This has to be one of my favorite channels on the tube. No intros, no "like and subscribe", no script and no frills. Just straight up great content, solid suggestions and well opinionated criticism. We don't always see eye to eye - I kinda liked reading THE Liu Cixin Trilogy in pre-netflx times - but it's thanks to your channel if I read some of the best books I ever read. Blindsight in particular, that book lingers. A big thank you from Italy, keep it up!
Something cool that I noticed while looking at the goodreads book statistics on moderan is that on July 8th, 84 people added it to their want to read shelf after you initially talked about it in an earlier video released on the same date. The average number of people who added the book was 3 people a day. After figuring this out I got curious and did more research and learned that this same phenomenon has happened with many other relatively obscure books. Just think it is great how much your videos affect what people read and how obscure books are able to get more attention and praise because of your videos. Keep making great videos, your recommendations (Namely Jack Vance and Silverberg) have never lead me astray and you are my favorite science fiction channel on yt.
The Inverted World blew me away. I had to sit and think about it for a few hours when I finished it. A slap in the face. Christopher Priest was a gift.
Really nice guy too, emailed him just to appreciate his work and as he was moving house ( he went to Scotland) he very kindly sent me some of his books that he signed for me, at no request on my part. RIP Christopher.
@@tableofcontentslsad I emailed Chris a few times too when he sold me a few first edition copies of his novels. I felt like I could have continued the correspondence, but didn't. Very sweet guy.
@@pwcinla I just checked my shelves because I couldnt remember which books he sent me and it was actually a first edition (USA) of Inverted world that he signed to me. I never checked nor cared about editions to be honest, as long as the words were on the page :)
Ah, the journey to the southern tip in The Inverted World. It's definitely something that stays in your mind. The first thing I did was reread those few pages in the middle of the book. A really unique moment.
I'm about halfway through Priest's The Affirmation, which is SF... just. A guy writes his autobiography to try to understand himself, but then realises he has to fictionalise the narrative to get at his 'truth'. Then the next section IS that narrative, which is written as an alternative world (though still Earth) with the characters from the first part now in the guise of other people ... Beautifully written (thankfully, because the narrative can be a little slow) it could have been written by Borges or Marquez. My first Priest, and it now seems I have to move on to Inverted World 👍
I really appreciate you reading these books and doing incredible reviews on them. I now buy books without a second thought based your recommendation. Your backdrops are fantastic, also.
Inverted World was one of the if not the first SF books I read as a teenager and the plot stuck with me so much that 15 years later I googled furiously for two days to try to find the book about the train that always tries to follow the optimum. So good to see you enjoyed it as much. It has a similar importance in my life as A Fire Upon the Deep has on yours I think, in terms of getting me into SF.
I absolutely love the format the locations and the visuals of this channel. Please keep up the great work. I recently read The Inverted World. I wasn't that into it at the time, but looking back I think you're right about the technical aspects of it. I'll have to check out the others on the list.
Great selection of books inverted world was one of my favourite reads of last year been reading priests work in chronological order really love his writing . Moderan is one I’ll be looking out for . And I just so happen to have acquired the female man last week . Great video thanks Matt.
I read He Died With His Eyes Open at your recommendation and I loved it. I've also never read crime novels before. Wow. The dialogue is just astounding. And the tape sections are beautiful. Tragic and realistic, funny and with really great, fallible characters. I highly recommend it.
So glad Moderan made the list, I picked it up based on your review and it was such a lovely read. Some of the best prose I've read in a very long time. Enjoyed every page.
I had had a bunch to say; how much I felt for your plight, trying to read a heavy, chewy book in a setting not wholly conducive to it. I am a mood reader, no matter how much Gurney Halleck chastises me for it. I had been going to spend a lot of time empathizing with you. . . But that was not what your review was about; you didn't dnf it, you didn't begrudgingly half-ass your way through it. You knuckled down and, despite all distractions, put in the quality time to really read and assess it! Your determination and skills are as complete as your reviews! They require nothing else- including my attempts at empathy. You are better off without my comments, my faint praises. . . Although I really did appreciate the video. Lovely framing.
Humble recommendation for crime fiction: Gorky Park, followed by Polar Star and Red Square. These first three are just magnificent novels, and they conform a highly satisfying, extremely well-written trilogy. I don't like at all where the author, Martin Cruz Smith, took the series with the fourth installment, Havana Bay, but I must admit that it is well written because Smith just cannot write badly. The rest of the books in this series are good but, in my opinion, none of them reaches the heights of Gorky Park and its two companions. If you go for them, avoid the film: not a bad effort, but chopped and incapable of truly showing, in a different medium, the expressive richness, the serious historical value, and the emotional pull of the novel.
