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?
Just started The Sparrow yesterday and it's not at all what I was expecting. Very glad I gave Jesuit In Space a shot.Anna wrote: "Gabi, I loved the Prince and the Dressmaker <3
I read another Hamster Princess book last night when I couldn't sleep. It wasn't 100% perfect like the first one, but..."
Well these sound magical! I have four hamsters that might like to see themselves so positively represented lol
I finished reading A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham, The Unclaimed Victim by D.M. Pulley, and The Black Book by James Patterson and David Ellis. I am reading Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold. I plan to read The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie next.
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Allison wrote: "I found myself getting a little cranky with genre novels, so I took a small break and read Le Guin's No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters."I read this last year and it's fantastic, one of the few books I've given five stars to.
Absolutely, I try to read in different genres. I plan to continue reading The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham and the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold.
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Gary, that's awesome. I know we have a lot of fans of both series here, I hope you continue to enjoy them :)
I'm waiting for my library to get my books in so, in the meantime, I'm rereading the Enola Holmes series, because they're quick and fun. Currently up to The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets.
Read books 2 and 3 of Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy and reviewed them:Before They Are Hanged - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2963703654.
Last Argument of Kings - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2963703816.
Finished listening to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe this evening. A great performance of one of my favorite books! (review)Next in audio-land is Blackout for the group read next month. No need to worry that I'll get too far ahead--an 18-hour-long book could well take me three or four weeks to finish.
Trees is back! I just found Trees: Three Fates #1 at the comic book store, so I'm headed back to re-read the first two volumes and then start on the new series.
Kaa wrote: "Trees is back! I just found Trees: Three Fates #1 at the comic book store, so I'm headed back to re-read the first two volumes and then start on the new series."I read the first issue ages ago. I should get back to that. Are the arcs standalone?
Trike wrote: "I read the first issue ages ago. I should get back to that. Are the arcs standalone?"If I recall correctly, the first two books aren't stand-alone. I don't know about the third arc - I didn't even know the series was back until I saw it today.
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50 pages in and loving this!"
You will have to tell us how it is! The blurb looks fantastic.
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I'm trying to decide if I should up my goal to 100 or just be happy with where I am and see where I end up. One sounds much more the philosophy I want to have in life. And the other sounds more like the actual philosophy I have in life.
About to finish Locke & Key and start next The Outside! And I hope to have time to listen to more of Moon Over Soho...I will be baking later (with fire extinguisher on hand...I'm watching you, Friday the 13th!) so maybe that will give me a minute for listening.
Prompted by the group re-read, read Garth Nix's Sabriel, first of the Abhorsen series, and sadly found it less involving than the first time around - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1274428027.
Is starting "The Institute" by Stephen King.
Started reading The Shadow of the Wind. It 's the first book I 'm borrowing from the National Library of Greece and I 'm really excited!
My hold on the audiobook of Circe came in last night. So far this is way better than her Achilles book.
Stratos wrote: "Started reading The Shadow of the Wind. It 's the first book I 'm borrowing from the National Library of Greece and I 'm really excited!"Did you recently move there or is this the first time you’ve used that library?
The library is relatively new and near where I live that's why I am excited.
Stratos wrote: "The library is relatively new and near where I live that's why I am excited."Oh, it was the *library* that moved. I knew something was setting off my intuition. Itch scratched!
Is it like Parthenon cool?
It s very modern and minimal. Highly recommended if you ever visit Greece.
I read Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir - and lets just say that I'm relieved that I can give back titles on audible … ^^'
I finished The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories - it's an excellent collection, although quite a bit darker than the title/cover might imply. I was really impressed by the last story, "The Man Who Ended History", for the way it meshed SFF concepts with real-life history to talk about Unit 731, which I'd never heard of despite working in medical research (the Nuremberg trials, by comparison, are discussed in pretty much every ethics training I've ever taken). I've also been working my way through Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series. The first book caught my attention with the world-building and characters, although I wasn't impressed by the plot. I enjoyed the story in the second quite a bit more. Just started the third, Beneath the Sugar Sky. I like the way the stories aren't arranged chronologically.
