Sourdough, a near-future SF novel by Robin Sloan
Replay is weirdly hard to get - I think there’s an audio book version, but not an ebook
Life After Life
Well, now comics have been brought up, let’s recommend some more. Watchmen is a classic, as are Maus and Persepolis, if you haven’t read them already. For a new universe to jump into, there’s the epic sci-fi/fantasy space opera Saga, although it’s sometimes pretty graphic. (Also I haven’t read the latest few volumes.)
On the prose side of things, two Borges-esque books to check out are The Organs of Sense, about mathematician Gottfried Leibniz, eclipses, and the invention of the telescope, and Einstein’s Dreams, which Einstein, working on the theory of relativity, keeps having dreams about worlds where time works differently.
The OP has similar tastes as my own. I am going to suggest getting weird with the Sci-Fi and recommend Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It’s science fiction about an alien presence, but published in 1972 in the Soviet Bloc it has loads of current political commentary and cultural differences from the greater Western World. There are also creepy aspects of the story that will play out at in real life at Chernobyl in 1986.
Interesting story, fascinating cultural artifact.
Thank you so much everyone! I’m going to start putting together my Christmas order next week, so I’ll write down the recommendations and try to narrow it down a little, pick up some more through the year.
I checked the beginning of Sense and Sensibility. I vaguely remember watching and liking a tv series based on it (A&E show maybe). Like Charles Dickins David Copperfield, the sentences are LONG. Sometimes a full paragraph for one sentence, separated by many, many commas.I can get used to it, but if I’d used that many commas in one sentence in school, I would have gotten a smack down from the nuns.
Making this list and talking about female authors made me think of Barbara Hambly and the Time of the Dark series, so I got that out again and am halfway through the first book. It’s a really cool fantasy/horror series. Two people from earth (California) wind up going to a medieval fantasy world, where these creatures known as the Dark Ones are wiping everyone out. The desperate struggle to survive, find the wizards place far to the west, and the fanatic takeover by the church (blaming the whole mess on magic) is a really different and it’s a great read.
She also wrote Dragonsbane, which has this bit:
Tardy guy finally shows up to an important meeting about the dragon
Everyone: You’re late!
Mr. Tardy: Better late than never!
Main Char: That’s what dad said at grandad’s wedding!
I’ve used this a few times when someone said better late than never at company meetings. Sometimes I got a “lemme think about that” look for a min or two, then they laughed. Most of the time I just got a blank stare.
You might like V.E. Schwab. She has a variety of stories, all with a fantasy (or mild sci Fi) twist. Some are more set in “the real world” like The Villains trilogy (third book not out yet) and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue or Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil.
Others are much more magical right out of the gate, like the Darker Shades of Magic series and the Near Witch.
Her stories often have 2SLGBTQ+ characters and themes about identity and how people fit into the world.
I very much enjoy her books.
I may have missed it, but you might also like Brandon Sanderson. He’s written a lot of books, and there are some l didn’t really get into but others that I loved (just read Tress of the Emerald Sea and loved it!).
And I’ll recommend James Islington on the strength of one book “The Will of the Many”. I haven’t read the sequel yet but it’s on my Christmas list! I also loved his Licanius Trilogy.
Ok, I narrowed it down and made up my Christmas list. Added the same set of 8 books to a cart in the Barnes & Noble site and the Amazon site. Amazon is a lot cheaper, so I went with that. Tried to get a good mix of various types of books, and a lot of suggestions here that I picked were the first in a series so I’ll be set for a while. I’m already starting a spring/summer list, and will go through this thread again. I’d love to own every book posted here, thank you so much for giving me new doors to other worlds that will exercise my brain!
- The first book in the MaddAddam trilogy
- Protector (Foreigner)
- The Left Hand of Darkness: 50th anniversary editon
- The Murderbot Diaries vol. 1
- Paranesi
- Screwtape Letters - This has been mentioned a lot from various sources, and I wanted to check it out.
- Stranger in a Strange Land - Read it so long ago that I don’t remember too much, Can’t find my copy, so I picked it up again.
- Dracula Deluxe Hardbound Edition - Never read this before, and it was only a few bucks more than the paperback.