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The Definitive 1980s SF Reading Challenge
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DrNefario
Posted 2016-04-01 7:27 AM (#13118)
Subject: The Definitive 1980s SF Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		This thread is for the Definitive 1980s SF Reading Challenge.

It's five months since I started the 70s challenge, which means it's time for another decade.

Speaking personally, we're starting to get into my era, now, which means I've already read many of the books I want to read, and it's a lot harder for me to populate my challenge with good books which aren't re-reads. The 90s are worse for me, though.
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Weesam
Posted 2016-04-02 4:49 AM (#13134 - in reply to #13118)
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Location: New Zealand		Yay, new challenge. I'm sure it will not come as a surprise to learn I had already picked out my books in anticipation!
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Administrator
Posted 2016-04-02 10:54 AM (#13135 - in reply to #13134)
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DrNefario
Posted 2016-04-03 5:03 AM (#13147 - in reply to #13134)
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Weesam - 2016-04-02 10:49 AM

Yay, new challenge. I'm sure it will not come as a surprise to learn I had already picked out my books in anticipation!

Ha ha. Me too. I have a big spreadsheet of all 50 years with the books colour-coded depending on whether I've read them, already own them and/or particularly want to read them for that year. I also keep a copy on my phone for when I'm in a second-hand book shop.

My 80s selection is a bit too Helliconia-heavy for my liking, at the moment. I hope to change that before I get there, but at least I have something for each year.
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Weesam
Posted 2016-04-03 2:05 PM (#13148 - in reply to #13147)
Subject: Re: The Definitive 1980s SF Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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DrNefario - 2016-04-03 10:03 PM

Weesam - 2016-04-02 10:49 AM

Yay, new challenge. I'm sure it will not come as a surprise to learn I had already picked out my books in anticipation!

Ha ha. Me too. I have a big spreadsheet of all 50 years with the books colour-coded depending on whether I've read them, already own them and/or particularly want to read them for that year. I also keep a copy on my phone for when I'm in a second-hand book shop.


Okay, now I feel inadequate. I just went through the list and said I'll do that one, and that one, and that one. I am now slinking off, hanging my head in shame

Edited by Weesam 2016-04-03 2:08 PM
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dustydigger
Posted 2016-04-06 9:40 AM (#13177 - in reply to #13118)
Subject: Re: The Definitive 1980s SF Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		Ha! Weesam,you will read them all in about a month!.
I am only doing the basic 10 as a challenge,though I will be reading others as bonus books,but not officially. I had quite a hard time with the 70schallenge. So many ''issue'' books,which I am not keen on,plus I had read many of the top books,and locating free copies of some more obscure reads proved difficult. Thank heavens for Open Library!.I have one more book for the 70s challenge to read,and unfortunately I havent managed to read all 12 of the books which may survive Still need to read Butler's Kindred plus PKDs A Scanner Darkly,but that is going to have to be next year.At least I have read 10/12 of the Books that may survive till 22nd century for the 80s challenge.But I have only read 32/145 of the books on the lists!Not very good,is it? Mind you,its still a lot better than the 90s,where I have read a measly 20/136,a measly 15 %! And only 4/12 of the 22nd Century list. I DEFINITELY need this challenge to start to at least scratch at my mountainous TBR lists. Good job the challenge stopped at the 90s,my 21st century reads are rather sparse to say the least.
I am working my way through the Hugos and Nebula award winners,so several of my 80s books are already decided on.Lots of famous titles I want to read,but the books are getting longer now,it may be slow going. But I'll get there in the end!
I guess it will take around another 10 years to catch up on all the old books I want to read. When I look back to 4 years ago when I found WWEnd and started to read SF, after many neglecting decades, I think I have done fantastically well,but it will take time. By time I am 78 I may actually be reading modern up to date books. Wonder what the books of 2026 will be like..........



Edited by dustydigger 2016-04-06 10:08 AM
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dustydigger
Posted 2016-04-06 10:48 AM (#13181 - in reply to #13118)
Subject: Re: The Definitive 1980s SF Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		OK,I have chosen my books. Since in my OCD way I will also be reading award winning SF etc in date order, this is ,for the most part a seriously heavy(including physically at times ! lol) list of reads. Probably fascinating and rewarding,but time consuming. Here's my list of 80s books on the agenda over probably the next year or so
1980:Joan D Vinge - The Snow Queen
1981: John Crowley - Little,Big
1982 : Gene Wolfe - Sword of the Lictor
1882 : Michael Bishop - No Enemy But Time
1983 : C J Cherryh - 40.000 in Gehenna
1984 : Larry Niven - The Integral Trees
1985 : Larry Niven - Footfall
1986 : Pat Murphy - The Falling Woman
1986 : Isaac Asimov - Foundation and Earth
1986 : Joan Slonczewski - A Door into Ocean
1986 : Pat Murphy - The Falling Woman
1986 : David Brin - Heart of the Comet
1987 : Octavia R Butler - Dawn
1987 : Ken Grimwood - Replay
1988 : Elizabeth Ann Scarborough - The Healer's War
1988 : Isaac Asimov - Prelude to Foundation
1989 : Allen Steele - Orbital Decay

