Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Discussion/Appreciation Anyone..??

[AvatarIII]

Haha, no. Slow system. The book is still ON ORDER.

if i were you i'd buy it and donate it to the library if you don't want to keep it.

[Trek_Girl42]

if i were you i'd buy it and donate it to the library if you don't want to keep it.

Oh god! Don't go spreading around that idea! I work at the library in question, and so many people try to do that with books, and it's not that the library doesn't want them, but so many libraries just can't accept a lot of the donated books unless they're absolutely pristine- ours accepts very few, partially because we just don't have much space (we have A Great Wall of Books to attest to that, but that's a whole other thing). So please ask at your library before you start carting in the donations, and don't just dump off donations in the book drop!

Aside from that, why would I ever give away a book? It's more of a case of being too poor to buy it in the first place.

[AvatarIII]

Oh god! Don't go spreading around that idea! I work at the library in question, and so many people try to do that with books, and it's not that the library doesn't want them, but so many libraries just can't accept a lot of the donated books unless they're absolutely pristine- ours accepts very few, partially because we just don't have much space (we have A Great Wall of Books to attest to that, but that's a whole other thing). So please ask at your library before you start carting in the donations, and don't just dump off donations in the book drop!

Aside from that, why would I ever give away a book? It's more of a case of being too poor to buy it in the first place.

wow, sorry i mentioned it! it seems silly that a book has to be pristine when it's going to be read by dozens of people in the future! but i see your point about space. it didn't even cross my mind, we have at least 5 libraries in my town, one of which is massive (considering the size of the town), and then they store their most obscure books which you can look up on their computers and request in advance etc.

[Trek_Girl42]

wow, sorry i mentioned it! it seems silly that a book has to be pristine when it's going to be read by dozens of people in the future! but i see your point about space. it didn't even cross my mind, we have at least 5 libraries in my town, one of which is massive (considering the size of the town), and then they store their most obscure books which you can look up on their computers and request in advance etc.

I never would have guessed it either until I started working there- but by taking only perfect books that really makes it easy for them to cut out what they just can't take I guess. I work in a fairly small branch with a disproportionately large number of customers (the whole be-quiet-in-the-library thing just does not apply at ours ), and it's part of a fourty-ish branch system, but when it comes to donations they get handled by individual branches that they're offered at. And ones like ours just can't take most of them- we have so many books there's barely space to move as is! So yup, if it's a big library chances are they might take it, but if it's a small busy one, odds are not in your favour unless it's a REALLY nice book.

[Iffy]

Oh god! Don't go spreading around that idea! I work at the library in question, and so many people try to do that with books, and it's not that the library doesn't want them, but so many libraries just can't accept a lot of the donated books unless they're absolutely pristine- ours accepts very few, partially because we just don't have much space (we have A Great Wall of Books to attest to that, but that's a whole other thing). So please ask at your library before you start carting in the donations, and don't just dump off donations in the book drop!

Aside from that, why would I ever give away a book? It's more of a case of being too poor to buy it in the first place.

You can donate them here for the book sales they hold to raise money to buy new books. You can always donate to a thrift store or sell them to a used book store.

[Womble]

I've only just noticed this thread and zoomed straight to the most recent posts, so apologies if someone else has already mentioned them, but the early Michael Marshall Smith books are a great, good fun sci-fi read. Start with "Only Forward", it flows at a quick pace, has lots of little openings that could be explored by other authors, or the author himself (although considering his latest few books, this seems unlikely). No, it will never win a Booker prize, but it is a great holiday read. Follow it up with Spares and then continue in the order that his novels were first released if you like them.

He writes as Michael Marshall now. I've recently picked up his latest, Bad Things. It's not quite as powerful as The Intruders (that book really makes you doubt your sanity), but it's still the creepiest and most frightening take on witchcraft that I've seen so far. None of that prettified, romanticized New Age nonsense, just pure unadulterated malice.

[AvatarIII]

if anyone is interested in him Alastair Reynolds just secured a massive book deal with Gollancz (the publisher) for 10 books over 10 years and £1m plus royalties!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/southeas...00/8115133.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...book-deal.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009...i-fi-book-deal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009...ion-pound-deal
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz...1466-23962978/

[Wyrminarrd]

if anyone is interested in him Alastair Reynolds just secured a massive book deal with Gollancz (the publisher) for 10 books over 10 years and £1m plus royalties!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/southeas...00/8115133.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...book-deal.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009...i-fi-book-deal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009...ion-pound-deal
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz...1466-23962978/

Good for him. He´s a good writer and deserves it, everything I´ve read by him has been very good.

[AvatarIII]

Good for him. He´s a good writer and deserves it, everything I´ve read by him has been very good.

yeah! it's nice to find another person who has read some reynolds. i count him within my top 5 authors easily and have read nearly all his books, which ones have you read?

[Wyrminarrd]

yeah! it's nice to find another person who has read some reynolds. i count him within my top 5 authors easily and have read nearly all his books, which ones have you read?

I´ve read Revelation Space, Redemption Arc, Absolution Gap, Century Rain, Chasm City, Galactic North, and Pushing Ice

[AvatarIII]

cool, you should read the prefect next. a very good book, set before the melding plague hit yellowstone.

[Espeon1962]

I would like to say that I have been dligently reading sci-fi lately, but in fact the only thing I read was all the remaining 16 books in the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. Truly the best work of historical naval fiction ever written, no wonder it has so many accolades. But I am teeing up some great scifi classics (all stuff I read anywhere from 15 to 35 yrs ago) and I will be very interested to see if it is good second time around.

Iffy, did your copy of Forever War arrive? Was it the unabridged version? Hope you enjoyed it!

[Trek_Girl42]

I would like to say that I have been dligently reading sci-fi lately, but in fact the only thing I read was all the remaining 16 books in the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. Truly the best work of historical naval fiction ever written, no wonder it has so many accolades. But I am teeing up some great scifi classics (all stuff I read anywhere from 15 to 35 yrs ago) and I will be very interested to see if it is good second time around.

I keep meaning to read those! I absolutely LOVE the movie Master and Commander and I'm pretty sure I'll like the books.....when I get to them. I mean to read the Hornblower series as well. At some point.

I just started reading The Sharing Knife: Beguilment by Lois McMaster Bujold, I've never read anything by her before.

[AvatarIII]

i've only got about 15 pages of ender's game left and i'm going to start reading Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" today, it was recommended to me on another forum after the movie was announced, it won the pulitzer for fiction in 2007, so it must be pretty good,
anyone read it?

[Krichton]

You would be surprised at how many "award" winning books are often not very good reads. Anyway I've decided to look up the book and there appears to be alot of negative reviews of it on amazon which I've read thru. By all accounts this appears to be a bad read. But it's also less than 60,000 words. Maybe I'll learn something from the horrible experience of reading it. Then I can come on here and trash it.