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?
Allison wrote: "Alondra, I'm so glad you're liking them!! I keep meaning to start them but then something shiny happens.Bobby, I'm glad you tried Fifteen Dogs. It did sound interesting. Was it worth recommending..."
I think most people liked it more than I did, and it won a Giller Prize (Canadian fiction award) so I would recommend it. I just tend to like things that are more action and adventure with less philosophical and social questions. I gave it 3 stars, and I'm still glad I read it.
I don't know if people would consider this to be a spoiler, but better safe than sorry. Just a content warning. (view spoiler)
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Allison wrote: "Definitely a good CW, thanks Bobby!"Yup, I agree … I was curious and read it and now know that this book is off limits for me.
Gabi wrote: "Allison wrote: "Definitely a good CW, thanks Bobby!"Yup, I agree … I was curious and read it and now know that this book is off limits for me."
A lot of the reviews mention it, and I think it's even discussed in the first 2 pages or so of the book, but I figured it's better to know before you try too hard to find the book.
Glad I could help. I've started a book I was excited about before and found some things I just couldn't take in the beginning of the book and decided I didn't want to continue. I would much rather find out before I put it on hold for weeks, or actually buy it.
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Yup, I agree … I was curious and read it and now know that this book is off limits for me."
A lot of the reviews mention it, and ..."
Total agreement! Also, just knowing sometimes means I can prepare myself for it. Hard to read books that have zero hurtful things in it, but knowing what I'm in for is a huge help.
I just finished
- Man, it was good!
Allison wrote: "Alondra, I'm so glad you're liking them!! I keep meaning to start them but then something shiny happens.Bobby, I'm glad you tried Fifteen Dogs. It did sound interesting. Was it worth recommending..."
Nothing like the smell of new books (especially slightly used "new" books)... aahh, the aroma...
Mod
Bobby, I'm glad you tried Fifteen Dogs. It did sound interesting. Was it wo..."
:)
Just finished Record of a Spaceborn Few. Not gonna lie, my eyes misted up a few times in the closing pages. Manful misting, true, but still.
Jennifer wrote: "I just finished - Man, it was good!"It surely was!!!!!
I just finished The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French. Great fun in a half orcs riding actual hogs, swearing, and having and thinking about having sex all of the time and fighting lots kind of way.
I finished Crooked Gold by Carl Knauf. Excellent reading.🐯👍💓
Read Binti - and out of the blue I found my answer to the TBR Clean Up challenge "a book that reminds you of home". Since personal for me always surmounts any literary or plot points, this is a strong 5 stars.Plus it has got the best dedication I've ever read :)
(Unfortunately my eBook version didn't have the foreword by NK Jemisin)
Gabi wrote: "Read Binti - and out of the blue I found my answer to the TBR Clean Up challenge "a book that reminds you of home". Since personal for me always surmounts any literary or plot point..."My TBR is groaning right now. I didn't seriously start adding books to my list until this year and I'm up to 59. I started with 7 I think. Binti is the latest, but at least it's short, right?
I read Wild Cards earlier this month, and I liked the story by Carrie Vaughn so much that I started reading After the Golden Age just to get some more Superhero goodness from her. I'm early on in the book, but it's great so far, with a relatable protagonist.
Bobby wrote: "Binti is the latest, but at least it's short, right?"It's short, but you'll also have to add Home and The Night Masquerade! Or you could wait for Binti: The Complete Trilogy, coming out in February, seeing as it'll include a new Binti story.
@Bobby: feel you ;) . I only joined GR the second week of July this year, and my TBR list already is at 95 (90% of those I added cause of comments in this thread. I love it!)
Anna wrote: "It's short, but you'll also have to add Home and The Night Masquerade! "Lol that's my secret to not having over 100 books in there right now. I usually just add the first book in the series, and then I'll add the second when I finish the first...unless I just go straight into it and don't bother to add it.
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Lol that's my secret to not having over 100 books in there right now. I usuall..."
Yeah, I do that, too. I also try to have only one book by any given author (unless it's a favorite author) on the shelf...and I'd say already my shelf is teetering between "lost cause" and "Oh, God, why?"
