Poll

As you've figured out, I am sure, I blew the link. Sorry about that.

Ooo, only one I've read is Caves of Steel. (Corny, Asimov really shouldn't write... "humans".)

Kaion wrote: "Ooo, only one I've read is Caves of Steel. (Corny, Asimov really shouldn't write... "humans".)"

yeah me too. that one was not great. I'm surprised "marooned in realtime" wasn't in there

aw man I clicked on the lethem book just to see what it was, didn't realize i was voting! can i take it back?

Bob, you can take it back. Click on "Change my vote."

Altered Carbon is in the top 3 rated in my 550 book collection.

Please be aware is one of the most graphic books ever in terms oof violence, sex and drugs. It is also one of the most intense books I have ever enjoyed.

Altered Carbon is in the top 3 rated in my 550 book collection.

Please be aware is one of the most graphic books ever in terms oof violence, sex and drugs. It is also one of the most intense books I have ever enjoyed.

come on Altered Carbon!

you know what I love about this group? great choices! I added 3 more really interesting-sounding books to the huge TBR pile from this round of selections, and that's getting to be pretty typical for one of this group's polls.

I voted for KOP, since it didn't have any votes and looked sad...

Kevin wrote: "I voted for KOP, since it didn't have any votes and looked sad..."

Good man.

Michelle wrote: "you know what I love about this group? great choices! I added 3 more really interesting-sounding books to the huge TBR pile from this round of selections, and that's getting to be pretty typical ..."

Our group is pretty damn cool for the intelligence of the choices. I am proud of us.

Kevin wrote: "I voted for KOP, since it didn't have any votes and looked sad..."

KOP is an OK book. Get it from the library rather than buying it. There is a sequel Ex-KOP that's OK also.

Jed wrote: "Please be aware is one of the most graphic books ever in terms oof violence, sex and drugs. "

I'm pretty sure this clinched Altered Carbon.

Come on people, When Gravity Fails is SOOOOOO good! So is Altered Carbon, but noirish Middle-eastern cyberpunk? Please.

When Gravity Fails is actually on publisher backorder, but it does seem like a good book

I read When Gravity Fails, which is a really good book, years ago, when it was newly written and it was a really interesting read because it was set in a different setting. However, I though Altered Carbon was better.

I also loved Gun with Ocassional Music, which has a Raymond Chandleresque gumshoe, giant talking animals, mob bosses and time travel. Its also Jonathan Lethem's first novel.

I liked Kop myself which I think is the kind of dark noiresh novel that is the heart of this.

I liked the Caves of Steel also which is one of Asimov's best books.

My vote is between Altered Carbon and Gun with Occassional Music.

I found When Gravity Fails and Pashazade very similar, with When Gravity Fails being the grittier and more compelling of the two. That said Pashazade is very good and the start of a three book sequence, so if you want something to get your teeth stuck into for a while it's a good 'un.
Gun, with Occasional Music is one of my all time favourites, quirky and sure to divide opinion, good one for a group read I reckon.
Out of the few I haven't read I've got a couple sitting on my shelf waiting to be looked at. Altered Carbon seems to be getting a lot of love here, and I got all set last month hoping to read it with the group. So second time lucky for Altered Carbon it is.

I have to go for something I haven't read before, for me that's what book groups are about, which leaves a choice of two. Don't like the really dark stuff, so KOP is out, Gun, with Occasional Music it is. Now to see if they have it at the library... And I really didn't get on with Altered carbon, it's way outside my violence threshold.
Also, I was sorry to see one of my recent favourites wasn't on on the listHalting State It fits the theme perfectly, sitting on the edge of cyber space where a virtual robbery carried out by orcs and dragons, with the video footage to prove it, leaves some all-too-real bodies for a harrassed polcewoman. Maybe some other time.

Michelle wrote: "you know what I love about this group? great choices! I added 3 more really interesting-sounding books to the huge TBR pile from this round of selections, and that's getting to be pretty typical ..."

I did the exact same thing. Pashazade, in particular, sounds fantastic.

I love seeing the monthly books for voting, I now also have 3 more books on my to-read list! Kiln People sounds amazing, and so does Pashazade and Gun, With Occasional Music. I had no idea there were so many good scifi/crime mystery cross-overs. Haven't we read When Gravity Fails here before though? I seem to have a vague memory of seeing it here...

