Tell Me What To Read

[coalescent]

OK, gang, here's the deal: I'm on holiday next week. I am looking forward to nine consecutive days filled with sleeping, reading, and writing (and maybe just a little bit of socialising). But there's a problem, which is that even my I-must-read-this-soon buffer is overflowing, never mind my actual to-be-read pile (or the to-be-read sprawl, as I more accurately like to think of it). I know that I'll be reading the new Stephen Baxter, Transcendent, because who can resist an opening line like "The girl from the future told me that the sky is full of dying worlds"? Not me. But I don't know what else to read. Consequently, a poll:

[Poll #605320]

I may read the three that receive the most votes, or I may ignore you all. But that shouldn't stop you exercising your democratic right.

(If it makes any difference to anyone, I've already been dipping into all the collections on that list--the Hill, Mieville, Phillips and Tiptree--it's just a question of which ones I try to actually finish. And I was planning to keep Camp Concentration to the end of the month--it's the instant_fanzine book choice for November, so I want to read it just before the discussion, and I know I've got a flight on which I'll have time to read it. And if anyone wants to justify their votes with a comment, that'd be cool too.)

UPDATE: Those write-in votes in full:


immortalradical suggests PASSAGE TO INDIA, YOU NUMPTY. It's true, I do have Passage to India around here somewhere, but it's second in the Literature pile. The Periodic Table comes first (third is Dubliners).

ajr votes for Damon Knight's In Search of Wonder, which I acquired from the fishlifters earlier this year. That, along with Clute's Look at the Evidence and Parietal Games, is one of the books that sits in the bathroom for me to read in those idle moments. So I'm getting through it, but slowly. Books of reviews are not one of those things I can just sit down and read straight through.

grahamsleight nominates Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys. Two pre-1995 books is enough for one week, Graham.

tefkas' entry is Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton. Flaw in this plan: it's part 2 of 2, and I haven't read its predecessor, Pandora's Star (although I do have a copy).

Comments

[white_hart]

The only one of those I've heard of is The Vesuvius Club, and what I know of it suggests that it's something T might enjoy but I probably wouldn't, and I'm not sure you would either. And I can't think of anything else that I've read recently that I think you might like and haven't already read.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I won't enjoy it, too, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. (veggiesu lent it to me so I could read it for IF.)

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Also, if you don't know Tiptree, you should try this and this. :)

[white_hart]

I know of her, but I don't think I've ever read anything more than a couple of short stories, probably because of the combined crapness of the public library and bookshops in Fleet during the period of my life when I read lots of sf. She might well have been out of print back then anyway, come to think of it, because she was certainly someone I was looking out for at one point.