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[lt519]

What book would you recommend to start at with Scalzi? I see him on Twitter a bunch and have been meaning to give his books a try.

Definitely start with the Old Man's War series. Books 1-3 are a trilogy and Book 4 is a different point of view. Books 5 and 6 are different stories altogether that wrap up the universe but you could stop at 3 and be satisfied with the conclusion. You could probably even stop after Old Man's War and be pretty satisfied.

Android's Dream, Redshirts, and Agent of the Stars are one offs and are just OK. Less serious books more along the lines of a Hitchhikers.

I've read A LOT of military space opera's this year and his has been the best. Kloos is a pretty close second but I'd recommend Hadleman's The Forever War or John Steakley's Armor as a one off Sci-Fi's before Kloos. Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey is a super short read and really fun but surprisingly deep look on PTSD through Sci-Fi eyes.

Here's my list for the year http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=146111653&postcount=202

A lot of factory interiors and hallways with metal grid flooring and light shining up from underneath.

Haha my expectations are super super low. The book lacked character development so it may not translate to a show well but the action and mystery would look good. But the main character from Hung is in it so it can still be redeemed.

 

[MedicUnderFire]

I'm only about 20% into it, but enjoying it so far. Very different from John dies at the end, but still has that recognizable David Wong style to it.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

*ctrl f Harry Potter*

Phrase not found

WAT!!?!?!

Doesn't surprise me at all frankly, I've always found HP overrated personally.

 

[sparky2112]

Borrowed from Amazon, these quotes pretty much reflect my experience thus far with Danielewski's new work:

PRAISE FOR THE FAMILIAR, VOLUME 2:

“Now we have Volume 2 (Chapter 2, really) and it is somehow, remarkably, amazingly, almost impossibly better. . . . I have never worried so much for a character as I did for [Xanther] in the final pages and, honest to God, I'm not even entirely sure what happened. Or to whom. Or how. But maybe Volume 3 will make it clear. Only six more months to wait. That ought to be just about enough time to recover, I figure, before The Familiar crawls into my lap and blows my mind all over again.” —Jason Sheehan, NPR Books

“The series at times recalls Ulysses, Infinite Jest, and Cloud Atlas in its complexity, structure, and echoing parallel narratives . . . The literary world is stronger for having boundary pushers like Danielewski.” —Ryan Vlastelica, The A.V. Club

“Volume 2 reads like a graphic novel with very few pictures, though the images are critical. The wide array of plotlines create disparate parts that are slowly converging, encoded as a codex, the decoding of which—what we loosely call reading—renders an open-ended experience. Highly recommended for the intrepid reader.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“Readers with an interest in the latest in literary experimentalism will thrill at Danielewski’s approach.” —Kirkus Reviews

 

[ClosingADoor]

Just started on this one: Halo: Shadow of Intent. I like most Halo books just fine. Doesn't seem any better or worse for now, it's fun to read a bit more about the Elites.

 

[aidan]

[blatantselfpromo]

GAF! You can currently get my collection of short stories, Tide of Shadows and Other Stories, for free! I've done this to celebrate a wonderful 2015, which saw me debut as an author, and to thank communities like this one for all of their support. Seriously, the writing thread on GAF is a lifesaver for any aspiring writer.

About the book

From Aidan Moher—Hugo Award-winning editor of A Dribble of Ink—comes Tide of Shadows and Other Stories, a collection of five science fiction and fantasy stories spanning adventure, comic whimsy, and powerful drama—from a star-faring military science fiction tale of love and sacrifice, to a romp through the dragon-infested Kingdom of Copperkettle Vale.

“A Night for Spirits and Snowflakes” is the story of a young man reliving the last moments of his fellow soldiers’ lives; “The Girl with Wings of Iron and Down” tells the tale of a broken family and a girl with mechanical wings; “Of Parnassus and Princes, Damsels and Dragons” introduces a typical prince, princess, and dragon—and a not-so-typical love triangle; “The Colour of the Sky on the Day the World Ended” follows a girl and her ghost dog as they search for a bright light in the darkness; and “Tide of Shadows” is about a soldier and his lover, a mother, and planetwide genocide.

