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 2019?
I just finished Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. I had mixed feelings about it. I liked it more in the beginning but grew frustrated with it as it progressed. It’s heavily based on Russian fairy tales and myths, and reads like a fairy tale itself. I think I might have appreciated it more if I’d had more familiarity with the stories it was based on, because then at least I could have appreciated what I have no doubt was the author’s clever reinterpretation of them. Without that, the story itself and the characters didn’t do that much for me. My longer review.Next up I plan to read Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.
YouKneeK wrote: "Next up I plan to read Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. "Oh I hoe you'll likeit, looking forward to reading your review!
Thanks! I’ve been curious about this one because opinions always seem so mixed whenever I see it discussed.
Listened to River of Teeth, which was terrible. I don’t get how a hippo eating a dog is “fun” or a hippo tearing an orphan boy apart is “charming”, two things Kirkus has said about it.
I'm playing a bit of catch-up for the last two weeks. First up was the The World of Warcraft Diary, which I got from backing the kickstarter. I really enjoyed it, but it's hard for me to gauge how much someone who isn't both a WoW junkie and a software engineer will enjoy it. - ★★★★★ - (My Review)
I continued my SFF break in audio with The Black Echo. I liked it enough that I plan to continue on with the series (and thankfully was able to pick it up with a sale) - ★★★★☆ - (My Review)
After the WoW book, I all but devoured Underlord. It might be my new favorite book in the series. I already can't wait for the next book. - ★★★★★ - (My Review)
Finally I continued on with the Vorkosigan series with Brothers in Arms I really like the Miles books more than the others.- ★★★½☆ - (My Review)
The early Harry Bosch books are great...
I just want to add to my “what I will be reading” post. About a week and a half ago I ordered two books online. I know...unthinkable for me but anyhoo..... I couldn’t find them anywhere new or used in stores that I went into for more than 12 months so I decided to bite the bullet and order them off the net. One came from a bookstore in the centre of Sydney I didn’t know about but will be visiting next time I go there along with my other two usual haunts (The Library at Mount Char) and the other came from the Book Depository UK but I ordered it through Abebooks (The Invisible Library). How the hell its cheaper through another company than it is from BD UK is beyond me. So anyway the one from Sydney came in a few days and the one from the UK took a week. Not too bad at all. But then again BD UK is usually pretty quick. I’ve ordered through them before when I was doing a University degree a couple of years ago.
Rob wrote: "Finally I continued on with the Vorkosigan series with Brothers in Arms I really like the Miles books more than the others."For what it's worth, since you're reading them in publication order, you're just about at the point where the series goes from "good" to "great" IMHO. Mountains of Mourning and the next three novels all won Hugo awards. It's always hard trying to get people into this series because the Bujold's early books are really not her very best, so I'm glad you made it this far.
At the moment I seem to pick up slow paced stories with interesting prose. After The Famished Road
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Early Riser and
A Stranger in Olondria
I'm now listening to 1Q84 - and I think, I'm falling in love.
David wrote: "For what it's worth, since you're reading them in publication order, you're just about at the point where the series goes from "good" to "great" IMHO. Mountains of Mourning and the next three novels all won Hugo awards"I'm not sure I'm going to read any of the short stories, since I'm doing it in audible. I'm not sure if any of them are available, and even if they are they are probably overpriced for their length (or that's been my experience with short fiction in general unless collected together with other short fiction)
MadProfessah wrote: "The early Harry Bosch books are great..."I take it tapers off then? I see there are a ton of books, so I can imagine it drops as the series became more popular and he had to churn them out..
Well; I put
on hold until vacation next week.I have already read one cozy mystery; halfway through
, which is good; and reading a Dept Q mystery/thriller and V is for Vengeance. I feel much more productive and satisfied.
Mod
Gabi, that sounds like a very pretty start to the month :) I hope they're all working for your mood!
Lol Alondra! Yes, definitely stop books that are so frustrating that 3 other books are more appealing haha!
Allison wrote: "Glad your books are coming in, Jacqueline!Gabi, that sounds like a very pretty start to the month :) I hope they're all working for your mood!
Lol Alondra! Yes, definitely stop books that are so..."
LOL; I do intend to finish Ninefox Gambit this month with a marathon read during my mini-vacay.
