I think with Asimov you get to know that characters intellectually, not so much as real people. For example, Salvor Hardin is one of my favorite characters in fiction. But I agree that reading Foundation after Game of Thrones would make the experience very different.

I think that some new POVs are required to keep the story moving and reveal information that other characters don't/can't know. I think that his POV approach to the series is a great strength from a creative stand point, and a disaster from a trying-to-finish standpoint because you can only reveal what the POV sees/knows and sometimes no particular POV sees/knows all that you want the reader to see/know.

I did not really enjoy reading Lord of the Rings (not sure why, maybe because of the language and I am not a native English speaker? Or maybe because I know the plot from the movies?). Anyway: Is there still the chance that I'd enjoy Game of Thrones?

I read game of thrones right after watching the tv series, it was pretty good. The tv show was extremely faithful though so there isn't really much new in the book. If you don't feel like slogging through the book you probably wouldn't be missing that much.

I know there are lots of Cormac McCarthy fans ITT. I just broke my cherry with No Country For Old Men. I was surprised by just how easy it was to read. From this thread I had come to expect the prose to be very thick. Not so for anyone out there who reads this thread but hasn't read this book yet.

And I'm probably the only person ITT who hasn't seen the movie either.

No Life for a Lady, by Agnes Morley Cleaveland.

This book is a non-fiction autobiographical account about growing up on an open-range cattle ranch in the west, 1870's to the early 1900's. A very good read; with numerous tales and experiences recounted in a vivid fashion.

If you enjoy authentic western history then I recommend this book.

-Zeno

Of the books you mentioned--I've read all of them--the two that stand out for me are Hyperion and Excession. Hyperion has this Canterbury Tales thing going on. It may or may not bum you out that very little happens in the book. The beauty of it is in the stories each of the pilgrims tells. Six tales, five of which are very good imo. Only one fell flat for me. All of the action occurs in the sequel, Fall of Hyperion. so you are kind of signing up for two books. He did continue the series after the second book but they did not resonate with me. And the story does come to a conclusion after the first two books so it is an easy place to stop.

With Excession you have the whole Iain M. Banks space opera thing going on which either you like or you don't. I happen to love that book. It was my first Banks books I ever read. I got to the end and realized I probably missed a solid third of what was going on. Here is a tip. The ships themselves are characters in the book. Do not dismiss them. There is a playfulness in his science fiction that is notably absent from his non-genre fiction (where he writes under Iain Banks). Kind of fitting for a utopian socialist.

Xaston, I remember you had a strong opinion on Shantaram, I just can't remember what it was. I am a huge fan of that book so take my recommendations with a grain of salt if you are not a fan of Shantaram.

If you can handle a dystopian novel that is slow to build I would recommend (and have I think earlier here) Perdido Street Station by China Mieville.

GoT books are vastly different than LOTR...they can't even really be compared IMO.

Check out the first book in the song of ice and fire series (Game of Thrones) and see if you like it...I think the books are terrific and have blown by them the last few weeks.

I just finished the third book in the series...maybe my favorite book in the series yet. So many memorable characters and fantastic parts.

Thanks, I hoped that they are vastly different as I really don't know what to read next. I'll give it a shot.

Shantaram is my favorite fiction book. I'm sort of like a religious missionary now, spreading the word of Linbaba. Have gotten almost a dozen people to read it already.

Slow building dystopia sounds like a book genre I would quite like.

All I've really read for Sci-Fi so far is Blindsight, Dragon's Egg, and Across Realtime. Enjoyed em all but Blindsight was definitely my favorite.

I ended up starting Rendezvous with Rama 2 days ago but I'll be done with it in a week or so and then I'll pick up one of the 3 you recommended.

Agreed. I read the Hobbitt and hated it and tried to read Lord of Rings a few times but just couldn't as I despised it. But I can't put Game of Thrones series down and am captivated by it.

McCarthy's early books (pre-1990) are pretty dense and read kind of like Faulkner. After that the writing is significantly less dense, especially recent books.

