You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
Challenges: Monthly
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May 2013 Challenge - Don't Forget Your Towel
Rusalka wrote: "Pern is the Dragonflight books? I guess they are being simplistic (which you kinda have to do do fit 100 books in) and go Dragons = magic = fantasy. Anne McCaffrey has never appealed to me before..."
Rusalka - I admit that I am a fan of all things Pern and Anne McCaffrey.
As far as SciFy and the planet Pern goes, the ancestors of human inhabitants came to the planet Pern in space ships, one of which is still orbiting in space and which everyone thinks is a moon. And yes, there are dragons, but they were initally only the size of ferrets, until the humans bred them large enough to be able to fly on them and trained them to fight a distructive protozoa rain called thread.
Like Robert Heinline's space opera books about Methusla's Children, the characters become so real that they become like your own family.
Don't knock dragons just because they are not real on our planet. They may be real somewhere out there!
So is Pern considered a space opera? hard sci fi? I may not get 11/22/63 in time from the library to read it (it is mammoth!) and I'm looking for a back up, just in case.
I guess I typically read dystopian sci-fi when I read sci-fi. I'm going to go for Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. It looks like its categorized as 'steampunk'. I've never heard of steampunk, so I'm excited to see what I'm getting into!
Cathie wrote: "So is Pern considered a space opera? hard sci fi? I may not get 11/22/63 in time from the library to read it (it is mammoth!) and I'm looking for a back up, just in case."
No, Cathie, I doubt that it would be anywhere near hard sci fi. Definately sci-fi fantasy. The books that start off The White Dragon is much more of the "fantasy" aspects of the story. It is not until some of the later books that the sci-fi story really gets talked about as far as where the fore-fathers came from etc. Maybe space opera could cover it, but not in the same light as Dune is. Ms Meanie will have to make a call.
Cathie, two books of Anne MAnne McCaffrey's that I always loved were The Ship Who Sang and Crystal Singer. They are oldies but goodies and both classified as Space Opera.
Cherie wrote: "Casthie, two books of Anne MAnne McCaffrey's that I always loved were The Ship Who Sang and Crystal Singer. They are oldies but goodies and both classified as Space Opera."Forgot about these. While i have a soft spot for Pern ( the older novels, not her son's), they were goodies for me also.
Esther wrote: "Cherie wrote: "Casthie, two books of Anne MAnne McCaffrey's that I always loved were The Ship Who Sang and Crystal Singer. They are oldies but goodies and both classified as Space Opera."Forgot ..."
Yes, I've never been too happy over the books her son has done. I really never liked some of the other books she did with other writers either. Marion Zimmer Bradley is the same way for me. She did some colaborations that were just strange.
Cherie wrote: "Rusalka wrote: "Pern is the Dragonflight books? I guess they are being simplistic (which you kinda have to do do fit 100 books in) and go Dragons = magic = fantasy. Anne McCaffrey has never appea..."
I had a conversation with Lexx about this last night, and he was completely on your side. It was very funny.
The one thing he said that you may disagree with Cherie, and may impact Cathie, is that he said that the first book was a bit more fantasy and the scifi elements built up stronger and stronger over time. So in the end it's definitely more of a scifi universe, but maybe not the first read in the series.
Thoughts?
Joe wrote: "I guess I typically read dystopian sci-fi when I read sci-fi. I'm going to go for Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. It looks like its categorized as 'steampunk'. I've never heard of steampunk, so I'm excit..."Airships scream Steampunk. Enjoy!
I have read very little science fiction. The Handmaid's Tale, 1984, The Giver, and Fahrenheit 431 are the science fiction novels I have read. For some reason, it seems the dystopian and utopian novels are the ones I have been drawn to in the past. I am considering several books, but I don't know if any of these will work. If not, I'll go back to the drawing board. This is a new genre for me, so I am not sure I have put these books in the correct categories.Sphere- hard sci-fi/space opera/military sic-fi
Flowers for Algernon-soft sci-fi
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea-steampunk/soft sci-fi
Around the World in Eighty Days-steampunk/soft sic-fi
The Time Traveler's Wife-time travel
The War of the Worlds-military sci-fi
Nice list Connie! I would say that the two Jules Verne you've listed aren't time travel though, more steampunk/soft scifi.
Sphere, looks more hard/space opera/possibly military. But that one has been read by many people in here who could enlighten us better though.
