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?
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Glynis, that looks really good, I'm going to check it out!
Eva, I loved Skyward, there was so much heart and humor in it. Can't wait to read the next one. Looks like you have some other good books ahead of you, too ^^
RJ, I'll forward to your thoughts on Acceptance, it seems to have gotten mixed reviews from others I've seen.
@Jacqueline: FWIW, Sticks and Bones might work better read first - Every Heart takes place later, chronologically, and reveals some pretty major things about the story. Personally, I didn't love Every Heart, but have enjoyed all of the subsequent books in the series. It's my impression that many of the secondary characters in the series are intentionally exaggerated. Even many of the main characters are heavily based on tropes/roles, because the deconstruction of those roles is a central theme of the series. It does often make them less realistic as characters, but again, in this case of this series, I tend to read that as an intentional trade-off the author is making.
Thanks, Allison! As far as I know, she specified that she suffers from OCD, PTSD and depression and of course that is hard to deal with and my heart goes out to her. But I'm sure she wouldn't want anyone to pity-read her books simply due to those issues, but read them because they really love them (and many people do). Nor do any of the issues mentioned limit one's ability to do proper research, e.g. into how the police operates, how group therapy sessions usually work, or how school children in a boarding school usually respond to one of them being horrifically murdered and them finding the body. I personally know several people who've found the body of people they knew who'd been murdered and for each of them, it was an experience that shocked and traumatized them deeply, weighed heavily in their daily thoughts for many years, and in some cases affected their lives forever. And those were adults.
That said, I do recognize that not everybody cares about this kind of realism in their novels - in fact, many people just want to read something interesting and cool, not something that convinces you with how well-built and realistic the world and characters seem. I'm sure that McGuire mostly writes for this audience of readers and I've got no problem with that. But, in terms of constructive criticism: *if* she wanted to gain readers like myself in addition and get me into the fold (which she very well could) then buckling down and doing more research and putting more thought into characters, world-building and realism would certainly win me over. I do love her ideas and premises, so it's just a matter of working a bit on those areas.
Edited to say: that is a very interesting point, Kaa! I agree that it's probably a very intentional choice on the part of the author to forgo the points I mentioned in favor of something else she wanted to achieve. I guess it's just a matter of personal taste which choice one prefers. :-)
Kaa wrote: "@Jacqueline: FWIW, Sticks and Bones might work better read first - Every Heart takes place later, chronologically, and reveals some pretty major things about the story. ..."
Definitely! Sticks and Bones has no surprise whatsoever after having read Every Heart. Reader know how the story goes cause they were already told in the first book.
That’s good. Most series should be read in order but I’m glad I can get away with 2 before 1 here. I have so many books on the go. Picked up Remnant Population last night and I’m about a third of the way through now. Don’t have much to do today except buy some food for tea and hit the second hand bookshop so I might be able to get it finished. The dog seems to think I’m here for his amusement this morning though so it might be slower going than I thought.
My other thing on my “to do” list today is to dig through the trunk with my Mums books in. She was a big Cherryh fan and hopefully she has Downbelow Station in there. Also might go and become a member of the library here again on my way to the supermarket. Don’t get much chance to actually get books out but they all have digital media that you can borrow nowadays so they might have some stuff that my other libraries don’t.
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My search for Downbelow Station unfortunately didn’t quite pan out the way I wanted. I didn’t find it. I did find 3 other Cherryh books in there though so that wasn’t too bad. I found The Paladin, Fires of Azeroth and Fortress in the Eye of Time.
Jacqueline, I know they have "Downbelow Station" on Audible.
What I want to be reading is the sequel to "I am Pilgrim". and it's taking forever!
I have it on ebook Don but I don’t like reading off a screen if I can help it. Reading from a screen tires me too much and I’m exhausted enough without adding to it. I’d much rather have the physical copy in my hot little hand any time. Also the formatting of my copy is really annoying so that just makes it worse. I was just hoping that Mum had it so that I could read her copy. She would have read it though. She loved Cherryh. And David Gemmell. Unfortunately there were no Gemmells in the trunk. There was a hell of a lot of historical romance in there though.
I Love Gemmell too, Historical Fiction I enjoy, Historical Slobbering/ Romance... no way !
Eva wrote: "Thanks, Allison! As far as I know, she specified that she suffers from OCD, PTSD and depression and of course that is hard to deal with and my heart goes out to her. ...
how group therapy sessions usually work, or how school children in a boarding school usually respond to one of them being horrifically murdered and them finding the body."
I’m not sure how those two statements square. *I* have PTSD and I’m fairly sure I could effectively project my version onto another person. They don’t even have to have nearly been stabbed to death. Everyone’s pain is the same.
Jacqueline wrote: "My search for Downbelow Station unfortunately didn’t quite pan out the way I wanted. I didn’t find it. I did find 3 other Cherryh books in there though so that wasn’t too bad. I found The Paladin, ..."Have you tried Melbourne?
