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?
Gabi wrote: "I'm reading The Left Hand of Darkness - is there a thread for this novel? I couldn't find one when I scrolled down, but I'm not sure every thread is shown in my overview."Great book. One of my top five list.
I love DOOMSDAY BOOK. I think it’s by far Connie Willis’ best book. It’s one of the very first books I read that completely grabbed me and refused to let me put it down. I stayed up until 4am finishing it!
MadProfessah wrote: "I love DOOMSDAY BOOK. I think it’s by far Connie Willis’ best book. It’s one of the very first books I read that completely grabbed me and refused to let me put it down. I stayed up until 4am finis..."One of my friends is hugely allergic to SFF books or films but read Doomsday Book as part of a book club she and I were in at the time, and she was moved to tears by it. That made me very proud.
Began Foundryside. Prepared to be blown away by Robert Jackson Bennett yet again. Loved the Divine Cities.
@MadProfessah & Anthony: Doomsday Book did grab me as well. I'm somewhere in the middle and so far it is brilliant. I'm torn between laughing and dreading the harbinger of catastrophe.
Gabi wrote: "@MadProfessah & Anthony: Doomsday Book did grab me as well. I'm somewhere in the middle and so far it is brilliant. I'm torn between laughing and dreading the harbinger of catastrophe."Sounds about right! Glad you are enjoying it.
I've been going back and forth all year about whether and when to reread Earthsea. I wanted to do it in January when news of UKLG's death came. I decided to wait for The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, which will be published in October. Then The Farthest Shore was our group read, and I contemplated rereading, again decided to wait for October. Now there's a buddy read of Tehanu, and once again I've been changing my mind twice a day about rereading all of Earthsea.Well, I just finished a reread of A Wizard of Earthsea, and I'm so happy I did! I can't remember the last time I've cried for several days in a row, but spending time in Earthsea and with the The Lady Astronaut of Mars series, it's been tears galore.
It wasn't a reading slump, I was just reading the wrong books. Also, reading schedules be damned, I'll read what I'm in the mood for!
The downside is that now I'm all sad about UKLG again, I couldn't read the afterword through all the tears.
Anna wrote: "I've been going back and forth all year about whether and when to reread Earthsea. I wanted to do it in January when news of UKLG's death came. I decided to wait for [book:The Books of Earthsea: Th..."Ah yes her work has moved me to tears many times. It’s difficult to express exactly what chord it strikes so perfectly in me, but strike it it does.
I’m realizing that in many ways, her death is really the linchpin that has returned me to the avid-reading self of my youth. In many ways, The Earthsea Trilogy, which had been on my shelf since I was a child, but never read till after she died, opened the floodgates for me, and I am so grateful.
Anthony wrote: " In many ways, The Earthsea Trilogy, which had been on my shelf since I was a child, but never read till after she died, opened the floodgates for me, and I am so grateful."For me, and I suspect for many others, this was the trilogy that got me into fantasy, and then into scifi through her other works. I was very young when I first read books 1-3, although I read the rest as an adult. It's been interesting rereading the first trilogy as an adult, there is so much more there than I understood when I was younger. My last reread was in 2014 I think, and even since then I've been able to find something new to appreciate.
Anna wrote: "Well, I just finished a reread of A Wizard of Earthsea, and I'm so happy I did! I can't remember the last time I've cried for several days in a row"I've never read Earthsea. Are they happy tears or sad tears?
I read them all when very young too - I’m sure missing a lot! This thread is making me want to re-read.
colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "Anna wrote: "Well, I just finished a reread of A Wizard of Earthsea, and I'm so happy I did! I can't remember the last time I've cried for several days in a row"I've never read Earthsea. Are they..."
I would say they are moved-to-the-core-by-beauty-and-wisdom (which can be both painful and wonderful) tears.
colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "I've never read Earthsea. Are they happy tears or sad tears?"This time in large part because we've lost Ursula. I don't remember if it's moved me to tears before, but it is beautiful.
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As a breath between the buddy reads of Ammonite and Tehanu, I’m reading a ton of shorter work, mostly as collected in Gardner Dozois’ first annual Year’s Best Science Fiction. It’s impressive that the 35-year-old stories don’t feel particularly dated. My plan is to make my way through all 35 volumes, which will certainly take a while... I’ll be curious to see if themes and preoccupations emerge over the years, as writers respond to new technologies and scientific breakthroughs. Among the writers whose work I’m encountering for the first time in this volume, I was especially impressed by Tanith Lee’s story “Nunc Dimittis.” She has a distinctive voice, a bold imagination, and she’s definitely someone whose work I want to continue reading.
