I’m currently reading the Wool omnibus by Hugh Howey. It’s pretty decent I’ve been making very rapid progress as it’s been too hot to sleep here recently now the summer has arrived.
I haven’t seen the Apple show, but maybe I’ll watch it in the future when I’ve finished all the books (I had Shift and Dust as well).
I’m rereading Asimov’s complete saga in “internal story chronological order”:
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I, Robot / The Complete Robot (except ‘Mirror Image’!) [ROBOTS]
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The Caves of Steel [ROBOTS]
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The Naked Sun [ROBOTS]
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Mirror Image (short story) [ROBOTS]
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The Robots of Dawn [ROBOTS]
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Robots and Empire [ROBOTS]
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The Stars, Like Dust-- [EMPIRE]
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The Currents of Space [EMPIRE]
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Pebble in the Sky [EMPIRE]
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Prelude to Foundation [FOUNDATION]
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Forward the Foundation [FOUNDATION]
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Foundation [FOUNDATION]
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Foundation and Empire [FOUNDATION]
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Second Foundation [FOUNDATION]
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Foundation’s Edge [FOUNDATION]
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Foundation and Earth [FOUNDATION]
I’m currently on “Forward the foundation”
The Foundation series is absolutely amazing, and I am jealous of you if this is your first reading. One of my formative series growing up. You’re inspiring me to do the whole Asimov read through like your doing, because I don’t believe I ever read the Empire books and never read Robot beyond I, Robot.
I’m surprised The Caves of Steel is so early as it seemed really futuristic compared to most of The Complete Robot, but I read it a long time ago so maybe I’m not remembering correctly.
Well all short stories in The complete robot are with “normal humans” and their interactions with the first “robots” on earth when there was no faster than lights spaceships.
The Caves of Steel instead is the first of the robot saga where humanity is divided between human from earth that lives inside the big underground cities and the “spacers” which lived on several different planets and are almost a new spieces because they have been separated from earth for several centuries.
Honestly, has to be my favourite series. There’s just so much to it.
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Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. Was a recommendation on the R site.
Complex, eon spanning, hard sci-fi. I’m loving it!
I finished Seveneves a few weeks ago. If I wasn’t reading it with a friend I wouldn’t have finished. I am glad I did, I loved the last 1/4 of the book.
Amazing book! Loved it +1
If you could, what other sci-fi works would you compare it to? I am wrapping up the Children of Time series and could use something else.
I sold Seveneves to a friend by saying it is like Neal Stephenson wrote The Martian. Well, at least the first 2/3 of it. It talks a lot about the science how how an event like the one described in the book might happen but with the kind if granularity and verbosity you would expect from NS.
Not sure. Tried a couple of Adrian Tchaikovsky and couldn’t really get on. Could be because they were audiobooks.
Have been ‘off’ of reading for a while, but have realised a new found love for my Kindle.
Andy Wier’s Hail Mary might fit your bill.
Or Iain Banks’ Culture series.
How far in are you?
Just moved on to Kath Two. After all the fun with Izzy and The Cannibals ;-)
Izzy and the what?! 👀😵
Can’t reply too much - spoilers!
I’m really trying to read Three Body Problem, but I’m having a hard time following
Stick with it. I loved the series, but the first book is unfortunately the most confusing and, in my opinion, the worst of the three.
Really? I loved the first book, but felt the translator for the second had a different enough style that it was hard for me to stay engaged. Maybe I’ll have to give it a second try
There is a YouTube series that has adapted the book really well amazing https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMX26aiIvX5rFSYPXtcqda3tWd6pGVD5Q
I hated it.
The writing style felt like it was written by a high school student and the characters were really two-dimensional with no believable motivations for their actions. Also the whole premise was stupid and unrealistic. There were few interesting concepts but they were ruined by the crappy presentation.
I don’t understand why it got the Hugo award.
Working my way through some Hugo winners past— reading A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M Miller.
I really liked Canticle, but I really felt like it suffered from being a fix-up novel. It’s three acts are not equal and don’t totally fit together in my opinion. It really starts off strong though! Hope you like it!
I’m enjoying it! I love a solid premise and the references to modern science appearing as obscure archeological nuggets are perfect. There are some bits I’m guessing that I’m missing some symbolism or something (I’m not an expert in Catholicism).
For what it’s worth, several Catholics I know have also had to read the book with notes open on the side. Monastic culture and tradition isn’t exactly common knowledge anymore, though I’m not sure if they would have been in the 50s, or if Miller just trusts that his reader is smart enough to catch on.
If you like Canticle, consider looking into the works of Gene Wolfe. He also writes very re-readable sci-fi that expects much of the reader, and delivers much in turn.
Thanks! That does make me feel a bit better! Will look into Wolfe.
