I´ve ended to re-read The Anubis Gates, (1983) - Tim Powers.

It´s one of my favourite sci-fi books of my library, without reveal nothing of the plot, a must.

Oh yes. Probably the one time travel story I went through that really made sense...

Anything by Tim Powers is a must-read, IMO, and Anubis Gate is one of his best,

( but I prefer "On Stranger Tides") brilliant zombie vs pirates a decade before Captain Jack and the Disney franchise

I don't yet have The Anubis Gates, (1983) - Tim Powers.
But I do have "On Stranger Tides" and very much enjoyed it. I read that back in the early 90s I think ... so it doesn't make my computer records.

Those of you who who liked that, might enjoy some books by Michael Scott Rohan, a few of which are in a somewhat similar vein, I seem to recall, to "On Stranger Tides".

The Spiral series
Chase The Morning
The Gates Of Noon
Cloud Castles
Maxie's Demon

I finally did it, after all these years ... started reading the Foundation series yesterday.

Only about 8 chapters in so far, but impressed by the seeming scope, and it is not what I imagined so far ... which considering I went in without any preconceptions or knowledge (no summary or blurb), is not surprising. I don't think I could put into words what I imagined in any case.

I read Isaac Asimov's robot stories and novels, quite some time ago, so I only have a vague sense of Empire.

I've also read galactic empire sagas by Frank Herbert (etc), Piers Anthony, Anne McCaffrey, Stephen Donaldson etc.

So anyway, it is off to a good start.

My reading list for 2020

Wasp (1957) by Eric Frank Russell: 4/5

Eric Frank Russell's main theme was probably "One Against The System" or "One Against Bureaucracy", usually told in a humouristic style about how one man can be tenacious and annoying enough to make a difference. The Wasp lacks much of the humour, and is about James Bowry (born and raised on a Sirian planet) acting as a lone "wasp" in the capacity of a saboteur/terrorist working behind enemy lines on a planet owned by the Sirians, the Terrans' enemies, spreading rumours, causing paranoia, killing off selected people and sabotaging, and generally making the enemy waste lots of resources on wild goose chases instead of on the war effort. More often than not he is bluffing his way through (using false papers and various disguises) rather than using stealth or violence.

It's only marginally Science Fiction, the Sirians being very similar to Humans, and the enemy planet's only real difference being 20% less gravity, and it could just as well have taken place in a different country on Earth. So it reads more like a hard-boiled spy novel than a SF novel, but it's a right riveting read; fast paced and exciting. But it shows it's age in most of the tech being outdated by now, while still having easy space travel.
It would have made an excellent movie, and should have not been difficult to adapt. But as with The Stars My Destination, the most cinematic SF novels were not adapted for the silver screen for some reason (the main one for Hollywod in the 1950s undoubtedly being that it has no giant insects).

Russell was one of editor John W. Campbell's favourites, so I was surprised that it was not serialized in the Astounding Science Fiction magazine, but instead in the British magazine New Worlds, which probably only paid about 1/3 of what he would have got from Astounding. It was fist published in book form in the US some months earlier, though. The book version is slightly expanded (an added paragraph here and there) and fixes some minor grammar and plot holes, but it is also a watered down version with the most colourful sentences omitted. So it looks like the serial is the version as it was originally written, while the book version needed more editing (maybe it was aimed at a younger audience).

Nice bio of Russell from New Worlds; he looks a bit like Horst "Derrick" Tappert, I think:

Thanks! One day i will have to read "On Stranger Tides" sure, i had forgotten it, i remember that i read it was one of the inspirations of Ron Gilbert to make The Secret of Monkey Island, an adventure game.

La forêt d'Iscambe - Christian Charrière

"The forest of Iscambe" is a french novel, not translated as far as I know. It's a post-apocaliptical story, situated in a France after a major planetary disaster happened, most likely technology went wrong.

But it's not your traditional Mad-Max-like fare. Of course, many elements of "post-apo" stories are here, like the return to minimal technology, resurgence of ancient beliefs and survival in agricultural communities. But not only. First, France doesn't sem to have been equally impacted by the disaster, and a city like Marseille remained fairly untouched, with access to electricity, fireamrs and a structured government (unfortunately, a very stalinian one).

