SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
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What Else Are You Reading?
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What Else Are You Reading in 2018?
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Shana
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Jan 08, 2018 08:25PM
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Allison wrote: "Meredith, the two others I've seen mentioned often are Bear and the Nightingale (award nominated and on our group shelf! ) and my personal favorite, Deathless."The Bear and the Nightingale is on my radar, since I heard it was like The Golem and the Jinni, which I really enjoyed. I haven't heard much about Deathless, but I do like Cat Valente, so I will definitely check it out. Thanks!
Allison wrote: "Uprooted was...fine. It was likely my least favorite of the Big Three Russian retellings I've seen kicked around, but it was easy to read and the world was pretty.Whoa, whoa, Jedao is clearly mine ;(
Starting Paladin of Souls. I like that the main character is a middle-aged woman - rare in SFF. I hope there won't be too many travelogue...
Mod
..."
lol! I hope Paladin of Souls is what you want it to be! I'm still nervously eyeing The Curse of Chalion. Be sure I'm following your reviews on her other works since we agreed about Shards of Honour.
Rachel and Meredith, I'd love to hear your overall impressions of each. I am fascinated that stories that are in so many ways so similar can inspire such strong and varied feelings.
Here's my run down (not really any spoilers, but in deference to people who like to read books without an impression formed): (view spoiler)
Just finished my first book of the year and it was better than I expected. Dead Harvest is billed as urban fantasty meets noir detective and normally I avoid Noiresque like the plague but this was fun. Now I'm tackling Gemini Cell and Ninefox Gambit. Gotta check off all those challenge points!
is currently reading "Himself" by Jess Kidd. I'm counting on "You People" to let me know when there's something out there this good !! Yet again I had to find this by myself. A character driven fantasy story, extremely well told and It feels fresh to me. Am I the only one talking about this book?
Mod
I hadn't heard of it! You'll have to tell us what you think at the end. The reviews are glowing.
Allison wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Allison wrote: "Uprooted was...fine. It was likely my least favorite of the Big Three Russian retellings I've seen kicked around, but it was easy to read and the wor..."Uprooted made me wish I knew more about the fairytales and other lore that were being drawn on, though not knowing as much made it more of a discovery for me. I liked the main character, despite her being annoying, especially early on. My overall take (view spoiler)
Mod
I like your interpretation, Meredith!!
In the last few days I've read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline,
Love, Lies and Liquor by MC Beaton and
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
I spent the last half of my teens and the first half of my 20s in the 80s so all of the references in RPO made me happy. I really loved it. Read it for the Cyberpunk prompt in the Popsugar challenge. No idea where it will fit anywhere else.
Love Lies and Liquor was a quick easy read to brush out my head after RPO. I enjoyed it. Can't remember that much about it. I get that way with "whodunits". I always forget who did it and that's one of the reasons I can reread Agatha Christie as much as I want and they don't get stale. We also watch Poirot or Miss Marple on TV a lot and it doesn't matter how many times I watch it I still enjoy it. Also.... you know....Agatha Christie. This one isn't Agatha Christie but Agatha Raisin. It covers the Popsugar alliteration prompt as well as one or two prompts in other challenges.
Just finished the Alchemist. Still processing it. Probably will be for a while. I haven't worked out where it goes in my challenges yet.
Might pick up another easy book to read before I get back to The Name of the Wind. I started reading it the other day but I've been very tired and decided to get back to it when I felt better to give it the attention it deserves.
Richard W. Buro's post to this thread.Updated 7-31-2018.
My previous understanding is to put in this section those books that I read not on the SciFi / Fantasy Book Group's list. To that end . . .
Currently Reading away from the book list of GR-SF/F BG follow:
1. Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Translated from the original French by Galanière, Lewis - REVIEW .
2. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff -- CURRENTLY READING
3. The Rich Nations and the Poor Nations by Barbara Ward - -- Review
4. Let Freedom Reign: The Words of Nelson Mandela by Nelson Mandela - REVIEW.
5. B-52 Stratofortress: The Complete History of the World's Longest Serving and Best Known Bomber by Bill Yenne -- REVIEW.
6. Caesar: Life of a Colossus by Adrian Goldsworthy -- CURRENTLY READING w/GR The History Book Club.
7. Irish History Compressed by Bruce Gaston -- CURRENTLY READING GR-THBC READATHON & IRELAND FOCUS.
8. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King -- REVIEW
9. Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny - READ -- REVIEW is IN WORK.
10. One Small Step by Susan Wright - READ -- REVIEW is IN WORK.
11. A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey - READ -- REVIEW IS IN WORK.
12. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World by Stephen Brusatte -- CURRENTLY READING. REVIEW to follow at end of reading.
