Chaos Reading discussion

I don't really like genre titles, I think they're far too limiting. Do we really need to define what kind of book it is that we're reading? I actually find it easier to use descriptive tags, as the different combinations tell you much more about the book.

Over the last few months I've read some fantastic books that fit the tags:
Sci-Fi, Cyberpunk, Tech, Near Future. Basically books that take the tech we already have and extrapolate, look at new ways of utilising it, and ways it can be misused too. I like the books that are set not too far off into the future, so that the technical details can be more specific and relate the world we're in.

Some of my favourites have been:
Cory Doctorow - For The Win, Little Brother, Makers
Lauren Beukes - Moxyland
Robert Brockway - Rx - Episode 1: The Blackouts
MT Anderson - Feed

Is anyone else into this kind of book? Got any great recommendations?

This is definitely one of my favorite genres. Some books that fit:

Just about anything William Gibson - the Sprawl trilogy is his most well known (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive), but I also really enjoyed Idoru. I also remember his short story collection, Burning Chrome, being excellent but it's been ages so I really need to re-read it.

Some Philip K. Dick, especially A Scanner Darkly and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Snow Crash, definitely.

I've been meaning to read Altered Carbon and the other books in that trilogy forever. I really need to get on that.

I'd nominate Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card as a good one for this shelf. It's sort of been classed as a YA book, but it isn't really. And the sequel, Speaker for the Dead (which I also would recommend) definitely is not YA.

Matthew wrote: "First of all, gotta love Cory Doctorow! I'm glad you've added him here. I love Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl. Richard K. Morgan and William Gibson are great to. Altered Carbon and Neuromancer ..."

I love the most recent 3 of Doctorow's books. I just wish he wasn't such a..... well..... a bit of a dick when he blogs. I think he's a very passionate, enthusiastic guy which seems to lead him to make some childish statements and generalisations. He doesn't seem to be able to see an idea through to it's conclusion either.

It sounds like I'm hating on him, but I really do LOVE some of his books. And even the ones I don't love have flashes of genius. I did read them all back-to-back this year after all!

Matthew wrote: "First of all, gotta love Cory Doctorow! I'm glad you've added him here. I love Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl. Richard K. Morgan and William Gibson are great to. Altered Carbon and Neuromancer ..."

Still working on Makers, but enjoying it. I really should just get around to finishing it today, since I was on the Epilog last time I opened it. I haven't tried his blog, but he's a regular guest on CBC radio's "Spark", and I always enjoy that. Gibson has been a favorite for decades, but Morgan is a very recent (GoodReads) discovery for me. I read Altered Carbon just a couple of weeks ago, and have the second book on my shelf right now. One GR reviewer called Altered Carbon the book that Michael Connelly would have written, if he put Harry Bosch in the 25th century - if he was lucky. I think he nailed that description.

Derek wrote: "Still working on Makers, but enjoying it. I really should just get around to finishing it today, since I was on the Epilog last time I opened it. I haven't tried his blog, but he's a regular guest on CBC radio's "Spark", and I always enjoy that."

He blogs for BoingBoing as well, as I do enjoy his posts, but they're just a little.... reactive and one-sided. He also abused a friend of mine who was trying to have a rational debate with him on copyright. While I understand and (largely) agree with his overall views on the subject, he has a very black/white stance on certain issues, and doesn't really think through some of the grey areas. He doesn't tolerate opposing viewpoints at all well! I can see some of that come through in his writing, although he has matured as a writer since his first couple of books. Don't feel bad about Makers - I've been part way through When Sysadmins Ruled The World for months now, and that's a short story!

Would The Forever War fit in this shelf? Cause that's an excellent read, and I think it shoud get at least a mention.

It is an excellent read, and it is possibly not-quite-near future but the science exists _now_, so I would think so. otoh, I think The Forever War deserves a place on any bookshelf :)

Excellent! Closing the thread now. Everything in here will go up on the ALL SCI-FI shelf.

The thread for all further Sci-Fi book nominations is here: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...