What Are You Reading?

daUbiq

Nody wrote: »

Dune and The Foundation trilogy (or most things Asimov) should get you started. Then you have things as Ubik etc. by Philip K. Dick or more modern such as The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein.

I finished Ringworld; really enjoyed it. I've started The Moon is a Harsh Mistress so please recommend another sci-fi or fantasy classic for me to read after that.

I've already read the Dune series, the Foundation series and Iain M. Banks culture novels and many more whose names elude me right now..

TwoShedsJackson

Reading 'The Martian' and have to say was worried in the first few pages with all the tech/chemistry stuff if it was going to go on like that.

Now about 60% through and have to say this is one of the most interesting thrillers I've ever read - I really hope he doesn't screw up the end.

Nody

daUbiq wrote: »

I finished Ringworld; really enjoyed it. I've started The Moon is a Harsh Mistress so please recommend another sci-fi or fantasy classic for me to read after that.

I've already read the Dune series, the Foundation series and Iain M. Banks culture novels and many more whose names elude me right now..

The Diamond Age, The Uplift War, 1984, Stranger in Strange Lands, A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Forever War, Snow Crash, The Stars My Destination, Old Man's War, Flower for Algernon, The three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Starship Troopers, Cat's Cradle.

I'll have more but those are the ones I found directly on my mp3 player (and it's a very odd mix of books) :P

daUbiq

Nody wrote: »

The Diamond Age, The Uplift War, 1984, Stranger in Strange Lands, A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Forever War, Snow Crash, The Stars My Destination, Old Man's War, Flower for Algernon, The three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Starship Troopers, Cat's Cradle.

I'll have more but those are the ones I found directly on my mp3 player (and it's a very odd mix of books) :P

I've read most of those but not The Diamond Age, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Snow Crash or Cat's Cradle... Is the Uplift war by David Brin? Sure, I'll look it up..
Thanks!

Nody

daUbiq wrote: »

I've read most of those but not The Diamond Age, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Snow Crash or Cat's Cradle... Is the Uplift war by David Brin? Sure, I'll look it up..
Thanks!

Yes it is; and here's a few more for you to check

Hyperion
Brave New World
The Time Machine
The Mote in God's Eye
The Man in the High Castle
Gateway (F. Pohl)
Lord of LIght (R. Zlazny)
Solaris (L. Stanislaw)
Contact (C. Sagan)
The Andromeda Strain
Cryptonomicon
The Player of Games
Lucifer's Hammer
Sphere
Ilium
The Postman
The Puppet Masters
Out of the Silent Planet
Flatland
The Chrysalids

Trojan

Finished Magician's End.

/RIFTWAR

daUbiq

Nody wrote: »

Yes it is; and here's a few more for you to check

Hyperion
Brave New World
The Time Machine
The Mote in God's Eye
The Man in the High Castle
Gateway (F. Pohl)
Lord of LIght (R. Zlazny)
Solaris (L. Stanislaw)
Contact (C. Sagan)
The Andromeda Strain
Cryptonomicon
The Player of Games
Lucifer's Hammer
Sphere
Ilium
The Postman
The Puppet Masters
Out of the Silent Planet
Flatland
The Chrysalids

Cheers - I've read a few of those you've listed but not:

The Postman
The Puppet Masters
Out of the Silent Planet
Solaris (L. Stanislaw)
Contact (C. Sagan)
Flatland
Sphere

I'll let you know how I get on - I'm about a quarter of the way through Moon is a Harsh Mistress - I'm enjoying it and finding it quite funny actually so far!!

Thargor

Thargor wrote: »

Really not enjoying this Black Prism series with the colour-based magic from Brent Weeks, nowhere near as much as the Durzo Blint stuff anyway, seems to have been a major nose dive in quality between the two series. Also the world is blander than bland, you get the names of a couple of towns with forest in between, nothing to distinguish them from a million other fantasy towns.

Take it all back, couldnt put them down once I got into the second book, good series

Dades

daUbiq wrote: »

The Postman
The Puppet Masters
Out of the Silent Planet
Solaris (L. Stanislaw)
Contact (C. Sagan)
Flatland
Sphere

I've read and enjoyed many of the books you have already, and Contact is still one of my favourite SF books ever. Get it! Sphere is one of Michael Crichton's better books, too.

If it hasn't been mentioned, Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke is a must-read.

OwaynOTT

Finished Neuromancer by Gibson and wasn't overly impressed by it but maybe I had to high expectations.
Obviously it was a trailblazing novel for its time but it feels a bit unorignal when its read today, thanks to everything it has influenced in the years since its publication.
Still a enjoyable enough novel and my first book down in my quest to read 84 books from 1984 this year.

Currently reading Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, another book published in 1984 and his first to be released if I'm not mistaken.
Half way thorugh it and I haven't read anything like it before and it holds up much better than Neuromancer, so far.

Next up is David Gemmell's Legend, again first released in 1984, and it will be my first book by that author. Looking forward to it.

Some good fantasy books released in 1984 or highly influential ones with The Black Company and Dragonlance Chronicles both getting the series released in that year.

Buford T. Justice XIX

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Finished Neuromancer by Gibson and wasn't overly impressed by it but maybe I had to high expectations.
Obviously it was a trailblazing novel for its time but it feels a bit unorignal when its read today, thanks to everything it has influenced in the years since its publication.
Still a enjoyable enough novel and my first book down in my quest to read 84 books from 1984 this year.

Currently reading Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, another book published in 1984 and his first to be released if I'm not mistaken.
Half way thorugh it and I haven't read anything like it before and it holds up much better than Neuromancer, so far.

