Love seeing the shelves. I like your clever methodology for picking books. If I just stroll through my shelves, I agonize over what to read and it takes forever.
Those are some very nice Simaks. I have Why Call Them Back on my shelf but I haven’t read it yet. I thought The Man in the Maze was excellent. Seems you have some good reading all-round to come!
I agree. I also have Why Call them Back on my shelves but never got around to reading it. But I really wish Jon would read City first, as it is Simak's chef d'oeuvre, imo.
if you remember on Nov 29th (first 10 mins of my star trek recap) and Nov 30th where I show some science fiction and fantasy books found from the 1980's.
Do read the Wikipedia page on the Berlin Project. Benford literally knew the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project, and his protagonist was his late father-in-law. Adds realism when the author literally knew the characters he populated his book with, he met them when he was starting out as a young physicist. 😮😳 And of course there's the tie back to the Heinlein short story...😉😛🐶
I was hoping you'd roll the Leiber. I'm reading his first novel, "Conjure Wife" and really enjoying it! Apparently Leiber really loved cats, which might start to explain that crazy cover!
Excellent! we now have the Ramakin of Rolling to add to the alliterations. I will read along with two this month. The Wanderer and Why bring them back from Heaven.
I got fed up with them rolling all over the place before! One tries one's best to innovate! Hope you enjoy the Simak and the perky cat ladies. Thanks for watching 👀!
I'm planning on reading China Mountain Zhang in November too. Let's us both hope it's as good as we have heard! I hadn't heard of Justina Robson before this, but will definitely look into her work.
I'm looking forward very much to reading those books soon, both come highly recommemded. trying to keep my expectations at a reasonable level...thanks for watching 👀!
📚 Love seeing the shelves, especially when I get to go, “ooo, I’ve got that too!” Happened a few times here with Reed, Moon, Benford and Bova, for example. I fair enjoyed that first Vatta series by Moon, which I read a few years ago. The subsequent series… well, maybe I’ll continue that sentence when you get that far 😉
@@SciFiScavenger I don’t mind a bit of action/military-SF - I read a fair bit of it in actual fact - but you know that common feature of twitching eyebrows and twinkly eyes that military-SF tends to (ab)use to convey emotion and intent? Yeah, lots of that! How about overly enthusiastic lawyering? Yup, that too! But I did wishlist “The Rift” as that sounds really interesting. Can I wait long enough to find out how you get on with it though? I have an imminent haul planned with more (Fantasy) books by the author I’m currently reading…
It is quite interesting that your Vatta's War book 2 is titled Moving Target, whilst mine is titled Marque and Reprisal. You're in for a treat. I may just join you.
I was rooting for the Simaks! I only starting reading him this year, but the three I have read (Way Station, City, and The Werewolf Principle) have been good to excellent. I feel a strong, sports-like bond to him because he's from my home state XD. I DNF'd China Mountain Zhang earlier this year, but I think that was a me problem. I had other books that I wanted to get to and it wasn't grabbing me like I expected it to. I set it aside and will try again another day (maybe in November?).
yes i've only read one or two, enjoyed them. i know what you mean about putting a book aside, that happened to me this month with a Paul McAuley. thanks for watching 👀!
Ozone by Paul Theroux,1986. He is not known for sci-fi, but somehow tells a great story of a possible future where society has failed to learn the lessons of the past in the USA.
"The Man in the Maze" is good early Silverberg. Good choice with the Simak, too. "The Silmarillion" is for Tolkien fanatics, though I liked it a few years ago. I take it you won't be reading "Unfinished Tales" ha ha.
I think I tried to read Silmarillion way back and gave up. I only bought the copy you saw as its a 1st edition, 2 quid in a charity shop. Rude not to. Cheers David, thanks for watching 👀!
I took a chance on Empire in Black and Gold right when it first appeared on shelves in mass market paperback; these days, I am much less likely to go to Fantasy series. Anyway, I gave it 5 stars as a rousing beginning to what turned out to be a pretty entertaining series, all the way through. I also gave Book 6: The Sea Watch 5 stars. Only Books 5 and 7 dipped down to 3 stars, for me. I felt that Book 4 had given us a terrific finale to the story, and then suddenly, there was a Book 5, launching what felt like a new direction...one that seemed a little less interesting than Books 1-4 (I still maintain that Books 1-4 basically function just fine as one epic storyline, and if anything was left hanging, it was rather scanty - nevertheless, maybe at the urging of publishers and fans, the characters soldiered on all the way to a Book 10; Book 7 again seemed kind of average to me - long series for the sake of long profitable series became my perception - but then Book 8 gave me a new favourite character, Taki, ace pilot, and I loved what Tchaikovsky did with her, as I spent the last books hoping her bravery would not get her killed...). Sept.-Oct. has seen me going to Science Fiction on a minimal basis; I tend to blaze through lots of Horror, and the creepiest Mysteries I have handy. But November means more SF for me, such as: The Novel of the Future, by Felix Bodin (1834!, French) Angel Island, by Inez Haynes Gilmore (1914) and hopefully - finally - Insatiability, by Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz (1930; Polish) I must also get to Book Three of the Expanse series. Happy reading in November! China Mountain Zhang and Natural History are books from the 101 Best SF/1985-2010 List that I have read, and they were 3 star reads for me - so you haven't happened upon on any books from that list that I loved, but it's going to be fun watching what order tick the books off the list, and getting your various reactions. I gave The Wanderer 4 stars years ago...the word is that maybe a re-read would tell me I was wrong-o, not aged well, all that. Fair enough.
