Aside from Project Hail Mary which I assume every /c/sciencefiction subscriber is going to read what have you been reading or plan to read?
Here is last months post. What are you Reading? (August 2023)
I just finished re-reading the entire Expanse series and fell back on an old friend, Harry Dresden. Going to put that Weir book on my list though. I really enjoyed The Martian so I’d like to explore more of his work.
I started Wool because I was digging the show Silo, but honestly found it pretty flat. The characters and story telling are super dry, and the show does a much better job of it imo, which is rare.
Snowcrash: pleasantly surprised by the quality of the world building, which I love.
Diamond Age next!
Good idea! Thanks for the recommendation.
I have enjoyed all of his works. The Baroque Cycle took me a few tries to get into before I stuck it out; great read but man is it long and dry at times. Anathem was challenging because of the new lexicon he introduced.
My favorites are snowcrash, seveneves, termination shock, and cryptonomicon in roughly that order.
I listened to And Then She Vanished by Nick Jones and found it entertaining enough to start the second book in the series right after. It’s not really scifi, I mean, time travel could easily be tagged fantasy as well. I don’t know if I’ll finish the series though. It’s missing something that I can’t quite put my finger on. Somewhat shallow and the secondary characters are paper thin. Fine reading to pass the time (or spend 12 hours on a train…) but nothing I’ll be thinking about once I’m done. I’ve been struggling to get through the first few chapters of Perdido Street Station for a while, I may give it another go this weekend.
Been reading Rendezvous With Rama, incredible so far!
It’s so good. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I love how the story is told based on observations rather than exposition through dialogues. I don’t always need to relate to characters and their lives, sometime I just want to know about the weird gravity or atmosphere and stuff. For the longest time people said it could not be made into a movie, but Denis Villeneuve stepped up to the plate and I cannot wait to see what he does with it.
Brin’s Uplift War series.
Slogging through Norman Spinrad’s Bug Jack Barron
Usually I love Spinrad, but this is just so dated: The idea that a TV talk show host with a massive audience is holding the rich and powerful accountable, as opposed to pandering to them…
I did Project Hail Mary two books back, so I won’t revisit that for a while. I HIGHLY recommend the audiobook though; I honestly can’t see how it could hold up in text form, it feels like it was made to be an audiobook.
I’m currently on the Bobiverse books (#1) by Dennis E Taylor.
I was so curious about how that book could work NOT as an audiobook so I snagged a copy from my library to check it out. SPOILERS: >!Rocky’s speech is depicted as musical notes. Not nearly as impactful as the audiobook.!<
Is Rocky’s speech in the audiobook literally music?
Yes! The more complex the speech, the more complex the music. It’s really cool.
Right now I’m reading Leviathan Wakes and I cannot put it down. It’s such a good book!
At work I’m listening to The Digital Plague and it’s pretty darn good. Book 2 of the Avery Cates series which is in the dark, gritty cyberpunk genre with a good amount of dark humor.
Both are really good books!
I am reading Leviathan Falls now. The entire series is great. I haven’t wanted to put any of them down.
I’m 75% finished with the book myself!
