Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels discussion

Have had a fruitful month so far, was able to finish one of the reads that I missed during one of my busy months. Have started reading my short story anthology of Hugo winners and nominees starting 1946!

In my spare time I am getting educated (and entertained) by an amazing writer I cannot cease recommending to everyone, Bill Bryson. Have an audio book of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson I am dying to listen to and Sam Harris's The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values is simmering on the back burner.

I still hunger for an odd King novel, maybe will manage to fit that or one of the classics in my December schedule.

What is everyone else up to?

Great idea to start this thread!

I'm all over the place at the moment - finishing The Expert System's Brother by great but relatively unknown Adrian Tchaikovsky. He is definitely Hugo level writer and I hope he will get there one day.

I'm listening to Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley, the history of humans told by a crow.

Among non-fiction I plow my way thru This Idea Is Brilliant: Lost, Overlooked, and Underappreciated Scientific Concepts Everyone Should Know - a collection of essays on a broad range of scientific concepts - from physics to linguistics

This sounds fun! I've got several books open at the moment. I just started The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee. It tells the history of cancer research and at the same time explains bit by bit how cancer actually works. So far it's very interesting, although some descriptions of 19th century surgery were a bit gruesome.

On my way to work I listen to Edward Gibbon's magnum opus The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume II. Gibbon was an 18th century historian, but his research standards were top notch and he is properly critical of his sources. Decline and Fall spans a huge amount of time, starting from the 2nd century AD and ending to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. I'm currently in the middle of the second volume, which mostly focuses on emperor Constantine and his successors.

Couple of years ago I started a book club where we read the "difficult classics" slowly, chapter by chapter. Our first book was (naturally) Ulysses, but right now we are reading The Divine Comedy. We just finished Inferno and started to ascend Purgatory. We should be finished with Paradise in late March.

Oleksandr: Tchaikovsky sounds like an interesting writer - to my shame I've actually never heard of him before. If you've read several of his books, which would you recommend first?

You must read Children of Time. It's brilliant. Takes on several tried and true SF tropes and remains innovative and surprising right to the end.

Antti wrote: "Oleksandr: Tchaikovsky sounds like an interesting writer - to my shame I've actually never heard of him before. If you've read several of his books, which would you recommend first?"

As Cynthia said Children of Time is brilliant - I've read it just a few months ago and was so impressed that get his other books. I'm yet to try his fantasy but his SF is definitely worth reading

Recently somewhere I told somebody that Children of Time won the Arthur C. Clarke award, which is a British award for best SF novel, or perhaps best first SF novel, I forget which now . . .

It is the equivalent of Nebula - https://www.clarkeaward.com/about/

Added Children of Time to my reading list, seeing as so many people are recommending it.

I've had Children of Time in my library for a year now but haven't read it yet. I think I'll make that my next read.

This month I've been all over the place with my reading. I started a documentary called The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS. I've finished about half of it before I needed a break. So I reread Childhood's End then jumped to Ringworld which I just finished on Saturday.

I have a 6 hours drive today so I might be able to listen to some books. if not I have a 12 hours drive on Saturday were i will definitely get to listen to some books!

Oleksandr wrote: "Among non-fiction I plow my way thru This Idea Is Brilliant ..."

Funnily enough, I'm reading the opposite collection: This Idea Must Die: Scientific Theories That Are Blocking Progress.

I'm skipping some chapters and skimming others, but there is some interesting material there. Lots of chapters with people saying physicists should give up on String Theory since it can't make any falsifiable predictions. Brian Green, a big fan of String Theory, replies that perhaps we should give up on the idea that science should make falsifiable predictions.

Antti, I saw a 3-part documentary version of that book, and it is on my someday list. I liken it to And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts, which was outstanding.

Apart from my Kindle & audio, I've taken a break from any books except The Naked God. I'm determined to finish this damn thing! Only about 300 pages to go!

I am finishing up the Broken Earth series by N.K. Jemisin. Such interesting world building with this series, but must confess I'm a bit bogged down in book number three. I also just finished on Audio Among Others by Jo Walton. It was a very delightful audio with just the right accent. I would have liked a bit more action to the story or purpose. I felt the author missed some opportunities with the tale.

I just finished Elevation and The Summoning I have to continue soon with the other two books that follow The Summoning or I will forget what was going on in The Summoning.

I'm reading 2010: Odyssey Two (barely started), Vicious, and something called Gifted Thief, which is a freebee that I didn't expect much of, but which I've gotten sucked into because I am interested in the world building.

Also, I have been half through Crystal Soldier for 6 months and I have to finish it sometime.

