Hey, this is a continuation of the topic from this thread here.
I thought I’d continue this now that we’re a much bigger community.
I recently started a full collection (by Delphi Classics) of Edgar Allan Poe’s works. I’m still near the start (because it is a large collection of his entire repertoire).
And, on that note, I’m still going through Ambrose Bierce’s repertoire of novels, short stories, etc. (I think the collection I’m going through is also Delphi Classics).
I’ve also started Romance of the Three Kingdoms (of the recent English translation), specifically its first volume.
I kinda stalled on the two other novels a mentioned last time (Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer and Book 2 of the Three-Body Problem series by Liu Cixin).
So, basically, I made more progress on the long-ass collection of Poe and Bierce’s entire list of works than I have for the two novels that I could probably get through in a day for both. 😅 But I don’t mind, tbh. I read a lot of good non-fiction books on the side and finished them (though we’re here to talk about specifically fiction in this thread). So it’s all good. Hell, I’m actually going to take a brief break from non-fiction to more “lighter” fictional works. I may start the next The High Republic novel next (the recent one in the spinoff series of novels that came out for the Star Wars EU under Disney about a year ago, I think). In addition, I’m still almost done with VanderMeer and Cixin’s work respectively so I’ll wrap them up and pick one more book (I… kinda have an itch to essentially read 6 fictional books at once, but mostly, I’m going to use the month to de-stress just in case I may need it; not because I recently got stress, but simply to be careful).
Not sure what else to say.
What are you reading in terms of fiction?
What will you read next?
Anything you like in particular?
Anything you didn’t really care for that much?
Discuss all that and more so long as it has to do with written fiction or anything related to it.
👍👍
Tagging the other people from the last thread:
@VictimOfReligion@lemmygrad.ml
Any progress on what you’ve all read?
Any new fictional novels or stories you’ve picked up?
Thanks in advance!
Finished Rule 34 by Charles Stross. YouTube recommended me a weird audiobook called All Tomorrows about billions of years of interstellar human evolution. Not started anything else yet by I ordered Gaddafi’s Green Book so that should be here monday.
kewl
That book’s a classic. After you’re done with it, you should watch this video. The author even commented on it lol
Oh, neat, I’ll check that out.
I’m reading all of Pratchett again. He wrote so many books it’s easy to reread.
Really? I always find Pratchett’s books daunting because there are a lot of them.
There are a lot but they’re all little series just set in the same universe. I’m reading the night watch series atm. You can google Sam Vimes for the wiki which has his works in the right order. They’re all re-readable and the community has remained pretty great. I’d recommend audiobooks for the first time since until you know his style it can be hard to get to his level of silly in your own head lol
Right, understood.
Not really, mentally tired after work
Ah, understood.
Based on your recommends, gonna start the 3-body problem soon!
Also reading the three musketeers, Grimm fairy tales, Black Elk Speaks, and 20k leagues under the sea.
Black Elk Speaks is great!
Also, nice that you’re getting into the classics!
Finished Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy
Started the Eye of the World (We stan our queen Egwene.)
I like Egwene. When nobody else did.
Now I’m also the sole Sansa stan… and sometimes I feel like the sole Stannis stan.
It sucks… being a stan… of a Stan.
Might as well try to hijack the topic to ask a question. So awhile ago, I’ve read an American sci-fi novel from around 1960’s. It depicted a future where advertisement companies basically run the entire world, with some seriously underhanded methods (i.e. putting an addictive chemical into a popular caffeinated drink to make it even more popular). In fact, they actively lament being forbidden from using infrasound in TV ads. The protagonist is a top manager in the largest Ad company, but by accident finds himself at the bottom of the social ladder (growing chlorella in South America) and gets to experience firsthand the virulent media he and his colleagues have created.
I think the book was called something like “Project Venus”, but searching that name only brings up some weird futurist projects. If anyone happens to know which book that is, I highly recommend it.
