We have similar tastes in SF and Fantasy! If you like Poul Anderson check out High Crusade! I’m a huge Robert Silverberg fan…or AgBerg (get it? Ag is the symbol for silver?😂). His more literary stuff is great but still gets lumped in the SF genre stacks. My faves are Gilgamesh the King and The Book of Skulls, with an honorable mention to Downward to Earth.
On Amber, the first five books I read as they came out…it was more than a decade later when the next series came out. You’re right, Guns of Avalon was the best and the series kind of went downhill from there though I liked the end of the first series (Random becoming king was a great choice). The whole second series was like you said, meh. We ought to compare what we have and haven’t read; I’m sure I’ll get some good reads out of that!
This is a real reading list. Warlock has been in my tbr for a while. If you get another western itch, I've been reading Fool's Crow and it is quite good. Written from the perspective of the Blackfeet Indians. Some impressive use of magical realism too.
Ooh, sounds cool! I guess I did read a few westerns last year... probably will this year too. It's not a genre I typically reach for but, like you said, sometimes you get that itch. Actually now that I think about it I probably read at least one western or western-adjacent book a year. Still, compared to SFF, it's not as often.
Great list. I met Gene Wolfe when he gave a talk at the Chicago Public Library and got my copies of the Book of the New Sun autographed. I want to re-read The Fifth Head of Cerberus, which I read 40 or so years ago with no comprehension at all. Molloy is one I want to get to. Thomas Ligotti spoke very highly of the Beckett trilogy.
He was incredibly nice and patient with people. I told him I was especially impressed with the scene where Severian is in an army under bombardment and I said it reminded me of World War I memoirs like Goodbye to all That and Storm of Steel. He said he was flattered by the comparison, and that few people mentioned that scene, but that he was proud of it, and it was based on his own experience under fire during the Korean War.
It was my first Silverberg and I was absolutely blown away. Definitely reading more of his books this year. I also read Masks of Time, which was sort of like Stranger in a Strange Land, but also very different.
DNF’d ? Cant find a definition...
I got a ways into amber but then after about the 5th book it just beacem utter rubbish...
Better is The World of Tiers ! Way more whackdoodle but actualy readable...
DNF = Did Not Finish. I don’t have time for forcing myself to finish a book/series I'm not enjoying, too many other books to read.
So wise.
The only books I have ever quit on ... is THE POTATO FACTORY and THE ELECTRIC COOL AID ACID TEST.
We have similar tastes in SF and Fantasy! If you like Poul Anderson check out High Crusade! I’m a huge Robert Silverberg fan…or AgBerg (get it? Ag is the symbol for silver?😂). His more literary stuff is great but still gets lumped in the SF genre stacks. My faves are Gilgamesh the King and The Book of Skulls, with an honorable mention to Downward to Earth.
On Amber, the first five books I read as they came out…it was more than a decade later when the next series came out. You’re right, Guns of Avalon was the best and the series kind of went downhill from there though I liked the end of the first series (Random becoming king was a great choice). The whole second series was like you said, meh. We ought to compare what we have and haven’t read; I’m sure I’ll get some good reads out of that!
Hey, you read any Haldeman?
I haven't read any Haldeman yet! Any books to recommend?
The Forever War! I've read it several times!
Ah, right! Friend of mine really liked that book too. I'll have to bump it up my TBR
I also like All My Sins Remembered
This is a real reading list. Warlock has been in my tbr for a while. If you get another western itch, I've been reading Fool's Crow and it is quite good. Written from the perspective of the Blackfeet Indians. Some impressive use of magical realism too.
Ooh, sounds cool! I guess I did read a few westerns last year... probably will this year too. It's not a genre I typically reach for but, like you said, sometimes you get that itch. Actually now that I think about it I probably read at least one western or western-adjacent book a year. Still, compared to SFF, it's not as often.
Great list. I met Gene Wolfe when he gave a talk at the Chicago Public Library and got my copies of the Book of the New Sun autographed. I want to re-read The Fifth Head of Cerberus, which I read 40 or so years ago with no comprehension at all. Molloy is one I want to get to. Thomas Ligotti spoke very highly of the Beckett trilogy.
So lucky!
He was incredibly nice and patient with people. I told him I was especially impressed with the scene where Severian is in an army under bombardment and I said it reminded me of World War I memoirs like Goodbye to all That and Storm of Steel. He said he was flattered by the comparison, and that few people mentioned that scene, but that he was proud of it, and it was based on his own experience under fire during the Korean War.
I bet you made his day. That's so cool!
My favorite Silverberg book!
It's a good one!
Many of them are. Dying Inside rang the bell for me.
It was my first Silverberg and I was absolutely blown away. Definitely reading more of his books this year. I also read Masks of Time, which was sort of like Stranger in a Strange Land, but also very different.