What are you reading right now?

AnOminous said:
One of them is Make Room! Make Room!

You might not know that name but you know the movie version: Soylent Green.

Also trashy != trash.

Another of my favorites is Bill, the Galactic Hero, allegedly a satirical response to Heinlein's Starship Troopers.
Click to expand...
Loved Soylent Green. Robinson's final performance and it was still a banger.

Is there a good Harrison short fiction collection? I've been keeping an eye when I go to garage sales and library shops. Found me a "Best of Brian Aldiss" one so I'm presuming every classic SF author has at least one.

Reading Coming of Conan, Darker Than you Think (Jack Williamson), and The City of Stolen Lives (Peter the Brazen vol 1)
 
  • Like
Reactions: 0skar Nabbs
Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer, history book with lots of primary and secondary source research (I <3 footnotes) about how different waves of migration from England created the different cultures of colonial America, very interesting to think about how they caused the U.S. to develop into what it is today. I especially have enjoyed reading about the Puritans and some of their laws and customs, such as making it illegal for people to live alone, and the stranger ways they disciplined children and conducted romance.

In 1668 the court of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, systematically searched its towns for single persons and placed them in families. In 1672 the Essex County Court noted:
Being informed that John Littleale of Haverhill lay in a house by himself contrary to the law of the country, whereby he is subject to much sin and iniquity, which ordinarily are the companions and consequences of a solitary life, it was ordered … he remove and settle himself in some orderly family in the town, and be subject to the orderly rules of family government.
One stubborn loner, John Littleale, was given six weeks to comply, on pain of being sent to “settle himself in the House of Correction.
Click to expand...
Restless children were rolled into small squirming human balls with their knees tied firmly beneath their chins, and booted back and forth across the floor by their elders. Other youngsters were dangled by their heels out of windows, or forced to kneel on sharp sticks, or made to sit precariously for long periods on a one-legged stool called the unipod, or compelled to wear a painful cleft stick on the tip of the nose.
Click to expand...
Customs of courtship in New England were carefully designed to allow young people privacy enough to discover if they loved one another, at the same time that parents maintained close supervision. This was the purpose of “bundling,” a European custom which became widespread in New England. The courting couple were put to bed together, “tarrying” all night with a “bundling board” between them. Sometimes the young woman’s legs were bound together in a “bundling stocking” which fitted her body like a glove.
Another regional custom was the “courting stick,” a hollow pole six or eight feet long, with an earpiece at one end and a mouthpiece at the other. The courting couple whispered quietly to one another through this tube, while members of the family remained in the room nearby
Click to expand...
 
  • Lunacy
  • Thunk-Provoking
  • Informative
Reactions: fake farts, Commander Suzdal, Misogenes and 4 others
Transformers skybound
Though wanted to try and read something different
Less just stories about exsisting media and shit
Something more brain tingling
Any good books about human nature and morals?
 
  • Like
Reactions: WelperHelper99
I’ve decided to take a break from my Sci Fi and Fantasy comfort reading and check off of a few classics from the backlog. Though, first some recommendations:
  • Cadwal Chronicles (Jack Vance): fantastic sci-fi series set in the Gaean Reach, the same setting as the Demon Princes series. The wilderness planet Cadwal is governed by a charter of conservancy that limits the extent of human intrusion on the planet to a single location, Araminta Station. The story largely focuses on the conflict between the Chartists who wish to maintain the conservancy and the Life, Peace, and Freedom (LPF) party that wants to abolish it. That sounds dry on paper, but there is plenty of the usual Vance stuff in this one — traveling to bizarre planets, meeting strange characters, and solving mysteries.
  • The Wizard Knight (Gene Wolfe): story about a boy who is transported from America into a fantasy world and transformed into an adult through magic, becoming the knight Sir Able of the High Heart. I don’t want to give away much more than that.
  • The Book of Knights (Yves Maynard): very similar concept to The Wizard Knight but executed quite differently; I actually heard about this one because Gene Wolfe mentions it in the dedication page. It’s an easier read compared to Wolfe.
  • The Last Unicorn (Peter S. Beagle): beautifully written story about, well, the last unicorn. She leaves her enchanted forest to go out on a quest to see if she really is the last of her kind.
  • The Last Wish (Andrzej Sapkowski): first book in The Witcher series, a collection of short stories. It’s worth reading imo, but I’m going to hold off on continuing the series for now.
I’m about 1/3rd of the way though Moby Dick and I’m pretty shocked by how good it is, though I guess that’s silly to say considering it’s widely regarded as one of the best novels of all time. It’s a marvel from the very first page.
Richter Belmont said:
Currently making my way through Moby-Dick at the moment, about a third of the way through just after the book discusses Ahab’s conviction in his hunt.

