SciFi and Fantasy eBook Club discussion
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A Group Reading of Trilogies
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I'm open to the idea although I think getting enough people to commit to three books may be tough. Maybe a classic trilogy that a lot of people would like to re-visit?
Depends on the trilogy and if they're read as one selection or split out among different months. I tend not to read books by the same same author back to back.
I tend to read series with other books in between. I rarely read an entire series back to back to back, so I agree with you there, Greg. I think a moderated conversation each month about each book in the trilogy would be an excellent way to run one ....
.... I was also thinking that if we did this, the person nominating the series might also be volunteering to moderate the read. :-D
.... I was also thinking that if we did this, the person nominating the series might also be volunteering to moderate the read. :-D
I like the idea of this. The trilogy / series is such a huge part of the SF / Fantasy landscape (I did a quick and hugely scientific scan of the first 30 "read" books on the group bookshelf - 18 are "volume 1 of x") that I think there's definitely value in group reading one to see how things work over a number of books rather than for one in isolation.
I'm not really into series... Especially nowadays, it feels more like a marketing thing than a real artistic intention. I loved some series, but it's rare. Other series I finished because I loved the world, but still found that the books' quality were decreasing.On the other hand, some older Sci-Fi books are in a series and are awesome. I'm thinking of the Riverworld serie of P.J. Farmer for instance (wish is not a trilogy by the way). I wish I was taking the time to read this series again.
So, why not. Maybe there could be different groups, each focusing on a different series ? Or at least one group for Sci-Fi and one group for Fantasy?
If the first was successful, we could do one a quarter - with the first series starting up in July. Depending on popularity, we could try a Science Fiction and a fantasy at the same time - or just the one series at a time until we get good at it....
What about this:
* One Series a quarter; 3-books selected. If there are more than three books in the series, the three are selected before voting begins (So, maybe the first 3 of the Ender Quintet, let's say).
* The series can include a book previously selected as a monthly selection (because, why not?)
* The Nominator is also the leader; unless other arrangements are made (always give an opening for extenuating circumstances)
* Fantasy or Science Fiction; ebooks, of course.
Do we need more guidelines? Do those make sense?
* One Series a quarter; 3-books selected. If there are more than three books in the series, the three are selected before voting begins (So, maybe the first 3 of the Ender Quintet, let's say).
* The series can include a book previously selected as a monthly selection (because, why not?)
* The Nominator is also the leader; unless other arrangements are made (always give an opening for extenuating circumstances)
* Fantasy or Science Fiction; ebooks, of course.
Do we need more guidelines? Do those make sense?
So will the trilogy part of the normal section or separate?
I'm thinking separate .... we'd still do the normal selections, but the trilogy could be a third option.
I like it!Could we just not limit it to trilogies or three-books series? I mean obviously we're not going to start reading the whole discworld series, but there is some great 4 or 5 book series (and in terms of page number, sometimes it matches trilogies)! :)
That's where I was thinking around not limiting it. If someone wanted to nominate 3 related Discworld books,they could.
OK, Full Access to My Messy Brain: When thinking about doing this, I was thinking about Raymond E. Feist's Serpentwar Saga as a fine example for a trilogy that was in the middle of a series of trilogies but still eligible by itself. But, I forgot that it's actually 4 books because I love the first three books and I'm only OK with the 4th. :)
That's when I started thinking about selecting a trilogy or selecting three books from a series .... Because I started looking and wondered if it would be a good moderated read to read the first three of Wingrove's Chung Kuo novels or three from The Culture ....
.... My thought there was that if someone came up with a truly horrendous idea like books 3 - 5 in Jack Chalker's Well World series, collectively our group would vote it down or otherwise correct it.
OK, Full Access to My Messy Brain: When thinking about doing this, I was thinking about Raymond E. Feist's Serpentwar Saga as a fine example for a trilogy that was in the middle of a series of trilogies but still eligible by itself. But, I forgot that it's actually 4 books because I love the first three books and I'm only OK with the 4th. :)
That's when I started thinking about selecting a trilogy or selecting three books from a series .... Because I started looking and wondered if it would be a good moderated read to read the first three of Wingrove's Chung Kuo novels or three from The Culture ....
.... My thought there was that if someone came up with a truly horrendous idea like books 3 - 5 in Jack Chalker's Well World series, collectively our group would vote it down or otherwise correct it.
confused about Serpentwar saga. I thought it was Magician, Silverthorn and a Darkness at Sathanon (sp).I know the first book is sometimes divided into two but I was fairly sure it was just a trilogy although both Prince of Blood and another book followed on afterwards (before then many, many other series and sequels set in the world).
I do think it is interesting to note that the whole 5 books of either The chronicles of amber or even I think Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain Boxed Set are shorter in length I than the Magician.
These days I tend to go for stand alone books but I have no problem with having a series read although my general preference is for stand alone books. Equally if we ever do a first book in a series I am happy for there to be threads about the subsequent books.
I find that, in my book choices, stand alone books are rare as hens teeth.;)
Ben, You are right about the first series, The Riftwar, set in Midkemia and written by Feist .... but there are about 30 years of series and stand alones that came after that first series. The Serpentwar is one of my favorite.
There would need to be some logic the selection, but it need not always be super strict. Let's say the original Robert E. Howard Conan Stories broken out into thirds could form a trilogy. It might not get enough votes, but it might make sense depending on how the nomination it set up.
Well, I'm not about being strict so a Conan group read would make me happy - for that matter, a Gor group read might do it too ...
Oooo.....I haven't read Gor in ages!Only read the first three, and lent out #1.
Never seen again.
They have e-book versions?
*Turning on kindle......
The first few Gor books were cheesy science fiction, but somewhere around book six - when DAW took over publishing - the author went off into the bondage deep end. They might be good for a laugh - if you can laugh at women begging to be slaves. I thought it was cool as a teen in the early 80s. Not so sure about that now.
A few series I would like to to read/re-read:- Riverworld, PJ Farmer
- The Four Lords of the Diamond, J.L. Chalker
- The Chronicles of Amber, R. Zelazny (at least, try again)
- Foundation, I. Asimov
- The Hyperion Cantos, D. Simons
Geoffrey wrote: "Another thought I had was whether or not we should try reading a series together. (I'm thinking trilogies not some of the umpteen volume monstrosities out there). We have never tried more than one..."I do like the idea, but am such a slow reader that I'd lag behind something terrible. I'll just keep plugging along at my own pace. Currently nearly done with A Dance with Dragons (and my wrists are about broken from holding it every night before bed -- reading the hardback!!! ugh why couldn't he have divided it into 2 books!!!) :-p
I'm thinking a series may need to be a moderated read. We've never done one in this group, but there's no reason not to. AND, we'd have to agree on the series - vote it out ....
what do you think? Fun?