evenstar
Junior Member
I wish he was MY local barman
Posts: 53
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Post by evenstar on Mar 27, 2008 23:05:45 GMT
I know it's not really lowculture, but does anyone here read this kind of thing? I find it a really good genre for escapism and generally relaxing. Just looking for a few suggestions of new books to read.
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Post by Cherubic on Mar 27, 2008 23:47:46 GMT
*Admits secret literary vice*
Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council by China Mieville River of Gods by Ian McLeod (or Ian something) The Algebraist by Ian M. Banks (but 'the Culture' novels are shit) The Xeelee sequence/Destiny's Children novels by Stephen Baxter (if you like complicated science) and the Manifold series is quite good too. J.G. Ballard, although I only like his natural disaster type stuff American Gods by Neil Gaiman is kind of fantasy Phillip K. Dick is good, although some is a lot better than others. The Man in the High Castle is still one of my favourite books.
The problem is they're both largely terrible genres. Of particular note for awfulness is David Eddings.
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evenstar
Junior Member
I wish he was MY local barman
Posts: 53
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Post by evenstar on Mar 28, 2008 22:34:43 GMT
ooooh *starts scribbling a list* I do love Neil Gaiman, specially Good Omens with Terry Pratchett, another firm favourite. Ever read Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card? My current favourite book ever!
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Post by jetsetwilly on Mar 28, 2008 23:30:08 GMT
The problem is they're both largely terrible genres. Of particular note for awfulness is David Eddings. Oh, no, no, no. Not terrible genres at all. No genre is terrible; I'd rather have my spleen removed than read a Western novel, but that doesn't mean that I can't see its merits. I would give caveats to sci fi and fantasy for actually trying to be original over a thousand chick lit novels or a million Bravo Two Zero knock offs. The glory of sci-fi and fantasy - even in its worst forms (see: any novel that features the name of the trilogy on its first edition) - is that the authors are genuinely trying to transport you, to make you believe in another world and another concept. I think they deserve kudos just for even attempting it. There's a nasty habit among literary critics for being disparaging about authors who deal with imagination, because they are too busy showering plaudits on yet another novelist who has written about someone being miserable in a bedsit in Belsize Park. Good fantasy writing is just good writing, genre unimportant, and Iain M Banks and J G Ballard are excellent emissaries. It's also easy to kick sci-fi fans because they are, in general, thoroughly nice, inoffensive people; if we're going to start pillorying people who talk incessantly on one subject, discuss it as though their opinion will have any relevance on the reality, and dress up in the uniforms of their heroes, can we begin with the football fans? Personally I'd recommend Geoff Ryman, just in general; his sci-fi stuff is amazing, and his later, fantasy tinged reality novels are superb - Was is incredible, Lust is just filthy, and 253 is phenomenal on about fourteen different levels. Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and Handmaid's Tale are also superb sci-fi novels that are conveniently placed in the "literary fiction" section just because they are well written.
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fezza
Jane Asher
I discovered at a very early age that if I talk long enough, I can make anything right or wrong
Posts: 208
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Post by fezza on Mar 28, 2008 23:30:56 GMT
I was going to recomend American Gods too and Good Omens is one of my favorite ever books, it never gets boring!
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Post by Cherubic on Mar 29, 2008 11:35:03 GMT
Oh, no, no, no. Not terrible genres at all. No genre is terrible; I'd rather have my spleen removed than read a Western novel, but that doesn't mean that I can't see its merits. I would give caveats to sci fi and fantasy for actually trying to be original over a thousand chick lit novels or a million Bravo Two Zero knock offs. The glory of sci-fi and fantasy - even in its worst forms (see: any novel that features the name of the trilogy on its first edition) - is that the authors are genuinely trying to transport you, to make you believe in another world and another concept. I think they deserve kudos just for even attempting it. There's a nasty habit among literary critics for being disparaging about authors who deal with imagination, because they are too busy showering plaudits on yet another novelist who has written about someone being miserable in a bedsit in Belsize Park. Good fantasy writing is just good writing, genre unimportant, and Iain M Banks and J G Ballard are excellent emissaries. It's also easy to kick sci-fi fans because they are, in general, thoroughly nice, inoffensive people; if we're going to start pillorying people who talk incessantly on one subject, discuss it as though their opinion will have any relevance on the reality, and dress up in the uniforms of their heroes, can we begin with the football fans? Personally I'd recommend Geoff Ryman, just in general; his sci-fi stuff is amazing, and his later, fantasy tinged reality novels are superb - Was is incredible, Lust is just filthy, and 253 is phenomenal on about fourteen different levels. Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and Handmaid's Tale are also superb sci-fi novels that are conveniently placed in the "literary fiction" section just because they are well written. By terrible genre I meant that within the genre most books are terribly written with some excellent exceptions. A great deal of literary fiction is awful, but its usually well written tosh. Whereas bad fantasy (and bad of all other 'genres' excluding the literary) is wholly bad. It doesn't make the Belsize Park Sagas any more interesting (I'm looking at you Anita Brookner) but it does make them a bit more readable. And I speak as a man who read an awful lot of science fiction and fantasy as a youth. Geoff Ryman's AIR I really liked, but I've never been able to find anything else by him I wanted to read. Oryx and Crake I thought a bit slight. The relationships weren't very interestingly developed and the science was a bit Maguffiny. Having said that I do want my own pet rakunk. Handmaid's tale is a classic of future history. Ian M. Banks I like as a writer, but I think his books are mostly a bit space opera for my personal tastes.
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Post by timydamonkey on Mar 29, 2008 15:09:11 GMT
Let's see... I like Pratchett's fantasy stuff.
For sci-fi, I don't read a lot of it... I really like Karin Lowachee's books: Warchild, Burndive and Cagebird.
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