Caves of Steel is only okay in my opinion. I enjoyed Asimov's short stories so much more. I'm really hoping for something less "obvious" than Asimov.

Brad wrote: "As you've figured out, I am sure, I blew the link. Sorry about that."

We still remember how to copy and paste, thankfully! ;)

Wow, I don't know ANY of these books! (As a non-antagonistic side question, do women not write in this sub-genre?)

Shannon wrote: "Brad wrote: "Wow, I don't know ANY of these books! (As a non-antagonistic side question, do women not write in this sub-genre?) ..."

You're not the first to ask, Shannon, and it is definitely a valid question. There does seem to be a dearth from what I can see. The women who come close tend to enter into more urban fantasy territory (Charlaine Harris, Liz Williams), although I admit my knowledge of this subgenre is not encyclopedic. I had actually considered trying to hunt down something from this subgenre by a women and trying to inject it into the race for candidates, but then I remembered that we are currently reading LeGuin and decided to leave it alone.

Shannon

Maybe not that many. One who comes to mind is Lee Killough, but she wrote a while ago and had a few books with a woman and man detective team. Another is Rusch who wrote the Retrieval novels. Wen Spencer wrote some urban fantasies/ supernatural books about Alien shapeshifter, and Kat Richardson writes about a kind of detective but again in a more fantasy sense. Cannot think of any others.

Another guy we could have tried was Peter Hamilton, with his Mindstar Rising books

Hmm. I didn't much like KOP. Too much swearing for swearing's sake. Call me old fashioned if you will. I'm hoping Altered Carbon will take top honours, as I have already read Caves of Steel.

I vote to read the top 2 because they are so close! Plus caves of steel is a really short book.

Dirk,

Uh, if KOP was too much for you, Altered Carbon will overwhelm you. I suggested this book for my home town SF book club and it really did offend some people because it is so graphic in it's language, sex scenes, drug usage and murder. It's relentless. That's why I liked it so much.

Dirk wrote: "Hmm. I didn't much like KOP. Too much swearing for swearing's sake. Call me old fashioned if you will. I'm hoping Altered Carbon will take top honours, as I have already read Caves of Steel."

this is really close. I think it is a good idea to read the top two.

Jed wrote: "Dirk,

Uh, if KOP was too much for you, Altered Carbon will overwhelm you. I suggested this book for my home town SF book club and it really did offend some people because it is so graphic in it's ..."

Well. I don't mind the adult content, or the swearing all that much, if it is at least in context. With KOP I just got the idea that the author was using swear words because he 'can'. It's difficult to explain, it just had a juvenile quality to it. Some of the cooler books I've read was pretty gritty such as Neuromancer by William Gibson. I love Alastair Reynolds and he also uses the occasional F-word. As does Iain M. Banks, another of my favourite Sci-Fi authors. Anyway, I still have to read Altered Carbon as I bought the book and I want my money's worth... Thanks for the heads up, though.

We have our winner this month. It is Altered Carbon, and we're going to stick with it. I know some of you are calling for two books this month, which I have considered, but we're going to stick with the winner. There are a few reasons for that.

First, this isn't the first time that votes have been close, and we always stick with the winner regardless of how close they are. The only time we've had run-off votes (something else I considered here) is when there is a genuine tie. But Altered Carbon is the clear winner, albeit by the penultimately slimmest of margins. Second, as a group that always runs two books a month (one fantasy and one sci-fi), I don't want to set a precedent whereby one or the other gets an extra book simply because the votes were close. Third, Caves of Steel will undoubtedly get another chance; it is written by Asimov, after all, and you can't stay away from him for too long in a sci-fi group.

I appreciate the input and the great desire to read Caves of Steel, so I am going to set up the August Sci-Fi poll right away, and I will add Caves of Steel to the list. It may be stacking the deck, but then again...maybe not.

I guess I won't die if we don't read Caves of Steel right now.. OR maybe I will read it all alone in the dark with no one to talk too :-)

"Altered Carbon" can be purchased from Bookworm Service for $7.81 New, use the coupon code "goodreads" to receive an additional discount

Awesome. Thanks, BookwormService.

Make sure you vote for it in the new list, Qylie. Unless of course something else catches your fancy.

I already voted and made fun of you for saying " Random sci-Fi" I couldn't resist \(^_^)/