August 2009 Reading

I am reading Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones for a RL book group.

I'm reading The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, which I just got through BookMooch

#2, The Sirens of Titan is one of my favourite books, let us know what you think!

Just finished Brasyl by Ian McDonald and enjoyed it. I cussed Ian a bit when I had to learn several diifferent slang speech styles at the first of the book however. Knowing there is a glossary before I finished the book would have helped also.!

I'm reading The Last Man by Mary Shelley and plan to read The Sleeper Awakes by H.G. Wells next.

I finished Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. It is a YA fantasy that I was reading for a RL book group. It was OK, but not my cup of tea. Very simplistic, and kind of a disguised romance.

Started in on the Lensman series with Triplanetary by E. E. 'Doc' Smith.

>7 AHS-Wolfy: Its an oldie, and many don't like them, but the Lensman series was my first SF when I was a kid (they were my dad's books). I have a soft spot for them in my heart.

#8

Have you read them since you were a teenager, though?

I also had a soft spot for EE Doc Smith's fiction, since they were among the first sf novels I read. But in the past couple of years, I've reread both Masters of Space and Second Stage Lensman... and they really are quite bad.

Having said that, I'm loath to purge my bookshelves of them - even though I felt no such qualms at getting rid of my Stainless Steel Rat books after rereading The Stainless Steel Rat earlier this year.

#9 Yeah. They are old and clunky, but I still love them. And I wasn't a teenager when I first read them.

Currently reading Harry Turtledove Hitler's War, just started, but classic Turtledove.

I'm currently reading Matter by Iain M Banks with Desolation Road by Iain McDonald lined up next.

I am currently reading Orbit Science Fiction, No. 1, 1953 and also reading Science Fiction The Illustrated Encyclopedia by John Clute.

I tried to read The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist, but I only got slightly into the second section before I decided I couldn't take any more.

I don't often read YA, and the exceptions are mostly for books that I first read as a child, but I picked up an ARC of Catching Fire, so I got The Hunger Games from the library and am now reading that to make sure I know where things stand, first. I'm about three quarters of the way through, and at this point finding it enjoyable but flawed. I'm trying to withhold any final judgment about that at least until I read the second book, though, since it could be fixed depending on how things progress from here.

Wading through The Black Star Passes. I like "golden age" sci-fi, but so far this one is plodding. And it's age is showing, something I can usually overlook, but not this time, it's just too glaring.

Just finished The Temporal Void and am going to start Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said pretty soon. So far, I liked the Pandoras Star/Judas Unchained series better than the Void trilogy, although the switching between fantasy/space opera is an interesting twist.

Sorry, but I'm still tickled by the post on an earlier thread - might have been from drmamm - about 'waiting for the postman to deliver The Temporal Void'. Wow! Some postman! (Sorry. Small things please small minds.)

On the other hand, two naughty little voices have just whispered in my ear: "Ah, I see you've got 'Lord Foul's Bane'." "No, no, just a hangover."

#19: LOL.

Seeing as those musty days of yore seem to be the dominant trend so far this month, I've just finished Elric of Melnibone (B) and liked it well enough to continue with the series. This is a case where there was an exchange of hostages, as this one friend of mine has been trying to get me to read Elric forever, if only to understand his sensibility, whereas I've been urging him to read some of the Vlad Taltos novels.

Started The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Was glad to get a signed copy in Montreal at Worldcon. Very few new books in the dealers room.

3: I finished The Sirens of Titan this weekend - awesome book! I loved the idea of the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent and all the minor forms of god and religion that arose in the novel, and the meaninglessness of them. I'll definitely be re-reading that one :)

I think I'll follow it up with Breakfast of Champions.

I'm waiting to get in the six-volume manga Akira in at my local library. So far, only the second, third and fourth books have come in, so right now, I have a rather attractive book-end, and refuse to read them without having read the first volume first.

I suspect that there is a vast conspiracy at work, that always ensures that a person will never be able to read a series of boos in its correct order. This conspiracy also ensures that trilogies are split apart so you will always be missing at least one in the series, and will even resort to killing authors off so trilogies and series' will not be completed.

I agree about the conspiracy :). I also hate that publishers often decide to keep the fact of series or trilogy a secret, and don't mark the book. You get the book home and find you have one, and its never the first.

I bought The Windup Girl at Worldcon, too. I haven't started it yet, but it looks good.

