Interesting list, I guess it reflects the number of readers of each book pretty well, not the quality of it though.
That was what I was thinking too. I was mildly surprised to see KSR's Red Mars trilogy near the bottom but King's Dark Tower series near the start, but I suspect the latter has a much wider readership
From that top 100 list, which is nicely popular and familiar, I haven't read The Dark Tower, Mistborn, Drizzt, Kushiel, Thrawn and Sword of Truth series', or Sunshine, Doomsday Book, Old Man's War, Last Unicorn or The Way of Kings.
I've read everything else there (I won't pretend I'm not showing off), though I gave up on a couple after giving them a good shake. One or two I've only read recently, due to the recommendations of the good people here (e.g. Bujold, Simmons).
So of the ones I've not read, are there any that anyone thinks 'You fool! Run to a shop and buy them immediately!'
Well I figured. I can only stand to watch the TV series for about.... 3 minutes? And that's only because I need one hand free to listen to the Buzzcock's first single.
And I'm not much on tie-ins like Drizzt or Thrawn.
Don't go near the Sword of Truth series, as the little exposure I've had to them make it plain they're awful and written by a man pressed deep in the arms of Dame Crazy. Haven't read The Last Unicorn, but I've read A Fine And Private Place by the same writer and that was pretty good. The Thrawn books? Uh, they're ok I guess, but they're tie-in books and I can't think of a reason to try them other than a desire for more Star Wars or my own excuse for reading them: they were a present. Same with the Drizzt books. The point at which you're buying and reading tie-in fiction is the point at which you don't care whether the books good as long as it's a Star Wars book or whatever.
So I'm on the second book of The Hunger Games and really enjoying it. Battle Royale never gets old. I think they may be doing a movie, not sure how they're going to do all the violence
I found the second one to be a bit ropey and by the third the author was just writing a stream of consciousness until she hit the page count.
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
So I'm on the second book of The Hunger Games and really enjoying it. Battle Royale never gets old. I think they may be doing a movie, not sure how they're going to do all the violence
I found the second one to be a bit ropey and by the third the author was just writing a stream of consciousness until she hit the page count.
I really loved the first and bought the second and third immediately after finishing it. The second was okay, but the way it ended sort of killed any desire in me to read the third. It really just headed in a direction I wasn't interested in, and the plot started to seem a bit silly and contrived.
So I was wondering if anyone had any experience with or could recommend one way or the other this book. It's called Damned Busters by Matthew Hughes. It seemed interesting when I saw it at Borders today but I knew nothing about it and because of the other expenses I had to cover today i didn't end up buying anything there but I was thinking of adding it to my list of books to try to pick up from their close out sale. Was hoping someone had some hands on experience with it. Even just the cover seemed interesting.
EDIT: also, NPR made a list of the top 100 sci-fi/fantasy novels based on public voting. it's neat. There's a few that confused me and of course it's more a list of the likes of a small percentage of people but I thought overall it's a pretty solid list.
huh! read more of the top ones than I would have thought
It was going OK and then it went completely and utterly insane. It's as if they weren't able to think of enough genre books and started filling with semi well known shit.
So I'm on the second book of The Hunger Games and really enjoying it. Battle Royale never gets old. I think they may be doing a movie, not sure how they're going to do all the violence
I found the second one to be a bit ropey and by the third the author was just writing a stream of consciousness until she hit the page count.
I felt much the same about the Hunger Games.
The Book Thief is apparently a children's novel which might explain why you thought it was lacking, but now you've had a bit more time to think on it, could you elaborate somewhat on what you felt was missing? I enjoyed it a lot, so I'm curious.
Just finished re-reading the His Dark Materials series, still love it. The Subtle Knife was a lot more heavy-handed about Pullman's message than I remember - impressive when you consider that it is literally a book about finding and overthrowing God's despotic regime - but for all that it didn't really get in the way of the story. Northern Lights also doesn't take as long to get going as I remember, it's pretty much great from the moment they hit the North.
