I finished up Neil Gaiman's Stardust
shortly after I posted that I had begun reading it. This fairy tale for grown-ups was a delightful read and I highly recommend it.
Last year we lost a giant in the world of sci-fi -- Sir Arthur C. Clarke. You may know him from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey
, but I fell in love with his Rama books ages ago. The first, Rendezvous with Rama
, which was written back in the early 70's, is a classic. And while it was left quite open ended, it looked like there would be no more Rama books. When he began writing more in the late 80's, I read each and every one eagerly and have re-read them several time.
I finished up the first book, reading my old 1973 copy which I purchased used at some point in time:
Okay, this photo of the cover is from wikipedia and I had to show it to you, because it is so psychedelically awesome, is it not?
I've started the second book -- Rama II
-- and it is quite different from the first book. Why? Well this book was written with Gentry Lee whose style tends more toward that of Kim Stanley Robinson (who wrote the awesome Mars books), and while it might not be as good as the first book on some levels, his ability to involve you with the characters satisfies. Definitely worth a read if you are a sci-fi fan!