Sci-Fi Book Haul | POPULAR WORKS v HIDDEN GEMS
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- čas přidán 21. 07. 2024
- In today's video I share 6 science fiction novels on my TBR. Three of them are famous and the other three you may not have read before.
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00:00 - Introduction
00:21 - Klara and the Sun
02:12 - Annihilation
05:02 - The Windup Girl
06:09 - Genesis
07:15 - The Shrinking Man
08:23 - Star Maker
#ScienceFiction #Books
![The 15 Best Sci-Fi Books I've Ever Read [Updated Again]](/img/n.gif)
I suspect that people who do not like 'Klara and the Sun' are soulless automatons.
Haha I hope I like it!
Kazuo Ishiguro broke me with "Never Let Me Go"
I’m not sure I’m ready haha
@@WordsinTime Daemon is pretty amazing, too :)
I’ve got his book ‘When we were orphans’ It’s more of a historical fiction but is still a good read
That rant in the middle of the Annihilation block LMAO
YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME
I loved the passion when describing the movie Annihilation hahaha
Continued the energy through to the rap at the end.
I was TURNT haha
Genesis was a fun, quick read with a solid ending and an after taste that sustains into multi-night time ruminations.
Sounds great!
I read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August last weekend and enjoyed it immensely. Then got straight into Ursula K Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven, another enjoyable read. It was uncanny how they mirrored each other with the protagonist trying to keep track of alternative histories. Harry August develops total control, George Orr is struggling to keep track of where he is by the end of the book. Funnily enough, both meet their wife from another timeline and both have to pretend to not know her already, with George having to ascertain 'are we married in this history or not?'.
Sounds like a great pair!
Just finished Dune. Took me most of February. Best wishes to you.
It took me a little while to get through Dune as well. I plan to pick the series back up with Dune Messiah in the next few months.
Great haul Jonathan! I’ve been wanting to try Annihilation. I enjoyed the movie.
Me too Chas!
Thanks Jonathan! I look forward to your blog, every week…..
Haha thanks for watching!
Both Klara and the Sun and Never Let Me Go are very special books IMO. Couldn't disagree more with the thought that Klara and the Sun gets boring. On the contrary the ending of both these books hits very hard and if you don't cry inside just a little bit when you finish the final pages, you're not paying attention. Great explorations of what it means to be human from slightly different perspectives. I like to think I'm pretty well read but I have to admit that Star Maker is the only other one on your list I've read. Completely and utterly different in tone from Ishiguro but also a book that is well worth reading for different reasons. As for the rest, I clearly need to catch up with them and read along!
Thanks for the info! I’m looking forward to them!
Genesis was interesting, loved the ending. 😁
The first fifteen lives of Harry August is on my tbr for so, so long. Maybe I should give it a try this month too.
Glad you enjoyed Genesis!
You're in for a treat with Harry August! One of my top 3 reads last year
Can’t wait!
Shrinking Man hits hard. Like you said, the actual experience of becoming smaller wouldn't be fun. Matheson borders on too real for most of the second half.
Uh oh haha
I DNF’d Windup Girl on my first try, but plan to try again this year.
I stopped reading it because I got busy and never finished it a few years ago, not because I didn’t like it.
Hopefully we both enjoy it!
The Windup Girl is amazing. Maybe I loved it because it takes place in Bangkok where I lived for several years, so I could easily picture everything based on Bacigallupi’s descriptions.
That’s cool! 🇹🇭
Annihilation the book is, in my opinion, much better then the movie. I greatly enjoyed Vandermeer’s prose, it’s unique and atmospheric. I read the whole Southern Reach trilogy, but weather you should will depend on your level of enjoyment of book one. All three are mysterious but without a clear payoff and while I’m glad to have read all three, I can see why many are not in love with books 2 and 3.
Thanks for the info! Glad you enjoyed it!
@@WordsinTime I too have not read Ishiguro, but will be reading Klara and the Sun at some point this year, so I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it. Its central question - what is the meaning of love? - sounds amazing. 👍
I personally think Vandermeer is a genius. Annihilation instantly became one of my favorite books ever. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
That’s great! I hope I do!
OMG Thank you! Didn't expect the shoutout. You've just made my day.
Haha I got you brother 🇳🇿 ❤️
Of these, I've read Clara and the Sun and Annihilation. I liked "Clara" but grade it a half star lower than "Never Let Me Go". Annihilation felt like the longest short novel I've ever read. I won't be reading the rest of the series.
Thanks for the info!
The works of Richard Matheson are worth a read, at least all the ones I've read so far. He's a classic SF author for a reason, who has written so many good books, short stories, and TV episodes (there's been many adaptations of his works for the big and little screen), and as mentioned, he gets into some of those SF questions about identity and the human condition vs the universe.
Sounds great!
I think you will enjoy The Windup Girl. It's sci-fi "biopunk", but really the story is very close to an eco-thriller that might be set in the present.
Sounds interesting!
I need to check out A New Eden. The Windup Girl also sounds interesting.
Hope you enjoy!
Yeah Stapleton!
Star maker isn't my favorite but he is a remarkable writer.
Glad you like him!
