What are you currently reading? Showing 1,501-1,550 of 2,844

[Mike]

I just finished Cryptonomicon which really was just great, even if it was long.

[Mickey]

Mike wrote: "I just finished Cryptonomicon which really was just great, even if it was long."

I liked the book also. However it was loaded with lots of filler, like the politics of consuming Cap-n-Crunch cereal. I did enjoy the details of computer encryption and the spying parts.

One can cut ones mouth from eating dry Cap-n-Crunch cereal

[Mike]

Yeah. I definitely didn't appreciate the unnecessary ranting about cap-n-crunch and the workings of the prostate. It was memorable because it went on for pages at a time, but in reality it didn't happen often and made up a very very small portion of what was over 900 pages of good story and interesting technical information.

All in all, there were probably 20 pages I would have cut, which I'd say isn't bad. Someone who doesn't care about math would probably consider a lot more of the material filler, but that was the best part for me.

[Mickey]

Best part for me also.

[Scott]

I just finished The Wise Man's Fear. It was epic.

Now I am reading Messenger of Fear. I got it as a giveaway here.

[Kirsten]

I'm currently reading Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

[Kirsten]

Just finished my interlibrary loan Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Andreas]

I just finished Ken Liu's The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories which will appear tomorrow. Read my review here.

[C. John]

Just started reading Ghosts of Gol

[Kirsten]

I finished reading my Kindle Unlimited selection The Frozen Sky by Jeff Carlson last night.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Dan]

I don't own a Kindle. That limits me a little, but one book I doubt you will ever find on Kindle that I didn't expect to enjoy so much is the long out of print False Dawn by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Some Good Reads reviewers said it was grotesque or too ghastly. I'm glad I ignored that criticism. The book may be by dark by 20th century standards when the book was written, but that sort of material has long since become the norm. Could modern Battlestar Galactica have had an audience in 1977? That's not to say Yarbro's novel is without flaw. The motivation for the instant romance between the two protagonists is entirely missing, for example. Notwithstanding its blemishes, the darkness and seriousness of the novel's theme and setting is refreshingly ahead of its time.

[C. John]

I am in a similiar position. I don't have an ereader but even if I did because of where I live it wouldn't be a kindle. Up here in Canada the ereader of choice is the kobo, because that is what our only national bookstore chain sells. So of course if a book is only available on kindle then I won't be reading it.

[Larry]

Dan wrote: "I don't own a Kindle. That limits me a little, but one book I doubt you will ever find on Kindle that I didn't expect to enjoy so much is the long out of print False Dawn by Chelsea Qu..."

Dan, False Dawn and perhaps most of Yarbro's books are indeed available for the Kindle.

[Larry]

Heinlein's STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND. One my favorite books by Heinlein and yet one I would never recommend as the first one to read by him. But I'm not sure which one I would recommend as the novel to start with. Ideas from Heinlein lovers???

[Mike (the Paladin)]

I agree with Larry that Stranger in a Strange Land would never be the book I'd recommend as an introduction to Heinlein. Unlike him, I actually not only don't care for the book i go so far as say I dislike it. It's really not typical of Heinlein's work in a lot of ways.

However you feel about it, I'd suggest you try some of his other books. His work is pretty eclectic.

[Najaf]

just started Degrees of Freedom. loved the whole series.

[Mary]

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "However you feel about it, I'd suggest you try some of his other books. His work is pretty eclectic"

I'd recommend some of his earlier works rather than later.

[Scott]

I like it so far, reminds me of the Anne McCaffrey novels I used to read back in the day.

[C. John]

Juniper Green wrote: "Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "However you feel about it, I'd suggest you try some of his other books. His work is pretty eclectic. ."

Don't worry, I usually give authors more than one shot - renowned..."

A number of Heinlein's earliest stories (at least ones published under his own name) are collected in The Past Through Tomorrow. The stories are part of his Future History series. My own personal favourite Heinlein novel is

[C. John]

I posted my comment above on my baseball books group by accident. Really must remember not to have two threads up at one time.

[Larry]

On where to start with Heinlein ... I would suggest the following. Try one one of the juveniles like Have Spacesuit Will Travel, then the wonderful fantasy, Glory Road, then perhaps, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and then Starship Troopers. (And if you read Starship Troopers, try to read about some of the controversy behind this novel. I sometimes wonder if some of the critics actually read the book.) Only then would I read Stranger in a Strange Land. Again, I like the novel ... I just don't think it tells you a lot about all the wonderful things that you can find in the many different novels and kind of novels of Heinlein.

