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Unless I'm mistaken, I believe you forgot Ender's Game as well as Speaker for the Dead as a Hugo AND Nebula award winner...
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I find it hard to believ CJ Cherryh won any kind of award. I read one of her books, Hammerfall, I think, and I couldn't finish it. It was terrible, in my opinion.
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Update -- Neil Gaiman won the 2002 Nebula Award for his novel, American Gods. This is particularly exciting because American Gods also won the 2002 Hugo Award.
The above list has been updated in case you want to print off a single copy.
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I seem to remember someone here recommending it, but I don't remember who.
Very interesting that American Gods won. I've always thought of Hugos as awards for really good books, but not necessarily popular ones. American Gods is very popular.
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Let's all read it and post back what we think. I am in the middle of Robinson's Antartica so I won't get to it for a few days.
Posts: 173 | Registered: Dec 2002
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I have not read the book mentioned and hated, but she has written a plethora of novels. My favorite series was one of the more recent: The Fortress series. I can't think of the first one, darn it, but two are Fortress of Owls, and Fortress of Eagles.
One thing about her novels, though, I must say,is that they have a long beginning that does not immediately grab you. It is a slow start, and I could see how someone could give up.
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Yeah, that slow start thing definetly sounds like the problem. I don't remember exactly how far I got (a few hundred pages, at least) but it was a slow start that, by the time I gave up, had gone nowhere. So I...well, gave up.
Why did you thin the last book was a cop-out? I remember liking how it ended. Were things too tidy at the end? I am trying to remember.
As for the slow start thing, I think the start might have been at least a hundred pages before i was hooked. that is really a long one. However, my experience is that if you can read past that, you are hooked.
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Thank you, by the way, Balthasar. What a great list of books to print out. I will check them off as I give them a whirl. Liz
Posts: 22 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
No problem, Liz. It's an essential reading list for aspiring SF/F writers.
Personally, I've been exposed to authors and novels I probably would have never picked up. DOOMSDAY BOOK by Connie Willis was a pleasant surprise, but RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA by Authur C. Clark left my dry.
[This message has been edited by Balthasar (edited May 29, 2003).]
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You know, it was Heinlein that kindled my interest in sci-fi and it's still Heinlein that I think of when I read anyone else. I just got my husband to start reading him. So far he's floored and loved Door into summer.
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OT: I recently read "Stranger in a Strange Land" and feel quite un-science-fictiony (yeah yeah, I know) because I didn't really like it. I thought it was mildly entertaining at best, but the whole messiah complex was really thick. I dunno. I'm weird -- I didn't particularly care for Lord of the Rings (the book) either. Maybe this says something about my literary character.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I didn't particularly care for Lord of the Rings (the book) either. Maybe this says something about my literary character.
>>Yes, Rahl, it says something about your literary character. It says that you like some literature, and you don't like other literature, and that you are not afraid to say so.
I have occasionally mentioned my loathing for the Thomas Covenant series. Even though it is a classic fantasy series, I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.
I loved the Lord of the Rings, but I also read it when I was much younger. I wonder, if I had first picked it up as an adult, what I would have thought about the series.
(And I couldn't get through Stranger, either.) Liz
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Rahl, I found Stranger in a Strange Land easy to read AFTER I read Red Planet, his junior novel. It explained a lot of the Aliens and their culture. Stranger in a Strange land is really heavy reading and you have to be in the right mindset I think. Like I said, reading Red Planet first didn't hurt either. It laid the foundation for what I would read in Stranger.
Posts: 21 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I'm not even sure that the caliber of the prose was my problem. I mean, I didn't really stumble over it, and I think I understood that concepts that were being presented. I just didn't really like the story. And come to think of it, his writing style was odd too. Now, that may just be because I'm not used to it -- but I think I remember really fast POV changes, suddenly in one characters mind and in the next. And yet it wasn't quite omniscient. I dunno. It was odd.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Oh... don't worry...His style in that book is definetly odd. It's not per his usual. I didn't doubt you understood the concepts necessarily but I think Red Planet makes the aliens much more enjoyable.
I would suggest reading Job: A Comedy of Justice or Glory Road for something a bit different from him.
The Father of Science Fiction and all his friends (Pohl, Clark and Asimov) deserves more than one book and one read.
[This message has been edited by Sachant (edited May 30, 2003).]
posted
Thanks for the suggestions, but rest assured that I hadn't given up on him yet. I have a three strikes policy, just like Balthasar (that was Balthasar, right?).
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Yes, I'm the one with the three-strike rule, and it's served me well. I'll never ever read another R.A. Salvatore novel again, unless of course the person who wants me to read it gives me a $20 to use as a bookmark. On the positive side of things, my first Heinlein novel was A Stranger in a Strange Land, which I hated. But I read an article about Heinlein that said that Stranger is unique in his corpus, so I decided I'd give him a try three years later and picked up Starship Troopers, which I enjoyed very much.
[This message has been edited by Balthasar (edited May 30, 2003).]
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I finished American Gods and I have spent the last few days trying to decide if I liked it or not. It was an 'ok' read. The premise of the story was a bit like Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, so for an award winner I was disappointed that it was not more original.
I had a hard time getting into the main character, Shadow, because he seemed so nonchalant about everything. He left me feeling flat.
The one section of the book I enjoyed was towards the middle/end when Shadow stays in a small northern town. The people in this town are well drawn and enjoyable.
The ending was a let down for me...rather predictable.
I hope someone else posts their thoughts on the book. It could just be a matter of taste.
After finishing American Gods I started Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. So far, it is wonderful.
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Thanks a million ! I was just about to post a question on what books were recommended to read.
I'll start with Doomsday. Right now I want to finish The Arthurian Saga that Mary Stewart wrote. I'm still forming my opinion about it, but my only complaint is that it.. well, it runs too slow in the wrong places. It seems like Merlin wants to tell me about his visions and battles and then... his herbs. Disappointing . The drastic changes in pace leave me with my mouth dropped in anticipation at one time and then trying to suppress boredom at the next.
Anyhow, if you have an opinion about any of it, I'd like to hear it.
[This message has been edited by Duncan Idaho (edited June 23, 2003).]
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Correction -- Ringworld by Larry Niven won both the Hugo and Nebula awards. I changed the original list and corrected the error. Posts: 130 | Registered: Apr 2007
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I fixed it!
How embarrassing! 
