I’ve just finished the latest Charlie Stross Laundry novel and it was really good. It tied together the events of the last couple of books and managed to move the story forward in a radically different direction.
I would hightly recommend reading everything Stross has done, even the stuff I’ve not read yet, because he’s shaping up to be one of the UK’s premier sci-fi authors up alongside the likes of Iain M Banks.
I read the “new” Michael Crichton the other day- it was a lovely light pirates-in-the-caribbean heist. Good poolside, or on the beach.
Am currently reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I feel weirdly obligated here- in that I feel like I should have read Gaiman but I’ve never (not once, even) been able to get into any of the novels of his I’ve tried. This one, however, I’m really enjoying. Ms Nothingfuture and I have been trying to watch the TV show adaptation, but we’ve young kids and time to watch tv without them is sorely limited, so that’s taking a long time.
I’m going to try Three Body Problem next (though I should mention I tried it a while ago and it didn’t click, so this is really me trying again).
I tried to read Three Body Problem, but I couldn’t quite do it. So, I listened to the audiobook, which was good. But, I did have to listen twice to feel like I got most of the story. Then I re-listened before going on to the sequel.
Actually, I listened as I was driving across the country. It was immersive and strange, like a two day alternate reality game taking place in a Prius. When I arrived at the other end, I felt like I had landed on another planet.
I liked Three Body Problem, although it was very hard to read. It was loaded with Chinese cultural and political references, which I didn’t understand at the time. Get a copy that’s annotated, and do some background research as well, even on Wikipedia. It was also a depressing book, and its sequel The Dark Forest was even moreso. The Dark Forest described actual honest-to-God despair for the future of the human race more vividly than any other book I have ever read.
ETA: I don’t do audiobooks. I can’t process spoken words nearly as well as written words, and it actually takes effort for me to understand what people are saying. If I’m stressed enough, I can’t understand what people are saying when they’re talking to me. This means that not only do I not do audiobooks, but I especially don’t do them when driving, even when it’s a relatively uneventful cross-country road trip.
I love this book. It’s one of my favorite of all times.
My husband loved it (he’s not read the 3rd book yet, which comes out in paperback in September, I think). What did you find off-putting about it the first time around (you guys, too @CleverEmi and @LearnedCoward - who sort of kind of said, with the lack of cultural context)?
Re-reading the first 5 books of a Song of Ice and Fire, just started on A Clash of Kings. They definitely stand up to multiple reads so far. Can’t wait until the Winds of Winter are out!
The opening scene is a struggle session that includes pain and violence, and it was kind of horrifying. I mean, that’s what it was intended to be I think, but it was rough reading.
I found nothing off-putting about Three Body Problem. Mostly it was just hard to understand, and a little depressing. I liked the book, and when I read The Dark Forest, it all came flooding back, like I was picking up where I left off, even though I last read the book years earlier. The Dark Forest was full of despair, and it was good reading, even though I wasn’t in the mood to read it. Both books were very well written and challenged my comfort zones more than a little. I totally recommend.
I have not read the third book yet.
I like books by non-white and non-Western authors, because they bring a perspective that I don’t have. These books are kind of hard to find, because it seems like everything that’s popular is very first-world and super-duper white. I no longer get my book recommendations from NPR for this reason. Even though these books aren’t easy to find, they are being written, and they are popular in certain circles. They just aren’t being as heavily promoted and distributed as they should be.
Recently read books by non-white American authors. All were fabulous:
The Killing Moon by NK Jemisin. Fantasy that winds up being nearly SF, so compares with Anne McCaffery on that axis. The setting is a planet whose society closely resembles Ancient Egypt’s Old Kingdom. It’s a quiet narrative; it took me a while to realise how hooked on the story and the characters I was. I will definitely be reading more by this author.
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. Imagine Batman and Robin with Catgirl, except it’s all set in the city and era next one over from where 1,001 Arabian Nights is being told for the first time.
The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor. Future SF that skewers capitalism and colonialism while giving us a fascinatingly unreliable (but to what extent?) narrator.
Have you read much Edwidge Danticat?
