SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
SciFi and Fantasy Book Challenge
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2017 Group Bookshelf Challenge Reading Calendar
January-June Discussion Threads
Gardens of the Moon (21)
"Gardens of the Moon" Navigating the Malazan World
"Gardens of the Moon" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Gardens of the Moon" Over the Halfway Mark! Who is still with us? *Spoilers*
"Gardens of the Moon" Finished - What did you think?
I, Robot (16)
"I, Robot" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"I, Robot" Finished Reading *Spoilers*
Seveneves (18)
Seveneves – First Thoughts *No Spoilers*
Seveneves – Part 1 *Spoilers*
Seveneves – Part 2 *Spoilers*
Seveneves – Full Discussion *Spoilers*
Color of Magic (16)
"The Color of Magic" Initial Reactions *No Spoilers*
"The Color of Magic" Deeper Meaning?
"The Color of Magic" Favorite Characters
"The Color of Magic" Finished Reading *Spoilers*
Ancillary Justice (17)
"Ancillary Justice" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Ancillary Justice" Final Thoughts *Spoilers*
"Ancillary Justice" To Gender or Not to Gender *Potential Spoilers*
Doomsday Book (14)
"Doomsday Book" Roll Call and Initial Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Doomsday Book" Part One Discussion *Spoilers*
"Doomsday Book" Part Two Discussion *Spoilers*
"Doomsday Book" Finished Reading *Spoilers*
"Doomsday Book" Infectious Diseases *Spoilers*
Ancillary Sword (16)
"Ancillary Sword" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Ancillary Sword" Final Thoughts *Spoilers*
The Aeronaut's Windlass (17)
"The Aeronaut's Windlass" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"The Aeronaut's Windlass" Final Thoughts *Spoilers*
Dune (16)
"Dune" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Dune" Finished *Spoilers*
The Windup Girl (17)
"The Windup Girl" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"The Windup Girl" Loved It? Hated It? Final Thoughts *Spoilers*
Blackout (15)
"Blackout" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Blackout" Read it! *Spoilers*
"Blackout" A dash of History with your Blackout Tea?
The Left Hand of Darkness (15)
"The Left Hand of Darkness" the obligatory first impressions topic *No Spoilers*
"The Left Hand of Darkness" Final Thoughts *Spoilers*
"The Left Hand of Darkness" Sex and Gender *Possible Spoilers*
July-December Threads
The Wise Man's Fear (14)
"The Wise Man's Fear" First Thoughts *No Spoilers*
"The Wise Man's Fear" Final Thoughts *Spoilers*
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (21)
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" First Thoughts *No Spoilers*
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?+ - Have You Finished? *Spoilers*
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" The many, many, many other threads for this book
Red Rising (20)
"Red Rising" First Thoughts
"Red Rising" Full Discussion *Spoilers*
The Final Empire (15)
"Mistborn: The Final Empire" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Mistborn: The Final Empire" Final Thoughts *Spoilers*
The Blade Itself (20)
"The Blade Itself" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"The Blade Itself" Likeable and Unlikeable Characters *Possible Spoilers*
"The Blade Itself" Finished Book Discussion *Spoilers*
The Three-Body Problem (17)
"The Three-Body Problem" First Thoughts *No Spoilers*
"The Three-Body Problem" Final Thoughts *Spoilers*
The Girl with All the Gifts (15)
"The Girl with All the Gifts" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"The Girl with All the Gifts" Finished Reading *Spoilers*
American Gods (21)
"American Gods" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"American Gods" Final Thoughts *Spoilers*
"American Gods" Book or Show First?
Anansi Boys (15)
"Anansi Boys" Gut Reaction *No Spoilers*
"Anansi Boys" Finished Reading *Spoilers*
"Anansi Boys" Comparison to American Gods *Marked Spoilers*
Assassin's Apprentice (19)
"Assassin's Apprentice" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Assassin's Apprentice" Conclusions **plenty o' spoilers**
For the past few years we've had a small group of members that discuss books that have been read by the group in the past. Any book from the Group Bookshelf qualifies. Now is the time of year for voting on the ones that we'll be reading in 2017. We will pick 24 books and schedule two per month. Discussion starts on the 15th of the month and the threads usually go up a few days prior.This little side group of ours gets bigger every year, which tends to make it more complicated. In an effort to make things a bit more simple Edwin and I have decided to try something new. We're going to ask everyone to vote for the books they would like to read (from the Group Bookshelf) via a google doc this year. The only thing that you'll actually need is a gmail login. You'll be able to change and update your votes at any point during the nomination process.
