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Book backlog
Having a bit more free time now, I'm actually getting to do more reading - and also making more progress on cataloguing books onto Library Thing. This process is revealing just how large my 'unread' pile is, but also how many books I'm able to discard in order to create space on my bookshelves.
The backlog is a mixture of book I've bought becasue I really wanted them (eg. Elizabeth Moon), books that have a really good reputation (Use of Weapons), books by writers whom I used to like a lot (Gordon Dickson), books I've been given at conventions (Acacia), books I've had as presents (Red Robe), books were probably bought by Richard originally, but I think I might like (Hornblower) and books I've acquired becasue I felt vaguely guilty about never having read them (I Claudius).
Some of these are being processed quite quickly - Gordon Dickson hasn't lived up to re-reading. I have higher demands on quality of character and background than I did as a teenager. Philip K Dick turned out not to be my cup of tea either ('Weird' isn't really my genre). Iain Banks falls into a particularly annoying category. He's an excellent writer, but I rarely get hooked by his books. I struggled to finish 'Use of Weapons' ; I acknowledge it to be well-written, well-plotted (though I dislike the jumping about in time), well-characterised with a good twist at the end, but ultimately, it simply isn't for me.
It's hard to say exactly what hooks me in a novel, but the story is all important. Moon, Bujold, Heinlein, they really work for me.
I'm planning on working through all the convention books soon. I'm expecting those to be a hit and miss bunch, but hopefully, some of them will introduce me to new writers that I'll really like (I first read Jon Courtney Grimwood as a con giveaway and have read many of his books since then). But today, I'm reading HG Wells. So far, 'The Time Machine' is holding up very well.
It strikes me, that when I was younger, there were less SF books around. What I viewed as the world's total supply of SF and Fantasy was at the Wythenshawe library (I'd already exhausted the library in Heald Green and was cycling further afield to get more books). I read everything, almost regardless of quality, because there wasn't going to be any more when I'd finished it. I didn't have a lot of disposable income, so I didn't buy many books.
Nowadays, the problem is the opposite one. The mountain of writers whom I still have to read seems endless, exacerbated by the fact that there was a period of 10-15 years when reading was physically painful for me and I read very little in that time. I'm catching up on a chunk of the past while still seeing new, good writers coming forward. It's making me far more ruthless. A book that I might once have read cover to cover (it's a bit like eating all the food on your plate, you feel guilty if you start a book and don't finish it), now gets abandoned after the first chapter if it isn't up to scratch. Some won't even make it past the first few pages. But if I get past the first chapter, then I'll read it right to the end.
It's ruthless, but it's also helping create space on the shelves.
The backlog is a mixture of book I've bought becasue I really wanted them (eg. Elizabeth Moon), books that have a really good reputation (Use of Weapons), books by writers whom I used to like a lot (Gordon Dickson), books I've been given at conventions (Acacia), books I've had as presents (Red Robe), books were probably bought by Richard originally, but I think I might like (Hornblower) and books I've acquired becasue I felt vaguely guilty about never having read them (I Claudius).
Some of these are being processed quite quickly - Gordon Dickson hasn't lived up to re-reading. I have higher demands on quality of character and background than I did as a teenager. Philip K Dick turned out not to be my cup of tea either ('Weird' isn't really my genre). Iain Banks falls into a particularly annoying category. He's an excellent writer, but I rarely get hooked by his books. I struggled to finish 'Use of Weapons' ; I acknowledge it to be well-written, well-plotted (though I dislike the jumping about in time), well-characterised with a good twist at the end, but ultimately, it simply isn't for me.
It's hard to say exactly what hooks me in a novel, but the story is all important. Moon, Bujold, Heinlein, they really work for me.
I'm planning on working through all the convention books soon. I'm expecting those to be a hit and miss bunch, but hopefully, some of them will introduce me to new writers that I'll really like (I first read Jon Courtney Grimwood as a con giveaway and have read many of his books since then). But today, I'm reading HG Wells. So far, 'The Time Machine' is holding up very well.
