I was playing with Bard last night and gave it a list of books I've read and enjoyed recently, and asked it to recommend other books I might enjoy.
Here's my prompt
The following are the title and author of books that I read and enjoyed recently. Can you recommend other books I might enjoy?
- Project Hail Mary, Weir
- Fall, Stephenson
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Gaiman
- A Memory Called Empire, Martine
- A Desolation Called Peace, Martine
- Murderbot Diaries books, Wells
- The Kingston Cycle trilogy, Polk
- Ancillary Justice, Leckie
- Ancillary Sword, Leckie
- Ancillary Mercy, Leckie
- Gideon the Ninth, Muir
- All Clear, Willis
- Blind Lake, Wilson
- Nettle and Bone, Kingfisher
- The Graveyard Book, Gaiman
- Saturn’s Children, Stross
- The Anomaly, Le Tellier
- The Daughter of Dr. Moreau, Moreno-Garcia
Bard response
Based on your reading history, I can recommend several books you might enjoy:
Science Fiction:
- The Martian by Andy Weir: If you enjoyed Project Hail Mary, you'll likely appreciate Weir's other work. The Martian is a gripping story of an astronaut stranded on Mars and his fight for survival.
- Seveneves by Neal Stephenson: Like Fall, Seveneves explores a near-future disaster scenario where the moon is destroyed and its fragments threaten to destroy Earth.
- The Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor: This humorous series follows the adventures of Bob Johansson, whose brain is uploaded into a computer and who then travels the galaxy aboard a self-aware spaceship.
- The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu: This award-winning Chinese science fiction novel tells the story of first contact between humanity and an alien civilization.
- The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells: If you enjoyed the Murderbot Diaries, you may also like Wells' Raksura series, which features shapeshifting creatures and political intrigue.
Fantasy:
- The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch: Like The Ocean at the End of the Lane, this book features a magical setting and a cast of memorable characters.
- The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin: This award-winning trilogy explores themes of race, gender, and power in a post-apocalyptic world.
- The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater: This YA series follows a group of teenagers who discover they have magical powers.
- The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss: This epic fantasy series tells the story of Kvothe, a legendary musician and adventurer.
Other:
- The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson: This timely novel explores the challenges of climate change and offers solutions for a more sustainable future.
- Exit West by Mohsin Hamid: This magical realist novel follows the story of a young couple who are forced to flee their war-torn country.
- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders: This experimental novel tells the story of Abraham Lincoln's grief over the death of his son.
- The Overstory by Richard Powers: This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel explores the interconnectedness of all living things.
In addition to these specific recommendations, I can also suggest some general tips for finding books you might enjoy:
- Read reviews and recommendations: Look for books that have been praised by critics and readers with similar taste to yours.
- Explore different genres: Don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and try something new.
- Ask for help: Librarians and booksellers can be a great resource for finding new books to read.
- Join a book club: This is a great way to discuss books with other readers and get recommendations for new titles.
I hope this helps!
Yeah, the story is really three long books so you can forgive some long setup. KSR never seems to be in a hurry, but his stuff is well thought out.
Let me know how you liked it when you're done.
Hey!! I’m done with Red Mars
If you are still around I can add some of my thoughts.
The TL:DR is that I like it enough to read through the first one but not enough to buy/read the second and third books (at least for now).
Will probably read Contact by Sagan next.
I'm still around. Was it the giant cast of characters or politics that put you off? It's been a long time, but I read through the series.
Contact is a wonderful book. Also been many years since I read it.
At work atm so I’ll keep it succinct but definitely the giant cast of mostly uninteresting characters. The politics were actually quite ok but I usually like that sort of things.
Also sometimes he goes on these long paragraphs were he describes all the driving instructions in mars and expecting the reader to have lived on Mars for 10 years as well XD
He also gave as much emphasis to a teenager-like love drama as to a global scale terrorism operation which is, let’s say interesting
KSM is definitely detail oriented. I sometimes think that's just part of hard SF: they want to make sure everything is explained, and it doesn't stop at the science.
I like those books, but I get that they aren't for everyone. Contact is different, as is neuromancer.
Hey!!
Contact is read!!
I really liked it. In a story about ET contact, the focus is basically almost 100% on humans but I actually liked the approach. Halfway there were some chapters where it went on some tangents and it seemed weird filler but by the end it all wrapped up rather nicely.
It was also a much easier read, having taken like 1/10 of the time Red Mars took me.
I’ll probably read Neuromancer next, even if my gf found it a hard read.
Great, I'm glad you liked it. I hope you like neuromancer, it's one of my favorites. Stay away from the audiobook read by Gibson though, it's awful.
Noted
I don’t really listen to audiobooks but it’s always good to know.
Also what’s your opinion on the rest of the trilogy that neuromancer is part of? I have the second book as well as my gf bought it but she didn’t have the courage/will to actually read it after neuromancer. Just curious
And yes I’ll let you know how it goes :)
We got our own book club in this thread haha (at least what I read)
I've read them all, but Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive I haven't read since the late 80s, so I don't remember them well. Broadly, I think they were all worth reading. Count Zero was nominated for all the big SF awards, but I didn't think Mona Lisa was as well received. I'm not sure I could even tell you the plots of them other than the second book has a lot about AIs, and the last one about online identities or something.
