Cheryl’s Comments (group member since Nov 29, 2022)

Cheryl’s comments from the Beyond Reality group.

But the ending. Um. "the voice of a woman lost to the worst of all possible worlds."

I read that as Juna is lost, Shroud is lost, Garveneer is lost, the colony ships on the way to the system are lost... and, gosh, it's quite possible the galaxy is lost because the Shrouded is (?are?) getting way smart....

What do you think about the ending, what it means or suggests?

"Scientific curiosity is all very well but it doesn't make you immortal."

I wish the author wrote more concisely, so lines that get tossed in like this had a chance to stand out more. (Too much EM noise on the moon Shroud, too many words & extra ideas in his books....)

This line is subject to more interpretations than I bet he realized.
First, I think about the real life context. Newton, Einstein, Curie... they're immortal in our culture. And also, our culture & species will only survive if we support scientists. Second, even by p. 293/436, we readers understand that the Shrouded will indeed benefit immeasurably by contact with, and curiosity about, the Stranger.

Did you notice that line when you were reading? What did/does it make you think of?

I do like that this is a straight survival story, though of course it's not just survival on the planet but also within the 'brave new world' of Concerns, Opportunities, etc. And of course it's also a First Contact story. There are no actual Bad Guys.

(If you know of other books without villains, for example The Martian, please add them to my Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...)

Usually I dnf if I'm not feeling it by about p. 50. Because this is for book club, I kept going. Significantly after that it finally got more interesting and now I'm about halfway.

I'm only about halfway but I have thoughts.

The list of books by the author doesn't include two of the ones that I've enjoyed by him, Spiderlight and One Day All This Will Be Yours. If he's disavowing them, I probably am less interested in the ones he's more proud of....
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I like the very alien 'aliens' (but remember that humans are the ones aliens, and the ones the narrator calls The Shrouded are the natives). I like that the 'quest' takes place inside an escape pod; they're mobile, but *not* in the open, ever separated, nor using their physical bodies much at all.

Kateblue wrote: "I think this is the third time I have written this in this group-sorry if I am boring you. But you keep asking me.

I started Shroud with another group last month and did not complete it. I had lo..."

Not boring me because I don't read all the threads and so this is the first time I've seen your message! Tbh, I don't know if I'm going to like the book, either....

It's out from the library and near the top of the stack!

In the Children's Books group we call 'em Graphic Novels even if they're Dog Man or non-fiction. My libraries agree. It's a very useful & inclusive term.

Comic books aren't talked about much (at all?) there, but if they were it would be a term reserved for Heart and Brain: Body Language or Zits, collections of comic strips.

Gotta say, most Star Trek covers are pretty bad, especially the earliest ones.

Call me a masochist, but I inherited a cartons of Star Trek from my brother and am reading them all. They're getting better as I go along, on average.

The very first Star Wars book was an adaptation of the first movie and it was written by Alan Dean Foster. I sure did like it, back then.

Hm. I recall being of the same opinion, that I had mixed reactions to his efforts and gave up. But, yes, please, I'd welcome a recommendation!

Oh, yes, Fellowship of the Ring. I loved The Hobbit but was so bored by the first big book. (I don't know about the movies, tried to watch the first in the theater but kept my eyes closed too much for the acrophobia!)

Oh goodness. I have so many on my dnf shelf.

A Beautiful Mind I vaguely remember the movie and being interested in the 'real' story. But the book begins with an intro. that tells all, then explains his parents, then his grandparents... I just don't have that kind of patience anymore.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (Tried for the Time Travel group) Lots of pages, and fine print hard on my old eyes. And too much like the book I just finished, Time Traveler's Wife, maybe. I want Science Fiction one of these months! All this poignancy, hard choices, challenged love affairs, etc., it's getting old month after month. So, yeah, I fell asleep at p. 84, and don't really want to pick it up again.

Neverwhere dnf p. 92 even though it was for group read. Nothing's really actually happening yet. I'm not invested in any of the characters, and I don't see any real themes coming. Yes, beautiful writing, clever world-building, sure... but bleak, gruesome, and nasty. So, not for me.

Cheryl Bardoe wrote a terrific picture-book about one of the first true scientists, Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas. I will look for more by her.

I'm disappointed that I'm having trouble finding books that are a truer answer to the challenge that also appeal to me. 'Anderson' should be easy. Oh well.

The Word for the World is Forest is a book that I have read more than once and also recommend widely.

Ok, yes, you and your crowd need to come back with headlines!

Dawn, you've found your calling! These are hilarious! And they make me want to avoid all those books....

I love his stories. But then I am pretty old-school.

Btw, I had to dnf the book I found for this challenge. Not sure if I have any others on any of my lists.... Actually, I did find two picture-books by people named Cheryl on my local list, so that's what I'll do. Not speculative fiction though. ;)

I don't like epics, but how about a reasonably long/complex story that has at least three generations working/living together at the same time?

I can't think of any offhand, but I'd love to read more of 'em....

Ken Liu's short story collections, of course. Astrid Lindgren beyond SFF. I'll have to think on more; I'm sure that there are plenty; I've actually tried to read globally.