The real problem with working at McLean Hospital...

[arib]

On a day like this, when the sun's out, the temperature's nice, and the trees and grass are starting to turn green again, I want to stop what I'm doing, go outside, sit under a tree and read a good book.

*sigh*

That said, recommend a book, if you would. I've just finished all of Kage Baker's Dr. Zeus books, which I borrowed from my dad after hearing a few people (my friend Mordechai and penmage) talk about how good they were. I'm re-reading Alan Steele's "Chronospace" now, but will finish it soon. I seem to be on a time travel/alternate history kick.

Comments

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

The Sparrow and Childern of God by Mary Doria Russell.

they are not books to read in the winter. Have the second one handy before you finish the first.

(btw, hi! I'm Annie, a former student of mabfan, a former classmate of farwing and generally all around nutty person.)

[penmage.livejournal.com]

There is more historical SF out there? Enlighten me, please.

Also, what did you think of the Dr. Zeus books?

[arib.livejournal.com]

Were you at Arisia? If so we might have met.

(I vaguely recall meeting a student of mabfan/friend of farwing when I was there.

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

er... I was at Arisia. I remember perhaps a tenth of the people I met there. (I maybe might remember you? maybe? I thought maybe I did, and... yeah. Like your journal)

[arib.livejournal.com]

Chronospace is a fairly good book with a few plot threads that I'm misremembering at the moment. One involves researchers from the 2300s traveling back to the late 1930s to study the Hindenburg disaster. It combines straight time travel with alternate history quite nicely.

There is more historical SF out there, but it all ran out of my head as soon as I tried to think about it, of course. I'll post them here when I remember them. Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove is good alt-history of an England ruled by the Spanish in a world in which the Spanish Armada wasn't sunk. Very good period piece, if not actual SF.

I loved the Dr. Zeus books. I read all four books over Pesach, and am finishing up Baker's anthology of Dr. Zeus short stories on the side. I want to track Kage Baker down, lock her in a hotel room, and not let her out until she's finished the story, already. *grin*

[arib.livejournal.com]

Cool.

How'd you find it?

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

dot_cattiness.

great place. lots of fun.

[kylakae.livejournal.com]

How about David Sadaris - Me talk pretty some day.

[ororo.livejournal.com]

Kim Stanley Robinson The Years of Rice and Salt.

[griffen.livejournal.com]

"Lion's Blood" by Steven Barnes. Failing that, the "Kushiel's Dart" series by Jacqueline Carey.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Most, if not all, of Harry Turtledove's books are "alternative history" -- what would happen if the South won the Civil War? What if Hitler won WW2? Etc. I believe he also set a couple of books in the future, with the premise that some of these historical events happened differently.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

I liked the Philip Pullman Sally Lockhart mystery trilogy, set in the Victorian era. I warn you, though -- I cried at the conclusion of book two. Really. And you know how infrequently I cry.

I also picked up Pale Phoenix recently, and it was a decent quick read. Another children's novel, and not as superbly crafted as Pullman, but still good. It held me. :)

[arib.livejournal.com]

Turtledove has two WWII series:

-What if aliens invaded the earth in the middle of the war. (techincally, this is two series, one during the war, one in the 1960s-70s.

-What if a WWII-type war was fought in a world with magic instead of technology.

Also, In The Presence of Mine Enemies, a novelization based on a short story he wrote that follows several families of Jews hiding in 2008 Berlin in a world in which the Nazis won WWII.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be very self-serving here, but...I just published a time travel novella in Analog, as you know.

"Time Ablaze," June 2004 issue.

(The story could have been alternate history as well, I suppose, but I tried to keep the history accurate...)

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

ok, and i *was* going to recomend some spider robinson, but i think i don't need to...

[arib.livejournal.com]

er, no.

Books, CD and videogame, thank you. :-)

[arib.livejournal.com]

Already read it, of course. :-)

[arib.livejournal.com]

I've never been able to get into Kim Stanley Robinson's stuff. Not sure why.

I should give it a try, though. You're the latest in a long list of people who've recommended that book.

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

I was going to say that! I read it last weekend. Very funny. If you like that check out Laurie Notaro. Kind of similar humor but a female perspective.

[kylakae.livejournal.com]

Oh cool, thanks for the suggestion! :-)

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

threetimes once recommended me Flash Forward by Robert J. Sawyer. Amazon has a good synopsis of the plot - essentially, everyone on Earth is flashed forward 21 years, for a span of several minutes; when they return, they have to deal with what they saw - or didn't see - as well as the mass chaos and destruction caused by having everyone on Earth drop unconscious all at once.

Calculating God by the same author is also supposed to be very good, but it doesn't deal with time travel exactly in any sort of way.

Of course, I could always just break out the "What should I read next?" reader advisory database (yes, we have those) too...