I don't see a new thread for May, so I will start it.

I am starting Chanur's Legacy by C.J. Cherryh. It is the 5th book in the Chanur Saga . I just recently found there was another book by checking the LT series page.

My Plans for this Month are

The Lost Fleet Book 4, by Jack Campbell
A fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge
The Honor of the Queen by David Weber
Riverworld: To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
Treason by Orson Scott Card
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

Just finished Watchmen. Outstanding. Makes every other graphic novel I've read seem like pulp novels.

Finished Chanur's Legacy by C.J. Cherryh. It was wonderful to be back with the Chanur, and dealing with all those strange aliens. This book was very heavy on the Stsho - very funny. Sad to be done, would like more.

Just finished The Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton. Holy sh!t what an awesome novel. 750 pages was a bit daunting, but they man basically wrote two novels and tied has been tying them together. The first novel was a lot more about discovery and understanding the Void universe; lots of cool stuff, interest ideas (gestalt sex anyone?). The Temporal Void really brough the ass kicking home both on the fantasy level and science fiction level. I have yet to read a novel were fire and lightning would shoot from a guy's fingertips in fantasyland, and 20 pages after fireballs would form from the hands of superpower agents in scifi land. Not for a second did I feel bored reading this. Just awesome!

Finished Philip K Dick's A Scanner Darkly. Definitely one of his better ones. Just started The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch. Only two chapters in and I can see why Mulisch insisted any film adaptation cast Stephen Fry as Onno Quist...

"Kill the Possum" by James Moloney. Or I should be reading it for a group read I have decided to join, except it's a bit hard to summon the enthusiasm; I'm not a huge fan of horror.

I'm currently finishing off Stand on Zanzibar after hearing good discussion of it at Eastercon. Once that's done, I'll probably have a brief foray into a short story anthology (Subterfuge most likely) then dhalgren following discussion I read elsewhere on here.

Alex
x x

Over the weekend I read The Third Claw of God by Adam-Troy Castro and Sunshine by Robin McKinley. Both were very good. I didn't manage to get anything else done this weekend, but I enjoyed myself. The Third Claw of God is basically a murder mystery in space; and Sunshine is a vampire novel which, surprisingly, I liked--I don't usually care for vampires.

Message edited by its author, May 4, 2009, 7:33am.

> 9 Yes, but these are Robin McKinley's vampires - totally different! ;)

I finished Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell over the weekend and am going to start Life as We Knew It in order to 1) enjoy some post-apoc goodness and 2) See whether I would rec it in our YA thread.

#9, #10, Yes, As I recall the book was obsessed with baking.

Currently reading Crown of Fire by Kathy Tyers, as I'm working through the Firebird trilogy. Thoroughly enjoying this trilogy -- they are good but not outstanding, but definitely will be in my all-time favourite novels.

Planning to read one/combo of these--
Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card
Matter by Iain M. Banks
Eyes of the Calculor by Sean McMullen
Olympos by Dan Simmons

--then I'll probably give SF a rest and wander into some other genres for a bit.

#7

It's not often that I get my initial impressions of a book as wrong as I did. But when it says "a family living with a monster" I pictured something huge, with scales and tentacles, not an abusive step-father.

Have been stuck on a military sci fi / alt history kick for awhile. Just finished Eric Flints 1632 and 1633, Enjoyed them for the most part. I am now reading Relentless (The Lost Fleet, Book 5) by Jack Cambell, it's about on par with the first four.
Have Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi andThe Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, Book 1) by Robert Jordan waiting in the wings.

I've just finished reading Something Borrowed by Paul Magrs. Fantasy/horror with a comic touch is the best way to describe it. The bride of Frankenstein's monster is living in Whitby and running a B&B. With the help of her friend Effie they investigate some poison-pen letters.

Currently reading What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid. As this is a book of essays, I read one or two a night then switch to a fiction book.

I'm not sure what I am going to read next as I have loads on my unread shelf. Possibly Twisted Metal by Tony Ballantyne.

Nearing the end of Fairyland Paul McAuley then I supose I'll have to try Technicolor Time Machine again for our book group.

I just started reading Star Mother by Sydney J. Van Scyoc. I haven't gotten too far in the book, yet. Is anyone familiar with the book or Author? It's not a name I recognize. On the back of the book flap it says that she is the author of several science fiction novels and short stories including Deathsong which was selected as one of the best of the year. If I like the book well enough I may have to try and find some more of her science fiction books and her short story novels as well. The book is short enough with only 186 pages so I should be able to finish it no time at all. And seeing how I only just begun the book I'm only on page 7 at the moment. Can someone Please recommend any of her other books they think I should read next?

Beatles1964

I plan to read Hunger: a gone novel by Michael Grant when it comes out. The series isn't that great but my friend and I read the first together and so now I sort of have to know what happens in the second.
I alos want to read The Hunger Games by Susan Collins.

Message edited by its author, May 5, 2009, 4:07pm.

>17 Okay, I just wrote a fairly long message that disappeared. Said I have 7 books by her, written in the 80s. I liked them enough to keep them in my library. All seem to be separate stories. Check my library for titles. Don't know what happened to the first message, but it disappeared when I pushed the Submit button!

Message edited by its author, May 5, 2009, 3:29pm.

#17 I have all of van Scyoc's novels altho to date I've only read a few of them. Her best are probably the Daughters of the Sunstone books - Darkchild, Bluesong and Starsilk.

I am currently on a classics kick, and have decided to read through as many of the SF Masterworks series to get my fix.

I just finished The Stars My Destination. Next up is The Left Hand of Darkness. Depending on how much reading time I can pull together this month, I hope to also read A Canticle for Leibowitz, I Am Legend, Cities in Flight, Star Maker and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Message edited by its author, May 5, 2009, 4:18pm.

A Canticle for Leibowitz isn't in the SF Masterworks series. Neither is The Left Hand of Darkness. Or are you including the short-lived hardback SF Masterworks series?

@22: I am indeed. There is a some cross over (I think at least 3 of the 10 hardcovers are in the softcover list), so I have no issues conflating the two into a single list, especially as my goal is to increase my exposure to the classics of SF.

> I just finished Little Brother and The Forever War, both of which I enjoyed okay but for which I feel no great enthusiasm.

I have on my bookshelf The Postman and The Thief, but haven't yet decided which to tackle next.