Mod
I just finished Black Leopard, Red Wolf which started out sooo fascinating and then took a disagreeable left turn. I wish editing were more rigorous sometimes. Mr. James, should you ever be interested, allow me to offer my services: Black Lines, Red Pen.
I've started Early Riser which I hope will take off soon, and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Loving Jonathan Strange. Great audio narrator.
Still have A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe in my possession and Memories of Ice to start. I'd also like to get to the Warbreaker buddy read but I'm feeling a bit swamped at the mo'.
Allison wrote: "I wish editing were more rigorous sometimes. Mr. James, should you ever be interested, allow me to offer my services: Black Lines, Red Pen."[snicker]
that's some high-quality snark!
Mod
[snicker]
that's some high-quality snark!"
:)
I get so annoyed at the trend towards enormous books that have any filler whatsoever in them. A little fluff in a 300 page book, okay, fine. Wasting my time in a book that will already take me more than a week to finish gets my hackles up.
Rob wrote: "I'm not sure I'm going to read any of the short stories, since I'm doing it in audible. I'm not sure if any of them are available, and even if they are they are probably overpriced for their length (or that's been my experience with short fiction in general unless collected together with other short fiction)"The three novellas Mountains of Mourning, Labyrinth and The Borders of Infinity are collected with a framing story in a single 311-page book confusingly called Borders of Infinity, which is on Audible.
As for the other short stories, "Weatherman" is just the beginning of The Vor Game so there's no point in reading it on its own, and "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" is a weird non-canonical thing that doesn't really have anything to do with the series that you can definitely pass on. The short story "Aftermaths" is almost always tacked on to the end of "Shards of Honor" so you might have gotten that already.
The last novella, "The Flowers of Vashnoi", is also the very last story in publication order so there's not much point in worrying about it now.
Half a War just arrived at my door. I will pause
Darkmage and finish The Shattered Sea series. Half a War is book three of that trilogy.
Allison wrote: "I get so annoyed at the trend towards enormous books that have any filler whatsoever in them. A little fluff in a 300 page book, okay, fine. Wasting my time in a book that will already take me more than a week to finish gets my hackles up. "Don't read Les Misérables then as "More than a quarter of the novel—by one count 955 of 2,783 pages—is devoted to essays that argue a moral point or display Hugo's encyclopedic knowledge, but do not advance the plot, nor even a subplot". It has a history of convents, the Battle of Waterloo, and goes almost 100 pages before one of the main characters shows up. Most of the Russian authors wrote well padded books and did the English in Victorian days.
In other words, it's not a new trend, it's been around for years.
Mod
CBRetriever wrote: "In other words, it's not a new trend, it's been around for years."A century before word processors, and decades before typewriters, even, which is amazing all by itself.
actually I'm kinda enjoying it in spite of my complaints - I simply speed read the commentaries and asides and slow down for the story
There is a lot of love for Les Mis whether it be the book, stage play or the movie but I must say that it doesn’t interest me. Never has really. I love French type stories but give me The Three Musketeers or the Scarlet Pimpernel any day. I like a bit of swash with my buckle. Anyhoo... They seek him here, they seek him there
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere
Is he in heaven or is he in hell?
That demned elusive Pimpernel
Allison wrote: "Loving Jonathan Strange. Great audio narrator."But.. but.. the footnotes! Does the audiobook skip the footnotes? They added so much flavor to the story, although admittedly they weren’t really critical from what I remember.
David wrote: "Rob wrote: "I'm not sure I'm going to read any of the short stories, since I'm doing it in audible. I'm not sure if any of them are available, and even if they are they are probably overpriced for ..."Good to know. Thanks David!
YouKneeK wrote: "But.. but.. the footnotes! Does the audiobook skip the footnotes?"They're there, and I hated how they were done. He'd pause a little, read the footnote which could take minutes, and then continue the paused sentence without repeating the beginning, so you'd completely forgotten what it was! So annoying. I eye-read most of the book because of that.
Jacqueline wrote: "There is a lot of love for Les Mis whether it be the book, stage play or the movie but I must say that it doesn’t interest me. Never has really. I love French type stories but give me The Three Mus..."Huge fan of both Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas.