I knew I wasn't the only one who suspected that conspiracy!
Proof for all the people against me that I'm not paranoid!
;)

Its an oldie, I am just finished reading The Repairman by Harry Harrison, i liked it..
http://www.storybus.net/content/%C3%A9harry-harrisons-science-fiction-story-repa...

Finished up The City at the End of Time by Greg Bear last week (very fantasy-ish scifi) and have started The Devil's Eye by Jack MacDevitt. Very nice novel actually. It really some just some good old fashion science fiction mystery. A nice change from some of the more edgy stuff I've been reading lately, i.e Death's Head, The Last Centurion, and the Void series with all the freaky sex involved.

. 23 rojse, I don't think it is a conspiracy (at least, not the bit about 'reading series in the wrong order'). I read Blish's 'Cities in flight' backwards, back when I was a callow youth discovering sf. The sense of discovery in seeing how we got to the end of time was fascinating. I remember the same thing happening with Doc Smith's 'Lensman' series (again, in my distant youth), and filling in the back story was half the fun.

#24, #26, #29

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean the conspiracy doesn't exist.

Just started reading A canticle for Leibowitz and I am really loving it so far. I picked it up because I loved Anathem, and read in a (not so good) review that Stephenson really just stole the idea from Miller. So, I picked up Miller, and what a good idea it proved to be.

I am still loving the fact that I recovered from my childhood notion that science fiction = space war. I love SF more and more as time goes by...

Captive Universe - I like to try and say something positive about a book, but I'm damned if can think of anything. 1/5.

#32 - Here's something positive - it was short, around 160 pages. However, it still took me at least a week to get through last month. I kept thinking, "I must not be in the mood for this". I thought Captive Universe was held in some regard as an interesting novel but I could not recommend it either.

Anyone out there have some positive views on Harry Harrison's Captive Universe?

edit: I posted my book review of this to LT to supplement rosje's. I don't hate the book, but I did find it rather weak for a Harry Harrison novel. I also posted an excerpt from a review from Amazing Stories in 1970 that pretty much summed up my reaction. There ARE some postive reviews written about this book, and maybe if you read this when you were 14 instead of an adult you get an entirely different reaction.

#33

It gets half a star for not offending me morally or socially.

I'm now reading that ARC of Catching Fire.

The Dispossessed. Go and read it if you haven't already. 5/5.

I'm reading Arachne by Lisa Mason. having just finished Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson.

Couldn't sleep last night so I finished Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding. The Firefly vibes are a little strong, but the book was very good. Looking forward to Wooding's next novel.

I'm reading City at the End of Time by Greg Bear, and really don't know what to think yet, even though I'm 100 pages in.

Altered Carbon. I've read it before, but didn't post up a review at the time. I'll get around to it in a few days, but it is a 5/5 book.

I've currently got two reading projects going - I am re-reading my favourite books, and also re-reading my entire library, in order to rate books, post reviews, and update tags for each.

The books I read in the first task make up for the books I will have to read for the second task. I can't believe some of the dreck I once thought was worth buying, even if it cost a few dollars at the time.

Finished A canticle for Leibowitz and loved it. Can anyone recommend similar books? I especially love the idea of a few people keeping knowledge safe from the ignorant masses (like in Leibowitz or in Anathem).

DugsBooks wrote:
Just finished Brasyl by Ian McDonald and enjoyed it. I cussed Ian a bit when I had to learn several diifferent slang speech styles at the first of the book however. Knowing there is a glossary before I finished the book would have helped also.

I love Ian McDonald!! Thanks for the glossary at end heads-up!! I'm working my way through his books via inter-library loans. Started with Terminal Cafe, which was somewhat hard to immerse myself into at first, but thouroughly enjoyed the eventual "mind-drowning" I achieved by the end!

"Dispossessed" !!! Fantastic book!! I'm not particularly a fan of Le Guin but that book was so powerful I've re-read it many times. I loved the scene where he purchases a gift to take to a dinner party and the salesgirl wraps it!! Reminded me of shopping in Tokyo!

The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner. Excellent world-building, but average story and characterisation.

Started in Consider Phlebas last night. I am planning to get more into SF, and am kind of trying out different books to see what I like best :D

45: I've tried reading Consider Phlebus several times, but never get that far. I don't know why, as I love Banks.

