Reading recommendations

[Hida Reju]

Well I can recomend pretty much anything written by David Weber. If you want to read more than a few of them online to see go to http://www.baen.com/library/defaultTitles.htm

I recomend starting with the Honor Harrington universe, think Horatio Hornblower in space. Awesome battles, character development, and depth of story. First book in the series is "On Basilisk Station"

Another massive Sci fi series that impressed me a lot more than I thought it would was the Warhammer 40k Horus Heresy series. It is being worked on by multiple Authors but the first 5 have been very good so far.

[Aldus Vertten]

Ok, i just got the first book of Alvin Maker, so we will see how it goes. I'm more in the mood for sf, but didn't find any of the recommendations in the bookstore, and i'm leaving in 2 days for a 2 weeks holidays, so i can't wait for an amazon order... Probably will read most of it in the plane, anyway...

While i was trying to decide, i got a copy of Discworld's The Fifth Elephant, and tough i liked, i think is the "less" good of all the Watch books... i have heard that Thud it's not very good... haven't read it yet...

[MilitiaJim]

For what it is worth, I enjoyed Thud.

[Aldus Vertten]

I will eventually read it, because i like a lot the watch books, but that's what i heard.

[MugMug]

I'm not quite finished with Charles Stross' Halting State. Even if the book craps out at the end (which would run counter to my experience with Mr. Stross' work) the book would be worth reading -- for this crew in particular -- for one eyebrow-raising element of the plot.

Spoiler: Plot stuff. The first time this comes into real play you should already be deeply suspicious, so knowing ahead of time shouldn't ruin the reading experience. (click to show/hide)

An online spy game using the ubiquitous (in the near future) web enabled cell phone is actually an intelligence agency using unwitting agents (the game players) as paying (rather than paid) agents. It plays out better than this rather dry representation suggests.

Walter

[MilitiaJim]

The Sea Rover's Practice:  Pirate Tactics and Techniques, 1630-1730, by Benerson Little

Very interesting, and chock full of tidbits for anyone contemplating a swashbuckling campaign or a world about that level of technology.

[Aldus Vertten]

What better recomendation that the list of nominees for the SFWA Nebula awards...


Novels
Little Brother, Cory Doctorow (Tor, April '08)
Powers, Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt, September '07)
Cauldron, Jack McDevitt (Ace, November '07)
Brasyl, Ian McDonald (Pyr, May '07)
Making Money, Terry Pratchett (Harper, September '07)
Superpowers, David J. Schwartz (Three Rivers Press, June '08)

Novellas
"The Spacetime Pool," Catherine Asaro (Analog, March '08)
"Dark Heaven," Gregory Benford (Alien Crimes, ed. Mike Resnick, SFBC, January '07)
"Dangerous Space," Kelley Eskridge, (Dangerous Space, Aqueduct Press, June '07)
"The Political Prisoner," Charles Coleman Finlay (F&SF, August '08)
"The Duke in His Castle," Vera Nazarian (Norilana Books, June '08)

Novelettes
"If Angels Fight," Richard Bowes (F&SF, February '08)
"Dark Rooms," Lisa Goldstein (Asimov's, October/November '07)
"Pride and Prometheus," John Kessel (F&SF, January '08)
"Night Wind," Mary Rosenblum (Lace and Blade, ed. Deborah J. Ross, Norilana Books, February '08)
"Baby Doll," Johanna Sinisalo (The SFWA European Hall of Fame, ed. James Morrow and Kathryn Morrow, Tor, June '07 )
"Kaleidoscope," K.D. Wentworth (F&SF, May '07)

Short Stories
"The Button Bin," Mike Allen (Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly, October '07)
"The Dreaming Wind," Jeffrey Ford (The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales, ed. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Viking, July '07)
"Trophy Wives," Nina Kiriki Hoffman (Fellowship Fantastic, ed. Greenberg and Hughes, DAW Books, January '08)
"26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss," Kij Johnson (Asimov's, July '08)
"The Tomb Wife," Gwyneth Jones (F&SF, August 07)
"Don't Stop," James Patrick Kelly (Asimov's, June '07)