So here's the plan:
1.Voting will begin on Nov 15th
2.On Dec 15th we'll take the ones ranked as #1 and #24 for January's reads and #2 and #23 for February.
3.Voting will close on Jan 15th
4.The full 2017 schedule will be up by Feb 15th
We're going to make every effort to avoid scheduling two long books together. We'll be scheduling high ranked books with low ranked books to try to avoid as many conflicts as possible.
Books will be listed as Title, author, page count, with words like "A" or "The" removed if they are at the beginning of the title.
Vote Here
Cool! Thanks, Sarah and Edwin!Sarah Anne wrote: "2.On Dec 15th we'll take the ones ranked as #1 and #24 for January's reads and #2 and #23 for February."
I see how this fits with putting high and low in the same month. However, #23 and #24 are the most likely to drop off the list once all votes are considered. Maybe we could use a couple from the middle of the list, like #11 and #12.
I love it. I voted for all of the Audible titles that I own but to which I have not yet listened.
Very impressed with this system and the effort to put it together!! Outstanding idea and job Sarah and Edwin!!
I am voting for all of those I didn't/won't get to this year. They are all the dregs so I doubt the will win but who knows.
You're welcome guys :) I voted for everything I own. It would be lovely to get through some of those. I am getting to where they'll be the least popular books though. Like The Sword-Edged Blonde, which I simply have to read because of the cheesy title.
I basically voted for everything on my to-read shelf. I'm trying to get that list to shrink, not grow :)
Sarah Anne wrote: "You're welcome guys :) I voted for everything I own. It would be lovely to get through some of those. I am getting to where they'll be the least popular books though. Like The Sword-Edged Blonde, w..."We are looking good, with lots of nice votes coming in.
My strategy is a little different. I am choosing only 10 books for our side reads, but 3 of them will be first books in series that I would like to tackle this year (Blackout, The Way of Shadows, and Pandora's Star). Now THAT should give me plenty to do.......
Cool stuff, folks! Thanks for coordinating. So if we vote, do we see the results, or is that for your eyes only? And is there a way to add or change votes later? (Who would do that?!?)
You can edit yours along the way. Only Edwin and I can see them but I promise to be nice and keep you guys updated along the way :) To edit you just click on the link again and it says something about you've already answered. Then there's something that says "edit previous response" or something like that.
Edwin, I'm also doing Blackout/ All Clear and Pandora's Star :)
Michael wrote: "Cool stuff, folks! Thanks for coordinating. So if we vote, do we see the results, or is that for your eyes only? And is there a way to add or change votes later? (Who would do that?!?)"Michael, once you have voted, the poll page will read "you've already responded" and will give you the option to "edit previous response" if you wish to change your vote. You can also "see previous responses" to see the tally of all votes. As Sarah stated, the individual responses are for our eyes only ;)
Sarah Anne wrote: "Edwin, I'm also doing Blackout/ All Clear and Pandora's Star :)"Excellent! So you now just have to also read Judas Unchained with me. Nothing like a couple thousand pages of meaty SF&F book club reading.
I actually do want to read Judas Unchained...See what happens when you twist my arm?! I go and agree to do things I want to do anyway!
By the way, Chris, we aren't ignoring your idea about choosing numbers 11 and 12. I just realized that we hadn't replied. I want to see what the ranking looks like but we'll probably do something like that.
Thank you so much for putting this list together! I voted for 10 books. Most of them are series and that’s always a challenge, because generally I just can’t stop after the first one… but for this year it worked out well, so I’ll try again!
I know that I voted for The Name of the Wind, but the summary shows it as not having any votes.
