I need a book

[ams16]

I need a book to read while (not) driving across country. Something light, but not too light. I tend to like fantasy and thought provoking SF. If it's out in paperback, that would be nice

Comments

[robot_culinaire]

Have you read Charlie Stross's Merchant Price series? You can get the first five in paperback (and the last one might be in paperback by the time you are ready for it). I would describe them as more intellectual than emotional, not at all dark despite a normal ration of death and destruction. Very good travel reading for me. (Must be read in order. Better if read immediately consecutively, b/c they started life as two large novels whose length caused conniptions on the part of the publisher.) Stross considers them social and economic science fiction pretending to be fantasy (and Paul Krugman does too, for that matter).

Stross's Atrocity Archives or Halting State might also be fun. If you get them on your phone, you can download the sequels as soon as you finish them. Actually, that would be true for the Merchant Prince books too. Come to think of it, since none of these are new, you may only be able to acquire them easily by ordering from Amazon or as ebooks.

Should I keep thinking of things?

[ams16]

Well, Borders thinks that the first book is in the local store, so I'll check the local store for "The Family Trade" and see if I can get it, and maybe the next one.

Thanks.

[ruthling]

I liked China mielville's The City and the City, which is thought-provoking all right. At it's heart, it's a detective/cop story with a really interesting setting. His Kracken is good, too.

A lot of Stross and (Cory) Doctorow works are available for free online (I have read many on my phone). I don't strongly recommend any Doctorow, but it's decent if you want something to download on the fly.

recently i read a compendium or (don't laugh) Miles Vorkosigan novels (by Bujold) and enjoyed them as fluff (these were about Miles's early years). Her fantasy is pretty good, too.

[ams16]

Hey! I like Miles Vorkosigan. Good, solid fluff. Though I've pretty much read all of Bujold.

[in_parentheses]

I liked Runaways a whole lot before Joss got his hands on it. Man can't write comics. *sigh*

[jjaquinta]

Hey, if audio quality of The Raider's Lament is too poor, I can probably spin out a Kindle version. :-) I have to at some point anyway.

[andrel]

For while you're driving I recommend Wolf Brother. It's light, and Ian McKellen does a good job of reading.