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?

Yes, come on! I'm starting today! (just saw that it has been 17 years since I last read it …)


Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
Thanks!





What about MURDERBOT appealed to you?



The humor. I was in a reading slump when I started it, and it made me laugh out loud two minutes in. It was delightful. I immediately identified with Murderbot, who, despite being an AI, is written by a human author, and is a very human character. The world is very depressing, it's only normal that any truly sentient AI would be anxious and depressed, too.


Anthony, I love Robin Hobb's books. I hope you enjoy. She has 4 completed series and one almost finished series set in that world. So if you like it, you have plenty of reading ahead of you.

The humor. I was in a reading slump when I started it, and it made me laugh out loud two minutes in. It was delightful. I immediately identified with Murderbot, who, despite being an AI, is written by a human author, and is a very human character. The world is very depressing, it's only normal that any truly sentient AI would be anxious and depressed, too."
Same, the humor! It's just written in a really acerbic, wry way that I think is hilarious. But humor is so individual so I guess it's not for everyone :)
I maintain that An Ember in the Ashes was grimdark. I have lots of hang ups in that genre, but either I'm in a surprising state of mental fortitude or this wasn't quiiiite any of my particular sore spots. It was fun but I'd have to be intimately aware of someone's tastes before I recommended this to them. I'll likely not continue the series, either. But I'm glad I read it? As you can see, I am of two minds about this book.
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach so far has been sufficiently weird for there not to be a story and be enjoyable, but I'm now grown accustomed to octopus and goat legs and am ready for a plot to sprout.
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach so far has been sufficiently weird for there not to be a story and be enjoyable, but I'm now grown accustomed to octopus and goat legs and am ready for a plot to sprout.

Pretty sure I don't suffer from either and I loved the first two. I love the snarky bot who feels compelled to help humans, doesn't really want to, or deep down maybe it does.


@Allison I think the plot in Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach started almost immediately. It's just not a "traditional" plot with an obvious arc. I would describe everything in the book besides the dialogue to be minimalist.
Jamesboggie wrote: "@MadProfessah I did not read Murderbot as suicidal at all. I think I said to you before that I read Murderbot's sense of humor and seeming disinterest as defense mechanisms for feelings of powerles..."
I think the plot thing was at me? It's possible the plot is happening and I'm just not connecting dots yet! But I'd like there to be some dots. I've had some great back story and character development, but the driving force seems to be winning this proposal. I want to see what they do with it!
I think the plot thing was at me? It's possible the plot is happening and I'm just not connecting dots yet! But I'd like there to be some dots. I've had some great back story and character development, but the driving force seems to be winning this proposal. I want to see what they do with it!

Fixed. Sorry, it's been a long day.

Pretty sure I don't suffer from either and I loved the first two. I love the snarky bot w..."
My take is that Murderbot is a hardcore introvert. I’m sure that reads as social anxiety and depression, because there’s probably some overlap.

I'm a huge McCaffrey fan. She's the master of "warm and fuzzy" coupled with fantastic adventure.



Since I liked Murderbot so much and have already had a good experience with Raksura (It starts great then gets worse and worse, would not recommend past book 2.) I decided to try her other stuff. The Element of Fire, a love story really carries fantasy for me. In the later book the couple is already a couple from the start so for now I don't know what I'm going to read next. ;(
McCaffrey does heartbreaking scenes with children great, not really my cup of tea, not a favorite. For dragons I would recommend His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik, its very hands-on dragonkeeping stuff, mixed up with something like Horatio Hornblower, though I confess I haven't read the books only seen the show.



This sounds interesting. Now I'm curious, since I suffer from both. I'll put Murderbot on my TBR list.

But that was not enough to keep me absorbed in the story...

I'm notoriously easy to please, but I absolutely loved that series. I'm not a huge history buff, but the combination of dragons with Napolean really worked well. It was a lot of fun to read about historical battles and events with dragons thrown in.


https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
This is the spoiler discussion. It was read by the group back in 2010.

Pretty sure I don't suffer from either and I loved the first two. I love the snarky bot w..."
My take is that Murderbot is a hardcore introvert. I’m sure that reads as social anxiety and depression, because there’s probably some overlap. "
I think I described Murderbot as an introvert in my review, here or on FB/Twitter, that's exactly what I see it as too. I'm an introvert myself, I hate unexpected guests, quick change of plans, having to engage overly in a social manner when I'd rather read or watch one of the tv shows I'm notoriously behind on, so I definitely recognized his annoyance at having his me-time disrupted! :)

I think I described Murderbot as an introvert in my review, here or on FB/Twitter, that's exactly what I see it as too. I'm an introvert myself, I hate unexpected guests, quick change of plans, having to engage overly in a social manner when I'd rather read or watch one of the tv shows I'm notoriously behind on, so I definitely recognized his annoyance at having his me-time disrupted! :) "
Yesterday I tweeted this:
You can't out-introvert me:
— Trike (@Trike) July 17, 2018
While watching Cast Away I kept wondering why Tom Hanks wanted to get off of the island.
😂




The hard way. Haha I used the browser to look at the discussions page. A lot of group reads are just there when you scroll down, but at some point it gets broken down by year. Since I didn't find it on the main page, I went to the group shelf to find out what year it was read. Then I went back to the discussions and clicked on the 2010 group reads and found it in there.
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However, I wanted to read about the importance of art through a post-apocalyptic lens. I think Mandel should have focused on a few questions in the post-apocalyptic world. What do people struggling to survive get from art? Why would people choose such an uncertain and dangerous life as a traveling performer in the post-apocalypse? How do their performances help the towns they visit? What do artists sacrifice to maintain their art? The novel touches these and similar questions, but never goes deep enough. I feel this book had the potential to provide lasting and powerful insight into the human condition. That's what I wanted from the book, so I was dissatisfied despite the excellent writing.