Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion
What We've Been Reading
>
What are you Reading this November, 2016?
I'm reading The Martian on my laptop because I'm not getting a Kindle until xmas. It's bought, in the house and driving me mad.As for mothballs, I have no idea, we haven't bought any in years, lol.
Mothballs are indeed still a thing, tried to use them to get squirrels out of the walls (the smell bothered them less than it did us though)Reading The Neverending Story, will post some comments in the discussion later today, I'm only a quarter of the way through right now.
Adrian wrote: "I'm reading The Martian on my laptop because I'm not getting a Kindle until xmas. It's bought, in the house and driving me mad.As for mothballs, I have no idea, we haven't bought ..."
I'm a big fan of the book, the film is good, but not quite as good.
Currently reading Lemurian Stone. It's a bit 'meh' so far. I was quite surprised to see it was published in 1990 (here in the UK anyway) - it feels older.
I just finished reading: The Haunting of Hill House
by Shirley Jackson. I gave it 4 stars - here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...and
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
by Robert A. Heinlein, the Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel of revolution on the moon which turns 50 this year. I gave it 3 stars - I admired the book more than I actually liked it. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...In my effort to read the whole Ender's Game series, I just started First Meetings in Ender's Universe
by Orson Scott Card. This is a collection of four novellas set in the Ender's Game universe, including the original 1977 novella Ender's Game which was the basis for the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel of the same name. I'm still working on these Sci-Fi/Fantasy books:
- A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin - should finish this month
- The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015 Edition edited by Rich Horton
and also reading these books from other genres:
- I'll Mature When I'm Dead: Dave Barry's Amazing Tales of Adulthood by Dave Barry
- Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Deluxe Edition by Ben Fountain
- Conviction by Richard North Patterson
FINISHED FINALLY The Big Book of Science Fiction. 100+ short stories, most of them excellent and all of them thought-provoking. 5 stars from me. About the best job you can do of distilling 100 years of SF into one collection.Almost finished with Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits for another group's book of the month, which reads kind of like someone's smashed Snow Crash and Scott Pilgrim together. Too comic booky for me, so it's hovering at either 2 or 3 stars.
Currently reading A Taste of Honey and Rajaniemi's Collected Fiction. Appropriate that movember is heavy on dude authors for me, after october was mostly women authors.
I've posted my review for False Gods by Graham McNeill. This is the second book in the Horus Heresy series, and was a fun read:
http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...
Treachery's Tools by L.E. Modesitt Jr. is the 10th book in his Imager series, second in this particular arc & really well done, as usual. He's one of the few authors whose books I pre-order in hardback. This is a fantasy world with one very particular sort of magic, imaging. In this book, he describes a little bit of the struggle of a nation that is changing from feudalism to capitalism. I gave it a 4 star review. Highly recommended.
I'm working my way through Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle. I've read the first two and am eager to get to the third. I've downloaded the audiobook but haven't started it. I had promised myself to listen to something else first, but right now I'm not listening to any audiobook! Soon. It's a great series, and at this halfway point I have no idea what's coming next or how it will be wrapped up in the end.
Finished the Neverending Story (is that possible if it never ends?) and have switched to Stolen by Kelly Armstrong
I don't think I ever would have started this series if my friend wasn't passing me the books after she read them. I expected this series to be a little bit of story and a lot of romance/erotica (guess I got burned reading the Anita Blake series) but its actually pretty good so far.
The only problem was that my friend was passing me the books out of order >.< I don't understand how people can read a series like that, unless it's a cozy mystery which are pretty episodic. Urban fantasy can be pretty episodic too but it usually builds on what came before.
I have the second half of The Blade Itself to finish; it's so fantastic I bought the other five First Law books. Right now I am halfway through Waylander (awesome) and then I will read Forward the Foundation or finish Game of Thrones. After that, I'm undecided between The Dragonbone Chair orTthe Name of the Wind or The Lies of Locke Lamora.
Waylander is a lot of fun - I'm a bit of a David Gemmel fan.
Michael wrote: "Waylander is a lot of fun - I'm a bit of a David Gemmel fan."I'm not a massive Gemmel fan, but I do think one of his novels should be a classic novel group read in the future.
I finished Dead Beat a few days ago, and I've begun a reread of
.
Finished reading Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits which had some moments but overall was not good.Finished reading Bone Swans, a collection of 5 short stories by CSE Cooney, one of which, The Bone Swans of Amandale, I believe we've already read in this group. The first four stories were completely amazing, some of the best new fantasy i've read. The fifth, a post-apocalypse containing only dying children, was merely very good. All the stories are generally of the "re-told fairytale/mythology" genre, and contain a good mix of darkness and humour. Very highly recommended if you're into Cat Valente-type stuff.
Currently taking a big breath and diving into the world of Malazan with Gardens of the Moon. It will probably not be the fastest read, but if its good, there's certainly a lot more of it available to be read out there for me. Are there any Malazan fans in this group?
Finished Stolen, now I'm continuing with the Belgariad started a couple months ago. Right now it's book four Castle of Wizardry. Hoping to finish this year so I can start on the Mallorean in January. Obviously these books are fast reads, the problem is all the *other* books I have planned to read!