13. The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey -- CURRENTLY READING. REVIEW to following end of reading.
14.
says, "Richard. you make an excellent pount!". For me, I hope this thread is to report books we are reading inside or outside the genres excluding the group reads or including the group read if you Really want to talk about it. My outside the genre reading includes: The Elon Musk biography, The Leonardo da Vinci biography and an Alexander Hamilton biography.
wishes goodread would let us correct our spelling errors
Don wrote: "wishes goodread would let us correct our spelling errors"You can. Or do you mean with the mobile app? The mobile app is terrible for group discussions IMHO. I just use Chrome/desktop mode on my phone instead.
Thank you Rob! I will try that, the mobile app. is very limiting.
Don wrote: "Thank you Rob! I will try that, the mobile app. is very limiting."Yeah. I basically use it for Book management/status updates and nothing else.
Mod
Jacqueline, good stuff! Are you going to see the RPO movie, too, do you think?
Richard, how very informative those books sound! Don, which was your favorite bio?
Replies to Allison, "Elon" was hard to put down because I desperately needed a good American business story.
@Don: The Hamilton bio by Chernow? That one is awesome. I am actually reading the Elon Musk bio and quite enjoying it. As for the mobile app, I use it probably 70-80% of the total time spend in GR. It works fine except for some typos. And the inability to link books and authors. And to see spoilers in threads. And... Alright. The app sucks. But I don't like opening web pages in my phone either. At least now we can share highlights.
I use the standard web page on my phone. Only grip is that I don't have a keyboard. The app isnt very good.
Finished a mammoth collection, introduced by Montague Summers, The Supernatural Omnibus: Being a Collection of Stories of Apparitions, Witchcraft, Werewolves, Diabolism, Necromancy, Satanism, Divination, Sorcery, Goetry, Voodoo, Possession, Occult, Doom and Destiny and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2241020706.
The holidays meant extra time for reading...Listened to the Blackstone Audio edition of Frankenstein. Happy 200th birthday to your novel, Mary Shelly! As with previous readings, my sympathies lie with the creature.
Read Lynn Flewelling's Hidden Warrior, Book II of the Tamir triad, and I'm now midway through the third, The Oracle's Queen. These are such cozy fantasy novels, and I love them!
Listened to Tamora Pierce's In the Hand of the Goddess, which I loved, and The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, which was for me so far the weakest in the series. I just started Lioness Rampant, and things are picking up already. This series is really fascinating to read alongside Flewelling's Tamir Triad, both involving gender disguise.
Ninefox Gambit. Such an amazing world and characters, and gradually learning about that world is a treat. At the same time, I kept wondering when the battles would stop and the good stuff begin, meaning I'm maybe not the right audience for military sci-fi? :)
J. Y. Yang's The Black Tides of Heaven. I think I would have liked this a lot more as a novel than a novella.
Helene Wecker's The Golem and the Jinni. What a treat that novel is!
And, finally, in non-SFF, I read James Baldwin's account of the 1985 Atlanta child murders of poor and black youth, The Evidence of Things Not Seen. Wow.
Mod
Hot damn that's a lot of books, Travis! I really must try the Flewelling's series soon. Can't wait to get to Golem.
Allison just try and keep me away lol Can't wait for the RPO movie. How about you?Travis keep on going. Tamora Pierce is great. I read them when my eldest was obsessed with them. He still is and is waiting eagerly for her new one. He's 29 in a couple of months.
Jacqueline wrote: "Travis keep on going. Tamora Pierce is great. I read them when my eldest was obsessed with them. He still is and ..."I absolutely will! Mercedes Lackey was my teenage obsession...
Allison wrote: "Hot damn that's a lot of books, Travis! I really must try the Flewelling's series soon. Can't wait to get to Golem. "Lots of short audio books + car trips back and forth from Philly to Michigan + holiday lying around eating cookies, reading, and drinking tea.
I'm really curious to hear what you think of Flewelling and Golem!
I have a heap of hers on my computer but haven't read any. Where should I start?
Don wrote: "is currently reading "Himself" by Jess Kidd. I'm counting on "You People" to let me know when there's something out there this good !! Yet again I had to find this by myself. A character driven fan..."You are not alone Don! I loved that book and am waiting for her next one to be published
Jacqueline wrote: "I have a heap of hers on my computer but haven't read any. Where should I start?"The Tamir Triad and the Nightrunner series are all set in the same world, the former chronologically earlier than the latter. I read the Nightrunner books first and didn't miss out on anything. If you like coming-of-age-but-not-really-YA narratives featuring a smart, resourceful young woman, start with Tamir; if you like teamed up smart, resourceful male heroes, both with tragedies in their background, who may or may not be headed into a romantic relationship with one another, start with Nightrunner.
