Martha Wells - System Collapse (Part of the Murderbot Diaries)
Murderbot is my favorite book series of the last years, I can highly recommend it. Very quick summary (which doesn’t do it any justice but in case you haven’t heard about it): It is about a sarcastic, highly introvert cyborg (in-universe called “construct” basically a mix of robotic and cloned human parts), living in a dystopian corporate-dominated cyberpunk future, which hacked its governor module and thus freed itself from the company it was owned by. As it spends more time with a series of caring entities (both humans and artificial intelligences), it develops genuine friendships and emotional connections, which it finds inconvenient. (last sentence quoted from Wikipedia, as I couldn’t have formulated it better)
I am considering buying 1984 to re-read. So much of what is happening in the world reminds me of what I remember reading in this novel more than 50 years ago.
Perhaps the library has a copy. Also I’d highly recommend, after re-reading 1984, a book by Sandra Newman called ‘Julia’… It’s written from the point of view of Julia in 1984, and gives an interesting and different perspective. Hope you can find a copy and indeed enjoy this book.
I just finished the last book in Charles Stross’ Laundry Files series: The Regicide Report.
Oh boy, what a thrilling ride, from Bob-the-Sysadmin-who-fights-demons to the Eater Of Souls who saves the world from eldridch horrors. And all of that in the voice of a jaded, sarcastic nerd. It’s as if these were specifically written for me!
I’ve not seen the recent film adaptation, nor am I likely to on a big screen… I’m enjoying reading this book and as I go through I like to do my research. It appears the humorous side of the translation (1961, Robert Fitzgerald) I am reading is as intended by Homer, which surprised me somewhat, but also gave me food for thought on how humanity across the millennia writes/tells stories and what the power of stories brings; humor, tradition, historical facts.
I accept this all sounds a bit esoteric, no apology, I hope others participate in discussion or go out and see the film or read the book…
Just finished “The book thief” yesterday, in english. Don’t know why this seems to be considered children literature? Liked it anyway.
Never seen the movie, and never will…
Don’t you hate it when you find a thread you’re interested in but find out it’s years old and it feels awkward to necro-reply to years-old posts?
After decades of mainly reading historical fiction (lots of Bernard Cornwell), I’ve been on a sci-fi kick in more recent years, trying out lots of authors like Iain M. Banks (Culture series), John Scalzi (Old Man’s War), Andy Weir (all of them), Dennis E. Taylor (Bobiverse), Martha Wells (Murderbot), Arthur C Clarke (Rendezvous with Rama) and Dan Simmons (Hyperion).
Now I’m on the second book of the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. While I’ve read lots of contemporary fiction too, I find I’m mostly drawn to escapist genres where I can immerse myself in a completely different world.
The trouble I mostly face is that I often fall asleep within minutes of starting to read, so I make most of my reading progress when I’m travelling!
Me too! He does his research so well and really brings the history alive. I’ve read all the Sharpe books, all the Uhtred books and most of the other shorter series too.
He’s quite formulaic, but it doesn’t really matter because the battle depictions and characters are so well written. He’s probably my favourite author over my lifetime, although I guess Tolkien would be in with a shout there too.
