What Makes This Book So Great

Re-Reading the Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy

By: Jo Walton

Narrated by: Nicole Poole

As any fan of Jo Walton's Among Others might guess, Walton is both an inveterate reader of SF and fantasy, and a chronic rereader of books. In 2008, then-new science fiction mega-site Tor.com asked Walton to blog regularly about her rereading—about all kinds of older fantasy and SF, ranging from acknowledged classics, to guilty pleasures, to forgotten oddities and gems. These posts have consistently been among the most popular features of Tor.com. Now this volume presents a selection of the best of them, ranging from short essays to long reassessments of some of the field's most ambitious series.

Among Walton's many subjects here are the Zones of Thought novels of Vernor Vinge; the question of what genre readers mean by "mainstream"; the underappreciated SF adventures of C. J. Cherryh; the field's many approaches to time travel; the masterful science fiction of Samuel R. Delany; Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children; the early Hainish novels of Ursula K. Le Guin; and a Robert A. Heinlein novel you have most certainly never read.

Over 130 essays in all, What Makes This Book So Great is a must-listen, engaging collection of provocative, opinionated thoughts about past and present-day fantasy and science fiction, from one of our best writers.

©2014 Jo Walton (P)2024 Tantor

like a casual chat with Jo Walton about books

4.5/5 star

This was great. I felt like I was just chatting with Jo Walton about books. The writing is informal since it is an adaption of blog posts, but I think that just makes it a more enjoyable read.

It is more a discussion of different books Walton is or has reread, but there are a few sections on general topics relating to books and reading. I would have liked a better balance of both. Better yet, I'd love a full book of essays just on the nature of reading from Walton. Still, its hard not to read this and not come away with a long lists of books you're now eager to try.