I also really enjoyed the totally offbeat style of R.A. Lafferty’s prose. Has anyone read more of his work?
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Read Robert O'Brien's The Silver Crown and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2507174991.
I’m currently reading book 2 (A GATHERING OF SHADOWS) in the acclaimed trilogy by V.E. Schwab. Frankly I’m surprised it’s so much fun.
I just finished The Death of the Necromancer and quite liked the witty, humorous with a touch of horror mystery set in (the sewers of) an old European city. Did anyone read the rest of the Ile-rien world? I got curious but heard that this one was the best…
Allison wrote: "So, I didn't love the first book of Mistborn. I had issues with it. Is there character growth in the subsequent books? Does the plot become more subtle/complicated/less linear? I'll try it again if..."I have to admit that I didn't care for these books of his nearly as much as I like others.
In a fit of nostalgia I re-read Watchtower. Either this one or Red Moon and Black Mountain were the very first fantasy novels I ever read. I remember that I loved them. But at least "The Watchtower" lost its fascination for me over the years. It's a very linear medival type of story with no deep character development. Still, it was a nice walk down memory lane.
Since my last post I’ve read…* The Count of Monte Cristo. This was my first experience with the story in any form and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It had a lot more aspects than I expected. It was a little heavy on the melodrama and had an amazing quantity of pale and trembling people, but I enjoyed it. My review.
* The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which I read as one of the group re-reads for this month. I enjoyed this much more than my first Heinlein attempt last year, Stranger in a Strange Land. This one had some humor that made me laugh a bit, and was happily almost entirely free of monologues. My review.
* The Quantum Thief. This one didn’t work too well for me. The world building had some cool aspects, but I felt like it was more surface world-building without much foundation. A lot of ideas without a lot of meat. The story started off interesting, but for some reason I had almost completely lost interest by the end. Although I rated it 3 stars here, that’s because I decided to round up from the 2.5 stars I gave it elsewhere based on its clever ideas. My review.
Now I’m reading Watchmen. This is my first time reading a graphic novel.
That's very impressive, YouKneeK! As for WATCHMAN, you picked an excellent graphic novel to start with.
ALLEN wrote: "That's very impressive, YouKneeK! As for WATCHMAN, you picked an excellent graphic novel to start with."I must disagree. The entire point of Watchmen is to deconstruct superhero comics. For anyone not familiar with the tropes and assumptions of the genre (such as superheroes always preserving the status quo), then the story is just a weird adventure and nothing more.
The reason that book is held up to such acclaim is because it is commentary on both the traditions of superheroes and on fandom itself.
Watch the song “A Musical” from Something Rotten to get a sense of what I mean. If you don’t know Broadway and Hollywood musicals, then I guarantee 99% of the references will go right over your head. The song references are often obvious, but the dance numbers aren’t, and it’s all wrapped inside an homage to The Producers.
ALLEN wrote: "What would you recommend, then?"For YouKneeK I would suggest any number of Fantasy graphic novels with a few one-and-done SF stories.
I’d start with books set in familiar universes, such as The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin, or White Sand, Volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson. They are side stories in the Song of Ice and Fire series and Cosmere, respectively.
Manifest Destiny, Vol. 1: Flora & Fauna starts a series which combines the Lewis & Clark expedition and Lovecraftian horror.
Ministry of Space is an alternate history of spaceflight. Orbiter is about the mysterious disappearance of a space shuttle, and it’s even more mysterious reappearance. Global Frequency is a secret worldwide organization designed to,protect humanity against government and criminal science gone wrong. Each story is self-contained and absolutely dripping with hardcore badassery. All of these are written by Warren Ellis.
I finished The Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual Collection today. I had first bought this book when I was a teenager, but only read a little bit of it way back then. So it feels like a wonderful full-circle moment to complete it now. There are many strong stories in this volume, and no real clunkers. My favorite is Tanith Lee’s “Nunc Dimittis.” It’s the first story of hers I’ve ever read, and I was so impressed with her poetic voice, the lush moodiness and menace of her tale, and the aching heart that coursed through it.
