What Else Are You Reading in 2018? Showing 2,001-2,050 of 3,893

[Udayan]

Tackling "The Passage" by Justin Cronin after two wonderful novellas - "The Only Harmless Great Thing" by Bo Bolander and "Artificial Condition" by Martha Wells and some overdue Terry Pratchett.

[Beth]

Trike wrote: "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."

Way behind on the digests, sorry...

This is my take on Murderbot, too, that it has a case of Hedgehog's Dilemma. It was especially striking at the end of the first story.

[Gabi]

Finished The Last Wish - and I had fun. It started a bit slow, so left me wondering about the high rating, but then it caught me. Very refreshing style, sassy dialogues and having fun with the fairy tales. I liked how a couple of short stories were put into a frame story to give a first impression about the character of Geralt. Are the other novels in this series similiar constructed?
(and now I have to suppress the urge to play the game again …)


I guess next I start one of the two group reads for August, cause I'm away from mid August on.

[Bobby]

Gabi wrote: "Finished The Last Wish - and I had fun. It started a bit slow, so left me wondering about the high rating, but then it caught me. Very refreshing style, sassy dialogues and having f..."

Sword of Destiny is another book of short stories, but after that the books are full novels. The first is Blood of Elves.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Dj wrote: "Allison wrote: "Karin wrote: "Allison wrote: "Just started Graceling in audiobook, which has a surprise full cast! Unfortunately, it's sounding like one of those "notliketheothergirls" (™) types of..."

Don't get me started, DJ! I have a full on rant about this!

Man, everyone's catching up on Murderbot! Maybe I should, too...

It was a fun style, Gabi! I think if I continue I might skip right to Blood of Elves, like Bobby said though, see if that grips me more :)

[Hannah]

Allison wrote: "colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "Barry wrote: "There’s a sequel to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell??"

Nope.

I'm waiting on it...

And this is totally the wrong thread for that post.

LOL..."

Agreed! I would love for that sequel to come out.

[Gabi]

@Bobby: Thank you very much for the information, I appreciate that.

@Allison: at first I, too, thought that it wouldn't grip me, cause I usually need a deeper insight into the characters. But the dialogues made so much up for that. Anybody who comes up with

"You didn't understand me" […]
"Because I did nae try"...

has me on their side :D

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Gabi wrote: "@Bobby: Thank you very much for the information, I appreciate that.

@Allison: at first I, too, thought that it wouldn't grip me, cause I usually need a deeper insight into the characters. But the ..."

Yes!! And I still laugh at "The princess looks like a striga! She's the most strigish striga I've ever heard of!"

[Dj]

Allison wrote: "Dj wrote: "Allison wrote: "Karin wrote: "Allison wrote: "Just started Graceling in audiobook, which has a surprise full cast! Unfortunately, it's sounding like one of those "notliketheothergirls" (..."

I do Customer Service over the phone. I am somewhat used to full on Rants. At least yours would have the virtue of being on a subject that I have some interest in. LOL.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Dj wrote: "Allison wrote: "Dj wrote: "Allison wrote: "Karin wrote: "Allison wrote: "Just started Graceling in audiobook, which has a surprise full cast! Unfortunately, it's sounding like one of those "notlike..."

:O

I did retail for 3 years. That was enough! #respect

[Dj]

Allison wrote: "Dj wrote: "Allison wrote: "Dj wrote: "Allison wrote: "Karin wrote: "Allison wrote: "Just started Graceling in audiobook, which has a surprise full cast! Unfortunately, it's sounding like one of tho..."

Well at least I am over the phone, so I can make faces without the customer knowing. LOL. Although I have been doing it about 10 years or so now.

[Christopher]

I’ve been neglecting our group reads for the last few months in a frantic attempt to read as many Hugo nominees as I can before the July 31st voting deadline.

I’m currently about 20% through Provenance.

I’ve read 3 out of the 5 other novel nominees:
Six Wakes
New York 2140
The Collapsing Empire

I’ve read book one in 4 of the 6 series nominees:
The Curse of Chalion
The Cloud Roads
A Natural History of Dragons
Discount Armageddon

I’ve read 4 of the 6 novella nominees:
Down Among the Sticks and Bones
All Systems Red
And Then There Were N-One
The Black Tides of Heaven

Beyond that I’ve read 2 of 6 novelettes, all of the short stories, all of the graphic stories, watched all of the films, watched/listened to5 of 6 dramatic short form nominees, listened to all the podcasts and pulled up images from all the artists.

I’m debating whether it’s okay to vote in a category without reading 100% of the nominees, for now I’m thinking I will as I doubt others have read everything, but I’m also filling in the gaps as best I can with a week to go.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Christopher wrote: "I’ve been neglecting our group reads for the last few months in a frantic attempt to read as many Hugo nominees as I can before the July 31st voting deadline.

