Sunday 14 August 2011

Never read a darn thing by... Have you?

It's been a while hasn't it? I've spent a great deal of time recently telling you all about the books that I have read, lets balance things out a little by telling you all about the authors I've never read... :o)



First up... I actually mentioned Vernor Vinge in passing, a couple of days ago, when I was talking about the cover art for his latest book. Scroll down a little bit, it's still there. The fact remains though that I haven't read any of Vinge's work and I'm curious to find out what those who have think of it. Are you one of those people? Leave me a comment telling me what you thought of it and whether you think I can get away with picking up 'The Children of the Sky' without having read 'A Fire Upon The Deep' first...

Now, this was going to be the paragraph where I confessed that I still hadn't read anything by Gene Wolfe. Looking through the blog though, I've actually read several of his short stories and got a lot out of them. Still haven't read 'Book of the New Sun' though, really need to do something about that I think. Maybe I'll see if I can read it by Christmas, hmmm...



It always makes me feel slightly ashamed when I come across an SF Masterwork where not only have I not read it but I haven't read any of the author's other works either. Brian Aldiss' 'Helliconia' is the book that gazes reproachfully at me, from the reading pile, most days but right now it's William Tenn's 'Of Men and Monsters' that is the most intriguing, having only arrived fairly recently. Has anyone read any of Tenn's novels? What did you think? I'm hoping to read the book either this week or next.

I think that's probably enough for today, until next time when the'urge to confess' grows strong again... ;o)

4 comments:

Mark said...

I have read a fire on the deep, and personally dont think you'd be missing anything. Whereas you really should read Gene Wolfe! I should re-read it to see if it stand up to my memory...

martin said...

Haven't read Children of the Sky, but I don't think it would be a good idea based upon my reading of A Fire Upon the Deep

Mark said...

Graeme: William Tenn only published one novel, and this is it. But it is a good one. He is better known for his short stories.

Mark

Michael Cummings said...

Not to stand out from the crowd, but I loved Children of the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep. Epic sci-fi - literally epic, as in scale and scope of story. Obviously not to everyone's taste, I'd describe it as a similar vein to Reynolds, but with more alien interactions.