On the last 100 or so pages of Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. So far so good.I am thinking of switching to an SF book after this but not sure which one...
Yes, Brendan, I really enjoyed the Malazan series. The two set in Darujistan are my favourites, which are Gardens of the Moon and Toll the Hounds. The series changes character sets each book, but characters do turn up again. There are some great characters here too. I liked having the 'dramatis personae' at the start, and the glossary at the end was useful. Some events happen off scene and are covered in the books by Esslemont, but you don't need to read these in chronological order. The warren system of magic and the 'Houses' were quite inventive.
Just finished the Dragonriders of Pern omnibus. While I wait for The Harper's Hall trilogy to arrive I've started reading Software by Rudy Rucker. I'm only 5 or so chapters in, but I have to say it has started off quite weird.
I started out with one of the Vorkosigan novels I hadn't read before, Mirror Dance. It was entertaining enough, though I found myself wondering why it had won the Hugo award. Then I looked up the competition for 1995, and realized it was just one of those years...
Then I went on a comedy spree:
Gahan Wilson's Out There is a compendium of Wilson's cartoons from Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, plus a few covers. It also includes some of his few short stories, which I found reminded me of James Thurber's twisted fables. Wilson has a twisted, sometimes macabre sense of humor. I like the content, but the book is really expensive and I don't think very highly of Fantagraphics' ebook formatting.
Connie Willis's latest is Crosstalk, and I found it pretty funny, a little in the style of To Say Nothing of the Dog, but without the whole time travel thing. A woman's fiancé talks her into a newfangled brain implant that's intended to allow empathic connections between lovers.... The unintended consequences lead to weirdness. Nothing serious here, just a light romcom piece.
And of course I'm reading are group Short Story discussion subject, The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination, also mostly a comedic collection.
Then I went on a comedy spree:
Gahan Wilson's Out There is a compendium of Wilson's cartoons from Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, plus a few covers. It also includes some of his few short stories, which I found reminded me of James Thurber's twisted fables. Wilson has a twisted, sometimes macabre sense of humor. I like the content, but the book is really expensive and I don't think very highly of Fantagraphics' ebook formatting.
Connie Willis's latest is Crosstalk, and I found it pretty funny, a little in the style of To Say Nothing of the Dog, but without the whole time travel thing. A woman's fiancé talks her into a newfangled brain implant that's intended to allow empathic connections between lovers.... The unintended consequences lead to weirdness. Nothing serious here, just a light romcom piece.
And of course I'm reading are group Short Story discussion subject, The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination, also mostly a comedic collection.
Finished Resurrection. I enjoyed this one. Sci-fi mixed with ancient Egypt. Fun.Going to re-read Butcher's Codex Alera books. Started Furies of Calderon. This is one of my favorite fantasy series.
At the moment I'm reading Tanza, the second book in Amanda Greenslade's Astor Chronicles.
I've posted my review for William Gibson's Idoru, and while I enjoyed it, there wasn't quite the depth that I expected from his previous books.
http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...
I experience some interesting thoughts reading Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, none of them really good. The book had a little bit of buzz, so I decided to give it a try. Crouch is a mainstream author, apparently has a fan base from Wayward Pines. I hadn't read him before (unlikely to do so again.)
It's interesting when a mainstream author plays with sci-fi. The alternate universe, mostly our world but just a little bit different, is a common enough sci-fi trope. So I really found it annoying, figuratively drumming my fingers on the table, waiting for the hero to suss out what was going on. A feeling of, "get on with it!"
The book is clearly written with the intent of being a screenplay, and checking the author's biography, that seems indeed to be the case.
And Crouch's attempts at being Profound are painfully trite. Our lives are the sum of the decisions we've made. Wow, heavy man. This guy is really deep.
Anyway, I've confirmed a new way to decide whether to read a book: If I look at the book's Goodread page and scroll down to the reviews and find it populated by a bunch of animated gifs, I'm going to hate the book.
It's interesting when a mainstream author plays with sci-fi. The alternate universe, mostly our world but just a little bit different, is a common enough sci-fi trope. So I really found it annoying, figuratively drumming my fingers on the table, waiting for the hero to suss out what was going on. A feeling of, "get on with it!"
The book is clearly written with the intent of being a screenplay, and checking the author's biography, that seems indeed to be the case.
And Crouch's attempts at being Profound are painfully trite. Our lives are the sum of the decisions we've made. Wow, heavy man. This guy is really deep.
Anyway, I've confirmed a new way to decide whether to read a book: If I look at the book's Goodread page and scroll down to the reviews and find it populated by a bunch of animated gifs, I'm going to hate the book.
G33z3r wrote: "If I look at the book's Goodread page and scroll down to the reviews and find it populated by a bunch of animated gifs, I'm going to hate the book. "A better metric than the goodreads score, for sure.
Must admit though, some of those animated gifs can be entertaining (though not really enlightening) to scan through
Andrea wrote: "Must admit though, some of those animated gifs can be entertaining (though not really enlightening) to scan through"Some of them are actually worth saving to your own device for use elsewhere.
