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

Cheryl’s comments from the Beyond Reality group.

Early Star Trek TOS and The Next Generation novels. Don't worry about the continuity with the movies, or later developments, just enjoy Roddenberry's optimistic vision and the heroic adventures.

What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses by Daniel Chamovitz. They do have the equivalences of our senses, just no brain, they don't "care" if they're thirsty or infected or whatever. An interesting read that, for me, took several nights to get through because it was also pleasantly soporific.

Oh yes that does sound like a lot of fun indeed!

Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow, a Newbery Honor book. Omg. Well told; not gratuitously graphic, explains the appeal of the charismatic man's strategies. Must share with your children.

I agree. I wouldn't even mark textbooks if I were going to sell it back.... When I get a used textbook I seldom agree with the previous reader about what is worth highlighting and their highlights and notes are extremely distracting.

Otoh, though I would never* mark a fiction book, I have found it interesting to see just a few comments from other readers in some of the used books I've picked up.

*I do have a cheap mm pb of The Secret Garden that I will mark up next time I read it, just because I've read it at least a dozen times already (in different editions, since my childhood) and am ready to experience it in a new way.

Beagle wrote another book?! Wow. It looks interesting. But it's new so the wait times at the libraries are long. Maybe better to wait a few months....

(Exhalation, an absolutely terrific book, is also currently being read in SFFBC. So I'm rereading it very carefully to participate in both discussions. ;)

My hold for Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop finally came in. So far, so charming.

Tough one... it depends mostly, I think, for me, on whether I can imagine for myself what might or might develop next for the characters. After all, the only closure irl is death, and that's only for the deceased, the survivors carry on.

But some artsy-fartsy writers just plain stop writing and that bothers the heck out of me. There has to be some sort of payoff.

(I'm focusing on your subject line of Closure. I think of Ambiguous Endings as a little different, and I don't think I'm familiar with any examples.)

Oh I tear up when I read a beautiful picture-book about families or children or teachers making a difference in the world. I was very moved by how much Julian's grandmother loves the child, and what she does for him, in Julián Is a Mermaid, for example. Others have made actually tears run down my face but I can't think of any off-hand.

One would think I'd have sobbed for Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened but though I love it, it doesn't make me cry.

I can't think of ever crying out loud for a book. I think maybe I'm not equipped with enough empathy.

I just finished savoring the 'small poems' of Musical Tables: Poems by Billy Collins.

And yes I've finished, and do recommend, Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World.

Slow Birding: The Art and Science of Enjoying the Birds in Your Own Backyard which was a bit disappointing because not enough of what she saw, more science, and the actionable advice wasn't anything I'm up to doing. Of course, I already practice slow birding, so maybe I'm not the target audience. I advised my mom to consider it.

Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper (yes, that Christian Cooper), which is a wonderful read so far. Fits in no genres, would appeal to a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. I'm advising my mom to read it, but to skip chapter 6 and the end of 7 where he talks about making superhero comics, as she has no interest in that topic.

I've also discovered the Literacy Reads shelf at my mom's library, particularly books by Gemma Open Door. I loved Barn Cat (even though the cat did not have enough of a role but was rather a metaphor), and I liked American Lion so I checked out a stack of 'em. Very short, impactful reads for the adult who is a reluctant or emergent reader.

Oops. Can't forget The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. If you love it, there are more, but I don't know that I'd really call it a series, as the connection between them is more loose.

Besides The Bees? :)

The Princess and the Goblin and The Phantom Tollbooth. Childhood favorites that I still enjoy every so often. Some adults haven't been able to appreciate them if they are reading them for the first time, but others have!

Read just the first few pages. See that it's epic, and that it's first of a series, and the sequel(s) is not out yet. It seems likely to be amazing, but just not for me.

That's the umpteenth cue for me to read Seveneves. I really ought to somehow carve out the time for it. (Is there any chance one could argue it counts for Time Travel?)

A Canticle for Leibowitz, as I'm sure you know, transcends genre - people who aren't into SF appreciate it.

Too many post-apoc. are like Mad Max. I have no interest in that sort of violent, gory thing. But there are other genre classics, too, like The Postman (I've not read it yet) and I Am Legend (impressive, engaging, but too intense for me to reread).

Right, I've not read enough either. I too want to focus on the resilience and the rebuilding.

That was the focus in The Long Tomorrow by (the woman) Leigh Brackett and that book wasn't too bleak or nasty. But I only gave it three stars.

Station Eleven is a take on some of the earliest repercussions. I thought it amazingly well-written, appealing, engaging; I've read it at least twice. I'd love to read a sequel.

I read a couple by Carrie Vaughn. I do like how she writes, even though I'm not interested in the subject matter (Greek gods and superheroes).

Then I read Andersen's Fairy Tales, which I still haven't written the review for (it's going to be pretty long, as this collection gave me a lot of things to think about).

And now I'm visiting my mother, who is a big fan of Lauran Paine, so I'm reading her copy of Patterson... again, not interested in Westerns, but he is a good writer so I'm enjoying it.

Michael Perry writes memoirs, essays, fiction, and even SFF. The Scavengers is dystopia for young teens. The Jesus Cow has elements of the speculative.

He's probably best known for Population: 485 and Truck: A Love Story but I think his best book is probably Montaigne in Barn Boots: An Amateur Ambles Through Philosophy.

(I get almost all my books from libraries, once in awhile from thriftbooks online, but I buy Perry's directly from his website as soon as he publishes them. :)