Funnily enough, picked up a copy of Female Man the other day, and Moderan a couple of weeks back. Inverted World is rightly seen as a classic, excellent. I did find the ending super abrupt. I recommend "On" by Adam Roberts as a companion read, there are interesting parallels. Cheers Matt. 👍
I can’t remember in which video you spoke of Asimov, but you mentioned how he had written many books of nonfiction and you were curious about them. Yes, he wrote a lot of nonfiction. He wrote essays in many periodicals, and these were often collected into books, kind of a “fix-up” nonfiction book. The subjects range from physics, biology, technology to history, and they are fantastic. Asimov was great at explaining complex ideas to the layperson. I recommend these nonfiction books over his fiction; and I realize that I am probably pissing folks off for saying that. I’ve learned so much more about history through his books. In the book about the biology of the human body, he starts off by explaining how life evolved and then carries those ideas into describing the different biological systems of the body. You see how the underlying principles of biological evolution carried over into our bodies. It was brilliant. Even though the books would not have any recent discoveries in the various topics, they are nonetheless accurate and provide a well-written foundation for readers.
short question. i am kinda new to the sci-fi genre and love your videos. I would love if you made a video explianing some terms that are often named and used in your videos for new people to the genre to fully understand them, maybe even explain some tropes as well. Things like (space-opera, literary sci-fi/ genre-fiction) whatever, especially for viewers whose first language is not enlglish this would help a lot. !
I hope you won't mind if I answer a bit :) Literary fiction is more preoccupied with the 'art' of writing, think: lush (or deliberately simple) prose, a more thought-out structure, experiments etc. Most classics are literary fiction (ofc it exists today too!) Genre fiction is usually written in a more straight-forward way, less poetic and it focuses more on the action and concepts than on the medium of literature itself. Genre fiction books also follow the characteristics / tropes / specific elements of that specific genre (for better or worse), and there are different genres: science fiction, fantasy, romance, thrillers etc, each with their own characteristics. I'd say it's more geared towards entertainment. Like an art film vs a Hollywood blockbuster Of course, there is overlap between the two 'worlds' / approaches (literary sci-fi being a more 'literary' version of sci fi - so with a more thought-out prose, not just action action action). Often it depends from book to book (Wikipedia has this to say: '''As opposed to genre fiction, literary fiction refers to the realistic fiction of human character, or more broadly, "all serious prose fiction outside the market genres", the genres being for example science fiction, fantasy, thrillers or Westerns.'') A video would be wonderful too though! :D
Crime Fiction - I’d recommend Jim Thompson. The Getaway or The Killer Inside Me. WOW. Asked a question in your previous review about Tanith Lee. Give it a look.
Great video as always, I'm really intrigued by Moderan. I just put out my own top 10 SF video and I'm excited to see how it evolves as I accelerate my reading in the genre.
I read Inverted World at your behest and must thank you for that. Easily my favorite book of the year so far. It really was the most perfect pacing I've ever encountered. And Moderan...MODERAN! WHOOEE! ZOWEE! and WUP! WUP! I'm reading it now, and boy oh boy is a very particular flavor that I'm certain many people would hate. I adore it so far. The writing style reminds me of if Cordwainer was writing from the perspective of Gully Foyle from The Stars My Destination.
On your recommendation I'm going to read 'He died with his eyes open' I read his 'The State of Denmark' which has been compared favourably toto '!984' and really enjoyed it. Thanks for you wonderful channel : )
Oh goodness, the film 'Death Watch' (1980) was something I saw in a film festival, and it was (I think loosely) based on The Unsleeping Eye, and I didn't know! I... liked the film, but it was a midnight watch when I was young and festival-addled, so I won't stand by that. I may watch it again if I can find it. But the book sounds much more interesting, in any case. Just a surprise to stumble on your description and have weird old film flashbacks!
Inverted World is a breathtaking mind-bender. I love how Priest uses simple, clean prose to create such a complex world. I'd highly recommend Priest's The Affirmation too. It's another mind-bender, with a Mobius strip narrative about identity, depression and self-reflection. And The Prestige blows the movie version away. The fact that it's won both literary awards and SF awards says it all. Priest was one of the most underrated writers of his generation.
Derek Raymond: the bit about saving the infantalized guy's poop in little jars was just so unexpected and mondo, and I could never get enough of the narrator's anguished soul-searching
I was travelling in Brussels 2 days ago, and found a copy of Priest's Inverted world " I had reached the age of six hundred and fifty miles " It's beautiful
The Unsleeping Eye was made into a movie in 1980: La mort en direct, AKA Deathwatch. Directed by the great Bertrand Tavernier, with a killer cast: Romy Schneider, Harvey Keitel, Max von Sydow, Harry Dean Stanton... Definitely worth a look!