Chris wrote: "I know that I voted for The Name of the Wind, but the summary shows it as not having any votes."Chris, try going back to "edit previous response" and look to see if NotW is still checked. I think Google docs dropped one of my responses as well.
Edwin wrote: "Chris, try going back to "edit previous response" and look to see if NotW is still checked. I think Google docs dropped one of my responses as well."Yes, it is still checked. My guess is that maybe it got crossed with the sequel, The Wise Man's Fear.
Angela, the link to vote is in the first post. At the end. Chris, it doesn't show all of the titles so try hovering over all of the bars in the N section. I know I saw some votes for that yesterday.
Mod
~Dawn by Octavia Butler (unlimited)
~Island of Dr. Moreau (unlimited)
~The Silent Tower by Barbara Hambly (unlimited)
~Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and Hugh Aplin (unlimited)
* * * * * * * * *
~Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clark (unlimited with audio)
~The Day of Triffids by John Wyndham (unlimited with audio)
~Regarding Ducks and Universes by Neve Maslakovic (unlimited with audio)
~Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (unlimited with audio)
~When Gravity Fails by George A. Effinger (unlimited with audio)
~Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber (unlimited with audio)
Oh, Michael, it looks like you can see everyone's responses! If you click on the link, above "Edit your response" it says "See previous responses". It gives the whole list, although it's not particularly easy to read.
Chris, do you remember how many votes you saw for The Name of the Wind this morning.
Sarah Anne wrote: "Chris, do you remember how many votes you saw for The Name of the Wind this morning."It showed 0 votes earlier, which is why I thought there was a problem.
Looks good although it doesn't seem to register my vote for Crown Conspiracy. Everything else went through. Maybe I have to wait for it to update?
I'm not sure? I had the same problem as Chris where I voted for Sword-Edged Blonde. It originally showed 0 votes but now it's showing 3. They show up correctly in the spreadsheet view so it may just be a matter of double checking every single title on the spreadsheet. I'm sure you guys know I'm thrilled with that idea ;)Hank, what were your first five votes. I need to double check something because the spreadsheet isn't showing Crown Conspiracy.
With an epic amount of WTF? I'm noticing that nothing below three votes is showing up on the summary.And I've got Crown Conspiracy now. My search function wasn't working.
Probably you don't need it now but.....Briar King
Crown Conspiracy
Day of the Triffids
Gardens of the Moon
Mote in God's Eye
Funny about the summary. 0-2 are probably all the same in reality.
Yep, I found that one. Nothing on this tells us whose responses are whose. It's frustrating to know you voted for something and it's showing 0. I voted for Doctor Who! What if 7 people want to jump on that bandwagon when they see it has one vote? ;)
Voted for 12 books since I am being ambitious despite I have not had any copies of most of if not all of them.One of my votes (Zoo City) also still scores zero until now.
The rest of my votes are still very low except Snow Queen.
I voted for Eon and it is showing zero also.
Well, I voted for that one so we only need one more vote for it to actually show :)
This is the current ranking. We will only be scheduling 24 but I thought I would give people the 5+ ones.10 Votes
Gardens of the Moon
8 Votes
The Forever War
The Day of the Triffids
7 Votes
Anansi Boys
Ancillary Justice
Ancillary Sword
Blackout
The Blade Itself
Boneshaker
Childhood's End
City of Bones
Cloud Atlas
The Killing Moon
Kindred
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
The Windup Girl
6 Votes
The Anubis Gates
The Briar King
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Doomsday Book
Dragonflight
The Girl with All the Gifts
The Handmaid's Tale
I Am Legend
The Martian
The Mote in God's Eye
Prince of Thorns
Red Mars
The Road
The Snow Queen
5 Votes
The Accidental Time Machine
Assassin's Apprentice
Consider Phlebas
The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
The Dispossessed
Flowers for Algernon
Furies of Calderon
The Lathe of Heaven
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Man in the High Castle
Neverwhere
Ready Player One
Red Rising
The Silent Tower
The Three-Body Problem
The Wise Man's Fear
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
There are more votes below this point so keep the votes coming and move them on up!
