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[Xater]

So cyberpunk is the right thing for me if I want Blade Runner style Sci-Fi. Good to know. I really have almost no Sci-Fi novel experience so thanks for the recommendations guys. Altered Carbon is already on my Audible wishlist.

 

[=W=]

finally got this in the mail

also,

<3 george saunders

 

[Eric P]

Part of what makes Neuromancer so influential is Gibson's evocative writing, which is top notch and drips with style.

beware because the writing can be a bit dated in the descriptions though.

the first line is ‘The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel,’ (or something similar). Well now, that means bright blue, which isn't really what he was trying to evoke.

 

[megashock5]

Just finished this. Pretty solid stuff, very enjoyable read.

 

[YagizY]

I'm kind of a reading n00b even though I'm 20 years old. I never really read that much for enjoyment until recently.

 

[Powdered Toastman]

 

[Guileless]

How is The Terror Dream, Eric P? Michiko Kakutani really did not like it.

 

[BlueTsunami]

I picked up "The Forever War" a few days ago. The premise sounds real interesting.

 

[Prime crotch]

Darkness that Comes Before, so far I'm enjoying it even if the writting is a bit harder to understand than I'm used to.

 

[Flynn]

beware because the writing can be a bit dated in the descriptions though.

the first line is ‘The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel,’ (or something similar). Well now, that means bright blue, which isn't really what he was trying to evoke.

To be honest I found his more spare book, Pattern Recognition, to be his most readable in a while. I dipped into Spook Country and found its florid distance a little off-putting. I need to get back to that one.

 

[demon]

I'm about to read some Kurt Vonnegut (Man Without a Country; Slapstick) once I pick them up at the library tomorrow.

 

[BuckRobotron]

Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep

Not yet as enthused about it as the later A Deepness in the Sky that I read first, but I only just started.

 

[Flynn]

Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep

Not yet as enthused about it as the later A Deepness in the Sky that I read first, but I only just started.

Wow. That makes three of us.

 

[BuckRobotron]

Wow. That makes three of us.

Heh. I just looked back on the thread. And here I thought I'd be unique...:lol

 

[Flynn]

Heh. I just looked back on the thread. And here I thought I'd be unique...:lol

So far I'm enjoying the book. I went in blind, based on suggestions only. I really dig the way Vinge doesn't spell out the way the alien society works. You're at sea for a minute until you gradually understand what's going on. It's a cool trick -- making your first contact with the beings as befuddling as it would be if you were to say, crash land on their planet.

 

[BuckRobotron]

So far I'm enjoying the book. I went in blind, based on suggestions only. I really dig the way Vinge doesn't spell out the way the alien society works. You're at sea for a minute until you gradually understand what's going on. It's a cool trick -- making your first contact with the beings as befuddling as it would be if you were to say, crash land on their planet.

What's doubly impressive is he capably avoids any impression of repetition when introducing the new species and societal structure in the later book. It is quite the trick to get readers to buy into these creatures and their society once, but now I'm finding out he managed it quite well but with a very different set of creatures and parameters in the earlier book.

Indeed, that is why I'm slowly ramping up in reading "Fire"...I'm not only getting a grasp on how these new beings work relative to our society but also contrasting to strong memories of the fictional societies successfully created in "Deepness".

Good stuff.

 

[cordonbleu]

Im Pretty certain that Matthew Reilly's Six Sacred Stones is under the tree for me this year, I've enjoyed his other books tremendously.

 

[Flynn]

Cyanbuckflynn read Vinge's book with all of its eyes.

 

[Darko]

 

[Dalauz]

Dan Simmon's Illion

 

[npm0925]

I just completed William Gibson's Spook Country and found that it kind of petered out in the second half. Gibson added something like 100 pages of padding in the form of a cross-continental trip after what I consider to be the book's climax and then weakly wrapped things up. However, one of the book's three main characters -- Milgrim, a benzodiazepine addict held hostage -- reminded me of Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim, just because he's such a pathetic dumbass loser. So it's worth reading for his chapters at least.

 

[QVT]

There are Doors by Gene Wolfe. It's fucking difficult to read but it's much more interesting than Blood Meridian was. I ended up giving up on that, oh well. Child of God was still great.

There are Doors is not really recommended unless you know what you're getting into with Wolfe. It's the most dreamlike and incoherent of any of his stuff that I've read so far.

 

[Mamesj]

About 120 pages into this. Great book so far

Ok guys I need some book recommendations. I am prett much on a Blade Runner trip because of the Final Cut rlease. Can you guys recommend some books that do science-fiction the way Blade Runner does? (I am not sure if that is cyberpunk or is that genre even more extreme?)

Might as well read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. It's the book Blade Runner is based off of, but the story is different in many ways. I just finished it and found it to be a quick, enjoyable read.

 

[CajoleJuice]

but it's much more interesting than Blood Meridian was. I ended up giving up on that, oh well.

Did you see my post where I said I gave up on that as well? :lol

 

[Osorio]

Great book for anyone interested in social history.

 

[QVT]

Did you see my post where I said I gave up on that as well? :lol

Yeah, I thought I responded to it. Maybe I hadn't quit at that point.

It's just too brutish for me. I mean the tree of dead babies in particular is just a WTF kinda thing. He spends no time really talking about it, just wanted to get the image in there, the bastard.

 

[CajoleJuice]

Yeah, I thought I responded to it. Maybe I hadn't quit at that point.

It's just too brutish for me. I mean the tree of dead babies in particular is just a WTF kinda thing. He spends no time really talking about it, just wanted to get the image in there, the bastard.