It strikes me, that when I was younger, there were less SF books around. What I viewed as the world's total supply of SF and Fantasy was at the Wythenshawe library (I'd already exhausted the library in Heald Green and was cycling further afield to get more books). I read everything, almost regardless of quality, because there wasn't going to be any more when I'd finished it. I didn't have a lot of disposable income, so I didn't buy many books.
Nowadays, the problem is the opposite one. The mountain of writers whom I still have to read seems endless, exacerbated by the fact that there was a period of 10-15 years when reading was physically painful for me and I read very little in that time. I'm catching up on a chunk of the past while still seeing new, good writers coming forward. It's making me far more ruthless. A book that I might once have read cover to cover (it's a bit like eating all the food on your plate, you feel guilty if you start a book and don't finish it), now gets abandoned after the first chapter if it isn't up to scratch. Some won't even make it past the first few pages. But if I get past the first chapter, then I'll read it right to the end.
It's ruthless, but it's also helping create space on the shelves.
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Moon and Heinlein I agree very much with. I've never read any Bujold though, Can you recommend a good one to start with?
As for too many books, I've given up on trying to keep up, I only read recs now.
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For a female protagonist, you can try "Shards of Honor" [sic] and "Barrayar". The second is the superior book, but the first one needs to be read first. Actually, the first one is excellent also, but takes a couple of chapters to hook you (well, it did me).
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There's a whole series of Vorkosigan books, all set in the same universe, and all of which work pretty well as stand alones. They're all highly readable, though some are better than others. Although they aren't her best ones, 'Shards of Honour' and 'The Warrior's Apprentice' are good ones to start with.
They're near the start in chronological order and introduce some of the main characters. Miles Vorkosigan is still probably the only hero in mainstream SF to suffer from brittle bone disease. It has the interesting effect of making him dependent on brains rather than brawn in a military SF saga. (Add in the fact that his native world views any form of genetic abnormality with grave suspicion and you have a really interesting mixture) His parents are wonderful characters, from totally different cultural backgrounds, but in a strong marriage that endures.
If you like Moon and Heinlein, you will love Bujold. I've reread all my copies at least twice. Go and buy Jane's books fast!
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Some spinoff stuff is acutally good SF (but it does vary a lot).
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I still like Starship Troopers and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, plus his "Future History" stories, but most of the rest of his stuff I used to own I've now got rid of.
Gordon Dickinson's Dorsai/ Hal Mayne books are ones I sort of still like for the ideas they have, but I may get rid of those some time in the future too.
I really like Philip K Dick, though, mostly because they're not, IMO, "wierd" but ask thought provoking questions about "what is reality?" (I haven't checked, but I've wondered if Joss Whedon took the idea of implanted memories in the Blade Runner Replicants to use in Dollhouse, ie is *your* identity really your own...?)
I couldn't get into Moon or Bujold, they just didn't work for me, but HG Wells is definitely worth a look, one of the panels I enjoyed at Odyssey was "Verne, Wells and the Classics, are they Steampunk?" where initially my reply would have been "yes, of course", but as the panel went on I was more convinced that they *weren't* Steampunk when they were written but later "became" identified *as* Steampunk.
I know what you mean about libraries, there was very little SF at my local village library where I grew up, but the first SF I remember reading was Kemlo and the Star Men http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemlo which was pretty much nonsense, but you're not very critical when you're seven :-)
Certainly nowadays there's a lot of derivative rubbish out there, although most of the books I own these days are one's I've bought because I wanted them, if I see something interesting in a charity shop or at the library, I'll flick through the first few pages and see if it grabs me, if it does, I buy it, otherwise it's back on the shelf and I'm looking for something else.
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Henry and I are agreed that the best ones are 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress', 'Double Star' and 'Citizen of the Galaxy'.
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However sometimes one just can´t get over the forst pages and then the book is put aside unread forever.
I have not a nerve to get rid of them though - maybe later:-)
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In this context, 'finally' suggests that you have finally got around to it (ie. you're doing it now).
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