Recommendations for "mysterious aliens and spaceships" for a new scifi reader

[Anna]

My brother's wife asked me out of the blue to recommend her some scifi with "aliens and spaceships". I immediately said The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, because it has both, it's fun and easy to read. She's never read scifi that I know of, and isn't completely comfortable reading in English. Her native language is Mandarin if that makes any difference, but I don't think she wants to read Chinese scifi. I know she watches The Expanse with my brother, but I don't think she loves it.

She then asked if the aliens in Long Way are weird. Or mysterious. So I said Solaris or Grass, but I don't think either is the best place to start your scifi journey.

Then she asked for something that's also philosophical and I brought out the big guns: Too Like the Lightning, and warned her that she'd most likely die of old age before getting to the end. I mean it really isn't the best place to start if you're new to scifi.

Finally she said "Something like that movie 2000 something" and at that point I though that maybe she wants AI so I went back to Long Way. Obviously I told her she could read 2001: A Space Odyssey, but she probably wants something else.

Then I panicked and told her to read Childhood's End because I very recently read it and loved it. I told a little bit about it and she seemed most interested out of all the ones I've mentioned here. That could be because I said I loved it, or because she just wanted the bad recs to end.

But I really don't think any of these are perfect, and I'm sure someone will know the exact right thing I can give her. I feel like I have no idea what she wants, and I'm also really bad at recommendations.

I also just realized that I have no idea what she likes to read. She doesn't read much these days, but I know she used to. She's not a fantasy person though. I really need to ask her more questions, but we kind of ran out of time.

[Cheryl]

To me, somehow, this sounds like she wants The Sparrow. Mind you, I've never read it, but whenever it comes up in discussion it gets talked about the way your SiL seems to be talking.

[Sarah]

If she’s not completely comfortable reading English I’d retract the rec for Too Like the Lightning. I like to think I have a good grasp on English vocabulary and I loved this book but it really is a hard read. I still have no idea what porphyrogene is and I must have seen the word written a hundred times across all three books.

I haven’t read this yet, but I think from some of the reviews I checked out that it fits some of these categories, and I specifically picked it up because it might be something akin to Too Like the Lightning: Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks?

Maybe someone whose read the novel can chime in on that?

[Sarah]

Cheryl I’m totally adding The Sparrow to my TBR. Seems right up my alley!

[Sarah]

Cheryl, that's a great idea. The Sparrow might be perfect.

[Anna]

I did tell her TLTL is hard and that I don't really recommend it to her, I don't think she's even considering it.

I haven't read The Sparrow, but with two 'votes' I'll check it out myself and tell her about it. I'll also check out Phlebas. Both books look to be almost 500 pages though, I'd somehow feel more comfortable recommending something shorter.

I actually thought about getting her some short fiction, but I can't remember having read anything that fits into what I think she wants.

[Trike]

I’ll third The Sparrow. The aliens are weird and the prose is accessible. There’s a very good sequel if she likes that, called Children of God.

I would also recommend Protector by Larry Niven, and Ringworld. Aliens don’t come much weirder than there. If she likes Ringworld, there is lots of Niven to explore.

In a similar vein I would also recommend Midnight at the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker.

Also Old Man's War by Scalzi.

The prose in all of these is accessible and the word “epic” applies.

But if you want short with a weird alien, you might try The Star Beast by Heinlein. It’s YA (what they used to call “juveniles” back in the day) so it’s easier to read.

[Trike]

Oh, see also Nor Crystal Tears and Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster. Both are essentially First Contact stories on alien planets.

[Anna]

Thanks Trike, I'll look into all of these tomorrow when my brain works. (It's 3 AM.)

[Trike]

Anna wrote: "Thanks Trike, I'll look into all of these tomorrow when my brain works. (It's 3 AM.)"

8 pm here. Happy Christmas tomorrow already!

[YouKneeK]

I’ll fourth The Sparrow. :) I read it for the first time this year, and it was my favorite read this year.