I’m currently about 20% through [book..."

This sounds like cramming for the world's best test. Impressive reading consumption (and list!) Sad that a list as amazing and diverse as there is this year is suffering for some of the idiocy of the organizers. I hope it gets sorted.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Started a reread of Monstrous Regiment this morning, for my Discworld-a-thon which I'm behind on. :-/

Also, I should finally be able to pick up Spinning Silver from the library tonight, so I'll be starting that soon.

[Monica]

I'm hoping to get through The Stone Sky before the end of July, though reading time is at a premium right now. After that I'll do The Changeling for my first read of August.

[Chris]

Allison wrote: "Sad that a list as amazing and diverse as there is this year is suffering for some of the idiocy of the organizers."

What has been going wrong?

[Lowell]

Chris wrote: "Allison wrote: "Sad that a list as amazing and diverse as there is this year is suffering for some of the idiocy of the organizers."

What has been going wrong?"

There have been some serious screw ups with programming. Things like Hugo-Nominated persons being denied places on panels because they aren't "famous enough," the appearance of intentionally misgendering a panel moderator (then doubling down on the mistake), kicking panel creators off their own panels, etc...

It's no puppygate, but it's definitely an organizational fiasco.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Chris wrote: "Allison wrote: "Sad that a list as amazing and diverse as there is this year is suffering for some of the idiocy of the organizers."

What has been going wrong?"

Apparently they've been editing profiles to misgender folks and saying that they're afraid to do panels with newer, non-binary or queer author nominees because they're afraid "no one would know who they were." Stuff like that.

https://twitter.com/halleluyang/statu...

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

What Lowell said :)

[Anna]

Fortunately they've understood their mistakes, and yesterday it actually started looking like they're actively trying to fix things.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Yeah! They brought in Mary Robinette Kowal, who, coincidentally, is one of the authors on our random sci fi poll next month! Hopefully she'll set up a great team and fix some of the snafus.

(Man, her and an #ownvoices nomination poll. How very prescient of us. Now accepting $20 a consultation to predict future hot topics in literature.)

[Anna]

Allison wrote: "How very prescient of us"

Indeed, I'm so very proud of our crystal ball!

And our upcoming group read is a 2018 World Fantasy finalist.

[Benjamin]

Allison, I saw on FB that John Picacio is going to on Mary's programming team. That along with being the Artist Guest of Honor and the Hugo Ceremony MC, John's going to be quite busy!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Benjamin wrote: "Allison, I saw on FB that John Picacio is going to on Mary's programming team. That along with being the Artist Guest of Honor and the Hugo Ceremony MC, John's going to be quite busy!"

Wow, sounds like! I hope he's well rested!

[Jamesboggie]

I just finished Space Opera. It is a very fun book in the vein of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It is Eurovision in space. Check it out!

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[MadProfessah]

How was New York 2140? That and PROVENANCE are on my TBR pile but I won’t finish them before 7/31 obviously. I think THE STONE SKY will win the Best Novel. I’m not voting for the Hugos this year.

I don’t even understand why THE COLLAPSING EMPIRE was nominated. It’s “fine” but not memorable.

SIX WAKES was interesting but ultimately unsatisfying.

[Gabi]

Jamesboggie wrote: "I just finished Space Opera. It is a very fun book in the vein of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It is Eurovision in space. Check it out!

My review: https://ww..."

This sounds interesting, indeed. I've put it on my TBR.

[Esther]

MadProfessah wrote: "I don’t even understand why THE COLLAPSING EMPIRE was nominated. It’s “fine” but not memorable...."

Different strokes for different folks - The Collapsing Empire was my favourite book of 2017. I loved it so much.

[Christopher]

I rated both New York 2140 and The Collapsing Empire 4 stars, but they are very different reading experiences.

I can see what you’re saying with TCE, it was probably closer to a 3.5 for me, but I’m interested enough to read the next book in the series, so I rounded up. It was a fun enough read, but did feel maybe a bit too inconsequential.

NY2140 is probably going to get my #1 vote this year barring any last minute reading to change my mind. It presents a plausible vision of what life might look like if global warming continues. Given the real threat climate change presents, I don’t mind bringing more attention to the topic. Having lived a few blocks from the primary setting of the novel made it very real to me, I could picture everything that much better and the asides about the history of the area felt relevant. I’m not sure how much worse this would be for a reader not familiar with the area. That said, I didn’t rate it 5 stars as it has its share of flaws — the plot is thin, mostly just an excuse to explore different parts of the future city and different aspects of society as imagined by the author; the author definitely has political views and to the extent you agree or disagree your mileage may vary; finally, it’s long, probably too long, with perhaps too much detail for topics that piqued the author’s curiousity. Overall though, to me, the pros outweighed the cons. I hope my daughter doesn’t live in a flooded city when she grows up, but if it happens this really got me to thinking about what her life could be like.

