For SF, Heinlein’s anthology The Past Through Tomorrow: Future History Stories, collecting stories from the 1940s and 50s is pure gold. It was a favorite of mine as a teenager many years ago, and I recently read it again. It holds up, and the space faring future he predicted may be closer now than it was back then.
I haven’t read enough Heinlein to really see it all come together for me personally, but I do love the idea of much of his work fitting into a larger future history. Along those lines, I’ve really enjoyed piecing together the universe in Ursula LeGuin’s Hainish Cycle.
Now Wait for Last Year is such a banger / It might be selfish but I'm thrilled you quit your job if it means we get a sci-fi novel from you down the road 😅
Also Proust is worth it! The "toughest" thing about Search is that the chapters are so freaking long. But if you treat it as seven different books (which is what it really is imo), then it's a lot more digestable. Ulysses is far more difficult a read (altho I love that one too).
I think mostly what’s keeping me from Proust is that as long as I don’t start it, I can say that I’ve never read it as opposed to getting stuck midway through. Then in five years I have to re-read everything I already read and hope it gives me enough momentum to finish that time around. With Ulysses it’s bad enough that I’ve read the first 100 pages like 3 times before putting it down for no good reason. With Proust that’s like thousands of pages potentially. Man I gotta straighten out my bad reading habits lol
I spent a long time slogging through the Oddo translation before I switched to Pevear and Volokhonsky, which was delightful and so much more alive. Highly recommend it.
For SF, Heinlein’s anthology The Past Through Tomorrow: Future History Stories, collecting stories from the 1940s and 50s is pure gold. It was a favorite of mine as a teenager many years ago, and I recently read it again. It holds up, and the space faring future he predicted may be closer now than it was back then.
I haven’t read enough Heinlein to really see it all come together for me personally, but I do love the idea of much of his work fitting into a larger future history. Along those lines, I’ve really enjoyed piecing together the universe in Ursula LeGuin’s Hainish Cycle.
Now Wait for Last Year is such a banger / It might be selfish but I'm thrilled you quit your job if it means we get a sci-fi novel from you down the road 😅
Also Proust is worth it! The "toughest" thing about Search is that the chapters are so freaking long. But if you treat it as seven different books (which is what it really is imo), then it's a lot more digestable. Ulysses is far more difficult a read (altho I love that one too).
I think mostly what’s keeping me from Proust is that as long as I don’t start it, I can say that I’ve never read it as opposed to getting stuck midway through. Then in five years I have to re-read everything I already read and hope it gives me enough momentum to finish that time around. With Ulysses it’s bad enough that I’ve read the first 100 pages like 3 times before putting it down for no good reason. With Proust that’s like thousands of pages potentially. Man I gotta straighten out my bad reading habits lol
going to kick off the year with Brothers Karamazov! which translation did you read?
Copying my response :)
I spent a long time slogging through the Oddo translation before I switched to Pevear and Volokhonsky, which was delightful and so much more alive. Highly recommend it.
Fascinating that you read Stapledon. Have you read his "Last and First Men"? A truly mind-expanding experience.
I haven’t yet, but it’s definitely on my list now!! I enjoyed Sirius so much.
"Sirius" is on my list now. A science fiction novel about a dog that makes you cry - what could be better?