[Physical] The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Ultimate Collection - Douglas Adams
Technically this is 6 books back to back - it's the whole series. These are some of my favorite books of all time, and I make sure to re-read them every few years to keep them fresh in my mind. I would recommend this series to everyone.
The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton
Another one I've read previously and love. I read this many years ago and I've been craving some Crichton again recently so I decided to start back here. I recommend this to anyone who likes a good, science-based thriller.
[Audio] Nuking The Moon - Vince Houghton
This is an interesting book so far, but it's not a favorite. I'm not super fond of the author's writing style. It's got a bit longer to impress me before I put it down and move onto something else, though. I can't recommend it yet - we'll see.
I keep forgetting about Michael Crichton. I read the reviews on that book and they seem really hit or miss. I've never read any of his books, but I'm a fan of sci-fi and mystery so you caught my attention there. Knowing that it would be my first Crichton book, would you recommend this one, or would another be a better starting point to get me hooked on his style?
I probably wouldn't recommend The Andromeda Strain as your first Crichton. Although it's among his earlier books, it can be pretty dry at times, so you really have to be a fan of the science part of the sci-fi.
Something like Micro, Prey, or Next would probably be better places to start - those are among his later works (in fact he passed while writing Micro), and they have pretty good plots which move along at a fun pace. Sphere gets an honorable mention here too.
If you like any of those and you're willing to try something a bit more on the sciencey side, check out Jurassic Park.
Finished up Fingersmith by Sarah Waters this weekend. I wasn’t too into this one in the end. It had a lot of twists and turns that I don’t think were really necessary, that felt forced, and I don’t think the ending was worth it after all that.
Trying to decide what to pick up next. I’m eyeing The Golden Notebook or Girl, Woman, Other, but knowing me I’ll grab something completely different!
Fun fact: I first found him by reading Outland, which I was surprised to find out takes place almost exclusively in my home town. I wish he'd come back and write more in that series, it was a pretty fun concept.
Edit: Posting this got me curious and it turns out he published a sequel called Earthside earlier this year!
Death by Neil Gaiman. Genre is comic book/fantasy. Really enjoying the stories, recommend it to anyone but especially to anyone who's read The Sandman.
I got an arc of Martha Wells’ The Book of Ile-Rien which is a republishing of the two novels: The Element of Fire and The Death of The Necromancer. I originally was looking for a copy of Necromancer only which I couldn’t find but this came my way so I decided to read both.
I’m about 1/3-1/2 though Element so far and it’s a pretty good fantasy mystery/court intrigue story so far. Lots of fantasy elements weaved into the world along with fun characters. Definitely worth it!
Currently on my nightstand would be Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick, but I haven’t started yet and can’t say much more. Just finished Forge of the High Mage by Ian C Esselmont last night though, which is a continuation of a prequel series to Malazan book of the fallen. It’s a high fantasy series with great world building, and can make readers feel a full range of emotion over the first of the series. I highly recommend the series. My first try I couldn’t get through the first book because the authors don’t spoon feed you what you think you need to know and I was just to confused for being 400 pages in. But I’m really glad I went back to it, definitely my favorite series and I’ve gone through twice now
Audible just had a 2 for 1 sale and I found 4 that look intriguing to me and pulled the trigger on:
Projections by Karl Deisseroth
Being You by Anil Seth
The Anatomy of Anxiety by Ellen Vora
The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan
I haven't started any yet. I'll probably start with Sagan because he's a great blend of rational scientist and story teller. The other three look like moderately researched books on different aspects of the brain and I read as much as I can find on the brain and intelligence. I have a fairly lengthy list of ones I've read and consider interesting here.
Oh man, I've listened to Carl Sagan's Cosmos so many times in my life that I'm afraid it would be a Pavlovian response to him narrating an audio book... 😴😴
My nightstand is full of Hi-Fi equipment I don’t use. Let’s not think about that too much right now, though…
I’m going to be continuing Neuromancer by William Gibson and/or The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. Neuromancer is arguably the first Cyberpunk novel, and The Lost World is, ah… adventure, I suppose?
I’m enjoying both so far, though I’ve not gotten very far in Neuromancer. I’d recommend Neuromancer if you wanna see how Cyberpunk got its start and how much (or how little) has changed since then. I’d recommend The Lost World if you can get past how dated and alarmingly racist it can be. That’s something that can be quite frustrating about works from that period. It’ll be a rollicking good time, and then you get slammed in the face by a racial slur.
Currently reading Witch King by Martha Wells. It’s fantasy, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it (nearly finished). I’d definitely recommend it. Great world building and super interesting characters.
Currently listening to The Passage by Justin Cronin. It’s fantasy that feels more like post-apocalyptic scifi. Either way it’s great. Gripping. I don’t want to stop listening! I’d absolutely recommend it.
I’m reading the frugal wizards handbook for surviving medieval England.
It’s a part of Brandon Sanderson’s kickstarter project.
I guess it’s a scifi/fantasy.
I’m only a few chapters in so far, but I would reccomend it. Brandon always writes good books and this was born out of writing a private novel to his wife during covid.
He wrote four books actually during that time and the first was Tress of the emerald sea. I finished that one earlier this week and it was amazing. Highly recommend. It’s a classic fantasy trope with a good twist. If you can get a copy, you should.
It's really interesting, a book about the gospels and other books that didn't make the grade into the New Testament as we know it today and why not, even though they were popular at the time (roughly 100-300AD). Christianity sounds like it was chaotic in the early days with people believing all sorts of different things. Certainly could have been a lot more inclusive of different beliefs..,
I'd absolutely recommend but only if you're a history geek like me interested in this subject matter otherwise it'd be quite dry
Currently reading Sandman:Book of Dreams. It’s fantasy. This one of my husband’s books that we’ve had forever and I’ve never read. It’s an anthology of short stories by various authors and it’s surprisingly good. Would definitely recommend even if you aren’t familiar with the source material.
Is this by Neil Gaiman as well? I've read a bunch of his Sandman comics, which are wonderful, but I think I would appreciate Morpheus even more in a novel!
It’s not by him. It’s a collection of short stories from other authors for the Sandman source material. Gaiman does write a blurb before each entry about how he knows the author and how the story fits into the world.
Currently reading Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson. It’s fantasy and the whole series has been incredible so far. I highly recommend it if you’re even a little bit into fantasy. This is the last book that’s out and I just slowed myself down because the next one doesn’t come out until next year.
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