RMFAO (Reading My Frigging A** Off) discussion
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RMFAO 2018 Classics Catchup
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I already have a couple left from this year, so I'll be completing them. Plus, I have H.P. Lovecraft's stories to finish (thanks a bunch for introducing me to his writing!) and I have this big-ass Sci-Fi short story collector's book to finish (though I'm gonna skip all the Verne stories from it so basically I'll be reading only 40% of that book.)
Can you please suggest some Science-Fiction or Speculative-Fiction books for January? It would be great if they are audiobooks and not too lengthy :)
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Thanks for preparing and posting the logo, Heena!
I'll be thinking of some to suggest. I'll look for some classics too that are available free as audio books from LibriVox.
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I will join in with this challenge. I'll aim for 10 books (hopefully!)
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Good, Kathy! The more the merrier.
I haven't forgotten about some suggestions for classics that will also fit our first Genre month of 2018 which is Science Fiction. There are bunches of them free from Project Gutenberg and in audio from LibriVox.
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The ultimate science fiction classic is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. A lesser known work of hers is The Last Man.
H. G. Wells is one of the earliest authors of science fiction. Personally I enjoy his non-scifi books more, but that's just my taste; he certainly has a legion of fans for his sci-fi books. A sampling of his most famous include The War of the Worlds, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Time Machine and The Invisible Man. (A word about The Invisible Man - he's really rather a hateful person, definitely unlikeable. This came as a shock to me since I was remembering the TV series from the 1950s. Since it was a continuing series, his personality was changed and they made him very likeable.)
I was thinking of Jules Verne as another iconic author of science fiction, but more of his seem to fall in the adventure category. If you're a fan of Verne's writing and haven't already read it, you can try From Earth to the Moon.
One that may surprise you is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His Lost World series consists of five books, although only the first two fall under the original public domain category guidelines are are readily available free: The Lost World and The Poison Belt. Some people are classify these as adventure rather than science fiction, others go with science fiction or fantasy.
If you're in the mood for some swash-buckling sci-fi adventure stories, try Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series. Some or all are set on Mars and feature John Carter. Myself, I prefer Burroughs' Land that Time Forgot trilogy. The first one is The Land that Time Forgot.
Some "space opera" anyone? E. E. "Doc" Smith has a Lensman series available. I might try one of those myself. Only the first two currently seem to be available: Triplanetary and First Lensman. There are others of his available including short stories (as is the case with many of the authors mentioned).
An author I've heard of but not read other than maybe a short story or two a long time ago is Murray Leinster. He has a number available, several of which look quite promising if you like adventure on a distant planet, battling the life forms, etc. I might try one of these if I have the time.
If you're still browsing, you can also find some early works by Fritz Leiber, John Campbell (Jr.) and even Harry Harrison. I've really enjoyed some of the later works not yet in public domain of all these authors.
Stopping now - at this rate we'd need the Science Fiction Genre month to last all year, lol. Those are the main ones that came to mind. There are several hundred works listed in the genre search at LibriVox; many (most?) could be short stories if that's what you enjoy or to sample a particular author.
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I'm going to go for the audiobook of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, so as you said, it'll be a triple play. I'm going with this because a) I've never read anything on Frankenstien and b) because it is not very long.
I read War Of The Worlds for the first year fo this challenge on your suggestion and loved it! So I might read one his from this list, though I might read it in some other month as January is already looking quite full. The Island of Dr. Moreau looks like my kind of book, so I'm adding it to my TBR.
I can barely read Jules Verne's writing (though I do like the movies with The Rock in them ;) ) so I'm going to skip his books.
Other than the 2 I mentioned above, I'm quite interested in The Lost World Series and The Forgotten Planet by Murray Leinster.
It's going to be a great start to 2018 with these awesome reads! Thanks again, Classics Prof. Dagny, you're the best :)
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Really? That's great. Do let me know what all books should I read on Frankenstein then.
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Most of the books I've read are from two or three decades ago (but not old enough to be classics) and probably next to impossible to find in India. In the U.S. one might have better luck finding them in used paperback. Not especially worth a lot of trouble or money. The ones that stuck in my memory are The Frankenstein Papers by Fred Saberhagen and Frankenstein Unbound by Brian Aldiss. There's a later series, at least from this millenium: Dean Koontz's Frankenstein. He updated it to modern times and set it in New Orleans. I like all these authors. There's still one on my shelf which I haven't read: I am Frankenstein by C. Dean Andersson.
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I don't think it gets into the legend of Frankenstein but instead uses the monster as a character. Pretty sure it might even be a series.
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1. The Lost World (Professor Challenger #1) by Arthur Conan Doyle
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1. The Lost World (Professor Challenger #1) by Arthur Conan Doyle"
That's a good one, Dagny!
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I read it ages ago, but that's about what I recall of it. Grok on!
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Arm of the Law by Harry Harrison (1958)
Checkmate By Clark Ashton Smith (1930)
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A mindblowing read! Thanks a lot Dagny for this recommendation!
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A mindblowing read! Thanks a lot Dagny for this recommendation!"
You're welcome, Heena. Glad you enjoyed it!
