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I don’t consider myself a bookworm, but I recently read:
- Japan Sinks by Sakyo Komatsu
- All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (the novel, not the manga)
- Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
- The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
And now I’m reading The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin.
Yes, I like Science Fiction XDDD
Edit: realizing that I had nothing lined up to read after “The Three-Body…”, I just got:
- War With the Newts by Karel Čapek (thanks to a suggestion in the comments)
- The Stars, My Destination, by Alfred Bester
- The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
- Gateway, by Frederik Pohl
- Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
- Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke (want to reread it in English, as I read it many years ago in Spanish)
- Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein
I think I’m now covered for the rest of the summer, lol!
I liked 'Rama' and 'The Moon.' It's a little funny rereading 'Moon...' because so much of the tech is dated. Also, it was apprently written in a time before prison gangs became as powerful as they are now.
Thoughts?
Some of Heinlein’s ideas are interesting, but most are simply outdated. I don’t identify at all with his anarcho-capitalist ideas (to me, it reads as “I don’t want to pay taxes”, and extremely individualistic views of society), but I like how he explores the situation of the lack of women, what AI could be, and the gravitational advantage the moon has. His prose is good, so it invites to keep reading. An interesting author, indeed.
My favorite Heinlein government is from 'Double Star.' Instead of voting based on where you live, you can choose how you identify. You can be a 'Green,' or a 'Gamer' or a 'Gun Owner' or 'College Educated Single Female,' or whatever. He doesn't give a lot of exact details but it's a fun idea to play around with.
Also, if you like fantasy, try 'Glory Road.' He takes all the usual tropes and kicks them to the curb.
I recently read Rama for the first time and it honestly just seemed...dumb. a nice piece of imagination but the relationships and motivations just didn't seem real. Lime why smuggle a skybike on board when it's expensive and fragile and there was no expectation of being able to ride it? It was a little Deus ex machina for my tastes.
Oof, I re-read it in the last few weeks and it was fine, pretty dry but still. The second book felt terrible. His writing of female characters sucked and the focus on sex and sexualizing women irked me. It felt wrong. So, I gave up and finished The Expanse instead. Win in my book.
Yes, not the best Clarke novel. The general idea is nice, and the author’s prose is good, but you’re left with the impression that something is missing. The plot falls on the bland side, in my opinion. I avoided the sequels, as the comments on them were pretty negative.