If that one doesn't work for you though, try The Player of Games. It's the kind of cool and fun but well-written book I'd recommend for someone trying out the sf genre.

#46 But, shouldn't I read the Culture novels in the correct order?

No, it's not necessary. They're set thousands of years apart, and although the Idiran war in Consider Phlebus gets mentioned, I doubt there'd be spoilers in other novels, although I haven't read them all.

It is best to start with something like Phlebus or Player of Games though, just to familirise yourself with The Culture. A novel like Excession or Matter might be harder to grasp if you don't know about Banks's world.

#48, Good to know, as I was planning to get into The Culture, if I like Phlebas (and I found it because of the promotion of Matter), but not all books are as available as other in the bookstores (and I hardly ever order online)... Thanks!

No problem :) I hope you enjoy them!

Each Culture book stands alone, but reading them in the order of publication at least introduces you to the universe in the same order as Banks made it up and added to it.

And that would be my preferred reading order. It's just nice to know that it won't be that bad if I switch two ;)

Read Westerfield's Peeps yesterday, which was a surprising amount of fun and, strangely, a better-done twist on the 'vampires as parasites' angle than The Strain, I thought.

#51 They do stand alone but you probably wouldn't get as much out of them if read out of order. Many readers may not even realise that Inversions is a culture novel.

#54: Hmm, I didn't find that out about Inversions until way after I'd read it. It didn't prevent me from enjoying it though. Like divinenanny, I wasn't able to get the novels in order, and if I'd started with Consider Phlebus instead of The Player of Games, I may not have continued. But as it turned out, I love Banks's sci fi novels and I'd happily reread them in order once I have them all.

Well, I finished Consider Phlebas and liked it. Not a lot, not 5 stars, but enough to be intrigued by the universe created by Banks and I will pick up Player of Games next time I see it in a store somewhere... :D

I preferred Consider Phlebas to Player of Games (5 stars vs. 4 stars). More awe and more new-to-me ideas.

I thought Use of Weapons was by far the best of the Culture novels. It blew me away.

#13... Desolation Road is superfantasticawesome.

I'm reading book three of the Inda series by Sherwood Smith. Book four is on its way from Amazon any day now.
I've really enjoyed this fantasy so far; good world building, detailed and believable characterizations and plot, gay positive. And while it's four volumes, doesn't seem (so far) to suffer from the multi-volume bloat.

Just finished The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which, in addition to possessing an awesome title, is a rather nice zombie/post-apoc/dystopia type YA novel that reminds me a bit of The Giver in terms of feel.

Fun stuff, for those who like such thing.

Just starting on Ringing Changes by R.A. Lafferty. This is a short story collection I picked up over 20 years ago and never got around to reading. I haven't read Lafferty in a very long time; his stories were always quite unusual. Looking forward to this.

I have just finished The Xenocide Mission by Ben Jeapes found it to be a very complex story and have to confess I got a bit lost occasionally - but other than that it was a good read.

I am reading Principles of Angels by Jaine Fenn.

Nonfiction Greasing the Pan: The "Best" of Paul T. Riddell incendiary commentary on science fiction and fandom.

# 62 Please be sure to let us know what you think of it, I've never read several of his stories in that collection.

In the foreword to Ringing Changes Lafferty refers to his stories this way: "These stories are intended to be entertainments, even the several of them that leak a little blood out of them. They are amusements.

Be entertained then, be amused! and the superior ones among you will even be delighted in several places."

It is clearly evident when reading these that Lafferty is playing and putting on a show intended to entertain. I felt like there was a jester in my living room frolicing around and giggling while I tried to pay attention to the story.

After a couple hours I was quickly reminded that I can and should only read R. A. Lafferty in fairly small doses. But it was too late. The best way for me to describe his writing is "trippy", like he's smoking some magic pipe that I'm not. Tripping on another plane that doesn't really intersect with mine. These stories in Ringing Changes come from 1966-1984, but mainly from 70-75. You either connect with Lafferty's style or you don't, and generally speaking I'd say I don't. I had read many of these stories before, I realized, and got a kick out of re-reading "Old Foot Forgot", but Lafferty wears thin on me quickly.