My god has this book been an absolute treat so far! I wasn’t so sure of it before Ishmael finds the Pequod but from that point it has been a delight!

Very much savouring this one.
Click to expand...
I came across your post after making this one, seems like we have similar thoughts after reading through the first third. The hive mind is real haha
 
Last edited:
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Commander Suzdal, 0skar Nabbs, Misogenes and 2 others
Alexander Thaut said:
Is there a good Harrison short fiction collection? I've been keeping an eye when I go to garage sales and library shops. Found me a "Best of Brian Aldiss" one so I'm presuming every classic SF author has at least one.
Click to expand...
There's a Best Of and a number of other collections, some with themes like the collection of SSR shorts.

He also published pretty heavily in Astounding, so you might be able to find some of his more obscure stuff in the annual anthologies of it that most libraries have.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: glass_houses
Viper the rappah said:
Any good books about human nature and morals?
Click to expand...
I was going to recommend several but I will bore you with one.

Tobias Mindernickel by Thomas Mann. This is a short story that can be finished in about ten minutes. I recommend reading it a couple times. It is a wonderful story, albeit a cruel one, about the power games we play unconsciously.

Mann was a great novelist (all of his major works are unique from one another), but his short stories read well for those who enjoy grotesque character studies.

 
Last edited:
  • Informative
  • Feels
Reactions: sleepermoded, Viper the rappah, glass_houses and 1 other person
AnOminous said:
There's a Best Of and a number of other collections, some with themes like the collection of SSR shorts.

He also published pretty heavily in Astounding, so you might be able to find some of his more obscure stuff in the annual anthologies of it that most libraries have.
Click to expand...
no library within 100 miles of me has that.

That being said, there's a "50 in 50" collection that was put out before he died. 1 story for every year he was active as an SF writer. Probably the best bet.

Reading Darker Than You Think by Williamson and I want MOAR Williamson. Ugh.

It's corny in the "foundation genre work" kinda way, but I bet this was really fun when it first came out.

Wanna start looking for more pure noir books. Cornell Woolrich and James M. Cain look intriguing.
 
  • Like
  • Informative
Reactions: glass_houses and AnOminous
Reading two things right now.

Received a Christian standard version study Bible for Christmas and it has been a true eye opener on the word of God. The way it explains the choices the translators made is very nice and it has little essays such as the historical accuracy on the Old testament. I've been reading around 30 minutes a day and if you are a Christian or just curious, it's definitely easier to read than the KJV or ESV.

Someone sent me The Time Travelers Guide to Elizabethan England. I'm a bit of a history buff and just getting started on it. I'm excited to learn a little about the time period. Seems to be quirky and a fun way to educate myself.
 
  • Feels
  • Like
Reactions: Richie Richard, glass_houses, SpotOnTheWall and 2 others
I just started Labyrinth of Reflections by Sergei Lukyanenko, a cyberpunk novel by a Russian author. Not far enough in to have an opinion. I'll probably say something in the Science Fiction thread when I'm done.
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: glass_houses and Misogenes
Big Miss Steak said:
I loved the Eragon (Inheritance) series when I was young, and revisiting it now. It's not very good, but it's not as bad as everyone said it was.
Click to expand...
I remember Eragon being the first book I stayed up WAY too late reading. Love the 2nd one as well. Immediately lost interest in the 3rd one and never progressed from there. Let me know how your reading goes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Silence of the Troons, timewave0, Misogenes and 2 others
ScurvyRat said:
I remember Eragon being the first book I stayed up WAY too late reading. Love the 2nd one as well. Immediately lost interest in the 3rd one and never progressed from there. Let me know how your reading goes.
Click to expand...
I have the four from the original cycle, as well as Murtagh, which Paolini published like a year or two ago. I think even bright eyed and bushy tailed younger me recognized that the series started declining around the end of book two.

Did you finish book three? Did you get to the part where Saphira propositions the old mentor dragon and gets put out that he rejected her?
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Silence of the Troons, glass_houses and Vecr
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back