#23 Books in that series are difficult to find. I think the print-run was only small. Of course, they've subsequently included two they didn't have paperback rights for as unjacketed hardbacks in the paperback series - Dune and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

#21

You picked a pretty impressive list for a month's reading. Have fun.

#25: I have had fairly good luck with the local library system in locating books in that series (or, at least, other editions of the same books, e.g. an H.G Wells omnibus containing The War of the Worlds). I can't find everything, but there is enough to keep me busy for a while.

One advantage is that these books are not that popular, so there is generally a copy around whenever I need it.

Just started Counting Heads by David Marusek - somehow I managed to miss it in 2005 and this year's sequel Mind Over Ship is as good excuse as any to catch up with it.

I have just (as of 40 minutes ago) started The Sundering: Dread Empire's Fall (Dread Empires Fall) by
Walter Jon Williams. It is part two of a trilogy and it is ages since I read the first...Not got the third book yet.

#28

Both are very good. Hope you enjoy them.

Thanks 19 & 20 I'll have to look into trying to find these other books by Sydney J. Van Scyoc after I finish reading Star Mother.

Beatles1964

Van Scyoc's novels are:

Saltflower (1971)
Assignment Nor'Dyren (1973)
Cloudcry (1977)
Starmother (1976)
Sunwaifs (1981) - a YA, I think
Darkchild (1982) )
Bluesong (1983) ) - Daughters of the Sunstone
Starsilk (1984) )
Drowntide (1987)
Feather Stroke (1989)
Deepwater Dreams (1991)

Tales of Neveryon by Samuel R. Delaney

Thanks for the list of her novels
#32. I'll cetainly have to look into trying to get the rest of her books. Is she still writing today? How come there hasn't been anything Published after 1991? Is she still living?

Beatles1964

Message edited by its author, May 7, 2009, 9:12am.

She retired from writing and went into arts & crafts. Apparently she's started writing again, and had 2 stories published in F&SF in 2004 and 2005.

#24 the Postman is superb. Definetly worth reading.

I'm skimming through some pure fluff at the moment - Mccaffery's Catteni sequence. It's ligh hearted lightly written fluff. But fun.

I am starting The Clone Republic by Steven L. Kent for my RL SFF book group.

> 37 That sounds interesting - let us know how you like it?

I just wrapped up PureHeart, which may very well be the worst book I've ever read. I can't think of a worse one. Or a sleazier publisher. Check my review for the whole sordid tale.

I'm working through Guernen Sang Again Pryderi's Pigs and Other Poems, a short book of Celtic inspired poetry. I'm also reading an old copy of Asimov's Science Fiction from July 2002 that I picked up at a library book sale, and Galactic Patrol. I'll probably try to forge through the rest of the Lensman series after that.

Message edited by its author, May 8, 2009, 11:15am.

Excellent review. Interesting how the fierceness of the response to a bad review is directly proportional to incidence of poor grammar and bad spelling in a book.

40: Thanks. Coming from you, that means a lot.

I hope you're not being sarcastic...

You've put a lot more into your review than I usually do. I admire your discipline in not only reading the book all the way thorugh, but actually documenting your reading as well. I'd have given after the first chapter.

42: No sarcasm. We may disagree on some things, but that doesn't mean I don't have tremendous respect for you.

Oh. Thanks. It's undeserved, though. (As we say over here: I've come over all unnecessary. And no, I'm not entirely sure what that means.) Looking at your other reviews, you do a thorough job on the books you review. And anyone who calls Nova a favourite deserves my respect too.

Message edited by its author, May 8, 2009, 11:40am.

#39

I can't believe someone red-flagged your review of PureHeart.

45: I'm guessing it was Isaacs. He has a profile on the site.

44: I try my best. When I'm writing a review I want the reader to know not just that I liked or disliked a book, but why. I figure the review is more useful that way, and if someone has different tastes from mine they should be able to figure that out and plan accordingly.

39 StormRaven
I had to go and read your review of Pureheart. I found it intelligent, well written. Your reasons for the 1/2 star that you gave it, were well documented and well reasoned.
What gave me a chuckle, was Clark Isaac's reference to his three degrees.
It never ceases to amaze me that 'supposedly educated' people will fall back on, "I have a degree in _______!" (They pull it out like a sword), rather that try to give you their a reasoning on the subject.

48: Thanks. I don't want to derail this thread entirely. I have a thread over in the Early Reviewers' group dedicated to the shadiness of Bronwen Publishing and Isaacs' fumbling attempts to chastise me for writing an honest review, so I would ask anyone who wants to comment on this further to post there.

As I final note here though, I think it is possible that more people have read my review than will ever read Syers' book.

"Demons of all verities". - from another review of Pureheart.

I dunno. It seems to me some of the things you disliked were the same things others liked a lot, such as things popping up out of the blue. Was this a YA book? I hope so if the English teacher was going to use it for her fourth grade classes. What a shame. YA should be the first time readers encounter well written elements of telling a story on paper. To present something that doesn't cover the basics of modern fiction storytelling I think is a waste of valuable time. There will be plenty of crap to keep them befuddled later in life.

I have a theory about some current religious storytelling for young people. It stems from American Conservatism in general which while screaming about the poor education Americans receive (and I tend to agree) in reality they do not want an educated population, otherwise the guff they wish us to believe would simply be laughed off. No, I believe they want a population of fuzzy thinkers willing to believe whatever they are told, the shoddier the telling, the fuzzier the thinking, the better.

Consider their idealization of Ayn Rand: I wish someone would do a comparison of the ways ideas are presented in Atlas Shrugged and Lessing's Laocoon. (BTW: It was in one of Jeffrey Perl's classes that I learned this book singlehandedly defined all the modern schools of literary criticism. Yes, he is a brilliant man.) Pureheart, from your description, sounds to me like a primer for reading Rand, fuzzy, at times surprising, at times incomprehensible, but mostly incomprehensibly surprising.

I liked the way you picked up on the fallacies in the theology. I believe it is necessary for the radical right-wing Christianists to redefine Christian theology, otherwise their religion refutes directly their beliefs. The cognitive dissonance must be excruciating.

Message edited by its author, May 8, 2009, 4:31pm.

