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Favorite books / What are you reading?

Discussion in 'General Discussion Forum' started by Snackpack, Jun 21, 2008.

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  1. Hassknecht

    Hassknecht For hate's sake. Staff Member Admin Orderite Board Cop oTO

    19,719
    Aug 16, 2010
    Dune and the Hyperion Cantos are a must read, simple as that.
    If you haven't already you should also check out the Zones of Thought books by Vernor Vinge, "A Fire Upon the Deep", "A Deepness in the Sky" and "Children of the Sky". They're pretty damn brilliant.

    I think I need to check out some more of Simon Ings' work. I bought "Hotwire" about a billion years ago, but I think I was too young to really appreciate it when I first read it. Now that I've read it again... Well, it's certainly a damn weird book. At first it sounds much like a Gibson-esque Cyberpunk story (but with the bleakness and violence cranked up to eleven), but its setting is quite unique in a few aspects, and it certainly works well. The ending sucks, but hey, it was, like, his second or third novel.
    So the book is not for the squeamish and contains some pretty graphic violence and body horror. I think this book is really underrated, and I really do need to check out his other works, especially his first novel "Hot Head", which takes place in the same (excellent) fictional universe. Becoming trans- and posthuman and losing that status again seems to be a common topic in his novels, so if you're into classic cyberpunk with some neat twists, this is definitely for you.
    And, since Hotwire doesn't much feature hacking or computers directly it's not as technologically outdated as Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy.
     
    Hassknecht, Feb 17, 2016
    #1181
  2. dopezilla

    dopezilla God of Blood and War

    571
    Nov 6, 2015
    Adding all these books to my wishlist. Luckily the library has a pretty good collection here.
     
    dopezilla, Feb 17, 2016
    #1182
  3. Alixian

    Alixian First time out of the vault

    85
    Feb 16, 2016
    Top 5:-
    1: Dune - Frank Herbert
    2: SW: Shadows of the Empire - Steve Perry
    3: The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett
    4: Rapture - John Shirley
    5: War of the Worlds - HG Wells

    Honourable Mentions:-
    The Last Hero - Terry Pratchett
    Island of Dr Moreau - HG Wells
    Ganymede - Cherie Priest
    Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K. Dick
    Horus Rising - Dan Abnett
    Brothers of the Snake - Dan Abnett
    Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
    Hound of the Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle
    Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
    The Road - Cormac McCarthy
    Metro 2033 - Dmitry Glukhovsky
     
    Alixian, Feb 18, 2016
    #1183
  4. mrchaos

    mrchaos Super Orc

    478
    Nov 14, 2015
    Currently reading the Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss.
     
    mrchaos, Feb 18, 2016
    #1184
  5. The Dutch Ghost

    The Dutch Ghost Grouchy old man of NMA Moderator

    7,174
    Jan 11, 2004
    Trying to think of science fiction books I can recommend, sadly I haven't read that much original novels (most have already been mentioned), more books based on popular franchises such as Star Trek.

    Well I enjoyed 'The Coming of the Quantum Cats' by Frederick Pohl. (parallel worlds and such)
    The 'Starhammer/Vang' series by Christopher Rowley was fun but it is definitely not hard sci fi.
    And for the rest I have read Heinlein, Niven, Alistar Reynolds, Tony Ballantyne, Charless Stross (I really like the Atrocity Archives series, Cthulhu meets British Bureaucracy)

    I need to pick up again on 'Across Realtime' by Vernor Vinge.
     
    The Dutch Ghost, Feb 19, 2016
    #1185
  6. Alixian

    Alixian First time out of the vault

    85
    Feb 16, 2016
    Is The Coming of the Quantum Cats any good? One of my friends mentioned it recently
     
    Alixian, Feb 19, 2016
    #1186
  7. The Dutch Ghost

    The Dutch Ghost Grouchy old man of NMA Moderator

    7,174
    Jan 11, 2004
    I found it in general very enjoyable, it tends to jump from character to character but that is the main idea behind the story. (multiple versions of the same characters)
    I didn't find it juvenile written and some of the humor is pretty amusing if you get the references. (Ronald Reagan actually considered a 'leftist' in some parallel version of the USA)
    Of course society has changed a lot since the era it was written in but I don't think that 80s references will be that much of a problem.
     
    The Dutch Ghost, Feb 19, 2016
    #1187
  8. Alixian

    Alixian First time out of the vault

    85
    Feb 16, 2016
    I'll have to look into it, see if my local library has a copy.
     
    Alixian, Feb 19, 2016
    #1188
  9. MutantScalper

    MutantScalper Dogmeat

    4,914
    Nov 22, 2009
    Recently finished Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America. Non-fiction book that got good reviews. I like non-fiction and this one was pretty informative although kinda boring and not well written. Also the writer points out in the beginning that the book isn't an eco-yarn, he doesn't criticise the ecological catastrophy to the whales that whaling represented, and that really kind of hampers the book in many ways.
     
    MutantScalper, Mar 10, 2016
    #1189
  10. SuAside

    SuAside Testament to the ghoul lifespan
     Admin

    10,260
    May 27, 2004
    Just finished "Snow Crash". Weird book, I wasn't convinced at the start, but the scientific parts of it drew me in.
    A bit of Shadowrun meets Idiocracy meets historic religious fiction.
    The fun part is that the historic parts are backed by actual archeological finds etc.
    Since it's from '92 is kinda shows it's age a bit in some of the technology parts, but overall it's aged well.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash

    PS: The sexualization of the 15 year old girl (largely by her own doing, as part of it is from her own narrative), while no doubt correct irl, made me kinda uncomfortable.
     
    SuAside, Mar 10, 2016
    #1190
    • [Like] [Like] x 1
  11. Hassknecht

    Hassknecht For hate's sake. Staff Member Admin Orderite Board Cop oTO

    19,719
    Aug 16, 2010
    It's weirdly common in cyberpunk, really. When in doubt, teenage prostitutes.
     
    Hassknecht, Mar 10, 2016
    #1191
  12. Millim

    Millim Venerable Relic of the Wastes
     Orderite

    4,022
    Oct 13, 2010
    I'm reading through Dragon Ball at the moment (I don't mind a bit of Manga every now and then).
    But I should really do a read through of George Orwell's books. At the moment, I'm slowly reading one of them (Burmese days). It's pretty good so far, I still prefer 1984, but who doesn't?
     
    Millim, Mar 10, 2016
    #1192
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