Some of the work is uneven, and there is perhaps a bit too much of a sense that the writers at the time were wanting to build in reversals and twists for their own sake. But it’s a vivid time capsule of what was happening in the SFF field 35 years ago. What a testament it is to the exhaustive work that the late Gardner Dozois did to celebrate emerging and established voices in the genre I love so much.
Trike wrote: "The entire point of Watchmen is to deconstruct superhero comics. For anyone not familiar with the tropes and assumptions of the genre (such as superheroes always preserving the status quo), then the story is just a weird adventure and nothing more."I went into it blind, not having read the synopsis or any reviews in recent memory, and so I knew nothing about what to expect from the story. I may not be catching all the meaning the author intended to convey, but I would never have referred to it as “a weird adventure and nothing more”. I’m only halfway through it, so maybe this will change, but I can’t imagine using “adventure” in reference to it at all.
My first impression of the story was that it was some sort of subversion of the superhero genre. I think one would have to live under a larger rock than I do, or maybe be a lot younger, to not recognize that it’s very different from how superheroes are typically portrayed, especially in the 80’s when this was published. I think it has quite a bit of depth, even if I’m not getting the same things out of it that a dedicated superhero fan might get. The psychological exploration of what different things might drive a person to don a mask and try to fight crime in their own way, how those different personality types would clash with each other and with society, the affect they would have on society and vice versa, the affect a person with real super powers would have on the whole mess -- it’s all been pretty interesting to me. I particularly liked the chapter I just finished that focused on Rorschach and his back history.
This isn't to say I think it was the best possible graphic novel I could have started with in terms of what I would enjoy most, so I appreciate the other recommendations. It’s quite a bit more bleak and gruesome than I expected, but I’m the type of person who goes into books blind all the time, so finding out a story isn’t what I expected is a common occurrence for me and is part of why I enjoy going in blind to begin with.
Really most of the difficulties I’m having with it are more format-based than anything else. I’m not a very visual person, which is one reason why I’ve never bothered to try graphic novels before. I was confused as heck for the first few pages. In the first panel: “I don’t see the dead dog. And isn’t that way too much blood? Is this some sort of artistic license thing?” In the subsequent panels, “Who the heck is talking?” I thought it was the guy cleaning the street at first. Eventually I got far enough into the first chapter that the story started to make sense and then the earlier pages retroactively made sense and I realized how completely I had misinterpreted them. Even now, I still have some trouble figuring out who the characters are based on the pictures and how rarely their names are used. I usually start off confused in each chapter until it starts to click. They need to draw name tags on these people for the artistically clueless. :)
Sorry, I didn't mean to type quite so much!
@YouKneeK If you’re interested in other graphic novels to explore, I would highly recommend Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series (starting with Preludes & Nocturnes) and Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned by Brian K. Vaughan. In my mind, they have a lot more humanity than The Watchmen. I think The Watchmen is brilliant, but it is certainly pretty bleak.
How about fun fantasy Nimona or Hugo winners Saga and Monstress
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The others do sound like fun graphic novels, too! Hopefully someone looking for a new read is inspired :)
My review of Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
Sadly this one didn't do it for me:(
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
YouKneeK wrote: "Trike wrote: "The entire point of Watchmen is to deconstruct superhero comics. For anyone not familiar with the tropes and assumptions of the genre (such as superheroes always preserving the status..."I always struggle with graphic novels feeling that I have to make a conscious effort to go over each page twice, first reading the words then looking at the pictures.
It is taking me forever to finish Maus because I am just not engrossed in the experience.
Strangely the exception was Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. I think maybe the style of the drawings meant my eyes could focus on both the writing and the graohics at the same time.
Thanks Anthony and Rachel for the recommendations! Sandman is one I’m particularly interested in trying, based on my previous experience with Gaiman’s novels. It might have been my first pick, but I hadn’t really wanted to jump into an entire series for my first graphic novel attempt. I might be up for that the next time I decide to read a graphic novel, though.Thanks, Allison. :)
Esther, I also have had some trouble with absorbing the words and the pictures at the same time. On some of the pages, there are so few words that it seems impossible not to have read them all within the first glance, before starting to look at the pictures. On the other hand, I’m reading an e-book version and it has a feature where you double-tap a panel and then can swipe through one panel at a time, with each panel slightly enlarged although not taking up the full screen. In theory you would think that would help force me to read one panel at a time, but I tried it and hated it. I felt like I wasn’t seeing enough context, and my eyes tended to pick up words on the panels in the “background” anyway, but I wouldn't pick up the words in the correct order since the enlarged panel would cover some things up. Clearly this graphic-novel-reading pursuit requires some practice. :)
A re-read of the tense post apocalypse novel by Robert O'Brien, Z For Zachariah - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1391795001.
