(This post is a week overdue.) Last week I finished reading the second book in the Hellhole trilogy and discovered that, apparently, the third book isn’t out yet. Darn. So I started something I have been wanting to read for at least three-quarters of my life, the quintessential Really Long Book, War and Peace. I [...]

I recently finished two short books by Neal Asher. The Parasite is apparently out of print and used copies of it start at well over $100 at Amazon.com. You don’t want to know what new copies of it cost. Fortunately there’s a Kindle version. It’s a must read for fans of Asher’s Polity universe, though [...]

I finished reading book one of The Mongoliad. It’s okay but not great and as I was reading it I was thinking that I probably wouldn’t bother to continue with books two and three but then I get to the end and there’s no kind of conclusion nor even a logical break. It just ends [...]

I recently discovered The Public Domain Review. I can’t tell you how much I love this website! What an incredible treasure! It has lots of really long articles about old books and a number of old books, complete with original illustrations. Most are from the 1800′s and early 1900′s but a few are much older.

I have to admit I rolled my eyes at this “big idea”. Perhaps this would have been a big idea in the 70′s. Now, I haven’t read the book but I’m thinking “teenage, steampunk Charlies Angels.” And at first I thought what would be really daring would be a book in which women don’t have [...]

I was going to do one of these every week but it hasn’t worked out that way. Anyway, today’s quote is from Excession by Iain M. Banks. I think a little explanation might be required for those not familiar with Banks’ Culture novels or especially for those not very familiar with science fiction in general. [...]

On declining vocabulary: I worry over what I see as a potential impoverishment of language (for example, students thinking that it’s perfectly appropriate to use “text speak” to write a paper in. The problem with that kind of telegraphic language – it’s great for sending a quick note to someone over your phone – but [...]

Feast your eyes. I don’t like the industrial look of the room with the spiral staircase but I’m lusting for the bookshelves in all the other pictures. The last two are my favorites.

Last week I said that that I do not like Isaac Asimov’s fiction. I deliberately specified fiction because Asimov’s nonfiction is not only informative but also highly readable and enjoyable. One book in particular, Adding a Dimension (which, sadly, seems to be out of print) holds a place of high esteem and considerable sentimental value [...]

Andrea has found a list of 10 Sci-Fi Novels People Pretend to Have Read. (I’m glad he said “sci-fi”. “SF” is so pretentious.) I do not pretend to have read books. First, I have actually read enough classic, highly acclaimed, really big books to impress almost anyone I might want to impress. Second, most of [...]

I finished reading Around the World in 80 Days last week. I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. It’s one of those books I’ve heard of all my life and sometimes when that’s the case one builds up expectations and when you finally get around to the real thing it doesn’t measure up. Well, I [...]

I went back to my Andre Norton stash and read The Magic Books, three juvenile books in one volume. Fur Magic is based on Native American legends and was sort of interesting. Steel Magic, in which three kids are transported to the world of King Arthur, was the one I liked least. The last of [...]

Ray Bradbury has died. I can think of no better memorial than his own words, my favorite essay ever – Coda.

Another reason I’m glad I bought a Kindle. When I want to read a classic I usually download it from Project Gutenberg, though Amazon does have a lot of free public domain ebooks.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I first saw this list of 100 Best First Lines From Novels. (via) I have been procrastinating because I intended to go through them and agree or disagree with all of them but I’ve had more interesting and productive things to do and can’t really get motivated to [...]

I saw Your Brain on Food in a list of Kindle books for under $5 (a temporary sale price apparently) and, since the brain is something I’m curious about and food is something I love, I couldn’t resist at that price. The title is misleading. There is very little about food in the book. It [...]

I finished Player of Games last night. (What I said about the three sexes… a little more detail was revealed later in the book so that’s no longer really a valid post.) This is the second Iain M. Banks novel that I’ve read and the second in the Culture series. I am hooked in a [...]

I finished reading China Mieville’s Embassytown yesterday. This one is science fiction but it’s only slightly less weird than his fantasy novels. It’s a very fascinating story that deals with the connection between language and thought. Embassytown is a human community inside a bubble of Earth-type atmosphere, surrounded by the natives’ city. The natives, the [...]

The latest classic that I’ve read is Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. I’m sure most people know this story – a man stays young while his portrait ages. What’s really fascinating about it, though, is the psychological study of an exceptionally attractive and innocent youth who comes under a bad influence and grows [...]

I’ve been downloading books and stories from Project Gutenberg (Which probably would disappoint Amazon because I know when they sold me my Kindle they were hoping to make a lot more money off of me than they have.) including some very old science fiction. The interesting thing you discover from reading old sci-fi is that, [...]

Purely by coincidence, Kelly Sedinger and I both read Heart of Darkness. Sometime last year I saw it on Project Gutenberg’s Top 100 list and thought it might be interesting but it took me several months to get around to downloading and reading it. I don’t have much to say about it. I didn’t dislike [...]

It is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence, – that which makes its truth, its meaning – its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream – alone. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Two books I read recently: Consider Phlebas is the first of Iain M. Banks “Culture” novels. The story is told from the the point of view of an outsider – someone working for the enemies of the Culture. He is a “Changer”, what we more commonly call a “shape-shifter”. His mission is to find a [...]

A few weeks ago Jaquandor recommended to me (via email) Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey. It’s space opera so I immediately decided to give it a try. I often find scientifically plausible science fiction tiresome. I want warp drive, artificial gravity and all that other cool, made-up stuff. Come on people, it’s fiction. [...]

Last week I finished reading Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. It’s not the sort of thing I usually go for but it was a lot of fun. It’s set in an alternate America in which there are no laws and the Federal government is relatively powerless – it merely exists, without any apparent purpose – and [...]