I only rated Six Wakes 2 stars. I thought the premise was excellent, but the execution felt very flawed and the tone felt too uneven.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I've finished Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee. Wowowowow. I want this to be the next Star Wars. And Jedao can play every part. Except for Mikodez and Kujen, who need to be themselves and...okay, okay, Jedao can be Jedao and everyone else can be everyone else, but Jedao should do about 80% of the emoting on screen. That sounds fair. Good compromise.

On to The Changeling and Trail of Lightning!

[Jim]

My book club met last night and the book for August will be A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. This has been one I have been interested in reading for a while, so I am happy about that. Plus it is on the Group book list for 2018, so that is a bonus

[Lowell]

going to take a deep breath and work on something other than sf/f for at least one book. A friend of mine has recommended Penn Jilette's How to Play with Your Food, which I'm going to listen to.

I am hoping to use it to reinforce the personal changes with eating I need to make.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Good luck Jim and Lowell! Jim, I really must get to that book. Lowell, changes are hard, hopefully JIlette's trademark humor will make it easier to palate (see what I did there??)

[Jen]

Lowell wrote: "I am hoping to use it to reinforce the personal changes with eating I need to make"

His book Presto! How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales helped me sort out my eating and in the just-about 2 years since I've read it I've made lasting healthy changes.

[Eric]

I finished Stone Song: A Novel of the Life of Crazy Horse. Depressing. Have started Blood and Sand Trilogy Box Set.

[WreckEm711]

My wife and I are doing a mini-bookclub with a friend of ours for The Name of the Wind, my wife finished it Tuesday, I finished it last night. WOW! What a book. I had been planning on reading something smaller before starting The Wise Man's Fear, but couldn't help myself :D

[Rachel]

I’m currently reading Nee York 2140 as it is the last Hugo nominee-novel I have left to read. Already O feel that really 100 pages could have been cut without losing the feel OR most of the fun facts

Still not sure which book will get my #1 vote however. I don’t think it will be TCE or Six wakes although I enjoyed both I think I want my Hugo winner to be...meatier
Aubrey Stone Sky or Raven Strategem

[Richard]

What a joy it's been to read The Calculating Stars, especially in light of Author Kowal's WorldCon work. I like supporting people with my dollars when they support visibility and representation in the genre.

Six Wakes has been as disappointing to me as to other posters. So close, yet....

[Don]

MadProfessah, I agree with you on "The Collapsing Empire"

[Don]

Just Finished "Feed" by Mira Grant and Loved it. I had set down for over a year. GnashTag# politics, zombies and ordinance.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Richard wrote: "What a joy it's been to read The Calculating Stars, especially in light of Author Kowal's WorldCon work. I like supporting people with my dollars when they support visibility and re..."

Calculating Stars is on the poll for September!! Talk it up!

I had no interest in Six Wakes, even though I feel like I should tryyyy all the books for club. I did love Collapsing Empire, though. The humor worked really well for me--better than Old Man's War--and I just had fun. It was definitely a summer blockbuster of a movie, rather than Oscar-bait, if I can use the metaphor, but it was really well done. I was impressed with how he wrote the women characters. It was almost like Scalzi understands that women are humans and do things that humans do! I can't believe that's enough to be impressive, but whatever, I'll give out points if it gets fewer characters who "waste bitchy glares" on dudes or have some sort of hypersensitivity in their areolas.

[Anthony]

I just finished Dragonsinger and it was a step backward for me from the first book in the Harper Hall Trilogy. The plot was just too thin, in the end, although parts of it were sweet, and Menolly is a lovely character. I want to dive into the group reads, but I’d be bummed to have to wait to be able to discuss my impressions, so I think I’ll tackle one more book before getting into Parable of the Sower, which I want to read first out of the two group reads. I’ve been meaning to read more Octavia E. Butler forever.

[Richard]

Allison wrote: "Calculating Stars is on the poll for September!! Talk it up!

I had no interest in Six Wakes, even though I feel like I should tryyyy all the books for club. I did love Collapsing Empire, though. The humor worked really well for me--better than Old Man's War--and I just had fun. It was definitely a summer blockbuster of a movie, rather than Oscar-bait, if I can use the metaphor, but it was really well done. I was impressed with how he wrote the women characters. It was almost like Scalzi understands that women are humans and do things that humans do! I can't believe that's enough to be impressive, but whatever, I'll give out points if it gets fewer characters who "waste bitchy glares" on dudes or have some sort of hypersensitivity in their areolas."

