• Steven Brust, To Reign in Hell. Satan's Fall was never quite so funny. Nor has it ever made quite so much sense .... • Salman Rushdie, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Note to the Ayatollah--never, ever get a good writer angry by threatening his life. A spirited response to condemnation, and a loving message to an estranged son. • Clive Barker, Weaveworld. Whenever my friends ask where my novel is, I tell them to read this. It's going to take a mighty effort for me to top what's come before me, and this one of the reasons why. One of my favorite epic novels ever. • Ray Bradbury, Death is a Lonely Business and Graveyard for Lunatics. By accident, I read these backwards. That is, Graveyard, the sequel, was the book I read first. It had the effect of making Lonely Business that much more poignant. Nonetheless, I recommend this one-two wallop without reservation. Period. Read these books. Don't argue. Run, don't walk. Better yet, click. But read these books! • Aldous Huxley. Antic Hay. It's an amazingly relevant novel. Disaffected people behaving badly, vulgar materialism, and a cartload of philosophical pomposity, a more menacing and pessimistic novel is hard to come by. Also of note: Doors of Perception, in which Huxley waxes hallucinogenic--literally--and Jesting Pilate (see your local secondhand bookseller for a better price), in which Huxley waxes philosophical about life, the Universe, and everything while traveling around the world. • Joyce Carol Oates, The Assignation. Anything by Joyce Carol Oates represents literary refinement; not only the foremost female author in the US, I think she may be the foremost author period. The novels are their own experiences, but the stories contained in this volume are quite literally breathtaking. • Abby Frucht, Licorice. Great voice. Dismissed by someone whose taste I trust as a "chick novel", but I find the label too disparaging. Definitely a strong feminine narrative voice, but innovative and compelling throughout. • Anita Shreve, Eden Close. I was fortunate to find this on a clearance table before the bookstore knew what it had. Ms. Shreve has gone on to greater success and acclaim, even being an Oprah Book Club author, but frankly I can't stand anything else she's written. This book, however, is quite the accomplishment. • Jack Cady, The Off Season. I've said enough over time about Jack Cady. This, I think, is his most accessible novel. I sometimes think he's more of a writer's writer than a reader's writer, which would explain his lack of fame. Nonetheless, he sets standards I still strive toward. Street is another novel worth mentioning, though Singleton, oft-held as a standard against which many a northwestern-US writer has banged their head, is available used. • Randall Kenan, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead. A rock-solid collection of short stories. • J.D. Salinger, Raise High the Roof Beams Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction. Salinger is best-known it seems for Catcher in the Rye but not enough can be said for the whole of Salinger's published library. Seymour is a standard-bearer. Just a short list of no particular importance. Just something for me to think about while listening to Tanita Tikaram and Nick Drake albums. thanx much, Tiassa Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Sci fi and fantasy, though occasionally I read something else if it interests me. I got a list of authors ina sticky thread somewhere around here.
The fiction on the bookshelf here at uni: Kinsman, by Ben Bova. The Past Through Tomorrow Volume 1, by Robert Heinlein. Salt, by Adam Roberts. The Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers. A collection of Lovecraft stuff, in three volumes. The Princess & Other Stories, by Chekhov. The Prisoner Of Zenda, by Hope. The Count Of Monte Cristo, by Dumas. Crime & Punishment, by Dostoevsky. War & Peace, by Tolstoy. The Penguin Complete Novels Of George Orwell. A bunch of Lord Of The Rings stuff borrowed from my brother. Childhood's End, by Arthur Clarke. Revelation Space, by Alastair Reynolds. The Complete Plays of George Bernard Shaw. Complete Shakespeare. Complete Edgar Allen Poe. Complete Sherlock Holmes. All the Marquis De Sade stuff. Complete Prophecies Of Nostradamus. This is all stuff I haven't read or have read only parts of in the case of the collections. I'm working through Revelation Space at the moment.
Go for it, that's one of the coolest books I've ever read. Damn, it's been years since I did read that baby.
I liked all the genres...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! But I picked Sci-Fi and Fantasy, etc. just because I've read almost all of Isaac Asimov's books, except for the Lucky Starr adventures which have gone out of publication and I can't borrow them because they belong in the Canadiana reference section so they have to stay there and I can't read in the library because people are too loud and there isn't a couch where I can lie down on comfortably, and anyway, it's all protected so i don't think they'll let me have it for more than an hour. *breathes in* Phew. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Yeah, I think I'll try that Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Thanks Pollux 5! (see, five, not vee, hehehe) Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I just finished Childhood's End about two weeks ago. It was great. Ahead of its time, definately. How Jan and his sister were part black. That must have taken some balls to publish in 1953. I've read some sci-fi magazines from the 50's and this was not like that stuff (possessed big-boobed girls, clingy stay-at-home wives in the year 2050). Though I did see the overlord identity coming from pretty far off....
I've just finished Songmaster by Orson Scott Card...What an experience! The torture....the love....the guilt....the beauty....what more can I say? Simply beautifully written; I remember the first time I read it, it nearly made me choke, because it was so emotional. I'm starting Mars by Ben Bova, because I read Venus. Just thought I'd continue the tradition, and because I'm lucky number 13 on the Childhood's End holding list. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! And Welcome to SciForums, Evelina Anville! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Evalina, my pants swell at your avatar. Welcome! Hahaha...thirteen, well, at least you aren't fourteen. That's all the consolation I can muster at the moment. Devoured Xenocide. Am working on Children of the Mind. So far, I think the plot is good, but the writing isn't up to par with Speaker For the Dead, which may be my favorite science fiction book (tied or second to Children of Dune).