Next up is David Gemmell's Legend, again first released in 1984, and it will be my first book by that author. Looking forward to it.

Some good fantasy books released in 1984 or highly influential ones with The Black Company and Dragonlance Chronicles both getting the series released in that year.

Legend was one of the first fantasy novels i read and i still read it about once every 2 years or so. It's one of the best stand-alone novels i have come across.

Enjoy!

Nody

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Legend was one of the first fantasy novels i read and i still read it about once every 2 years or so. It's one of the best stand-alone novels i have come across.

Enjoy!

Gemmel in general holds up quite well; it gets especially interesting as you get far enough in that you'll hear people talk about the battle at X or legend Y and what they did etc. and it's usually available in another book telling the actual story.

Ste_JDM

Currently reading Brave New World

Trojan

I'm reading "Ren of Atikala - Kobolds Book 1" by David Adams.

(This book was part of that EPIC multipack that I gave up on, I left an Amazon review and Adams left a very reasonable reply so I figured it was worth giving his one a look again.)

About a third in and enjoying it so far. Seems fairly well written and it interesting to read from the kobold perspective as they usually get far less of a look in than their bigger evil counterparts like orcs or even goblins.

Paddy Samurai

daUbiq wrote: »

I finished Ringworld; really enjoyed it. I've started The Moon is a Harsh Mistress so please recommend another sci-fi or fantasy classic for me to read after that.

You could try Stinger by Robert Mccammon.I read it about 15 years ago and still think of it from time to time with a view to rereading it.
Hopefully some day soon .

Two aliens arrive in a remote Texas town, one an engaging waif, pursued by the other, a relentless bounty-hunter sent to bring her back. The townsfolk rally around the fugitive, but STINGER, the bounty-hunter, covers the town with a force field.

Nody

Listening to Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw (Zero Punctuation); honestly it's brilliant as audio book due to Yahtzee's superb voice acting (esp. if you know Zero Punctuation reviews).

Thargor

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

You could try Stinger by Robert Mccammon.I read it about 15 years ago and still think of it from time to time with a view to rereading it.
Hopefully some day soon .

Thanks for the tip, Stinger sounds good on Goodreads.

Nody wrote: »

Listening to Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw (Zero Punctuation); honestly it's brilliant as audio book due to Yahtzee's superb voice acting (esp. if you know Zero Punctuation reviews).

Thanks for this, never heard of it and I love ZP.

OptimusTractor

finally finish Game of Thrones last night. A bit boring don't know if I'll continue with the series.

ixoy

10% into "Seal of the Worm" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, the tenth and final book in his Shadows of the Apt series. Picks up straight after the final book and looks like it's going to tie in a lot of the various plot strands nicely. Good series and looking forward to seeing it end well.

Dan_Solo

ixoy wrote: »

10% into "Seal of the Worm" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, the tenth and final book in his Shadows of the Apt series. Picks up straight after the final book and looks like it's going to tie in a lot of the various plot strands nicely. Good series and looking forward to seeing it end well.

I'v been having trouble getting into any 10 book style fantasy series lately. Some of the opening installments have been OK but never good enough to make me want to invest a year or two of my life to the rest.

Dades

OptimusTractor wrote: »

finally finish Game of Thrones last night. A bit boring don't know if I'll continue with the series.

Books two and three really amp up the action. Though it's a big commitment if it hasn't really grabbed you.

david75

i'm reading The name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss..i'm about 2/3rds the way through but the main character is becoming unbearable..

Bits_n_Bobs

david75 wrote: »

i'm reading The name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss..i'm about 2/3rds the way through but the main character is becoming unbearable..

Re-read it last week and currently reading / struggling with...) the sequel Wise Mans Fear.

The superman levels of intelligence, musac skillz and McGyver magix invention mixed with overwhelming levels of arrogance is more than irritating the ass off me. It is well written and zips along but it doesn't warrant the monstrous levels of acclaim it gets.

keane2097

Kvothe is a Mary Sue if ever there was one. Enjoyable yarn all the same though.

Sleepy

Finally starting Tower Lord after a re-read of Blood Song.

keane2097

Sleepy wrote: »

Finally starting Tower Lord after a re-read of Blood Song.

What's the general consensus on whether that's worth a read or not? Remember a lot of people not liking it at first...

mcgovern

keane2097 wrote: »

What's the general consensus on whether that's worth a read or not? Remember a lot of people not liking it at first...

Not near as good as Blood Song, but still worth a read imo.

Dades

keane2097 wrote: »

What's the general consensus on whether that's worth a read or not? Remember a lot of people not liking it at first...

Takes a loooong time to kick off but when it does it's worth the wait, imo.

titan18

Trojan wrote: »

Finished "Fool's Assassin" - book 1 of new Farseer trilogy from Robin Hobb.

I read a review where the reviewer suggested you rip the book in half, throw away the first half, and read the second. That's unfair. It's more like the first two-thirds.

I'll give it an extremely generous 3/10 as something happened towards the end, and book 2 might actually be ok.

Just after getting through all three books in the Farseer trilogy there, and it really isn't that good. I thought end of Book 1 and about half of Book 2 were pretty good when it focused more on the politics of Fitz's life but once that sort of stuff ended, it just meandered and got boring. Found book 3 an absolute slog to get through only for the action to just wrap itself in about 20 pages at the end.

daUbiq

OptimusTractor wrote: »

finally finish Game of Thrones last night. A bit boring don't know if I'll continue with the series.

have you read the Malazan Book of the Fallen?