Posted by gojira_ @ 16:28 CST, 14 November 2020 - iMsg
I’ve been getting into horror and Science fiction. I read tons of king this year. Please recommend good books please, also audiobooks and good narrators. I commute a lot.
I've read some Vonnegut, Heinlein, Asimov, Bradbury, and James S.A. Corey.
Of these names, I've only liked James S.A. Corey which is a pseudonym used by the two people writing The Expanse books. Reading their works is like reading a movie script. A lot like the Alien or Terminator books, if you've had the chance too look at those. I love this format.
They are just two sides of the same coin. I'ts like teenage metal fans vs hip-hop fans used to be. There is a reason why sci-fi and fantasy often bundled together.
Iain M. Banks is my favourite sci-fi author, I think "Matter" or "Surface Detail" would be good big chunky ones to start with, there's no particular order to be followed but I recommend leaving "Inversions" till last, trust me on this. He also did non-scifi fiction under the name Iain Banks. I only read The Wasp Factory of those ones, pretty good horror story.
"Seeds of Earth" by Michael Cobley was the first hard sci-fi book I read, it's pretty neat, first part of a trilogy.
Other standout sci-fi which I read over the years:
Dan Simmons - Ilium / Olympos
Dan Simmons - Hyperion
Neal Stephenson - Anathem
Adrian Tchaikovsky - Children of Time
Walter Tevis - The Man Who Fell to Earth
Robert Silverberg - Downward the Earth
Larry Niven - Ringworld
Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep
Tom Toner - The Promise of the Child
As for classics, Dracula is a great read, so is 1984, so is Fahrenheit 451. So is anything by Kurt Vonnegut or Isaac Asimov. Philip K Dick is also great but personally I find his stuff just too damn depressing.
And do yourself a favour and get a nice physical edition of HP Lovecraft's collected works at your local bookstore.
Also, as depressing or fictitious Dick's work may be, I recommend you listen to this speech and interview where he goes in-depth discussing his scientific, literary, philosophical, gnostic, mystical and apocryphal inspirations, the occult, secret societies, power, authoritarianism, psychedelics, personal accounts with 'inter-dimensional entities' and 'adventures' with intelligence agencies which harassed him for uncovering the 'evil' undercurrent or principality which governs our universe (which he was firmly convinced is a simulated reality). Quite a mouthful, but pretty relevant to any current geopolitical events and scientific advancements in consciousness, simulation and parallel universe theories if you ask me.
Oh, and I was trying to think of something that won't necessarily get recommended in these threads or that I haven't recommended myself before. Emily Wilson's translation of the Odyssey keeps a pace closer to the original and has a nice audiobook of it out.
I definitely recommend Jack Ketchum to anyone who is into the psychological breakdown horror, and gore.
I’ve read most of Stephen kings hits at this point, but it really only appeals to old school classic rock nutters from America. I love King, but I do understand why people wouldn’t like his works... sort of.
Also his book “The girl next door” left a pit in my soul. I can’t recommend it to anyone. I thought I could handle it but I couldn’t. Based on a true story. Easily the best-worst book I have ever encountered.
Dick: A scanner darkly, The three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik
Herbert: Dune, Dune Messiah
Horror:
Lovecraft: Necronomicon: The best weird tales of... and Eldritch tales (the compilations have most, if not all of his works)
Clive Barker: The books of blood (novel compilations) and Cabal
a lot of Sci FI people love Kim Stanley Robinson books. I'm hoping to maybe read his Mars in the trilogy in the Spring after I finish my current stack of stuff to read.