Thanks Sarah for posting the rankings for the curious onlookers. I always have fun watching even though I don’t vote. I hope The Briar King makes it to the final list. I really enjoyed that series and nobody ever, ever talks about it. I want to see people talk about it. :)
That one is definitely on my list for 2017. It's glaring at me from my bookshelves :) So yeah, I hope so too. I found myself voting for a lot of the less common ones this time. Only three of mine are 7+.I'll be so lonely.
I've 7 books in the 5-7 vote groups. Not bad.Hoping The Killing Moon and Snow Queen make the final cut.
Nice idea. I just voted for the ones that are in my TBR list. But there are many I've already read yet others may find them excellent indeed, like Cloud Atlas. I wonder if I should vote for those as well so they get a chance to be selected for next years group reads.By the way, does the list contain only the books (from the group bookshelf) that have not been read already by the group in previous years?
It's anything off the shelf. We do tend to get the same books popping up but it doesn't happen terribly often. Ancillary Justice was this year and Red Mars last year. Moon is a Harsh Mistress was in 2014. A lot of us have been trading together for two or the years, though, so a lot of the more unusual ones are popping up this time. Like Day of the Triffids.
I added some of the leading books that I don't own and aren't in the library to my Amazon wish list. The holidays are upon us!!
I always try to have a few in mine as well :) Although this year I REALLY want that new Paul McCartney 4 disc album. So book requests are taking a back seat.
Sarah Anne wrote: "It's anything off the shelf. We do tend to get the same books popping up but it doesn't happen terribly often..."Well, I edited and voted for the books I've read as well.
What happens if an already read book is voted again? Will it be re-read by the group?
Farhana wrote: "By the way, does the list contain only the books (from the group bookshelf) that have not been read already by the group in previous years?"Hi Farhana,
I think the point of confusion might be how the books get on the group shelf. All the books on our group shelf have previously been read by the group over the years. Each month two new books are voted on, added to the shelf, and read by anybody in the group who’s interested.
This topic is a side process, outside the normal monthly group reads. There aren’t too many people who have read all of the group books, either because they haven’t been a member for all of those years or because they haven’t participated in every one. Each year there’s a “Read all the books” challenge where people set a goal of how many books from the group shelf they want to read. This includes both past books (already on the shelf) and future group picks (added to the shelf after they win a poll).
This topic is where participants in that challenge who want to plan ahead choose from the past books (already on the shelf) that they plan to read toward that challenge. Usually there are several books that multiple people plan to read, and the idea is that it can be more fun if those people read the book at the same time so they can discuss it together similar to the way the official monthly group reads are done. This topic is a way of coordinating that.
YouKneeK wrote: "Farhana wrote: "By the way, does the list contain only the books (from the group bookshelf) that have not been read already by the group in previous years?"Hi Farhana,
I think the point of confu..."
Nicely summarized. Thanks.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Cloud Atlas (other topics)Adulthood Rites (other topics)
Adulthood Rites (other topics)
Dawn (other topics)
Adulthood Rites (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Connie Willis (other topics)Octavia E. Butler (other topics)
Octavia E. Butler (other topics)
Neal Stephenson (other topics)
21 Gardens of the Moon (666)-
January 1516 I, Robot (225) -
January 1518 Seveneves (881) -
February 1516 The Color of Magic (228) -
February 1517 Ancillary Justice (386) -
March 1514 Doomsday Book (578) -
March 1516 Ancillary Sword (356) -
April 1517 The Aeronaut's Windlass (630) -
April 1516 Dune (604) -
May 1517 The Windup Girl (359) -
May 1515 Blackout (610) -
June 1515 The Left Hand of Darkness (304) -
June 1514 The Wise Man's Fear (994) -
July 1521 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (256) -
July 1520 Red Rising (382) -
August 1515 The Final Empire (541) -
August 1520 The Blade Itself (517) -
September 1517 The Three-Body Problem (400) -
September 1515 The Girl with All the Gifts (460) -
October 1521 American Gods (480) -
October 1515 Anansi Boys (384) -
November 1519 Assassin's Apprentice (480) -
November 1515 Cloud Atlas (509) -
December 1516 The Goblin Emperor (446) -
December 15