Thanks so much, Rusalka. I knew I didn't have it right. ; ) I'll edit my list. At least they are different from what I have already read.
Rusalka wrote: "Cherie wrote: "Rusalka wrote: "Pern is the Dragonflight books? I guess they are being simplistic (which you kinda have to do do fit 100 books in) and go Dragons = magic = fantasy. Anne McCaffrey ..."
I agree with Lexx and posted my same thoughts to Cathie in message 155. Great minds think alike!!!!!
Connie wrote: "I have read very little science fiction. The Handmaid's Tale, 1984, The Giver, and Fahrenheit 431 are the science fiction novels I have read. For some reason, it seems the dystopian and utopian nov..."Hi Connie, I have read all of these books but The Time Traveler's Wife (it is on my TBR list). Sphere was an ok story. If you have never read much Science Fiction, except for the dystopian/utopian themes, there is so much out there that you could pick from. Check out some titles by Anne McCaffrey, Robert Heinlein, Asimov Isaac, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C Clarke,Lester del Rey, and Andre Norton. These are just a few of the writers I grew up reading. There are so many others.
The earliest sci fi books that I can remember reading (4th/5th/6th grade) were about a couple of guys from a mushroom planet who lived on earth and traveled back and forth in a space ship that they kept in their back yard garage. I think one of them was named Theo. I used to ask people at book stores if they knew of them, and everyone thought I was crazy. Finally, someone at Powell's Books in Portland told me. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet I found A Wrinkle in Time shortly after that and was hooked forever.
Cherie, thank you so much for coming to my rescue. I'll check out these authors. Big Hug to you!! ; )
Cherie wrote: "Cathie, two books of Anne MAnne McCaffrey's that I always loved were The Ship Who Sang and Crystal Singer. They are oldies but goodies and both classified as Space Opera."The Ship Who Sang is a fabulous book.
Reporting Thread is up.Sorry for the delay. I was off sick yesterday and it completely escaped me that it was 1 May yesterday. Oops
Gaeta1 wrote: "I actually am--or used to be--a big science fiction reader, so I've hit most of these sub-genres. Classic Victorian, dystopian, steampunk...I've never been able to get through Perdido Street Sta..."
Hmm Shards of Honour looks very Space operay/possibly military scifi. I like the look of The River from No Return, but it seems pretty straightforward time travel from the blurb. No indication the history is alternative... This is the problem with judging from the blurbs, they may hold back in case of spoilers. Hmph.
Yay for my own time machine, the interwebz :PFor those still looking, the Arthur C Clarke Award winner for 2013 was announced today http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/...
Rusalka wrote: "Yay for my own time machine, the interwebz :PFor those still looking, the Arthur C Clarke Award winner for 2013 was announced today http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/...-..."
Ooh that looks good!
I recently read American Elsewhere and loved it. Some have classified it as science fiction, and I agree it definitely has those elements. The science fiction element isn't too mind-bending, so I'd classify it as soft sci-fi. I gave it 5 stars. It's a big book, but I devoured it in 3 days.
I don't read sci-fi usually and whatever little I have read is Dystopian. I will have to think which of the other genres I could get into...So I think I will read Cinder. Which subgenre it falls into?
Pragya wrote: "..So I think I will read Cinder. Which subgenre it falls ..."Since robotic enhancement is involved, I think it fits "superhuman". There may be other categories as well.
Pragya wrote: "I don't read sci-fi usually and whatever little I have read is Dystopian. I will have to think which of the other genres I could get into...So I think I will read Cinder. Which subgenre it falls ..."
Pragya, According to the Genere list for this book some have indicated it as Dystopian and others as Steampunk. I can agree on the Dystopian but not the Steampunk. IMO
I found it on a list for cyberpunk. Would you agree with that? It's great having people who are so well versed in Sci-Fi in the group.
Janice wrote: "I found it on a list for cyberpunk. Would you agree with that? It's great having people who are so well versed in Sci-Fi in the group."Cyberpunk over Steampunk makes more sense forCinder, but Rusalka gets the last say so here. :)
I liked the book very much when I read it for the retelling of a fairy tale challenge. I hope you enjoy it.
I just found that I have
on my shelf. I don't know which sub-genre this is but would it qualify for this challenge? I really don't read SF at all so I have no idea what to pick!
