Tassie Dave’s Comments (group member since Mar 27, 2011)

Tassie Dave’s comments from the The Sword and Laser group.

Rob wrote: "I'm torn on the amount. On one hand I can read like 4-5 trades in one night, when I can't read even a fairly short novel in that time."

I'm the same. I'm on my 3rd GN Volume for the year already. (I've added the 2 I read yesterday to my challenge total)

I doubt we'll get a high enough participation to get to 25k though.
But we'll see how we go :-)

A challenge FAQ would be a good idea.

25,000 Graphic Novel Volumes/TPB seems a bit high.

So the world hit consensus without the US :-?





;-)

Priority: Low
From: Heptarch Liozh Dave
To: Hexarch Kel Nevets

Calendrical Minutiae: Year of the Fatted Wombat. Month of the Platypus. Day of the Echidna. Why the monotreme theme guys?

Here we use a heretical calendar where by mass consensus we have decided it's 2019. The future is a bit of a let down. Still no hover boards or flying cars.

yours in calendrical heresy
TD

80% in I still haven't got a grasp of the "magic" system. I've decided to just go with it and assume it just works.

Even though I'd only rate it about a 3 star book, It is the best book I've read this year.

Apple has released some FREE classic audiobooks.

Pride and Prejudice read by Kate Beckinsale
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz read by comedian Tituss Burgess
The Secret Garden read by Karen Gillan (She was 11th Doctor Who's scottish companion)
The Time Machine read by Kelsey Grammar
Frankenstein
Winnie-the-Pooh

Link below is to the page in iTunes.
https://new.itunes.com/r?v=2&la=e...

There is a lot of hand-wavery technology.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. doesn't apply to this book. This is based on pure magic.

The best review I read of this suggests that it is more like an epic fantasy novel

Imagine that the evil wizards have taken over the castle and lain a horrible curse upon all the land. Our heroes must band together to retake the castle, vanquish the wizards and lift the curse.

The interaction between Cheris and Jedao is what makes this book enjoyable. The action scenes can become a bit hard to understand due to the complicated magic/physics rules.

Dale wrote: "By the way, can anyone tell me the word for a story that’s a series of descriptions, as if from a traveling boat or carriage? "

Travelogue ?

Talking about Watership Down. There is a recently screened TV version from the BBC.

Animation looks shit and rabbits bizarrely look like hares. It is getting mixed reviews.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3gQ1...

David wrote: "Even if the book itself is mixed sword/laser, Tom and Veronica do make the official pick, so at the very least it could be "Tom/Laser-pick" vs. "Veronica/Sword-pick.""

It can get a bit messy with too many shelves.

We have had Tom/Sword picks (All the Birds in the Sky)
and Veronica/Laser picks (The Martian)

and a fair few of the books (20) were picked jointly after a discussion by both V&T

We've had 1 book picked by a Kickstarter contributor.

I do have on the Wiki, a brief description, by who and (sometimes) how the book was picked.

E.G The Windup Girl
https://swordandlaser.wikia.com/wiki/...

How/Why was this book chosen:

Chosen during Cory Doctorow interview after he suggested it as a possible pick.

I put it in the wiki as Veronica called it an alt-pick on the Podcast.

But there was a bit of disagreement on this forum whether it was or wasn't an alt-pick, so we didn't add it to the bookshelf.

I think it is, but the jury is still out ;-)

I added an "official-pick" shelf. All 116 books have been added.

I didn't make 2 separate shelves, as some books will fall into both or arguably into an opposite one from which it is placed.

There is a wiki with every book listed and more info than you'll ever need/ Click on the book title

https://swordandlaser.wikia.com/wiki/...,

Ian wrote: "Can we do a poll for the favorite pick of 2018? Bob!
"

That's what this thread is. Sort of.

Letting people choose more than 1 book gives a better view of what the book club enjoyed.

There are books mentioned several times above, that very few, if any, people ranked number 1

But I see the poll is up already. It will be interesting to see what people vote for.

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/4...

I was lucky that I found S&L early. They were just about to start book 10: Wheel of Time. So I only had 9 books to go back and read.

I've read every book since (including alts)

Lemming is not an option for me. The reason I joined the book club was to challenge myself to read books I, possibly, wouldn't choose myself.

Phil wrote: "obviously the other criteria besides merit was that the author not be male."

There are male authors in the list.

Nice summary :-)

I hope you complete your challenge of joining us Sword and Laser completionists :-)

I ranked Frankenstein the same at 9. It just shows how good the top 8 were.

I like seeing how people rank the entire list.

My list:
1: An Unkindness of Ghosts
2: We are Legion (We are Bob)
3: Zeroes
4: Jade City
5: Lovecraft Country
6: Circe
7: Mortal Engines
8: Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr
9: Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus
10: Slan
11: A Wrinkle in Time
12: Night’s Master

What were your favourite books of the 2018 Sword and Laser picks?


Jan- Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Feb- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Mar- An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
Apr- We Are Legion - We Are Bob by Dennis E. Taylor
May- Night's Master by Tanith Lee
Jun- Circe by Madeline Miller
Jul- Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
Aug- Jade City by Fonda Lee
Sep- Slan by A.E. van Vogt
Oct- Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
Nov- Zeroes by Chuck Wendig
Dec- Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley

My Top 3 Overall were:
An Unkindness of Ghosts
We are Legion (We are Bob)
Zer0es

As they are all Laser, they are my top 3 Laser books.

My Top 3 Sword Books were:
Jade City
Lovecraft Country
Circe

An Unkindness of Ghosts was a hard book to read at times, but it was a book I was still thinking about months later. Of all the books we read, it is the one I wish had a sequel.

We are Legion (We are Bob) was the most fun book we read this year. I went on to read the sequels immediately. Great concept. Great story.

Mark wrote: "Weird quiz. Kel."

None of the answers are what I'd have chosen if given a free choice :-?

Liozh

Fresno Bob wrote: "expect to hear much complaining about it!"

You could say that about most books we read ;-)