Who's reading what? September's selection...

[Nikitta]

By.....?

Ursula Le Guin.

 

[AE35Unit]

I'd be willing to bet it's Ursula LeGuin.

Now reading Kate Elliott's Traitor's Gate.

You'd think I'd know this being an sf addict but I've never read any Le Guin, yet....

 

[Hilarious Joke]

I thought Le Guin was more famous for her fantasy?

 

[AE35Unit]

I thought Le Guin was more famous for her fantasy?

Hmm I've always associated her with SF. Its only recently I discovered she wrote fantasy too!

 

[GOLLUM]

Hmm I've always associated her with SF. Its only recently I discovered she wrote fantasy too!

She's basically famous for both SF and Fantasy and if memory serves was made a Grandmaster recently by the SFWA.

Probably her best known fantasy series is the fabulous Wizard Of EarthSea.

She's also written high quality SF with arguably her greatest book being Left Hand Of Darkness.

LeGuin comes highly recommended.

Patricia McKillip is another writer less welll known than Le Guin but IMO a superior writer. Almost everything McKillip writes is top notch. She just doesn't seem to have garnered the same international level of fame than LeGuin.

Cheers....

 

[Quokka]

Last month I said I was really enjoying the start of Ringworld by Larry Niven, now in September Im about two chapters further on. I usually hate leaving unfinished books and currently Ive got three of them. So the aim for this is month is to finish Ringworld, The Worm Ouroboros (3/4 finished) and get back into Stand on Zanzibar which I had barely started.

 

[Nikitta]

She's also written high quality SF with arguably her greatest book being Left Hand Of Darkness.

LeGuin comes highly recommended.

I much prefer The Dispossesed and count it among best books I've ever read; I even sometimes stopped to reread som passages, while reading the book, simply because they were so beatifully phrased that they made the hair on my neck stand up. She and Tolkien are the only writers to have done that to me.

Patricia McKillip is another writer less welll known than Le Guin but IMO a superior writer. Almost everything McKillip writes is top notch. She just doesn't seem to have garnered the same international level of fame than LeGuin.

I'll keep an eye out. Is there any specific book by her you'd recommend?

 

[Fried Egg]

I'll keep an eye out. Is there any specific book by her you'd recommend?

"The Forgotten Beasts of Eld".

 

[GOLLUM]

I much prefer The Dispossesed and count it among best books I've ever read; I even sometimes stopped to reread som passages, while reading the book, simply because they were so beatifully phrased that they made the hair on my neck stand up. She and Tolkien are the only writers to have done that to me.

I'll keep an eye out. Is there any specific book by her you'd recommend?

Well I've got Dispossessed, agreed it's a fine novel.

You realise I assume that both of these books are part of her famous Hainish cycle? I've got all 6 books and they are very good indeed!

Fried Egg is correct, Forgotten Beasts Of Eld is one of her earlier works but also one of her best. Frankly anything by McKillip is going to bring you a lot of enjoyment IMO.

Possibly her greatest work is Riddlemaster Of Hed. A fantastic trilogy.

I recently read another one of her award winning novels in Ombria In Shadow...superb.

Basically, if you want to read lyrical melt-in-the-mouth prose then McKillip is someone you will want to check out.

Another highly underrated author in the mainstream.

Hope this helps.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Having such a hard time sticking with books at the moment. In the last few weeks, I've got about twenty pages into The Day of the Triffids, then stopped, five pages into Woman in White and stopped, three-quarters of the way through Handful of Dust and stopped, a few pages into Memories of Ice...and stopped. I did read the whole of Artemis Fowl, the graphic novel, but that's hardly the most taxing of books. Grah!

 

[Ian Whates]

Having such a hard time sticking with books at the moment. In the last few weeks, I've got about twenty pages into The Day of the Triffids, then stopped, five pages into Woman in White and stopped, three-quarters of the way through Handful of Dust and stopped, a few pages into Memories of Ice...and stopped. I did read the whole of Artemis Fowl, the graphic novel, but that's hardly the most taxing of books. Grah!

