Tell Me What To Read

[coalescent]

OK, gang, here's the deal: I'm on holiday next week. I am looking forward to nine consecutive days filled with sleeping, reading, and writing (and maybe just a little bit of socialising). But there's a problem, which is that even my I-must-read-this-soon buffer is overflowing, never mind my actual to-be-read pile (or the to-be-read sprawl, as I

Comments

[veggiesu]

I'm on holiday next week.

Snap! Well, except Monday. And possibly Thursday, because for thefirst time in aaaaages I have both Stuff To Do, and Deadlines To Do It By. But almost snap.
I've not even heard of most of those books, you'll be unsuprised to hear, so I've voted for the Mark Gatiss, so you can join in the i_f discussion, and because it shouldn't take you more than a day, if that.
If I forget to say in the meantime, enjoy your week off :-)

[coalescent]

Snap!

Yes, but you're on holiday so much it barely counts. :p

[veggiesu]

Oh hush; jealousy doesn't suit you at all :-p

*basks in having 30 days leave per year*

[coalescent]

I'm not jealous of the 30 days half so much as I am of the fact that you can claim back travel time and overtime as holiday.

[pikelet]

who can resist an opening line like "The girl from the future told me that the sky is full of dying worlds"?

When an opening line makes me think 'Christ, he really spent far too much effort trying to come up with a first line', it doesn't entice me.

[coalescent]

Quiet, philistine!

(Did I pick the right Who book? Technically they should both be on the list but this one looked more fun.)

[sparkymark]

Its not that great, treading familiar SF ground. And its the only 8th Doctor Novel with a map at the start of it. But it does have tigers that walk up to you and say "Hurroo".

[sparkymark]

Multiple apostrophe crime, sorry.

[white_hart]

The only one of those I've heard of is The Vesuvius Club, and what I know of it suggests that it's something T might enjoy but I probably wouldn't, and I'm not sure you would either. And I can't think of anything else that I've read recently that I think you might like and haven't already read.

[coalescent]

I'm pretty sure I won't enjoy it, too, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. (veggiesu lent it to me so I could read it for IF.)

[coalescent]

Also, if you don't know Tiptree, you should try this and this. :)

[white_hart]

I know of her, but I don't think I've ever read anything more than a couple of short stories, probably because of the combined crapness of the public library and bookshops in Fleet during the period of my life when I read lots of sf. She might well have been out of print back then anyway, come to think of it, because she was certainly someone I was looking out for at one point.

[abrinsky]

Putting aside the ones you should read (with my reviews ed hat on) then I'd suggest that you take China's collection. Just finished this and most of the stories are good, many are very very good and one is possibly the best short story I've read for years (but with a note of caution that I don't read that many short stories).

Otherwise if you have not yet read it then take Maximum City by Suketu Mehta or JCG's new one 9tail Fox - my two best books so far this year.

[coalescent]

Maximum City is in the meta-to-be-read pile, otherwise known as my amazon wishlist. It's tempting, you're right.

[grahamsleight]

What's the possibly-best-one-you've-read.for-years?

[abrinsky]

'Reports of Certain Events in London'

Which could have been just a mess with all the differing typefaces - but as it's made up of fragments of found documents it works brilliantly. But then I found House of Leaves to be a masterpiece so again you may want to take this recommendation with care (style over substance? Not with either Mieville or Danielewski. Well, possibly with Danielewski but it's still wonderful).

[lamentables]

I have voted for The Year of Intelligent Tigers because I like the title. Sometimes you have to be shallow.

[coalescent]

If we're voting on titles, Tiptree wins hands-down for me.

[lamentables]

But the Tiptree title is so familiar it's lost a bit of its impact. And if Dubliners is one of the possibilities you should definitely read that first.