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Ursula K. LeGuin is certainly the greatest author I've ever read by a wide margin. But that's not saying much coming from me because even though I own seven bookcases full of books, I've only read about a quarter of them and 90% of the ones I have read are comic books. If you can name a better writer than LeGuin I'm eager to learn. Doesn't have to be speculative fiction. Authors I've already read that I don't consider as good as LeGuin (this is not an exhaustive list and it is not ranked in any order): Kurt Vonnegut (probably best overall after LeGuin) China Meiville Terry Pratchett William Goldman Alastair Reynolds Stephen King David Foster Wallace Orson Scott Card (though some of his short fiction comes drat close) Michael Chabon Steven Millhauser Stephen Baxter Stanislaw Lem Fritz Lieber Herman Wouk Tad Williams Lloyd Alexander Brian Jaques Jack Vance Norman Spinrad Harlan Ellison Frank Herbert Jasper Fforde Isaac Asimov Iain M. Banks Arthur C. Clarke Phillip K. Dick Robert A. Heinlein Robert E. Howard John C. Wright E. E. Smith J. K. Rowling N. K. Jemisin P. G. Wodehouse J. R. R. Tolkien Marion Zimmer Bradley Vernor Vinge Ayn Rand Applewhite fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Feb 4, 2019 |
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Feb 4, 2019 13:07
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Laszlo Krasznahorkai Elfriede Jelinek LF Celine Thomas Pynchon Italo Calvino Mario Vargas Llosa Julio Cortazar Roberto Bolano Umberto Eco... I could go on for hours, really And I think Lem is better than LeGuin. She’s still cool though
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Feb 4, 2019 13:12
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Man, I dunno. Any challenger would have to outdo both The Disposessed and the original Earthsea trilogy, just for starters... pretty tall order right there.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:13
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Applewhite posted:Orson Scott Card (though some of his short fiction comes drat close) That pedophile doesn't even deserve to be on an also-ran list.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:13
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:Laszlo Krasznahorkai I've heard of Thomas Pynchon and Umberto Eco off that list. Any particular books of theirs you would recommend? Also pls elaborate on the other authors. Why you think they're good and, if you can, why you believe they surpass LeGuin.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:14
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super sweet best pal posted:That pedophile doesn't even deserve to be on an also-ran list. Oh is he a confirmed pedo now? I had my suspicions because of all the naked children throughout his books but I was hoping he was just oblivious or that I was being overly suspicious. Anyway separating the author from his work, some of his stories, especially his short stories are pretty drat good.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:17
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Groke posted:Man, I dunno. Also The Left Hand of Darkness.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:19
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I did a book report on catwings in elementary school
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Feb 4, 2019 13:21
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Applewhite posted:I've heard of Thomas Pynchon and Umberto Eco off that list. Any particular books of theirs you would recommend? Also pls elaborate on the other authors. Why you think they're good and, if you can, why you believe they surpass LeGuin.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:22
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Milo and POTUS posted:I did a book report on catwings in elementary school poo poo I still have to read Catwings. Thx for reminding me.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:23
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tetsuo posted:people say they read them so that they sound smart but no one actually makes it through their impenetrable garbage hth I had a similar experience with Infinite Jest. That poo poo was exhausting and I never finished it, but I really want to finish it just to claim the street cred.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:24
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Applewhite posted:Oh is he a confirmed pedo now? I had my suspicions because of all the naked children throughout his books but I was hoping he was just oblivious or that I was being overly suspicious. I know nothing beyond the facts of all those naked children you mention, and the man's ardent opposition to gay rights. I mean, he was on the board of the so-called "National Organization for Marriage". If that's not a huge waving red flag I don't know what is.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:25
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Hilary Mantel. Try Beyond Black (a magical realism novel about a medium with a torrid personal life) or A Place of Greater Safety (a historical fiction novel that retells the leadup to the French revolution). Wolf Hall is also very good. I don't really rate LeGuin that much though, so I'm probably not your best weathervane for what will be "better" than her. I also haven't read her work beyond Earthsea, so maybe I'm missing something. Have you read The City and the City by Mieville? That's my favourite of his, and really rises above the bar set by some of his other work. Oh! Virginia Woolf. Her best novels are Orlando (a comedy about an immortal who undergoes an unexpected change of gender and must adapt to the changing centuries) or To the Lighthouse (a sublimely naturalistic novel about a painter visiting the estate of an estranged family). Not much happens in To the Lighthouse, but it doesn't happen in a very beautifully written way.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:26