Reviews

One of the "May Science Fiction And Fantasy Books Everyone Will Be Talking About." - io9

"Each of the stories is like a little clock: beautifully crafted, intricate, distinctively handmade, with a dozen tiny complications in its inner workings. The range is unreal: space stations, angel wings, fairytale dragons, ancient shadow monsters...all unconnected, and yet it feels like it's all part of a bigger whole. It's exquisite." - Rob Boffard, author of Tracer

"The greatest strengths of this delightful collection lie in its variety and scope. There are only five stories, but Moher makes the most of them, moving easily between rhetorical modes, narrative structures, and invented voices." - Brian Staveley, author of The Emperor's Blades

"Offering a little something for everyone, Tide of Shadows and Other Stories is a collection of tales that know precisely how to engage the reader, and exactly how to find a climax without overstaying their welcome." - Beauty in Ruins

"A brilliant piece of writing, beautiful and surreal." - We the Nerdy​

Get Tide of Shadows and Other Stories on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iTunes.

(Unfortunately, Amazon has been dragging their heels in price matching the other stores, so I've set the price there to $0.99 (the lowest possible), and I'll be donating all proceeds from sales to Room to Read, a terrific charity dedicated to youth education and literacy.)

[/blatantselfpromo]

 

[Number45]

^^ 99p on Amazon UK as well.

EDIT: Purchased.

 

[RepairmanJack]

Revival by Stephen King

So far I'm about 2/3's the way through right now and I'm loving it.

It seems weird that I'm really enjoying all of the newer stuff I'm reading from King, but most the older stuff I didn't really care for.

How's Joyland regarded? The mentions of it in Revival has made me think I should check it out.

 

[Quote]

[blatantselfpromo]
[/blatantselfpromo]

[blatantlypurchased] from Amazon, excited to give it a read!

 

[sparky2112]

Bought.

 

[Lucumo]

(Cover artwork omitted because it's all unbelievably bad or spoilery - so are all the blurbs on the internet)

That's actually reason enough for me to not buy a book. There are plenty alternatives.

Doesn't surprise me at all frankly, I've always found HP overrated personally.

Having grown up with the series, I agree. The first book was awesome as a kid but as you got older, the books got worse (subjectively). In the end, the last one took me 2-3 years until I finally read it. The series is ok in itself but one has to understand that it was made for children.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

That's actually reason enough for me to not buy a book. There are plenty alternatives.


Having grown up with the series, I agree. The first book was awesome as a kid but as you got older, the books got worse (subjectively). In the end, the last one took me 2-3 years until I finally read it. The series is ok in itself but one has to understand that it was made for children.

I should clarify its just the covers that I could find on google images. The library copy I have has a striking cover, simple but it works. The kindle version's cover isn't bad either.

I can't imagine passing up a sci-fi book for a bad cover. You'd miss out on Vorkosigan, for one.

 

[Lucumo]

I should clarify its just the covers that I could find on google images. The library copy I have has a striking cover, simple but it works. The kindle version's cover isn't bad either.

I can't imagine passing up a sci-fi book for a bad cover. You'd miss out on Vorkosigan, for one.

Well, sci-fi books are of a special kind. They are often old-bad (cringeworthy) but not bad-bad.

 

[Ashes]

Say, Do android's dreams of electric sheep? I guess I am about to find out.

 

[X-Frame]

Just started on this one: Halo: Shadow of Intent. I like most Halo books just fine. Doesn't seem any better or worse for now, it's fun to read a bit more about the Elites.

Did you ever read the Glasslands one? I found the Onyx one with the other Spartans stranded on that planet or whatever to be really interesting.

As far as I know, Glasslands is the only sequel to Onyx, is that true?

 

[koopathecat]

Revival by Stephen King

So far I'm about 2/3's the way through right now and I'm loving it.

It seems weird that I'm really enjoying all of the newer stuff I'm reading from King, but most the older stuff I didn't really care for.

How's Joyland regarded? The mentions of it in Revival has made me think I should check it out.

Considering some of his modern books have not been all that great, Joyland is a wonderful novel. What you could call "classic King" its not that long either and well worth a read

 

[ClosingADoor]

Did you ever read the Glasslands one? I found the Onyx one with the other Spartans stranded on that planet or whatever to be really interesting.

As far as I know, Glasslands is the only sequel to Onyx, is that true?

Read them all except the last two Forerunner ones. Didn't find those interesting.

