Conference noted::sf

247.0. "Books by Walter Tevis" by SRV
X::COBB () Thu Jul 25 1985 07:52

  24-JUL-1985 16:22           SRVAX::COBB        

              ALSO POSTED ON ASYLUM""::SYS$NOTES:BOOKS

     One of my favorite Authors was Walter Tevis (Died 1984), he wrote both
mainstream & science fiction. Below is a list of his books (as far as I know)
and a small review for each of the ones I've read.


"QUEEN'S GAMBIT"  mainstream -- The story of an orphan girl who learns to play
     chess from the janitor at the orphanage. The girl is very good, a child 
     prodigy in fact. The orphanage uses a mild sedative to keep the children 
     quite until they discover the habit forming tendancies of it. The rest of 
     the book deals with the girls career in professional chess and her battle 
     with drugs. I really liked this book, 9 out of 10. I used to play 
     tournament chess in high school, and I could identify with a lot of the 
     parts that deal with chess tournaments. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.


"MOCKINGBIRD"    science fiction --  The earth of the future has society in
     a state of decline due to overmechinazation. One of the main characters
     in the book is the ultimate robot. Another main character is one of the
     few living humans who still knows how to read. This is a very good book
     also, probably even people who don't normally like SF will like this. I
     have seen a large number of reviews that were very good, a couple that
     indicated that it is probably a classic. I didn't like this as much as
     "QUEEN'S GAMBIT", but still HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.


"STEPS OF THE SUN"  science fiction -- I am pretty sure of the title on this 
     one, I just picked it up this weekend. This one is about 5th on my to
     read list, so if I get some responses I'll try to review it later in this
     note. ANYONE READ THIS ONE ?


"THE HUSTLER"     mainstream -- The story of a pool shark. The movie with
     Paul Newman was based on this one. EXCELLENT. 

       There is also a sequel to this book that is supposed to be good, but, I
     don't even know the title and I haven't read it. Waiting for this one in
     the used book store.


     I have liked everything of his that I have read, I wanted to see if anyone
else had read any of his stuff. Also, I wanted to recommend "QUEEN'S GAMBIT",
"MOCKINGBIRD" and "THE HUSTLER".
                                 KEN COBB


    THIS REPLY WAS ADDED ON THE BOOKS NOTES FILE:


  24-JUL-1985 05:55           AKOV68::BOYAJIAN    

Don't forget THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, which the movie with David Bowie
was based on.

--- jerry