Another thought might be the Xenogenesis trilogy by Octavia E. Butler, starting with Dawn. It definitely has the weird and mysterious aliens, although it doesn’t really fit the spaceship criteria that much. I would consider it philosophical, and there’s quite a bit of moral ambiguity to make the reader think.

[Anna]

You’re all making me want to read The Sparrow! I’m not the biggest fan of religious stuff, but it sounds a bit like Grass so maybe it’s not too bad.

I already did Christmas, we celebrate on the 24th here. Well it obviously continues tomorrow for most people, but my family decided to take it very easy this year and only spend today together. So tomorrow is all about (hopefully) finishing Arcadia. Happy Christmas to those who’ve yet to celebrate!

[Cheryl]

We should do Sparrow as a group read, or maybe a buddy/side read. I haven't had much personal interest, but if others are braving it with me, I'd give it a good go.

[Sarah]

I also don't like religion mixed in with books but for that one I was okay because it was the character's personal beliefs. The sequel had it to where within the story God really did have a plan and I never made it through that one.

[Silvana]

A Fire upon the Deep - if she likes dogs, she will enjoy this one
Ender's Game - I know it is Card but I really enjoyed it
Tuf Voyaging - it is a collection of short stories about a guy and a mighty seedship (with lots of cats) and also very fun.

[Anna]

I'm really not going to suggest Ender, even though I own it and could give it to her. I do love the story, but I'm not going to actively recommend it to anyone.

The Sparrow is now on my TBR.

[Anna]

Ugh, my library only has Children of God, they don't have The Sparrow. I can still read it, but I don't think my brother's wife* wants to buy new books. She has a Kindle, but she doesn't use it. I also don't want to buy her something I haven't read myself.

So right now I'm thinking of Dawn, because the library conveniently has the omnibus, and I've been wanting to read more Butler myself. I could suggest we do a buddy read!

* Although we do have a term for sister-in-law in Finnish, it's very weird and I hardly ever hear anyone use it. People just say brother's/sister's wife/husband. So I completely forgot that was even an option!

[Robert]

I am going to go out on a limb and suggest The Man Who Fell to Earth. It is a classic, the alien is very mysterious and there is a philosophical dynamic. Well worth looking into, and an easy read for an ESL reader new to Sci-Fi.

[Anna]

Thanks Robert, the SF Masterworks edition is now in my library queue. It's short so I'll be able to read it soon enough to be able to tell her something about it.

And I'm still going through all the other recs, so thank you everyone!

[Jennifer]

I would recommend Lilith's Brood

[Anna]

Good to know Jennifer, it's still highest on my list! At least until I hear back from her. I asked her to tell me what she usually likes to read and to confirm that I'm on the right track with "mysterious/weird/philosophical aliens, bonus points for spaceships".

[Anna]

So right now she is happy with the list and is going to look at all the options and choose something that's available from the library. But in case there are more brilliant suggestions, here's what she said:

"I'm very interested in the future of human beings, where are we going, is life meaningful or just an exception in the universe. I personally believe there's other life. But I guess they are just far far away from us, or haven't appeared yet, or died out. And also what is the universe, how big is it, if there's a border, then what is outside of the universe"

I'm amazed, I had no idea she was interested in this stuff! I need to spend more time with her!

[Cheryl]

Great questions... I wouldn't mind knowing her, myself!

[[deleted user]]

I think Childhood’s End was a good suggestion.
Larry Niven was mentioned, ‘The Mote in Gods Eye’ is a strong contender.
A very good book I’d recommend is ‘Marrow’ by Robert Reed.

[Anna]

Thanks Bill!

Since I'm commenting anyway, an update: I learned just a few days ago that she has actually never read a single book in English. I feel a bit stupid for not understanding this earlier, but the problem isn't the language, it's the alphabet. It should've been obvious, having studied Russian once, that it takes time before you can read a strange alphabet with your normal reading speed. So for now I've recommended some movies, and I'm in the process of putting together a list of short stories available as podcasts (preferably with the text version available online). I think having the audio might help if she feels she's reading "too slowly".