You may want to take a look at Michael Dirda's review (link below) of Vol.2 of the authorized biography of Heinlein. Dirda's has some salient points about some of the different novels.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...

[C. John]

Not sure but I sometimes think Heinlein is the most written about SF author The only fiction authors I can think of that might beat him are not in the SF field, or not entirely in Lovecraft's case.

[Jo Ann]

Starting All Flesh is Grass

[Roger]

Larry wrote: "Heinlein's STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND. One my favorite books by Heinlein and yet one I would never recommend as the first one to read by him. But I'm not sure which one I would recommend as the nov..."

I recommend starting with either Citizen Of The Galaxy, The Star Beast, or Door Into Summer, unless you know the person is into space travel, then possibly Space Cadet, Starman Jones, or The Rolling Stones. I've heard Have Space Suit, Will Travel recommended as well.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Frankly I'd need to know more about the reader's taste before I'd recommend a first Heinlein book. He's a pretty eclectic writer so his books (youth and other wise) cover a wide range.

[C. John]

If you think about it, since the initial poster stated they have already started reading Stranger I think we are a little late in suggesting other books as one's initial contact with Heinlein. Now that I think about it I am not sure Stranger wasn't my first Heinlein as well. I had to read it for Grade 13 English B.

[Dan]

I suspect most people's initial contact with Heinlein, if not the entire field of science fiction, is from his series of juveniles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlei... My junior high school library had many of these. Reading through them made me a life-long fan of science fiction and Heinlein. I have only read one of these "juveniles" as an adult: Tunnel in the Sky. Although clearly written to please a young reader it holds up surprisingly well, I'm happy to say, for adult readers too despite the many years since its publication.

[C. John]

The first two Heinlein novels I read were Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers. I have read one of his juveniles but can't recall which one and I read that one while in university. Now that I think about it my first introduction to Heinlein would have been some of his short stories, "The Roads Must Roll" in particular.

[Gaines]

I just started reading The Martian. Kinda rough going, though, probably because it's tough to follow such a superbly written novel as American Gods. I'm sure I'll get hooked eventually though :-) I did enjoy reading Robinson Crusoe, after all.

[Larry]

Roger wrote: "I recommend starting with either Citizen Of The Galaxy, The Star Beast, or Door Into Summer, unless you know the person is into space travel, then possibly Space Cadet, Starman Jones, or The Rolling Stones. I've heard Have Space Suit, Will Travel recommended as well. "

Roger, I think your recommendation of starting with Citizen of the Galaxy is really excellent. I should have thought of that one. I do think it's his best juvenile, and I enjoyed it the most of any of the juveniles.

[Kirsten]

I just finished listening to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[MadProfessah]

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling), the third Cormoran Strike mystery.

[Scott]

Now I'm reading The Fold as a real-life book club pick.

[Lena]

Just started Hyperion and loving it :)

[Kirsten]

Started reading The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge last night

[Ben]

Working on Second Foundation, and also Out of the Silent Planet.

[Esther]

Finished The Knife of Never Letting Go and started Living Dead in Dallas.

[Kirsten]

I'm reading The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge

[Kirsten]

Just finished reading The Heretic by Lucas Bale

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Kirsten]

Just finished reading The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge.

One of the best book I've read this year!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Kirsten]

Just finished my Kindle Unlimited selection Fluency by Jennifer Foehner Wells

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Edward]

Having completed Legion & Skin Deep back-to-back (which is apparently in development for TV which could work very nicely), I have gone back to the Culture series and am mid-way through Inversions. After the shorter novella's of Brandon Sanderson it feels like a long book, but still weighs in at about half the length of Mistborn: The Final Empire. Not really sure what's going on at the moment, aside from it being very 'Space Opera' and very Banksian, though I think I just found the Culture link!!

[AMD]

Taking a SciFi break and reading Ethan Hawke's Rules For A Knight.

[Scott]

Reading Friday, my first Heinlein.

[C. John]

Sci-Fi taking a back seat right now as I try to clear some of the books on my currently reading shelf.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Not the one I'd choose for a first Heinlein Scott...but then his books are kind of all over the map so, hope you like it.

[Scott]

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "Not the one I'd choose for a first Heinlein Scott...but then his books are kind of all over the map so, hope you like it."

I'm about 100 pages in and enjoying it so far.

[Kirsten]

Logan's Run by William F. Nolan & George Clayton Johnson

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[C. John]

Not sure if it counts as SF but I do hope to finish off Showcase Presents Superman Volume 1 . Been reading it for awhile now.

[E A M Harris]

'The Long War' by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. Promises to be a 'real' sci-fi with no fantasy.