"In Outraged Stone" is one I had not read before. It is mighty bizarre and may best be described as a human frog-alien (The 'Oganta') blood drinking body melding orgy, although I think it is about psychologists intended to record, decipher and dissect the Oganta's dreams, but end up going native in a big big way. Here's a taste, a quite mild taste, compared to most of it:

"Come here, Prince" Bonta Chrysalis cried suddenly, and one of the big Oganta leapt into her arms and wrapped long froggy legs around her till Bonta herself could hardly be seen. But she'd made her choice. She's taken one of the grinning gape-faced Oganta for her subject (subject for her study, and willing subject for her real whims) and she would not fail in this.

I just read a new fantasy by a new author Jeffrey Onorato and the book is called The SIN of Addison Hall. I really enjoyed it. The concept while not unique is cleverly done and the writing is solid.

I got through it quickly and I can't wait until the next one by this author.

8> Ron Howard is developing Lensman for a movie.

> 69, I am sad to hear that because Ron Howard and his movies have become sappy.

> 69, I am sad to hear that because there are so many better SF novels that could be developed into good movies.

#71

But then a good book might be spoiled. At this point I doubt Ron Howard and his writing team could spoil Lensman which is remembered fondly by a vanishing few.

If the film is successful, then a) the books might be republished in tie-in editions, and people will see how bad they are and think even worse of sf; or b), some modern author will "novelise" the film treatment and we'll end up with a version of Lensman that may be less embarrassing must bears no resemblance to the original.

Unusually for me (I'm normally a serial monogamist when it comes to fiction) I have two SF books in progress (3 if you count the Feist EFP audiobook in the car). They are (lunchtime at work) Taylor Anderson's Into the Storm (an alt.hist romp), and at home Christopher Brookmyre's first foray into SF, Pandaemonium (his usual vicious social satire but in an explicit SFnal setting this time around).

little brother - YA urban SF. Quite fun, if not totally believable. A suitable warning of possabilities.

Hammerfall Perhaps not CJC's best work, but still good. Only a few pages left and I rather suspect a lot of the details will never be revealed, which might be annoying. I assume the sequel is as good?

#75 - I read Little Brother a couple of months ago. The writing style irritated me a bit for the first chapter or so but I quickly became hooked and read it in a few days. Kept getting really angry and having to tell myself "This isn't real, it's only a story" but then another part of me would say "But it's awfully close to the truth".

Terrific story.

#73: That's a thought; maybe you can polish garbage!

I also just finished up Nova Swing (B+/A-), which I found much more coherent than Harrison's previous novel "Light."

I'm currently reading Birthstones by Phyllis Gotlieb, which I purchased at the 2009 WorldCon in Montreal.

>40 rojse:

Loved Altered Carbon, and now I'm reading Broken Angels by Richard Morgan. Up to standard, so far.

79: Altered Carbon was cool, and Market Forces was even better, I thought.

Over at the "Group Reads Sci-Fi" group, we are currently voting on the next book to be selected for the group read here:

http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=71086

Everyone is welcome to join up with the group, or vote on books. There's quite a lot of interesting nominations to select from.

We're also currently discussing Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R Delany, for those interested in joining the current group read.

Currently reading & enjoying Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer.

Veniss was my first encounter with Jeff VanderMeer. Interesting and visceral read. However, it wasn't until I read the first few stories of his in Secret Live that I really began to respect his unique imagination. New weird in my favorite way, The Bone Carver's Tale; and then there was the story about a worker that continued to go to work in their corporate office even though vines were growing through the walls and the windows with all intent to appropriate the building.

# 67 I know what you mean about Lafferty needing to be taken in small doses, especially in his lesser works. I do generally connect with his style and I think his work has aged very well. For some reason humorous SF often doesn't, maybe because of the topical references writers often resort to.

His best collection I've read so far (of three) is Iron Tears, which has "The World as Will and Wallpaper", "Horns on Their Heads" and "You Can't Go Back". I think reading just that last story will tell you if you'll like the rest of his work.

Still working slowly on The Temporal Void but it would've put me over my weight limit on a flight I just took, so I brought an Ace double from the 70's with Dick's Dr. Futurity and The Unteleported Man. It's an interesting pairing though not one I'd recommend to any other than people interested in Dick's development as a writer. In Dr. Futurity, published in 1960, a man in a car crash is thrown into the future and immediately recognizes and accepts this within a paragraph. The story continues like that with events piled on events to make a rushed plot, with not a shred of believability, even by pulp standards. In The Unteleported Man, published 4 years later, that same hodgepodge of happenstance is now mixed with many elements that became prominent in Dick's more mature work. It's just as nonsensical as Dr. F., but now there are pages that are actually fun to read.