Ghosts of Onyx is a standalone novel, so no real sequel. Glasslands is the start of a trilogy of books (Kilo-5 trilogy) that was pretty good. It deals with spy stuff after the Covenant war is over (so after Halo 3). I would recommend those books if you want to pick some Halo novels.

The recent Last Light does include some characters from Onyx, but was a bit of a boring read.

 

[Mumei]

BBC have polled 81 NON-UK critics about the greatest british books of all time.

#1 is a solid consensus choice coincidentally discussed on the last page of this very thread,

and personally I'm THRILLED that the critical consensus has developed to the point where
my personal GOAT Villette is in the top 30.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/bo...ime-international-critics-top-100-middlemarch

This is no surprise to me, but I'm woefully under-read on that list:

79. His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman, 1995-2000)
55. Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift, 1726)
32. A Room with a View (EM Forster, 1908)
26. The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien, 1954)
20. Persuasion (Jane Austen, 1817)
16. The Waves (Virginia Woolf, 1931)
12. Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell, 1949)
11. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen, 1813)
9. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)
5. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë, 1847)
4. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens, 1861)
3. Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf, 1925)

And speaking of articles in The Guardian about books, did you see this? What do you think?

 

[fakefaker]

[blatantlyaddedtogoodreadsandwillbuywheniupdatemyccinfoonamazon]

 

[Number45]

I've read this before so I don't know why I'm just now having this epiphany, but I just wanted to state that Victor Frankenstein is a dick.

 

[Maklershed]

FYI - The Blade Itself for kindle is $1.99 today. Great book/series. If you like action packed fantasy, I can't recommend it enough.


The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

 

[Peru]

This is no surprise to me, but I'm woefully under-read on that list:

79. His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman, 1995-2000)
55. Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift, 1726)
32. A Room with a View (EM Forster, 1908)
26. The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien, 1954)
20. Persuasion (Jane Austen, 1817)
16. The Waves (Virginia Woolf, 1931)
12. Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell, 1949)
11. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen, 1813)
9. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)
5. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë, 1847)
4. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens, 1861)
3. Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf, 1925)

And speaking of articles in The Guardian about books, did you see this? What do you think?

I like the examples in that article. Nothing she says rings false. Unfortunately they're still easy to come by. I've read reviews of Ferrante bringing up the 'womanly' nature of it - one particularly baffling one going "yes I was captivated by it, but I wonder if it's not "just" chick lit" - an accusation I've certainly not seen Knausgård being confronted with. Gendered reading from professional critics should be left behind in previous centuries.

It's nice that the list I quoted corrects the balance, somewhat, with a near 50/50 male female author split, compared to many brit critic ones ('Are Britain's best writers women?').

It's sad, though, isn't it, that authors still assume gender neutral names or face prejudices about how "guys don't read female writers". It's astonishing that Charlotte Brontë's simple demand from 1849 still seems like utopia:

" To such critics I would say, 'To you I am neither man nor woman – I come before you as an author only.
It is the sole standard by which you have a right to judge me – the sole ground on which I accept your judgement.”

 

[AngmarsKing701]

FYI - The Blade Itself for kindle is $1.99 today. Great book/series. If you like action packed fantasy, I can't recommend it enough.


The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

I'll second that recommendation. Great series. I have the trade ppb and they are coming apart at the seams. I think I'll at least pick up the 1st book at the $2 price point, but may wait until I re-read the series before grabbing the others.

 

[Mackenzie 92]

Wonder what Abercrombie is up to these days. Never was able to get into that YA series he was doing.

 

[Cyan]

Wonder what Abercrombie is up to these days. Never was able to get into that YA series he was doing.

A compilation of short stories set in the First Law world. Should come out early next year.

 

[RepairmanJack]

Revival by Stephen King

So far I'm about 2/3's the way through right now and I'm loving it.

It seems weird that I'm really enjoying all of the newer stuff I'm reading from King, but most the older stuff I didn't really care for.

How's Joyland regarded? The mentions of it in Revival has made me think I should check it out.

Finished this.

Shit, that was an ending. Definitely enjoyed it, though I had a couple complaints. I think the ending or epilogue went on a little too long.

Spoiler

I get wanting to convey that he's still carrying something with him and about the suicides but beyond that it just seemed tedious. I also thought the thinking behind him being "the key" was kind of lacking and more just a reason to have him there in the end.