Forgot to mention that I finished The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. It was very nice and very drama-free and not really my speed. Would have been better served with fewer view-point characters, as so much head-hopping made it impossible to form an emotional connection to any of them. Will pass on the rest of the series.EDIT: Animated gif in the second review, should have been a red flag.
Currently 30% through Gardens of the Moon and it hasn't totally clicked yet. Characters feel a bit... wooden? They rarely seem to respond to things with identifiable human emotions.
Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski is the second of the Witcher books. While I didn't like it quite as much as the first, I still gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
@Brendan: ToR Malazan reading guide might help. Currently in the middle of Ian MacDonald's Luna: New Moon. Interesting, reminds me of Dune, but it is surely no page-turner.
Silvana wrote: "Currently in the middle of Ian MacDonald's Luna: New Moon. Interesting, reminds me of Dune, but it is surely no page-turner. ."
It moves a lot faster in the second half. A totally different kind of moon-based economy & social structure. We had a Discussion of New Moon back in March.
You know it's a first novel in the series, right? It ends on a major cliffhanger. The second book, Wolf Moon, was pushed to 2017. Sigh.
It moves a lot faster in the second half. A totally different kind of moon-based economy & social structure. We had a Discussion of New Moon back in March.
You know it's a first novel in the series, right? It ends on a major cliffhanger. The second book, Wolf Moon, was pushed to 2017. Sigh.
@Silvana: I don't like, or look at, reading guides, glossaries, maps, etcetera. The writing can either stand on its own, or it doesn't. It's not been that complex so far, at least nothing compared to, say, The Mirror Empire. But the writing is a bit clunky.
Currently reading Firelight for another reading group. Being British, I'm having a problem with the male love interest being called Lord Archer.
So decided that since I've only got one more Belgariad book left I'd just keep going, Enchanter's Endgame
I finished A Feast for Crows
by George R.R. Martin. Like everyone else, I regard this as the worst entry in the series. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...I started reading The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett and Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
A cold, rainy, miserable weekend made for a good excuse for getting a lot of reading done so I finished the Belgariad. Now continuing with another series started by this group, the second book in the Powder Mage Trilogy
by Brian McClellan
"New Earth" by Ben Bova. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm not exactly inspired. In the first hundred pages (pb) not much has happened. The characters are pretty flat and certainly not the personality types that would be selected for a pioneering interstellar mission.One caveat: I've found that when I'm writing science fiction, reading science fiction is not as much fun as usual. That might be tainting my evaluation.
Just started Nightseer by Laurell K Hamilton; it was her first novel, so hopefully it has a story and not just a succession of sex scenes.
Currently reading The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul along with other nongenre booksG33z3r wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Currently in the middle of Ian MacDonald's Luna: New Moon. Interesting, reminds me of Dune, but it is surely no page-turner. ."
It moves a lot faster in the second half. A totally ..."
I did not know before your post. But huge thanks for informing though, at least I was not as a surprised/annoyed as I was when I read the Color of Magic ;p
It was a great book, got better indeed in the second half. definitely will continue.
Just finished Nightseer. That's it, Laurell K Hamilton has used up her last chances with me. Never, never again will I buy anything with her name on the front, even if she launches a range of chocolates! I feel an angry one star review coming on...
Shaitarn wrote: "Just finished Nightseer. That's it, Laurell K Hamilton has used up her last chances with me. Never, never again will I buy anything with her name on the front, even if she launches a r..."I've heard it wasn't very good, but haven't felt masochistic enough to try it. I loved her early Anita Blake & stuck with it long after I'd come to dislike it simply because I wanted to find out what would happen with Edward & Otto. I kept reading they'd be coming back, but couldn't take it any more. I really hated what Hamilton did to Anita.
:(
Jim wrote: "Shaitarn wrote: "Just finished Nightseer. That's it, Laurell K Hamilton has used up her last chances with me. Never, never again will I buy anything with her name on the front, even if..."I have books 1-6 of the Anita Blake series plus Micah/Strange Candy (I was curious about the short stories) and this one. I was holding onto them out of a fondness for Guilty Pleasures, but that's it. I read 1-5 and couldn't go on. If anyone wants these books, send me your address on a private message and I will post them to you, regardless of whereabouts on the planet you are. I'm serious! Otherwise, down to the charity shop on Monday.
Right now I am going to re-read Tigana. It's not Kay's best book, but I still love it and his writing.
I've posted my review for Charles Stross' Saturn's Children, and it's a damn fine sci-fi read:
http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...
Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy
Books mentioned in this topic
Han Solo and the Lost Legacy (other topics)First Meetings in Ender's Universe (other topics)
Star Wars: Catalyst - A Rogue One Novel (other topics)
Magician's Gambit (other topics)
Bowl of Heaven (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
James Luceno (other topics)Orson Scott Card (other topics)
David Eddings (other topics)
Brian McClellan (other topics)
Terry Pratchett (other topics)
More...
So, as we northern hemispherers (hemispherites?) get our sweaters out of mothballs, what are you reading this month?
(Bonus question: are actual mothballs still a thing?)