Pretty eclectic,interesting and probably absorbing,but I am not going to be able to read all seventeen in 5 months! Even trying for the basic 10,there's no way some of these books will take only two weeks to read! Oh well,can but try. At least the challenge as a whole lasts to the end of Dec 2017. Perhaps I will have finished these by then,and will ignore the 90s challenge? After all have you SEEN the monster tomes from the 90s decade in the context of my phobia of massive wristbreaking tomes???....Domesday Book,Fire Upon the Deep,Green Mars,Blue Mars,Endymion.Game of Thrones,Rise of Endymion,The Sparrow,Cryptonomicon,Darwin's Radio....EEK!

Edited by dustydigger 2016-04-06 10:51 AM
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Weesam
Posted 2016-04-06 2:23 PM (#13184 - in reply to #13118)
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Location: New Zealand		Some good books on your list there, Dusty. I love Replay. Such a fun book. Also Little, Big and The Falling Woman.
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DrNefario
Posted 2016-04-07 7:41 AM (#13198 - in reply to #13118)
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Location: UK		Yes, it was nice to have all those sub-200-page books in the 50s, 60s and early 70s. I'm still stuck on my first really big book of the whole challenge, the 560-page Mote in God's Eye, for 1974 and half way through the 5 decades. I hope to finish it this weekend. I think it's probably at least twice the length of my next longest book. The Masterwork edition of Flowers for Algernon was 310 pages, but in Mote the pages are printed pretty tightly, and there isn't even a new page for a new chapter. I expect I'll have to slow down a bit in the 80s and 90s.
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dustydigger
Posted 2016-04-08 2:49 AM (#13202 - in reply to #13198)
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Location: UK		I really enjoyed the Mote book,and I found it was a fairly quick read,it was smooth and full of dialogue and incident so it went by quickly. I am starting Joan Vinge's The Snow Queen now,and its about 460 pages,but quite small print and full of chunks of expositionso its going much more slowly.,I am reading much slower as I get older somehow.I used to be able to read about 40 pages an hour,now its barely 30,so books take longer.Also now I read more online,scanned books and they are sometimes hard on the eyes too,so reading can be a bit slo.and I can read for shorter periods before the eye strain and back pain kick in! lol.
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dustydigger
Posted 2016-05-06 12:58 PM (#13484 - in reply to #13118)
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Location: UK		Finally completed my 1980 book,Joan Vinge's Snow Queen,which wasnt my cup of tea. Having problems locating books for this challenge,almost none in my library available for the challenge. Of the 8 books I havent read for 1981,4 are not available,and 3 more have waiting lists,so I have no choice but to read G R R Martin's Windhaven,or do a reread of Downbelow Station.
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dustydigger
Posted 2016-05-21 5:56 AM (#13599 - in reply to #13118)
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Location: UK		For 1981 I read G.R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle's Windhaven is a pleasant enough little tale about the descendants of a crashed spaceship on a stormy almost completely sea covered planet. Sea travel is hazardous and slow, and the people on the small islands of the archipelagos have lost all technology over the centuries All there is left is the almost indestructable material of the ships solar wing. This was converted to single person glider rigs, and over the centuries these fliers have been the only way of contact between the islands. But things have deteriorated,the fliers lord it over the non fliers, and keep their privileges to themselves. Till Maris comes along and changes society by challenging the old regime, with greater consequences than she ever intended.

