Replies

rabbit_fighter, 9 months ago to bookstodon

@bookstodon I'm looking for book recommendations for an 11yo who reads at a much more advanced level. He likes sci-fi. He has read the Hitchhiker's Guide series and loved them. I think he would enjoy some more 'hard' sci-fi as well. He needs something challenging but without subject matter that is too mature. Thanks for any help! #sciencefiction #bookstodon

austern, 9 months ago

@mazz @LawProf @rabbit_fighter @bookstodon Another problem is that I don't think Leiber is what the original poster was asking for. "Hard SF" is a notoriously slippery concept, but I don't think anyone would apply that label to Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, or Conjure Wife, or Our Lady of Darkness, or the Change War.

austern, 9 months ago

@aprilfollies @rabbit_fighter @bookstodon Yeah, I was going to recommend some of Clarke's short stories too, such as "The Star", "The Sentinel", and "The Songs of Distant Earth". They're dated, but Clarke was trying to base them on the known science of his time. If you're considering other old books then you might want to try some of Heinlein's juveniles; my favorite is Citizen of the Galaxy.

I'll post more recent suggestions separately.

austern, 9 months ago

@rabbit_fighter @bookstodon General advice: focus on the 21st century, rather than the mid 20th century that old folks like me read when we were young. Times change. Reading more recent books will avoid you and your son wondering things like why the author thought Venus was habitable, or why there aren't any women in the future.

Another piece of general advice: look at books that are specifically published as YA. A lot of them are very good. You could do worse than look at the winners and finalists of the Lodestar Award. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodestar_Award_for_Best_Young_Adult_Book)

A few specific suggestions, mostly things that just happened to come to mind:
• Marissa Meyer, the Lunar Chronicles series.
• Scott Westerfeld, the tetrology beginning with Uglies. They read it at my kid's middle school, and I liked it too.
• Martha Wells, the Murderbot series, starting with All Systems Read. Not marketed as YA, but people of all ages, including my kid, seem to like it.
• Xiran Jay Zhou, Iron Widow.

austern, 10 months ago

@owlislost @Enema_Cowboy @bookstodon I'd start with Dubliners or Portrait. Neither is hard, and both are very good.

austern, 10 months ago

@cydonian @bookstodon thanks!

austern, 10 months ago

@annaraven @bookstodon Makes me want to rewatch The Thin Man! And it already inspired me to have a Brainstorm, which I'd never heard of before, for last night's cocktail.