Anna wrote: "They're there, and I hated how they were done. He'd pause a little, read the footnote which could take minutes, and then continue the paused sentence without repeating the beginning"That sounds awful! I can’t really imagine how footnotes could be done in a way that would satisfy me in an audiobook, but it seems like that would be pretty much the worst possible way to do it. Especially considering how long some of those footnotes are.
Mod
..."
I think so far they've all been at the ends of sentences and read as sort of a comedic aside...I haven't been frustrated by it yet, but I'm like 120 pages in so there's plenty of time for it to get old!
For now though, I'm finding it both interesting and amusing.
Yeah it was mostly a problem when the footnotes started being as long as chapters in your average book.
Allison wrote: "For now though, I'm finding it both interesting and amusing."I’m glad it’s working for you so far, and I hope it continues to!
I started with Wolf Hall and then later added King Henry VIII, aiming to finish both this week - well hoping :)
:D These must be the parts where I spaced out in the book. I liked the tone of Jonathan Strange but it dragged so much, that I ever so often lost interest while listening.
I'm a little under half-way through A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy and enjoying it quite a bit. It's stronger than the first entry in the series in my opinion.I'm also reading Becoming partly out of interest and partly for work and it's a captivating read so far. (I haven't gotten to the part that deals with the Obama presidency, but I'm interested to see how she will talk about that.)
Re-read the first of Lian Hearn's Otori novels, Across the Nightingale Floor and updated my previous review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1404829504.
Has anyone else read Cinda Williams Chima's Seven/Shattered Realms books? I read the original series some years ago and liked it. Now I'm listening to the first book of the follow-up series, and I'm not connecting with it at all. I've been waiting for the finale to be published to start, and it was one of my most anticipated light/fun series of the year. I'm wondering if I'm in the wrong mood to be reading it now, or if it really isn't as good as the first series? Or maybe my reading taste has just changed so much?
Anna wrote: "Has anyone else read Cinda Williams Chima's Seven/Shattered Realms books? I read the original series some years ago and liked it. Now I'm listening to the [book:first..."Sorry, I can't really help you there because I've only read the first series as well. My parents both read the second series, and I think they liked it, but it's been a little while and this is coming second hand.
Thanks Bobby! The ratings seem to be good for the follow-up series, but I didn't want to read any reviews to be safe from spoilers. I think I'll keep going with it, maybe I just need to get to know these new characters better.
Pam wrote: "Re-read the first of Lian Hearn's Otori novels, Across the Nightingale Floor..."I loved that book. I read it twice, and I might have to read it again now that you've reminded me. Grass for His Pillow and Brilliance of the Moon were enjoyable, too, though I don't have the same hankering to re-read them.
I started reading Neverwhere this week. I started it years ago, but it didn't take. I'm enjoying it very much this time, though.
The Collapsing Empire is free through Tor’s ebook club this month......just thought you’d like to know.
I finished Elevation and The Troop.Now I'm reading House of Leaves. It's been a little difficult to figure out the writing style at the beginning.
Katanagatari 1: this book's a niche within a niche within a niche--Japanese YA historical fantasy novel--so it's unlikely to get any traction except among its author's dedicated fans, and maybe not even them, for reasons I'd rather not go into. ("you darn kids and your nihilism" review)
I need to read a book published in 1965... I am indecisive right now between Norton's Quest Crosstime (Crosstime (in the Crosstime collection), and Modesty Blaise. I'll take other suggestions, except Dune -- too massive!
Mike wrote: "I need to read a book published in 1965... I am indecisive right now between Norton's Quest Crosstime (Crosstime (in the Crosstime collection), and ..."Say, *I* was “published” in 1965, too!
How about The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick? It’s pretty short.
Also, Bill, the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison.
Trike wrote: "Say, *I* was “published” in 1965, too!..."Ha, yes, that's why I have this challenge. And I don't look a day over 65.
Two good suggestions, and they are on my long-term reading list.
Mod
Mike wrote: "I need to read a book published in 1965... I am indecisive right now between Norton's Quest Crosstime (Crosstime (in the Crosstime collection), and Modesty Blaise..."</i>[book:All Flesh is Grass = 1965
and check here for more options:
https://www.risingshadow.net/library/...
I finished reading Origin by Dan Brown and Camino Island by John Grisham. I am reading Self-Publishing Boot Camp Guide for Authors, 4th Edition by Carla King. I plan to read The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks next.
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