50: It seems like at least some of the people who have posted favorable reviews have personal and business relationships with the author. (For the record, Rita Hsu Syers is the owner of Bronwen Publishing, and the only author in the company's stable).

For example, Clark Isaacs was asked by the publisher to put together some ad copy to put on the back of the book, and if you look around a bit you will find that they are engaged in a mutual admiration society on some "independent author" websites.

Another poster backtracked the identity of EnglishTeacherUSA (based on his review on Amazon which does include his real name), and discovered he is not an English teacher at all, but instead runs a tiny web hosting service. One of his handful of clients is Bronwen Publishing.

So I think we can discount most of the glowing reviews as having conflicts of interest.

The trouble with the "dropped in" story elements is sort of the reverse of the old adage "if there is a gun in the first act, then it must be fired in the third act". In the book, there are numerous guns that pop up in the third, fourth, and fifth act that don't appear anywhere prior to their showing up to be fired. It is just bad storytelling - hiding the ball and then trying to impress readers with your cleverness at producing the heretofore nonexistent round thing.

P.S. For all her failings, Rand could at least write in complete sentences with correctly spelled words and proper grammar. This is beyond Syers' skills.

Message edited by its author, May 8, 2009, 2:41pm.

I am reading heartsinger. It started out good but then it got WAY to complicated with too many characters and the whole thing sort of belly-flopped. I am going to finish it though, in hopes that it will redeem itself.

Message edited by its author, May 8, 2009, 5:16pm.

Storm Raven, it may have been someone acting for the publisher who flagged your review. I note that EnglishTeacherUSA was one such person. I left this comment on their profile after reading their glowing review of Pureheart (talking about EnglishTeacherUSA and his comment):

"Oh dear oh dear... look what I dug up:

"This same review is published on Amazon.com under the name "Stephen Lorio from PA". This is an Amazon "Real Name", meaning a credit card with that name was used by the author of the review. Thus we have some confidence, English Teacher USA is actually Stephen Lorio of PA.

"A google search on that name turns you up and even though your very short PIPL profile says you are an English teacher, clicking on your linked in profile on that page shows that you actually run a web hosting company founded in 2008. So then I typed the name of the hosting company into whois, and sure enough, you - Stephen Lorio - own the domain. But here is the fun bit. whois reports that 7 other sites are hosted on your hosting company webserver. These are therefore either your companies, or your clients (as your business is hosting services). Look at one of these other comapnies:

"Bronwenpublishing.com (which I note is also registered by someone in PA, but that is hardly surprising as they are your clients).

"I have flagged your review as abuse, as you are acting on behalf of a publisher to pimp a book using false information."

End of quoted material written to EnglishTeacherUSA

Message edited by its author, May 8, 2009, 7:05pm.

55: I noticed your comment on EnglishTeacherUSA's profile, and flagged their review based upon your information.

I think because this part of your post may not be clear to others I need to make clear that I am not acting on behalf of the publisher to pimp a book using false information, EnglishTeacherUSA is. You also did not flag my review, but rather his.

Oh yes...sorry! I did not notice how that looked :)

I edited the above to try to make that clearer.

Message edited by its author, May 8, 2009, 7:06pm.

Relentless (The Lost Fleet, Book 5)
This one was on par with the rest of the books. Captain "Black Jack" Geary defeats syndics fleets and gets his lost fleet back in alliance space. But what about the aliens that started the war ? Is there going to be a civil war among the alliance worlds? Will Geary lead a coup for control? Guess will have to wait for book No 6.
I was a little disappointed in this one, (not that I have high expectations of military sci-fi).As a whole this would have made a fair trilogy, with book 5 being the third. But in Valiant: The Lost Fleet, Book 4 Campbell expanded on the idea of another empire on the far side of Syndics space, who were fueling the 100 year war between the alliance and the Syndics. So I naturally thought there would be more about this mysterious race. But no! The standard two fleet battles, plus freeing P.O.Ws after a fierce ground battle. And the same vague references made about the aliens.
It seems that Campbell is straining hard to extend the series past it's natural life span.
But I'm a fool who will give it one more book to see if it gets better.
I'm going to take a break from sc-fi / fantasy for awhile and read a history next.
In The Wake of Madness by Joan Druett, about the murder of a captain of the whaleship Sharon in 1842.

Stormraven,

The shady dealings of Bronwen Publishing do make for quite interesting reading. Thanks for telling us all about this.

ditto #59's remarks.

This Pureheart saga makes for some interesting and entertaining reading tonight. My thanks also to all parties, esp Stormraven.

#50 - did you notice that Atlas Shrugged is one of the 4 books in EnglishTeacherUSA's library, (one also being Pureheart of course)?

57, 59, 60: Thanks, thanks, and thanks.

Right now I'm reading A Gift from Earth by Larry Niven. I've only read one other book by him, A World out of Time, and I really liked it. I'm really enjoying this so far, too.

For anyone who cares, Bronwen Publishing is up to their usual hijinks again. I've added more material to my review to outline the further sleaziness of the company.

Starship Troopers
Starman Jones

I'm currently reading Memoirs Of A Master-Forger by William Heaney (really Graham Joyce in a funny mask). In the US it is published as How To Make Friends With Demons under his own name.

It is like most of his books probably best classified as modern fantasy but far removed from the epic/heroic doorstops that fill the shelves of the local bookshops. Heaney is the protagonist of the novel and works as a govt. advisor, is a bit of a lush, is a dealer in fake first edition books (he gives the proceeds to a charity for the homeless) and he is one of the very few who can see demons (of which there are exactly 1567 types). These demons aren't the fanged and clawed beasties that ravage through societies that you normally see in fantasy but more personal. For example the demon of excessive footnoting - 'the cause of much of the madness and disorder you find among university academics' crops up on the very first page.

Currently reading The Engineer Reconditioned by Neal Asher, to be followed by another Asher, probably The Skinner. Continuing to reread some C. J. Cherryh, next up being Tripoint, and The Chanur Saga.

The Zero Stone by Andre Norton

I finished The Clone Republic by Steven L. Kent. It was a book for a RL book group, and not something I would have chosen to read myself. I was pleasantly surprised however, it had more depth than I expected for a Military SF book.