My copy of Inverted World had an excellent afterword by John Clute which I would highly recommend for anyone who was left with their head spinning. It really helped cement the book as one of my favourites.
I've read the first and last ones here on your recommendation, both excellent reads. I urge you to try Attanasio (Radix or Last Legends of Earth), who I believe you mentioned in passing once but didn't get around to. Great channel btw, you're very good at this. 👌
“Female Man” is a difficult read, and the stylizing Russ used in the book reflects a kind of “F you, I’m going to write what I want” trait that I suspect was part of her character. I notice that attitude, which I see as courageous, in a lot of her work, even the works that are not as modernistic stylized as “The Female Man.” What strikes me in “Female Man” is that Russ describes a scene in a comical fashion that makes you chuckle, and then it hits you that she is describing a situation where the character is a prisoner of a misogynistic dystopia, and that this is not just fiction, but our reality. You realize this isn’t a comedy, this isn’t science fiction - this is horror. I’ve never read an author who could transform comedy to horror. I agree, it is a work of art. “We Who Are About To …” is a good book. “Female Man” is something else.
Hi there! ¿Do you know that it is an adaptation of "Katherine Mortenhoe" made by a french film director, Bertrand Tavernier? It´s called "Dethwatch" (original title: "La mort en direct". Best regards from Argentina.
I just read The Female Man on your recommendation. As you suggested, it's a difficult and disjointed read, but I took the author's advice and refrained from using its perplexities as a spur to negative judgement. instead, I let the plot difficulties/absence of plot take care of themselves and allowed the language and emotion to carry me forward. It's an angry book and I (male) recognised many of the outrages the characters/author shout against; I really understood and felt this anger quite viscerally. I read it in a sitting even though at times I was very confused. I rate it as a very good book but I'm not yet sure why. A very interesting experience.
I remember reading that Joanna Russ made an interesting observation about Leguin’s Left Hand of Darkness. LHoD has a species of humanoid that are gender fluid whereby they are sometimes biologically male, sometimes biologically female, and sometimes biologically neutral. The book refers to the biologically neutral with the male pronouns. Russ asked why didn’t Leguin use the female pronouns. I forget Leguin’s response. I wish a version of LHoD was published that contained two versions: one male, one female.
In the preface to that book in box set of her Hainish stories, she says that she thought the default pronoun in English was “he” or something. Idk if that’s the response to Russ
It's been a while since I read it, but the book follows the diplomat who, in spite of all of his qualifications, really struggles with the notion of gender neutral. In his mind the companion/guide he hangs around with is male and he gets irrationally angry at signs of femininity or what he sees as classic female personality traits. So I thought that's why the male pronoun was used, because people tend to view the male as the default and the female as the Other.
As I understand it, le Guin first wrote a response defending her use of "he" because it was the default gender-neutral pronoun. Later, she wrote a much more in depth analysis of this issue, pretty much saying What the heck was I thinking, and teasing the issue out a lot more. It's a very interesting article and worth your time - it's le Guin after all. But it's a while since I read it - hope I'm remembering correctly.
she thought it was the default like ‘mankind’ is. also she said other pronouns were too awkward. i think she said the greater neutral times of the monthly cycle was more difficult than the female. so she gave up and just used he, but later had doubts. same as the rest of us basically. 🎉
When you rate Inverted World so highly, an amazing book by the now late lamented Christopher Priest, then it really wants me to read the other books you recommend that I haven't read yet. Awesome.
Hey man based on your recommendation I read , A fire upon the deep, and absolutely loved it!! Can you tell me if it’s worth reading the prequel? If you haven’t read it , cool no biggie.
From memory, I believe Matt is also a fan of A Deepness in the Sky. It's also well-regarded generally. So, for my unqualified opinion, I'd say it's worth a shot if you loved your time with AFUTD.
Some readers are put off by Christopher Priest's ice cool tone, but I like it. If you like inverted World, check out the controversial Fugue for a Darkening Island, & others like Indoctrinaire, The Space Machine, The Prestige, etc... I'll have to look up D.G. Compton as well.
Great to see old favourites of mine I've championed on Outlaw Bookseller and at work for decades. As for 'Inverted World', wait until you get to 'The Affirmation' and 'The Glamour'.
I think I'm the only one who didn’t like Inverted World 😭 I haven’t given up on Christopher Priest though. The Affirmation intrigues me so will probably try that one next.
He Died with His Eyes Open- on my TBR The Female Man-also on my TBR Moderan-I’m 2/3s through it and loving it’s quirky voice and bizarre world-building (reminds me stylistically of Attanasio’s Radix) The Unsleeping Eye-read it, liked it, maybe not as much as you did Inverted World-read it, loved it but the end felt undercooked to me.