This book is the Catch Me If You Can of the book world. John Gilkey, a self-educated poor man sets out to build the world’s greatest rare book collection. The only way he knows to get these books is to steal them. He uses a variety of red herring techniques to throw the pursuing detectives off his trail. They don’t even know his identity until years into the heists.

It seemed to me the story would stay one-sided, judging Gilkey as a deluded, crazy man who rationalizes his thievery with lines like, “They made it so I can’t afford rare books, so I have to steal them.” Even as the journalist following Gilkey’s story recognizes his obsession comes from a genuine love for books, she can’t forgive him. He steals from innocent people who love books enough to play by the rules.

But as the investigation goes deeper, we find out how shady the rare book industry is. One hardly comes away sympathizing with Gilkey. Instead, we realize (most of) neither side deserves our sympathy. For example, rare book dealers often unbind damaged first editions, remove the identifying first page, and rebind it into an undamaged later edition. And since it is a story from recent history, it includes examples from internet sellers, especially from Ebay, where forgeries abound.

The book will appeal mostly to bibliophiles, but it has a kernel of action and adventure, and is a fascinating anecdote about obsession and addiction. Aside from a little awe when I walk by the locked glass cases, I’ve never cared about rare books. After reading this book, I want to begin a collection, but I’m afraid I’d get swindled.

Unfortunately, the author’s writing style and reconstruction of events is too often lazy and by the book (no pun intended). She’s overly literary, and she includes so many observations I sometimes wished she’d stop analyzing and let the story keep moving.

Busto,

You might enjoy Outwitting History, which tells the story of a young graduate student who built a very different kind of book collection. I loved it.

That does look interesting, and, if the reviews can be trusted, it should be entertaining.

The crazy thing to me about book collectors is that they often collect a book for what it represents, not for its content. They don't care if a book is any good, and most often will never read the rare books they buy.

Is it a problem to read Excession without reading the previous novels in the series? Are there others in the series worth checking out? The concept of "The Culture" sounds awesome to me.

They are all stand alone novels. They don't share common characters (I think). Read 'em in what ever order you find them.

Allclear and Blackout - Connie Willis - Published as 2 books, but really one split for size. If you liked the Doomsday Book you will like this. Some of the same characters. While about timetravel, it is really more about being trapped by circumstances in WWII England. It lacks some of the humor of the DoomsDay Book(about the black plague) and To Say Nothing about the Dog, but still excellent. Recently won the Nebula and Locus book awards.... and if you are a Willis fan(or not) and see a small book by her called Bellwether, try it. Odd little fiction novella about a researcher trying to findout where fads come from, sheep and chaos theory.


The Book of Bunny Suicides - Andy Riley - 15 minutes of sick cartoons. Not worth buying, but worth reading in someones bathroom. Warning. Friends may fake going to the bathroom, as the book may be funnier than your company.

Love Connie Willis. Think I mentioned before her book Passage made me an insta-fan

Read that in the spring. She is such a good writer willing to explore odd ideas. Love the way she writes people. To many other writers that explore different concepts/ideas, like Robert J. Sawyer(who's books I love) can't write people as well. They seem flatter. Not bad, just not as good. But tough to judge him and others for the style they write as they often focus more on the concepts and implications than the characters....

listening to "bonfire of the vanities" (unabriged, apparently i had first listened to an very very abridged version) and obviously its very good. ive never read any wolfe before, anybody have some more suggestions of his work?

Just went to a bookshop in the nearby shopping centre during lunchbreak. Could'nt find her book Doomsday there, so I asked the shopkeeper. His reply was: "No we don't have it. But we have a book called Doomsday from xyz (different author). Do you want to have that?".

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I'm 2/3rds into The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracies of all Time by Elliot Kalb. It has been an interesting read so far. It feels more like a history read than a conspiracy theory read (which is a good thing).

Still wasting the summer away with light reading: moved on to the spy novels of Daniel Silva, whose protagonist is an art restorer/Israeli spy. Nicely written stuff.

I have little to no fantasy genre reading experience but GoT books seem to me like political/action thrillers set in the middle ages with a dash of magic and a few mythical beasts.