Ranking the 21 Books I Just Read (Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Lit Fic)

I like these tier videos a lot

The way you characterize MODERAN made me smile all over my old-man face. My 5* review says of these stories: "they are brilliant tours-de-force of a man's vision of a future no one could possibly want, but they're likely to get anyway." Such a delight to find someone else who appreciates Bunch.

Love so much how 'to the point' you approach your videos. Thanks for not wasting my time with intros and yammerings🙏

I only read The Long Tomorrow by Brackett, and it is not pulpy; it is a grounded post-apocalyptic story. Now I’m curious about her wilder stories if you dare compare her to Robert E Howard.

Project Hail Mary at F is the wildest thing I’ve seen lol

Oh man, I like the old thumbnail… I love those editions of Lem books! My bookshelves groan under the weight of your influence, sir.

It's incorrect to say that The Lord of The Rings was originally published as a single book and then split up to make money. Tolkien wanted to publish it as a single novel but paper shortages in post-war Britain made it impractical. This is well-documented.

MODERAN sounds worthy of checking out. Usually when I speak with my friends about programmable body parts we joke that in the future you'll have to pay subscriptions for all your organs or else their creators just shut them down or reudce their function till you pay again or die.

Yeah Weir definitely writes his characters as “look at me! I’m a scientist but I’m also irreverent, isn’t that wacky!” They seem written with the intent to be adapted into movies.

Excellent, I have just acquired Moderan, looking forward to it!

Eden is one of the few Lem books I have yet to read. I'll have to fix that soon.

So happy to see this pop up just now! Love when you do these.

I agree with your take on Margret St Clair. I've read her short story collection Change the Sky several times. The standard is remarkably high, & the stories are diverse & interesting. I haven't read Amerika by Kafka, but I have read his short story collection Metamorphosis, & he's very high on my list of writers who write fiction that feels like SF, but which probably isn't. Anyway I recommend his works to SF readers. For those who are leery of short stories in general, the best way to read them is to treat each story as a separate entity - like it's a novel - there's no need to finish the collection in one sitting.

Oh no, I loved Hail Mary 😅 I did listen to the audiobook, which is really well performed, so I don't know if reading the book itself would be more of a slog. But I see where you are coming from. The main character is VERY similar to Mark from The Martian, so yeah if that's not your jam, it would be hard to get through. I did however really appreciate how the physics of space travel (and Rocky's dilemma with it) was depicted.

I dig these ranking lists they're a fun way to get a quick rundown on many books. Thank you Bookpilled, very cool!

Hail Mary is a fun beach novel if you can get past the author's voice and one-dimensional characters. The friendship between the protagonist and his non-carbon-based counterpart is memorable.

Brunner can do no wrong. Reconsider. Also his novel Crucible of Time is peak Brunner.

I tried very hard to read The Snail on the Slope. I got 2/3 of the way in and threw in the towel. The symbolism was lost on me, which was disappointing because I know they considered it their best work. Even after reading the Afterword and a detailed explanation about the story, I was unable to pick it up again. I respect it and appreciate the number of hoops they had to jump through to get any of their work published. That aside, you have given me several books to put on my reading list.

Just want to say thanks for doing what you do. I’ve found so many great books because of your channel! Appreciate you

I really appreciate your reviews! You've introduced to me new authors, and renewed my love of reading, thank you for what you do!