I couldn't agree more regarding Christopher Priest's Inverted World. It held me all the way, and occupied my thoughts for days afterwards. I can't remember if you've read The Prestige by the same author, but that one for me was even more extraordinary, and even better than Christopher Nolan's film, which is excellent.
Love your reviews, such a great range of recommendations. Been meaning to read The Female Man, and this seals the deal. Look to Windward is the Culture book you should give a try. That is the most ambitious, written in reflection on Iraq War. It’s not very tight, but so what. Excession is not a perfect narrative or character study either, but the ship mind concept and humor is also much better to me than The Player of Games. Another anti war modern fantasy book you should check out is The Heroes, by Joe Abercrombie. He is very funny and the characterization is top notch.
Wow, Dude(!), you've got three NYRBs on there, one of which I absolutely loved -- the Priest -- and one I hated -- the Compton -- and one I haven't gotten around to yet. I've got to revisit the Compton book because I absolutely could not stand it and and hate-read the last two thirds of the thing -- ? -- .
Derek Raymond is brilliant, he really conveys the utter sordidness of murder/UK crime in general. Of his books I've finished, they read very much as a lament for a pre-war Britain's values, the moral and physical decay is everywhere, in every class and institution in society. Read the first three of the Factory series, about to read I Was Dora Suarez; with how brutal and cynical they were I'm almost scared, apparently it's even darker.
@@Bookpilled Just finished it last night, I can confirm it definitely is, made me feel nauseous at some points. The high literary moments you mentioned are particularly beautiful and sombre in this one. Would highly recommend.
I have enjoyed practically all of your book reviews, so I bought five of your top recommendations, and... I wasn't impressed by any of them. How is it possible that two SF-lovers with a similar outlook on life can have so different taste? The first two I read were "A Fire Opon the Deep" and "City". What is it with you and talking dogs?
![Chino Pacas - Modo Capone (with Drake & Fuerza Regida) [Video Oficial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zjv8TQ0gBkg/mqdefault.jpg)
This has to be one of my favorite channels on the tube. No intros, no "like and subscribe", no script and no frills. Just straight up great content, solid suggestions and well opinionated criticism. We don't always see eye to eye - I kinda liked reading THE Liu Cixin Trilogy in pre-netflx times - but it's thanks to your channel if I read some of the best books I ever read. Blindsight in particular, that book lingers.
A big thank you from Italy, keep it up!
Clicked so fast I hurt my finger 😂
Facts lol
Ditt...owe.
Something cool that I noticed while looking at the goodreads book statistics on moderan is that on July 8th, 84 people added it to their want to read shelf after you initially talked about it in an earlier video released on the same date. The average number of people who added the book was 3 people a day. After figuring this out I got curious and did more research and learned that this same phenomenon has happened with many other relatively obscure books. Just think it is great how much your videos affect what people read and how obscure books are able to get more attention and praise because of your videos. Keep making great videos, your recommendations (Namely Jack Vance and Silverberg) have never lead me astray and you are my favorite science fiction channel on yt.
Thank you. Helping boost these people's legacies is one of my favorite parts of running this channel.
The Inverted World blew me away. I had to sit and think about it for a few hours when I finished it. A slap in the face. Christopher Priest was a gift.
Yes, he will be greatly missed.
Really nice guy too, emailed him just to appreciate his work and as he was moving house ( he went to Scotland) he very kindly sent me some of his books that he signed for me, at no request on my part. RIP Christopher.
@@tableofcontentslsad I emailed Chris a few times too when he sold me a few first edition copies of his novels. I felt like I could have continued the correspondence, but didn't. Very sweet guy.
@@pwcinla I just checked my shelves because I couldnt remember which books he sent me and it was actually a first edition (USA) of Inverted world that he signed to me. I never checked nor cared about editions to be honest, as long as the words were on the page :)
Priest is someone that is slowly becoming one of my favorites. He deserved a lot more credit than he received when he was alive.
Ah, the journey to the southern tip in The Inverted World. It's definitely something that stays in your mind. The first thing I did was reread those few pages in the middle of the book. A really unique moment.
I'm about halfway through Priest's The Affirmation, which is SF... just. A guy writes his autobiography to try to understand himself, but then realises he has to fictionalise the narrative to get at his 'truth'. Then the next section IS that narrative, which is written as an alternative world (though still Earth) with the characters from the first part now in the guise of other people ... Beautifully written (thankfully, because the narrative can be a little slow) it could have been written by Borges or Marquez. My first Priest, and it now seems I have to move on to Inverted World 👍
Thanks Matt, great vid. Excellent tree
I really appreciate you reading these books and doing incredible reviews on them.