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Groke posted:I know nothing beyond the facts of all those naked children you mention, and the man's ardent opposition to gay rights. I mean, he was on the board of the so-called "National Organization for Marriage". If that's not a huge waving red flag I don't know what is. Yeah it's not looking good for him, but I'm really hoping maybe... just MAYBE he'll turn out to be just a massive rear end in a top hat instead of an irredeemable monster.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:27
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Android Blues posted:Hilary Mantel. Try Beyond Black (a magical realism novel about a medium with a torrid personal life) or A Place of Greater Safety (a historical fiction novel that retells the leadup to the French revolution). Wolf Hall is also very good. The City & The City is in my queue but I'm reading Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds as a palate cleanser having just finished Embassytown a short time ago. Earthsea is not what I would consider LeGuin's best work. I'd judge her by The Left Hand of Darkness or The Dispossessed as closer to her high water mark, though I'm still working my way through her oeuvre so maybe she outdid herself somewhere down the line. Applewhite fucked around with this message at 13:34 on Feb 4, 2019 |
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Feb 4, 2019 13:32
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Applewhite posted:I had a similar experience with Infinite Jest. That poo poo was exhausting and I never finished it, but I really want to finish it just to claim the street cred. nobody said you have to finish the book to say you've read them
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Feb 4, 2019 13:36
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Jose posted:nobody said you have to finish the book to say you've read them I mean, I still listed him in the OP because I believe I got through a representative sample of his work, but I won't claim to have read Infinite Jest until I've actually finished it.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:38
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Applewhite posted:Oh is he a confirmed pedo now? I had my suspicions because of all the naked children throughout his books but I was hoping he was just oblivious or that I was being overly suspicious. Guy's written stories where preteen girls seduce the protagonist or are raped. I'm pretty confident in calling him one. Though even without the  , Treasure Box would still be one of the worst books I've ever read.
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Feb 4, 2019 13:53
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:
So could Eco, if you got him started.
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Feb 4, 2019 14:01
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super sweet best pal posted:Guy's written stories where preteen girls seduce the protagonist or are raped. I'm pretty confident in calling him one. Though even without the Gross. I haven't read either of those. I've mostly stuck to Ender's Game and his Maps in A Mirror collection which, as far as I can recall, doesn't really feature much preteen sex if any. The Memory of Earth had some though and was also pretty bad in general. I never bothered with the sequels. His full-length novels besides Ender's Game don't seem particularly good. E: actually The Worthing Saga was a full-length novel of his that I would consider really excellent. Anyway this is not the "which authors are pedophiles" thread so please let's not dwell on the topic. Applewhite fucked around with this message at 14:09 on Feb 4, 2019 |
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Feb 4, 2019 14:07
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tetsuo posted:people say they read them so that they sound smart but no one actually makes it through their impenetrable garbage hth Name of the Rose is an easy read, nothing impenetrable about it. Foucault's Pendulum was easy to read too but I hated it. However, I enjoyed The Island of the Day Before which was kind of more demanding. But I was like 15 at the time. So Umberto Eco is actually quite penetrable but probably not that good. I want to re-read Name of the Rose one day though.
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Feb 4, 2019 14:09
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super sweet best pal posted:Guy's written stories where preteen girls seduce the protagonist or are raped. I'm pretty confident in calling him one. Though even without the While I'm certain Card is a nasty piece of work, open pedophilia (targeted at young girls) is kind of de rigeur in retro horror novels. A bunch of them use it to establish a sense of monstrosity or whatever, while casually clearly attempting to titillate the reader with the prospect of a sexual child. Like, Beast House by Richard Laymon has an evil little girl who loves to have sex with the monster, just to use one example. This is not to exonerate Card, but more to point out that pedo poo poo and racism are loving rife when you dive back into the horror genre pre-2000, and it gets worse the further back you go. A lot of fantasy and sci-fi is guilty of the same, but because of the genre's implicit license to shock, horror writers seemed to get away with it much more easily. In other words, Card was just the veiled pedophile who achieved success and stayed relevant into the 21st century, while his peers in writing genre fiction about child exploitation mostly withered in obscurity.
