Nancy Perl's science-fiction & fantasy recommendations

[mckitterick]

So today NPR made seven SF/F book recommendations. The last two SF rec's are excellent (though I couldn't get into Cryptonomicon), but I don't know the fantasy novels. Here's the list:

Cryptonomicon
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
The Name of the Wind
The Last Light of the Sun
The Thief
The Forever War
Gateway

What do you think?

Best,
Chris

Comments

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

The Last Light of the Sun sucked. Absolutely sucked. Even on Guy Gavriel Kay's fan website, people complain about it. Especially when held up to his earlier stuff (like Tigana), The Last Light of the Sun is an awful read. Bleh.

Did the person who compiled this list bother reading the book? Or did they just figure he's popular and respected in the Fantasy genre, so they picked a recent work? Because seriously--barf.

[saycestsay.livejournal.com]

I think she found a "best of" list somewhere. There's no depth here.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I dunno; missed the setup for the show.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

That wouldn't surprise me. I mean, do people really know about The Forever War and Gateway unless they've taken a class? I see they have current editions, but I can't imagine someone just stumbling across them without seeing a "Best of" list.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I mean, do people really know about The Forever War and Gateway unless they've taken a class?

Heathen! Or possibly "young person".

Do you mind if I post this question to my LJ?

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Heh. My experience with mundane readers and college students suggests that SF books from that era - even such important ones - are mostly unknown. Many non-genre readers have heard of Asimov and Heinlein, but Haldeman and Pohl are less-well-known.

It would be interesting to do a survey of mundanes to see how many have heard of these books! But I suspect your readership is more enlightened. Or I would hope. Hm, perhaps a survey as such would be enlightening. Maybe edit the language of the question a bit.

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

do people really know about The Forever War and Gateway unless they've taken a class?

0verdrive read Gateway in HS, and still had his copy. I don't know that he read much of anything other than Stephen King in high school. But he did have Gateway. I don't remember who he said recommended it to him.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

That's a hopeful sign!

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Interesting that the two out-and-out SF books (I liked Cryptonomicon, but its claim to be SF is ... well, at least less convincing than the other genres it could claim to be) are Classics from Long Ago (yea, when I was young: these are among the books that I was appalled to see drop out of print and ken, because I'd assumed they would be around for ever) while the fantasies are all recent if not entirely new (the Alcatraz book, which I know nothing of, has only been out a month...). At a guess, they asked two different people for recommendations. Or maybe one fan and one marketing dept?

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I noticed the same thing. Why newer fantasies and older SF? More parallel would be LotR for fantasy, but maybe they thought that was too obvious.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Gateway is still getting sequels, which must help its place in the public consciousness.

(My copy of Forever War has the little mirrored imaged bb on the spine and uses the term "bevawatt".)

[cmt2779.livejournal.com]

Bummer. My first thought was that I'd like to read it. I liked Tigana and The Fionavar Tapestry when I read them years ago. But if this book sucks that badly, maybe I'll head in a different direction instead.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Me, I'm 43. I read The Forever War in paperback in the late 70s, and Gateway when it came out. So as a datum point, anyone in their 40s who was reading SF in their teens/twenties should be familiar with those two books.

College students are another matter: they're kids, basically. An 18 year old today was born in 1989: to them, these books are ancient history. The Vietnam war ended as far before their cohort was born as the Second World War ended before mine. Unless the books are actively in reprint and in library inventory, they're not necessarily going to know them. However ...

Hypothesis: if you peg the current college student generation as being the file sharing generation, they will know "The Forever War" and "Gateway". Because those books are among the most common ones posted to usenet ebook file sharing newsgroups.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

[...] SF books from that era - even such important ones - are mostly unknown.

Doctor Theodore Bassler, who wrote two SF novels under the pen name "T.J. Bass", was apparently rather surprised to learn that people still discuss his books decades later. Someone on rasfw tracked him down in 2001, I think.

Huh. You know, it's almost 20 years since Barry Hugart last had a book published.

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

GGK still has a couple more out there worth reading. The Lions of Al-Rassan is breathtaking. A Song For Arbonne is good, too. But "Bummer" is a good word for Last Light of the Sun.

BTW, my nana (whose opinion I trust on nearly all things related to reading material) wasn't impressed by Ysabel (his latest). I think he might be losing his interest in writing the type of books that got him started. Which is fine! I understand the need to Move On Already. But it's a bit of a shock to people who are expecting his previous high standards in the areas of plot and interesting characters.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Looks like my edition is Del Rey and I read it in the early 1980s.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I'm 40, myself, and read both of these books in the early 1980s. I agree that anyone who's a serious SF reader today should have read those, and they're still great books to recommend to beginning SF readers in their 20s.

