Reading Wednesday

[sabotabby]

Just finished: The Hollow Earth by Dr. Raymond Bernard. This was 95% a bonkers, goofy read, made charming by the author's apparently complete sincerity—"obviously the Earth is hollow and contains a tropical climate, woolly mammoths, and an advanced civilization with UFOS! The alternative is frankly ridiculous for reasons." Unfortunately, you guys were right and the other 5% is racism. I could almost overlook, given the era, the E-word for Inuit people, but then he brings up Bulwer-Lytton's The Coming Race and there is some utter sketchiness, most of it of the anti-Indigenous variety. Don't get me wrong, it's still my favourite conspiracy theory of all time, but I am disappointed in the late Dr. Bernard. An enlightened man who knows the truth about how the Northern Lights are really reflections from the smaller inner sun at the centre of the hollow earth should know better than to engage in casual white supremacy.

Currently reading: Starlight by Richard Wagamese. I knew nothing about this going in beyond that it kept popping up on my recommendations on Overdrive, presumably because I am reading a fair bit of Indigenous literature right now. At least I know going in that he died before finishing it, so I'm not expecting any kind of resolution. It's quite a strange, quiet little story about a farmer and wildlife photographer who rescues a woman fleeing her abusive partner along with her young daughter. It's incredibly gentle. I keep waiting for something bad to happen, but besides the presence of the abusive ex whom our heroine didn't manage to burn to death, it's mainly just people being kind to each other because why shouldn't you be, and poetic descriptions of the land. No idea where this is going but I really won't be disappointed if in the midst of all the trauma and horror of the world, this book just ends up being 160 pages of idyllic landscapes and people being decent humans. There's something inherently radical in that.

Comments

[nostalgia]

It's always a let-down when Insane Conspiracy Theories suddenly go racist. Yet so common.

[sabotabby]

Pretty much 100% of them in my experience. LE SIGH.

[physeteridae]

The 95% of The Hollow Earth sounds delightful, shame about the other 5%. Would you still recommend someone try it?

[sabotabby]

If that's your thing, absolutely. Just be warned. It honestly reads like the author is so excited that other people share his theories that he doesn't think too hard about who or what he's referencing (FWIW, the Master Race is superior to all humans, including white ones, and in a few of his meanderings, may be more closely related to Inuit than Europeans).

bookses

[mistersmearcase]

Hey you read some amount of sci-fi/fantasy, don't you? Would you care to recommend some 101 stuff, some essentials that one might dip one's toe in with? I've never read the genre much and am uncertain I'd like it but have been wondering about it. (One thing I can say I read and thought was good though I'm not sure if speculative is the same genre is Station 11. I also liked The City and the City, thought the writing was really good, but got tired of being confused and gave up. I find Neil Gaiman's writing really awful.)

Re: bookses

[sabotabby]

I don't read much 101, I don't think. Which is to say the classics do nothing for me—if you didn't read them growing up, they're not awesome. Except, like, Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler, and Chip Delaney. Start with those, probably? But even Michael Moorcock, who is great in a number of ways, comes off as pulpy and trashy if you don't read the really bad stuff he's parodying.

I either go super high-concept/meta challenging that requires knowledge of the tropes being subverted, or genre fiction that bridges mainstream fiction (Station 11 is a really good example). You read The Magicians, right? I feel like I loved it and most people on io9 and Tor hated it because it is literary fiction characters in a fantasy setting.

With that caveat:

Sci-Fi
Iain M. Banks. The Culture novels are some of my favourite sci-fi. You're supposed to start with Consider Phlebas, but maybe don't because it's not as good as Use of Weapons, which works just as well as an intro to the world and is a better novel in terms of structure.

Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota books, with the caveat that the series isn't done yet. These are super weird, vaguely Renaissance inspired, sci-fi epics that involve interesting things with gender and culture and Byzantine plotting.

James S.A. Corey's Expanse novels are more accessible but also sprawling and epic. I slightly prefer the show in most ways but that's not a slam on the books; it's just that the show is better than most things.

Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy. This is hard sci-fi but doesn't have the thing that I hate about a lot of classic hard sci-fi where they neglect character and sociology at the expense of worldbuilding. These are all about compelling human and political drama set against plausible science. He's written a bunch of other books that are great if you want something slightly shorter than three doorstopper novels.

If you haven't read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (I know some people haven't and it always surprises me) you have to on account of it sparked my love of sci-fi.

John Scalzi for classic sci-fi done well and again, without all the sexist and racist baggage of actual classic sci-fi.

I very much enjoyed Blindsight by Peter Watts if the thing you're into is giving up on all hope for humanity??? Also vampires in space.

Fantasy

All of N.K. Jemisin, who has won more Hugo awards than any author ever for good reason. Her Broken Earth trilogy is my favourite but you can start with any of them. A lot of her work straddles the sci-fi/fantasy line.

Nalo Hopkinson, but Brown Girl in the Ring in particular. The most Toronto book ever written, post-apocalyptic fantasy but not in a depressing way.

The Laundry Files by Charles Stross. There are a lot of them and they bridge sci-fi, horror, and fantasy, but they have fairies and vampires so I'm putting them under fantasy. Basically about the IT guy who works for the arm of the British government that deals with Lovecraftian horrors.

All of Seanan McGuire's stuff but the Wayward Children series in particular. They're portal fantasies where the kids come back damaged after being rejected by their fantasy worlds.

Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko is the book that inspired The Magicians and is secretly better and weirder.

You're supposed to read Terry Pratchett, but I feel like he's one of those authors who is better to get into at a younger age. If you find Gaiman annoying, depending on why, you may find him annoying.

I dunno if any of these are essentials. I'm also probably forgetting some obvious ones because I read them at a young age or never read them because their fanboys were irritating.

Re: bookses

[mistersmearcase]

Oh you know, I think of myself as never really having read sci fi but the Hitchiker's Guide books were pretty important to me at some age or other and I still think fondly of them.

Terry Pratchett I did read one by, at a friend's recommendation, and yeah, it bugged me in the same way Gaiman did, though I've never been great at articulating why either of them irritated me so much. And I loved The Magicians though I gave up on the show after a few episodes.

Thanks for all the recs. I'll pull this up at the library, maybe this weekend.

Re: bookses

[sabotabby]

I'm sure a real purist would argue that Hitchhiker's isn't sci-fi because the science makes no fucking sense and it's funny, but I am not a purist.

I hope you enjoy some or all of them!

Re: bookses

[mistersmearcase]

I got...Leviathan Awakes? It’s kind of hilarious to think I’ll get through it as I am bad with long books. We’ll see.

Re: bookses

[sabotabby]

It's long but it's not a particularly dense read. I binge-read all of the earlier ones up until the point where I had to start putting holds on them.