I now buy books without a second thought based your recommendation.
Your backdrops are fantastic, also.
Inverted World was one of the if not the first SF books I read as a teenager and the plot stuck with me so much that 15 years later I googled furiously for two days to try to find the book about the train that always tries to follow the optimum. So good to see you enjoyed it as much. It has a similar importance in my life as A Fire Upon the Deep has on yours I think, in terms of getting me into SF.
I love how most everything you read is older, mostly unknown stuff.
Thank you for these reviews, I will have to check out Chris Bunch and Christopher Priest now...
I love this channel. Always bringing new books to my attention with such compelling descriptions. Thanks again🙏
Just picked up Inverted World recently. After watching this it’s going straight to the top of my “read next” list
Thank you. You’ve turned me onto some great stories and have helped make reading fun again.
I absolutely love the format the locations and the visuals of this channel. Please keep up the great work. I recently read The Inverted World. I wasn't that into it at the time, but looking back I think you're right about the technical aspects of it. I'll have to check out the others on the list.
Great selection of books inverted world was one of my favourite reads of last year been reading priests work in chronological order really love his writing . Moderan is one I’ll be looking out for . And I just so happen to have acquired the female man last week . Great video thanks Matt.
I read He Died With His Eyes Open at your recommendation and I loved it. I've also never read crime novels before.
Wow. The dialogue is just astounding. And the tape sections are beautiful. Tragic and realistic, funny and with really great, fallible characters. I highly recommend it.
So glad Moderan made the list, I picked it up based on your review and it was such a lovely read. Some of the best prose I've read in a very long time. Enjoyed every page.
i got it in the amazon bucket 🎉
Death Watch (1980) was the film adaption of The Unsleeping Eye.
I had had a bunch to say; how much I felt for your plight, trying to read a heavy, chewy book in a setting not wholly conducive to it. I am a mood reader, no matter how much Gurney Halleck chastises me for it. I had been going to spend a lot of time empathizing with you. . . But that was not what your review was about; you didn't dnf it, you didn't begrudgingly half-ass your way through it. You knuckled down and, despite all distractions, put in the quality time to really read and assess it! Your determination and skills are as complete as your reviews!
They require nothing else- including my attempts at empathy.
You are better off without my comments, my faint praises. . .
Although I really did appreciate the video.
Lovely framing.
I will take this as I did not offend.
Good.
Never my goal.
Humble recommendation for crime fiction: Gorky Park, followed by Polar Star and Red Square. These first three are just magnificent novels, and they conform a highly satisfying, extremely well-written trilogy. I don't like at all where the author, Martin Cruz Smith, took the series with the fourth installment, Havana Bay, but I must admit that it is well written because Smith just cannot write badly. The rest of the books in this series are good but, in my opinion, none of them reaches the heights of Gorky Park and its two companions. If you go for them, avoid the film: not a bad effort, but chopped and incapable of truly showing, in a different medium, the expressive richness, the serious historical value, and the emotional pull of the novel.
Yeah. I play these videos while working out. It’s amazing
The ending to Inverted World was mind-blowing, I loved it.
I need to find all of these. as always this channel endlessly inspires.
Funnily enough, picked up a copy of Female Man the other day, and Moderan a couple of weeks back. Inverted World is rightly seen as a classic, excellent. I did find the ending super abrupt. I recommend "On" by Adam Roberts as a companion read, there are interesting parallels. Cheers Matt. 👍
I need to read more Roberts.
I can’t remember in which video you spoke of Asimov, but you mentioned how he had written many books of nonfiction and you were curious about them. Yes, he wrote a lot of nonfiction. He wrote essays in many periodicals, and these were often collected into books, kind of a “fix-up” nonfiction book. The subjects range from physics, biology, technology to history, and they are fantastic.
Asimov was great at explaining complex ideas to the layperson. I recommend these nonfiction books over his fiction; and I realize that I am probably pissing folks off for saying that. I’ve learned so much more about history through his books. In the book about the biology of the human body, he starts off by explaining how life evolved and then carries those ideas into describing the different biological systems of the body. You see how the underlying principles of biological evolution carried over into our bodies.
It was brilliant. Even though the books would not have any recent discoveries in the various topics, they are nonetheless accurate and provide a well-written foundation for readers.
I'm so glad you also loved Inverted World!
It's the real deal.
Agreed regarding 'He Died with his Eyes Open'. I've been looking for the other Factory novels in the wild ever since, without luck. Loved this book.
short question. i am kinda new to the sci-fi genre and love your videos. I would love if you made a video explianing some terms that are often named and used in your videos for new people to the genre to fully understand them, maybe even explain some tropes as well.