Bobby wrote: "Gabi wrote: "Read Binti - and out of the blue I found my answer to the TBR Clean Up challenge "a book that reminds you of home". Since personal for me always surmounts any literary ..."My TBR is over 2000; count your lucky stars.... of course, I have been on here since 2011, but still.... o_O
Uhm, actually, my TBR is 2643.... I didn't mean it...it just happened.
*dies*My TBR is nearing 400* and it's enough to give me agita. I think I would literally fall to pieces if I had over 2000...
* I also add only one of a series at a time, so the actual number, assuming I continue a series, would end up being higher.
Alondra wrote: "Uhm, actually, my TBR is 2643.... I didn't mean it...it just happened."OMG! How do you manage that? Is there even the slightest chance to ever reduce this number?
It depends what the number is made up of. My TBR is padded with library books and is a way for me to keep track of books I want to check out.
colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "*dies*My TBR is nearing 400* and it's enough to give me agita. I think I would literally fall to pieces if I had over 2000...
* I also add only one of a series at a time, so the actual number,..."
So many books, so little time. I add everything that I want to read. I have attacked that list so many times to whittle out the "sort of like" books; but for the most part..... its pretty accurate.
Advice. Do NOT look at Listopia. LOL
Gabi wrote: "Alondra wrote: "Uhm, actually, my TBR is 2643.... I didn't mean it...it just happened."
OMG! How do you manage that? Is there even the slightest chance to ever reduce this number?"
Manage?? What is that?? I add everything I want to read. That does not include an entire series, unless I have read the first and second book.
There are truly thousands of books out there waiting for me to read them. At least I own a few hundred of my TBR. ..... o_O
I agree. Do not look at Listopia. All such comparisons are invidious.
ALLEN wrote: "I agree. Do not look at Listopia. All such comparisons are invidious."bwahahha... exactly!!
Those "Can't wait...." lists are terrible. My list always grows by 5-10 books... *cries*
My theory is, if these people cared so much about your reading habits, they would SEND you the books gratis. Otherwise, and if you all will excuse me, in the words of the rock group Steppenwolf: "God dam
I've never frequented Listopia for 2 reasons: 1) Most of the books I see get recommended are the same ones that always get recommended and 2) the lists are a hot mess.
Didn't like La Belle Sauvage (Book of Dust #1) much. Wasn't such a hot idea for Pullman to revisit his beloved series.
ALLEN wrote: "My theory is, if these people cared so much about your reading habits, they would SEND you the books gratis. Otherwise, and if you all will excuse me, in the words of the rock group Steppenwolf: ..."
Ooohh, I agree. Recommendation = free book.
I like that
colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "I've never frequented Listopia for 2 reasons: 1) Most of the books I see get recommended are the same ones that always get recommended and 2) the lists are a hot mess."
#1 does not happen. I get better ideas than recommendations. Folks recommend the worst books to me. Like the 7th book in a series, knowing I haven't read the first in the series. LIke really?? LOL
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That's why I've been hesitant to read it. I loved His Dark Materials so much! What didn't work for you?
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Otherwise, and if you all will excuse me, in the words of the rock group..."
7th!! That's ridiculous lol. I think Colleen means a lot of the Listopias look similar and I do often get a few headscratches from the winners...but also I won't lie, I've found some books that way, for sure. I find it works best for really specific topics. Where "best" means "most likely to compel me to face the fact I'll die before reading half of these books on my TBR."
Francis Bacon once opined that knowledge is power. Nonetheless, I find newspaper lists strangely dis-
empowering. It's not as though I hate BRAVE NEW
WORLD, for example, but in most such lists, I can think
of at least a couple of books I'd rather see there instead.
Allison wrote: "Udayan wrote: "Didn't like La Belle Sauvage (Book of Dust #1) much. Wasn't such a hot idea for Pullman to revisit his beloved series."That's why I've been hesitant to read it. I loved His Dark Ma..."
I liked it more than His Dark Materials. I enjoyed the background material about Lyra, loved the new characters and thought it told a really good tale. I believe there is going to be a part 2 and I am really looking forward to it!