I started Ancillary Justice and really wanted to continue, but I have too many others first, so I stopped

Plus, I have GOT to read Diamond Fire soonest, but I found that when I started it I could not remember what was going on in the last of the Hidden Legacy books, so I quit. I may have page through all the Hidden Legacy books again, but that's OK since I love that series.

Too many books, so little time

Ed wrote: "Funnily enough, I'm reading the opposite collection: ....
Brian Green, a big fan of String Theory, replies that perhaps we should give up on the idea that science should make falsifiable predictions."

While Popper's idea of falsifiability has its drawbacks, I still think it is the best suggestion for the science. Beautiful ideas which cannot be falsified even potentially are the way out of science IMHO

Allan wrote: "Apart from my Kindle & audio, I've taken a break from any books except The Naked God. "

How do you like Peter F. Hamilton books? I enjoyed most of them even despite they are a bit too long on average.

Yvonne wrote: "I am finishing up the Broken Earth series by N.K. Jemisin."

I've read them last year and was impressed. How do you like Jo Walton? I liked her Among Others and her Thessaly trilogy (The Just City, The Philosopher Kings, Necessity)

Kate, among your current reads, which is the most interesting in your opinion?

Kate, I've just finished 2010: Space Odyssey Two a couple of days ago and I really enjoyed many aspects of it, will post my thoughts in the other thread when I'll get a chance. I am not sure whether to add sequels to my to-read list or not though.

Ancillary Justice is a series I am also looking forward to reading,

Oleksandr, you asked which of my current reads is the most interesting. Actually, none of them.

Elevation was ok but short, and not as good as many of King's shorter works. It you want a great short Steven King to read, try UR

Vicious has been so hyped that I am finding it disappointing, though well written. I always like the superhero/superpowers idea, (this is not a spoiler, as you know this immediately) and the whole conception of the book is really good, but it bounces back and forward in time, which I dislike . . . though I am not sure there is much of a story without that technique to create story questions.

Re 2010: Odyssey Two, I got to Chapter 3 and it raised a question for me. I think there is a kind of conflict between 2010 and 2001 re the computers. It annoyed me, but I won't talk about it here.

Gifted Thief seems to have a lot of unnecessary descriptions and actions not necessary to the plot. It's sent in an alternate Scotland and is about a Sidhe girl who was badly treated and so ran away and has been living among "the clanless" as a thief. But there's a lot of internalizations of the first person heroine, plus a casual walk the morning after a failed robbery, apparently to show setting and background. Also, a looming story question is seemingly not answered on purpose just to keep you reading. I dislike it when characters know the answer to something, but the writer keeps that answer from the reader in order to keep you reading. Still interested, but obviously, it's not that well done.

Plus, like The Summoning, Gifted Thief seems YA, and I am getting kind of tired of YA. If you want to read Kelly Armstrong, try the Otherworld series. Kelley went back and started writing YA after it became the thing to do. Hers are better than most, but don't start here.

Ancillary Justice I just started

Crystal Soldier is good, but I keep getting distracted. Maybe it is the fact that it is the first of 20 books, and I wonder if I will ever get through all of them. The reason I keep stopping is, I'm just not that attached to any of the characters. Maybe I will go read that next since I obviously don't like anything I am reading, I just realized.

More of an answer than you wanted, Oleksandr?

Oleksandr, if you are looking for a recommendation of things I really loved, try the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold or the Magicians series by Lev Grossman. Or read To Kill a Mockingbird if you haven't

Oleksandr wrote:
I've read them last year and was impressed. How do you like Jo Walton? I liked her [book:Among Others|870..."

I liked Jo Walton's tone and the flow of the story. It was very comforting during a stressful workload but I felt there was more she could do with the story than just talk about a girl's time at school. I get the subtle way she was saying that the character was embracing the nitty gritty of life, but still would like more background on what led her to run away and what her previous life was like.

I just started Ancillary Justice as an audio. Might need to switch to print as the story jumps around a bit.

Kateblue wrote: "More of an answer than you wanted, Oleksandr? "

No, it is just fine :) I've read another trilogy by the author of Vicious and while it was ok, I guess it is over-hyped too

Kateblue wrote: "Oleksandr, if you are looking for a recommendation of things I really loved, try ..."

They are in my plans, esp. Bujold's series. re Mockingbird - have you seen this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSVlS...

Yvonne wrote: "I just started Ancillary Justice as an audio. Might need to switch to print as the story jumps around a bit.
."

