Jul 272005
 

Click to see the Penguin edition I read.As a life-long reader and an indie publisher it’s a little obvious, but having a good book on the go really increases my quality of life. Most recently it’s been John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids, a great book about a post-apocolyptic Britain being terrorized by, erm, walking plants. (Wyndham, who preferred the term “logical fantasy” to describe what he did, manages to make his ridiculous Dr. Who-class monsters a plausible threat in the book. Can’t speak for the movie versions, which look as hilarious as you’d expect.)

But back to the quality of life issue: there’s something about a continuing narrative that is as soothing and enjoyable to slip into as a bath. I notice that I miss it in short story collections, for instance. I have to work at getting into the next story, while a good novel draws me back of its own accord. Occasionally I find a writer’s sensibility is engaging enough to pull me through a collection, as was Kelly Link in her wonderful (and now free!) Stranger Things Happen.

I finished Triffids this morning, and I’m on to The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman. If you’re a little Pottered out but want a fantasy fix, Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is highly recommended. Feel free to add your own good reads to the comments.

  8 Responses to “Newsflash: Novelist Loves Novels”

  1. i love day of the triffids! the copy i read i had to tape up and it disentegrated slowly as i finished it but it was worth it!

    i reccomend of the sci-fi genre, kindred by octavia butler. it’s a story about an inter-racial couple that time travel to a time where black people were thought of as slaves to white people — they play along and attempt to make their way home. fascinating. ocatavia butler is one of the few black female sci-fi writers out there. if there are any at all. some of her books are a little hit or miss but i suggest checking her out.

    rose

  2. what’d i tell you about pullman? huh? huh? glad you’re loving it.

    recently read the “tripods trilogy,” ’60s british scifi for young adults by i believe… john christopher? totally terrific. check it!

  3. I’ve been having trouble getting into novels lately, but I think I’ve figured it out. I usually wait until I’m tired and ready for bed, and then I start reading. This isn’t a good strategy if what I’m reading requires any effort, which is usually the case for all novels until at least the first chapter’s read and I’m hooked.

    So my new strategy, which I just came up with yesterday, is when starting a new novel, to spend some quality brain time with it – i.e. in the morning when my brain is at its best.

    I just started Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, my first Cory Doctorow book. It’s good. I’ve been interested in the idea of slashdot’s mod points, and other types of rating systems, and this book is all about the concept of Whuffie, where users exchange a kind of esteem instead of money.

  4. i really loved the chrysalids by john wyndham!!!

  5. I believe there are black female SF authors besides Butler, although not many that I’m aware of. Nalo Hopkinson is one, although her work is probably more fantasy than SF. I believe Tananarive Due writes mostly dark fantasy/horror.

  6. Ohh man, Day of the Triffids brings me way back — I read that for the first time back in the Soviet Union…

    You know, you might really enjoy the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde, starting with ‘The Eyre Affair’. It’s a humorous sci-fi series set in an alternate reality universe in which literature is a hell of a lot more popular than in this one, in which little kids collect trading cards of famous literary characters and authors, and Baconians go evangelizing door to door “Have you ever considered that Shakespeare might not have written Shakespeare?”. The main character is a detective working for a massive British bureaucracy, dealing with literary crimes, time travel, and pretty much everything else.

  7. Discovered the Triffids while working in animation, had to plant them into a background next to body snatcher pods in sort of botanical garden of horrors. Thank you for bringing back the laughter.

  8. Hi jimbo!!

    i liked the chrysalids, and triffids…both very good….also liked one that i cant remember the title of it was sooooo long ago, but it was about the remenants of the earth living in the roots of plants, planted by aliens…scorched earth? ah christ knows….anyway, if you can figure out which book it is, read it its good, and mail me the title, so i can read it again?
    cheers dude
    rob

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