Decent Book Clubs for Sci-Fi Fans?

willyhill writes "I'm a Sci-Fi and Fantasy book nut, but in the last few years I've found it more and more difficult to find the time to read. Contrary to what most people would think, I actually have a hard time finding books, rather than cuddling up with them. In reality, I don't have time to mess around at my local Barnes & Noble and browse books, and I find it dicey and expensive to do the same at Amazon or other online retailers. I was looking at a magazine the other day and I found an advert for the Science Fiction Book Club. While my experience with CD clubs and the like in the past has not been entirely positive, I was prepared to give it a shot given the fact that it would be less expensive than Amazon in the long run. The problem was that their selection is not exactly grand. Having read the Simmons Hyperion Cantos, for example, I was ready to give Ilium a go, but I could only find its sequel. How do other readers get their hands on Sci-Fi books? I tried Googling for book clubs and the like, but there's too much static out there, mostly caused by Oprah. Any suggestions would be appreciated!"

Comments

The library.

[Anonymous Coward]

Check your city library. I know, it's not as fancy as a book club or a CD, but that's where most people used to go to find books.

Re:The library.

[Anonymous Coward]

The "real" problem is that people like you are so quick to condemn other people or put labels on them like 'lazy'. Whether or not you can believe it, there are people in this world who are too busy to kill an hour wasting time in a book store. That person would rather spend the free hour actually reading a good book. Just answer the question or ignore it. I'm sick of little twirps like you insulting the premise of the questioner because his question is about a problem that you personally don't have.

Your comment shouldn't be marked insightful, it should be marked ignorant.

Laziness is an inherent human attribute that has caused all kinds of great innovation. Have you ever used a microwave? Well gawlly! You're lazy! Everyone knows that anything worth eating is worth spending at least an hour to cook!

google minus oprah

[sonamchauhan]

> too much static out there, mostly caused by Oprah.

http://www.google.com/search?q=book+club+-oprah

Tor Books

[bball99]

Tor regular sends me free SciFi/Fantasy books for free (you have to register but Tor doesn't spam you)...

kudos to another /. poster for cluing me in on this deal...

Marc Andreessen

[buccaneer9]

The best list I've seen in the past year was the one published by Marc Andreessen. I've worked my way through almost all of these now and, aside from one or two clunkers, its a stellar list of books and authors I had not heard of. http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/top_10_science_.html

Its because you exhausted the pool of good books

[mcdg]

Imagine a pile of 100 best sci-fi books ever, and a new one is out once every 3 years or so. When you are just getting into sci-fi as a teenager, you can be assured to have a big pile of great sci-fi to read ahead of you.

As you finish it all, it becomes harder and harder to find new good ones, which gives the impression that "today sci-fi is not as good as the years past". Its only the impression, because you wen't thru 50 years best sci-fi in maybe 5-6 years.

Now you have to wait 2-3 years to discover another gem, while before you could have just went to any "best 100 list" and picked any one up.

My recent great finds: The bright of the sky: Entire and the Rose (can't even begin to describe it), Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space universe, Commonwealth Saga + Dreaming Void by Peter Hamilton.

My recent disappointments: Neal Asher. Tried to read Gridlinked, could not even finish.