From that top 100 list, which is nicely popular and familiar, I haven't read The Dark Tower, Mistborn, Drizzt, Kushiel, Thrawn and Sword of Truth series', or Sunshine, Doomsday Book, Old Man's War, Last Unicorn or The Way of Kings.
I've read everything else there (I won't pretend I'm not showing off), though I gave up on a couple after giving them a good shake. One or two I've only read recently, due to the recommendations of the good people here (e.g. Bujold, Simmons).
So of the ones I've not read, are there any that anyone thinks 'You fool! Run to a shop and buy them immediately!'
Brandon Sanderson seems a little interesting...
Mistborn and The Way of Kings are both quite enjoyable, you should check Sanderson out.
Drizzt was derivative and predictable even when he was writing them, let alone now when tons of people have tried to rip off his success.
Thrawn is probably the best trilogy of the Star Wars EU, but if Star Wars books aren't your thing I don't know how much it would do for you.
Kushiel is pretty wordy and focuses pretty heavily on the star-crossed lovers sort of thing in addition to the main plots. The first three are from rather a unique perspective, though, and all of them have BDSM themes (dunno if that's a plus or a minus for you).
Sword of Truth, as others have said, is garbage. I'll admit that I liked the first book, but I think I was partway through the third or fourth when I gave up in disgust.
The list got a little funny after the halfway point, but I agree that it seems to be more a measure of readership -- which is kind of lame for lists like that. If you read those kind of books, you've already hit most of the list. If you aren't interested in sci-fi or fantasy, you won't care about the list.
Still, some books I had added to my "to read" list now have Kindle versions available, and for under $5, so it was at least worthwhile to take a look for me!
Well I threw my votes in when they had it narrowed down to the finalists and you could vote for 10 out of this list and I know personally that there where a lot of books I hadn't read so my votes where limited among the ones I knew. So I'm guessing the more people reading a book gives it more chances for someone to go past it and think "yeah I liked that one."
I was happy to see Zelazny's chronicles of amber though. I loved those two series and bought the big bound volume when it came out. On the other hand no Delany made me sad. Then again I hadn't read the book they had for him so I couldn't vote there. (Nova is the only Delany I've read)
Ok, so I haven't been reading enough, hence not posting here enough.
I did just re-read The Hobbit though, partially in anticipation of the movie, and I'd been planning for a while since I read it a very long time ago. It was pretty great, I was amazed to see how influential its been to the genre of fantasy. There is the obvious stuff of course- a wizard organizes a band of heros (well, sorta) to go and steal treasure from a dragon. But there were several smaller things that stood out at me. Like Beorn the shape changer. Or Orcrist, the famous magical sword. Or the distinction between Wood Elves and High Elves. Just little things like this that have survived unchanged right up until today. I can pick up a random fantasy book off the shelf, or play some WoW to see just how long these ideas have lasted. A testament to Tolkein's imagination, to be sure.
I never did read LoTR, only most of the first book. Maybe its soon time.
I've got several non-fiction books on the go, though they go slowly. The Selfish Gene by Dawkins is very impressive, something interesting on every page. I'm also barely reading a book about the Six Day War, though that is very dense and extremely detailed, which makes it slow going.
I picked up a cool little book from a used book store. Its Kim, by Kipling. The book is bound with leather, with gilded pages. Beautiful symbols on the cover and the inner pages give away its age- printed in 1915. There is still a swastica on the cover, as it is a common symbol in buddism and other eastern philosophies/religions. Certainly dates it.
The Swastika motif is not unusual for pre Nazi Kipling books. I've seen a few times with older editions
Isn't it the other way around?
Here in Japan it's an everyday symbol for 'Temple'. About as common as a cross on maps signifying 'church' in the West.
Took me quite a while to get used to that, I can tell you.
Reverse of the Nazi version? Maybe, it has been a while since I've seen such.
The one on my book is the same as the Nazi kind. Very similar proportions as well, looks just like something you'd see on a banner from the 30s. Except that this one is next to an elephant.
