SciFi and Fantasy eBook Club discussion
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Nominating Books and Re-reading Books
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Personally, I feel there are so many books out there to read that we don't need to be doing re-reads.BTW, I think we have a pretty good list going. My personal bookshelf for this club is up to 71.
The thing is just because a thread is 2 years old does not mean that the discussion and debate cannot continue, be re-opened or commented with fresh people and fresh debates. I see doing books already done as pointless.What I do find interesting from this list is that there are very few repeat authors (I noticed Stross and guess there might be one or two others). I would be happy to do more books by authors we have read different books by, particularly is it has been a while.
I don't think we should re-read as a group. Just encourage everyone to visit older threads.
As to the...few repeated author issue....that would mostly be due to the rule that they are not re-nominated, if they won in the last 12 months.
While I do re-read on occasion, I think as a group it is best not to allow it. There are so many books and authors out there to chose from.
The 12-month author rule came out of a vote in autumn 2012 after we voted in a Peter Hamilton book in September and then again in October ....
.... they were good books but definitely too close together ....
.... they were good books but definitely too close together ....
Ben has a good point about older threads being resurrected. I've seen that several times where someone will comment on a book discussion from a year or two ago.
I'm torn about this.On the one hand, there's plenty out there to read so revisiting the well on the hundred-odd books already read by the group seems slightly perverse. That said, as a relative newcomer there's a lot on the list I haven't read and would like to.
Perhaps Clare's idea of buddy (re-)reading and resurrecting threads is the best way forward. With a little structure and co-ordination I suspect people will get more out of it than if readers just jump on to an old thread in isolation.
I am really new in the group and honestly, I think there is enough books to read out there so that we don't have to have older members to re-read books. I don't like re-reading books, so I wouldn't want to force other people to do it.We could still have a rule that books can be re-nominated after a (long) while.
We could also have a rule that if a already-read book gets voted, the second book in the vote gets elected too, as if it was a draw. So people who already read the first book also have something to read.
Angélique wrote: "...We could still have a rule that books can be re-nominated after a (long) while.
We could also have a rule that if a already-read book gets voted, the second book in the vote gets elected too, as if it was a draw. So people who already read the first book also have something to read. "
Or a nomination for an already read book is a nomination for the next book in the series .... which will keep me on my toes ....
We could also have a rule that if a already-read book gets voted, the second book in the vote gets elected too, as if it was a draw. So people who already read the first book also have something to read. "
Or a nomination for an already read book is a nomination for the next book in the series .... which will keep me on my toes ....
What I've noticed in book recommendation lists here and in other SF groups, and from what gets nominated in any way anywhere, I'm firmly in the #1 Hell No. category.The same books keep coming up time and time and time again. I get it. People think Rendezvous with Rama is a classic. But if you open the nominations up to stuff after a couple years ultimately you'll just have the same books being read over a 2-year cycle.
Meanwhile, thousands of other books are being published that will stand next to no chance of ever being read here.
Keep it fresh. Keep it alive. Keep it current.
Oh, and as has been mentioned, nothing's stopping people from either opening up an old discussion, or starting a new one.
I've read about 26 of the books listed. The list seems to be (very) roughly 1/2 SF and 1/2 fantasy. While not against fantasy (I have read a bit), my personal preference is SF. Rereading? I've probably taken the time over the years to reread 100 -150 books - some for a 4th or 5th time. Major prompt for a reread is a new book in a series that I read a long time ago and I feel the need to refresh myself. Rereads in the club though? An author, certainly, but a specific book? Nah !
Or a nomination for an already read book is a nomination for the next book in the series .... which will keep me on my toes ....
I think it's a great idea! Because it leaves it open to everyone. If I didn't read the series at all, I can read one or two books in a row. If I already read the first one, I can read the second one and still have something to discuss.
The only thing maybe is that some people might have really liked the first book, on the first time, and read the whole series since then :S
I'll try it the next time a repeat book comes up and see how people react. :)
Now, I'm of two minds on this:
1) Oh hell no. It's been read and that's that. (that's one mind)
2) I re-read books all the time. Some of the books we've read as group I've read many times before and will probably read again, so why not? (that's the other mind)
So. What do you think? We could allow a book to be nominated again after x time (2 years, 3 years, whatever). That doesn't necessarily mean it would be selected but it would be nominated. Or, we could just keep the list as is since there are a brazillion other books to choose from ...
... it could really go either way.
