What are you reading [Jul 2017]?

Richards · Jul 28, 2017

I just finished Don't Look Back by Gregg Hurwitz, about a group of tourists vacationing in Mexico having to deal with a killer who's taking them out one by one. It was a very good read and I like the fact that the author didn't pull any punches.

Now I'm reading The Martian by Andy Weir, the novel that was turned into a movie just recently. It's very well done - I'm only 60 pages into it but I'm enjoying it immensely.

Johnathan

Blue · Jul 31, 2017

Richards said:
Now I'm reading The Martian by Andy Weir, the novel that was turned into a movie just recently. It's very well done - I'm only 60 pages into it but I'm enjoying it immensely.

I heard about The Martian from the movie and had at first resisted because of the hype, but was pleasantly surprised when I read it. I cut my teeth of hard SF like Arthur C. Clarke and this really scratched that itch. Can you recommend any more recent hard science SF stories?

Richards said:
Johnathan

Between your signature and your username, I think of you as "Johnathan Richards". But between the Fantastic Four and that you're posting on the Books thread, in my mind it's now:

Johnathan "Read" Richards

Apologies in advance for the pun, just needed to share.

Jhaelen · Jul 31, 2017

I've finished 'The Testament of Jessie Lamb' by Jane Rogers. Ultimately I was a bit disappointed by it. The somewhat apocalyptic scenario of a virus affecting all pregnant women isn't much more than a backdrop for a girl's not entirely convincing idea that she must sacrifice herself for a chance of a (better) future. I wouldn't say it's a bad novel, but it felt too much like the author was on a mission or just wanted to spread a political agenda.
I was reminded about the much better treatment of similar topics in Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale'.

Next up will be the 13th Age RPG. It took me a while to find a good way to convert the pdf into a readable format for my kindle.

Richards · Aug 5, 2017

Blue said:
I heard about The Martian from the movie and had at first resisted because of the hype, but was pleasantly surprised when I read it. I cut my teeth of hard SF like Arthur C. Clarke and this really scratched that itch. Can you recommend any more recent hard science SF stories?

I'd have to give it some thought. Charles Sheffield comes immediately to mind - he sticks pretty close to the hard end of the science fiction spectrum, although he's not afraid to toy with some farther-out-there ideas.

Blue said:
Between your signature and your username, I think of you as "Johnathan Richards". But between the Fantastic Four and that you're posting on the Books thread, in my mind it's now:

Johnathan "Read" Richards

Apologies in advance for the pun, just needed to share.

Nice! You successfully figured out my real name (despite it admittedly not being all that difficult), and I like the nickname! (Inveterate punsters for the win!) In fact, believe it or not, I have an uncle Reed Richards who was involved in a cosmic ray accident while in space!*

But I finished up The Martian this past week, and it was one of the most thoroughly entertaining books I've read in a long while. There were a few spots where I literally laughed out loud (while reading in bed, gaining me some strange looks from my wife) - I can't remember the last time that had happened! (Laughing out loud at a passage in a book, that is - not getting strange looks from my wife while in bed. That's another thing entirely.)

Johnathan

*I recommend you not believe it, as I totally just made that part up.

What are you reading [Jul 2017]?

Richards

Legend

Blue

Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal

Jhaelen

First Post

Richards

Legend

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