Sunday, August 19, 2012

On My Bookshelves #30: Science Fiction Books Waiting To Be Read...




It's another laid-back Sunday, just before the week's work madness begins, and I'm taking stock again...  For the longest time now, I've been facing a dilemma that I'm sure is common to many, if not most, bookworms and obsessed bibliophiles like me: how to balance reading books I already own, with books I want to buy, and do end up buying.  I don't know why I'm so compulsive about buying new books, when I have so many sitting around on my bulging shelves, that have been there for years, unread! 

My non-bookworm husband has been asking me, a long time now, to stop buying books until I finish reading all the ones I already have.  However, the lure of the new is just too much of a temptation...  My compulsive book buying has gotten even worse ever since I became a book blogger.  When I visit other blogs, I can't help but notice the soon-to-be-published, as well newly released, tantalizing books featured by the bloggers, and my addiction simply kicks into high gear! 

I don't think I'll ever be able to manage this problem...

Now that I've finished reading Paul T. Harry's excellent novel,  The 5 Moons of Tiiana, my appetite for science fiction has definitely been whetted.  So I went to my shelves and grabbed some SF books that I really should have read by now, to share them with you all.

To get more information about these books, just click on the pictures, and you'll be taken directly to their Goodreads pages.



Isaac Asimov Masterpieces


 

 






Asimov is, of course, one of the revered masters of the SF genre, as well as one of its most prolific writers.  His novels are a combination of hard science and space opera, with incredibly imaginative scenarios.  I was first introduced to him through his Lucky Starr series, when I was a teenager.  I devoured the books from that series that I was able to get at the library.  They were written under the pseudonym of Paul French, and are specifically for the young adult market.  I should go back and re-read them, in order to re-live the memories...

Asimov excelled at writing epics such as the Foundation series.  He was also a pioneer in theoretical robotics, having invented the Three Laws of Robotics, which I remember from another classic of his, I Robot

I think I should plan on dusting off the above and getting to them soon.  After all, I love being swept away into outer space, with future scenarios and weird aliens!

Arthur C. Clarke Masterpieces




 


I have never forgotten my first experience reading Clarke.  It was a rather chilling, yet fascinating, one.  The book I read is titled Childhood's End.  This novel presents a possible scenario for the end of the human race, and it's not one I would ever want to become reality...  As I read, I had to keep reminding myself that what I was reading would, thankfully, never come to pass.  The events described were so realistic, though, that I had to literally pull myself out of the novel every so often, just to breathe... 

Clarke is a renowned master of that branch of science fiction known as "hard SF".  I have also read his 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as seen the film adaptation.  Stanley Kubrick, the director of the movie, was a true visionary; his rendition of the novel is an amazing one, especially considering the fact that it came out in 1968.  He succeeded in capturing Clarke's remarkably realistic vision of the future.  Sadly, the year 2001 has come and gone, and we have not even come close to sending an unmanned probe to Jupiter...



The Year's Best SF Collections

 



 

Author and editor Gardner Dozois is best known for his yearly collections of the very best science fiction stories.  Throughout the years, he has not only included veteran writers like Robert Silverberg, Gene Wolfe, and Kate Wilhelm, but also newer ones, like Gwyneth Jones, Jay Lake, James Patrick Kelly, and Elizabeth Bear.

The science fiction field is a vast one, encompassing several sub-genres, so it's a rather daunting one to read.  I have several more SF books that I have to root around and find, so I can post them in this meme.  Meanwhile, I know I will have to get to the above sometime within the next year or so...if I can stop buying new SF novels...




4 comments:

  1. Wow Maria you have some great books there!

    Years ago I read all of Asimov's Foundation and Robot Books. Towards the end of the Foundation series he combined the two. If you want to be comprehensive you should read at least some of the early Robot Mystery books before you read the last Foundation book . I will not give anything away but there is a surprise at the end of the last Foundation book (Robots of Dawn) that ties into the Robot Mystery books (Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn). Sorry if I am adding to your TBR list!! These are all great books that I love and I want to reread them again soon myself.
    .
    I also love the two Arthur C. Clark books that you have up there. Clarke was such a visionary. I agree that Childhood's End was amazing but troubling. I have some commentary up on it on my blog from back in June.

    Happy reading!

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  2. Hi, Brian!

    Oh, you wouldn't believe how many books are sitting on my shelves, unread!! And now that I have this blog (which I do love to work on), I don't know if I'll EVER get to read them all... You see, I have TWO jobs -- a full-time and a part-time, and they take up a LOT of my time...

    I read "The Naked Sun" years ago, and don't remember the plot at all. I need to revisit it. I'll have to do some digging around for the other books. I know I have "Robots of Dawn" somewhere, but I don't know about "The Caves of Steel". Ditto "The Naked Sun", which I think I borrowed from the library -- when I was still going to the library, instead of living in one. Lol.

    I agree that Clarke is an amazing writer. Although I don't remember everything that happened in "Childhood's End", I do recall how the plot ended. WOW. I'm getting chills up my spine as I write this... When I have a minute, I'll go over to your blog to check out your June post about it.

    Thanks for being such a loyal reader and commenter!! Happy reading to you, as well!! : )

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  3. Your blog is awesome so I read and comment often!

    In regards to those Robot "Mystery" books, to really appreciate the conclusion of "Robots and Empire" you only really need to read any one of the three. I remember all of them being very good, however.



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  4. Awww....thank you SO much!!!! That's music to my ears!! I GREATLY appreciate that!! But you know, your blog is awesome, too!! I love your reviews -- they're so thorough and interesting! I also like that you have a nice combination of fiction and nonfiction. I want to include more nonfiction myself. Back in March, I started another blog, specifically for nonfiction. Well, I haven't gotten very far with it, because I just don't have the time...so I pour all of my energies into this one!

    As for the Asimov books, I have to dig around so I can get them all together. Then I can read them in order. I must confess I haven't read th4 Foundation trilogy...so I think I'll have to put them in my next "On My Bookshelves" post. Lol.

    Thanks again!!! : )

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