Dublin Bookworms discussion

Hello everyone! Sorry for taking so long to introduce myself! I'm Matthew, currently in my 4th year of English. As the end of my degree looms ever closer, I find myself wondering what to do for the summer, in particular what books I should dive into. I'm open to any suggestions people can share for a reading list, I'd be particularly interested in any horror and science fiction novels you can recommend.

Well I've gotten really into Neil Gaiman but you've probably read most of his, have you read 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell' it's huge but is suppose to be brilliant, it's waiting on my shelf for the summer.

We were just starting a got to know you session in the other thread. You should join in.

Hi there Matthew, a big one on my summer list is 'Cryptonomicon' by Neal Stephenson. It's sort of historical science fiction, if the Baroque Cycle is anything to go by. I personally really enjoy his stuff. It can get a bit nerdy though, as long as you're ok with that. @orla, I also have 'American Gods' on the shelf. Between those and Cloud Atlas I should be sorted for a month or so.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is amazing. Such a slow, gorgeous flirt of a book. I've never tried any Neil Stephenson, but I hear good things.

My personal summer plan is to work my way through everything Warren Ellis has ever written.

Strange & Norrell is very good.

I have some Stephenson on my list for the summer.

Interesting, I may need to investigate some myself.

Hello. I've just finished Kraken by China Mieville and absolutely loved it. It is a bit like American Gods, but also a bit like nothing else I've ever read. Definitely a writer I'm gonna be reading more of first chance I get.

Believe it or not, the only Neil Gaiman books I have read are American Gods and Good Omens, so I'll definitely try out some more of his novels. I've also enjoyed Stephenson's Snow Crash and The Diamond Age (the latter was part of my dissertation), so I'm sure I'll enjoy Cryptonomicon!
I'm also going to try Under The Skin by Michael Faber. It was on my course, but I never got a chance to read it, I've heard great things about it from my class mates.

I love historical fiction so I went for the Baroque Cycle which surprised me by being very math and science based but also a friggin great read, as long as you have two months to spare, it's about 3000 pages altogether. 'Anathem' is more stand-alone and much more sci-fi but also very good.

Of Neil Gaiman's stuff Neverwhere is a big recommendation of mine.

Oh, I have read Neverwhere. Tis very good alright. As is Good Omens.

I love Good Omens, halfway through a review of it on the blog.

Neil Gaiman is one of those writers who has a really big cult following and so people who read his books forget that everyone doesn't know him.

I can definitely recommend Gaiman to anybody who hasn't read him. The first time I read something of his my response was: "why haven't I heard of this guy sooner??"

If I could add a few more suggestions for upcoming reads: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, Kafka on the Shore by Murakami and Neuromancer by William Gibson are all on my list of books to read next.

Oo sounds good, adding to to read list.

Nuerancer is definitely on the list. I bought the book with the intention of using it in my dissertation, but at that point I had have authors, so I decided to leave for later.

Wow, what was your dissertation on?

The Utopian Dreams and Dystopian Nightmares of Transhumanism in recent Science Fiction Literature.

Awesome! What books did you reference?

All of the Culture series by Iain M. Banks, the Revelation space saga by Alastair Reynolds, Singularity Sky by Charles Stross, Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson.

Well I actually haven't read any of those. They are all going on the "to Read" list now.

Ah transhumanism genre and a half.

I saw The Long Earth today in the shop and I thought "I've got to recommend that to the people on goodreads"... so there you are. I read it last year and loved it to bits. It's not your average Pratchett book, because it's co-authored with Stephen Baxter, and I think that it got some flak for that because people were expecting it to be more discworldy. But I absolutely loved it, and I reckon if you're into sci fi (which some of us seem to be) then it's worth checking out. Also, there's supposedly a sequel to it out this year, so that's good :)

I've been meaning the read the Long Earth for ages.

Oh yeah I've really been meaning to read that one too!