Category Archives: Books
I’ve been up to no good lately — if by “no good” we mean reading and watching science fiction. That bad behavior has been a constant all my life. It began in early grade school when I started picking my own reading material.
Prominent in the very first SF books I ever read is the Lucky Starr series, by Isaac Asimov (writing as “Paul French”). The books were written for a juvenile audience, and I was exactly that audience.
Just recently, two of the six novels showed up as e-books at my local library. Nicely, one of the two is the first of the series, and I’m reading it now.
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2 Comments | tags: Andy Weir, Daniel Wilson, Isaac Asimov, John Scalzi, Lucky Starr, Matt Dinniman | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday
It has been more than two years since the last post for Mystery Monday — a series I introduced in 2019 with a post about the delicious Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout [see Nero and Archie]. Posts since have explored my other favorite genre: murder mysteries.
The gap is due to [A] reading much more SF than mystery these last two years and [2] my mystery reading was mostly of two authors I’ve already covered: Dame Agatha Christie and Patricia Wentworth (albeit the latter only in passing).
Now, circle closing, I’m back to reading the Nero Wolfe books again.
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9 Comments | tags: adaptations, Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple, Nero Wolfe, Rex Stout | posted in Books, Mystery Monday, TV
I’ve posted quite a few Sci-Fi Saturday posts devoted to specific works, but it has been almost exactly four years since the last post carrying the “Sci-Fi Saturday” title. Such posts usually cover a number of works and therefore need a generic title.
As mentioned last post, I’ve been in a bit of a blogging lull lately. One reason is that I’ve been reading and watching a fair amount this summer. Much of it, of course, is SF, so there is plenty to record here today (hence the generic title).
Starting with a seriously strange book.
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20 Comments | tags: Christopher Priest, Edward Ashton, John Scalzi, Martha Wells, Peter Watts, William Gibson | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday
Neal Asher is one-third of the British triumvirate of science fiction authors who write stories that take place in a post-abundance distant future. The other two are Iain M. Banks and Alastair Reynolds. While they aren’t collaborators, their future realities have notable similarities.
I generally like their work and have written about all three [tags: Asher, Banks, & Reynolds]. Coincidentally, my preference for their work follows the alphabetical order of their last names. I’ve even said, contra Banks and Reynolds, that Asher has never disappointed me.
Until I read his Rise of the Jain trilogy.
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10 Comments | tags: Alastair Reynolds, Iain M. Banks, Neal Asher, science fiction, science fiction books | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday
This past week I read and very much enjoyed Project Hail Mary (2021), by phenom Andy Weir. This is his third novel, his third time with an award-winning bestseller, and the third time Hollywood has acquired the rights for a film adaptation.
All three of his books are what I call “diamond-hard” science fiction — projections of future technology with a bare minimum of gimmes (such as warp drive). Bonus points if there are none.
This story has a somewhat magical material that plays a key role, not to mention an exotic alien lifeform that’s the raison d’etre for the whole story.
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23 Comments | tags: alien contact, aliens, Andy Weir, Mars, Project Hail Mary, science fiction, science fiction books | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday
There is a modern triumvirate of British far-future space adventure SF writers: Neal Asher, Iain M. Banks, and Alastair Reynolds. I listed them alphabetically, but that also happens to be my order of preference for their work. Make no mistake, I like all three, but I have found myself disengaged by a few of Reynolds’s books.
We started on a positive note [see this post], but I quickly ran into some issues with his writing [see this post and this post]. I was very disappointed by a couple of his books. That so far hasn’t happened with Banks or Asher.
Recently, though, I read Reynolds’s Halcyon Years (2025).
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9 Comments | tags: Alastair Reynolds, detective books, science fiction, science fiction books | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday
My reaction to Scottish writer Iain (M.) Banks (1954-2013) is decidedly mixed. On multiple points. His middle initial (for Menzies) being one of the lesser ones. The 14 novels by Iain M. Banks are science fiction — most taking place in the Culture, his far-future backdrop. The 14 novels by Iain Banks, however, are mainstream, not science fiction.
Banks became notable after his first novel, The Wasp Factory (1984; mainstream). His first science fiction book, Consider Phlebas, came out in 1987. That was also the first book in his Culture series.
I recently read The Algebraist (2004), one of his few non-Culture science fiction novels. It reminded me of both what attracts and annoys me about his writing.
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4 Comments | tags: Iain M. Banks, science fiction books | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday
In yesterday’s post, I wrote about Bruce Sterling, one of the founders of cyberpunk (along with William Gibson). I mentioned being underwhelmed. I enjoyed two of his novels, but the third one, The Caryatids (2009), is among the worst books I’ve read. I skimmed many, many info dump pages in search of a plot.
I make no pretensions of being a fiction writer, and my problems with the book may say more about me than the book. I may well have failed to appreciate some aspect that makes it great.
Regardless, I found it one of the most pointless science fiction novels I’ve read in recent memory. So, this post is a rant to vent my frustration.
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1 Comment | tags: Bruce Sterling, cyberpunk | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday
Not quite a year ago I posted about watching the Chinese adaptation of The Three-Body Problem, a 2006 science fiction novel by Liu Cixin. At the time, I’d only seen the adaptation. Since then, I’ve read all three books of the trilogy, re-read the first, re-watched the Chinese adaptation, and now, holding my nose, am watching the Netflix adaptation.
Having read the book, especially having recently re-read it, I enjoyed the Chinese adaptation much more than I did the first time seeing it cold. It was a much richer experience, and that adaptation is very faithful to the book.
I thought for Sci-Fi Saturday, knowing much more now, I’d revisit the topic.
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2 Comments | tags: adaptations, Liu Cixin, three-body problem | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
I was raised by a book-loving dad who passed on to me both the love of reading and the love of books. (He also passed on a love of maps, but that’s a story for another post.)
One of my dad’s lifelong goals was to publish books, and by a round-about path he ultimately accomplished that goal. As an old TV commercial has it, “And I got to help!” He began with a printshop that eventually grew to a (very, very) small boutique book publishing shop. We did maybe half-a-dozen books.
So, a love and respect for books has long been with me.
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5 Comments | tags: Agatha Christie, ebooks, Lawrence Block, Libby, library, reading | posted in Books, Life
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