Things like (space-opera, literary sci-fi/ genre-fiction) whatever, especially for viewers whose first language is not enlglish this would help a lot. !
I hope you won't mind if I answer a bit :)
Literary fiction is more preoccupied with the 'art' of writing, think: lush (or deliberately simple) prose, a more thought-out structure, experiments etc. Most classics are literary fiction (ofc it exists today too!)
Genre fiction is usually written in a more straight-forward way, less poetic and it focuses more on the action and concepts than on the medium of literature itself. Genre fiction books also follow the characteristics / tropes / specific elements of that specific genre (for better or worse), and there are different genres: science fiction, fantasy, romance, thrillers etc, each with their own characteristics.
I'd say it's more geared towards entertainment. Like an art film vs a Hollywood blockbuster
Of course, there is overlap between the two 'worlds' / approaches (literary sci-fi being a more 'literary' version of sci fi - so with a more thought-out prose, not just action action action). Often it depends from book to book
(Wikipedia has this to say: '''As opposed to genre fiction, literary fiction refers to the realistic fiction of human character, or more broadly, "all serious prose fiction outside the market genres", the genres being for example science fiction, fantasy, thrillers or Westerns.'')
A video would be wonderful too though! :D
@@VampireHeart518 Thank you so much :)
Excellent. All sound attractive: the Priest & Inverted World obviously must reads. Many thanks …
Wonderful! I look forward to your reviews because they're rational, and because they feed my TBR list.
I have my copy of Inverted World, it's next on my tbr
Moderan and inverted world will be my next 2 books thanks to you, even after researching all of booktube for ideas
Crime Fiction - I’d recommend Jim Thompson. The Getaway or The Killer Inside Me. WOW.
Asked a question in your previous review about Tanith Lee. Give it a look.
Great video as always, I'm really intrigued by Moderan. I just put out my own top 10 SF video and I'm excited to see how it evolves as I accelerate my reading in the genre.
I read Inverted World at your behest and must thank you for that. Easily my favorite book of the year so far. It really was the most perfect pacing I've ever encountered.
And Moderan...MODERAN! WHOOEE! ZOWEE! and WUP! WUP! I'm reading it now, and boy oh boy is a very particular flavor that I'm certain many people would hate. I adore it so far. The writing style reminds me of if Cordwainer was writing from the perspective of Gully Foyle from The Stars My Destination.
On your recommendation I'm going to read 'He died with his eyes open' I read his 'The State of Denmark' which has been compared favourably toto '!984' and really enjoyed it. Thanks for you wonderful channel : )
Oh goodness, the film 'Death Watch' (1980) was something I saw in a film festival, and it was (I think loosely) based on The Unsleeping Eye, and I didn't know!
I... liked the film, but it was a midnight watch when I was young and festival-addled, so I won't stand by that. I may watch it again if I can find it.
But the book sounds much more interesting, in any case. Just a surprise to stumble on your description and have weird old film flashbacks!
I just picked up Inverted World, Roadside Picnic, and The Female Man today all in the SF Masterworks editions.
Inverted World is a breathtaking mind-bender. I love how Priest uses simple, clean prose to create such a complex world. I'd highly recommend Priest's The Affirmation too. It's another mind-bender, with a Mobius strip narrative about identity, depression and self-reflection. And The Prestige blows the movie version away. The fact that it's won both literary awards and SF awards says it all. Priest was one of the most underrated writers of his generation.
Derek Raymond: the bit about saving the infantalized guy's poop in little jars was just so unexpected and mondo, and I could never get enough of the narrator's anguished soul-searching
i believe that was also a joke in a bit about martha stewart on snl back in 1990s.
I was travelling in Brussels 2 days ago, and found a copy of Priest's Inverted world
" I had reached the age of six hundred and fifty miles "
It's beautiful
Currently loving inverted world. Starting to trust your taste
I like that you chose to film this from inside an Impressionist painting. Is that a Renoir?
Great vid and thoughts. So articulate. Inverted World high up on my list!
All five are on my list! Thank you!
BABE WAKE UP NEW BOOKPILLED BEST BOOKS VIDEO
The Unsleeping Eye was made into a movie in 1980: La mort en direct, AKA Deathwatch. Directed by the great Bertrand Tavernier, with a killer cast: Romy Schneider, Harvey Keitel, Max von Sydow, Harry Dean Stanton... Definitely worth a look!
Hell yeah Moderan. Bought it years ago because the cover was so sick, have yet to finish it but it’s spectacular
My copy of Inverted World had an excellent afterword by John Clute which I would highly recommend for anyone who was left with their head spinning. It really helped cement the book as one of my favourites.