 

[LordAmused]

It's Pynchon december for me! Last year, I read Gravity's rainbow in december. It was one of the strangest ride I've ever had...

Now this year, we are going for Against the Day. 95 pages in so far and it feels just like Pynchon: varied characters, dark intelligent humor, long descriptions and a tad bit of fantasy/magic. I'm loving it.

Spoiler

Done with Against the Day. It's your typical Pynchon novel: Scientific terms, more than a hundred of characters. An epic story around one thing: electricity. A bit long though, sitting at almost 1150 pages.

Now I am moving on to Watership Down, from Richard Adams. I love adventure books + animals. Already 50 pages in and I'm hooked!

 

[Cade]

That cover is so amusingly cute for that book.

EDIT: I finished Ghosts of Ophidian. It was fine, but it had better ideas than it had writing and it had the most lackluster ending ever. I'm gonna keep reading Cloud Atlas now I think.

 

[RepairmanJack]

A day later and Revival's ending is still sticking with me. Shit that was just bleak, I've now changed my opinion on the epilogue it makes all that sink in just that much more.

I really hope King goes further down this road. Any more of his recent work really good? Coming from someone who really liked this and 11/22/63 but really hated Duma Key?

 

[SolarMystic]

Guys, don't read Terry Goodkind after his initial series.

Reading The Omen Machine. Ugh, it's so terribly boring. I don't mean there's no action, but that almost literally nothing has happened so far in the first half. People who say Terry Goodkind lost his writing ability towards the end of The Sword of Truth are NOT kidding.

 

[Maklershed]

Finished Thunderbird. I really enjoyed the exploration parts, particularly

Spoiler

Brimstone .. I wish they spent more time there

but overall the ending left me disappointed. It was abrupt and didn't provide closure to any of the story lines. I hope there's a third book planned. Now back to the world of Harry Bosch with book 5 - Trunk Music.


Trunk Music by Michael Connelly

 

[Kuraudo]

A day later and Revival's ending is still sticking with me. Shit that was just bleak, I've now changed my opinion on the epilogue it makes all that sink in just that much more.

I really hope King goes further down this road. Any more of his recent work really good? Coming from someone who really liked this and 11/22/63 but really hated Duma Key?

I think 11.22.63 and Revival are probably King's best works of the last decade. I enjoy most of his work, but his prolificness tends to work against the quality - I find every three or four years he puts out one or two truly great works before putting out several enjoyable but largely forgettable books.

I'd recommend taking a look at Finders Keepers, which I thought was an excellent novel, but which comes with the caveat that it's the followup to Mr Mercedes which I thought was one of King's worst novels with almost nothing of value. It is mainly a standalone novel and can be enjoyed that way, but if you haven't read the previous novel there will be some character points and subplots that don't really make sense.

 

[brawly]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (6th book).

Been breezing through it after struggling through the behemoth that was book 5.
It might just be my favorite in the entire series, edging out book 3. 70 pages to go.

 

[omgkitty]

25OFFBOOK - 25% off any book at Amazon.

 

[LProtag]

What an absolutely mind-blowing trilogy. A superbly crafted universe that feels sufficient futuristic and alien, while at the same time being completely accessible as you need it to be if you are willing to work at it. It delves deep into so many high-level concepts including mathematics, theoretical physics, the nature of the self and community, while telling a beautiful, thought-provoking story that is entirely wrapped up by the end. I cannot sing this trilogy's praises enough. It's almost absurd that this represents the author's first 3 novels. I can't wait to see more from him.

I'm a bit at a loss of what to read next.

Damn, this seems interesting. And with that 25% off Amazon coupon... might have to pick the first one up.

 

[Narag]

Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

Feel like posting again rather than just lurking like I usually do. Been going through the Chandler Marlowe stuff in order since The Long Goodbye was on that books to read before you die list and I'm really looking forward to it after the first two. I'd never really given detective fiction a fair shake and it's just sort of mind-boggling how often I've encountered this sort of thing in urban fantasy yet with a fraction of the refinement of the Marlowe stuff. I'm unsure if that's an indictment of the writing ability of urban fantasy authors or if adherence to plot in what I've read of the genre undermines character work.

 

[Ashes]

Now I am moving on to Watership Down, from Richard Adams. I love adventure books + animals. Already 50 pages in and I'm hooked!

