An anthology of authentic and realistic hard science fiction
I have a lot of books. Two questions people always ask me when they see my book collection: 1) have you read them all? and b) why do you keep them if you’ve read them? The answer to the first question is: not yet. About 80%, perhaps. And the second question: I might want to [...]
Filed under: 2009 reading challenge | 2 Comments »
I first read Stranger in a Strange Land back in my early teens, twenty or more years ago. I think I may have read it more than once during that time. I vaguely recall being aware of the book’s reputation, but not entirely understanding why it had such a reputation – I enjoyed it, but [...]
Filed under: 2009 reading challenge, book review, robert heinlein, science fiction | 12 Comments »
Philip José Farmer’s Riverworld series is recognised as a classic of the genre – it says so on the blurb of my 1981 paperback copy of To Your Scattered Bodies Go, the first book in the series. The last time I read it was, I think, back in the mid-1980s. Like Ringworld (see here) and [...]
Filed under: 2009 reading challenge, book review, philip josé farmer, science fiction | 5 Comments »
When I decided this year to reread books I remembered fondly from my teens, it was a given that some – if not all – might not survive the experience. After all, I’d like to think I’m a more discerning reader now. I’m certainly a more experienced one. And what I look for, and expect [...]
Filed under: 2009 reading challenge, aa attanasio, book review, science fiction | 4 Comments »
I can’t say I’m a huge Silverberg fan. I’ve read many of his books and short stories, and I’ve enjoyed them. But I’ve never made an effort to seek out those of his works I’ve not read – as I have done with some other writers. To be fair, Silverberg is one of the stalwarts [...]
Filed under: 2009 reading challenge, book review, robert silverberg, science fiction | 7 Comments »
Le Guin is an author who grows as you grow. You can read and admire her at thirteen, and you can read and admire her at forty-three. As I have done. Because I think it must be around thirty years since I last read The Left Hand of Darkness. I’d never really felt the need [...]
Filed under: 2009 reading challenge, book review, science fiction, ursula le guin | 6 Comments »
This month’s book was somewhat delayed as I’ve been focusing on reading and writing about books related to Apollo 11 for my celebration of the 40th anniversary of the lunar landing. You can find those reviews on my Space Books blog here. But on with the reading challenge…. My edition of James Blish’s Jack of [...]
Filed under: 2009 reading challenge, book review, james blish, science fiction | 3 Comments »
I don’t know who to be more embarrassed for: myself, for liking this book when I was young; or the genre, for continuing to revere the series and its author. Because, let’s face it, Second Stage Lensman is not a novel we should be holding up as indicative of the genre. A person who has [...]
Filed under: 2009 reading challenge, book review, ee doc smith, science fiction | 22 Comments »
I don’t know why I thought the books on my reading challenge for this year could ever be considered sf classics. They’re not. They’re just sf novels I really enjoyed as a young teenager. So it shouldn’t really come as a surprise to me that this challenge is turning out to be little more than [...]
Filed under: 2009 reading challenge, book review, harry harrison, science fiction | 7 Comments »
The Tar-Aiym Krang is hardly classic sf by anyone’s definition. But I vaguely recall enjoying it and its three sequels when I read them back in my late teens. And it was unlikely I’d ever get around to trying them again unless I bunged the first book on a reading challenge list. The same, of [...]
Filed under: 2009 reading challenge, alan dean foster, book review, science fiction | 4 Comments »