2018 Classics:1. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. Sci-Fi Dystopia classic. 2 stars. Turned-off by the slang and violence. Read 1/28/18.
2. The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie. Crime mystery. 3 stars. Not sure if this particular story is a classic but Agatha Christie is. Not one of her better mysteries but a nice "comfort" read. Read 3/18/18.
3. The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk. Rated 4.5 stars. Read 4/27/18.
4. The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch. Rated 3 stars. Read 5/16/18.
5. Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay. Rated 5 stars. An Australian classic. Read 7/10/18.
6. The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham. Rated 3.5 stars. Read 8/8/18.
7. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. Rated 5 stars. Read 9/22/18.
2018 Short Story Classics:
1. The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant. 3 stars. Read 3/8/18. The ending is ironic yet predictable. I saw a quote from the author saying what would have happened if she hadn't lost the necklace? My response is what would have happened if she just told her friend!
2. The Story of My Dovecote by Isaac Babel. 3 stars. Read 3/10/18. Sad.
3. Signs and Symbols by Vladimir Nabokov. 3 stars. Read 3/7/18. A lot of different interpretations have been added to this short story hence the name.
4. Gómez Palacio by Roberto Bolaño. 2 stars. Read 3/1/18. Very descriptive writing - brilliantly describes all the colors found in the desert. However, not much action or plot to story.
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1. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. Sci-Fi Dystopia classic. 2 stars. Turned-off by the slang and violence. Read 1/28/18."
I've never read that one, Kathy, but was afraid of that. Not all that fond of dystopian genre anyway.
I thought it might be better now that I am older but I dislike it more the second time around.
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Not sure if I liked the writing much, but all the stories were creepy as hell!
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How was this one, Cheryl? I've read a couple of hers, one I really enjoyed and the other was pretty good, but a bit of a disappointment after the first one I read.
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Just so you know, there is a tedious chapter in it on solving a cryptogram, but you can easily skip it without hampering your understanding of the story.
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Thanks for the heads up, Cheryl. I'm already up to Chapter 5.
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Interesting coincidence, Cheryl. Even though our first four "classics" are different, this one was the fifth for both of us.
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Interesting coincidence, Cheryl. Even though our first four "classics" are different, this one was the fifth for both of us."
It's funny how that worked out!
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3 stars. My review can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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3 stars. My review can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Another Anna K Green one. You're on a roll with those, Cheryl.
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Yes, I lucked out with the books I picked to read. I will definitely read more of this author's work.
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A ton of fun! Thanks for the recommendation, Cheryl.
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A ton of fun! Thanks for the recommendation, Cheryl."
Glad you liked it.
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The only Manga Classic I've read so far that made me want to read the original classic.
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7. Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger
Going to join going for level 1 and hopefully reaching level two lol Love the classics.
Currently reading now I’m not sure if it’s a classic so correct me if I’m wrong
The Travels Macro Polo have started it and always wanted to read it.
Hungry Hill. Daphne Du Maurier great author highly recommend her books
And lastly
The Painted Veil.
Now i am hoping to get all three finished and have started all three but having got so much to read already I thinking I could be over stretching myself but will see.
I really loving the genres you have in this group.
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Love the classics.
Currently reading reading now I’m not sure if it’s a classic so correct me if I’m wrong."
These look ok for the challenge, Joanne.
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You'll probably make it, Joanne. This Challenge is a calendar year one, so you've got a lot of time left.
May is Classics month over at the monthly genre challenge. I haven't yet decided what to read then.
RMFAO (Reading My Frigging A** Off)
Books mentioned in this topic
Stranger in a Strange Land (other topics)The Unicorn (other topics)
The Sittaford Mystery (other topics)
Journey Into Fear (other topics)
Around the World in Eighty Days (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Vladimir Nabokov (other topics)Anthony Burgess (other topics)
Iris Murdoch (other topics)
Herman Wouk (other topics)
Marco Polo (other topics)
More...
A wonderful bonus advantage for this Challenge is that it is easy on the budget since so many are available free in numerous formats (including audio!) from such sites as Project Gutenberg, ManyBooks and LibriVox. You do not need to choose your books ahead of time, you've got all year. Late-comers are welcome.
Level 1: Casual Reader: 2 books
Level 2: Frequent Reader: 3 - 5 books
Level 3: Bookworm: 6 - 8 books
Level 4: Scholar: 9 - 11 books
Level 5: Professor: 12 or more books
Who's joining? All you have to do is post here saying you plan to participate. You can choose the Level you hope to achieve now, or wait and see how it goes. Don't know what to read and need suggestions? Just ask!
Other challenges that you can participate in are:
RMFAO 2018 Genre Challenge
RMFAO 2018 NetGalley Challenge
RMFAO 2018 Series Challenge
RMFAO 2018 Audiobook Challenge
RMFAO 2018 Bonus Challenge (link will be up soon!)
If you're as crazy about reading and books as we are then go wild combining all or any challenges to spice up your reading lists!
You can also read blog posts relating to this challenge, other challenges or the group itself here: https://thereadingbud.com/rmfao/