While I've read the whole trilogy plus Provenance which is set in the same universe, I cannot say I greatly enjoyed them.
re Jo Walton, I recommend to try her Thessaly trilogy

I can put in a good word for Ancillary Justice. I finished all three in the trilogy a few months ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed each one. It had just the right mix of intrigue, humour, memorable characters, and life-or-death struggles - I hope Ann Leckie returns to this universe in the near future.

A word of caution, though: the first 50 pages or so do require some attention, to keep track of what's going on. Well worth the effort in my opinion.

As for me, I'm reading The Dark Defiles by Richard Morgan. The third in his fantasy trilogy, it's pretty dark stuff - this is not Brandon Sanderson or Tolkien, though I'm a big fan of all three.

Victor wrote: "I can put in a good word for Ancillary Justice. "

For me they were not bad, it is just that I expected more from a book that won Hugo, Nebula (and Locus) award and the later two volumes were nominees. I agree about interesting ideas and humor, especially that translator for Presger

Oleksandr wrote: For me they were not bad, it is just that I expected more from a book that won Hugo, Nebula (and Locus) award and the later two vol..."

Good point about being a multiple award winner - sets the bar pretty high, and also suggests it was magnitudes better than other novels released the same year. I'd offer that Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane, along with Charles Stross's Neptune's Brood were equally worthy of these awards that year.

Oleksandr, just an update. Gifted Thief turned into a paranormal romance novel, (at least there was a scene like that), so I quit. Too bad.

And I finally finished Sleeping Beauties. It was a pretty good Stephen King (and Owen King) book, but it was so long and had so many characters. I still recommend it, though. Just keep reading it instead of stopping and starting like I did.

Finishing Vicious, then 2010, then hopefully Rosewater and Children of Time

Peter F. Hamilton ..... I've only read the first two Mandel books and the first two of The Night's Dawn; those being his earliest releases, I can't really give a complete evaluation, but I really enjoy his writing and find the huge scope of his space opera fascinating. About 260 pages from finishing The Naked God. This series takes a lot of flak for being overlong and its ending, but I don't really care so much, I've enjoyed it end-to-end.

I have Pandora's Star by Hamilton in my long list of "to reads." Should I bump it up?

Kateblue wrote: "I have Pandora's Star by Hamilton in my long list of "to reads." Should I bump it up?"

I liked it but it is quite long, I usually prefer shorter works. Maybe as a start, his Great North Road is a nice choice because it is stand-alone

Allan wrote: "Peter F. Hamilton ..... I've only read the first two Mandel books and the first two of The Night's Dawn; ."

I think that Mandel trilogy was his first trilogy and it has some literary issues, but I still enjoyed them.

The Library has it, so I will try it first. Thanks!

The only place I wouldn't start first with Hamilton is the Night's Dawn trilogy. It is massive and takes determination to get through (I say that with 186 pages left in The Naked God, the 3rd volume, with 1332 pages). I have Pandora's Star and its companion Judas Unchained on my shelf and have heard good things about them. The Mandel series was a good place to start because it was a little lighter in both tone and page count, and was just a fun read.

Art, if you're hankering for King, have you read Joe Hill? I read The Fireman a couple of months ago and thought it was pretty good. Very Stephen-esque. I've got Heart-Shaped Box on my shelf to give him another try one of these days.

Allan wrote: "The Mandel series was a good place to start "

The Mandel series is the most cyberpunk-ish of his works and IIRC, Kate doesn't like cyberpunk, thus I suggested a later novel. And yes, most of his books are veeeery long

Allan wrote: "Art, if you're hankering for King, have you read Joe Hill? I read The Fireman a couple of months ago and thought it was pretty good. Very Stephen-esque. I've got Heart-Shaped Box on my shelf to giv..."

Thanks Allan, much appreciated. I will try finding a copy, especially since Kate also gave high praise in some other thread. I'm done with the Odyssey challenge and I ought to have some time for an easy read in December.

Another thing that I'm yearning for is a good saga (sci-fy, rather than fantasy), but I will have to get through the reads I've already started first.

Art wrote: "Another thing that I'm yearning for is a good saga (sci-fy, rather than fantasy), but I will have to get through the reads I've already started. "

There are several, which at the same time where H/N nominees/winners, so you can hit 2 goals with one shot!

I read and loved the book Chains of the Sea which contains 3 short stories by different young authors who were new to the scene in 1970s. I hadn't realized it, but the central story, and the best one, also called "Chains of the Sea" won a Nebula in 1973.

The whole collection was excellent. New wave, but not too far out.

I just found a copy of Pride of Chanur, first book of the CJ Cherryh space opera. I can give it a try without a big time or $ investment, good deal. Also found Too Like the Lightning, which sounds really good.

