king ubu Posted October 22, 2008 Report Posted October 22, 2008 read some Kurt Vonnegut for the first time - Cat's Cradle, now finishing up Slaughterhouse 5. Very good reading! Cat's Cradle was hilarious, has been some time since I read a book that amused me as much! Quote
sal Posted October 22, 2008 Report Posted October 22, 2008 read some Kurt Vonnegut for the first time - Cat's Cradle, now finishing up Slaughterhouse 5. Very good reading! Cat's Cradle was hilarious, has been some time since I read a book that amused me as much! You're entering a world of great reading, ubu! I'm currently reading "Welcome to the Monkey House", a collection of his shorter works, in between chapters of "The Great War for Civilization". That book is just too long and intense to read straight through....so the Vonnegut stories are working wonderfuly as intermissions. Quote
BruceH Posted October 22, 2008 Report Posted October 22, 2008 Just re-read The Mind Behind the Eye, a rather obscure 1971 science fiction novel by Joseph Green. Didn't really mean to re-read the whole thing, but it's got a high pulp-readability quotient. Once more, I'm amazed at how much Green managed to cram into such a short space. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted November 6, 2008 Report Posted November 6, 2008 My revisit to SF has led me to some books that I always meant to read, but never did. Books that I've been carrying from home to home over the years, but for some reason or other, never got around to reading. Last week was Vonda McIntyre's Dreamsnake, which was good if not great. Now I'm reading Samuel R. Delany's Babel-17, and I am completely hooked. It's taking a while to get through; I keep going back and rereading parts. (I think I've covered Chapter Four about eight times so far.) Awesome writing. And to think, Dahlgren (which I've carried around for only few less years) awaits! Quote
Elissa Posted November 6, 2008 Report Posted November 6, 2008 Just polished off this beautifully written little novel in about a day, as would anyone interested in the diaspora out of Germany in the 30s. Quote
BruceH Posted November 6, 2008 Report Posted November 6, 2008 My revisit to SF has led me to some books that I always meant to read, but never did. Books that I've been carrying from home to home over the years, but for some reason or other, never got around to reading. Last week was Vonda McIntyre's Dreamsnake, which was good if not great. Now I'm reading Samuel R. Delany's Babel-17, and I am completely hooked. It's taking a while to get through; I keep going back and rereading parts. (I think I've covered Chapter Four about eight times so far.) Awesome writing. And to think, Dahlgren (which I've carried around for only few less years) awaits! Babel-17 is the only novel of Delany's that I've ever been able to finish! It was back in high school, when I was reading sf almost constantly; I remember liking but not loving it, but don't recall many specifics. I've never been able to get far with Nova or Dhalgren or any of the big ones. Some swear by them though. You might want to give the early stories of Roger Zelazny a try, too. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted November 7, 2008 Report Posted November 7, 2008 Believe me, I've read my share of Zelazny. Now there's an interesting writer. Or writers, as it feels at times... There have been a few times I've thought to myself "wait a minute; this can't be the same guy that wrote such-and-such." Quote
BruceH Posted November 7, 2008 Report Posted November 7, 2008 Believe me, I've read my share of Zelazny. Now there's an interesting writer. Or writers, as it feels at times... There have been a few times I've thought to myself "wait a minute; this can't be the same guy that wrote such-and-such." Indeed; some of his early stories ("For A Breath I Tarry," "The Keys To December," etc.) were so good that I could hardly credit some of the hacky novels he cranked out later. Quote
BillF Posted November 7, 2008 Report Posted November 7, 2008 Philip K Dick, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said Quote
Big Al Posted November 7, 2008 Report Posted November 7, 2008 (edited) Bouncing back and forth between Stingray Shuffle by Tim Dorsey and Prayer: Does it Really Matter? by Philip Yancey. I owe my Dorsey obsession to Dave James, who recommended Florida Roadkill sometime back. I haven't had this much fun reading since I was rifling through all of Christopher Moore's books (man, I hope his next book is better than the last one which, literally, sucked). Edited November 7, 2008 by Big Al Quote
jazzbo Posted November 7, 2008 Report Posted November 7, 2008 Philip K Dick, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said I think this will be the next PKD I re-read! Quote
BillF Posted November 7, 2008 Report Posted November 7, 2008 Philip K Dick, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said I think this will be the next PKD I re-read! Good choice! (My first reading.) Quote
BruceH Posted November 8, 2008 Report Posted November 8, 2008 Philip K Dick, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said I think this will be the next PKD I re-read! I remember really enjoying this back in the day. (Gateway too, for that matter.) Quote
BruceH Posted November 8, 2008 Report Posted November 8, 2008 How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein Quote
Big Al Posted November 9, 2008 Report Posted November 9, 2008 Literally? Well, okay, maybe I was being a tad facetious. However, trying to get through it was a draining experience, so.... Quote
Jazzmoose Posted November 9, 2008 Report Posted November 9, 2008 Literally? I'm tempted to look for the book... Quote
Jazzmoose Posted November 9, 2008 Report Posted November 9, 2008 Philip K Dick, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said I think this will be the next PKD I re-read! Hmmm..I finally finished Babel-17 and this one is on the shelf... Quote
BillF Posted November 9, 2008 Report Posted November 9, 2008 James Blish, A Case of Conscience. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted November 9, 2008 Report Posted November 9, 2008 Then again, so's that! I've got the Between Books Blues... Quote
jlhoots Posted November 9, 2008 Report Posted November 9, 2008 Margaret Coel: The Girl With Braided Hair Quote
BruceH Posted November 10, 2008 Report Posted November 10, 2008 (edited) Earth Then and Now---Fred Pearce (though more looking at the pictures than "reading") Edited November 12, 2008 by BruceH Quote
ejp626 Posted November 10, 2008 Report Posted November 10, 2008 The Melting Pot and Other Subversive Stories by Lynne Schwartz Not as good as I had hoped. The one where this down-on-their-luck family crashes the CBS studio in Manhattan and ends up living in "The Jeffersons" stage set was not particularly clever or "subversive." On the other hand "What I Did for Love" is a good bittersweet (70% bitter, 30% sweet) story. The best story in the collection so far. Quote
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