You sure it's not reversed?
Yeah I just checked, same as the Nazi one.
And that top 100 books list is brutal. The fantasy I don't recognize, but many of the books on there seem to be there only because they were made into a movie. There is a sprinkling of actually classic books, but spread far and wide. I like how the Thrawn trillogy of Star Wars books is not only on the list, but higher than the Red Mars trilogy by Robinson.
So reading through the top 100 list I saw Flowers for Algernon and became confused, both because I could have sworn it was a short story and because the description involved brain surgery when I was fairly certain it was a drug. Further investigation reveals that my memory just sucks (well, partly; the short story confusion was based on the fact that I first read it in a book which collected a number of short stories and short novels with psychology themes and then had commentary on how they related to the actual science). But that is neither here nor there as all of this wondering about Flowers led me to recall a book/short story I read sometime in the last 20 years but no less than 12 years ago with a very vaguely similar theme (it may well have been in that same book). It involved a rat who had, via either drugs or surgery, become intelligent being placed in a large, complicated maze. I believe it was composed of tubes branching off in three dimensions and was set with traps. There were other intelligent rats, including a bully whose name may have been Napoleon (but may not have been, and indeed there may have been no Napoleon involved at all). I believe it ended with the smart mice effecting their own escape from the maze into a field outside the facility and inventing written language. Anyone have any idea what the hell I'm talking about? I've asked people about it before and never gotten an answer.
Regarding that NPR list of 100 books, I'm really surprised to see C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy on there but not The Chronicles of Narnia.
I've read in full 22 entries on that list. I need to get reading.
Eh. It's an internet poll list. It's got some cross-over with good stuff, but there's no overall rhyme or reason to the numbering or what's included and what's not. There's no compelling reason to try like half of what's on it.
So reading through the top 100 list I saw Flowers for Algernon and became confused, both because I could have sworn it was a short story and because the description involved brain surgery when I was fairly certain it was a drug. Further investigation reveals that my memory just sucks (well, partly; the short story confusion was based on the fact that I first read it in a book which collected a number of short stories and short novels with psychology themes and then had commentary on how they related to the actual science). But that is neither here nor there as all of this wondering about Flowers led me to recall a book/short story I read sometime in the last 20 years but no less than 12 years ago with a very vaguely similar theme (it may well have been in that same book). It involved a rat who had, via either drugs or surgery, become intelligent being placed in a large, complicated maze. I believe it was composed of tubes branching off in three dimensions and was set with traps. There were other intelligent rats, including a bully whose name may have been Napoleon (but may not have been, and indeed there may have been no Napoleon involved at all). I believe it ended with the smart mice effecting their own escape from the maze into a field outside the facility and inventing written language. Anyone have any idea what the hell I'm talking about? I've asked people about it before and never gotten an answer.
I don't know, but now I want to go watch the Secret of Nimh for some reason and read the Rats of Nimh
Pretty sure Flowers for Algernon was done as both short story and a novel. I know for sure I have the short story version in an early Hugo winners compilation, don't think I've read the novel version.
I'm currently reading When Worlds Collide filling a gap in my scifi exposure. Found it in a big box of old scifi and ufo paperbacks a friend bought at a garage sale for $5 just because he knew I liked the genre and it was cheap. There's a lot of cheesy looking stuff in there but there's also some classics and some with potential based on the authors. Actually, when I'm not on my phone I think I should come back and list some of the ones with promise to see if I can get suggestions on where to start.
I picked up Sandman Slim by Kadrey because several places mentioned this series as similar to Huston's Joe Pitt casebooks.
Yeah, nowhere near unfortunately.
I read Sandman Slim after seeing it recommended in Asimovs magazine about a year ago. Boy did they ever drop the ball with that one.
