These are all such great possibilities. It was very close, for me, between Earthsea and Book of the New Sun. But since I’m pretty sure I’ve reread Earthsea (well, the trilogy — are you going beyond that?) in the past decade, I went with Wolfe.
We would go beyond the original trilogy for Earthsea, which is where the series gets a bit more controversial, but also more interesting, I think.
I just reread Book of the New Sun in 2022, I think, but I've been wanting to do another read of it already. I think it's a book that reveals itself more and more as you reread it, so a close reading will hopefully add a lot
We're still on track to read Gibson together, right? I figure I should give the rest of the Sprawl trilogy a go, at the very least.
I voted for Gene Wolfe, personally (a "new to me" thing that seems interesting). Pretty simple process of elimination: I keep bouncing off LeGuin, who strikes me as a bizarro Ayn Rand in elf ears; Evangelion is stark and beautiful but would be miserable subjected to episode-by-episode analysis - sooo many filler episodes. And I feel like there's enough analysis of Tolkien online (although, to be clear, I'm sure the engagement on that will be huge), and Camelot stuff has never quite appealed to me - but either of those would be fun to hear your thoughts on, I bet.
This is just vibes, and obviously their politics are polar opposites (hence the bizarro part), but I think how I would explain it is that I think Le Guin's prose is not especially interesting, and her work is didactic in ways that sort of put a ceiling on its potential. ("Omelas," with its active refusal to do worldbuilding because it's not as important as the central metaphor, feels illustrative here.) PKD and Butler I think are playing in similar territory in some ways, but I feel PKD's pulpiness is balanced out by the autofictional elements in ways that are interesting, and I never feel like Butler is sacrificing anything on the altar of capital-T Theme. And even Rand wrote one Great American Novel in "The Fountainhead" (entirely by accident, and of course, she then decided to double down on the political philosophy and never wrote anything good ever again)
I freely admit that I haven't read everything LeGuin's wrote, but like - The Left Hand of Darkness and The Lathe of Heaven are generally considered two of her best and most influential works, right? I don't think I picked the crappy LeGuin books.
Yeah, those are two of her most famous. Though I'd say The Lathe of Heaven is a very Taoist book, more than anything else. Maybe the most Taoist book written in centuries. Omelas is a parable, I would say, more than a story, putting it more in line with Plato's Cave rather than, like, An Incident at Owl Creek or whatever.
Butler is one of the best. She'd be a fun person to do a readalong for, though I don't know if a close, chapter by chapter reading would be as useful for most of her books. Maybe just Xenogenesis.
Whoa… maybe I’ll read Berserk alongside you. I saw the 1997 anime having no familiarity whatsoever with the series and I loved it more than I could possibly have expected. The song Susumu Hirasawa made for it has been my ringtone since 2015!
Agh, why did you have to make it so hard to choose?
Seriously, though, I'd always be down for The Silmarillion.
Finally, another Silmarillion lover!
It's been a while since I've read the whole thing from beginning to end, so I'd love an excuse to do it again.
These are all such great possibilities. It was very close, for me, between Earthsea and Book of the New Sun. But since I’m pretty sure I’ve reread Earthsea (well, the trilogy — are you going beyond that?) in the past decade, I went with Wolfe.
We would go beyond the original trilogy for Earthsea, which is where the series gets a bit more controversial, but also more interesting, I think.
I just reread Book of the New Sun in 2022, I think, but I've been wanting to do another read of it already. I think it's a book that reveals itself more and more as you reread it, so a close reading will hopefully add a lot
I only read a little of The Shadow of the Torturer decades ago, when I was way too young for it, so this would be a whole new thing for me!
It's a weird, wild ride!
We're still on track to read Gibson together, right? I figure I should give the rest of the Sprawl trilogy a go, at the very least.
I voted for Gene Wolfe, personally (a "new to me" thing that seems interesting). Pretty simple process of elimination: I keep bouncing off LeGuin, who strikes me as a bizarro Ayn Rand in elf ears; Evangelion is stark and beautiful but would be miserable subjected to episode-by-episode analysis - sooo many filler episodes. And I feel like there's enough analysis of Tolkien online (although, to be clear, I'm sure the engagement on that will be huge), and Camelot stuff has never quite appealed to me - but either of those would be fun to hear your thoughts on, I bet.
Yep, William Gibson is still on track! I think the first episode may even be out next week.
Le Guin being bizarro Ayn Rand is wild to me! She's one of my favorites, but that's all about taste.
Gene Wolfe is real good and probably worth a very close reading, even for me who's read his series twice.
This is just vibes, and obviously their politics are polar opposites (hence the bizarro part), but I think how I would explain it is that I think Le Guin's prose is not especially interesting, and her work is didactic in ways that sort of put a ceiling on its potential. ("Omelas," with its active refusal to do worldbuilding because it's not as important as the central metaphor, feels illustrative here.) PKD and Butler I think are playing in similar territory in some ways, but I feel PKD's pulpiness is balanced out by the autofictional elements in ways that are interesting, and I never feel like Butler is sacrificing anything on the altar of capital-T Theme. And even Rand wrote one Great American Novel in "The Fountainhead" (entirely by accident, and of course, she then decided to double down on the political philosophy and never wrote anything good ever again)
I freely admit that I haven't read everything LeGuin's wrote, but like - The Left Hand of Darkness and The Lathe of Heaven are generally considered two of her best and most influential works, right? I don't think I picked the crappy LeGuin books.
Yeah, those are two of her most famous. Though I'd say The Lathe of Heaven is a very Taoist book, more than anything else. Maybe the most Taoist book written in centuries. Omelas is a parable, I would say, more than a story, putting it more in line with Plato's Cave rather than, like, An Incident at Owl Creek or whatever.
Butler is one of the best. She'd be a fun person to do a readalong for, though I don't know if a close, chapter by chapter reading would be as useful for most of her books. Maybe just Xenogenesis.
Whoa… maybe I’ll read Berserk alongside you. I saw the 1997 anime having no familiarity whatsoever with the series and I loved it more than I could possibly have expected. The song Susumu Hirasawa made for it has been my ringtone since 2015!
Yes! Let's do it!
I haven't seen the anime since probably 2002, which is kind of like not having seen it before, haha
Looks like it's at the library - I'll place my hold now!
You had me at Tolkien and King Arthur. :)
I'm very excited to read either one in a close way!
Be sure to vote!