I’ve been working through The Expanse books, and have just started Leviathan Falls.
How do you like the expanse? I’ve heard they are awesome!
I’m about halfway through Persepolis Rising. That prologue was one hell of a jolt!
Reading Noor right now. Very enjoyable and it will be quick read.
Wool was great. And the show was good too. You can basically watch the first season after finishing Wool, if you’d like.
I’m reading He Who Fights With Monsters but I’m going to dig through this thread and find a good scifi novel to read next!
I just started HWFWM and it’s my first LitRPG. Very different from what I’m used to reading but I really like so far. Going to try and finish it before I start Brandon Sanderson secret novel #3
It was my first LitRPG too. I wasn’t sure I’d like it but I do. I’m on the 3rd book, actually.
I haven’t read anything by Sanderson yet but I follow him on social media and I really like him.
After being a sci-fi nerd for a long time, I want to read through some of the classics that inspire it. So I’m reading The Epic of Gilgamesh, with Lucian’s true history next.
Sounds pretentious I know but it’s pretty cool seeing where some stuff originated from.
Anyone have any I should add the the list then let me know.
I guess Frankenstein if you haven’t already read it. It’s just a really good book in it’s own right too.
Currently reading Foundation and Earth by Asimov, I absolutely loved the original trilogy so I’ve been reading through the sequels and plan on going back to the prequels after. In my opinion the sequels have a big shift in pacing and sort of the way that the plot develops… not sure how I feel about that. On one hand it is easier to keep up with with less characters, but on the other it feels like the scale of things is much smaller. Trying to not spoil anything. The series is a fantastic read nevertheless!
I’ve only read the original Foundation trilogy, would you recommend the others?
Difficult to say. If you keep in mind, that he wrote the sequels 30 years or so later and acknowledge that one’s views change over such a period, then go ahead. If you, however, expect the same flavor as the trilogy, then I wouldn’t recommend reading foundation’s edge and foundation and earth. And although these are meant as an introduction to the men behind time, that one makes no reference to the foundation trilogy. So it’s fine to just read the end of eternity on its own.
I am a fan of Isaac Asimov. I definitely suggest the books The End of Eternity and Nightfall.
I have a couple things on deck:
- Light from Uncommon Stars - Ryka Aoki - I’ve seen this one recommended several times, and finally decided to give it a spin.
- 36 Streets - T.R. Napper - A more niche title, but something to hopefully give me a bit of a noir fix.
Light From Uncommon Stars is the most memorable book I’ve read in years. It’s a beautifully-written, extremely ambitious novel about demons, found family, donuts, Asian cuisine, interstellar war, gender identity, the violin, loyalty, good and evil, beauty, fear and love. Plus, it takes place in the San Gabriel Valley, which is my old stomping ground. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but I absolutely loved it.
There you go, another strong recommendation! I just have to wrap up Mexican Gothica and then I’m all in.
Surface Detail, and The State of the Art by Iain M Banks. Been on a Culture bend recently. Excession is next on my list
I read The Player of Games and it was good. I also read Consider Phleblas and while it was very different to Player Of Games I didn’t think it was as bad as some people say.
Apparently Use of Weapons is also really good so I should go back to that series. The whole Culture thing is really interesting.
Do people dislike Consider Phlebas? The story is a bit more straightforward than the others, but it does a good job introducing the setting. And that train battle at the end
Not science fiction, but I’m loving Carl Sagans “The Demon-Haunted World”. He really was a brilliant dude.
Yeah, I really liked that book. Pale Blue Dot is really good as well and he reads part of the audiobook himself, although unfortunately not all of it as he was already quite ill by that point. He was taken far too young.
“The complete robot” by Isaac Asimov.
Those are some of my favourite stories. Although if I remember correctly, it contains the short story version of The Bicentennial Man and you may wish to read the novella version instead which he wrote later, having developed the story some more.
I’m working my way through both the Murderbot Diaries (just started Network Effect) and the Rivers of London series (just finished Broken Homes, though this series is more urban fantasy). Both and very enjoyable!
My wife and I just ran through the whole murderbot series. They are such a fun read. I’m convinced that the author plays/has played a ton of Shadowrun.
The murderbot stories get so much praise but I was never able to get into them. I binge read (well, actually binge listened) to the Rivers of London books a few months ago and thought they were first-rate.
I just finished the new Ann Leckie book, Translation State, which I liked very much. If you couldn’t get enough of the the Imperial Radch universe it’s a must read.
Oooh thanks for the rec, I’ll put it on the list! I do tend to lean towards more fantasy/horror and less sci-fi, but I very much liked Murderbot’s voice as a narrator (and the universe is fascinating).
I listened to the 2nd and 3rd books of the Murderbot series on a car ride recently. I had read them before, but it was the first time that he did. I really enjoyed laughing with him.