I enjoyed Sandman Slim. It's a terrible book, but I felt it was more terrible in the sense that it had no real redeeming qualities beyond being moderately entertaining than the sense that it was poorly written. It reminds me a lot of Simon R. Greene's better novels in that Kadrey seems to have had too many ideas to fit into a consistent narrative, so he just sort of ping-pongs between action scenes and descriptions of bizarre, frequently fucked up things. The sequel is significantly better in that there is an actual plot and characters other than the eponymous one appear for more than 10 pages at a time. Still not literature, but more of a pulp entertainment novel instead of a hodgepodge of everything Kadrey thought could potentially be cool.
I initially described the first book to a friend as being similar to a brainless action movie, but then I read Blood Oath by Farnsworth. It actually involves characters leaping into the air just as a building explodes behind them so that the force of the blast...whatever it is that movie writers think that does.
The fact that the Sandman Slim books are written in the present tense never ceases to bug me, though.
Finished the The Magician King as well. Definitely different in a lot of ways but still very satisfying. Although... the ending feels abrupt. Its a well done resolution that is complete and round and could be left without a sequel, but demands a sequel because it sort of emotionally chops you off at the knees.
I read Sandman Slim after seeing it recommended in Asimovs magazine about a year ago. Boy did they ever drop the ball with that one.
I enjoyed Sandman Slim. It's a terrible book, but I felt it was more terrible in the sense that it had no real redeeming qualities beyond being moderately entertaining than the sense that it was poorly written. It reminds me a lot of Simon R. Greene's better novels in that Kadrey seems to have had too many ideas to fit into a consistent narrative, so he just sort of ping-pongs between action scenes and descriptions of bizarre, frequently fucked up things. The sequel is significantly better in that there is an actual plot and characters other than the eponymous one appear for more than 10 pages at a time. Still not literature, but more of a pulp entertainment novel instead of a hodgepodge of everything Kadrey thought could potentially be cool.
I initially described the first book to a friend as being similar to a brainless action movie, but then I read Blood Oath by Farnsworth. It actually involves characters leaping into the air just as a building explodes behind them so that the force of the blast...whatever it is that movie writers think that does.
The fact that the Sandman Slim books are written in the present tense never ceases to bug me, though.
I think brainless action movie is pretty much a perfect description. I was looking for something light when I picked it up too, I had just finished reading the Baroque Cycle at the time but I didn't expect it to be quite that ... empty I guess. There's probably a better way to say it but I'm just getting into my morning coffee. Combined with the fact that it's easily the worst edited book on my Kindle as far as typos and puctuation errors and I was pretty pissed at having paid for it. I read a lot of the free public domain stuff on my Kindle so I have a fairly high tolerance for typos and such but Sandman Slim was in worse shape than the free stuff. I would definitely recommend anyone considering picking up the book going for the print version.
So as I mentioned up thread I've got a big old box of scifi and I'm seeking recommendations. I'm going to list the titles that I think have potential to be good and if anyone's read any of them and can point me to a good place to start that would be awesome. I'm also going to list off some of the ufology books that were in there just for fun. I don't plan on actually reading any of them. Spoilered for lengthy.
Potentials:
Vor - James Blish
Jack of Eagles - James Blish
A Life For the Stars - James Blish
The Villiage in the Treetops - Jules Verne
The Corridors of Time - Poul Anderson
Way Station - Clifford D Simak
Why Call Them Back From Heaven - Clifford D Simak
The Tower of Glass - Robert Silverberg
Master of Life and Death - Robert Silverberg
The Cosmic Rape - Theodore Sturgeon
The Wanderer - Fritz Leiber
Assignment in Eternity - Robert Heinlein
Ufology:
Flying Saucer Occupants - Coral and Jim Lorenzen
UFOs Over the Americas - Coral and Jim Lorenzen
Mysterious Fires and Lights - Vincent H Gaddis
The Truth About Flying Saucers - Aime Michel
The UFO Report - Irving A Greenfield
Secret of the Flying Saucers From Outer Space - Howard Menger
What We Really Know About Flying Saucers - Otto Binder
Flying Saucers Uncensored - Harold T Watkins
Flying Saucers: Hoax or Reality? - L Jerome Stanton
The Terror Above Us - Malcolm Kent
Finished the The Magician King as well. Definitely different in a lot of ways but still very satisfying. Although... the ending feels abrupt. Its a well done resolution that is complete and round and could be left without a sequel, but demands a sequel because it sort of emotionally chops you off at the knees.
