November's Nefarious Navigations of Notorious Novels (and other literary forms).

[Connavar]

I miss the library but i have cut myself off my TBR pile is too big.

I only would need some classic,modern greats to read but translation problems over here.

Like i read Shakespeare in Swedish today and i was scarred by that translation....

 

[gully_foyle]

Finished Surface Detail by Iain M Banks. 9/10. Now onto The Stars Like Dust by Asimov, just for nostalgia's sake.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Finished The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer, which I thought was an excellent read, a most gripping adventure tale with an excellent build-up of tension and some genuinely eerie and thrilling moments. Now nearing the end of The Queen Of The Swords by Michael Moorcock.

 

[bluespider100]

No I've only read Prador Moon. I can only read the books that I find in the library. Gridlinked was a lucky find (the only Asher book currently avaialble in the village library), I discovered its the first Cormac book.

yes it is, you could read it as it is, without reading the two books that I already mentioned, but you could have troubles understanding some ideas though, if you have questions regarding the Polity Universe you could asked Vertigo (I'm pretty sure he's hiding here).

I'm now reading THE REDISCOVERY OF MAN by Cordwainer Smith

 

[AE35Unit]

yes it is, you could read it as it is, without reading the two books that I already mentioned, but you could have troubles understanding some ideas though, if you have questions regarding the Polity Universe you could asked Vertigo (I'm pretty sure he's hiding here).

I'm now reading THE REDISCOVERY OF MAN by Cordwainer Smith

Well a lot of the stuff in this book, the runcibles etc, are in Prador Moon. Like that book I'm finding this one pretty easy going. If I get stuck I could always ask the author via email or blogpost

 

[Toby Frost]

I'd be interested to know what you make of Cordwainer Smith. I read some of his short stories and Norstrilia and didn't really get into them. They reminded me of what people who don't like SF sometimes say about it - anything can and will happen. Dare I say it they just seemed kind of silly.

That was some years ago, though, and I wonder if I wasn't getting the point.

(Incidentally, is that the spaceship from 2001 in AE35's sig?)

 

[AE35Unit]

(Incidentally, is that the spaceship from 2001 in AE35's sig?)

Indeed it is the Discovery, and the small dot is the pod containing Bowman trying to get back in...

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I'm now reading THE REDISCOVERY OF MAN by Cordwainer Smith

That's a real classic, very unique and visionary tales.

 

[Toby Frost]

I suspect I probably wasn't getting the point. I ought to dig out my copy and have another go.

 

[Ian Whates]

I suspect I probably wasn't getting the point. I ought to dig out my copy and have another go.

The problem is that there are so many new things to read as well, Toby... I've just finished Gary Gibson's Nova War (slower to get going than its predecessor Stealing Light, but the final third was dazzling) and am about to embark on The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi.

 

[AE35Unit]

I suspect I probably wasn't getting the point. I ought to dig out my copy and have another go.

Isn't the idea of the name Norstrillia that its a farm in Northern Australia?

 

[dask]

I'm now reading THE REDISCOVERY OF MAN by Cordwainer Smith

Doesn't sound familiar. Is this a repackaging of already published material?

 

[soulsinging]

Finished up The White Road by John Connolly, an excellent read. This is the fourth book in the Charlie Parker series and the more I read his work, the better I like it.

Now reading The Black Angel by Connolly, the fifth book.

I never finished White Road or read on in the series. I'm not sure why, something must've happened because I too felt like he was only improving with each book.

Finished Hyperion yesterday. It was good and engaging, but I can certainly see why it didn't work for a lot of people. The individual tales can be hit and miss, but the mystery of the Shrike is pretty fascinating. I may have to read on just to resolve that.

First though, I'm going back to the Hitchiker's Guide. I've read the first two novels in the series, time to finish it off!

 

[murphy]

Guess what? More John Connolly. This time it's The Unquiet, a rather ghostly story.

 

[Ian Whates]

Doesn't sound familiar. Is this a repackaging of already published material?

In a sense, dask, yes. It gathers together his 'Instrumentality of Mankind' stories and was first released in the 1970s. It's considered something of a classic and has been re-released many times since, including recently as part of the 'SF Masterworks' series here in the UK.

 

[dask]

Is this the book with just a different title or have more stories been added, do you know?

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I have both collection, the overlap is not total.

Frankly, you'll not regret making time for Smith's book. There's a reason why some things become known as classics.

 

[j d worthington]

Finished The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer, which I thought was an excellent read, a most gripping adventure tale with an excellent build-up of tension and some genuinely eerie and thrilling moments.

Yes, I have one of the old Pyramid printings of that -- 1961 -- under the title The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. It is, for my money, the best of the series -- of which there were quite a few; but several of them do have their moments. This one, however has some of the eeriest stuff Ward (a.k.a. Rohmer) wrote....

 

[J Riff]

Great memories of The insidious Doc Fu..used to have hardcovers of most of them. Was it Nayland Smith? Yes. And Cordwainer Smith is very worth reading, too.

 

[bluespider100]

That's a real classic, very unique and visionary tales.

I haven't started yet, but I think this will be a great read..

Doesn't sound familiar. Is this a repackaging of already published material?

Is this the book with just a different title or have more stories been added, do you know?

In the science fiction of Cordwainer Smith, the Instrumentality of Mankind refers both to Smith's personal future history and universe and to the central government of humanity. The Instrumentality of Mankind is also the title of a paperback collection of short stories by Cordwainer Smith published in 1979 (now superseded by the later The Rediscovery of Man, which collects all of Smith's short stories).

Extracted from wiki, ...