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What should be the Book Club picks for Jan. and Feb. 2019?
| 36% | 29 votes |
| 6% | 5 votes |
| 27% | 22 votes |
| 1% | 1 votes |
| 10% | 8 votes |
| 3% | 3 votes |
| 1% | 1 votes |
| 13% | 11 votes |
[ Voting Booth | Other Polls | Back Home ]
- Don't complain about lack of options. You've got to pick a few when you do multiple choice. Those are the breaks.
- Feel free to suggest poll ideas if you're feeling creative. I'd strongly suggest reading the past polls first.
- This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane.
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What should be the Book Club picks for Jan. and Feb. 2019?
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(1)
Another good night not to sleep in a eucalyptus tree.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday December 21 2018, @06:27PM (1 child)
I've included two runners-up from last poll, 3 books that are entering the public domain on Jan. 1, 2019 in the U.S. (Men Like Gods, The Great American Novel, and Antic Hay), and some others that were suggested.
Top 2 books win.
Note that due to the Mickey Mouse Protection Act [wikipedia.org], the public domain has been stalled out for the last 20 years. But not for long. I'm guessing that the 3 books I listed will magically appear on Project Gutenberg soon, although you may be able to find them on a foreign version of the site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1923_in_literature#New_books [wikipedia.org]
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(Score: 3, Informative) by hendrikboom on Tuesday December 25 2018, @02:16AM
It's American sites that are foreign to me and many others. Here is Antic Hay on a nice, tame, domestic Canadian site:
https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20161229 [fadedpage.com]
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Friday December 21 2018, @11:34PM (2 children)
I started reading the Burroughs book at one time and still have the copy around here somewhere, but could not get through it. Seemed to have all the worst characteristics of "beat" novels without the energy. Might have to try it again sometime just to see if it was me at the time or the book. The rest all seem like interesting choices. These polls, if nothing else, will remind of us some titles we have not tried to read but maybe should.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday December 22 2018, @04:37AM (1 child)
I think I can see an overwhelming #1 pick emerging here, so some thought should be given to the #2.
MDC recommended Naked Lunch, and it's a novel with one heck of a reputation.
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(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @08:09PM
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch but a Naked Lunch is a different matter altogether. Said book is a rough trip that I hope anyone who has ever felt offended as an adult gets to enjoy.
On a practical note, I'm not sure how much can be discussed regarding the content.
Popcorn at the ready if SN tries.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @09:21AM (18 children)
Includes
Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
Ender in Exile
Plus, some short bits that don't really belong to any of those five,
Plus, forwards, afterwards, and intros
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday December 22 2018, @02:04PM (16 children)
I'd probably be picking the very first book out of that to include, like I did with Foundation. Except everyone on the planet has read Ender's Game.
IDK, what does someone else think?
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(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @02:33PM (9 children)
I hated Ender's Game when I was forced to read it in school, still hated it when I reread it later. Please no. The angsty-child genre is very overrated. How about some Le Guin or Cherryh?
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Saturday December 22 2018, @11:51PM (1 child)
That's not a bad idea.
Foreigner
Downbelow Station
The Pride of Chanur
These others might not be a bad idea, either:
Gateway - Frederik Pohl
The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle
The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
Dead of Jericho - Colin Dexter
Nine Princes In Amber - Roger Zelazny
The Deep Blue Good-bye - John D. McDonald
The Sigma Protocol - Robert Ludlum
Triton - Samuel R. Delany
Just some passing thoughts.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 1) by DECbot on Wednesday January 09 2019, @07:03PM
If you like the universe building of Ender's Games, but not the whiny boy aspects of the books, I'd like to nominate David Brin's Uplift series:
Sundiver
Startide Rising
The Uplift War
Brightness Reef
Infinity's Shore
Heaven's Reach
My recommendation is to start with Startide Rising followed by The Uplift War; then read Sundiver. I found Sundiver to not have the captivating hook as the other five books in the series, yet does provide some useful background to the galactic politics appearing in the subsequent books.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Friday December 28 2018, @12:14PM (6 children)
Yes, Cherryh, I haven't participated in the book club before but I have the majority of her novels, just finished "The Morgaine Saga" again a couple of weeks ago. As she lives here in my hometown she occasionally gives readings/signings down at Aunties Bookstore (three floors of bibliophile heaven with couches, espresso and Uncles Games, that's board, not video). One of my favorite authors of all time.
