What books are we reading now?

[darth_librarian]

Anyone read Peter F Hamilton's Nights Dawn Trilogy.
Any good?

Yep, and yep, that sequence is highly recomended. In fact, all his stuff is really great, especially the one-off, Fallen Dragon or his latest two...

 

[GaribaldisHair]

Yep, and yep, that sequence is highly recomended. In fact, all his stuff is really great, especially the one-off, Fallen Dragon or his latest two...

Thanks Darth.

Fancied those from the day I first saw The Reality Dysfunction on sale ... guess I should finally get around to reading them.

 

[Chilli]

Reading HG Wells' War of the Worlds.

Catching up on Classics I never got to reading

 

[hypatia]

Reading HG Wells' War of the Worlds.

Catching up on Classics I never got to reading

The book is so much better than the latest movie. The earlier movie made of it was alright, but I wouldn't call it great.

Some stories are just told better in print.

 

[Chilli]

Yeah .. noticed that recently with "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", more known by the title it was filmed as - "Blade Runner".

I found the movie .. visually stunning, but ultimately just .. uninspired and boring.

The book on the other hand, which my sister advised me to read anyways, was quite awesome

.. though apparently, The War of the Worlds made quite an .. effective .. radioplay too ..

 

[hypatia]

Oh, that naughty Orson Welles.

When he was young and unknown, in radio, he discovered that there was no law that said you have to be sick or injured to ride in an ambulance. He was having troule getting from one radio show to the next on time with typical heavy New York traffic.

So he hired an ambulance to take him from job to job.

I believe I saw an interview of him years ago where he commented about the "no law thing": "There is, now" [a law about the misuse of ambulances].



But yea, the radio version is pretty amazingly effective.

 

[Ranger1]

Did you mean C.S. Forester's Hornblower series of sea adventures set during the Napoleonic wars, or is there another that I'm not aware of?

Regards,

Joe

yeah sorry Joe, wrote it when i was knackered, still trying to this moment to catch up after new years, problem was i was also thinking of sharpe, because the books are little like a cross between the two, but because of the navy stuff it is more Hornblower. they are really good books too, i'd certainly recommend them to anyone, some characters have amusingly unoriginal names though, like the head of the government of one star nation "The Peoples Republic of Haven" is called Citizen Rob Pierre, but they are rip roaring good fun.

 

[Ranger1]

Yeah .. noticed that recently with "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", more known by the title it was filmed as - "Blade Runner".

I found the movie .. visually stunning, but ultimately just .. uninspired and boring.

The book on the other hand, which my sister advised me to read anyways, was quite awesome

.. though apparently, The War of the Worlds made quite an .. effective .. radioplay too ..

do androids dream of electric sheep is one of my favourite books ever, but i thoroughly enjoyed the movie too, if you like Dick i also recommend the man in the high castle and a collection of short stories called second variety, the title story was the basis for the terminator, but another short in there was also used with one or two other stories by him to come up with total recall (the exact titles escape me at the moment, but one was "Martian Time Slip). and of course the one book everyone should be forced to read in their teens "stranger in a strange land" by Robert Heinlien, that is an amazing book, it really helped me through my early teens (that sort of time when you just finish puberty, and everything is kind of new) because the main character experiences everything for the first time.

 

[KoshFan]

Let me strongly second JoeD's recommendation of Niven & Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye. It's truly a masterpiece, probably the finest imagining of a truly alien -- and yet all too human -- alien race, and our first contact with it. The sequel (which I always thought was published as The Gripping Hand) is entirely acceptable and takes the premise of the first story several steps further, and the Falkenberg stories set a few hundred years earlier are also fun. There's also King David's Spaceship. But none of them are as inspired as The Mote in God's Eye. I'd say it's still one of the finest sci-fi novels ever written, if not the finest, despite the occasional anachronism.

I'm just reading some that I need for next semester:

Things Fall Apart
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Remains of the Day

Aw, man, I haven't read Kiss of the Spider Woman for ages. I rather liked it.

 

[crazyhorse]

Yeah .. noticed that recently with "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", more known by the title it was filmed as - "Blade Runner".

I found the movie .. visually stunning, but ultimately just .. uninspired and boring.

The book on the other hand, which my sister advised me to read anyways, was quite awesome

.. though apparently, The War of the Worlds made quite an .. effective .. radioplay too ..

A lot of films have been based on his work including Total Recall.Terminator was supposedly based on one of his stories and a stage adaption was made of Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said which debuted in New York in the late 80's.

The Golden man is being filmed ate the moment as Next with Nicholas Cage.

Read anything you can find by him.I love his short stories,nobody can give as much in fifty pages as this man.

His life would also make a great film

 

[Chilli]

Not to forget Minority Report .. also based on his story

I haven't gotten to reading that yet .. I have it, a short story collection of his, and "Eye in the Sky".

I also recently read the recently mentioned "Stranger in a Strange Land", which I also greatly enjoy .. though it left me wondering at times if Heinlein wasn't possibly a bit of a dick.

 

[crazyhorse]

Heinlein was a bit of a dick

Wrote some good books though and incidently helped finance Philip K. Dick to write.Just a coincidence.

 

[GaribaldisHair]

The short story on which Total Recall was partly based is We Can Remember It For You Wholesale.

 

[crazyhorse]

The US/Canadian Total Recall 2070 television series was a closer adaption of the book and introduced other stories by him adapted into the setting.

 

[Markas]

I am looking for a good LONG sci-fi read. Any ideas?

must be at least a trilogy or a REALLY thick book

I loved the Piers Anthony's "Bio of a Space Tyrant" (5 books) and his "Incarnations of Immortality" (7 books) series. Space Tyrant is more pure SF and Incarnations is more a SF/fantasy combination about real people who do the jobs of Death, Fate, Time, War, Nature, Satan and God.

Currently, I'm reading George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice trilogy, book 1: "A Game of Thrones" and loving it.

 

[KoshFan]

Currently, I'm reading George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice trilogy, book 1: "A Game of Thrones" and loving it.

Ah, you've discovered Martin! I commend you on your taste.

 

[Markas]

Thank you. And I discovered Martin because of a former poster here suggested it (Blackstar, for you old timers). I got it a few years ago and never read it. I'm quite enjoying it now.

 

[Ranger1]

this would probably be the best place to throw this one out there, has anyone not just read Ian Banks (either his mainstream fiction, or his sci fi) but actually enjoyed reading it? personally i cannot imagine such an individual existing, i mean my god i would rather read Dan sodding Brown.

 

[KoshFan]

I love Iain Banks's sci-fi (can't speak to his mainstream stuff), and I'm not alone on this board in liking him.

Different stuff for different folks. I've finally encountered someone who doesn't like Pratchett, for example; I knew such people existed, of course, but never met one.

 

[Pobman]

I read Consider Phlebas and didn't like it. I can't remember why I didn't like it, as it was a while ago. I think we (me and Ranger1) are in the minority on this though.