I'm hating The Magicians because it is such a great concept and the author just wants it to be about self indulgent young adult ennui. There is also a lot of bait and switch where interesting magical things happen and go nowhere and we're back to internal dialogues and angst. The thing is, the concept is so great I'll finish it and start up The Magician King because I'm an idiot.
themightypuck on
“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
― Marcus Aurelius
Finished the The Magician King as well. Definitely different in a lot of ways but still very satisfying. Although... the ending feels abrupt. Its a well done resolution that is complete and round and could be left without a sequel, but demands a sequel because it sort of emotionally chops you off at the knees.
I'm hating The Magicians because it is such a great concept and the author just wants it to be about self indulgent young adult ennui. There is also a lot of bait and switch where interesting magical things happen and go nowhere and we're back to internal dialogues and angst. The thing is, the concept is so great I'll finish it and start up The Magician King because I'm an idiot.
Self-indulgent ennui is what it's all about.
It's about how unmagic magic is and how it won't fix your life.
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DynagripBreak me a million heartsHoustonRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Has anyone picked up Ready Player One? I downloaded the sample chapter and are curious to find out if it ever becomes more than just an excuse to cram in references that are supposed to excite me because I'm a nerd.
From that top 100 list, which is nicely popular and familiar, I haven't read The Dark Tower, Mistborn, Drizzt, Kushiel, Thrawn and Sword of Truth series', or Sunshine, Doomsday Book, Old Man's War, Last Unicorn or The Way of Kings.
I've read everything else there (I won't pretend I'm not showing off), though I gave up on a couple after giving them a good shake. One or two I've only read recently, due to the recommendations of the good people here (e.g. Bujold, Simmons).
So of the ones I've not read, are there any that anyone thinks 'You fool! Run to a shop and buy them immediately!'
Brandon Sanderson seems a little interesting...
Mistborn, definitely. Old Man's War is highly recommended. Way of Kings is also nice.
I didn't care much about the Dark Tower and that is despite reading most of King's works during my early teens.
Both Sanderson books are decent and if you like fantasy - no reason not to go ahead and read them.
Doomsday book is good, short, one of the best from Connie Willis and you should read it. If you like it, pretend that Blackout doesn't exist.
Sunshine is....interesting. I loved the world building, but I had troubles with the main heroine being wildly inconsistent(especially in her ability to think). I'd love it if McKinley revisits the world, but I don't believe she has that intention.
Kushiel I've read until book 4 and I'm honestly not sure why the fuck did I do it.
The Last Unicorn is a mood book. I think it's very easy read if you pick it up in the right moment. It's a fairy tale. With a Unicorn as the main protagonist. I liked it.
Old Man's War was OK. I think I liked it quiet a bit at the time, but my latest memory is of not enjoying the first 2 sequels so I'm a bit fuzzy on how good exactly it was.
Drizzt & Sword of Truth you can safely skip.(which isn't to say that one is as bad as the other)
I haven't read the Thrawn Trilogy.
Doomsday book is good, short, one of the best from Connie Willis and you should read it. If you like it, pretend that Blackout doesn't exist.
I liked Doomsday Book ok but her vision of the future is pretty embarrassing. We've got time travel but no cell phones. This book was published in 1992 and her future looks like the 1970s.
“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
― Marcus Aurelius
I'm now reading The Grapes of Wrath. Man is Steinbeck good. I also picked up some books, including Perido St Station, which I first read several years ago. It occured to me that despite China Mieville being one of my favorite authors, I don't own a single one of his books. I felt that had to be rectified, and it is time for me to read some more of his stuff. I'll re-read Station, then get on to Embassytown I think.
