Have you read...can you recommend...

[Inanna]

I agree, Impish. And I didn't continue with the series...

[Dave_LF]

This is not exactly what this thread is for, and it's a long shot in any case, but I'll give it a try. Years ago, I read a book about a group of "passionate" brothers. They drink, they fight, they argue philosophy, they fall hopelessly in love and do crazy things to win over the objects of their affections, etc. All except one brother, a monk, who's the only one capable of behaving rationally and who always has to help his brothers out of the various troubles they get into. But in the course of the story, it comes out that he's just as passionate as the rest. He is in fact the most passionate of all, and had to become a monk precisely because shutting down his passions through a life of strict asceticism was the only way he could control them at all.

For years I've believed this book was The Brothers Karamazov. And many of the details fit. But I recently finished rereading BK after nearly 20 years, and the crucial detail--the one about the monk being the most passionate of all the brothers--isn't in there. So I'm left wondering what it is I'm actually remembering. Does this ring any bells for anyone else?

[Impenitent]

Sorry Dave, no bells ringing here. Sounds like a book I'd like to read, though.

[Inanna]

Dave, have you tried asking a librarian? I went to one, and said "I was reading this series form this library. There was a book store owned by women. And there were murders".

Or you could turn yourself over to UU*.

*Pratchett reference.

[Frelga]

It had a red cover and it turned out they were twins.*

Someone actually figured out the book that Pratchett referred to.

[Inanna]

Really? Which one was it?


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[Frelga]

Don't remember but it's on the L-space site.

[Jude]

So if I were going to dip my toes into the Isaac Asimov canon, what book should I start with?

[Lalaith]

I'm pretty sure the Asimov novel I read was The Stars, Like Dust. I remember liking it, but I was in grade school or middle school. I haven't read I, Robot, but the movie was quite good.

[Inanna]

I read almost all of Asimov's works over one weekend. There was a big fat paperback....

[Primula Baggins]

Any collection of his robot short stories will be fun (as will any collection of his non-robot short stories; though watch out for anything a page or so long—it will end with a dreadful pun). The novels of his that I have on my shelf (not read for many years, though) include the Foundation trilogy, of course—his classic, though my liking for the books increased as I went through the three. I have read the trilogy more than once. Besides short story collections, I have Foundation's Edge, The Gods Themselves, The Robots of Dawn, and The End of Eternity.

He was also a wonderful anthologist. He did all of the Hugo Award anthologies, which always included delightful introductions to the authors. He did two anthologies of Soviet science fiction—the second one, the one I have, initially came out in 1962, so this was during the worst of the Cold War.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The first Asimov that I read was the first of his robot novels, The Caves of Steel, that's not a bad place to start at all, and then move on to the second and third of the series, The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn (the last robot novel, Robots and Empire, is more difficult to get because it is out of print, but is also worth reading).

There are actually seven Foundation novels, the original trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation), and then the four later novels that he wrote, Prelude to Foundation, Foundation's Edge, Foundation and Earth, and Forward the Foundation. I read Prelude to Foundation before reading the trilogy, which I think is not a bad idea. Forward the Foundation is also a prequel, but I think it is best to read it last. Although now when I re-read the series, I read it in chronological order.

The Robot novels and the Foundation series, as well as the Empire trilogy, The Stars, Like Dust, The Currents of Space and Pebble in the Sky (the first books that he published under his own name, between 1950 and 1952), have all been tied together in a giant connected history of the future.

[Maria]

I read almost all of Asimov's works over one weekend. There was a big fat paperback....

Are you sure about that? Asimov was very prolific.

In a writing career spanning 53 years (1939–1992), science fiction and popular science author Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) wrote and published 40 novels, 382 short stories, over 280 non-fiction books, and edited about 147 others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asi ... nological)

[Inanna]

Holy cow! No, pretty sure, I'm wrong. . It was the Robot series, and there was another short stories book.

Ha! So silly of me.


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[Dave_LF]

Asimov is one of those people where you read what he's accomplished and conclude you may as well just hang out, because there's nothing left to do.

[Maria]

I think I read his Foundation series long ago, but can't remember much at all about it. I've never been interested enough to go try any of his other works.

[Jude]

I've reserved Prelude to Foundation at the library...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I hope you like it, and move on through the entire series.

ETA: I feel compelled to add that there are many people who feel that it makes more sense to read the original trilogy first, and there are certainly good arguments to be made for that. I can only speak to my own experience, but your mileage may vary.

[Alatar]

I enjoyed the original foundation series but never really read anything else by Asimov. I moved on to Heinlein and Arthur C Clarke.

[Jude]

I'll probably have questions about those two authors once I'm acquainted with Asimov...