It is set in 2508 and humanity has spread throughout the Milky-Way. There are colony worlds scattered throughout, but all is run from earth by the Unified Authority. Based in Washington DC the new government is based on 2 things, the US Constitution and the 3rd book of Plato's Republic. The form of government is really an oligarchy with a Committee composed of Senators taking the place of the Executive branch. The Senators are chosen from elite, wealthy, families who have become UA aristocrats. The House of Representatives is made up of elected representatives of earth, and all the colonies. They make lots of noise, but have no power.

The leaders of the UA keep control by breeding millions of clones who are the military arm and are hardwired, and programmed to follow orders without question. They are also built with a self-destruct mechanism, that if they ever find out they are clones they will die. They are raised in orphanages and given military training from an early age. They see themselves as looking different from all the others, whom they know are clones.

The POV, Wayson Harris, is a human orphan who is very good at his military skills, but slower than a clone, because his brain has to process his orders. The book is about him just starting his military career - he is a Marine.

There are factions within the UA government and the military, and Harris seems to be at point zero whenever something important happens. There are a group of separatists, that are fighting the military; stubborn civilians whose cultural choices invite a massacre; and in-fighting at the command level of the military, as different commanders end up in charge of the fleet with Harris in it.

He moves through the book, trying to do his best, but also questioning the various orders, and plans. It is the first book in a series, and I don't know if I will continue with it. Mostly because I already have so many other books and series to read, that I am reluctant to add another. I enjoyed the book, but it wasn't a book that I couldn't put down.

The poll is up for the "SF Group Reads" vote. Some interesting choices.

As always, new members are welcome to join the group read.

http://www.librarything.com/groups/group...

Just finished reading Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions. It drifts between being quite an interesting and insightful satire, and being absolute rubbish.

It's really for fans of Vonnegut only.

I polished off The Stainless Steel Rat on the weekend for my 2009 reading challenge. It was dreadful. I can't understand why I ever liked it as a kid.

And here is my review of it.

#71-72: Usually a deadly mistake; as they say, the golden age of SF is 13. Still, in the right hands, that series could be dusted off and made into a good mini-series. Josh Whedon could have a lot of fun with it.

#71, 72

As always, an interesting review, Ian, particularly since you deservedly tore one of my favourite novels to shreds. I did reread that book early last year, too. In regards to Angeline's ugliness, the reason given for this was that she was from a poor family. A minor quibble, though - overall, I will have to agree that there was definitely a lack of rigorous world-building here. And you are pretty spot-on about the faults of the book. But having agreed with you on most of your review... I still enjoyed the book.

Perhaps my tastes aren't as mature as I would like to think they are. Or perhaps it is because I like reading about villians instead of the constant "good guy" stereotype that is constantly force-fed to us. Or perhaps it is just the golden age of SF holding sway over me. But it cannot just be that, I have had many novels that I read during my golden age of SF that did not impress me in a re-read, even only a few years after the fact.

Whatever it is, though, I largely agree with your arguments, but cannot agree with your conclusion.

Which makes me wonder all the more why people still hold up old sf stories, many of which just aren't very good, as classics and suitable reading for a 21st century reader new to the genre.

#73

Or a fun SF movie. But I would bet beforehand the writers and director would wreck it completely. They would miss the entire point of the novel, and the studio would spend millions of dollars trying to make all the ships look as impressive as they do in the new Star Trek movie, hire the best actors that would sign on, include a few-dozen spacefights for no good reason, and completely miss that it should actually be a cheap B-grade SF movie.

#74 I think the appeal of the book - like many sf novels we love as kids - lies chiefly in the central character. And as kids, that's what we focus on. We want to be a lovable rogue like Slippery Jim diGriz, we want to be the prophesised messiah like Paul Atreides... The rest of the book sort of slips by under our radar. But I'd like to think I'm a more sophisticated reader now, and I won't accept the lack of rigour, or the sexism.

It's not that I hate every Golden Age sf novel - van Vogt's The Undercover Aliens remains a favourite, and some of his other works are so bonkers I almost forgive them their flaws. But only "almost".

#75

I would never include a Stainless Steel Rat book in a list of books that I would introduce to a new reader, though. There are too many good YA-SF novels out there that I would choose to give Stainless Steel Rat to a teen, and the novel is far too immature to give to an adult. However, I might recommend it to someone who already reads SF, and warn them that there are punch-card robots and so forth in it.

The Stainless Steel Rat novels are fun, certainly, but there's better fun to be had elsewhere, and a lot more logically consistent, too.

Oh, and if I were going to do a review of Stainless Steel Rat, I would make a mention how the devices that the Rat uses suddenly appear out of nowhere, without any foreshadowing at all.

#77

It does make a nice change to the angsty, and over-detailed characters we are so often inflicted with now. I have to spend pages reading about what the character thinks they will have for dinner, or them trying to work out how they feel about someone else, or what clothes they are going to wear. I really don't care. Characterisation is good, but it can go too far.

Sometimes, I want to read about a fairly simple character, somewhat different to what I normally encounter in everyday life, and have the character get on doing extraordinary things. Later, I would point out the numerous flaws of the book, much as you have done, but I'll have quite a lot of fun reading it. And sometimes, that's all I'm after.

Good characterisation doesn't necessarily mean detailing their every thought, itch or fart. It means that when you finish a book, the character continues to live in your imagination as if they were a real person. Yes, there is a style in which a character is built up through layer upon layer of detail - but the very best writers can nail a character in a sentence.

Sf novels have never really focused on characterisation, because the central idea has always been primary. Or, as you say, it's their extraordinary actions which are the focus. But even in that, The Stainless Steel Rat fails. It's Bonnie & Clyde in space.

I follow these discussions with some interest regarding the faults of classic SF. I rarely re-read classic Sf since there is just so much else in the world to read. I liked Asimov early on when I was young but it did not take me long to recognize his faults as a writer - but he did write a few books that I still hold in fairly high esteem, moreso for their ideas then the delivery.

I do hope Ian, that when you re-read a classic that holds up well, you don't just shove it behind the door since it might conflict with your overall conviction that classic SF is lousy. I'd like to see a review in your series of one that does indeed hold up well to time. I tend to be much more like rosje I think and sometimes just enjoy a good two hundred page romp. I've been reading about an equal measure of old and new SF the last few years, but the old SF is new to me for the most part. I am not about to re-read the Foundation Trilogy with high expectations. I doubt I'll ever re-read it at this point in my life. I'll probably re-read a Dumarest short novel or two however.