Skinner: Ah, "Diorama-Rama", my favorite school event next to "Hearing-
Test Thursday".
[he and Miss Hoover walk up to Nelson's diorama]
Hoover: "The Grapes of Wrath"? I don't get it.
Nelson: Here's the grapes...and here's the wrath!
[pounds grapes with a mallet, soaking Skinner and Miss Hoover]
[all the kids groan]
Skinner: [dismissive] Yes, yes, very good wrath.
From that top 100 list, which is nicely popular and familiar, I haven't read The Dark Tower, Mistborn, Drizzt, Kushiel, Thrawn and Sword of Truth series', or Sunshine, Doomsday Book, Old Man's War, Last Unicorn or The Way of Kings.
I've read everything else there (I won't pretend I'm not showing off), though I gave up on a couple after giving them a good shake. One or two I've only read recently, due to the recommendations of the good people here (e.g. Bujold, Simmons).
So of the ones I've not read, are there any that anyone thinks 'You fool! Run to a shop and buy them immediately!'
Brandon Sanderson seems a little interesting...
Mistborn, definitely. Old Man's War is highly recommended. Way of Kings is also nice.
Mistborn is good. Way of Kings is blah. Not terrible, but there is nothing interesting about the book and it's bloated to all hell.
From that top 100 list, which is nicely popular and familiar, I haven't read The Dark Tower, Mistborn, Drizzt, Kushiel, Thrawn and Sword of Truth series', or Sunshine, Doomsday Book, Old Man's War, Last Unicorn or The Way of Kings.
I've read everything else there (I won't pretend I'm not showing off), though I gave up on a couple after giving them a good shake. One or two I've only read recently, due to the recommendations of the good people here (e.g. Bujold, Simmons).
So of the ones I've not read, are there any that anyone thinks 'You fool! Run to a shop and buy them immediately!'
Brandon Sanderson seems a little interesting...
Mistborn, definitely. Old Man's War is highly recommended. Way of Kings is also nice.
Mistborn is good. Way of Kings is blah. Not terrible, but there is nothing interesting about the book and it's bloated to all hell.
I don't know. I read the Mistborn series but I never really got hooked - I couldn't really tell you why.
Way of Kings, on the other hand, I absolutely loved.
Just finished The Monster of Florence, what a great true-crime narrative, especially when the author and his collaborator get roped into the insanity that can be the Italian judicial system.
My elibrary just got The Magician King, and as I really enjoyed The Magicians (even though I wasn't sure how I felt about the ending) I'm looking forward to reading it.
Way of Kings is generic as all hell and bloated to high heaven. It's like standard Sanderson writing without anything interesting to spice it up like with some of his other stuff. It's boiler-plate epic fantasy.
And the bloat. God the bloat. So much book, so little happens.
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That was what I was thinking too. I was mildly surprised to see KSR's Red Mars trilogy near the bottom but King's Dark Tower series near the start, but I suspect the latter has a much wider readership
I've read everything else there (I won't pretend I'm not showing off), though I gave up on a couple after giving them a good shake. One or two I've only read recently, due to the recommendations of the good people here (e.g. Bujold, Simmons).
So of the ones I've not read, are there any that anyone thinks 'You fool! Run to a shop and buy them immediately!'
Brandon Sanderson seems a little interesting...
Never read the Sword of Truth books. Never.
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
And I'm not much on tie-ins like Drizzt or Thrawn.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
I found the second one to be a bit ropey and by the third the author was just writing a stream of consciousness until she hit the page count.
I really loved the first and bought the second and third immediately after finishing it. The second was okay, but the way it ended sort of killed any desire in me to read the third. It really just headed in a direction I wasn't interested in, and the plot started to seem a bit silly and contrived.
It was going OK and then it went completely and utterly insane. It's as if they weren't able to think of enough genre books and started filling with semi well known shit.
I felt much the same about the Hunger Games.
