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Cassie - Sci Fi Reading list please

Light has some wonderful writing and I'm grateful for you recommending it however much I may wine about it being difficult to interpret at times. :)
 
Well I finished Light. Quite mixed about it, but the ending was surprisingly uplifting and I'm glad I read it if only for the descriptions of space. The sequelish books have very mixed reviews so I'll probably leave them.

Next I'll read Foundation's Edge.
 
The stuff about women being useless idiots was weird. I'm not sure if it was meant to be a parody of Victorian society, or if it reflected the author's actual beliefs.
 
I watched the Cloud Atlas movie last night and I really enjoyed it, but I can't imagine how much sense it made to non book readers. They managed to sum up the stories fairly well, but even at nearly 3 hours long a lot was missed out, particularly in Somni's story. I think it helped sum up the themes of the book for me a lot, though, even if they went a lot further with reincarnation than the book does. Reading over a couple of weeks I don't think I got the full impact of the similarities between the stories and how much the same mistake was being repeated throughout history. Made me want to read the book again at some point. Oh and looking at reviews I saw that David Mitchell's first book, "Ghostwritten" is set in the same universe, with some crossovers.

The movie's only real letdown was the freaky Asian makeup that populated several scenes with clones of Simon Weston, the famous burns victim.
 
You should have posted that in the Cloud Atlas movie thread for continuity. :(

(I liked it too, though I think doing so much reincarnation stuff might have been a mistake because people would think that's all the movie was about.)
 
Since I think we've all read it and I wanted to compare it to the book I thought it seemed appropriate. :)

The reviews on imdb are hilariously polarised. Many giving it 10/10 and saying it's the next Blade Runner, the other half 0/10 and saying it's an incomprehensible mess. It's worth noting that pretty much all the HATERS haven't read the book, which suggests that might be why they didn't get it.
 
Tom Hanks delivering the lengendary line ("how's THAT for a...ending" (I can't remember the legendary line.)) did not disappoint.
 
I am taking back all of my previous comments about Alistair Reynolds. Just read House of Suns and thoroughly enjoyed it
 
I'm on to Foundation and Earth now. I was hoping there'd be more about Earth and less about this weirdly stilted stuff:

“The bodice flipped down, along with its sturdy reinforcement at the breasts. The Minister sat there, with a look of proud disdain on her face, and bare from the waist up. Her breasts were a smaller version of the woman herself-massive, firm, and overpoweringly impressive.
"Well?" she said.
Trevize said, in all honesty, "Magnificent!"
"And what will you do about it?"
"What does morality dictate on Comporellon, Madam Lizalor?"
"What is that to a man of Terminus? What does your morality dictate? -And begin. My chest is cold and wishes warmth."
Trevize stood up and began to disrobe.”
Click to expand...
 
I remember liking House Of Suns even though I can't remember what it was about now!

Foundation's Edge was definetely better. The thing about Foundation and Earth though is that there are a lot of references to the robot books (all the planets they visit are from there) so I probably enjoyed it more because I'd read them?

Looking at the Hugo nominations...

BEST NOVEL (1595 ballots)

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Orbit US / Orbit UK)
Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross (Ace / Orbit UK)
Parasite by Mira Grant (Orbit US / Orbit UK)
Warbound, Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia (Baen Books)
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books)
Click to expand...

Should I read all these? Didn't The Wheel of Time come out years ago?

http://io9.com/announcing-the-2014-hugo-award-nominees-1565144494
 
The Wheel of Time series first came out ages and ages ago, but maybe they mean the newest one? IDK. I loved the beginning of that series but around book 5 or so it went to shit.
 
I'm reading Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie but struggling with it. I am liking it more now in the second half as I can finally understand what it's actually about, but it really wasn't holding my interest in the start. Maybe you weren't supposed to understand it but it was so confusing that I really didn't care what was happening rather than being intrigued by it. I still don't really get why everyone is called "she" even when they're known not to be "shes" but maybe I'm just dumb. I do like things about it though? I don't know. Someone else read it and tell me what to think, please.
 
Non sci fi but I'm reading 12 Years a Slave. I saw the movie a little while ago, so it's interesting to compare the two. The movie did pretty well at faithfully translating the story, though it's obviously more horrifying reading it in his own words. One interesting difference seems to be that his family knew what had happened to him from quite early on, but were unable to trace him.
 
Just finished Odd John By Olaf Stapelton.

Written in 1935 it is the story of a "supernormal" race that has abilities and intelligence beyond our own. Outwardly they are odd looking and often physically handicapped. It is a commentary on European Politics at that time as the Nazi's theory on purity were gaining ground. I enjoyed it, although it was a little dated.

Now reading Slow River by Nicola Griffith which is a very recent cyberpunk book about identity.
 
I just finished reading Contact by my favourite dead scientist Carl Sagan. As ever the book is better than the movie, with a lot more time for exploration of the story's themes and a number of changes to the plot. You find out a lot more about the aliens and how the device was built. The only real drawback is that the pod has five passengers with corroborating stories, whereas in the movie it's Ellie's voice alone against the apparent evidence that she went no where. That's a much better way of bringing into focus the question of blind faith that is at the heart of the story. For a scifi book by an atheist it's very religious.
 
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