I’ve heard great things about this book, then never got around to reading it, then nearly forgot it existed.
I love afrofuturism. I’ve read a little of it, but seeing as it’s a huge genre that lies largely outside my circles, I’ve barely even scratched the surface.
No! (Adds to list)
I haven’t read the other two, but I really enjoyed the Saladin Ahmed one.
She also did the Who Fears Death book? Apparently, the one you mentioned is a prequel to it…
I’m kind of hoping that Black Panther will kick of a round of Afro-Futurism films, based on books, as I think that will be a great way to get more people reading non-white speculative fiction writers.
I dunno, is the short answer.
Sometimes, it’s the cadence and diction that either work for me or don’t- so Gibson always works for me, but others always don’t.
There’s also Gaiman’s lean towards the surreal, which can be a hard sell for me (like fantasy is a hard sell for me). Combine the two, and he just never really seems to click.
I’m going to confess something, now- I’ll put it in spoiler-mode so folks don’t have to look if they don’t want. It might be upsetting.
I can’t stand his wife, Amanda Palmer. Something about her irks me to my very core. We went to the same high school around the same time, and I. Just. Can’t. Stand. Her. Anything about her. And I suspect that the fact he married her makes me cast doubt on his qualities as a person. I realize this is irrational. I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s not a feeling towards people I have often at all, btw.
There. It’s done.
His work isn’t for everyone. Nothing wrong with that. And yeah Palmer is one of those people who you either love or hate. I’m a fan, but then again, I don’t know her personally. But there is no need to apologize for not liking her. Not like you’re being an asshole for having an opinion! 
OH! Also, A friend of mine in Boston hates her too, like with a passion. But he’s a fan of the drummer Thor Harris, who sometimes works with her. So the last time she played in Boston, Thor played with her, and my friend went, and he sent me a picture of himself with her! It’s kind of funny!
I don’t know why I blurred mine! Just getting into the spirit of the thing!
I’ve gradually done a 180 of sorts on the Gaiman / Palmer axis. I started off liking some of his books (not all), and not really caring about her work. Not disliking, just not caring.
Then I saw the Art of Asking TED talk, and read the book. And now, I like a few of her songs – Oasis, Leeds United, and, um, that’s about it – while the last book I read and liked by him was Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Somewhere along the line – I think Stardust was the first time – I noticed woman and girl characters don’t fare so well in Gaiman stories. The fairy mother in Stardust becomes a shrewish mother-in-law, while the two woman the hero has romantic feelings for are both kind of twits. There’s the whole “monstrous mother” thing that recurs in Coraline, Ocean at the End of the Lane, and other stories.
If it doesn’t bother you or you interpret it another way, cool, but it got to me.
I think part of it is that both Gaiman and Palmer have fans that remind me the term comes from “fanatical”. I said one nice thing about The Art of Asking on Twitter, and Palmer RTed it – okay, cool, I @ ed her in it. A bunch of people liked the tweet or made little comments back, okay cool. But a couple of people tweeted back to me, at length, and while they were very nice and polite I felt like I was being pressured to join a cult. Ditto for behaviour I’ve seen at Gaiman book signings.
You could argue it’s not them, it’s their fans, but they both have it.
I like Amanda Palmer’s music, but can’t stand her as a person. I’m not even sure why. She comes across as kind of a sociopath.
She puts on an amazing live show. I also did one of her Kickstarters. She’s smart and manic and kind of intimidating.
I recently finished reading The Illuminatus Trilogy.
I read the first volume a long time ago and was not motivated to continue. But we still see so many references to it. HAIL ERIS! FNORD! I figured I should complete this task before I die.
And so?
Robert Anton Wilson was definitely a Happy Mutant, one of the intellectual founders of our subculture, whatever it is, but the simple fact is this book is not very good. Has not aged well. On the other hand, it’s got zombies in it.
It’s worth knowing about this book, but you might as well just read the Wikipedia articles. In my opinion you’re unlikely to miss anything important by skipping the actual text.
NEXT: I am reading Clan of the Cave Bear, by Jean M. Auel.