On the other hand, I read the first story in Swords of Haven: The Adventures of Hawk and Fisher and couldn't keep going. I like a good city guard adventure (Terry Pratchett's Night Watch and Melissa Scott's Astreiant series are my favorites) but everything about this was bad - the writing, the mystery, the characters, the world-building. It's for another book group, but I can't bring myself to finish the book.
Is reading "The Institute" by Stephen King. This book is a 5 Star Smash. I'd call it a great progression of "Firestarter" and "The Dead Zone". After so many books and King still Brings It! Very glad to have dropped my shekels on this one.
I'm trying to catch up on the hot reads of 2018 and read some of the books I've won in 2019, and some comic series here and there, so my reading list is suuuuuuuper disorganized, haha. 😅I'm currently reading L.L. MicKinny's "Blade So Black" and Kieron Gillen's "Die" loaned to me by my reading pal. Next will be "We Set the Dark on Fire" by Tehlor Kay Mehjia.
Catching up a few (but not all of my reviews). Hopefully I'll catch up for real next week.All in audio, because most of my reading these days.
First I did. Dark Age. I liked it better than Iron Gold but not nearly as much as Golden Son or Morning Star - ★★★★☆ - (My Review)
Next was Prince of Fools. I liked this much better than his Broken Empire trilogy, but not nearly as much as his Book of the Ancestor series. - ★★★½☆ - (My Review)
Finished The Sparrow and dived straight into The Eye of the World. I need a safe book now please. I loved it though. No idea how I would go about reviewing it or even how I could recommend it but it's snuggled it's way into my brain as a book I think I'll remember for a long time.
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Thomas, if you loved the first half, I think you're in for a treat with the rest!
I really must get to both those series, Rob. I feel like the last person in the world who hasn't read them.
Shannon, Sparrow really gets you in the feels, as the kids say, doesn't it? It wrecked me when I read it. Fun fact, I read it while I was on a 2 week trip away from my person, along with another sad book about losing someone you love. I might not make great choices.
I hope you enjoy Prophet, KateT!
I'm just starting Artful for my TBR challenge. I'm interested in the idea of the book - Dickens' Artful Dodger as a sort of vampire hunter - but I'm having a hard time getting into the writing style.
Good Omens
by Terry Pratchett & Neil GaimanThis is a funny English novel about the end of the world. If you would to read a funny American novel about the end of the world check out Humans by Donald Westlake
Finished Thomas Burnett Swann's Lady of the Bees and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2955794217.
Colleen, I might have to read that at some point. I’m listening to Oliver Twist on audiobook right now. Near the end. I was actually disappointed about Artful Dodger. I thought he had more to do in the book from what I’ve heard over the years.
Been busy doing nothing here on the Farm so haven’t read anything this week. First of all I had the whole family here for my birthday and for the last few days I’ve been home by myself looking after my daughters dog while she is away. I don’t get home by myself here very often so I’m making the most of it. That means a lot of TV binging and internet using. I’m by myself a lot at the Beach though and I’m heading back down there in the next few days so I can read then. Also the kids bought me a Nintendo Switch for my birthday and I’ve been trying to remember how to navigate Mario around. Little buggers made me do the Boss fights all by myself. Anyhoo.....Once again I hit the second hand bookshop up here. New owners. They have a coffee shop now. And a dedicated science and fantasy room instead of the couple of small bookcases the last people had. That opens properly on Saturday. I bought Embassytown by China Mieville, and a couple of Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next books. I went over to the snobby bookshop over the road and bought The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. The other day I bought The Institute by Stephen King and The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alice E Harrow. That should do me for a while. I wanted to read The Institute while people were with me. Life got in the way. Looks like it might have to wait.
So yeah....no reading just buying up here.
Finished C J Sansom's Dissolution and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2498550682.