@sethball2475 your November reading is super vintage, positively medieval! Enjoy those. Note re the AT books, looking forward to reading the first one at least. Cheers Seth thanks for watching 👀!
I recently bought Martian Race on sale, Kindle, of course. As mentioned, I want to start on the Berlin Project. However, the last Crown of Slaves book by Weber and Flint ( 😢😭 ) is the key to explaining all the stories and plot elements when Weber decided that the Big Bad is the Mesan Alignment, in the second half of the Honor Harrington books. Currently reading, and enjoying. The whole Honorverse is a horrid mess of interlocking short stories, by various authors, and Weber's collaborations with various authors. Just reading the main sequence is a significant undertaking, with 15 books. 😱😳. So before I start, after reading Berlin Project and possibly the Martian Race, I'm reading the spin off series, Crown of Slaves and Saganami island. 🙄 Or I'm going to reread the March Upcountry series again...the Dice of Fate spin often in my brain...🫠😛🐶. Just completed the Anvil of God series by Greg Bear. I'm tempted...🐶.
Love seeing the shelves.
I like your clever methodology for picking books. If I just stroll through my shelves, I agonize over what to read and it takes forever.
I still spend a lot of time staring at my shelves. Doesn’t make good TV on it's own! Full library tour coming soon. Thanks for watching 👀!
Those are some very nice Simaks. I have Why Call Them Back on my shelf but I haven’t read it yet. I thought The Man in the Maze was excellent. Seems you have some good reading all-round to come!
yes, plenty of excellent books await! one of the joys of having such an outrageous number of un-read books on my shelves....
thanks for watching 👀!
I agree. I also have Why Call them Back on my shelves but never got around to reading it. But I really wish Jon would read City first, as it is Simak's chef d'oeuvre, imo.
the Dice of Destiny say it wasn't City's time. it'll have its day!
@@SciFiScavenger That's right. You can't cheat Destiny, I'm a firm believer in that.
i find i have three copies of Why Call Them Back, which is probably excessive...
if you remember on Nov 29th (first 10 mins of my star trek recap) and Nov 30th where I show some science fiction and fantasy books found from the 1980's.
I recently read Gregory Benford's The Berlin Project which was pretty interesting.
I've only read a couple of his books, enjoyed them. Good old fashioned hard sf. Thanks for watching 👀!
Do read the Wikipedia page on the Berlin Project. Benford literally knew the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project, and his protagonist was his late father-in-law. Adds realism when the author literally knew the characters he populated his book with, he met them when he was starting out as a young physicist. 😮😳
And of course there's the tie back to the Heinlein short story...😉😛🐶
I was hoping you'd roll the Leiber. I'm reading his first novel, "Conjure Wife" and really enjoying it! Apparently Leiber really loved cats, which might start to explain that crazy cover!
Perky cats!
Excellent! we now have the Ramakin of Rolling to add to the alliterations. I will read along with two this month. The Wanderer and Why bring them back from Heaven.
I got fed up with them rolling all over the place before! One tries one's best to innovate! Hope you enjoy the Simak and the perky cat ladies. Thanks for watching 👀!
The Ramakin of Rolling means there's one less flan for Jon's dinner table...😢😭
I'm planning on reading China Mountain Zhang in November too. Let's us both hope it's as good as we have heard! I hadn't heard of Justina Robson before this, but will definitely look into her work.
I'm looking forward very much to reading those books soon, both come highly recommemded. trying to keep my expectations at a reasonable level...thanks for watching 👀!
📚 Love seeing the shelves, especially when I get to go, “ooo, I’ve got that too!” Happened a few times here with Reed, Moon, Benford and Bova, for example. I fair enjoyed that first Vatta series by Moon, which I read a few years ago. The subsequent series… well, maybe I’ll continue that sentence when you get that far 😉
oh dear, that sounds ominous! fortunately, I don't own the follow-on series. thanks for watching👀!
@@SciFiScavenger I don’t mind a bit of action/military-SF - I read a fair bit of it in actual fact - but you know that common feature of twitching eyebrows and twinkly eyes that military-SF tends to (ab)use to convey emotion and intent? Yeah, lots of that! How about overly enthusiastic lawyering? Yup, that too!
But I did wishlist “The Rift” as that sounds really interesting. Can I wait long enough to find out how you get on with it though? I have an imminent haul planned with more (Fantasy) books by the author I’m currently reading…
my visit to the book dealer today was....fruitful, and expensive. I have enough books for two haul videos...
