what are you reading?

[Istar]

I've just ruined another keyboard.

[NorthWay]

The last Discworld "The Shepherd's Crown".

[zip accident]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0751 ... ge_o00_s00

Someone said it's dark, and it is. It's also predictable and dull, but very grim.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0751 ... ge_o00_s00

It turns out to be a whodunit. Okay for that genre, but stuck in the genre.

[F-ZeroOne]

Rare Gaiman in the latest Humble Bundle, revealing that hes actually always been more of a New Romantic than a Goth...

https://www.humblebundle.com/books

[merman]

Terry Pratchett - A Slip of the Keyboard

Collections of non-fiction can be hit and miss, pulled together from various places and difficult to gel together as a coherent anthology. But this is brilliantly curated (with the help of new intros to each piece by Terry) and presented in a clear, cohesive order that makes reading it a breeze.

It is the last big section, featuring Terry's views on his own dementia and his desire to reach a comfortable end to his own life that are perhaps the most poignant and important part of the book.

Worth a read.

[zip accident]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1848 ... oks&sr=1-3

First more or less a whodunit, the second somewhat a whodunit, the third not at all.

[merman]

In hospital I read the first five parts of The Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, for the first time in years.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, and when I got home I read "And Another Thing" by Eoin Colfer, the sixth part of the trilogy. On my first reading a few years ago I was not impressed (especially the whole Oirish planet bit). But this time I really got more of it, and can see how well it joins up to the other books.

To cap things off, I just finished "The Science Of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy" by Michael Hanlon. Yes, it's a few years out of date now but it's still a fun look at huge chunks of science and equivalent research featured in the books.

[Orava]

The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia. This is a very well researched book about the Nordics and entertaining too, worth every Krona you pay.

The whole world wants to learn the secrets of Nordic exceptionalism: why are the Danes the happiest people in the world, despite having the highest taxes? If the Finns really have the best education system, how come they still think all Swedish men are gay? Are the Icelanders really feral? How are the Norwegians spending their fantastical oil wealth? And why do all of them hate the Swedes?

[funkstar]

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, by Eliezer Yudkowsky. Started over, since it is now a) actually done, and b) 4 years since I read any of it.

[Istar]

The Hut Six Story, by Gordon Welchman.

I am now officially on a watchlist.

[PFVA]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1848 ... oks&sr=1-3

First more or less a whodunit, the second somewhat a whodunit, the third not at all.

I'm reading that too. Actually i finished the second and now i moved to 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop before reading the third of the Trilogy.

[Mat]

I am now reading Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie's third book in the Imperial Raadch Trilogy.
It is stunningly good. The focus this time is leaning more heavily on the rights of sentient beings. Don't get me wrong, that has always been one of the major subtexts of this trilogy. But the big questions are now being asked and answered.
I think these books are some of the most important Sci Fi I have read. They have made me question my own thinking and have re-moulded the way I think about big societal concepts. And on top of that, Ann can segue from deep, philosophical discussion to compelling, anxious action flawlessly.

There's maybe a little too much "Last time in the Imperial Raadch Trilogy!" stuff at the beginning, but with relationships and concepts as complex as they are, I must admit that this is welcome.

The biggest triumph of this series for me has been that I no longer care about trying to work out which sex a particular character is; I am judging them by their actions and personalities.

[venusian]

RMD: Sci-fi for a 13 year old. Read 2001 and Neuromancer, asked for more sci-fi. Now I've read lots of sci-fi which has been variously great and awful but am struggling to think of titles which are contemporary, full of fun, excitement and really wild things but no kinky sex.

Looked at Snow Crash but maybe a bit similar to Neuromancer (that's a guess, have not read Snow Crash).

[Istar]

<heresy mode>Snow Crash is better than Neuromancer</>

So, good Sci-Fi: the Ringworld series (and indeed anything by Niven with the possible exception of The Mote in God's Eye which is shite); McCaffreys 'Dragon' books (yeah, dragons, technically fantasy until you get to the why and how); Rendezvous with Rama, The True Game, Asimov's 'Robot' stories, Julian May's 'Pliocene' and 'Milieu' series, Eon, Sister Alice, Debatable Space, any Culture novel by Iain M. Banks (sadly missed), Dune, Halting State, Ready Player One, various stuff by Piers Anthony but particularly the Split Infinity trilogy, Zahn's post-Endor 'Heir to the Empire' trilogy, Timeline, the Ender series, Wyndham's 'The Day of The Triffids', 'The Chrisalids', and 'The Midwich Cuckoos', Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, The Forge of God, Sphere, Cosm, ...

[zip accident]

more oldies but goodies;

Blish, Cities in Flight
Bradbury, The illustrated man
Cherryah, The Morgain saga (more fantasy with an SF basis)
Cherryah, The faded sun trilogy
Gerrold & Niven, The Flying Sourcerers quirky, funny, bone-age view of space ships
Harness, The Rose, if you can find it
Harrison, Star Smashers of the galaxy rangers
all of Anne McCaffrey's books
Smith, The Rediscovery of man