I quit more due to it all seeming pointless. If I had more of a reason to read about the endless violence, I probably would've pushed through it. It took me forever to just get through 200 pages. Since I gave up about 2 weeks ago, I've read 430 glorious pages of PKD (The Man in the High Castle and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch).

 

[QVT]

I quit more due to it all seeming pointless. If I had more of a reason to read about the endless violence, I probably would've pushed through it. It took me forever to just get through 200 pages. Since I gave up about 2 weeks ago, I've read 430 glorious pages of PKD (The Man in the High Castle and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch).

Well yeah, brutish endless violence ala GRRMurder. Much finer prose but just not for me.

How are you finding the dick?

...:lol

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

oh, i JUST finished what i was reading about 20 minutes ago and have moved on to something i've had in my "to read" pile for a while now

picked it up thanks to the excellent Jones and Newman Horror: 100 Best

Picked up it last Thursday(lol) and read it on my way to Atlanta(by car of course). I thought the book was an interesting read, however the majority of the book was very predictable,

Spoiler

all the anarchis being in the police and the man in the dark room being Sunday

, and the ending just left me confused. I'm going to have to reread the whole book to see if there were any parts I overlooked as I wanted to see if my prediction was right so I read through it quickly.

Also the characters look so boring on that book cover. I pictured most of the characters having more exagerated and interesting features(btw wasn't Syme blond?).

 

[hooded pitohui]

I went to a garage sale in September when I went back to the states for my friend's wedding. I found copies of The Hobbit and the LotR trilogy published in 1970, for 25 cents each. They look old, beaten, and cool as hell, and I've never read them before, so there you go.

One of my favorites, I read this book once a year.

 

[Penguin]

Just finished this. Pretty solid stuff, very enjoyable read.

Reminds me need to pick that up.
Not sure why never read.

Takes a practical look at the world of the villian.
Also a superhero version that need to get.

 

[Eric P]

Picked up it last Thursday(lol) and read it on my way to Atlanta(by car of course). I thought the book was an interesting read, however the majority of the book was very predictable,

Spoiler

all the anarchis being in the police and the man in the dark room being Sunday

, and the ending just left me confused. I'm going to have to reread the whole book to see if there were any parts I overlooked as I wanted to see if my prediction was right so I read through it quickly.

Also the characters look so boring on that book cover. I pictured most of the characters having more exagerated and interesting features(btw wasn't Syme blond?).

i just picked a random cover

i think the book's beauty is in the language, like in the opening segments of poet vs poet and order vs anarchism

i'm currently reading Spin by Robert Charles Wilson.

The Algabraest seemed a bit shallow to me after the first 100 pages so i set it aside.

 

[Rezbit]

I just read Ubik by Philip K Dick. Holy crap, totally awesome! It's such a trip, with one of the coolest final chapters I've ever read. Can anyone recommend some other mind-bending, massive-trip novels/short stories/whatevers?

 

[Eric P]

I just read Ubik by Philip K Dick. Holy crap, totally awesome! It's such a trip, with one of the coolest final chapters I've ever read. Can anyone recommend some other mind-bending, massive-trip novels/short stories/whatevers?

more dick
some kafka
tom robbins
jg ballard
John Hawkes
Flann O’Brien

 

[Rezbit]

more dick
some kafka
tom robbins
jg ballard
John Hawkes
Flann O’Brien

Hey, thanks a lot Eric P! Some of those sound right up my alley, particularly Tom Robbins. Seems like he's very WTF, but also humorous?

 

[Eric P]

Hey, thanks a lot Eric P! Some of those sound right up my alley, particularly Tom Robbins. Seems like he's very WTF, but also humorous?

yes and if girls see you reading him, they will want you to dookiechute them

 

[Learn2read]

 

[Thriller]

 

[Duane Cunningham]

Hey, that's next on my list after I finish this:

How do you like The Ghost so far?

 

[Wanace]

I just finished reading "The Actual" by Saul Bellow. It's a novella, an easy read, and has a good story. It was my first time reading Bellow, and I enjoyed his prose. I'll definitely be reading more of his stuff.

I just started reading "Tender is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I'm on like page 2, so I don't know how I feel yet, but if it's anything in the vein of "The Great Gatsby," which is one of my favorites, I'm sure I'll love it.

 

[kiweinatee]

Radio Free Albemuth by Phillip K Dick

 

[CajoleJuice]

I just read Ubik by Philip K Dick. Holy crap, totally awesome! It's such a trip, with one of the coolest final chapters I've ever read. Can anyone recommend some other mind-bending, massive-trip novels/short stories/whatevers?

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Also by PKD.

 

[Eric P]

Radio Free Albemuth by Phillip K Dick

love that book

was actually the first book i read by him

 

[npm0925]

I picked up The Curse of Chalion by Bujold from a local library, and the first chapter was wonderful. Excellent writing (especially after reading 400 pages of William Gibson's often forced prose), rapid pacing (especially after that fucking 100-page plane trip in Spook Country), and best of all a low-life for a main character (stealing the clothes off of a swollen dead man is pretty low).

 

[7Th]

Some old stuff, like "De Heroes y Tumbas" by Ernesto Sabato and Hesse's Steppenwolf.

 

[Matrix]

Just picked up this...

 

[Xater]

Just picked up this...

Why do I feel like Dan Simmons should mean something to me?

Anyway little update on my side. I just finished

and I did start reading this one

After that I maybe I will try Neuromancer or Amercan gods.

 

[Duffclown]

 

[superfly]

finally got this in the mail

also,

<3 george saunders

for real George Saunders is the man.

 

[j-wood]

After I left the movie "I Am Legend" last night, I went to wal-mart and bought the book, so that's what I'll be reading this month.