world if that ensured their rule over most of what was left. And one has to buy the idea that the entire northern hemisphere could be scoured and rendered uninhabitable in a mind-blowingly thorough series of nuclear attacks while weather patterns kept the fallout away from most of the southern hemisphere. It is notably a book written before the "nuclear winter" theory was developed!
The character interactions are predictably dated in their gender and racial dimensions given when it was written, but entertaining nonetheless. The main character is a good one, and it even sort of deserves the title by the end, though I'm not sure a book with a billion-plus dead can be said to have a happy ending!

On to Camp Concentration by Thomas Disch!

Sounds like Malevil. Malevil is a 1972 science fiction novel by French writer Robert Merle. It was adapted into a 1981 film directed by Christian de Chalonge.

Very depressing and very detailed.

I'm reading New America by Poul Anderson. Good collection of related stories.

 

[nvek86]

"Engineering Infinity" - ed. by Jonathan Strahan

This book is an anthology and not quite what I expected when I read the description at the back (I don't think any of the things mentioned there actually happened in the book). There were good and bad stories with my favourites being "Mercies" by Gregory Benford (about a man travelling to parallel dimensions and killing murderers before they can commit their crimes) and "The Birds and the Bees and the Gasoline Trees" by John Barnes (about a discovery at the bottom of the ocean - well, it's a bit more exciting than that).