@Allison : One dimensional characters and plot progression primarily through happy / unhappy accidents.@Phrynne : Glad you liked it. Think its a trilogy again?
Alondra wrote: "Uhm, actually, my TBR is 2643.... I didn't mean it...it just happened."and here I thought I would be near the top with 447...
I started The Ocean at the End of the Lane today and am enjoying it very much in the early going. Something struck me as being a bit of plagiarism, though, and I was curious whether anyone else who’s read it picked up on it...In chapter 4 the narrator talks about speaking in the “language of shaping.” I just read the first four Earthsea books this year, and my impression had been that this idea of a language of shaping had been an original construct of Le Guin’s.
Does anyone know whether I was mistaken about that?
I tried to find the old group discussion on this book to see whether it was addressed there, but the search function in the group page doesn’t work...
Sorry if this went too in depth about a specific title in this thread.
Language and magic are very much tied together in myth and folk tales, in many different ways. Look at the Golem if Prague, for instance - all tied up in words. Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah is very, very language-oriented. Another example: Tolkien’s world emerged because it was sung into existence.
Le Guin’s system is beautiful and her own unique take on magic, and it has certainly influenced a lot of other authors - off the to of my head, Pat Rothfuss’ name of the wind skirts close to it also.
Anthony wrote: "I started The Ocean at the End of the Lane today and am enjoying it very much in the early going. Something struck me as being a bit of plagiarism, though"The book seems to be a love letter to Gaiman's childhood books and other media, so there'll be a lot of familiar things. I didn't pick up on all of it the first time, having consumed very different media growing up. I think (here I go again) that there is an afterword or introduction where he explains that this was his way of telling his wife about his childhood. Or maybe I read it somewhere else, I never remember.
First impressions
Final thoughts *spoilers*
Thanks for finding the threads, Anna! As a mod, do you have access to a different search engine than I?@Lowell I understand the aspect of language being a part of other forms of magic, but there was just something about how Le Guin described her magic that felt original, and the way that Gaiman described it felt almost exactly the same as Le Guin’s description. I can certainly buy that it was done as an homage. I was just curious whether it was noticed by others.
I guess this is slightly off topic, but after reading some of the old discussions on The Ocean at the End of the Lane, I can say that man there was a different feeling around these parts four years ago. There were spoiler tags (and untagged spoilers!) in the “first impressions” folder and people fully discussing the overall merits of the book and how they would rate it. Eek!I therefore want to use this as an opportunity to publicly thank our excellent mods, Allison and Anna, for their warmly firm ability to keep us within the rules and on topic. Seems to result in very safe and fruitful and lively discussions, for which I am grateful.
I'd say thanking Anna and Allison for their marvellous work here is never OT. Fully subscribe to what Anthony said.
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CBRetriever wrote: "Alondra wrote: "Uhm, actually, my TBR is 2643.... I didn't mean it...it just happened."and here I thought I would be near the top with 447..."
LOL; no, probably the lower end. I have seen lists twice and three times, the size of mine.
Anthony wrote: "Thanks for finding the threads, Anna! As a mod, do you have access to a different search engine than I?"No, but since I have to find things more often, I have some tricks up my sleeve :D In this case it was probably that you searched with the full title, which is too long for the title field, so I knew that I would have to try my luck searching with only "ocean" or "lane", depending on how the mod at that time decided to shorten it. Of course it's always possible to find the year we read the book, and go straight to that folder if nothing else works.
Anthony wrote: "I therefore want to use this as an opportunity to publicly thank our excellent mods, Allison and Anna, for their warmly firm ability to keep us within the rules and on topic. Seems to result in very safe and fruitful and lively discussions, for which I am grateful. "This is completely off topic for this thread. Please don’t make the mods mod themselves for your praise of their mod modding.
Trike wrote: "Anthony wrote: "I therefore want to use this as an opportunity to publicly thank our excellent mods, Allison and Anna, for their warmly firm ability to keep us within the rules and on topic. Seems ..."I see what you did there. 😜
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SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
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Bobby, I'm glad you tried Fifteen Dogs. It did sound interesting. Was it worth recommending at least?