It is hard to disagree with the basic idea that the writing in classic SF was often not what one would expect from memory. But I don't think I'd go looking for masterpieces out of the Stainless Steel Rat just like I don't think adults 10 years from now would hold the old Goosebumps stories as high end fiction. They were what they were then, and they remain so.

When I read old SF I enjoy what they got wrong as often as I enjoy what they got right. I read an old Algis Budrys story a few weeks ago, "Due Process" from 12 Great Classics of Science Fiction compiled by Groff Conklin in 1963, Due Process first appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in December 1960. A "great" story it is not, but it set after an event of some sorts where the european coasts are poisoned and the primary means of travel between England and the mainland is the rail chunnel. As a west coast American I'm not sure when the chunnel was seriously proposed. I can read some history on it at Wiki and imagine that Mr Budrys managed to get it right quite a few years ahead of time. Many other elements of the story don't hold up so well, but we are also dealing with a somewhat dystopian society so maybe the steampunk touches are appropriate. In any event, I enjoyed the short story for what is was. Not high fiction, but an enjoyable story for the time it was written and not a horror to read now.

I'm glad in your reviews that you recognize the elements of the old stories that likely appealed to your teen-aged self. Sometimes it isn't real obvious.

If I found a classic sf novel that I still found as good as I remembered it, then yes I'd certainly say as much. I had high hopes of Rendezvous with Rama as Clarke is probably the best writer of the Big Three... but even then it didn't quite work for me.

Ian,

I've had a think about the discussion, and it was quite interesting. As always, you were the far better debater than I was.

What I should have said, had I mustered up more elegance than in my actual conversation is that I know that the "Stainless Steel Rat" is a flawed book. Most of the flaws that you mention for the book are quite valid. As I said, it's not a book that I would really recommend to other readers, whether they be new readers or experienced SF fans.

I can't really defend it as a novel, but then, I don't care. I have quite a lot of fun reading it, and sometimes, it's all I want from a book. It's a guilty reading pleasure, a book I like in spite of (or perhaps because of) the numerous faults it has.

I'm currently reading Stranger in a Strange Land for the first time.

I just finished up the July 2009 issue of Asimov's SF magazine. I piggybacked on Stormraven's addition to LT and added it to mine although I have only put a handful of my mags in LT. Stormraven posted a thorough review. He didn't care for it and I am sure I liked it even less. I don't read Asimov's regularly as I once did, and I hope this was an atypical issue. I actually found parts of some of these stories rather repellant. I guess they are trying for street cred, but let me say, please don't. I think the only story I enjoyed was Sinbad the Sand Sailor. Shoes-to-Run had some pretty good ideas and execution but starting off with the young woman having disfigured her breasts with a burning knife so they wouldn't grow was just too sick for me.

#83 Well, we all have those sort of books. As I said earlier, Undercover Aliens is one such book for me. I suspect if I look at my book shelves closely I'd find a few more. OTOH, I'm more likely to find books I liked as a kid but haven't reread since... and probably shouldn't in case it spoils them for me. Still, I've 7 months to go, and so 7 books, for my "reading challenge". And yes, one of the books on the list is by EE 'Doc' Smith....

Sooner you than me. I couldn't get on with 'Doc' Smith even when I was in my late teens.

I've just finished reading The Beloved Of My Beloved by Ian Watson and Roberto Quaglia. An occasionally very funny collection of often sexually explicit, surrealistic, SF, short stories. A couple of the stories can be found on the web.

I bought that too at LX. Not read it yet, though. Still ploughing my way through Harry Mulisch's The Discovery of Heaven. Which is very good.

I did start on a book I have to review for a magazine. But it looks like it might be rapture sf, and not entirely appropriate for the mag.

I akm halfway through My Most Excellent year and loving it!

Are ebooks cheating? Anyway, I plan to read this awesome 56 book rar I downloaded. All Anne McCaffrey books.

#90

I sure hope not, I never buy physical books anymore (no room in the house for them).

I'm thinking that if you read the entire work off of something, you read the book. I personally don't count audio books as reading though :p

About half-way through Falling Sideways. Having not read a Tom Holt novel for a long while I had high hopes for it, but it's not grabbing me as much as I thought it would.

Having finished it, there is a: too much wordage for the story being told, and b: the hero bouncing off the walls in incomprehension does not a plot make.

Message edited by its author, May 18, 2009, 8:10am.

I just finished re-reading War of Honor by David Weber and picked up The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia to read next.

I just got Wake from the library.

Currently reading The Dorsai Companion. Some useful essays and a couple of readable stories.

Just finished Lord Of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay - a fantasy, but a good one.
I am currently reading Other Earths edited by Nick Gevers and Jay Lake which is an anthology of non-typical alternate history stories.

Next up might very well be The City And The City by China Mieville. I have just received it this week but it looks like I will promote it above other interesting stuff on my to-read shelf.

I have Isaac Asimov's The Complete Robot set of short stories currently on the go.

Ekaterina Sedia is a new to me, but now that I have read The Alchemy of Stone I will be looking for her other works.

I rarely dip into anything that looks like a noir genre, or steampunk, or urban fantasy, but the comments I saw on The Alchemy of Stone led me to give it try. Much deeper than it looks on the surface, I gave it four stars and wrote a brief review.

Lest Darkness Falls by L.Spraque De Camp;
An other blast from the past. Martin Padway in visiting Rome, and is whisked back to 535 A.D.. Where he introduces brandy, modern book keeping, printing presses and movable type, news papers and manages to save the world from the 1000 years called the Dark Ages. The story often humorous and brings to mind A 'Connecticut Yankee' in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. Just enjoyable and fun to read.

Message edited by its author, May 23, 2009, 10:13pm.

Recently finished Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi, fitting conclusion to the Old Man's War series.

Now reading Eyes of the Calculor by Sean McMullen, and being blown away again by his inventiveness and world-building. Methinks the Greatwinter trilogy isn't as well known as it ought to be.

Just finished V for Vendetta, not as good as Watchmen (what could be) but you can see the improvement in technique and the increasing complexity of his themes. Definitely a superior GN.

I'm halfway through Stross's Accelerando. It's nice to see the Singularity meme taken seriously. SF doesn't have enough of that, though the trend lately is in the right direction.

