The Cellar - View Single Post

Sundae · 02-13-2011, 05:19 AM

I'd be very interested to hear your take on Hyperion, Wolf.

I used to get a lift to work with a hard sci-fi fan, and we often discussed what I was reading. I'd just finished Iain M Banks' Against A Dark Background and really enjoyed it so lent it to him. He pretty much dismissed it, which narked me. In return he proffered Hyperion and it blew me away. Banks is often described as sci-fi-lite, which is probably why I'm such a fan. Dan Simmonds also focuses very much on character and plot, but is definitely sci-fi.

I followed it up with The Fall of Hyperion and that makes it onto my Top 20 book list, but the final two didn't grip me in the same way. To the extent I have forgotten their names. Still worth reading though.

ETA - I often read this thread, and often feel so guilty about not relating what I am reading.
The truth is I get 10-15 books out of the library every three weeks and few of them move me enough to bother reviewing them. And I also have the worry that I'll rave about a book in a heightened state of emotion, only to have someone point out how very dire it it. Unlikely, as I am a pretty savvy reader, but the fear is there because I am still a child at heart and put a rollicking good plot and sympathetic characters about anything else.

Just read Silence by Josie Henley-Einion. Don't rate it. It left me confused. I don't like books that hint at events all the way through and then don't actually make them clear. I suppose it's clever, but it just left me confused and I didn't enjoy the book enough to go back through and thread the clues together. It's about a lesbian couple (both with aforementioned secrets in their past) and takes the form of an autobiography written after an event means one of them ends up in prison. Except some of it is written from the other's POV, which is odd as it's about the past, not the present.

Started Pratchett's Reaper Man. S'okay so far. The usual shits & giggles. I lost it yesterday, only to find it in my bed last night.

So I also started Peter Straub's In The Night Room. Straub is a very worthy author, and has some exceptional ideas (If You Could See Me Now, olfactory prescience) but sometimes I find myself drifting when I read him. I'll read a chapter and realise I've been skipping text. I do read quickly, but I am NOT a speed reader, so I have to go back and read it again. I'm going to stick with this one because the premise is good so far.

02-13-2011, 05:19 AM	#1984
Sundae polaroid of perfection Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 24,185	I'd be very interested to hear your take on Hyperion, Wolf. I used to get a lift to work with a hard sci-fi fan, and we often discussed what I was reading. I'd just finished Iain M Banks' Against A Dark Background and really enjoyed it so lent it to him. He pretty much dismissed it, which narked me. In return he proffered Hyperion and it blew me away. Banks is often described as sci-fi-lite, which is probably why I'm such a fan. Dan Simmonds also focuses very much on character and plot, but is definitely sci-fi. I followed it up with The Fall of Hyperion and that makes it onto my Top 20 book list, but the final two didn't grip me in the same way. To the extent I have forgotten their names. Still worth reading though. ETA - I often read this thread, and often feel so guilty about not relating what I am reading. The truth is I get 10-15 books out of the library every three weeks and few of them move me enough to bother reviewing them. And I also have the worry that I'll rave about a book in a heightened state of emotion, only to have someone point out how very dire it it. Unlikely, as I am a pretty savvy reader, but the fear is there because I am still a child at heart and put a rollicking good plot and sympathetic characters about anything else. Just read Silence by Josie Henley-Einion. Don't rate it. It left me confused. I don't like books that hint at events all the way through and then don't actually make them clear. I suppose it's clever, but it just left me confused and I didn't enjoy the book enough to go back through and thread the clues together. It's about a lesbian couple (both with aforementioned secrets in their past) and takes the form of an autobiography written after an event means one of them ends up in prison. Except some of it is written from the other's POV, which is odd as it's about the past, not the present. Started Pratchett's Reaper Man. S'okay so far. The usual shits & giggles. I lost it yesterday, only to find it in my bed last night. So I also started Peter Straub's In The Night Room. Straub is a very worthy author, and has some exceptional ideas (If You Could See Me Now, olfactory prescience) but sometimes I find myself drifting when I read him. I'll read a chapter and realise I've been skipping text. I do read quickly, but I am NOT a speed reader, so I have to go back and read it again. I'm going to stick with this one because the premise is good so far. __________________ Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac Last edited by Sundae; 02-13-2011 at 05:37 AM.