Allan wrote: "I just found a copy of Pride of Chanur, first book of the CJ Cherryh space opera. I can give it a try without a big time or $ investment, good deal. Also found Too Like the Lightning, which sounds ..."

I enjoyed Too Like the Lightning with its wealth of themes and style. I plan to read the second volume, Seven Surrenders.

As for my current reading, I'm finishing Amberlough and plan to read a very likely H/N nominee for 2019 - Spinning Silver

I was extremely disappointed with Too Like the Lightning. It had really great ideas, but I disliked the writing style and the book was filled with ridiculous elements. Way too often I felt like I was reading a bad fanfic.

TLTL is a first part of a series, *not* an independent book: it ends abruptly without resolving any plot points. I am always really irritated when that happens without warning.

Antti wrote: "TLTL is a first part of a series, *not* an independent book: it ends abruptly without resolving any plot points. I am always really irritated when that happens without warning. "

True, the cliffhanger was the reason I downed it 1 star IIRC. As for ridiculousness, I actually liked it, a flair of fantasy in SF

I didn't mean the fantasy elements, but the fanficcy elements. Full elaboration would go into spoiler territory, but let's say at least Mycroft, Sniper and the Utopians were all too wish-fulfillment characters for my taste - and everything from the "black hole" onwards was absolutely ludicrous in the worst way.

I haven't read a lot of fanfic (almost none actually) so I maybe missed it. And Utopians are very rare, so they are special

I'm late to the party, but man! You guys have offered up so many books to read!

Yvonne: The Broken Earth series was pretty impressive. I enjoyed the first book the most, but I loved her writing style.

Kate: I really like Vicious, but I did read it without knowing anything about the book ahead of time...my preferred way to read any book...so it didn't have a hype to live up to for me. Drew Hayes has a superhero series that is just amazing called Super Powereds. It is 4 long books, but I was genuinely sad when it was over. If you have Kindle Unlimited you can get them on there.

As for Children of Time...I finished that the other night and I fully recommend it to everyone. It had everything I love in a book and so much more. I hope the author comes out with more like that...or maybe other books from other ark ships...

The Diamond Age, one of the monthly books, on paper. Unique and fascinating so far, reminds me of Neil Gaiman. Also, about 45% through both Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (audio) and Islands in the Net by Bruce Sterling (Kindle). Marching toward my 100-book goal, only 5 more after these.

Allan wrote: " Islands in the Net by Bruce Sterling (Kindle). "

How is it? I have plans to read it

Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States is proving to be a fascinating read. No only because languages (and learning them) interest me so much, but also there's so much untold history and myths being dispelled, it truly makes it worth your while.

I'm always reading lots of things. But the most recent Nebula winner was the short-story Chains of the Sea by Gardner Dozois. (won for Novella 1973) One of my favorite stories read this year. (I can't find any discussion thread here for Nebula short stories.)

Art, I also love reading books about language. Haven't done that Bryson one yet, though.

One of the most fun ones for me recently was In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build a Perfect Language. There have been lots of people, especially in early 1900s, who've tried to build a perfect language. It never works, of course. Maybe fine for computers, but humans just love taking a language and making it messy.

A coworker recommended reading anything by Piers Anthony. Has anyone read his works? If so, how does he stack up?

Bryan, re Piers Anthony . . . I really liked the first three books of the Apprentice Adept series--head and shoulders about the rest of his stuff. I also liked some of his earlier stuff (there is a group of 5 books, the Cluster group, that I remembered from years ago and that I bought cheaply for Kindle recently).

I read the Xanth books for a while (maybe about 10-15 of them), but I just got tired of them after a while. Also, I read some of Incarnations of Immortality and of Bio of a Space Tyrant. Then I just got tired of reading his stuff.

It dawned on me after a while that all the books were the same. They are a series of short stories strung together to make a novel. I just got tired of them after a while. They all started to seem the same to me. Like the Xanth books, what I mostly remember is, there is a problem/quest, but before you can solve the problem you need to solve you have all these obstacles that just pop up and get in your way. Each obstacle is a chapter or two and seems to be a little short story. Not a bad way to write, but I tired of it eventually.

I really suggest the first three books of "The Apprentice Adept" first. They have kewl worldbuilding and I like the characters. Also, those three kind of complete a story arc. Another starts up in the 4th book, but I was bored with him by then.

I have a vague recollection of reading something he wrote as an afterword (probably in the 90's) to some book (this was basically before there was much of an internet) where he said he was done with all the series he was writing because he was going mainstream and starting to write war books of some kind. I guess that did not work, because he's still writing Xanth.

All that said, just because I got tired of him doesn't mean you shouldn't try him. He writes light semi-funny fun stuff.