After reading my first Culture novel a couple of weeks ago, I picked up Player of Games yesterday and reading it now. Like it even better, but I am happy I started at the first one, even though they can be read separately.

86: Glad to hear you're enjoying them!

I'm not so much reading The Stars my destination - more like devouring it. Read first half last night, will finish today, as soon as I log off LT!

Reading Lucifer's Hammer, slow in the beginning, 100 pages in and still being introduced to new characters, but I hear it's worth fighting through so I'll keep going.

As a eighteen year old, my favorite part of Lucifer's Hammer was reading about the surf coming in. The geek in me likes all the science fiction in describing Hot Fudge Sunday, too, though not enough to have checked up on the numbers.

Just finished 1901 by Robert Conroy. Finally getting around to reading Dune by Frank Herbert.

I've finished Birthstones, and am now reading The Martian Chronicles. Both are slender novels, but while Birthstones examines feminist and post-colonial elements in a more serious manner, Bradbury's collection of Martian stories is full of whimsy and regret.

Just finished up The Shadow Pavilion (A); another fine addition to the Detective Inspector Chen series.

I'm now reading The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle, having finished Arachne by Lisa Mason: heavy with jargon and the development of a complex JIT legal system, it was a bit hard to get through the first third of the book, but I found the character development of the artificial intelligences interesting and the narrative begun to flow well as the story progressed. A real cyber-romp exploring consciousness. Painful at times to read about a devolved San Francisco of the future where all but the elite can escape or ignore a unruly city that is chaotic and dangerous to flesh-and-blood and machines alike.

Well the postman has arrived and delivered me a copy of Ark by Stephen Baxter so that has being jiffled up to the top of my reading list as I enjoyed Flood last year.

Just spent a wet week in Scotland, and my light reading was the Christopher Priest novelisation of David Cronenburg's eXistenZ. A fairly quick read that recapitulates the film, mostly.

Just finished Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds. It was enjoyable, but not on the same level as Revelation Spaceand Redemption Ark.

speaking of Scotland, I just began reading Mary Stewart's The Stormy Petrel set in the Hebrides. A rather old fashioned and quite enjoyable suspense novel that doesn't break your brain, just entertains. The protaganist is a teacher and poet, but she secretly writes science fiction novels quite successfully under a pen name, which gave me a small laugh.

I read Principles of Angels by Jaine Fenn. A dystopian story set on a domed habitat above a dead planet. Had 2 of my favorite things domes and Angels ( no relation to heaven or religion).

Very amusing allegory of where society is heading. Loved the idea of voting for the death of politicians (probably just after televised executions become old hat). Characters were interesting, story was good if a bit standard. Lite on the explanation of the Angels, but still a fun read.

Just finished Zeppelins West and it's sequel, Flaming London by Joe R. Lansdale and loved them. Tall tales run amuck, they made for an incredibly entertaining romp.

I read Cloud Atlas & liked it a lot; the postmoderny/metafictiony stuff was entertaining but did not overwhelm the stories at the heart of the book.

#101

I enjoyed the two SF stories in there, but the other four stories were rather underwhelming.

On the last day of August, a Culture question for those who helped me so great so far... I have come to the third book now. LT says the third book is The State of The Art but Wikipedia says it is Use of Weapons and that State of the Art is separate.... Which one to read first?

103: The State of the Art is a collection of short stories, three of which are about the Culture.

Apparently the titular story is a sort of prequel to Use of Weapons (or at least that's what Wikipedia says; I haven't read Weapons).

I imagine it'd be better then to read The State of the Art first, but I doubt it's essential.

The novella 'The state of the art' is quite an early effort by Banks (although it was first published in 1989, two years after 'Consider Phlebas'), and his style for the Culture stories wasn't really as well worked through as in 'Phlebas', so you will notice some discontinuity of style. Frankly, it doesn't really matter whether you read 'State of the Art' before or after 'Weapons'.

The other two stories are 'A gift from the Culture' and 'Descendant'; neither add much to Culture history but give a good flavour of the society.

Ok, thanks to you both! I guess I will read State of the Art first, as soon as it arrives!

Starship: Rebel by Mike Resnick.