The Book Thief is apparently a children's novel which might explain why you thought it was lacking, but now you've had a bit more time to think on it, could you elaborate somewhat on what you felt was missing? I enjoyed it a lot, so I'm curious.
Just finished re-reading the His Dark Materials series, still love it. The Subtle Knife was a lot more heavy-handed about Pullman's message than I remember - impressive when you consider that it is literally a book about finding and overthrowing God's despotic regime - but for all that it didn't really get in the way of the story. Northern Lights also doesn't take as long to get going as I remember, it's pretty much great from the moment they hit the North.
Mistborn and The Way of Kings are both quite enjoyable, you should check Sanderson out.
Drizzt was derivative and predictable even when he was writing them, let alone now when tons of people have tried to rip off his success.
Thrawn is probably the best trilogy of the Star Wars EU, but if Star Wars books aren't your thing I don't know how much it would do for you.
Kushiel is pretty wordy and focuses pretty heavily on the star-crossed lovers sort of thing in addition to the main plots. The first three are from rather a unique perspective, though, and all of them have BDSM themes (dunno if that's a plus or a minus for you).
Sword of Truth, as others have said, is garbage. I'll admit that I liked the first book, but I think I was partway through the third or fourth when I gave up in disgust.
Still, some books I had added to my "to read" list now have Kindle versions available, and for under $5, so it was at least worthwhile to take a look for me!
I was happy to see Zelazny's chronicles of amber though. I loved those two series and bought the big bound volume when it came out. On the other hand no Delany made me sad. Then again I hadn't read the book they had for him so I couldn't vote there. (Nova is the only Delany I've read)
Yeah I just checked, same as the Nazi one.
And that top 100 books list is brutal. The fantasy I don't recognize, but many of the books on there seem to be there only because they were made into a movie. There is a sprinkling of actually classic books, but spread far and wide. I like how the Thrawn trillogy of Star Wars books is not only on the list, but higher than the Red Mars trilogy by Robinson.
I've read in full 22 entries on that list. I need to get reading.
Eh. It's an internet poll list. It's got some cross-over with good stuff, but there's no overall rhyme or reason to the numbering or what's included and what's not. There's no compelling reason to try like half of what's on it.
I don't know, but now I want to go watch the Secret of Nimh for some reason and read the Rats of Nimh
I'm currently reading When Worlds Collide filling a gap in my scifi exposure. Found it in a big box of old scifi and ufo paperbacks a friend bought at a garage sale for $5 just because he knew I liked the genre and it was cheap. There's a lot of cheesy looking stuff in there but there's also some classics and some with potential based on the authors. Actually, when I'm not on my phone I think I should come back and list some of the ones with promise to see if I can get suggestions on where to start.
Yeah, nowhere near unfortunately.
They said Potter was put on the DQ list because they're saving "the top 100 YA" for another poll.
I enjoyed Sandman Slim. It's a terrible book, but I felt it was more terrible in the sense that it had no real redeeming qualities beyond being moderately entertaining than the sense that it was poorly written. It reminds me a lot of Simon R. Greene's better novels in that Kadrey seems to have had too many ideas to fit into a consistent narrative, so he just sort of ping-pongs between action scenes and descriptions of bizarre, frequently fucked up things. The sequel is significantly better in that there is an actual plot and characters other than the eponymous one appear for more than 10 pages at a time. Still not literature, but more of a pulp entertainment novel instead of a hodgepodge of everything Kadrey thought could potentially be cool.
I initially described the first book to a friend as being similar to a brainless action movie, but then I read Blood Oath by Farnsworth. It actually involves characters leaping into the air just as a building explodes behind them so that the force of the blast...whatever it is that movie writers think that does.
The fact that the Sandman Slim books are written in the present tense never ceases to bug me, though.