Just bought First Fifteen Lives of Harry August the other day! Though it will have to wait, as I have a lot of other books on my plate currently (it never ends lol)
I do think Annihilation stands on it's own. The other two books are very different in style, but expand on the world and characters. Annihilation is still my favorite of the trilogy, though Acceptance (book three) is also very good.
Thanks for the info! Hope you enjoy Harry August!
I remember an old black and white movie on the shrinking man back in the 60’s?
I think they did make a movie and called it The Incredible Shrinking Man.
Hi Jonathan, very interesting collection here. 2 of these I have not heard of perhaps surprisingly one is Klara and the Sun and the other GENESIS. I have never been particularly influenced by sales or popularity in the Science Fiction I read. I have only read one of these Annihilation which I thought was excellent, Look forward to what you think of these.
I’m glad you enjoyed Annihilation!
I will definitely be joining you for reading The First Fifteen Lives. This book comes highly recommended to me by my SciFi/Fantasy book club. I'm psyched to read Annihilation, which should be arriving on my doorstep tomorrow. I hard DNFed The Windup Girl. It has a fiction trope that I absolutely despise and is almost always a deal-breaker for me. I'll be curious to see if you figure out which trope it is. That said, I did enjoy the scientific premise for the state of the Earth in The Wind Up Girl.
I hope you enjoy The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and Annihilation. And thanks for the heads up on The Windup Girl!
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August was my favourite book of last year (out of 58). It's so well written.
I’m excited for it!
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is a great book with a clever idea. I also liked Klara and the Sun, Never Let Me Go, The Shrinking Man, The Windup Girl, and Genesis. All of them are dark though, so maybe don't read them back to back. I didn't enjoy Annihilation. The prose is good but the payoff is weak.
Thanks for the info! I’m looking forward to them but might have to space them out!
Been meaning to read Stapledon
You’ll probably enjoy it. You like old timey stuff haha
You picked some popular books for your hidden gems.
The *hideniest* of hidden gems is We All Died at Breakaway Station by Richard C. Meredith.
Read the entire Southern Reach trilogy. No disappointments. Not sure what book the producers of the movie read.
I’ll have to look it up! And glad you enjoyed the trilogy!
The Shrinking Man cover gives me Honey, I Shrunk the Kids vibes. 😂Intrigued to hear your thoughts on it.
Haha yes, but this one might not have as happy an ending!
It also reminds me of an old movie called The Incredible Shrinking Woman
I don't know much about the famous novels, but regarding two of the hidden gems :
Richard Matheson's The Shrinking Man is a fast paced, descriptive read, which I found to be very enjoyable. The way it was structured reminded me of some of Stephen King's books. Matheson also wrote the classic I Am Legend, which reads somewhat different to the Will Smith movie.
Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker has no real characterizations, but the visions in it are top notch SF. The further you get into it, the further it goes, until your mind is swirling with it's SF ideas. If you can handle it's philosophical speculations, then you'll probably return to it more than once like I did. Stapledon's other famous book was First & Last Men, which is a future history novel with no characterization, & like Star Maker, the further you get into it, the more awe inspiring it becomes. Those two SF books by Stapledon were more influential than a lot of people would care to admit, IMO.
Thanks for the info! They sound great!
I love Genesis, it 🤯 my mind, hope you enjoy it.
Awesome! Looking forward to it!
Who is the author of Genesis?
@@cindywingetbooks Bernard Beckett
@@WordsinTime thank you!
The movie Annihilation took a more HP Lovecraft approach , than what happens in the novel, but it still cosmic horror, its not going to give all of the answers
Thanks for the info Joseph!
10:00 But what if you get high from reading scifi? Loophole? :P
We’ll keep it on the down low
a little embarrassed about how many of the listed books I bought but never got around to actually reading but one I almost got but didn't is klara and the sun someone said it was a little boring and the themes and ideas in the book have already been explored by many other sci-fi authors but if you read it would love to hear your opinion⚛😀
Looking forward to being able to talk about it!
Genesis is pretty boring for the most part. It is quite short, so that's good. But the ending is really good!
Good to know!
As a novel star maker is terrible, it has not real plot. As a collection of really dense sci-fi concepts it outstanding! And "The first 15 lives of Henry August" was my favourite read of last year.
Haha good to hear!
Ware-wolves aren't real :)
Tell that to Bob!
Yea it's worth a read. It's a smooth zen feeling lol
Australian… I think
🇦🇺 🫡
Oh, hello, I have “Never Let Me Go” on my TBR, but the slightly embarrassing thing is that it has been sat there, unread, since 2011 🫣
I read “Annihilation” in 2016, but I didn’t get on with it I’m afraid.
Hey, progress at a last. I also shelved “The Windup Girl” in 2011 and actually read it in w017 apparently. Amazing. Yes, even I am surprised at myself this time. According to my notes I was about 3/5th of the way in before it clicked into place and I managed to finish it.
YES! Harry!! I got my pick!!! I have read it, and have a whole bunch of North’s varied books on my shelves. Consider me a fan ✅
Haha I’m looking forward to Harry August! And I’m glad you enjoyed The Windup Girl!
😅 Promo-SM
😅
I really disliked Starmaker.
That’s a bummer.
Klara & the Sun was enjoyable at first but slowly becomes a bit dull and monotonous in my opinion.
That’s unfortunate, hopefully I still enjoy it!