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Something to focus on . . .
After completing my task of listening to all my CDs I've been struggling to find something new to take my mind off life's stresses and strains, mostly my now ex-missus moving out and taking our 3 year old daughter with her.
Apart from spending Sundays playing with my daughter and fixing guitars, I haven't had much to distract me from feeling sorry for myself, but hopefully I've found a new task to inspire me and spend a little disposable cash on.
So what I'm planning to do is start by compiling a list of Science Fiction authors worth reading, from which I can remove the books I already have, leaving me with those which I need to acquire.
There are any number of Top 100 lists to cross-reference and work from, and while I don't expect any list to be definitive I can at least make a start on something that gets somewhere close.
Then it's just a matter of reading them
I have been reading Sci-Fi since the 80s, starting with Azimov, EE Doc Smith etc. and I'm still buying lots of it, so it seems as good a subject as any.
I've read all Iain M Banks' output, nearly all that Alastair Reynolds has written, lots of M John Harrison and quite a few other recently published and highly regarded authors, but I know there are huge holes in my collection, so it's time to fill some of them in
Apart from spending Sundays playing with my daughter and fixing guitars, I haven't had much to distract me from feeling sorry for myself, but hopefully I've found a new task to inspire me and spend a little disposable cash on.
So what I'm planning to do is start by compiling a list of Science Fiction authors worth reading, from which I can remove the books I already have, leaving me with those which I need to acquire.
There are any number of Top 100 lists to cross-reference and work from, and while I don't expect any list to be definitive I can at least make a start on something that gets somewhere close.
Then it's just a matter of reading them
I have been reading Sci-Fi since the 80s, starting with Azimov, EE Doc Smith etc. and I'm still buying lots of it, so it seems as good a subject as any.
I've read all Iain M Banks' output, nearly all that Alastair Reynolds has written, lots of M John Harrison and quite a few other recently published and highly regarded authors, but I know there are huge holes in my collection, so it's time to fill some of them in
"I'll probably be in the bins at Newport Pagnell services." fretmeister
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Comments
@axisus - that has been a problem as I really don't feel like going out, so I've stayed in - I'm sure I'll get through it (and back out) eventually but it's not so easy right now. The one positive thing has been losing weight, two stone down one to go to get to a better weight for my height (a deliberate act rather than an involuntary loss).
It's gone on the list I've started this evening which, if I only count one book per new author and one new book by an author I already have books by, has already reached 75.
I reckon 150 or so books added to what I already have should be a reasonable start
Good Luck, Mate. Tfb Is Here For You.
An interest that requires effort and has a reward, best if its something tangible, that will not be too easy to achieve but will give you a real sense of pride when accomplished, is what you need to look for.
I like Charles Stross
The other one that comes to mind that was quite different was the book The Quantum Thief, can't remember the author though.
I've read a book recently that was v good - The Vagrant, but again, the author's name escapes me,, but he's written a sequel.
Have you read the Gap Sequence by Stephen Donaldson? Space opera, very good.
Also excellent scifi novels are the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons, and also Ilium/Olympos, by the same.
good luck
Hannu Rajaniemi. Excellent trilogy. Just make sure you read them in the right order - Amazon have them listed incorrectly, which is a bit confusing.
Is Richard Matheson on your list yet? Because I think his "I am Legend" is really worth reading. The actual science content is a bit dated (and a bit unbelievable) but the meaning behind the story is not you usual run of the mill entertainment...
(Not at all like the various movies that have been based on it.)
I'll put up my current owned/read list so you can see the (huge) gaps
Azimov - I've read lots and lots and liked most of it, though I re-read The Caves Of Steel recently and it was nothing like I'd remembered it (I was probably early teens when I first read it).
Arthur C Clarke - I've read quite a lot but certainly not all.
Alastair Reynolds - I've only read the first of the three Poseidon's Children books, but otherwise everything else.
China Miéville - I have pretty much all of his books and like him a lot.
Iain M Banks - All his science fiction, I've read most of the ones without the M but not all.
M John Harrison - I've read all his Sci-Fi, and really like it even if it deliberately doesn't always make sense
EE Doc Smith - I loved the Lensman books as a youth, though re-reading them years later has shown up their flaws they're still ok, if imperfect. I haven't read anything else of his.
Philip K Dick - I have Valis, Flow My Tears. . , Do Androids. . and Ubik, so there are some good ones left to read with him.
Richard Morgan - I've read all his Sci-Fi and recently enjoyed The Steel Remains, so there's a couple of those to read.
Kurt Vonnegut - I've got Slaughterhouse 5 and Breakfast Of Champions so there's quite a bit more to get from him.
Vernor Vinge - I've just re-read A Fire Upon The Deep and I have A Deepness In The Sky.
Hannu Rajaniemi - I've read the Jean le Flambeur and I'll keep an eye out for any new ones.
Kim Stanley Robinson - I've got all the Mars series but not read any yet.
Lois McMaster Bujold - I've got two of the Vorkosigan series, so there's a few to acquire and read there.
Ann Leckie - I've got the first two of her Ancillary trilogy, so that can be completed quite easily.
Edmund Cooper - I've got half a dozen of his, including Transit, but there are quite a few more.
Paolo Bacigalupi - I've read The Windup Girl and just bought The Doubt Factory and The Water Knife
Dan Simmons - I've read all the Hyperion and Illium/Olympus books but nothing else.
Ken MacLeod - Newton's Wake / Engines Of Light Trilogy
That's most of the ones that I have a number of books by, there are names that have been mentioned and others that haven't where I've either got a single book or read at least one book by them, including Peter F Hamilton ( I have The Reality Dysfunction but got bored, I'll try again), Charles Stross (Jupiter's Children - I shall buy more), Samuel R Delaney (Babel 17), Gregory Benford (Artifact), Philip Jose Farmer (Dare), John Varley (Steel Beach, though I'm not sure I've read it yet), Algis Budrys (Rogue Moon), Larry Niven (Ringworld), Greg Bear (Eon) and William Gibson.
I thought I'd read at least one by Greg Egan, but none of the books in his bibliography look familiar so he's on the list now, along with Michael Marshall Smith and Stephen Donaldson's Gap Cycle (I've got a couple of Thomas Covenant books but nothing else).
I'll do the "list" later (whether anyone's interested or not
Clearly they must be appalling.
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