Nothing like a vacation to catch up with some reading :)

Finished Counting Heads by David Marusek and loved it. Most of the stories in Getting to Know You were at least as good as the novel. Needed some break from the author, so got through Where Angels Fear by Ken Rand - most of the stories are SF, a few Fantasy ones; most of them decent or better - a few really strange ones... but when you have 33 stories, it's almost impossible to like every one of them.

Finally got to reading Pandora's Star and looks like I had really missed a lot in the years when I was reading mainly stories. And then just for some light reading, read Joe Haldeman's The Accidental Time Machine - nowhere near Marusek or Hamilton but it was amusing and so good for just lighting the mood.

And on top of it managed to get two fantasy books in - The Manual of Detection and Mortal Coils which were decent enough.

Now back to work... and the scrambling for time for doing any reading... Should be starting either Mind Over Ship or Judas Unchained next - unless if I decide to go for something lighter instead.

Just finished The Dreaming Void. It started pretty slow, as it was hard to keep track of the different characters and political factions. The parallel story was well done. It gained momentum near the end, and had me looking forward to The Temporal Void.

After reading through the Honor Harrington series by David Weber a second time recently, I felt curious about the rest of his novels. I checked The Apocalypse Troll from the library last week. It didn't hold my attention as well as the HH series, and I can't picture reading it twice, but still interesting enough.

Seeds of Change by Thomas Monteleone
I got it in a box of 2 dozen older SF novels for under $10. Not too interesting so far, so it's living up to it's reputation.

Night sessions by Ken Macleod. Am looking forward to the local detail, being a resident of Edinburgh.

Robert Sawyer's WWW.Wake. Interesting so far.

Heart of Gold by Sharon Shinn.

Just finished Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko.

Loved it.
First book I finished in a long time that didn't have me saying, "Eh".

Working my way through Old Man's War again so I can finally pick up the sequels.

Finally finished Drood. I had way too many short reading periods for this one, but it's a very coherent book (maybe too much so for its length) so I didn't need to keep flipping back.

Currently working on the Evan Hunter / Ed McBain Candyland which I found in a Good Will the day after my son in Berkeley discovered that Ed McBain was also "some other writer." I figured it was synchronicity and I had to get it. SF next, but not sure what yet.

Message edited by its author, May 28, 2009, 12:03pm.

Am three quarters of the way through anathem byNeal Stephenson Heavy stuff, but satisfying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

unorna

Finished Kitty and the Midnight Hour (B+). I liked it, but I want to see where the author takes the series before I get too excited.

Back on The Deerslayer after having finished (finally, I got bogged down in the forests of Jugoslavia) Eastern Approaches. I've looked at retiring to the Dalmatian Coast (mostly a pipe dream, but if someone has a villa they will give me, hey) so I was interested in the Islands stories, but the final thrust through Belgrade kind of lost me for a few days.

I gave the book 4 1/2 stars and recommend it to anyone who loves true adventure, or war stories. It wasn't exactly what I thought it would be, but as you can see, that didn't matter as it turned out. An excellent read.

Finished The Diamond Age and Galapagos recently, actually not sure what to read next, any suggestions?

And uhh, hi.

Richard Morgan.

I've read Altered Carbon, and liked it. I have Market Forces somewhere around here, maybe i'll tackle that next.

I've nearly finished The Last Centurion, probably the first real SF military novel I've read aside from Starship Troopers (kinda). The premise is very interesting but I'm really not liking the writing style. Its written in the form of a blog by the main character Bandit Six with little inserts by his wife. While its certainly unique, I'm afraid I've never really liked blogs in the first place. I'm certainly not regretting picking it up....but still.....

#120

Military SF recommendations:

a href="Military SF"http://www.librarything.com/topic/3430/a.

I just finished Wake. I thought it would be a bad book and kind off depressing but I read it anyway and it turned out to be REALLY good and I finished it in one day.

I've just finished Seeds Of Earth by Michael Cobley - which is the first part of a big brash space opera series.

What did you think to it?

Not too bad but at times it does read like there is too much in it - even for space opera. I would have preferred a slightly more focused story. The approach of lots of short chapters each with a different POV (there are around 6 main character POVs and a few minor ones) works well for the big action scenes and also for building the sense of scale. I thought some of the characters were interesting and sympathetically portrayed and often felt it a pity I spent such short amounts of time with them.

Finished Mind Over Ship - not bad at all but I definitely liked the first book (and the stories) more. Might have something to do with reading about the same world... but something was different with this one - less new ideas, more standard writing than the previous jobs. And through half the book I was kinda feeling like reading C. J. Cherryh's Regenesis again -- both second novels are too open-ended, too many things happen that will require another book... And with all the revival thing, the murder mystery left from one of the books to the other and the way it had finally been resolved and so on -- at some moments they were way too close. At least Marusek seems to be waiting only 5 years between his novels ;)

One Second After by William R. Forstchen

Fairly standard story about the collapse of the U.S. after an attack by an E.M.P. (electrical magnetic pulse weapon. The author goes into great detail about the decisions that a small town most do to survive. He does this by the use of the debates that the people who make up the ruling council have.
The book has a more ominous tone than other ones in this sub genre, (Alas Babylon, Earth abides, Damnation Alley, Lucifers Hammer etc.).
I think the author is trying to show how tenuous our hold on and way of life is. In this way he succeeds. But I couldn't get into or care for any of the the charactors. The story just seemed to go from one clique to the next. There were no surprizes or twists, you knew what was happening before you turned the page.

Might not seem relevant, but I'm reading a bio of Peter Ustinov, John Miller's Peter Ustinov; the gift of laughter.

Which has sf content because of Ustinov's role in trhe fiom of 'Logan's Run' (tho' I've not got to that bit yet). But also many of Ustinov's plays (little seen now) have slight Ruritanian fantasy elements about them.

> 127 Yeah, I read One Second After a couple of months ago and was distinctly unimpressed. It felt a lot like the hammer of DOOM being applied to my skull, without the benefits of subtle and creative characters, plot, or anything else.

Just finished a reread of Old Man's War so I could sweep through Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony for the first time (both really great!), although I'm still waiting for my copy of Zoe's Tale to come in.

Now I've just started Neuromancer, since my Beggars in Spain hasn't shown up yet for the group read (I requested both of them when they were in the runoff - of course the wrong one showed up first!)

