Betsy's comments (member since Mar 31, 2009)

Betsy's comments from the Beyond Reality group.

I would like to nominate for fantasy The City & The City by China Mieville.

For Science Fiction, Three Days to Never by Tim Powers.

Hi Renee,

I am so sorry you are so ill and this format isn't working for you. However, I suggest you try this. Go to this page:

http://www.goodreads.com/user/user_subsc...

The site will probably ask you to log in if you're not already. On this page, you can opt to subscribe to all topics in this group without having to subscribe to each topic individually. They can either be mailed to you as a daily digest or individual emails (I opted for digest, because there are a lot of responses!).

I hope this works for you. Please get some rest and take care.

Oh sweet!

I would like to nominate the The Morgaine Saga
by C. J. Cherryh. Ironically, this trilogy has been collected into an omnibus edition. I don't know much about the story (nothing at all, really), except Cherryh is one of those authors people tend to love and recommend.

works for me. :)

Aww, thanks Laurel. :) Can't wait for the polls!!!

Wow! Lots of great ideas and enthusiasm. Myself, I sort of thought this should be an "extracurricular" activity so that it wouldn't detract from the usual books of the month - just giving folks an extra option. Like Jane/Jim's idea of having separate topics for each book, but the chapter discussions sounds neat, too.

As for books, there are a lot of series that I'd be interested in, though I think finished a series would probably work best. I have Nine Princes in Amber and haven't read it yet and I just bought The Faded Sun trilogy by C.J. Cherryh. Some other good candidates would Robin Hobb's books (Assassin's Apprentice, et al.), Lois McMaster Bujold's books (fantasy or scifi) or continuing on with the Temeraire books by Naomi Novik.

Here's something I've been thinking about for a while. There are several very good books that are a part of trilogies/series, but don't get nominated because we haven't read the first book as a group yet. So I am curious - would anyone like to read a series together? Is that even a feasible idea? Any suggestions?

Stefan wrote: "I just added my science fiction nomination to the list: Dying Inside by [a:Robert Silverbe..."

Oh awesome! I've been wanting to read that and I could never find a copy.

Stefan wrote: "Isn't it great? I honestly haven't found a single reason yet why staying at Yahoo would have been a bet..."

I don't know if it's because it's new or if it's because GoodReads is just that much better of a "venue" but I have been so pleased by the amount of activity here. I also feel like I can participate more here. Awesome choice!

My nominations are from my to-read pile. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to classify either; to someone who has a very firm definition of science fiction, I'd guess they'd both be fantasy. I tend to like books that blend or blur fantasy with science, so it's all the same to me. :)

The Lives of Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis

From Amazon: "A postmodern Mary Shelley, taking the parable of Frankenstein's monster several giant steps farther, might have written this fable of a novel about a tragic race of monster dogs--in this case, genetically and biomechanically engineered dogs (of several major breeds). Created by a German mad scientist in the 19th century, the monster dogs possess human intelligence, speak human language, have prosthetic humanlike hands and walk upright on hind legs. The dogs' descendants arrive in New York City in the year 2008, still acting like Victorian-era aristocrats. Most important, the monster dogs suffer humanlike frailties and, ultimately, real suffering more serious and affecting than the subject matter might at first glance suggest."

The Hollow Earth by Rudy Rucker

From Amazon: "In 1836, Mason Algiers Reynolds leaves his family's Virginia farm with his father's slave, a dog, and a mule. Branded a murderer, he finds sanctuary with his hero, Edgar Allan Poe, and together they embark on an extraordinary expedition to the South Pole, and the entrance to the Hollow Earth. It is there, at the center of the world, where strange physics, strange people, and stranger creatures abound, that their bizarre adventures truly begin."

I may be the last person to notice this, but many books have a "Google Preview" button. Just like it sounds, you can read quite a bit of the book and decide if you want to read it (you get only a few pages at a time, with many pages omitted). Neat!

Nancy wrote: "Oooh, I'll have to try that! My knitting and crocheting time is spent in front of the TV catching up on Lost, Prison Break and Torchwood episodes. "

Unfortunately, a LOT of knitting time is doing almost the exactly same thing (for me it's Supernatural, Lost and the dearly departed Battlestar Galactica). But the audiobooks are pretty good for that, too.

edit: I'll post a short review of Infected when I'm finished.

Jim wrote: "Harry Potter reader was Jim Dale & I agree, he was wonderful!"

YES, thank you! He was also the narrator on the canceled-too-soon Pushing Daisies (not to hijack the thread).

I will say this, though, about the reader of Infected (who is also the author): he is entertaining and does lots of different voices well. He had to make a creepy voice for, um, something (don't want to spoil it here) and the first time I heard it, it startled me a little. I wasn't sure if I had really heard it or if it was an outside noise. Nicely done. In the print version, the creepy voice is just in a different font, so people who read the print version keep asking me "what did the XXXX sound like?"

The actor who does the narration for the Harry Potter books is also really good (his name escapes me at the moment).

I also discovered that I like listening to audiobooks while I knit. Most knitting doesn't take that much concentration and can even be a little boring at times. :)

Nancy wrote: Betsy, I knew your photo looked familiar. We are friends on Shelfari.I'm Gashlycrumb on Shelfari, Chantal on the Yahoo Group and Nancy over here

HA! LOL - I love it! How are you?!

Hey all!

Any writers out there doing Script Frenzy? This is sort of like NaNoWriMo, except that:

1. It happens in April;
2. You write a screenplay (or play or other type of script) in one month;
3. The finished script is 100 pages long.

Details are here: http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/

I am eris404 on that site if you want to friend me.

I have had His Majesty's Dragon in my to-read pile for a while and more than likely I'll get to it before the end of the month. In the meantime, I've been listening to the audiobook of Infected by Scott Sigler. I've discovered that I don't really like audiobooks; I can read faster than the reader/performer and I get impatient.

I admit I am very impressed with GoodReads now that I've had a chance to use it. My favorite thing is the daily digest email of activity. It's so much easier to read and keep up with the discussions. Excellent choice, Stefan!

(heh. that editing feature does rock.)

Hi everyone! I'm Betsy from the Yahoo group. :) Right now, I'm reading Infected by Scott Sigler.