Nice.

---


Finished with 'Do Androids Dream of electric sheep?'. A sci-fi classic worthy of being the book behind Bladerunner.

Onto Darkness Under the Sun.

 

[AtomnayaKlubnika]

What an absolutely mind-blowing trilogy. A superbly crafted universe that feels sufficient futuristic and alien, while at the same time being completely accessible as you need it to be if you are willing to work at it. It delves deep into so many high-level concepts including mathematics, theoretical physics, the nature of the self and community, while telling a beautiful, thought-provoking story that is entirely wrapped up by the end. I cannot sing this trilogy's praises enough. It's almost absurd that this represents the author's first 3 novels. I can't wait to see more from him.

I like challenging science in sci-fi, but how much challenging is it?

 

[RepairmanJack]

Needed an Audiobook quick today and almost everything I wanted to read or was suggested was checked out. So I grabbed The Fifth Heart by Dan Simmons.

Something about Sherlock finding out he's a fictional character just sounds too awesome. I was wanting to get Drood or The Fall of Hyperion, but this one was in instead.

 

[nailbombxx]

Finally finished Blood Meridian. That was definitely an extraordinary piece of work. Now for a something a bit more lighthearted?

I was able to get a hold of this big (containing 200 tales) beautiful book for a steal, and it is wonderful. I like what I've read of Calvino's own work, so it is interesting to read his retellings of traditional folktales (albeit in translation). As you can expect, these Italian folktales are often variants of other classic folktales that we are all familiar with, but there are still plenty more that are unique. They are often wildly absurd, comical and gruesome. Fun stuff.

 

[kswiston]

I finished the Sixth Extinction a couple of days ago. It's a really interesting look at human caused extinctions (and extinction in general) over the past few thousand years. If that is a topic of interest for you, I'd recommend picking the book up.


I started City of Stairs yesterday. I'm not very far into the book (10-15%), but it has my interest so far.

 

[TTG]

I like challenging science in sci-fi, but how much challenging is it?

You may have to reread a couple of paragraphs in the first scene, there's a lot of elements packed into that introduction, the rest of the first book is fine. The second book had a couple of things that I didn't get a firm grasp on until it was almost over, but at that point I was so invested that it didn't much matter.

It's not challenging in the way Gibson or PKD can be. Stuff is just a little hectic right at the beginning.

 

[Cade]

Well because I'm an idiot I started Children of Men as well. Having loved the movie and then subsequently having read the book's plot and finding it worse than the movie's, I wasn't too keen on reading the book. But now I'm a few pages in and the writing is fantastic. Soooo...

 

[Nuke Soda]

I'm only about 20% into it, but enjoying it so far. Very different from John dies at the end, but still has that recognizable David Wong style to it.

I keep forgetting this came out.

 

[The Doc]

 

[xxracerxx]

Oh man...The Part about the Crimes sends shivers down my spine.

 

[The Doc]

Oh man...The Part about the Crimes sends shivers down my spine.

I'm on the part about amalfitano right now. Speaking of latin american novelists, i enjoyed also hopscotch (cortazar) and paradiso (lezama lima). Especially the second one.

 

[LProtag]

Needed an Audiobook quick today and almost everything I wanted to read or was suggested was checked out. So I grabbed The Fifth Heart by Dan Simmons.

Something about Sherlock finding out he's a fictional character just sounds too awesome. I was wanting to get Drood or The Fall of Hyperion, but this one was in instead.

I've read the Hyperion Cantos and loved it. I've heard his other stuff just isn't as good. Though, I did pick up Ilium and Olympos and have been meaning to read them at some point.

How is this one?

 

[Jintor]

i finished a book of vonnegut essays. i liked it, but i'm not nearly aware enough of the literary world of the late 80s-90s to really fully get it. and i also haven't read nearly enough of his work.

i'm thinking neuromancer next, since i'm running a cyberpunk tabletop game atm and i haven't read it, which feels vaguely sinful

 

[Maklershed]

I've read the Hyperion Cantos and loved it. I've heard his other stuff just isn't as good. Though, I did pick up Ilium and Olympos and have been meaning to read them at some point.

How is this one?

I know I wasn't asked but I'll answer. It's ok and fun but not nearly as good as Drood. So if you haven't read Drood, I'd recommend you do that before reading this.