I like both....Thanks Travis 😃 I'll check out what I have and transfer some to my iPad. Hopefully it works again today. Sometimes iTunes plays ball and other times it doesn't. Yesterday it actually did after a week of not working. Stupid thing. Yeahhh Apple tech and a PC....just don't like each other at all.
Mod
Have you read any Isobelle Carmondy Travis? She was another of my eldest sons favourite authors.
Jacqueline wrote: "Have you read any Isobelle Carmondy Travis? She was another of my eldest sons favourite authors."No. Thanks for the recommendation! I'll check her out.
She's an Australian. Her main series is the Obernewtyn Chronicles. We've been waiting for the final book in the Legendsong series for about 10 or more years. Anyway start with Obernewtyn and go from there.
Jacqueline wrote: "She's an Australian. Her main series is the Obernewtyn Chronicles. We've been waiting for the final book in the Legendsong series for about 10 or more years. Anyway start with Obernewtyn and go fro..."Ooh, yes, the Legendsong series! I so want to read the last one. Mind you, I'll have to read the first two all over again before then.
Lol Leonie everyone wants to read Darkbane. It's been forthcoming for at least 10 years 😂
Mod
Probably gonna finish Ninefox this weekend. Loving it so far, which is rare as I tend not to be a huge fan of military scifi.
Allison wrote: "About to finish The Tombs of Atuan which will net me "mad points" as the kids say. I gotta say I don't love it, actually. I keep thinking how boring this book must have been to write. ..."why mad points?
Mod
Because I've owned it since I was like 10, never read it, it's in a series, I have a cat and coffee with which to read it and something else about it...it's in my spreadsheet. Anyways, I'll get something like 190 points for it in the Owned Book Challenge which is, as other kids say, clutch. ;-)
Mod
Noooo! That's so sad that they're hostage at work! I hope you get through it :)
Thomas wrote: "I've just finished The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett, thoroughly enjoyed it and bought the next two books in the series from Waterstones today. Unfortunately like an..."I just tore through that series myself. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did
I've recently finished: The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler - I really liked the premise, but the book had no resolution to any of its conflicts, which annoyed me, so I probably won't continue the series.
The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard - This was good, though a bit darker than what I typically like. I'm not usually a big fan of fallen angels, but this was probably the best I've ever seen it done.
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn - I hated this one. I think it's the first book from the group shelf that I really haven't liked.
Allison wrote: "About to finish The Tombs of Atuan which will net me "mad points" as the kids say. I gotta say I don't love it, actually."It was one of my absoute favorite books as a child, I read it a million times when I was about 8-12. I re-read it for the first time since then about four years ago and I was so disappointed! All the magic must've been in my imagination. I should've let it stay a fond childhood memory.
I could list all the books I am going to read this year, but I don't know yet and I haven't figured out time travel yet, or I would ask my future self. I should read all the books on my shelf, but I will be lucky to get 10% done by the end of the year.Just finished Altered Carbon, and would like to read the rest of the series.
Now reading Nemesis Games, and would like to read the rest of the series.
Also reading The Theory That Would Not Die: How Bayes' Rule Cracked the Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian Submarines, and Emerged Triumphant from Two Centuries of Controversy
I put The Prefect in the shelf slot where Nemesis Games belongs to remind myself to read it soon, since a new book is coming out in that series.
Mod
It was one of my absoute favorite books as a..."
Ah, that's so sad when something doesn't hold up. I'm hesitant to re-read a lot of my old favorites for that. For example, I loved Dragonflight and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but I read both of them before I understood anything more nuanced than "awesome, dragons!" and "hell yeah, freedom and talking computers!" So I'm not sure how grown up-me would handle them.
Allison wrote: "Because I've owned it since I was like 10, never read it, it's in a series, I have a cat and coffee with which to read it and something else about it...it's in my spreadsheet. Anyways, I'll get something like 190 points for it in the Owned Book Challenge which is, as other kids say, clutch. ;-) "aha, I wondered since it is a short book
Allison wrote: "Ah, that's so sad when something doesn't hold up. I'm hesitant to re-read a lot of my old favorites for that. For example, I loved Dragonflight and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but I read both of them before I understood anything more nuanced than "awesome, dragons!" and "hell yeah, freedom and talking computers!" So I'm not sure how grown up-me would handle them."That's exactly it. I'm pretty sure Earthsea was the first fantasy I read on my own and I loved it so much. Atuan has a female lead, so it was easy to identify with her. Also the scary invisible powers and the labyrinth, it was all so cool! I remember thinking about whether the reincarnation was real (in the book) and what all the different powers were really.
I still love the later Earthsea books, and I do still like the original trilogy, but it's nowhere near as amazing as it was back then.
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