Second, that forest, Iscambe, is very mysterious and lots of creatures and beings live there. The forest seems to originate in Paris, but humans seldom enter the woods because very few come back alive...

So, the story starts in a thriving little agricultural valley, where a leader came from outside and succeeded in unifying people and changing them from a hunters/gatherers community to a structured, strong agricultural society. Ist'van is a young, strong member of that community, but unlike the other village members, he doesn't seems too afraid of the forest.

Everything is going well, until the day two men, The Founder and his apprentice Evariste, arrive in the village from Marseille, in quest for help to go to Paris. The Founder is an old friend of the village leader, who is also from Marseille, but both men have chosen a very different path in life. Plus, somebody might be following the Founder and Evariste...

La forêt d'Iscambe is, on many points, a very mystical and philosophical story, a story of a new world, a story of inner change, a story of war, violence and love. It's a good story, really interesting, even if, to be honest, sometimes the mystical part takes a bit too much place.

But if you can read French (or if it has been translated), it's worth a try!

So far in 2020: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/books_finished_in_2020/post9

I had forgot about Monkey Island! Got to replay that ome.

Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov
This starts right after Foundation's Edge. Trevize is still looking for Earth with Pelorat and an extra passenger tagging along. I enjoyed reading this book, couldn't get enough of it. And I'm a bit wistful to have finished it. It's a rare author to have written a grand saga since the 50s despite not planning it.

I'm not gonna get the Foundation novels by Gregory Benford, Greg Bear and David Brin. I have some books by them and they're excellent. The novels seem to be complementary to the series, and I'm a bit of a purist.

Cannot say I see the value in being a purist, but each to their own ... I'm more a completist, and I like to see how well others do writing in someone else's world, especially as I have found it quite rewarding at times.

For me, the story always comes first, and that is where it gains any validity. Coming in second, is setting. So I will reserve my judgment, until I've read them, to see whether they should have bothered expanding on a classic.

When I fall in love with a world, the saddest thing, is when it is all over, when all you have left, is the history you have already read. So any continuation, providing it is well done, is great in my view. I know it is only prolonging the inevitable, but I can never ignore the effort put into creating a world, that results in so little in reality. However, I quite realize that sentiment does not matter to everyone, and most people are probably content to move onto something else. I guess it depends on where your interests lie. For me, world building is fascinating, and I lap up all the elements etc.

Many different types of readers out there. I know some people read a book, and after completing it, immediately re-read it again. Sometimes they do another read within a short space of time. Some people read or try to read their favorites, once every year or so. I cannot do that ... or rarely ... I've done it by accident several months apart, and just kept going ... but it needs to be a certain type of book for that, for me. Usually it will be a decade or more before I do a re-read, and I have never felt compelled to read an earlier book in a series when the next one comes out .... I have this notion, that I need to read every book in a series the same number of times. Part of it for me, I am sure, is the huge number of books I have waiting to be read for the first time. I need great justification to go back and re-read ... never enough hours in a day and days in a life.

I'm now just over halfway through Foundation, and quite enjoying it.

This week I finished reading The Godfather by Mario Puzo and The Cossacks by Tolstoy. I had read The Godfather already 20 years ago (I know it was back in 2000 because I keep a list), but I had read a Spanish translation and this time I read the original English version... I wish I could do the same with Tolstoy, but my Russian is limited to a couple dozen words or so; I can read Russian characters, though, I learned by myself just for fun. :)

Now I'll start reading Anna Karenina (which I have in the same volume as The Cossacks). I had read this novel half way through, but then put it aside for so long that I decided to start again. I'll begin tomorrow, since I just finished The Cossacks tonight and I'm done reading for the day.

though in some cases such as the wheel of time or the discworld series ( which is in fact just as much as a personal diary as anything else ) i would certainly refrain from reading the last books done by others how well written as ever.

Nah, I feel that way too when I see how many books some of the GOG community members are reading each month. I finished two this week, but that was just lucky timing as I'm always reading several books at the same time and advance very slowly with each one. If your comment was about the language thing, well, I can only read in Spanish and English, years ago I tried to teach myself Russian and failed miserably, lol, I'm sure many people here are fluent in way more languages than I am. :)