What to read next???

With about 2 months left in 2009, this will likely be the last such survey. My reading schedule is quite full, but I guess we can give this another go!=)

Here are the nominees:



- The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (Canada, USA, Europe)

Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko...

Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.

What happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of "The Calorie Man" ( Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and "Yellow Card Man" (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these poignant questions.



- Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett (Canada, USA, Europe)

Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork - not the old fashioned, grubby pushing and shoving, but the new, fast football with pointy hats for goalposts and balls that go going when you drop them. And now, the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match, without using magic, so they're in the mood for trying everything else. The prospect of the Big Match draws in a street urchin with a wonderful talent for kicking a tin can, a maker of jolly good pies, a dim but beautiful young woman, who might just turn out to be the greatest fashion model there has ever been, and the mysterious Mr Nutt (and no one knows anything much about Mr Nutt, not even Mr Nutt, which worries him, too). As the match approaches, four lives are entangled and changed for ever. Because the thing about football - the important thing about football - is that it is not just about football. Here we go! Here we go! Here we go!



- Canticle by Ken Scholes (Canada, USA, Europe)

Come back to the Named Lands in this compelling sequel to Ken Scholes amazing novel Lamentation.

It is nine months after the end of the previous book. Many noble allies have come to the Ninefold Forest for a Feast in honor of General Rudolfo’s first-born child. Jin Li Tam, his wife and mother of his heir, lies in childbed.

As the feast begins, the doors of the hall fly open and invisible assassins begin attacking. All of Rudolfo’s noble guests are slain, including Hanric, the Marsh Queen’s Shadow. And on the Keeper’s Gate, which guards the Named Lands from the Churning Waste, a strange figure appears, with a message for Petronus, the Hidden Pope.

Thus begins the second movement of The Psalms of Isaak, Canticle.



- Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson (Canada, USA, Europe)

The winner of every major science fiction award, Kim Stanley Robinson is a novelist who looks ahead with optimism even while acknowledging the steep challenges facing our planet and species: a clear-eyed realist who has not forgotten how to dream. His new novel offers his most audacious dream yet. At the heart of a brilliant narrative that stretches from Renaissance Italy to the moons of Jupiter is one man, the father of modern science: Galileo Galilei.

To the inhabitants of the Jovian moons, Galileo is a revered figure whose actions will influence the subsequent history of the human race. From the summit of their distant future, a charismatic renegade named Ganymede travels to the past to bring Galileo forward in an attempt to alter history and ensure the ascendancy of science over religion. And if that means Galileo must be burned at the stake, so be it.

Yet between his brief and jarring visitations to this future, Galileo must struggle against the ignorance and superstition of his own time. And it is here that Robinson is at his most brilliant, showing Galileo in all his contradictions and complexity. Robinson's Galileo is a tour de force of imaginative and historical empathy: the shining center around which the novel revolves.

From Galileo's heresy trial to the politics of far-future Jupiter, from the canals of Venice to frozen, mysterious Europa, Robinson illuminates the parallels between a distant past and an even more remote future—in the process celebrating the human spirit and calling into question the convenient truths of our own moment in time.



- The Other Lands by David Anthony Durham (Canada, USA, Europe)

A few years have passed since the conquering of the Mein, and Queen Corinn is firmly in control of the Known World-perhaps too firmly. With plans to expand her empire, she sends her brother, Daniel, on an exploratory mission to the Other Lands. There Daniel discovers a lush, exotic mainland ruled by an alliance of tribes that poses a grave danger to the stability of the Known World. Is Queen Corinn strong enough to face this new challenge? Readers of this bold, imaginative sequel will not be disappointed in the answer.

31 commentaires:

Christopher said...

The Windup Girl. For purely selfish reasons, it is on my possible read list.

Anonymous said...

I have to say, go with the Ken Scholes or the Windup Girl, the other two should be winners.

Phil said...

Canticle or The Other Lands, I can't wait to read them myself and I'd like to have your take on them also.

The Mad Hatter said...

I happened to have finished both The Windup Girl and Canticle within the last week. Canticle was definitely the better read, building especially well after the events of Lamentation. Scholes is clearly growing into long form just as well as he did with short. I'll be posting an interview with Scholes sometime next week.