Interesting world building, but rather uninspired characters. it also suffers from being patched together from 3 novellasof varying length and focus.Pleasant but not much more to it as far as I was concerned.
For 1982 I'll be reading Michael Bishop's No Enemy But Time,and for 1983 C J Cherryh's 40,000 in Gehenna.Will try to get both of them for June,to try to catch up with the schedule!
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DrNefario
Posted 2016-05-21 7:48 AM (#13600 - in reply to #13118)
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Location: UK		I'm still way back in the mid-70s myself. Hopefully I should catch up a bit soon. I'm about to finish Man Plus for 1976. I might be on to the 80s by the end of June.
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dustydigger
Posted 2016-05-21 4:20 PM (#13601 - in reply to #13118)
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Location: UK		I really enjoyed Man Plus. Ihave also read Several of the Heechee series,. The first Pohl I read was way back in the 60s. The Space Merchants blew evryone away back them. I may read some Pohl next year. Thank heavens for Open Libray! I have a host of books I would love to read from there! lol. Doubt if I'll ever read past the 1990s,apart from some Hugos,Nebulas and Locus winners I intend to read. I am having too much fun back in the past!
Doc,did you know that there have been an impressive 12000and more views of the 1950s reads forum? Way more than later challenges. It just shows that an awful lot of people are still partisan about the 50s!
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dustydigger
Posted 2016-09-11 4:31 AM (#14299 - in reply to #13118)
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Location: UK		I am nearing the end of my 80s challenge,ready to start 1987 with Ken Greenwood's Replay.then its Scarborough's Healers War for 88,and Finish off with Allan Steele's Orbital Decay. First though I want to nip back and read Gene Wlofe's Sword of the Lictor as a bonus read for 1982.I fell a bit let down by Claw of the Conciliator,since it took time to dawn that the oh so romantically tragic |Severian,who can tell nothing but the truth was an awful lot more flawed and complex that I had assumed! lol. I'm a bit nervous about who Severian will be in the next leg of the journey!
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dustydigger
Posted 2016-10-24 6:33 AM (#14479 - in reply to #13118)
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Location: UK		Well,I finished the enigmatic Sword of the Lictor,amazing but fairly impenetrable for my weak head lol.
I did enjoy Greenwood's Replay,an interesting take on a Groundhog Day scenario
1988's Healer's War was not at all my cup of tea,the fantasy bits were rather minor in this grim tale of a nurse in the Vietnam war who is given a healing amulet by a dying shaman type,and who is trekking through the jungle,then captured by the Vietcong.I finished it with relief
I am ready to start the 1989 title,Allan Steele's Orbital Decay,and want to finish it before I go to hospital on Nov 21st for a TKR. I will then be ready for the Nineties. Maybe the Doc will set up the final part of this fascinating marathon of a challenge in January?
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DrNefario
Posted 2016-10-24 8:32 AM (#14481 - in reply to #13118)
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Location: UK		The 90s Challenge is already there:

https://www.worldswithoutend.com/rollyourown.asp?ryo_id=164

Weesam has already read 20 books. Nobody else has started.

Edited by DrNefario 2016-10-24 8:40 AM
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dustydigger
Posted 2016-10-25 3:53 PM (#14495 - in reply to #14481)
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Location: UK		Hmm,must be going blind,I hadnt noticed it.
I am definitely getting the feeling that our Weesam has some clones who help out,because otherwise who could read so many books!
OK,will get cracking with the 1989 book,Orbital Decay,then,Since I have already finished my first 90s read,.Iain M Banks Use of Weapon(wow what a book) I will join Weesam on the 90s challenge.
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Weesam
Posted 2016-10-25 6:12 PM (#14496 - in reply to #14495)
Subject: Re: The Definitive 1980s SF Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: New Zealand		Ah-huh, you found out my guilty little secret - I have lots and lots of clones to do all my reading for me. Never have to touch a book myself!

Actually, the truth is a lot less interesting. I have a fairly serious heart condition which leads me to spend a lot of time having to sit down, or lying down. Because of this I can easily read a book (or two) in a day. Nothing else to do!

Come to think of it, I wish it was clones.

Welcome to the 90's challenge. I would be very happy to see someone else there. It's a bit embarrassing when I've finished everything and no one else has started. Makes me feel like a freak.
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DrNefario
Posted 2017-07-07 7:15 AM (#15972 - in reply to #13118)
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Location: UK		I finished Deserted Cities of the Heart by Lewis Shiner for 1988 a few days ago, leaving just one more book for this decade before I'm on the home straight.

In one of those odd thematic coincidences, it was my second book about the Mayans following 1986's The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy, which I think I enjoyed a bit more.
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DrNefario
Posted 2017-08-29 11:01 AM (#16226 - in reply to #13118)
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Location: UK		And that's the 80s finished, with the slightly disappointing Orbital Decay by Allen Steele. The future 2016, as seen from 1989, is exactly the same as 1989 in every way except that we've built a few more things in space. I mean, sure, every SF novel is really about its own time, but you at least pretend to predict a few trends, surely? Still using audio cassettes and VHS tapes. To listen to the same music and watch the same TV. Still a Soviet Union and an East Germany.

Anyway, onwards to the 90s. It looks like I might even be able to finish my 50-year mission next year sometime.
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