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday December 28 2018, @02:11PM (5 children)
Can you recommend a specific Cherryh title for the next poll? An initial book of a universe/series if that applies.
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(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Friday December 28 2018, @04:45PM (3 children)
The Company Wars: Downbelow Station (1981) – Hugo winner, Locus SF Award nominee, 1982
interesting aside: The Company War is a board game based on Downbelow Station. It was developed by Bill Fawcett and James D. Griffin and published by Mayfair Games in 1983. Cherryh endorsed the game and contributed an introductory essay and star maps.
The Morgaine Saga: The Gates of Ivrel 1976
Blend of science fiction/fantasy (Think Stargates with swords and rayguns, no 'magic', just ancient technology and worlds that have regressed)
This is her first published work.
The Gene Wars: Hammerfall (2001) Nominated for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 2002, and was a third-place runner-up
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 30 2018, @09:39PM (2 children)
Something of a common theme among sci-fi authors. Colonies won't have things "together" for hundreds of years, at best. Maybe thousands. Not enough manpower, not enough automation, not enough education - most colonies probably will regress. Especially if/when we escape this one solar system. It's easy to imagine that old colonies will be rediscovered, living in the bronze age, or possibly earlier.
Seeing that treated half seriously would be worthwhile.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 30 2018, @11:17PM
I doubt it. Even if you lose all the tools, as long as you have knowledge, you can regain them. Retaining the knowledge to obtain knowledge in the face of all but total loss of mission and source civilization is not too difficult a problem.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Sunday January 06 2019, @05:23AM
As my anonymous sibling says, retaining the knowledge is easy.
In fact I would go further and say that a new bronze age is practically impossible. If you have knowledge and bronze age tech, then the step to iron is easy.
Watch the 'Primitive Technology' series on youtube. Very entertaining and quite relaxing too, no voiceover or music, he uses captions.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA [youtube.com]
The guy made a hobby of starting from nothing and seeing how far he could get using only stuff from the Aussie bush. He was up to a heated, tiled hut, making ceramic pots and implements, cooking food, and producing iron last time I looked.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Friday December 28 2018, @04:50PM
Wish i could edit, always think of something as I hit submit.
Those are my favorites in order. Hard choice as I have been reading her works since high school.
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday December 22 2018, @06:41PM (5 children)
I thought it was overhyped crap. It was like reading Superman comics. You knew who was going to win, you had a pretty good idea how they were going to win, and nothing much could present a credible obstacle.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 28 2018, @04:10AM (4 children)
The movie was like that - and Harrison Ford should have had his SAG card revoked for sleeping on camera while in a dramatic speech, but the later books were a bit less predictable, more introspective. I didn't feel ripped off for paying for them.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday December 28 2018, @01:06PM (3 children)
It's the books I was talking about. I read the entire collection back before I'd found my way to much in the way of good writing and then read them again much later because I remembered enjoying them but not the specifics. They were much less enjoyable the second time around.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 28 2018, @03:39PM (2 children)
In high school / college I read just about everything Niven related, once. I might have re-read Ringworld, but that was enough for me - far more enjoyable to read new material than to rehash old stories.
One that did better the second go around was the Silmarillion, mostly because I found it completely unreadable when I was 19.
Now I half pay attention to Netflix, sometimes that works really well for re-viewing, especially epics like the SlowTV Bergen-Oslo train and Telemark Canal.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Friday December 28 2018, @04:57PM (1 child)
Ah, the Silmarillion....The Elven Bible...Fuck that was a difficult read.
I read the Hobbit and Trilogy in a few months, then spent my junior AND senior year reading that and still didn't finish before graduation. I finished it two days before hopping a plane to NC for basic training.
So if people ask if I've read the Bible, I say yes. After all they never ask which bible....
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday December 29 2018, @04:32AM
Yes, the Silmarillion was rough sledding. Seemed it was best read with a month break between chapters. I finally figured out why. A good bit of the tragedy is because Tolkien says so, and because characters are such pig headed hardasses for no good reason. The motto of a whole bunch of them is "Give me the Silmarils or give me death!"
Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead were excellent, but I felt Xenocide was merely clever, with a too miraculous ending.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 28 2018, @04:06AM
I binged on these on vacation about 3-4 years ago, reading them on my phone and buying each later book in the series as I finished the one before. Probably the last novels I read.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by edIII on Saturday December 22 2018, @11:13PM (3 children)
I voted for the Moon is a Harsh Mistress because it's one of my favorites, but don't believe I've read any of the others. Anybody have a recommendation as to which one?
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Sunday December 23 2018, @07:48PM (1 child)
I have The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress [archive.org] on the shelf and just reread it again what feels like recently, so I voted for Men Like Gods [gutenberg.net.au] by H.G. Wells. I chose H.G. Wells over Stanisław Lem because I know I can get the former easily and probably can't get the latter in time, even if it does turn out possible to order it and I would prefer to finally catch up on his work.
Heinlein is great, but sometimes he spends too much time on his soapbox. Yet, there are some very cool concepts in The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.
Of Heinlein's book's perhaps Glory Road is quite a bit underrated.
On the Road by Jack Kerouac is still on my to-read list, but it may a while longer before I actually get to it.
And it looks like none of them are in Librivox.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @07:48AM
I felt like Glory Road was entertaining, but definitely not top-class material. More like a parody of The Wizard of Oz with some wierd fetishistic stuff thrown in at the end.
(Score: 1) by doke on Monday January 07 2019, @07:13PM
I also voted for "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", also because it's one of my old favorites. However, I admit it's a bit dated. I considered voting for the "Bobiverse" series. It's very good.
(Score: 1) by Crypthulhu on Sunday December 23 2018, @09:13AM (2 children)
Anything by James Enge. Read them all. Be weirded out and entertained and in awe.
https://www.amazon.com/James-Enge/e/B001OJV45G/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1/ [amazon.com]
*NORK*
(Score: 3, Informative) by martyb on Sunday December 23 2018, @12:03PM
=)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday December 23 2018, @02:19PM
Should his [wikipedia.org] "Morlock the Maker Short Stories" be read before the novels?
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(Score: 1) by zemm on Thursday December 27 2018, @08:45PM (1 child)
"I can think of at least two things wrong with that title."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @01:42PM
Is that lunch made by The Naked Chef? [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by cosurgi on Saturday December 29 2018, @03:12PM
A note: Stanisław Lew was paid to write a novel about aliens. It was the only novel that was written in such manner. All his other works were written without external "influence". Someone wealthy approached him and knowing his works asked him to write such novel. Lem reluctantly agreed, but only because he lacked money to buy food. This is his last SF book, and thus the most mature one.
#
#\ @ ? [adom.de] Colonize Mars [kozicki.pl]
#
(Score: 1, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday December 30 2018, @02:31AM (3 children)
What about a very interesting NEW BOOK by the brilliant & respected Fox News Legal Analyst Gregg Jarrett. "The Russia Hoax -- The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump" -- A MUST READ! A sad chapter for law enforcement. A rigged system!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 30 2018, @09:47PM (2 children)
I should mod your ass down. Politics can be fun, sometimes. Most of the time, it's just shit stirring. Politics should NEVER be introduced into serious discussions. Maybe you've forgotten where you're at? Let me make this clear for you: DO_NOT_FUCK_WITH_NERDS_AND_GEEKS_WHEN_DISCUSSING_SCIENCE_FICTION (and fantasy).
Or, to state things another way: A hundred years from now, not one nerd or geek will remember WTF Trump was. They'll STILL be discussion 1984, Foundation, Harsh Mistress, and a couple dozen more.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @07:04PM (1 child)
Never argue with an idiot...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @09:18PM
Or, for that matter, two of them. Or is it "never interrupt two idiots when they are arguing"?
(Score: 2) by mrpg on Tuesday January 01 2019, @12:41AM
I finished:
2br02b https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_B_R_0_2_B [wikipedia.org]
Zombies and Calculus https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10315.html [princeton.edu]
Next:
A Sound of Thunder
And something else to be determined later.