Via SF Signal and Ian Sales, one of them fancy book memes “for a lazy Saturday” which means that here at Kaedrin, we’re doing it on Wednesday, because we’re cool like that. 12 questions about science fiction, fantasy, and horror books:
1. The last sf/f/h book I read and enjoyed was:
The last Fantasy I read that I really enjoyed was The Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold. I don’t know that it’s as enjoyable as her Vorkosigan books, but I found it very approachable and unlike a lot of fantasy. It’s not filled with epic battles or action, instead focusing on the kingdom’s court politics and the like. There’s magic, but it’s limited and relatively consistent. This description might make it sound boring, but it’s quite exciting. Will certainly look to read the other two in the series, but Fantasy hasn’t been a big focus of mine, so I’ll also mention the last SF book I read and really enjoyed: Jack Glass, by Adam Roberts, which I found clever and inventive, but still very approachable. I did a full review a couple weeks ago if you want to read more.
2. The last sf/f/h book I read and did not enjoy was:
I didn’t hate Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs, but I never really got into it and I wasn’t aware that it was the first in a planned series, nor that it would end without any real closure (it’s also something I probably wouldn’t have read on my own, but it was a book club selection). While I don’t have any particular desire to read the next book when it comes out (which does say something, I guess), I didn’t really hate the book either… For that, I’d probably go with Fool Moon, by Jim Butcher. I actually like the concept and universe of the Dresden Files series (including the first book, which was solid and fun), but I pretty emphatically disliked this one. I may revisit the series again someday, but this one turned me off of it for a while, at least.
3. A sf/f/h book that I would recommend to new sf/f/h readers is:
The two books that immediately come to mind are Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card and Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi. Both focused on military, kinda mirror images of each other, actually, with one focused on training young children to face a threat, and the other focusing on recruiting old people to fight wars. Both have good ideas (the hallmark of good SF), but are also page-turners and relatively short, addictive reads. I know Orson Scott Card has engendered quite a bit of scorn for his unpopular political views, but there’s no diatribes against gay marriage in Ender’s Game, and it’s probably worth catching up with the book before seeing the movie, which will probably be terrible (though who knows, maybe it’ll be ok).
4. A sf/f/h book that I would recommend to seasoned sf/f/h readers is:
This is a tough one for me. I’d say that I read a fair amount, but compared to many, I guess you’d say that I’m more lightly seasoned than fully seasoned. I’m at a bit of a loss here. I’m still working my way through the best-of lists and classics of the genre, so I’ll just throw the first thing that comes to mind out there, which is Diaspora, by Greg Egan. It’s a big, sprawling hard science fiction novel, lots of big, challenging ideas, and Egan’s famous focus on really hard SF. Egan is probably more famous for Permutation City (also a very worthy read that I only recently caught up with), but I’m guessing most seasoned SF readers have already tackled that one (which is somewhat more approachable than Diaspora).
5. The sf/f/h book I most want to read next is:
Well, the next book I’ll probably read is John Scalzi’s just released (well, sorta) The Human Division (which is actually the latest in the aforementioned Old Man’s War series). After that, I have several books in the queue, though I’m not sure what I’d hit up.
6. My favorite sf/f/h book series includes:
This is actually a really easy one, seeing as though I just read through Lois McMaster Bujold’s entire Vorkosigan Saga (16 books in total, with a few short stories thrown in for good measure) and loved most of them, particularly the 4 book stretch starting with Mirror Dance and concluding with A Civil Campaign (check out my post on the series for more).
7. I will read anything by this sf/f/h author:
This is an easy one: Neal Stephenson. I think that I’ve read every single thing he’s ever published at this point, from the lowliest short story or editorial, to his sprawling masterpieces like Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle, and Anathem. Definitely my favorite author, though Bujold has come on strong lately, and I do find myself reading most of what Scalzi publishes these days.
8. The first sf/f/h book I read was:
I’m honestly not positive about this, but I’m going to go with A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle or Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain series, both of which I think read while I was in the sixth grade. I even remember writing a Prydain-inspired story for school called The Land of Analak (or something like that, I’ll have to see if I can dig up my copy of that sucker sometime).
9. The sf/f/h book I’m most surprised that more people don’t like is:
These questions are getting harder, but one book I find consistently underrepresented in best-of lists is Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow, a superb and harrowing entry in the tired first contact subgenre. I don’t know why it doesn’t get more love.
10. The sf/f/h book I’m surprised so many people do like is:
The problem with this question is that I can think of plenty of books that I don’t love that are revered by many, but I can see why they would be so popular too – so it’s not exactly surprising that, say, The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin or Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein have big followings. I don’t mean to say that I hate those books or that I found nothing of value there, but I didn’t really enjoy them. However, I can see their influence all over SF, so it’s hard to be surprised that people love them. That being said, I’m going to have to leave them as my answer, because I’m drawing a blank otherwise.
11. The most expensive sf/f/h book I own is:
I have no idea here. I don’t have anything notably collectible, maybe a few first edition Hardcovers purchased in the course of regular reading. I suppose the thing that comes closest is Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday The 13th, by Peter Bracke. It’s a big, full color book filled with imagery, and I bought it when it was out of print. It’s back in print now, but even a new copy is relatively expensive (approx $35). I think I paid somewhere on the order of $50 for a first or second edition copy at some point, so there’s that.
12. The number of sf/f/h books I own and have yet to read is:
Surprisingly few, at this point. I’m pretty good about not building up a pile of shame, but a couple years ago, I probably had 10-15 unread books laying around. I knocked most of them out last year and I’m left with a couple Philip K. Dick books I bought during a sale a few months ago. The Kindle has been a great enabler in this respect, as it allows for instant gratification…