I found a copy of The Hunger Games at my local library, and had to read it, since it popped up three times in the "Best YA SF" thread (thanks Aerrin99, Jnwelch, and Theexiledlibrarian, if you are reading this, for recommended the book in that thread).

Quite an exciting read, with some interesting moral debates, too. I can see why it was recommended for young adults.

The main problem (and it's a big problem to me) with this book is that the author, Suzanne Collins, takes what is essentially a single, enclosed story, and then decides that she really wants to do a trilogy, instead, and opens up the story in the last few chapters. I had a good idea of what Katniss' future would be like after she won in the arena, because the book, for the most part, gave enough information for me to deduce this. The story could have been far more easily concluded than opened up at the end, and found this quite annoying.

But apart from that, it's quite enjoyable. 4/5.

I have similar complaints, rojse - I think the story is excellent, but that it could have been more powerful in some areas, for similar reasons. I almost wish it had stretched a bit more, and wrapped a bit cleaner.

But for all that, it's a very fun read! Glad you liked it!

Yes, I would recommend it, and will be reading the sequel when it is released, but... a sequel wasn't really necessary.

I hope that Collins doesn't undo the good will from the first book; I've seen it happen before.

I am a new reader so i just finished The Hobbit
and am preparing to finish LoTr trilogy.

Welcome Rithvikmekala. Many people read the those books. Hope to hear what else you are reading when you finish LOTR. Though of course you can also post about LOTR too. :)

We start a new thread each month. The June thread is here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/66056

Message edited by its author, Jun 6, 2009, 8:50am.

Rithvikmekala, The Hobbit and LOTR are some books I love to go back and re-read from time to time. It's probably been several years now since I've read The Hobbit and LOTR so I guess it's time for another re-read. Of course, I have some other books by J.R.R. Tolkien like Farmer Giles and Ham, several volumes of The History of Middle-Earth and still some other books. I would love to own the complete 12 Volume Series of The History Of Middle-Earth. I know that his son, Christopher finished the Series because Tolkien died in 1973. I'm anxiously waiting for The Hobbit movie to be finished filming whenever that will be so I can buy it then I'll have The Hobbit and LOTR.

I love to read Horror too. A lot of Stephen King, Anne Rice, Clive Barker to name a few. I would dearly love to see Anne Rice write at least one more volume in The Vampire Chronicles and also New Tales of the Vampires too. I just can't bring myself around to even begin reading any of her books on the fictional life of Jesus Christ. I still think she should be able to continue writing her Horror novels for her long time fans like me and then also write her series on the life of Jesus Christ satisfying all of her fans even if her newer fans have never read one sentence of any of her previous Horror novels. For Crying Out Loud!!! it was her Horror novels that made her a houselhold name in the first place. I bet she wouldn't have been the huge success she is if she had started out writing her Jesus Christ novels and then later on switched over to writing nothing but Horror novels. I still feel she OWES it to us her original fan base that made her rich and famous and a household name to begin with to write at least one more novel about Lestat & Company as well as another volume to the New Tales Of The Vampires. You don't see Stephen King or Clive Barker or any other well known Horror writer ignoring the fan base that originally made them a household name.

Beatles1964

Message edited by its author, Jun 8, 2009, 12:03pm.

#135

On the flip side of that, is an author merely someone who churns out work in the expectation that it will make money, or is an author actually an artist, whom uses words to stir us in some manner?

Well to answer your question rojse an Author writes books in order to make a living of course they hope that their books will Sell well and make it to The Best-Seller Lists after all they chose to write books for a living and aren't Librarians, Truck Drivers, Airline Pilots, CEO heads of large Fortune 500 Corporations, Politicians, Teachers, University Professors, Police Officers or Fire Fighters, it's what they do and in order to make a good career at it they have to be successful and make $$$$$$$ in the process.

However, having said all of that I also think that Writers can also use their Craft to stir up the imagination that dwells within the very Soul of each and every person. For example, just take a look at Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Bronte Sisters, Homer's Illiad, Plato, Ursula K. LeGuin, Ray Bradbury, Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Agatha Christie, Ruth Rendell, a.k.a. Barbara Vine, Anne Rice,
Stephen King, Clive Barker, H.G.Wells, J. K. Rowling, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Edgar Allen Poe, C.J. Cherryh any of your favorite Chick Lit Authors like Jane Green, Sophie Kinsella, Helen Fielding, Jennifer Weiner, Jennifer Crusie, Rachel Gibson, Carole Matthews,any Poet or Author you can name that ever lived, or any of your favorite Authors you might love to Collect, Read & Re-read again and again. Of course they still read Shakespeare in High Schools today and probably will always read and they are still making movies about the characters from his Plays, Jane Austen, the Bronte Sisters, Bradbury among many others too numerous to name here are considered Classics and must readings too. They stir the Reader's vivid imagination when we get involved with a book and feel oursleves lost in them as though we are a character in the book too. Who hasn't felt like they got lost in LOTR or wished they go visit Middle-Earth or any Planet, Galaxy, or Island from their favorite books, Science Fiction, Fantasy,Horror like Stephen King's Derry Maine or be part of Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat world and be a Vampire with great Vampiric Powers. I would love to be able to visit Derry, Maine and stop by the Public Library from IT or even go to Castle Rock where Needless Things takes place, or Pern or to see the depths of the Ocean like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or even get a chance to explore The Lost World for that matter. A great Author makes you see their Worlds and Places and makes you feel like you're there with them too. I hope this answers your question.

Bealtes1964

Message edited by its author, Jun 8, 2009, 12:25pm.

#137

"...an Author writes books in order to make a living of course..."

I think that writing a book merely to make money is the sure-fire way to write rubbish books. I could think of a variety of book-writing efforts plainly written to make money, which are a failure in every sense, except that they do make money, and hence, get a brief rise on the best-seller lists.

I think you need to go back an re-read my answer to your question. I didn't just say that an Author is in it to make some money since they have to make a living too. I also talked about how a great Author can inspire your imagination and you feel like you're a character in their book and makes you wish you could visit Middle-Earth, Pern, etc. I also said that Writers can use their Craft to stir up the imagination that dwells within the very Soul of each and every person.

