[ExI] Books for the holidays?

[Bryan Bishop]

Hi all,

Any scifi books that come highly recommended? Holiday season is here, 
and my time will free up for some intense reading, to which I say it's 
about time.

I apologize in advance for the formatting in this email re: book titles. 
I do not think I will be doing it again.

I recently finished reading Benford's _Tides of Light_ which was 
interesting because of the cyborg/podia creatures, though endlessly 
annoying because of the reduced English language that the main 
character spoke with. There were also embedded personality chips 
introduced in the story. (I also just finished _The Wild_). I have also 
been trying out some Cadigan, like _Mindplayers_ and _Synners_ as well 
as other cyberpunk like C. J. Cherryh and her _Cyteen_ (but got annoyed 
with the political backdrop). Carver's _Neptune Crossing_ and sequel 
_Strange Attractors_ are also in the input pile. I might have to do a 
rereading of _Diaspora_. All look interesting. At the moment I am 
finishing up Zindell's sf series that started with _Neverness_ and 
reading (half-way atm) _War in Heaven_. Other items in my stack include 
_Neuromancer_, _The Algebraist_, and _Hyperion_. 

What I am considering:

_Gridlinked_
_The Line of Polity_
_Brass Man_
_Polity Agent_
all by Neil Asher

_The Book of the New Sun_ which includes:
        _The Shadow of the Torturer_
        _The Claw of the Conciliator_
        _The Sword of the Lictor_
        _The Citadel of the Autarch_
all by Gene Wolfe.

_The Golden Age_
_The Phoenix Exultant_
_The Golden Transcendence_
all by John C. Wright

And maybe it is time that I purchase a copy of _Accelerando_, _A Fire 
Upon the Deep_ and a paper back copy of _A Deepness in the Sky_. 

I have ordered:

Greg Egan:
_Schild's Ladder_
_Quarantine_
_Luminous_
_Permutation City_

_Brain Plague_ (Elysium Cycle) by Joan Slonczewski

- Bryan