Scripts
The Dark Knight, Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer (Warner Brothers, July '08)
WALL-E , Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter (Walt Disney, June '08)
"The Shrine," Brad Wright (Stargate Atlantis, August '08)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy
Graceling, Kristin Cashore, (Harcourt, October '08)
Lamplighter, D.M. Cornish (Monster Blood Tattoo, Book 2, Putnam Juvenile, May '08)
Savvy, Ingrid Law (Dial, May '08)
The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Mary E. Pearson (Henry Holt and Company, April '08)
Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room), Ysabeau S. Wilce (Harcourt, September '08)

[TheAuldGrump]

I very much enjoyed The Lies of Lock Lamora by Scott Lynch. The main characters are unrepentant scoundrels.

The Auld Grump

[Aldus Vertten]

I've just discovered Goodreads, a wonderful way to keep track of the books you've read. Nice.

[Gentry]

I've just ordered a copy of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", which purports to fold a hefty slice of zombie violence directly into Austen's prose.  I'll see if it's readable and post here.

[ThunderMonkey]

I just started "Baudolino" by Umberto Eco ("The Name of the Rose"). Once you get past the initial narrative and get a decent grasp in Eco's unique storytelling with this novel... it's surprisingly good.

[Krensky]

I just started "Baudolino" by Umberto Eco ("The Name of the Rose"). Once you get past the initial narrative and get a decent grasp in Eco's unique storytelling with this novel... it's surprisingly good.

Isn't that every novel by him? And assuming you like post-modern literature.

[ThunderMonkey]

I just started "Baudolino" by Umberto Eco ("The Name of the Rose"). Once you get past the initial narrative and get a decent grasp in Eco's unique storytelling with this novel... it's surprisingly good.

Isn't that every novel by him? And assuming you like post-modern literature.

Possibly. (chuckle). I found "Foulcault's Pendulum" rather easy to read. Come to think of it, that may be why I thought "The Da Vinci Code" was rather retarded. It did take me a couple of tries to get started on this one.

[Aldus Vertten]

I just started "Baudolino" by Umberto Eco ("The Name of the Rose"). Once you get past the initial narrative and get a decent grasp in Eco's unique storytelling with this novel... it's surprisingly good.

Isn't that every novel by him? And assuming you like post-modern literature.

Possibly. (chuckle). I found "Foulcault's Pendulum" rather easy to read. Come to think of it, that may be why I thought "The Da Vinci Code" was rather retarded. It did take me a couple of tries to get started on this one.

Foucault's Pendulum is in my To Read list. I bought a copy 2 years ago, but had a little rain incident that ruined it, still have to get a new one...

[TheAuldGrump]

I just started "Baudolino" by Umberto Eco ("The Name of the Rose"). Once you get past the initial narrative and get a decent grasp in Eco's unique storytelling with this novel... it's surprisingly good.

Isn't that every novel by him? And assuming you like post-modern literature.

Possibly. (chuckle). I found "Foulcault's Pendulum" rather easy to read. Come to think of it, that may be why I thought "The Da Vinci Code" was rather retarded. It did take me a couple of tries to get started on this one.

Foucault's Pendulum is in my To Read list. I bought a copy 2 years ago, but had a little rain incident that ruined it, still have to get a new one...

I liked it, but I would recommend reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail before hand, to get a grounding in the conspiracies that Eco builds the story around. Holy Blood, Holy Grail is completely serious nonsense, and reinterprets such things as the lines used in 15th century art to draw perspective in it's framing of the Templar Conspiracy. A wonderful read, and rich with gaming goodness. Just don't take it as seriously as the authors desire.

It also formed much of the groundwork for The Da Vinci Code, leading to the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail to sue Dan Brown for borrowing their work to write fiction. As a point of amusement the judge in the case worked a code into his decision.... (Basically if you claim a work is nonfiction and someone uses it as research material then it is kind of silly to sue over it. )

I actually liked Foucault's Pendulum a great deal, but I have been enjoying Umberto Eco ever since first reading Name of the Rose. (Great book, lousy movie. It was pretty obvious that the screenwriter had no idea that Inquisitor Gui was a real historic figure, and moreover, was one who died of old age....)

The Auld Grump