Geez, now you're making me feel old, but you're right about the Vietnam war vs. WWII.

It would be really interesting to see if "the file sharing generation" does indeed know these books. If so, it would make support how file-sharing enhances readership, though it would take another survey to discover if those same readers are the ones keeping those two books in occasional reprint.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

That's good news, except for Hugart. I wonder what's up.

[stuology.livejournal.com]

I could not finish Cryptonomicon. I tried four times to read that book, and found myself thinking about chores, things do to at work, etc while I was reading the book. I would read pages and then stop and realize I had no idea what I just read. I still have it, but I'm not sure if I ever want to give it a 5th try. I must be missing something.

I still have love for Snow Crash and Diamond Age--two books that I could only afford the mass market paperback at the time I bought them and they both haven almost completely fallen apart. I should invest in better binding if I can find such.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

An interview with Hugart.

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the Thief but one of its sequels, the Queen of Attolia, is very nice. Hardly my top choice for a fantasy recommendation, but definitely a good book. I've been meaning to read both the Thief and the King of Attolia (third in the series).

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

My experience with Cryptonomicon was similar - and it's relieving to hear that you, of all people, had such a reaction. I loved his earlier two, though, and they're still two of my faves.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Re: "Doubleday's decision to distribute my books to Fantasy/SF outlets only was the last straw." Hrm.

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

You can find used hardcover copies of The Diamond Age on Amazon for pretty cheap. Snowcrash is a little (a lot) pricier. I've thought about purchasing both of these in hardcover, myself.

[rorschachsix.livejournal.com]

I got through Cryptonomicon fairly easily. Not a bad book overall IMHO.

I couldn't get through the Baroque cycle. Stalled out on the first volume for a month or so. Took many restarts to get through the second one, and I haven't finished the third.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I still think of Del Rey as "Ballantine's new SF imprint."

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

:-D

[stuology.livejournal.com]

The Snow Crash ones if I want them in better shape are kind of expensive. But in looking, I found and pre-ordered this one: http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Neal-Stephenson/dp/159606157X

Estimated ship date is February, so happy Valentine's Day to me (if they don't run out before they get to me).

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

Whoa! Good luck. And, er...when it arrives, can I touch it? =D

[affreca.livejournal.com]

Put me in the list of youngish(27) people who found both books. I found Gateway either in the family book collection or a used book store in high school. I read Forever War after picking up Forever Peace in a new bookstore post college.

[(Anonymous)]

I raced through the first two books of the Baroque cycle. Loved them. That was two years ago, though, and I still haven't gotten more than a third of the way through the third book. I want to finish, but I know I won't remember much of what's going on without some serious re-reading.

[cmt2779.livejournal.com]

I raced through the first two books of the Baroque cycle. Loved them. That was two years ago, though, and I still haven't gotten more than a third of the way through the third book. I want to finish, but I know I won't remember much of what's going on without some serious re-reading.

[stuology.livejournal.com]

I read Quicksilver, but I had to really force myself to finish. I didn't even bother with the other two.

I know others who liked Cryptonomicon, which is why I made such an effort to read it.

I do think that if everybody made a list of 7 SF/Fantasy books that people should read, Cryptonomicon should not make it to any of them. Except maybe Neal Stephenson's list.

Then again, I could be missing something. Like the end of the book. Which I never reached.

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

Now, see, the only one I've read of that last is Cryptonomicon. I'm reading it right now, actually (for the 3rd or 4th time). I love it. It's miles ahead of any of his other books, too. Huh.

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

Oh man, the Baroque Cycle was rough. Those books just didn't have the panache of Snow Crash or Cryptonomicon; for some reason I just couldn't get immersed in the universe. The best parts were the scenes with Half-Cocked Jack, and those went by far too quickly.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Okay, I've been hoping to talk to someone who could actually get through that book and liked it. So: Why is it a good novel? I still own it and occasionally consider selling it. Tell me why I should try to read it again (I only made it about 100 pages before).

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

I'm rather surprised you didn't like it. I seriously love that book; it may even be one of my favorites!

Perhaps the first 100 pages or so are rather slow. There's a LOT of backstory that you have to learn before the characters really come alive. After a while, though, it's a massively fun (and intelligent) adventure. It really makes you think about information theory in some parts, too. You can pretty safely gloss over much of the cryptographic methodology, but there's SO much more to the story.

I've enjoyed that book for a few years now, but it's come alive even more after I've been to the Philippines (featured prominently in the text).