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Feb 4, 2019 14:13
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The Word for World is Forest is one of the best sf novellas I’ve read Connie Willis is a really good lady author imo too, To Say Nothing of the Dog is one of the most fun books I’ve read and a real genre bender
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Feb 4, 2019 14:38
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Le Guin is fine and all, but like half of the authors you listed are at least as good so I'm not going to bother trying to offer more names. 
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Feb 4, 2019 14:43
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Nurge posted:Le Guin is fine and all, but like half of the authors you listed are at least as good so I'm not going to bother trying to offer more names. I'm not looking for someone "as good." I'm looking for someone better. If, indeed, such a person even exists.
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Feb 4, 2019 14:53
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:Laszlo Krasznahorkai This is a continued list of authors that aren't as good as LeGuin right? Bolano's 666 especially was 
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Feb 4, 2019 14:59
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Lol if you don't prefer Calvino to anyone mentioned ITT. Also Capek. Not that I care what other people like to read, I just like to laugh.
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Feb 4, 2019 15:14
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Jerry Cotton posted:Lol if you don't prefer Calvino to anyone mentioned ITT. How far are you in Cosmicomics? Is it still gripping?
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Feb 4, 2019 15:18
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super sweet best pal posted:That pedophile doesn't even deserve to be on an also-ran list. Same with Marion Zimmer Bradley. :/ But to answer your question op, I think LeGuin is a master. I would also add Alice Sheldon/James Tiptree to the list. She was actually a close friend of LeGuin who wrote “The Screwfly Solution” and “The Last Flight of Dr Ain.” Also a story where it turns out that humans are literally just the equivalent of sperm cells for an alien species.
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Feb 4, 2019 15:20
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Captain Jesus posted:Name of the Rose is an easy read, nothing impenetrable about it. Foucault's Pendulum was easy to read too but I hated it. However, I enjoyed The Island of the Day Before which was kind of more demanding. But I was like 15 at the time. I got about half way through Foucault's Pendulum then I got tired of reading giant lists.
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Feb 4, 2019 15:21
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7IdqkaGyU8
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Feb 4, 2019 15:23
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Labes for days posted:Same with Marion Zimmer Bradley. :/ It's not a list of good authors (though many of them are quite good), just a list of authors whose names are in my field of vision that I know I've read. Anyway Mists of Avalon is pretty ok so far. I don't see why you'd need to call her out specifically. She's certainly not terrible. V. E. Schwab, author of A Darker Shade of Magic is what I would consider terrible. Just... just awful.
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Feb 4, 2019 15:29
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Margaret Atwood can write prose so good that it can distract from the novel, so depends what you're looking for really. Gabriel Garcia Marquez also writes wonderful things (those ants) and probably gets my vote although some of his stuff is a bit samey.
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Feb 4, 2019 15:33
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I have to be honest, I recently read the MAD magazine reboot and found it good! I was alseep in a public place aftwerwards, though. I wonder if I farted. Probably.
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Feb 4, 2019 15:34
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[quote="Applewhite" post="492276075" Anyway Mists of Avalon is pretty ok so far. I don't see why you'd need to call her out specifically. She's certainly not terrible. [/quote] No you missed the point of my comment...she was a pedophile who 1. molested her own kids and 2. did nothing to stop her pedo husband from molesting their kids and others. That sort of ruined her for me, even though I’m big into SCA too and she was a founding member. So I added something about Sheldon because as you said, not the authors that are pedos thread. And Sheldon is good and you should read her.
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Feb 4, 2019 15:41
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the only good author is a dead author
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Feb 4, 2019 15:45
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Bonaventure posted:the only good author is a dead author Ursula K. LeGuin is dead.
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Feb 4, 2019 15:46
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yikes! ghostwriter!
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Feb 4, 2019 15:46
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What, me worry?
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Feb 4, 2019 15:51
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For LeGuin I’ve only read the Dispossessed and did enjoy it. For all time best sci-fi, gotta throw GRRM into the mix at least as an honorable mention. Tuf Voyaging, Sandkings, and Song for Lya are all top tier.
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Feb 4, 2019 16:17
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