I think brainless action movie is pretty much a perfect description. I was looking for something light when I picked it up too, I had just finished reading the Baroque Cycle at the time but I didn't expect it to be quite that ... empty I guess. There's probably a better way to say it but I'm just getting into my morning coffee. Combined with the fact that it's easily the worst edited book on my Kindle as far as typos and puctuation errors and I was pretty pissed at having paid for it. I read a lot of the free public domain stuff on my Kindle so I have a fairly high tolerance for typos and such but Sandman Slim was in worse shape than the free stuff. I would definitely recommend anyone considering picking up the book going for the print version.
So as I mentioned up thread I've got a big old box of scifi and I'm seeking recommendations. I'm going to list the titles that I think have potential to be good and if anyone's read any of them and can point me to a good place to start that would be awesome. I'm also going to list off some of the ufology books that were in there just for fun. I don't plan on actually reading any of them. Spoilered for lengthy.
Vor - James Blish
Jack of Eagles - James Blish
A Life For the Stars - James Blish
The Villiage in the Treetops - Jules Verne
The Corridors of Time - Poul Anderson
Way Station - Clifford D Simak
Why Call Them Back From Heaven - Clifford D Simak
The Tower of Glass - Robert Silverberg
Master of Life and Death - Robert Silverberg
The Cosmic Rape - Theodore Sturgeon
The Wanderer - Fritz Leiber
Assignment in Eternity - Robert Heinlein
Ufology:
Flying Saucer Occupants - Coral and Jim Lorenzen
UFOs Over the Americas - Coral and Jim Lorenzen
Mysterious Fires and Lights - Vincent H Gaddis
The Truth About Flying Saucers - Aime Michel
The UFO Report - Irving A Greenfield
Secret of the Flying Saucers From Outer Space - Howard Menger
What We Really Know About Flying Saucers - Otto Binder
Flying Saucers Uncensored - Harold T Watkins
Flying Saucers: Hoax or Reality? - L Jerome Stanton
The Terror Above Us - Malcolm Kent
And my favorite cheesy cover from the box:
I'm hating The Magicians because it is such a great concept and the author just wants it to be about self indulgent young adult ennui. There is also a lot of bait and switch where interesting magical things happen and go nowhere and we're back to internal dialogues and angst. The thing is, the concept is so great I'll finish it and start up The Magician King because I'm an idiot.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
Self-indulgent ennui is what it's all about.
It's about how unmagic magic is and how it won't fix your life.
damn it, i was just thinking about getting a Stross book
edit: guess i'll read sample chapters and whatnot
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Mistborn, definitely. Old Man's War is highly recommended. Way of Kings is also nice.
Both Sanderson books are decent and if you like fantasy - no reason not to go ahead and read them.
Doomsday book is good, short, one of the best from Connie Willis and you should read it. If you like it, pretend that Blackout doesn't exist.
Sunshine is....interesting. I loved the world building, but I had troubles with the main heroine being wildly inconsistent(especially in her ability to think). I'd love it if McKinley revisits the world, but I don't believe she has that intention.
Kushiel I've read until book 4 and I'm honestly not sure why the fuck did I do it.
The Last Unicorn is a mood book. I think it's very easy read if you pick it up in the right moment. It's a fairy tale. With a Unicorn as the main protagonist. I liked it.
Old Man's War was OK. I think I liked it quiet a bit at the time, but my latest memory is of not enjoying the first 2 sequels so I'm a bit fuzzy on how good exactly it was.
Drizzt & Sword of Truth you can safely skip.(which isn't to say that one is as bad as the other)
I haven't read the Thrawn Trilogy.
I liked Doomsday Book ok but her vision of the future is pretty embarrassing. We've got time travel but no cell phones. This book was published in 1992 and her future looks like the 1970s.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
Mistborn is good. Way of Kings is blah. Not terrible, but there is nothing interesting about the book and it's bloated to all hell.
I don't know. I read the Mistborn series but I never really got hooked - I couldn't really tell you why.
Way of Kings, on the other hand, I absolutely loved.
My elibrary just got The Magician King, and as I really enjoyed The Magicians (even though I wasn't sure how I felt about the ending) I'm looking forward to reading it.
And the bloat. God the bloat. So much book, so little happens.