Sounds to me as if you ought to try reading a few short stories, Hoops -- by the time you're thinking of giving up, the tale will be over and you'll be on to the next one!

 

[Connavar]

Thats what i do when i'm in a mood for several interesting stories after another. Vance collections,Dunsany,SF anthologies i pick up then.

Plus there are some really good long novellas that will feel like you read a quality novel in an hour or two.

 

[murphy]

Finished up Elliott's Traitor's Gate, which had a bittersweet ending. It's the final book of the Crossroads trilogy and a very fine read. I liked it much better than the Crown of Stars series. Now reading S. M. Stirling's The Sword of the Lady.

 

[Nikitta]

Well I've got Dispossessed, agreed it's a fine novel.

You realise I assume that both of these books are part of her famous Hainish cycle? I've got all 6 books and they are very good indeed!

I didn't know that, but then again; all I've ever read by her is The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness, plus I've just stared in on The Lathe of Heaven, so you can say that I'm still pretty new to her.

Fried Egg is correct, Forgotten Beasts Of Eld is one of her earlier works but also one of her best. Frankly anything by McKillip is going to bring you a lot of enjoyment IMO.

I'll be going on abebooks to look for a couple of books, which I had no luck buying on amazon, so I'll try to get one of hers while there.

 

[j d worthington]

Hoops, I'd agree with Ian: Time for a short story collection or an anthology. There are even a good number of such which deal with short short stories of high quality. You might want to think about such....

Finished A Century Less a Dream -- a lot of very good essays (though, for once, I have a quibble with Faig; I could swear that HPL noted that his trip to Mammoth Cave was the first time he'd ever gone into a cavern, which would rather strongly argue against Faig's contention concerning the basis for the "Snake Den"....) but the book is irritating with the number of typos, as well as the italic typeface, which is frankly, ugly as sin. However, these are minor complaints, and the material you get is fascinating, thought-provoking, and well worth while.

Have moved on to the next volume in Julian Hawthorne's Lock-and-Key Library: Modern French Stories, which begins with a short detective novel, "The Crime of the Boulevard", by Jules Claretie, before moving on to short stories by Maupassant, Erckman-Chatrian, Pierre Mille, and Villiers De L'Isle Adam....

 

[HoopyFrood]

Dunno if it's the length that's putting me off.

Mayhap I just (dun dun dun!) don't want to read at the moment.

Blimey, never thought I'd say those words!


I shall persevere.

 

[murphy]

Fried Egg is correct, Forgotten Beasts Of Eld is one of her earlier works but also one of her best. Frankly anything by McKillip is going to bring you a lot of enjoyment IMO.

Possibly her greatest work is Riddlemaster Of Hed. A fantastic trilogy.

I recently read another one of her award winning novels in Ombria In Shadow...superb.

Basically, if you want to read lyrical melt-in-the-mouth prose then McKillip is someone you will want to check out.

Another highly underrated author in the mainstream.

Hope this helps.

FWIW, I much preferred The Riddlemaster of Hed to the Forgotten Beasts of Eld.

 

[Michael01]

Finished The Wheel of Darkness, which I enjoyed very much. Maybe not quite as exciting as Relic, but still quite good.

Now back to reading Shardik by Richard Adams - although I can't say I'm enjoying it all that much because it just drags on and on (and at least every paragraph contains a very long-winded simile or metaphor) - while I wait for my orders from Amazon.

Can't wait til I get them! I ordered Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews and The Balance of Power: The Zone War, Book 2 by Terry Coutier. The Zone War is self-published, and could have used better editing (among other things), but for all that it isn't bad and I quite like it.

 

[GOLLUM]

FWIW, I much preferred The Riddlemaster of Hed to the Forgotten Beasts of Eld.

Actually I'm with you. I preferred Riddlematser too but Forgotten Beasts is still good and one of her better known works.

 

[Fried Egg]

Actually I'm with you. I preferred Riddlematser too but Forgotten Beasts is still good and one of her better known works.

I go against the crowd on this one and say I much preferred "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld". Maybe it's partly down to the fact that it was a stand alone book rather than part of a series?