Comments | rhipowered: NPR's pretty bullshit but okay SFF book list meme.

rhipowered

NPR's pretty bullshit but okay SFF book list meme.

Aug 12, 2011 19:59

With thanks to lesslikepie who posted it most recently, among others.

Unbelievably white! Also male! What else is new!

( Behind the cut, I have opinions. )

sff, memage, reading, fail

Comments 11

ceilidh August 12 2011, 20:23:10 UTC

If you love The Stand then you'll love The Dark Tower. The Stand was always a favorite of mine and I didn't get to DT until joining TR and I loved it. DT connects with The Stand in a really complicated way. I'm about halfway through a reread now.

rhipowered August 13 2011, 23:35:36 UTC

See, my library had all of Dark Tower and now I only have UK library access and they are...not the best. I will try.

bad_influence August 12 2011, 20:40:33 UTC

I read the Time Machine in high school when I went through an HG Wells set (including War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Dr. Moreau) and it has a soft spot in my heart for it. The funny thing though is I mostly remember and liked the parts that didn't involve the Eloi and that it's that one scene near the end that stuck with me.

You should definitely watch the Last Unicorn, although I can't get enough distance from it to actually know if it's good or not as it was one of those tapes I always watched when I was little. It doesn't make me cringe when I rewatch it now unlike other childhood favorites though. The book is a pretty short read too, but you can watch the movie to see if it's something you'd enjoy as the movie follows the book very closely.

Man, some of the college ones I need to actually read. I got so behind in that course it wasn't even funny. Riddley Walker just killed me.

rhipowered August 13 2011, 23:33:51 UTC

Were you in Oram's class my year (Spring 04) or did you take it two years before?

I actually like Riddley Walker okay, though I think it works better as a thought experiment than as a novel. Russell Hoban will always be Bread and Jam for Frances for me.

bad_influence August 13 2011, 23:45:45 UTC

I think I was in the previous session as it was when we had Vonnegut as our writer in residence.

I had problems getting past the phonetics he used. It slowed my already really slow reading speed down so much that it was nearly impossible for me to keep up with the speed I needed for the deadlines. From what we talked about, I liked it, but oh the language.

lessthanpie August 12 2011, 21:24:06 UTC

I really liked the world building in Sunshine, with the baked goods and how the paranormal stuff was all there, not really a huge deal, just part of the world. If the plot had lived up to its backstory, it would have been great.

I liked the novel of 2001 miles and miles better than the film, too. It's a lot more accessible, I thought. I cared about what happened to the astronauts in the book. Watching the film, I just wanted the beeping to stop. :P

rhipowered August 13 2011, 23:36:42 UTC

I agree, the plot is rather light. Though if I had to, it'd be in the list of Urban Fantasy I Can Stand.

2001 the film is only brilliant in context. I find it intensely dull.

sophiescat August 12 2011, 21:36:01 UTC

I feel like this list seems even more random than usual - like a few authors repeated while others not at all - plus some really random choices for which of their work is represented. Like why not list one of Tolkien's more well known/shorter works? Or why Jim Butcher's random high fantasy stuff rather than Dresden Files which I feel like people generally like better of his stuff? I guess this is what happens with random nomination voting - but you would think you could come up with a less stupid way to compile a list - or you know notice that there are 100 similar but maybe better lists out there and not bother to do a new one unless you actually were going to find an actual new angle.

rhipowered August 13 2011, 23:34:54 UTC

It's partially kind of random because they took out all the things that could be classed as 'horror' or 'YA' or not quite fantasy/SF, in which case I don't understand how The Stand and Cryptonomicon got on there.

eudaimon August 13 2011, 02:20:49 UTC

Having had to read it once a day for about three months while doing my thesis, I can guarantee you that The Road will go nowhere you like. But it is so fucking beautiful. My heart.

I will always take recs :b

rhipowered August 13 2011, 23:31:52 UTC

See, I need to be in the right frame of mind for that or I just wallow.

Recs...have you read Mira Grant's Newsflesh series yet? Or do you have a problem with zombies, I can't recall. Nicola Griffith we've been over, but she is lyrical and queer and clever. As is Kelley Eskridge, they make a brilliant pair.

Ryman's The Child Garden, have you read that? I read it last summer and it was strange but compelling.