I need some new science fiction to read, who has some suggestions? I don't like military sci-fi. For reference, my favorite series is the Expanse, I also enjoyed Scalzi's Collapsing Empire, I love Robert Charles Wilson's books. I mostly enjoy space operas and unique stories about technology, for example I really liked the recent book Mountain in the Sea about AI and intelligent octopus. Suggestions from the awesome Bookstodon community? @bookstodon#Bookstodon#Scifi#ScienceFiction
Since we are coming up on June, it seems like a good time to check in with everyone here on @bookstodon regarding favorite reads of 2024 so far. Whatcha got?
My top five reads of 2024 so far:
The Criminal series of graphic novels by Ed Brubaker (ten primary works)
@BramMeehan@kimlockhartga@bookstodon 'slow' is if anything an understatement; the central joke is Shandy's inability to make progress telling the story because of various distractions. 'Tedious' is in the eye of the beholder, but I think you do need some tolerance of the fact that not every 200+ year old joke and allusion is still going to make sense
Oh! I did not know Foundation started as short stories before the novels. Makes sense though, especially the first book, which is very much like a series of short stories.
Foundation was my book introduction to SciFi, and Dr Who my audiovisual intro, back when my brother in law decided he was tired of being the only SciFi fan in the family.
I sometimes thought my father thought he could't die while he still had books on his pending pile (a stab at immortality I seem to be replicating)... so, it was strangely touching to see Tom Gauld has had similar thoughts.
I need to reorganize my fiction bookshelves. What system has worked best for you? I'm leaning towards going by author, though that leaves the question of how to treat anthologies. Maybe anthologies could be first, or shelved by the editor's name. Alphabetical by title (preceded by numbers) might work just as well as by author.
I had been doing them by height size, except for the graphic novels, which tend not to match any standard size.
These particular bookshelves are all fiction (except for graphic nonfiction) so organizing by subject seems unwieldy.
I would like recommendations for books where the main character is a mild villain dealing with much worse villains and is telling the story as they go. Fantasy and Scifi are always comforting genres but I venture out for the right books.
I would also like books where men and women are doing things and are friends without a romance being shoe-horned in. But I concede I might as well be asking for a pony at this point.
@Homebrewandhacking@bookstodon I think the Modesty Blaise books fit here. Modesty is, in effect, a retired supervillain who out of boredom starts working for British intelligence. And Modesty and Willie Garvin (her offsider) have one of the all time great platonic relationships.
@peachfront@LincolnRamirez@bookstodon
Generally if I’m introducing someone to Stephen King books, I recommend Pet Sematary or Cujo. Those two books, to me seem a bit more approachable
I would love to get your thoughts and feedback on my #BookCover from my latest book, The Challenges of Being Me. Do you like it? Does it capture your attention? Without knowing anything about the book, what genre would you say this cover best fits? #writingcommunity#bookstodon#authors@bookstodon
@Rhube@noodlemaz@willaful@benetnasch@bookstodon I am very grateful for you multiple message response! This is yet another reason why I love Mastodon over my time at that other site. You’ve given me some things to think about when I get to my next book, thanks
Bookstores should group fantasy with horror instead of scifi. Both fantasy and horror are purely creations of the author's mind; scifi is tethered to factual information.
If you need to group scifi, I'd put it with mysteries and thrillers.
OK. It's Mastodon so I will be polite. That's a really poor take. It misunderstands fiction, it is unhelpful to readers and booksellers, and I hope the majority of SF writers would agree with me.
My heart aches for the children who will no longer have access to their local library because some arrogant assholes decided to be offended by books with new ideas and different perspectives.
A sumptuous, mature sequel. Griffith creates well-drawn characters who feel real but sometimes hold startlingly alien values, appropriate to the era. There are some gorgeous passages about the natural world, spirituality, and grief.
This one had a tad too much war and battle strategy for my taste, but it's interesting to see Griffith try to reverse engineer an explanation for a pretty unexplainable historical event.
I loved many things about this book: the prose, both major settings, some of the characters, the themes. But it was somehow less than the sum of its parts for me.
My two biggest complaints are my personal pet peeves in modern lit fic: a series of serendipitously interlocking stories where all the characters are magically related to each other, and the refusal to use quotation marks to indicate dialogue.
Book Challenge: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #20Books Book One: @bookstodon