I see
Thanks anyway for the input
I realize now that you probably have like twice my age and I’m very much an adult. Which is pretty cool, don’t get me wrong :)
Yeah, in in my 60s, so old. When I was in my mid 20s, I was in a bad marriage and needed some escapism. One of my coworkers was a reviewer for Locus Magazine, which is a major SF publication. I asked him for recommendations, so he went with me to the bookstore and said "Try that one, that one, to and that one." One of those first was Neuromancer. I chewed through them, and it became a routine to go to the bookstore with him.
I eventually got divorced, and didn't need the escapism anymore. My reading went way down, maybe a few books a year. Now I'm heading towards retirement and I've been reading more than ever.
More detail than you wanted.
It’s all good share how much you want.
That sounds like a cool friend. Thank you for your recommendations as well :)
Neuromancer read!
Already started Count Zero and also started playing Cyberpunk 2077 on PC
Overall it’s a pretty cool book and considering it was written like 50 years ago he got a lot of shit right
The beginning was rough not because the story isn’t interesting but because he starts at 100 and takes almost no time to explain the world. Also I’m not a native English speaker but I usually don’t don’t issues with reading novels in English (haven’t read one in my native language in more than a decade probably) but his writing style was super hard to follow. He jumps a lot and it was many times difficult to know who said what. Definitely had to keep myself fully focused most of the time. Overall pretty cool book. Super imaginative world
Glad you enjoyed it, it's one of my favorites.
I'm not sure if there's a name for it, but there's a style of story telling (not exclusive to SF) where the writer jumps right into the universe they've created without any explanation, and it's impossible to fully understand everything at first. My wife is always a bit frustrated by those, even when she ultimately enjoys the book.
Your written English is great, especially if it's not your first language. Did you start very young?
So what are you planning to read next?
Hey! Sorry it took so long to reply. Unfortunately I went through some personal stuff so I had this message saved since then.
I see what you mean and the first Dune book is a very good example of it. The problem with neuromancer is that you don’t know the world nor the language terms and his writing style is a bit hard to follow. In any case it was a fun read.
As I mentioned I started playing Cyberpunk because of it and started reading Count Zero but have since then stopped. I like the book but I’m not in the right space atm for reading so I’m taking a break. But I plan to finish that one and then maybe the trilogy.
Ever since I was young I always played video games in English. Even my phone was in English quite early. The video games thing was a deal I had with my older brother/mom so that I could play more games because I was learning something which wasn’t all a lie. I remember being like twelve and speaking for the family at restaurants and such whenever we were traveling abroad. It was always funny to see other peoples reactions. I’m no genius languages or anything, just good timing and life circumstances.
Now I live abroad and English is what I talk the most. at work, with friends and sometimes in the street even though it’s not an official language. In some ways I have plenty of practice but in other ways I think my English used to be better (mostly grammatically and such) because I’m talking with other non native speakers and then you start to pick up some quirks and mannerisms. But thanks for the compliment!
I'm sorry to hear life is having challenges for you at the moment, I hope that resolves soon. A nice thing about a book is that you can put it down for days, weeks, months, whatever, and it's still waiting for you when you feel like coming back to it.
I've been reading more Gibson lately. I read the first two books of the Jackpot trilogy (the third hasn't come out yet) and the first in the Blue Ant trilogy. They've all been very good.
You take care and I hope things get better for you.
Thanks for the kind words. You seem like a nice person
I also wish you all the best. If you haven’t read the teixcalaan duology I can recommend them as well. It has Foundation vibes.
Oh, good call, I did read those books and liked them quite a bit. Martine's writing reminds me a bit of Ann Leckie, who I've read a lot of and like very much.
Hey, in know I'm just a guy on the internet who you talk about books with, but if you need to talk about more, I'm happy to listen. You might already have a good support network, which is great, but I know not everyone does.
I’ll have to search Ann Leckie tomorrow. Do they also write sci-fi or a different genre.
And thanks for asking. I think I’m ok atm, but it does make me happy to read this. It’s a very wholesome moment in Lemmy. I’ll extend that to you as well. Even if you don’t need it now who knows about the future.
This reminds me of how Freakonomics podcast episodes end which is this quote that I find very moving.
“…in the meantime, take care of yourself and, if you can, someone else too”
Yes, Leckie writes SF. If you're interested, I would start with Ancillary Justice, her first novel. It's really good, and the first of a trilogy that's all excellent.
I think you saw a post by me long ago where I posted my short notes about the books I'd read in that time frame. If you'd like me to pass along those notes for any of the books we talk about, like Leckie or the more recent Gibson novels, I'd be happy to.
And thanks for the offer. I'm good now, but who knows. An interesting time of change for me coming up: I retire in January after 39+ years at the same company, and sometime after we're going to move from an area of southern California, where I've lived my whole life, to northern Washington State. Will be odd for sure.