I've read the first and last ones here on your recommendation, both excellent reads. I urge you to try Attanasio (Radix or Last Legends of Earth), who I believe you mentioned in passing once but didn't get around to.
Great channel btw, you're very good at this. 👌
Thanks. Radix is on the TBR.
“Female Man” is a difficult read, and the stylizing Russ used in the book reflects a kind of “F you, I’m going to write what I want” trait that I suspect was part of her character. I notice that attitude, which I see as courageous, in a lot of her work, even the works that are not as modernistic stylized as “The Female Man.”
What strikes me in “Female Man” is that Russ describes a scene in a comical fashion that makes you chuckle, and then it hits you that she is describing a situation where the character is a prisoner of a misogynistic dystopia, and that this is not just fiction, but our reality. You realize this isn’t a comedy, this isn’t science fiction - this is horror.
I’ve never read an author who could transform comedy to horror. I agree, it is a work of art.
“We Who Are About To …” is a good book. “Female Man” is something else.
Hi there! ¿Do you know that it is an adaptation of "Katherine Mortenhoe" made by a french film director, Bertrand Tavernier? It´s called "Dethwatch" (original title: "La mort en direct". Best regards from Argentina.
Yes.
He knows.
@@waltera13 How do you kmow he kmows?
I just read The Female Man on your recommendation. As you suggested, it's a difficult and disjointed read, but I took the author's advice and refrained from using its perplexities as a spur to negative judgement. instead, I let the plot difficulties/absence of plot take care of themselves and allowed the language and emotion to carry me forward. It's an angry book and I (male) recognised many of the outrages the characters/author shout against; I really understood and felt this anger quite viscerally. I read it in a sitting even though at times I was very confused. I rate it as a very good book but I'm not yet sure why. A very interesting experience.
Did read Inverted World this year and i do agree with you, i have only read 1 Moderan story but it was really good
Given the new interest in crime fiction, I'll just register my vote for reading Raymond Chandler.
that landscape looks cool, what state is it?
Behold the glory of New Jersey
@@jonn8508isn’t it San Diego ?
CA
That shot framing tho 🤩
I remember reading that Joanna Russ made an interesting observation about Leguin’s Left Hand of Darkness. LHoD has a species of humanoid that are gender fluid whereby they are sometimes biologically male, sometimes biologically female, and sometimes biologically neutral. The book refers to the biologically neutral with the male pronouns. Russ asked why didn’t Leguin use the female pronouns. I forget Leguin’s response. I wish a version of LHoD was published that contained two versions: one male, one female.
In the preface to that book in box set of her Hainish stories, she says that she thought the default pronoun in English was “he” or something. Idk if that’s the response to Russ
It's been a while since I read it, but the book follows the diplomat who, in spite of all of his qualifications, really struggles with the notion of gender neutral. In his mind the companion/guide he hangs around with is male and he gets irrationally angry at signs of femininity or what he sees as classic female personality traits. So I thought that's why the male pronoun was used, because people tend to view the male as the default and the female as the Other.
As I understand it, le Guin first wrote a response defending her use of "he" because it was the default gender-neutral pronoun. Later, she wrote a much more in depth analysis of this issue, pretty much saying What the heck was I thinking, and teasing the issue out a lot more. It's a very interesting article and worth your time - it's le Guin after all. But it's a while since I read it - hope I'm remembering correctly.
@@valeriehazel4858 This sounds familiar. I have to track that down. Thanks!
she thought it was the default like ‘mankind’ is. also she said other pronouns were too awkward. i think she said the greater neutral times of the monthly cycle was more difficult than the female. so she gave up and just used he, but later had doubts. same as the rest of us basically. 🎉
When you rate Inverted World so highly, an amazing book by the now late lamented Christopher Priest, then it really wants me to read the other books you recommend that I haven't read yet. Awesome.
I was wondering what to take with me to read on holiday. Thanks!
Nice, new book rec's
Hey man based on your recommendation I read , A fire upon the deep, and absolutely loved it!! Can you tell me if it’s worth reading the prequel? If you haven’t read it , cool no biggie.
From memory, I believe Matt is also a fan of A Deepness in the Sky. It's also well-regarded generally. So, for my unqualified opinion, I'd say it's worth a shot if you loved your time with AFUTD.
Yes, if you like FUTD you will like it too.
Some readers are put off by Christopher Priest's ice cool tone, but I like it.
If you like inverted World, check out the controversial Fugue for a Darkening Island, & others like Indoctrinaire, The Space Machine, The Prestige, etc...
I'll have to look up D.G. Compton as well.
Moderan's cities are "Strongholds." Agree with you on its merits. Great to see it here.
