Review of The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin (1969)
Bottom line: Meh. Rating: Recommended if: you’re doing a tour of classic sci fi authors. Blurb: When the human ambassador Genly Ai is sent to Gethen, the planet known as Winter by those outsiders who have experienced its arctic climate, he thinks that his mission will be a standard one of making peace between warring […]
Review of C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy
Review: C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strengthh) is the most disjointed trilogy I have ever read. That’s not to say it isn’t worth reading, or even good, but it feels more like a very loosely related collection of books than a trilogy. What makes it feel so […]
Review of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Bottom line: It’s a deeply beloved classic for a reason. Read it! Rating: Strongly Recommended Review: There are many types of nerds/geeks (also, I prefer the term nerd to geek, but that’s a topic for another post) out there in society – Dr. Who nerds, Star Trek nerds, Star Wars nerds, and so on. While […]
Review of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Rating: Strongly Recommended Blurb: Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor. […]
Review of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985) (The Ender Quintet)
Bottom line: A compelling character and suspenseful story combine to create an engrossing read. Rating: Recommended Blurb: In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race’s next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, […]
Review of “Nineteen Eighty Four” or “1984” by George Orwell (1949)
Bottom line: Definitely worth a read, as it explores timeless topics such as power, inequality, and control. Rating: Strongly Recommended Blurb: 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell’s prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1948 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of “Negative Utopia” – […]
Review of The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey (or The Hobbit: Part 1/3)
Bottom line: A fun movie set in Tolkien’s world, though not a strict adaptation from the book. Rating: Recommended Review: When The Hobbit came out, I never got around to seeing it in theaters, being 8 1/2 months pregnant at the time and then otherwise occupied. So I finally saw it when it became available […]
My Favorite Ray Bradbury Books
I found out today that Ray Bradbury died yesterday (June 5, 2012) at age 91 – not bad! He wrote one of my favorite books (Fahrenheit 451), so I wanted to give a brief tribute here. What better way to remember him than by reading some of his works? Here are some of my favorites: […]
Five Free Classic Sci Fi/Fantasy E-Books for Kindle and Free Kindle Reader Apps
Here are five free classic sci fi / fantasy e-books to get you through the weekend. The links are to the Amazon Kindle site (these weren’t all free on Barnes & Noble). If you don’t have a Kindle, I strongly recommend downloading the free Kindle reader app. I’ve used it on a PC and found […]