A wilding Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 4 hours ago, Ormond said: Finished Stanislaw Lem's Memoirs Found in a Bathtub last night. Lem was one of the famous science fiction authors I hadn't read yet and wanted to read something of before I died. Not sure I made the right choice from Lem's work to start with -- this book is a satire on bureaucracy, with the narrator trapped in a Building which runs his nation and where everyone is communicating by incomprensible doublespeak. Well written, but a bit too weird for my taste. I wonder if the rest of Lem's books are anything like it. All of Lem's output is heavy going, but I would recommend trying His Master's Voice and/or Fiasco before giving up on him. His Master's Voice has, just in passing, the most evocative and scary vignette of the Holocaust that I have ever come across. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Having finished Sir Nigel, finally, (did White Company much more quickly) I'm reading Doyle's "Valley of Fear." I think I agree with Doyle that his historical fiction is better than the Holmes fiction. I am so struck by how far for the time Doyle goes in his two 14th century novels, depicting his knights committing without remorse cruelty and slaughter, and making the peasants and serfs charge into situations in which they are nothing but cannon -- well arrow -- fodder -- as long as those upon whom its committed aren't noble. He shows us exactly what class warfare is. Have preordered Empireland by Sathnan Sanghera and Padraic Scanlan's Slave Empire, now that it's been announced for October publication here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Tiger Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Finished Warbreaker. Will read The Reindeer People next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingintheNorth4 Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Finished reading Ender's Game for a second time yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Qohor Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 Just finished reading Dune. It's very well written and I can admire the craft of it greatly however I don't think I'll be continuing with the rest of the series. Maybe it's just me but it felt...cold and I really found it hard to feel engaged by or care about any of the characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 On 4/2/2021 at 5:50 PM, Ormond said: I wonder if the rest of Lem's books are anything like it. No, but everything he wrote was weird. Except maybe Pilot Pirx or however it ended up translated which seems a bit more standard but I've not read (actually read shamefully little of his for a Polish SFF fan). I'd recommend Star Diaries as the next go-to though, that's a bit more accessbile. It's essentially a series of shorts that are part send-up of old SFF tropes, part love-letter to them. Not entirely unlike a Polish Hitchhiker's Guide, though you also shouldn't expect something similar - it's not as freewheeling or chaotic and Lem's humour is very different, if equally fond of wordplay (which makes translations hard). ffs, old topic. Thanks, Obama Zorral Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 5 hours ago, Lady_Qohor said: Just finished reading Dune. It's very well written and I can admire the craft of it greatly however I don't think I'll be continuing with the rest of the series. Maybe it's just me but it felt...cold and I really found it hard to feel engaged by or care about any of the characters. If you feel that about the first book then I doubt the sequels would change your opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 1 hour ago, williamjm said: If you feel that about the first book then I doubt the sequels would change your opinion. This is old thread, which should be locked. The thread you want is the Second Quarter reading thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 Just started The God is Not Willing, the first full-length Malazan novel by Steven Erikson in five years. Well, nine years for me, since I skipped Fall of Light. Going well so far. He seems to have recovered some of his early mojo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 On 6/3/2021 at 3:04 PM, williamjm said: If you feel that about the first book then I doubt the sequels would change your opinion. This is old thread, which should be locked. The thread you want is the Second Quarter reading thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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