Did you even bother to read everything I wrote, rojse? I know sometimes I can become awful wordy but I was trying to answer your question to the best of my abilities.

Beatles1964

Message edited by its author, Jun 9, 2009, 8:03am.

#139

I did, and found the first part to be... well, completely contrary to what I expect of authors. That demanded a response from me. If a book feels like it's written merely for the author to make money, I see no need to bother with it.

Obviously, the author needs to make money to pay their bills, but money cannot be the central reason for an author to write, nor should it be the method in which we measure an author's worth. Otherwise, we have reduced the art of fiction and writing to mere money-grubbing, with the purveyor of words doing whatever they think will bring in the most money and drive book sales. I demand more from an author than mere popularist writing.

That said, I do believe an author can sell a lot of books and still be an artist, rather than something else entirely.

In the beginning of your second paragraph (paragraphs, where art thou?), you begin with name-dropping a plethora of authors in three areas of books which I have very little experience in. I could mention why I fail to appreciate classical novels, or chick-lit, but this is a science fiction discussion group.

As for the second group of authors, which I presume are best-selling writers, (those that I am familiar with seem to be). Those that I am familiar with I have little respect for in regards to their skills in writing. Mildly entertaining, perhaps, but then, many of the science-fiction books I read are entertaining, but have the added qualities of being challenging and often original, neither of which seem to be present in the best-seller books. Bringing up best-selling authors that I am either unfamiliar with, or that I view as largely being unable to write decently, manages to support my argument far better than what I ever could. I saw no reason to disrespect the view of the authors you seemed to enjoy, though.

After this, you then proceed to drop the names of a dozen female-literature authors, and the themes and ideas here do not appeal to me at all, so I find it difficult to discuss this. I skimmed over that sentence, and had I not, I would have brought up that I am not female, as you seemed to have presumed.

Apart from this, I saw no reason to respond. Writing is supposed to stir us in some manner, whether it be intellectually, morally, or in regards to some sort of emotion. The last part of your post seemed to agree with this, and since the last section agreed with my previous post, what was there I needed to respond to?

Message edited by its author, Jun 9, 2009, 10:19am.

No, that is not the reason I mentioned the names of all the female writers. I happen to enjoy reading books regardless if the Author is male or female. I know this is a Science-Fiction discussion group however I was only trying to make a point that an Author regardless of whether or not they write Science Fiction, Chick-Lit, Mysteries, Horror, Fantasy or anything else in between will stir the reader's imagination to make them feel like they're a part of the book and enjoy the time they spend readng that particular book. Since I first joined LT I've learned to enjoy reading other genres of books than would otherwise be outside my own comfort zone. I don't think well, this book was written by a woman so I'll just totally ignore it and find a book that's written by a man. I'm not a Sexist person nor does my thinking about which books to read run along those lines. I can get lost in a Mystery or Science Fiction book and the gender of the Author doesn't have anything to do whether or not I enjoy a book. I only mentioned Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie, Ruth Rendell a.k.a. Barbara Vine, plus all the Chick-Lit Authors, Anne Rice, Jane Austen, the Bronte Sisters or anyone else on the list I mentioned. I enjoy reading their books plus all of the male Authors I also mentioned. Personally, speaking for only myself I see nothing wrong with reading Chick-Lit or anything else for that matter. I have a lot of favorite Authors female and male. If you're not enjoying the book you're reading at the time you're wasting your time.

I also love to get lost in any movie I happen to be watching at the time. It could be Star Wars, Star Trek, JAWS, Bridget Jones's Diary, The Mummy, ALIENS, Sleepless In Seattle, You've Got Mail, The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring or anything else for that for the time I'm watching that movie, I feel like I'm a part of it. I don't like people to point out look at the wires or that's so fakey. Comments like that ruin a movie for me. Stephen King used to have 5 books out at the same time on the New York Times Best-Sellers List.

The point I was trying to get across it that MONEY is not always the main motivating factor it's the enjoyment they feel they give their fans who buy their books. They love to write books. Enrie Banks the great player for the Chicago Cubs years ago loved to play Baseball and was often quoted as saying, Let's Play two. By that he meant he wanted to play a double-header. Athletes like Ernie Banks just loved what they were doing for a living not because of the Money they made but because to them it was a lot of fun. Pete Rose was another one who loved to play Baseball just for the heck of it not because he was making Millions of dollars a year at it. That's why you would see him try to stretch a single into a double or triple. If he felt why take the risk of injuring himself trying to stretch a single out to a double or triple he would've stayed on first and not tried to slide head first into second base or hustled to run a ball down to prevent the other team from starting their own rally. People do it because they Love whatever it is they do for a living. Pete Rose wasn't nicknamed Charlie Hustle for nothing.

Beatles1964

Message edited by its author, Jun 9, 2009, 12:02pm.

my sister was reading the past few posts and she says "an author is someone who writes". i agree :)

#142

I do have some female authors that I enjoy reading, but the genre of chick-lit does not appeal to me at all, not because of the fact that the authors are women, but because this genre deals with issues that I do not care about at all. I thought I had mentioned this before, but I must not have been clear enough.

In regards to enjoyable movies, I myself need to examine them for wires and fakery. Bad special effects, bad acting, bad storyline and dialog all ruin movies for me. I need to critically examine a movie when I watch it.

#143

I agree.

I love watching all the Godzilla movies and Science Fiction movies from the 1950s and 60s like THEM! Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, Tarantula, The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, It Came Fom Beneath the Sea, plus all the other Monster movies as well. When I'm watching Godzilla destroy Tokyo again I don't want to think that it's only HO Scale Trains, Model Buildings and Toy Army Tanks and Ships. I have to get totally involved in the movie I'm watching at the time and feel like I'm there watching the Aliens land or Godzilla fighting Space Godzilla or Mothra or any of the other Monsters he fights all the time.
That's all I'm saying how it ruins a movie for me if people point these things out to me when they know I'm trying to enjoy watching it.

Beatles1964

I enjoy those sort of movies precisely because they are so bad.

Barbarella is probably one of the funniest movies I have ever watched.

I'm currently reading No Future by Paul Cornell, which even the author dislikes. Though I rather enjoy it, it's a Doctor Who novel from the Virgin New Adventures range. It's got an even mix of continuity references and it goes a little hard and full on some concepts and stuff, but it's a bit of interesting harmless fun.