Great to see old favourites of mine I've championed on Outlaw Bookseller and at work for decades. As for 'Inverted World', wait until you get to 'The Affirmation' and 'The Glamour'.
Ha, as I noted above, I'm about halfway through The Affirmation. A little slow but beautifully written, rather like myself.
Inverted World sounds awesome
I think I'm the only one who didn’t like Inverted World 😭
I haven’t given up on Christopher Priest though. The Affirmation intrigues me so will probably try that one next.
I would recommend the Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr if you haven't read them. Kerr also wrote some science fiction.
He Died with His Eyes Open- on my TBR
The Female Man-also on my TBR
Moderan-I’m 2/3s through it and loving it’s quirky voice and bizarre world-building (reminds me stylistically of Attanasio’s Radix)
The Unsleeping Eye-read it, liked it, maybe not as much as you did
Inverted World-read it, loved it but the end felt undercooked to me.
joanna russ absolutely shreds.
I enjoyed The Inverted World so much.
5 on the TBR
I couldn't agree more regarding Christopher Priest's Inverted World. It held me all the way, and occupied my thoughts for days afterwards. I can't remember if you've read The Prestige by the same author, but that one for me was even more extraordinary, and even better than Christopher Nolan's film, which is excellent.
Haven't read it but intend to.
I DNF'd "Female Man," but that was years ago. Your review makes me want to try again. Thanks for the great reviews, Matt!
Thanks Jack, definitely worth revisiting.
*sigh* adds 3 more books to my TBR
Love your reviews, such a great range of recommendations. Been meaning to read The Female Man, and this seals the deal.
Look to Windward is the Culture book you should give a try. That is the most ambitious, written in reflection on Iraq War.
It’s not very tight, but so what. Excession is not a perfect narrative or character study either, but the ship mind concept and humor is also much better to me than The Player of Games.
Another anti war modern fantasy book you should check out is The Heroes, by Joe Abercrombie. He is very funny and the characterization is top notch.
12:41 - It still is! I cannot watch it even as a train wreck, although is does have that kind of morbid fascination. 12:48 - Nooooo!
The Female Man is on the top of my read next list now.
oh shit Im early. loving the scenery
So. Five more books for the list… ❤
great stuff as always! no malzburg?!
Didn't read any this year, he's hard to come by.
@@Bookpilled oooh I thought Overlay was this year! Must have got lost in the cyberspace
@@alfieezekiel1960 Time kind of smears together
Oh yeah must see tv
Wow, Dude(!), you've got three NYRBs on there, one of which I absolutely loved -- the Priest -- and one I hated -- the Compton -- and one I haven't gotten around to yet. I've got to revisit the Compton book because I absolutely could not stand it and and hate-read the last two thirds of the thing -- ? -- .
Survivor fan so based
As usual, Matt, such a pleasure. Without being falsely literary or falsely academic, you’re the most *acute* of readers.
Thank you.
My experience with this channel....The slow burn seduction of science fiction
You make me want to read these books. I don't think I'm smart enough for them though.
Nah go for it
Derek Raymond is brilliant, he really conveys the utter sordidness of murder/UK crime in general. Of his books I've finished, they read very much as a lament for a pre-war Britain's values, the moral and physical decay is everywhere, in every class and institution in society. Read the first three of the Factory series, about to read I Was Dora Suarez; with how brutal and cynical they were I'm almost scared, apparently it's even darker.
Dora Suarez is supposed to be the most extreme.
@@Bookpilled Just finished it last night, I can confirm it definitely is, made me feel nauseous at some points. The high literary moments you mentioned are particularly beautiful and sombre in this one. Would highly recommend.
Inverted World is one of the most ingenious SF novels I`ve read but the ending was disappointing. Definitely a recommended book though.
I have enjoyed practically all of your book reviews, so I bought five of your top recommendations, and... I wasn't impressed by any of them. How is it possible that two SF-lovers with a similar outlook on life can have so different taste? The first two I read were "A Fire Opon the Deep" and "City". What is it with you and talking dogs?
What do you do for work?
Don't know if you missed the happenings over on sfultra, but you keep saying worldbuilding. I hope you read some mjohn 😁
I must read from Joanna Russ at some point! Good to know she later retracted that problematic view. Great location and video!
Thanks, yes, definitely Russ is worth seeking out.
Slow down man I can't keep up! Lol jk 😅 go go go I'm right behind you!
Thanks for your always informative and almost lyrical reviews. I enjoyed "Inverted World". I think I liked his "The Extremes" even better.
Hike miles in with that folding chair or the parking lot is 50ft behind us?
Always great content.
What's the name of the Thailand island he's making a reference to?
Ko Phayam
How far did you have to walk with that chair to get this shot? What’s the camera on? Regardless, Worth it.