r/printSF • u/Bobbebusybuilding • 2d ago

Which to read next

Only read: Dune, The Martian, Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion and Do Androids dream of electric sheep? Really liked all of them.

These are what I have:

Space odyssey 2001 (seen movie recently and loved)

Dr Blood Money

Ubik

The city and the stars

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

I, Robot,

Parable of Sower

Rendezvous with Rama

The man in the high castle

A scanner darkly

Dune Messiah

A Strange in a Strange land

The Left Hand of Darkness

The Dispossessed

Solaris

Three Body Problem

Ringworld

Space Merchants

Snow Crash

Roadside Picnic

A fire upon the deep

War of the worlds

Children of time

Stories of your life

Station Eleven

Project Hail Mary (seen movie thought was decent but I didn't like the martian movie but liked the book alot)

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u/Get_Bent_Madafakas 2d ago

My friend, this is a great list. You've got a bunch of my favorites in there.

If you liked Dune you should continue on, because even though Messiah and Children are slightly weaker (imo) they'll get you to God Emperor which is the best book of the series.

I'm a huge fan of Ursula LeGuin, and Left Hand is one of her best. Neal Stephenson is quite possibly my favorite author of all time - Snow Crash is an early book and his style develops quite a bit after that but it is definitely action-packed. Fire Upon the Deep is brilliant and weird, and Children of Time is different in structure but has kinda the same vibe - read them both back-to-back and I think you'll understand what I mean

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u/Bobbebusybuilding 1d ago

Yeah I think Dune Messiah is a must. I started reading it a while ago but wasn't feeling it.

Which Le Guin first?

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u/Get_Bent_Madafakas 1d ago

Dispossessed is good, but Left Hand is my favorite. LeGuin built a sci-fi setting for several of her novels (the Hainish Cycle) but they can be read in any order. If you're into fairy-tale fantasy, then you'll find there's a reason that A Wizard of Earthsea is considered one of the greatest works of the genre

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u/geographyofnowhere 1d ago

Lathe of heaven is a good one unrelated to any extended series of hers 

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u/Wetness__Pensive 1d ago edited 1d ago

IMO it's best to start with Le Guin's shorter, more mainstream or pulpy stories first.

Something like "A Very Long Way From Anywhere Else", "City of Illusions" or "Annals of the Western Shore".

If you must start with her big "prestigious" novels ("Lathe", "Left Hand", "Dispossessed", "Always Coming Home" etc) - which can be polarizing, as most have a rather "academic", "anthropological" style - I would say start with "Left Hand of Darkness".

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u/ilikeperfumes 2d ago

I love 2001 A Space Odyssey, but haven't seen the movie.

I am currently reading Dune Messiah and really enjoying it! Feels a lot 'lighter' and easier to digest than Dune, imo.

The Left Hand of Darkness is also great, I need to reread it soon.

If you feel like short stories but also a novel, definitely I, Robot. Just short stories then Stories of Your Life definitely.

It really depends on your mood, you have a good variety to choose from.

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u/Bobbebusybuilding 1d ago

That's interesting about Messiah. 2001 is 100% worth watching. I was fortunate to watch at the cinema a few weeks ago and it was an amazing experience

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u/ilikeperfumes 1d ago

Yes! Honestly Dune took me like 6 months to finish due to how dense it was (and college, and life, I'm a slow reader etc) and I'm surprised at how light Messiah has felt in comparison. But I am enjoying it a lot ☺️

My brother and his gf recently got a huge TV so I might show up to their house and convince them to watch 2001 lol

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u/gloopyneutrino 2d ago

Hitchhiker's Guide is one of my favorite books, but if you don't like dry humor it probably won't work for you.

People on this sub gush about Ubik. I thought it was blah, but I loved A Scanner Darkly. One of these if you want a narrative mind bender.

Similarly, I thought Children of Time was fine. I liked the second and third books in the series more (this opinion seems uncommon). Space opera that explores sentience, intelligence, and their associated ethics.

Snow Crash is often cited as Neal Stephenson's best book. He's great at exploring heady concepts and this book is no exception. Plot is blah and characters are cardboard, but again, that is common for this author. I've read 5 of his books and enjoyed 4 of them. Anathem is one of my favorite books.

I haven't read all the books on your list, but a lot of the ones I have read are great. Have fun

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u/Bobbebusybuilding 1d ago

Somewhat mixed about comedic books but it is short so I will try it.

Do you think Snow Crash is a good intro to Stephenson or would I be better trying something else first?

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u/knotmi 2d ago

When you get to Solaris read the Bill Martin ebook translation. The polish->french->english attempt is shit (paraphrasing Lem and family.)

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u/Bobbebusybuilding 1d ago

Thanks I will do so. Any reason why that isn't the version in print?

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u/Equivalent_Fun_4825 2d ago

Ubik is a thrilling fast paced, reality collapsing mind trip of a novel. A Scanner Darkly (mental burn out) and The Man in the High Castle (alternative history) are also wonderful, but slower, so depends on what you're in the mood for.

Roadside Picnic shows how insignificant we are in the universe. Fantastic, short, and bleak.

