Ae you a passionate reader?

[sunloving]

I wasnt chosen for the northern lights, oh well .
I am hoping to come across someone local who is giving away books on the day that would be lovely.

x sunloving

[sunloving]

[cocopops]

I have had my Kindle for almost a year.  I bought it because I live in France and wanted to choose what books I read rather than hand-downs.  I was so happy when I got it but now keep sneaking back to the random books that get passed on to me.  Several of those are on this list and I would not have chosen on my Kindle.  For me still not decided about e-readers.

[GrannieAnnie]

Cloud Atlas is a top book - odd but great.  Once you get half way through I seem to rememberit making a little more sense..not much though!

The chapter on Sci-fi Korea lost me completely and I ended up skipping it both times it reared its ugly head in the book. Now I'm coming down to the last chapter and seeing some sense, but I wouldn't say it is an easy read!

[calendula]

Ace I am thinking of buying a Kindle.  How do you buy books so cheaply?

if reading literature on a screen is what you like to do (not for me at all) there isn't any real need to buy a kindle cos pooters (macs do and I assume PC's as well) have a free kindle app and if the screen has to be mobile then if you have a laptop, ipad or airbook for example there is even less need to buy a kindle - you get all the books online or through itunes etc - many hundreds for free and many others are just very cheap

read most of the books on that list and it is quite an interesting list - see Life of Pi is there - didn't that author get criticised for plagiarism?

[ACE]

The kindle is book size, so easier to read in bed, I could see trouble brewing if I took my laptop to bed.It is a lot kinder to your eyes than a pc screen. It will read to me in the car. No you don't really need a kindle, but why make life hard for yourself.

If any body wants a quick book to read, Try 'Great French Military Victory's' It is very short ;)

[Borlotti]

I go to the library, or if very rich, buy books from charity shops, I can get big print, whatever, so do I need to spend over £100 on a kindle.  (Think they could have come up with a better name, a kindle (sounds like a cooking pot), or maybe a swindle.

[calendula]

it's all about reading from a screen to me - you either like turning pages or not  ;D (me definitely not) you can dim or brighten pooter screens and make print smaller or bigger and all sorts to make it more comfortable but it's all about the thing in your hand  ;D and whether you want to spend money on a kindle, personally I'd put the money towards an ipad  :P so yeah swindle kindle and let's use the libraries before the 'con doms' close them all

[jennym]

Cloud Atlas left me cold to be honest, wasn't a satisfying read to me at all. Maybe I'm getting old and grouchy, but I want a GOOD science fiction read. Didn't reckon much on Jean M Auel either, awkward and no real science in the stories.

I've got a lot of the classic old style authors and a grand collection of Analog, New Writings in SF etc, but I'm not looking for the very ancient stuff. I don't know who I'm looking for really, but to give a flavour of the books I've really enjoyed and read time and again, they would be the likes of:
Timescape - Gregory Benford
The Child Garden - Geoff Ryman
Motherlines and Walk to the End of the World - Suzy McKee Charnas
Earth Abides - George R Stewart
The Illustrated Man & other stories - Ray Bradbury

So, if anyone knows these and can suggest similar types of science fiction, possibly amongst the newer authors, I'd be really, really grateful. Getting desperate for a decent read!

[sunloving]

hi jennym
I feel the same
love a meaty thought provoking sci fi but feeling dissapointed by whats out there.
I have two great anthologies though called the best of the best 20 years of the best sci  edited by gardner dozois
isbn 031233656x

Worth a read if you havent already
x sunloving

[jennym]

Thanks sunloving, will lookout for those, funny enough I picked up 2 anthologies edited by Gardner Dozois at a chartity chop recently, they are The Mammoth book of Best New SF, 21 and 16. They've got some decent tales too.

[saddad]

I got "Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch off Amazon ... it arrived yesterday and I've read half of it.. quite good.

[1066]

reading this thread and loving everyone's comments! It's one of the reasons I finally got round to sorting out a book group with some friends of mine - you can read the same book but have completely different views! Which reminds me of Cloud Atlas .... I loved it, but it did take a while for me to finally get into the book!

Anyway back to the original post, how did everyone do with distribiuting their books, and what was the feedback?

1066  :)

[Busby]

Just finished 'The Importance of Being Seven' by Alexander McCall Smith - sheer pleasure.

[Flighty]

1066 the book giveaway is taking place on 5th March!  :)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/02/world-book-night-1m-free-books

[BarriedaleNick]

So, if anyone knows these and can suggest similar types of science fiction, possibly amongst the newer authors, I'd be really, really grateful. Getting desperate for a decent read!

Hhmmm

I would be happy to recommend:

The Culture novels by Iain Banks (best read in order but you dont need to)
Nights Dawn Trilogy by Peter Hamilton (read in order!)
Revelation Space series by Alistair Reynolds
Agent Cormac series by Neal Asher
Altered Carbon and others by Richard Morgan
Stealing Light by Gary Gibson
Singularity Sky by Charles Stross

You might also enjoy Greg Bear  (Eon is good) or David Brin (Uplift series)...

[caroline7758]

Tonight's the night! BBC2 all night. Look forward to hearing how the book giveaways go. I've just seen an ad on York freecycle offering copies of "One Day" at the local library on Monday- unfortunately I've already got and read that one.

[Deb P]

Well, I was at work last night and gave out 40 of my 48 books, all with the tracker numbers in so people can see where they end up. I was suprised to find most people had heard about the event or seen it on the news, I even had people emailing me to reserve a copy! So it went well in Derby! ;D

[1066]

nice to hear it went so well Debs, remind me again what was your book?

[Deb P]

'The Blind Assassin' by Margaret Atwood. ;D

[1066]

I must get round to reading it, I have a copy, started it, but didn't get very far, so must try harder  :)