Reading Asimov

I've been rereading the Asimov books I own and have decided it's high time to read the entire Foundation/Robots/Empire series. It's a huge black hole in my SciFi reading. I've read some of the books, mostly by the order in which I found them in book stores and friend's shelves. So Robots and Empire and Prelude to Foundation, which are about the middle of the series chronologically but were published among the last of Asimov's books, were my first. I've read I, Robot a long time ago and got interested in the other Robot novels, but it's all very sporadic.

Happily enough, for me at least, Asimov was pretty sporadic himself when it came to continuity and inner congruity. I mean, Robots and Empire refers to Daneel as Han Fastolfe's creation of the ideal Spacer, when Caves of Steel clearly labels him as a mirror image of his creator, you know, the dead guy whose death they investigate (I could look it up, but, well... who cares, he is very dead right from the start).

I like Elijah Baley very much, and Daneel is definitely my favorite character. Gladia I can stand, although her mood-swings are annoying sometimes. Robots of Dawn is sorely missing from my repertoire to understand these guys, and I'm gonna grab it from the library tomorrow. Hari Seldon was great in Prelude to Foundation but totally (though obviously) obnoxious in Foundation. I guess I need to read the books in the middle for a better picture. As for the Empire itself, it is as yet pretty much a mystery to me, but hopefully that'll change soon.

It's worth mentioning that my first Asimov book an as yet still my favorite one, is Nightfall (the book, w/Silverberg, not the short story which I haven't read yet). Mmmm it's good. Siferra, Theremon, Beenay and the gang really make that world alive for me. Plus the concept and the dilemma itself is just awesome.

To sum it up - Asimov rocks.

Final note - I've been suspiciously absent from this blog, but I hope to change that from now on.