Books and the reading thereof.

Message

#41 Unread post by **sv-wolf** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 2:35 am

Just finished reading 'Ender's Game' and 'The Speaker for the Dead' by Orson Scott Card. Couldn't put them down. They had me enthralled and very moved. It's a long time since I've read sci-fi that was as intelligent and thoughtful as this.

Judging by his subject matter and the way he writes, I suspect Card is a Catholic. I gave up my Catholicism long ago and I don't have any time for the church as an institution but it does have a long tradition of thoughtful moral debate and analysis which when applied with heart can be very profound - as here.

#42 Unread post by **dr_bar** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:10 am

sv-wolf wrote:Just finished reading 'Ender's Game' and 'The Speaker for the Dead' by Orson Scott Card. Couldn't put them down. They had me enthralled and very moved. It's a long time since I've read sci-fi that was as intelligent and thoughtful as this.

Okay, then you'll have to read the whole series, or rather, both series...
Pretty sure I've read all of the ones in print.

I believe that the two books in italics are in progress, at least that's what my friend, (that gave me the proper order of the books in the list,) told me...

First series:

Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
Ender in Exile: Ganges (working title)

Second series:

Ender's Shadow
Shadow of the Hegemon
Shadow Puppets
Shadow of the Giant
Shadows in Flight (working title)

Also you might want to check out this link for a bit of info about OSC, who is a devout mormon by the way...

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/w ... cid=884909

#43 Unread post by **sv-wolf** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:11 am

Cheers Doc

I've just ordered Xenocide and Children of the Mind but I didn't know there was a second series. Thanks yet again.

A Mormon? Interesting.

I'm beginning to wonder about my atheistic credentials. All my favourite authors seem to have some strong religious affiliations.

I've just had a look at the link you gave. He seems to be something of a right winger. That doesn't surprise me. It occured to me as I read, that right wingers have a considerable literary advantage in that they can call upon all the depth and subtlety of an established culture and are therefore more humanly interesting than radicals. - Or it could be that he is just a damn good writer.

Richard

zed · #44 Unread post by **zed** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:41 pm

mgdavis wrote:Another one of my favorites is "Alas Babylon" by Pat Fank. A novel about life in a post-nuclear war environment. Apocolyptica is a favorite genre of mine .

It's one of mine as well. Can you recommend any other books in this genre?

So far I've read:
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Miller
Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman - Miller
Riddley Walker - Hoban
On The Beach - Shute

roscowgo · #45 Unread post by **roscowgo** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:14 am

dr_bar wrote:
First series:

Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
Ender in Exile: Ganges (working title)

Second series:

Ender's Shadow
Shadow of the Hegemon
Shadow Puppets
Shadow of the Giant
Shadows in Flight (working title)

Good stuff all. Been reading The Wayfarer Redemption book I (in the usa) Battleaxe everywhere else i spose. but then again im a weirdo that likes cheesey fantasy. I need to talk the gf into going to the library with me again so i can pilfer through their F section some more.

I need to find something new. I generally read fiction just as a get away. it lets me zone out and kinda absorb myself into the story. I have great trouble doing that with non-fict.

darsek · #46 Unread post by **darsek** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:06 am

Can't put down;
The Riverworld series by Phillip Jose Farmer (all of you sci-fi nuts should check it out)

Working on;
Supernatural by Graham Hancock
Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough

Need to get back to;
My Spanish workbook!!! Time is running out!!!
Mark Twain autobiography

#47 Unread post by **dr_bar** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:20 am

darsek wrote:Can't put down;
The Riverworld series by Phillip Jose Farmer (all of you sci-fi nuts should check it out)

Loved it, I've read the series a couple or three times...

I also loved the "World of Tiers" series by Farmer

Also his true, story of Lord Greystoke, in the book "Tarzan Alive"

A very prolific writer.

Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:57 am

F. Paul wilson's repairman jack novels. Trust me, very hard to put down and you give this characters lifestyle immediate respect. Kind of like a modern robin hood. There's a whole following not for thsi guys books but exclusively to this character. Bad "O Ring" is an understatment

zed · #49 Unread post by **zed** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:10 pm

storysunfolding wrote:F. Paul wilson's repairman jack novels. Trust me, very hard to put down and you give this characters lifestyle immediate respect. Kind of like a modern robin hood. There's a whole following not for thsi guys books but exclusively to this character. Bad "O Ring" is an understatment

I agree, an excellent series.
I would also recommend "Sims" + "The Keep" by the same author.

#50 Unread post by **dr_bar** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:46 pm

roscowgo wrote:Been reading The Wayfarer Redemption book I (in the usa) Battleaxe everywhere else i spose.

I read those books a long time ago. When they were re-published under a different name, I was
sucked in and bought the first series all at once and it wasn't until I got them home that I
realized that they were the same books...

________________________________________________________________________________

In an earlier post, I mentioned James Blish, I was wondering if anyone else had read the Cities in Flight
series? Your opinions??? Somewhere kicking around I have a brand new copy of the omnibus edition of those
stories, I re-read them last year and couldn't find my original copy, (Probably hiding in a box in storage...)