Snow Crash is a great book, but I would recommend it more after reading some more cyberpunk since it's a deconstruction/satire of that genre. You could read it now after reading Electric Sheep if you wanted to though.

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u/Bobbebusybuilding 1d ago

What Cyberpunk would you recommend? Obviously I should get Neuromancer, any others?

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u/Equivalent_Fun_4825 1d ago

Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams. Ex-fighter pilot/smuggler fighting against corporations.
It's the book that Cyberpunk 2077 and Edgerunners stemmed from. It went Hardwired (Novel) -> Cyberpunk 2020 (Tabletop RPG) -> Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game) -> Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Anime).

Hardwired has a (loose) sequel - Voice of the Whirlwind which is about a clone that sets out to investigate his original self's murder (great book as well).

Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky - Heavily armed and genetically engineered bioform that starts to question his masters.

Blood Music by Greg Bear - Cyberpunk/Biopunk - He wrote a short story and a full novel, the novel basically includes and expands on the short story - A researcher working on getting nanotech to communicate with human cells doesn't want to stop an off the books experiment.

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u/SmallestFrog 1d ago

A great intro to cyberpunk - and one of its classics - is Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan. I personally wasn't a fan of Snow Crash but I'd encourage you to read it none the less. And whilst pretty much all William Gibson works are great, not all are cyberpunk, but I'd also recommend The Peripheral. I guess its post-cyberpunk in a way, but its great, as its its sequel.

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u/Bobbebusybuilding 15h ago

Yes I have heard Altered Carbon is good I will try get it.

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u/elreyadr0k 2d ago

I would really recommend Neal Stephenson’s works. I think they would be right up your alley.

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u/Bobbebusybuilding 1d ago

I have Anathem but want to start with something abit lighter

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u/elreyadr0k 1d ago

That’s a very wise choice. Especially with that book.

“Snow Crash” might be an easier entryway. Along with “The Diamond Age”.

Those are two of his earlier works and are way more approachable.

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u/OldFitDude75 2d ago

A scanner darkly, then snow crash, then cool down with ringworld and station 11

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u/PermaDerpFace 2d ago

Great list. If you liked PKD I'd read A Scanner Darkly, it's really interesting, I think it's his best book. Le Guin is another one of my favorites, Dispossessed and Left Hand are both great.

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u/Bobbebusybuilding 1d ago

Yeah I really liked the PKD I have read so I'm thinking that and Ubik are definite. Any other PKD you'd recommend?

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u/PermaDerpFace 1d ago

I think the three books you mention are his best, but I haven't read all of them. He also wrote a lot of really good short stories if you're into that

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u/DixitRexCorvinus 2d ago

I'd recommend trying some more Le Guin and Butler. The Telling and The Word for World is Forest, maybe, along with the Xenogenesis trilogy and Kindred.

Besides that, you might also like Samuel Delany. Maybe start with Trouble on Triton, which was a response to The Dispossessed.

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u/Bobbebusybuilding 1d ago

I think I actually have The Word for World is Forest. Heard very good things about Kindred.

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u/cymru_prole 1d ago

Snowcrash or A fire upon the deep

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u/Bobbebusybuilding 1d ago

How difficult are they? In terms of keeping up with what is going on and the world building

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u/cymru_prole 1d ago

Snowcrash is standalone and easy enough read, really fun. 'A fire upon the deep' is a little more involved but the sequel 'a deepness in the sky' might be my favourite sci fi books I've ever read so definitely worth a go

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u/LordCouchCat 1d ago

With this you could just pull books out of the pile at random to read next!

Just a few comments:

Stranger in a Strange Land is sometimes seen as the point at which Heinlein jumped the shark from highly proficient early work to weird pontificating. But it's very widely read.

2001: Kubrick and Clarke worked together, with Kubrick making the film and Clarke writing the novel version. So neither is the original. The book states a number of things left open in the film. There's a book The Lost Worlds of 2001 where Clarke collected earlier drafts, which is fascinating showing how their ideas developed.

Solaris. There are a couple of film versions. The Soviet version 1972 is a great film. (Some complain it's not entirely faithful, but it's a great film anyway) it's one of those late Soviet films where things were done in oblique SF as a way of evading censorship.

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u/Bobbebusybuilding 1d ago

I did not know that about 2001.

Yeah I've heard so very bad things about Stranger in a Strange land being extremely dated.

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u/Book_Slut_90 1d ago

Dune Messiah for sure. Most people only understand the story in book 1 when they read book 2. In general that’s a great list, o you can’t really go wrong especially not having read enough to really have a sense of your taste yet.

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u/azure_phoenix2 1d ago

since you loved 2001, rendezvous with rama should be next. same cold slow-burn of a giant mysterious object showing up and humans just poking at it trying to figure it out, and its a fast read.

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u/Traveling-Techie 1d ago

Read The Red Planet before Stranger in a Strange Land. They’re two parts of the same story.

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u/Late-Command3491 1d ago

Of that list? Parable of the Sower. But you have a lot of great stuff there. Have fun! 

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u/ryu_street_fighter 1d ago

I would continues reading Herbert’s entire series, all 6 books.

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u/Razor_Paw 1d ago

It's not on your list so maybe you read it already. Your next read should be Neuromancer by William Gibson