Cheers,
The Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter's Bookshelf

Unknown said...

Have to go with Canticle. Second place would have to go to The Other Lands.

Simeon said...

The Windup Girl looks by far the most interesting choice to me. I'm quite curious about that one myself.

Ethen with an 'E' said...

Windup Girl!!!

Adam Whitehead said...

IIRC, you haven't read much of the Discworld series, so I'd recommend against UNSEEN ACADEMICALS. From the sound of it, there's a few cameos, call-backs and in-jokes that work better if you've read some of the other books in the series.

As for the others, I've only read GALILEO'S DREAM, which was pretty good. However, I think I'll vote for THE OTHER LANDS. The first book had mixed reviews, and I want to hear more about the sequel before committing to the trilogy.

Blodeuedd said...

I say Durham

Paradoxicaldr said...

Each of the books you have listed all sound very interesting (barring Unseen Academicals) but The Windup Girl intrigued me the most. I must say that I hadn't heard about this one before but I now wish to add that to my ever growing list of things I want to read.

Lookf4r said...

Durham!

D-man said...

Wow, that's quite the list! The Windup Girl definitely piqued my curiosity the most :)

Nick said...

The Other Lands.

Anonymous said...

I'm with Phil and Tyson. Scholes and Durham are up on my list, so I'd like to see the opinion of the Hotlist.

ediFanoB said...

Definitely The Other Lands. I read the first book and liked it a lot.
On second place Canticle.

Unknown said...

I think Galileo's Dream looks the most interesting.

Valashain said...

I've read both Robinson and Bacigalupi and they are both interesting in their own way. I'd say go for Robinson, I've seen quite a few reviews of the Windup Girl but hardly any on Galileo's Dream.

Benjamin said...

I loved the Windup Girl and I'm currently reading Canticle. Both authors deserve more exposure.

Mus42 said...

Hey Pat,

Do you have info on this new release
The Elder Scrolls: Infernal City?

Thanks.

Kevin A. Smith said...

It looks like you have it narrowed down to a very interesting group. I'm going to recommend The Other Lands by David Anthony Durham. The first book in this trilogy was fantastic and can't wait to hear the review for the second volume.

Todd said...

Windup I'd say.

ediFanoB said...

Hey Mus42,

don't know in which country you live. The Elder Scrolls: Infernal City can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com. The book should be released on November 24th 2009.
Anyway use the ISBN for research:
ISBN-10: 0345508017
ISBN-13: 978-0345508010

Anonymous said...

The Other Lands. I'm nearly finished with it and, though I'd hate to jinx it with the ending fast approaching, it's thus far been a worthy sequel to Acacia: War with the Mein.

Asylumgirl said...

How 'bout Galileo's Dream?

Deidre

Anonymous said...

More intrigued with Galileo's Dream.

Horia Nicola Ursu said...

now that's a big dilemma, because i'd like to know about the Durham (I just finished Acacia), the Scholes (I've just stumbled upon a bargain copy of Lamentation) and Bacigalupi's novel... But, of course, if you want to be sure not to miss, you will read Terry Pratchett :)

Anonymous said...

Dude, what happened to The Briar King? Greg Keyes won one of these polls awhile back did he not?

Dan

Andrew said...

Windup Girl. It's the best SF novel of the year.

Patrick said...

No worries, Keyes' THE BRIAR KING is on the pile, and so is the Miéville which won a while back. I just haven't gotten around to them yet.

Hmmm, the Durham is probably the one I least want to read on that list, what with me being underwhelmed by the first volume...

buddyt said...

I find it very difficult to categorise Terry Pratchett into any genre.

I don't know if you have read many of his books either.

But I am a great fan of his writing as I find him laugh out loud funny very often, very, very inventive and a writer who can make you identify with any weird hero whose story he decides to tell.

I can't think of any author who even comes close.

(Can you think of any other author who can make a wooden suitcase seem an interesting character?)
This would be my choice for you.

Neville

Gabriele Campbell said...

Hmmm, the Durham is probably the one I least want to read on that list, what with me being underwhelmed by the first volume...

Ouch, sorry. I just saw the poll and there was a tie for Durham and Canticle, so I voed for Durham because I'm interested in a review of that one.

Well, if it turns Durham wins the poll, you can blame it on me. ;)