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Almost done with 2 more TBR challenge books: Moon Over Soho and So You Want to Talk About Race. I'm getting a wee bit lost with Moon...it's still fun, but there are something like 20 new named characters who are all important to the story and I don't remember who they are. It makes me realize why perhaps authors of huge works like Sanderson might really use the quick association: "the sax player," "the younger daughter," etc.
Oluo's book is a very conversational look at structural racism in the US and seems like a decent "race relations 101" book, but it is not terribly good for nighttime reading because it's such an intimate look at injustice it's hard not to feel angry.
I've maybe kinda started next month's scifi book (I promise, no ratings, reviews, or substantive updates until after the 7th) and just got a notification that my copy of Gideon the Ninth is in so I better pick up the bleeping pace.
Allison wrote: " there are something like 20 new named characters who are all important to the story and I don't remember who they are. It makes me realize why perhaps authors of huge works like Sanderson might really use the quick association: "the sax player," "the younger daughter," etc. "That's one of the features of Kindle books: XRay, but that's only if the author publisher bothers to create those auxiliary files. And if they're created correctly, Xray that just goes to past mentions of the character help a bit, but I've read some books with Xray, where they explicitly state who the character is
The Black Prism just links to all quotes mentioning the character or place
A Dance with Dragons brings up a who, then linked quotes. Tyrion has "The Imp" - "hugor Hill" - A dwarf son of Tywin Lannister and Myr brings up One of the Nine Free Cities
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Neat! Thanks for the rec :)
:D I'm another one of those who spent the day with the graphic novels "Locke and Key". Totally loved the graphics and was captivated by the story (albeit some characters are rather poisonous in their way of talking). But I had to stop after book 5 since the last one isn't available on kindle unlimited. I have to ponder if I let it be or spend the money to know how it ends. Just woke up from a dream about the characters... seems to have left an impression.
I was reading Empire of Silence very interesting epic space opera, I would tough not read the blurb of the book first since it gives too much away.
I just finished the Saga of the Shadows and feel a bit sad!My review of Eternity's Mind by Kevin J. Anderson
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Thanks for the heads up on the blurb, Leticia, I don't know why publishers do that.
Amanda, that was a positively-received book the club read, I hope you're in the same boat! We had some pretty good discussion of CS too if you wanted to go look at it :)
Aw, Phrynne! Leaving a good series is always bittersweet. I hope your next read sucks you in, too!
Bruce wrote: "Colleen, I might have to read that at some point. I’m listening to Oliver Twist on audiobook right now. Near the end. I was actually disappointed about Artful Dodger. I thought he had more to do in..."I've never actually read Oliver Twist, though I did see the musical... but, like, ages ago. I really only know the very basics of the story.
And I'm not a huge fan of Dickens, so... :-/
Artful does seem to be picking up somewhat, though, and I'm getting a bit more used to the writing style.
I started Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and what an interesting mix of things! It's almost like a fantasy of manners, narrated by the lovely Emma Newman, but with war and a teensy bit of magic. I'm only about 20% in, and so far it's been slow but delightful. My brain doesn't know which way to turn, I only know Tchaikovsky's scifi, and this isn't at all what I would've expected from him! It's almost like nothing is happening, but I don't want to stop listening. I'm happy I decided to try this.
He's not completely sci-fi. The first series he wrote, Shadows of the Apt starting with Empire in Black and Gold isn't really sci fi. It's more like steampunk fantasy with some magic:The series is set in a hypothetical universe populated by different kinden. Each kinden is a fictional race of humans, named after (and having certain characteristics of) an insect. Kinden are typically divided into two categories : Apt and Inapt. The Apt do not have magical abilities, but are able to understand, use and design mechanical devices. The Inapt have varying amounts of magical abilities, but cannot use mechanical devices, even those as simple as latches. The series focuses on the attempted conquest of the lowlands by the Wasp-kinden empire.
The Apt/Inapt thing is handled very well, I really enjoyed this series and the characters that populated it.
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I read another Hamster Princess book last night when I couldn't sleep. It wasn't 100% perfect like the first one, but still five heart-shaped stars! I think my brain is aging backwards.