I shall mosey on over to...wherever it is I need to mosey...and talk up Calculating.

Scalzi has the advantage of writing Collapsing Empire more than ten years after Old Man's War. LOTS has happened in the culture, and particularly the SFnal culture, in those 12-15 years. He moved with it, thank goodness.

I'm not his biggest fan, but I'll take him over Joe Haldeman of The Forever War fame. That book aged very badly, IMO, for its gender relations not least. I was gobsmacked as a young man by its inclusion of women at all, and women who liked sex no less.

But only with men. I mean, one can't just accept all this newfangled choose-your-own-adventure stuff! (The Stonewall Riots had only happened five years prior to the book's first appearance.)

[Trike]

Jen wrote: "Lowell wrote: "I am hoping to use it to reinforce the personal changes with eating I need to make"

His book Presto! How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales hel..."

I’m currently doing a 5-day fast to reset some of my numbers. At day 3.5 it’s actually not too terrible, despite my tweets. Once I got over the hunger pangs of the first 36 hours, my body did exactly what everyone says happened during their fasts and automatically turned off those alarms.

[Trike]

Richard wrote: "I'm not his biggest fan, but I'll take him over Joe Haldeman of The Forever War fame. That book aged very badly, IMO, for its gender relations not least. I was gobsmacked as a young man by its inclusion of women at all, and women who liked sex no less.

But only with men. I mean, one can't just accept all this newfangled choose-your-own-adventure stuff! (The Stonewall Riots had only happened five years prior to the book's first appearance.) ."

You must be thinking of another book, because The Forever War devotes nearly 1/4 of the book (perhaps more) to the fact that Earth has instituted a “homosexuals only” mandate on the entire planet in order to control overpopulation.

The soldiers under Mandella’s command refer to him as “the old pervert” because of his heterosexual lifestyle, a lifestyle which he can’t practice because literally everyone around him is gay or lesbian. (The appellation is also slightly humorous because even though he’s a few generations older than them in Earth time, he’s actually only a couple years older in subjective time, due to the time dilation of a lightspeed war.) Mandella and the others of his generation are eventually part of an insignificant minority of humans who still do things the old way. They are viewed essentially as cavemen.

All of this was pretty radical when it was released and still gets the book banned by outraged parents.

[Richard]

What an impact 40 years of progress makes. *sad sigh* Don't I wish.

[MadProfessah]

Wow I am Surprised people are going for New York 2140” instead of “The Stone Sky” as the Hugo for Best Novel.

I think I like “Six Wakes” more than most and I didn’t think it was very good, but I liked the attempt at combining mystery with sci fi.

[Gabi]

Finished Jingo for our family Discworld reading. And I'm so happy, the boys go with it. At first I wasn't sure If they're still too young for Terry Pratchett's (8 and 10), but they are all for it. We laughed a lot and I enjoy the re-read of the companions of my youth so much. Now it's in to the next guards novel The Fifth Elephant for us.

For myself I started The Changeling for the group reading.

[Jess]

Richard wrote: "Allison wrote: "Calculating Stars is on the poll for September!! Talk it up!

I had no interest in Six Wakes, even though I feel like I should tryyyy all the books for club. I did love Collapsing E..."

It's really nice to see how male authors are coming on in leaps and bounds with their female characters.

These are crime books, not SFF, but I recently read The Power of the Dog (published in 2004) and was dissappointed that in such a vast book with so many characters, there was only one female character and she, whilst starting off well became defined by the various male characters in the story.

The sequel The Cartel, written 10 years later, contained at least 4 fully realised female characters who had their own personalities and motivations and the supporting female characters were also well written.

I think crime writing is similar to SFF in that authors have often used the excuse that the settings they are writing about would not naturally feature many female characters, but I think they are learning that that is not really an excuse and that it doesn't need to be difficult or shoehorned in.

As the wonderful George R.R. Martin said when asked how he manages to write such great and varied female characters.

"You know I've always considered women to be people."

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Yes, Jess! I also just finished reading Revenant Gun and loved how transgender, queer, nonbinary and so on folks were just there. They were there, everyone respected them as people, their pronouns served no impediment in their success and the story just continued onward. It was so...refreshing to open a book and be like "oh hey, this one's got people in it, doing people stuff!!" Very much a fan of getting to the end of a book and feeling like I just spent time with my friends instead of like I need to go update my powerpoint on Why This Is Not How This Works.

(I may have a lot of rants lately. Probably I should do something about that.)