Since I already had a spreadsheet listing the 103 books we've voted to read to date, here's the full list for your viewing pleasure:
Jun 2010 - Diane Duane - Stealing the Elf-King's Roses
Jun 2010 - David Derrico - Right Ascension
Jul 2010 - Robin Hobbs - The Dragon Keeper
Jul 2010 - John Scalzi - Old Man's War
Aug 2010 - Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games
Aug 2010 - Christopher Moore - Bloodsucking Fiends
Sep 2010 - Charles Stross - The Atrocity Archives
Sep 2010 - Nick Harkaway - The Gone-Away World
Oct 2010 - Alastair Reynolds - House of Suns
Oct 2010 - China Mieville - The City and the City
Nov 2010 - Joe Ambercrombie - The Blade Itself
Nov 2010 - Eric Brown - Necropath
Dec 2010 - Iain M Banks - Surface Detail
Dec 2010 - Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn: The Final Empire
Jan 2011 - Greg Keyes - The Briar King
Jan 2011 - Larry Niven - The Mote in God's Eye
Feb 2011 - Charles Stross - Accelerando
Feb 2011 - H.P. Lovecraft - The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
Mar 2011 - Scott Lynch - The Lies of Locke Lamora
Mar 2011 - Walter M. Miller, Jr - A Canticle for Leibowitz
Apr 2011 - Marion Zimmer Bradley - Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover
Apr 2011 - Dan Simmons - Hyperion
May 2011 - Rick Cook - Wizard's Bane
May 2011 - Richard K. Morgan - Altered Carbon
Jun 2011 - Terry Pratchett - The Color of Majic
Jun 2011 - K.W. Jeter - Internal Devices
Jul 2011 - Jack Vance - Suldrum's Garden
Jul 2011 - Robert A. Heinlein - Starship Troopers
Aug 2011 - Austin Grossman - Soon I will be Invincible
Aug 2011 - J.M. Dattilo - Time's Edge
Sep 2011 - Dan McGirt - Hero Wanted
Sep 2011 - C.J. Cherryh - Hammerfall
Oct 2011 - Terry Pratchett - Witches Abroad
Oct 2011 - Philip K. Dick - Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep
Nov 2011 - N.K. Jemisin - The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Nov 2011 - Paolo Bacigalupi - The Windup Girl
Dec 2011 - Guy Gavriel - Kay Under Heaven
Dec 2011 - David Weber - On Basilisk Station
Jan 2012 - Stephen Lawhead - The Iron Lance
Jan 2012 - Scott Westerfield - Leviathan
Feb 2012 - Tim Powers - The Drawing of the Dark
Feb 2012 - Robert Charles Wilson - Spin
Mar 2012 - Joe Ambercrombie - Best Served Cold
Mar 2012 - Neal Stephenson - The Diamond Age
Apr 2012 - Terry Pratchett - Good Omens
Apr 2012 - Kurt Vonnegut - The Sirens of Titan
May 2012 - Kevin Hearne - Hounded
May 2012 - James Jackson - First Contact
Jun 2012 - Anne McCaffrey - Dragonflight
Jun 2012 - James S.A. Corey - Leviathan Wakes
Jul 2012 - Mira Grant - Feed
Jul 2012 - Earnest Cline - Ready Player One
Aug 2012 - Lois McMaster Bujold - The Curse of Chalion
Aug 2012 - Ian McDonald - River of Gods
Sep 2012 - Terry Goodkind - The Law of Nines
Sep 2012 - Peter Hamilton - The Reality Dysfunction
Oct 2012 - R. Scott Baker - The Darkness that Comes Before
Oct 2012 - Peter Hamilton - Pandora's Star
Nov 2012 - Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind
Nov 2012 - Greg Bear - Eon
Dec 2012 - Jim C. Hines - Libriomancer
Dec 2012 - David Brin - Existence
Jan 2013 - William Goldman - The Princess Bride
Jan 2013 - William Gibson - Neuromancer
Feb 2013 - Gene Wolfe - The Shadow of the Torturer
Feb 2013 - David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas
Mar 2013 - Elizabeth Moon - Sheepfarmer's Daughter
Mar 2013 - S.M. Stirling - Dies the Fire
Apr 2013 - Ursula K LeGuin - A Wizard of Earthsea
Apr 2013 - Octavia Butler - Dawn (Xenogenesis #1)
May 2013 - Katherine Kurtz - Deryni Rising
May 2013 - John Scalzi - Android's Dream
Jun 2013 - Glen Cook - The Black Company
Jun 2013 - Isaac Asimov - Foundation
Jul 2013 - Brandon Sanderson - The Way Of Kings
Jul 2013 - Samuel R. Delany - The Einstein Intersection
Aug 2013 - Neil Gaiman - The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Aug 2013 - Poul Anderson - Tau Zero
Sep 2013 - Jack Vance - The Dying Earth
Sep 2013 - Iain M Banks - Consider Phlebas
Oct 2013 - Joe Ambercrombie - The Heroes
Oct 2013 - Lois McMaster Bujold - Shards of Honor
Nov 2013 - Stephen Lawhead - Taliesin
Nov 2013 - Kim Stanley Robinson - 2312
Dec 2013 - Robin Hobbs - Assassin's Apprentice
Dec 2013 - John Varley - Titan
Jan 2014 - Mark Lawrence - Prince of Thorns
Jan 2014 - Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep
Feb 2014 - Caitlín R. Kiernan - The Drowning Girl
Feb 2014 - Hannu Rajaniemi - The Quantum Thief
Mar 2014 - Elizabeth Bear - All the Windracked Stars
Mar 2014 - John Brunner - Stand on Zanzibar
Apr 2014 - Tad Williams - The Dirty Streets of Heaven
Apr 2014 - John Hornor Jacobs - Southern Gods
Apr 2014 - Alastair Reynolds - Terminal World
May 2014- Scott Spotson - The Four Kings
May 2014 - Jeff VanderMeer - Annihilation: A Novel
Jun 2014 - Michael J. Sullivan - Theft of Swords
Jun 2014 - Philip K. Dick - The Man in the High Castle
Jul 2014 - Steven Erickson - Gardens of the Moon
Jul 2014 - Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Aug 2014 - Jasper Fforde - The Eyre Affair
Aug 2014 - Dan Simmons - Endymion