Ann wrote: "I just found that I have on my shelf. I don't know which sub-genre this is but would it qualify for this challenge? I really don't read SF at all so I have no idea what ..."It qualifies.
Sorry again. Something is a little weird with my goodreads, and myself as I have been flat out at work (trying not to open goodreads there at the moment too) and sick.So.
Happy with Cinder as cyberpunk.
Ann, Connie was looking at Sphere too. Subgenre discussions are up the thread a bit around message #162.
Gaeta, were you still waiting on me?
Feel better quickly Rusalka.
I started to listen to Cinder last night. And i realized that cyberpunk is not a usual genre either. So i would read/listen to 2 books for my challenge. Starting with Cinder and then reading Perdido Street Station whenever I get it.
So, I have The Martian Chronicles sitting on my shelf at home and would really like to read it for this challenge. I have read quite a bit of scifi however, and want to make sure that this is actually in a "new genre" for me. I think it probably is but am having a difficult time figuring out what sub-genre it fits best into. Can anyone help me sort this out?Thanks
Marcus
Marcus wrote: "So, I have The Martian Chronicles sitting on my shelf at home and would really like to read it for this challenge. I have read quite a bit of scifi however, and want to make sure that this is actu..."Marcus, I think we need another catagory called 'classic'. That is what I think of for this book. I do not know how to break it down. Anyone else??
I've made a small dent in Stephen King's 11/22/63; here's hoping I can read it all by the end of the month :-) (I'm also reading Game of Thrones for another club)
Marcus wrote: "So, I have The Martian Chronicles sitting on my shelf at home and would really like to read it for this challenge. I have read quite a bit of scifi however, and want to make sure that this is actu..."I would call it (and most "classic" 19050s scifi with Issac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, and the like) Hard scifi. You could probably argue with this one it has some space opera (colonisation/travel to Mars) and some dystopia to it as well. Any of these work?
Gaeta, happy to take it. I'm still a bit unsure of it's alt history merits from the blurb (which I think is what we were looking at before) so hopefully you can enlighten me on why it's considered scifi once you finished :) However if you're reading it for time travel fiction, then it definitely fits.
Jeez Cathie, just some light reading for your May.
I know, it's turned out to be my chunky monkey month and I suck at large book reads usually (however I read Dan Brown's 700+ page Angels and Demons in 2 1/2 days; couldn't put it down, awhile back!)
Cathie 11/22/63 is a long book but it is a quick read ( I read it for last month's challenge). I haven't read The Game of Throne series. My husband read the series last summer( he is a verrry slow reader) and loved it. Sounds like even though you have lots of pages to read this month- both are very interesting stories.
Both books are wonderfully written. I am loving 11.22.63 so far :-)
Marnie wrote: "Cathie 11/22/63 is a long book but it is a quick read ( I read it for last month's challenge). I haven't read The Game of Throne series. My husband read the series last summer( he is a verrry slow ..."I agree about 11/22/63. I read it in a couple of days and turned around and read it again!
Marnie wrote: "Hope you are feeling better Rusalka!"Thanks Marnie. Just the case of too much to do and only me to do it. It's exhausting.
Gaeta1 wrote: "I think I am going to do Embassytown. I have tried to read Perdido Street Station and failed miserably. I'll try Mieville again, but this time in an audio book, and since I detest John Lee, who na..."What put you off about Perdido Street Station?
Is "squicky" in our YLTO glossary? It needs to be.
I seem to recall that it was somewhat visceral. And rather full of bad language. I managed to stick with it and it ended up a good read, although that's most certainly not somewhere i'd want to visit. But I can understand putting it down - it's not short and that's a lot of snot to wade through if it's not your thing.
OMGosh, "squicky" is a real word! I thought it was a word you made up Gaeta1 to convey your dislike, and a very good word at that ~ but it's a real word!! I love it!
Janice wrote: "Is "squicky" in our YLTO glossary? It needs to be."I saw your/Gaeta's entry and have added it! I thought it was made up also...well someone did I guess.
You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
The Time Machine (other topics)Cinder (other topics)
11/22/63 (other topics)
11/22/63 (other topics)
The Martian Chronicles (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Arthur C. Clarke (other topics)Isaac Asimov (other topics)
Isaac Asimov (other topics)
Ray Bradbury (other topics)
Robert A. Heinlein (other topics)
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I have not read The Hi..."
I realized that too, after. :)