EDIT: it is Space Merchants by Cyril M. Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl. Thanks to @PropagandaBot@lemmygrad.ml
There are a lot of things predicted that we are living through right now. Product placement everywhere, dwindling living conditions of the working class (even as the capital owners cruise through life), privatization of law enforcement, etc. It’s not a communist book by any margin, but I still feel the fine folks here might find it enjoyable.
I’m pretty sure it is Space Merchants by Cyril M. Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl.
Well whaddaya know, that’s exactly the book! Thank you!
No problem, human comrade.
Sounds exactly like something you’d read from the 1960s since a lot of titles were experimental (and more standalone which meant that they were, well, again, doubly experimental in their content). I would imagine that this made things more focused.
But yeah, interesting title. Thanks for bringing it up.
I read the three-body-problem series a while ago, it was pretty good. The multidimensional stuff especially; the underlying axiom of the whole series (“the dark forest”) is somewhat dubious though, and the hero’s underlying motivations… meh.
RTP and One Way / No Way remain highly recommended.
VanderMeer’s Annihilation (and the rest of the southern reach trilogy) are absolutely amazing. Not so keen on his other works so far though.
I’m part-way through Rosewater, which is, in theory, everything I like in a novel. Struggling with it a bit, though.
The Children of Time series had a good exploration of novel intelligences, and a decent story.
Project Hail Mary was better than The Martian. Reasonable recommend.
Fantasy-wise, I’m still a great fan of the Death’s Gate Cycle.
Ah! Heard good things about The Children of Time series! Hoping to get into that one as well. May get into the Death’s Gate Cycle too.
I’ve read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? several times but until recently I realised…
spoiler
The way the “real” animals are treated can be seen as a consequence of commodity fetishism, besides being a status symbol, which in fact further alienate the people not only in a existential way but in a very tangible one. Though I don’t know enough about PKD personal background so probably it is not intentional.
Among PKD’s works I also would recommend Ubik, The Man in the High Castle (Bezoscorp did substantial changes but the concept is almost the same), The Game-Players of Titan and Our Friends from Frolix 8 (this one portrays a “mutant”-human apartheid like world so it is interesting to formulate interpretations).
Another favorite of mine is Company by Max Barry, which for some reason some critics had the nerve to compare it to 1984 smh. I would say it is far more enjoyable for us in the true left.
Noice.
Broke: New Left from the 1960s
Woke: Old Left from the 1920s/30s
Bespoke: The Left that’s going to take power after revolution in the 21st century.
😎
Recently finished the Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin, which I enjoyed a lot. Tried reading She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan but wasn’t that interested in it and gave up at like 1/3 into it.
Three-Body Problem is on my TBR but I’m currently looking to read something that’s fantasy.
Same here. I… couldn’t get into N.K. Jemisin’s trilogy for… some reason. I honestly don’t know why. Did I feel that it was a bit too visceral and dark? I guess. Maybe. I just felt that nothing was really all that appealing. So eh.
No offense or anything!
I found that the darkness fit the setting very well and wasn’t just for the sake of it. But obviously everyone has different tastes 😀.
Of course!
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You mean The Double by Feodor Dostoyevsky? Or another writer?
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The Russian novel from the Soviet Union? I believe it was also a sequel or spin-off to Roadside Picnic.
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Oh alright
The plot is we find humans alive on one in a medival tech era and then insert ourselves into there society as gods, kind of like a theme park.
But that’s not at all what is happening in the book
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Micro-spoilers? That book is technically part of the larger Noon series of books.
Might read The Once and Future King series, but maybe it’s a bit too antiquated at this point…
The first one was really entertaining. Don’t really remember if it had good politics or not.
Ah, interesting.
Fanfics, fanfics,fanfics, fanfics, and im annoyed with fanfics
I remember when I used to read stuff like the Brandon Sanderson novels and stuff like the expanseI don’t much like BrandoSando that much, but you should definitely rectify your “reading-only-fanfics” problem.
I will make the effort!
noice