I recently finished Impyrium which is a YA book which reads like high fantasy. I really liked the characters, and I thought the world building was interesting without getting too heavy on info-dumps.I also appreciated that the main characters were slightly out of the norm. The lead girl was an albino, and I know I've read some complaints about how albinos are almost always villains in stories. The lead boy was of mixed heritage, being part First Nations (though since his family disowned him for his heritage, I'm not sure this is entirely a positive representation...) :-/
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I'm now reading A Study in Brimstone - the first in the Warlock Holmes series - with a friend. It's... interesting...
I started listening to Children of Time and, once I got passed the creepy crawlie aspect, have found that I am really, really liking it. Tchaikovsky's alternating narrative is creating connections with both worlds where, ultimately, the reader is going to have to chose one over the other. Are Tchaikovsky's other books as compelling?
Trike wrote: "Watch the song “A Musical” from Something Rotten to get a sense of what I mean. If you don’t know Broadway and Hollywood musicals, then I guarantee 99% of the references will go right over your head. "“That sounds miserable."
"I believe it’s pronounced misérables.”
Karen wrote: "I started listening to Children of Time and, once I got passed the creepy crawlie aspect, have found that I am really, really liking it. Tchaikovsky's alternating narrative is creat..."I am currently reading Guns of the Dawn and I can only say it is s-l-o-w. I loved Children of Time so I am a bit disappointed in this one
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The Book Thief totally got to me. I actually had managed not to know much about it going in, and was a bit bummed to find out it was a WW2 story. My low spirits didn't last long, though. Or rather, they got lower, because I ended up loving this whole awful town, and feeling the book thief's own hurt.
And once again I've made a mistake. I really wanted to just slam down the rest of Eye of the World, like taking medicine, but then Ammonite happened. And now my holds for both group reads are in, so I may have to take a break from Ammonite, finish those (they're new, so there's no renewals and only a two week lending period) and then finish the other two.
Also, I'm listening to Tehanu and really, really loving it!
@Allison: good to know your feelings about Certain Dark Things. The combination of vampyre, romance and the price for the ebook let me chicken out of this group read.I read through the funny criteria of the TBR Clean Up challenge, and though I'm too late in the year for the challenge itself the "written by a young buck..." reminded me that I wanted to read Drachenschlag: Im Schein der Welten for some time now. I met this pleasant young man in a fanfiction group and liked his writing there. He was 12 years old when he wrote this novel about dragons (unfortunately there's only a German edition). I will read this inbetween the myriads of BRs I want to join.
Gabi wrote: "I read through the funny criteria of the TBR Clean Up challenge, and though I'm too late in the year for the challenge"No, it's never too late! You can fill some prompts with books you've already read, and then try to find books for the rest. Of course you don't have to do it, but there's no reason not to if you feel like it!
Just finished Royal Assassin and shed some tears... I could see the writing on the wall, but still maintained some hope that things would be cool.... o_O
Allison wrote: "@Alondra, I meant to comment and then I got distracted. How's the Lunar Chronicles and the Hobb books going for you??"They were both pretty awesome. I gave a fist pump to Cress and a bunch of tears for my Farseer clan.... *sobs*
I just finished Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis.I came across it when looking for nominations for the Inclusive Book Bingo buddy read for Caribbean Authors. From the blurb it looked like a really creative idea so I went ahead and got the e-book from my library.
It was an interesting concept, and was intelligently written, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for. It was a bit on the depressing side, and that's not what I usually like to read. It also didn't really portray the dogs as I would have expected. I won't say more to avoid spoilers.
On a lighter note I also read the first 3 books in the New Heroes/Quantum Prophesy books by Michael Carroll. These are YA/Middle grade super hero books. I didn't realize it was written for such a young audience but I also love Superhero books, so I didn't mind too much. In the end I liked them all, and they were nice, short reads with plenty of action and super powered fun.
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