Book bingo time! :)
Indeed! Thanks for watching 👀!
It is quite interesting that your Vatta's War book 2 is titled Moving Target, whilst mine is titled Marque and Reprisal. You're in for a treat. I may just join you.
I enjoy her writing, I'm sure it will be a fun read. Books are occasionally given different titles here vs US. Thanks for watching 👀!
Look forward to hearing your thoughts on Simak and Leiber! I really want to get to China Mountain Zhang.
yes i think I will promote CMZ to the front of the November pile. cheers Richard, thanks for watching👀!
I was rooting for the Simaks! I only starting reading him this year, but the three I have read (Way Station, City, and The Werewolf Principle) have been good to excellent. I feel a strong, sports-like bond to him because he's from my home state XD.
I DNF'd China Mountain Zhang earlier this year, but I think that was a me problem. I had other books that I wanted to get to and it wasn't grabbing me like I expected it to. I set it aside and will try again another day (maybe in November?).
yes i've only read one or two, enjoyed them. i know what you mean about putting a book aside, that happened to me this month with a Paul McAuley. thanks for watching 👀!
Ozone by Paul Theroux,1986. He is not known for sci-fi, but somehow tells a great story of a possible future where society has failed to learn the lessons of the past in the USA.
sounds interesting Chris, don't know that one. thanks for watching 👀!
"The Man in the Maze" is good early Silverberg. Good choice with the Simak, too. "The Silmarillion" is for Tolkien fanatics, though I liked it a few years ago. I take it you won't be reading "Unfinished Tales" ha ha.
I think I tried to read Silmarillion way back and gave up. I only bought the copy you saw as its a 1st edition, 2 quid in a charity shop. Rude not to. Cheers David, thanks for watching 👀!
Natural History arrived the other day. It'll be awhile yet though.
i'm really looking forward to that one! cheers Montie, thanks for watching 👀!
I took a chance on Empire in Black and Gold right when it first appeared on shelves in mass market paperback; these days, I am much less likely to go to Fantasy series. Anyway, I gave it 5 stars as a rousing beginning to what turned out to be a pretty entertaining series, all the way through. I also gave Book 6: The Sea Watch 5 stars. Only Books 5 and 7 dipped down to 3 stars, for me. I felt that Book 4 had given us a terrific finale to the story, and then suddenly, there was a Book 5, launching what felt like a new direction...one that seemed a little less interesting than Books 1-4 (I still maintain that Books 1-4 basically function just fine as one epic storyline, and if anything was left hanging, it was rather scanty - nevertheless, maybe at the urging of publishers and fans, the characters soldiered on all the way to a Book 10; Book 7 again seemed kind of average to me - long series for the sake of long profitable series became my perception - but then Book 8 gave me a new favourite character, Taki, ace pilot, and I loved what Tchaikovsky did with her, as I spent the last books hoping her bravery would not get her killed...).
Sept.-Oct. has seen me going to Science Fiction on a minimal basis; I tend to blaze through lots of Horror, and the creepiest Mysteries I have handy. But November means more SF for me, such as:
The Novel of the Future, by Felix Bodin (1834!, French)
Angel Island, by Inez Haynes Gilmore (1914)
and hopefully - finally - Insatiability, by Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz (1930; Polish)
I must also get to Book Three of the Expanse series.
Happy reading in November! China Mountain Zhang and Natural History are books from the 101 Best SF/1985-2010 List that I have read, and they were 3 star reads for me - so you haven't happened upon on any books from that list that I loved, but it's going to be fun watching what order tick the books off the list, and getting your various reactions. I gave The Wanderer 4 stars years ago...the word is that maybe a re-read would tell me I was wrong-o, not aged well, all that. Fair enough.
@sethball2475 your November reading is super vintage, positively medieval! Enjoy those. Note re the AT books, looking forward to reading the first one at least. Cheers Seth thanks for watching 👀!
The fates are obviously trying to push you back to Robert Reed
Not this time!
I recently bought Martian Race on sale, Kindle, of course. As mentioned, I want to start on the Berlin Project. However, the last Crown of Slaves book by Weber and Flint ( 😢😭 ) is the key to explaining all the stories and plot elements when Weber decided that the Big Bad is the Mesan Alignment, in the second half of the Honor Harrington books. Currently reading, and enjoying.
The whole Honorverse is a horrid mess of interlocking short stories, by various authors, and Weber's collaborations with various authors. Just reading the main sequence is a significant undertaking, with 15 books. 😱😳. So before I start, after reading Berlin Project and possibly the Martian Race, I'm reading the spin off series, Crown of Slaves and Saganami island. 🙄
Or I'm going to reread the March Upcountry series again...the Dice of Fate spin often in my brain...🫠😛🐶. Just completed the Anvil of God series by Greg Bear. I'm tempted...🐶.
Plenty to choose from there! Hope you enjoy whatever comes next. Thanks for watching 👀!