Mum read it all. She was rather eclectic in her tastes. I’m pretty sure she read nearly every book in the old library here. Every week she’d go to the library on Friday morning and change her 4 massive hardcover library books for 4 more (there was a 4 books for 2 weeks limit back then) and then go to the supermarket, butchers, and fruit shop and do her shopping and then catch the bus home. All of her food (except meat) was then delivered later that afternoon. And on weeks where she was meeting someone for lunch or something the fruit guy would take her meat and library books for her too. Gotta love living in a small country town. Anyhoo just read a short story by Aliette de Bodard...Lullaby for a Lost World. It was lovely. For a sort of horror story. Beautiful writing.
I may travel extensively Trike but I don’t go anywhere near Melbourne 🤪The trunk is one of those that you might find some stairs to another world in though. And Melbourne is another world.
Finished my second read-through of Ancillary Justice. The end feels a little looser than the tightly-structured rest of the book, but I guess that can happen with the first book of a trilogy. The emotional payoff was just as strong as the first time. (mildly scattered review)Next: I had plans, but changed my mind at the last moment. It looks like next up will be K.J. Parker's standalone novel Sharps.
Jacqueline wrote: "Mum read it all. She was rather eclectic in her tastes. I’m pretty sure she read nearly every book in the old library here. Every week she’d go to the library on Friday morning and change her 4 mas..."4 books per two weeks limit? I'd die with that few. I used to race through my books and then my mother's books and I think we could get 10 every time we went
If anybody is in dire need to get depressed, go and read The Windup Girl.I can't remember ever having read such a bleak and emotionally brutal book. Lots of rape, violence and an utter lack of compassion for one another are the trademarks of this dystopian, near future novel about a world where fossil fuels have run out and bio engineering and the plagues originated therefrom rule.
The writing is matter-of-factly, nearly all of the characters are despicable - and, tbh, this is good, because it creates the necessary distance to deal with the bleakness of the world and going-ons.
The book is one of the triple crown winners (Locus, Nebula, Hugo) and I'd say deservedly so, but don't go near it if you need happy endings, likeable caring characters or just a tiny spark of hope in your story.
Don wrote: "What I want to be reading is the sequel to "I am Pilgrim". and it's taking forever!"I so agree with you! I am now at the point where I will have to read I Am Pilgrim again before I can read a sequel. It has been too long!
I'm having that problem with By Demons Possessed but I don't want to reread the other 8 books in the series in order to remember what went on before. Yes, I know the book page on Goodreads links to an Amazon product page that calls in book 6, but that's incorrect, it's the 9th book in the series:God Stalker Chronicles
God Stalk, 1982
Dark of the Moon, 1985
Seeker's Mask, 1994
To Ride a Rathorn, August 2006
Bound In Blood, March 2010
Honor's Paradox, December 2011
The Sea of Time, June 2014
The Gates of Tagmeth, August 2017
By Demons Possessed, May 2019
On an Aliette de Bodard kick today. Just finished another short story. The Waiting Stars. This woman is good. The link to it is in the book description on goodreads. It’s free as was The Lullaby one I read earlier. 9 books in a series is a lot to reread Chessie. I don’t have time to read what I want once let alone to reread at the moment.
@Gabi, I think that might be why I abandoned it the first time I started listening to it (4 years ago?). I just restarted, so that I can discuss it with you all. It might be a slog.
Also, I just finished The Girl with all the Gifts, which I pretty much really enjoyed.
In defense of "The Windup Girl". I loved this book, it is visionary.We get to see companies like Monsanto's future self, life with rising/risen sea level and the possible dangers of unethical genetic manipulation. The gritty, sweaty, contagious message this book relays is necessary and The Calorie Men are real but not yet in their full power. This book was not what I expected it to be and I love it for that, it's depressing at times BUTT! it's a final act in a whimper apocalypse, supposed to be some sad and depressing going on up in there. I loved the ending and found it uplifting. (tried to be spoiler sensitive).
The "Girl with all the Gifts" was indeed a good'un
Jacqueline wrote: "I may travel extensively Trike but I don’t go anywhere near Melbourne 🤪The trunk is one of those that you might find some stairs to another world in though. And Melbourne is another world."
It’s always in the last place you look.
Recently Finished:The Impossible Contract. I loved this book so much. All three of the main characters are disasters but lovable disasters who manage to get things done somehow. I definitely need to go back and read the first book while I wait for the third to come out.
Made Things. I'm pretty convinced at this point that Tchaikovsky can write pretty much anything well. This was an enjoyable novella that I went in to not expecting to like as much as I did.
Babylon Steel. This was fun. Nothing spectacular, but enjoyable and I'd think about picking up the sequel. My library doesn't have it though and I'm not sure I enjoyed it enough to buy the next one, so we'll see.
The Starless Sea. It took me about halfway through to start enjoying this, but I did like it by the time I reached the end. The beginning was just too much overly descriptive fluff that doesn't tie together until much later, making it a pain to slog through. Much better than The Night Circus though.
Currently Reading:
Permafrost. I'm almost done with this one. Quick novella that I'm liking well so far. I usually like Reynolds stuff though, so that's to be expected.
Agency. Still slowly going through this one. It keeps getting shoved aside in favor of library books with impending due dates. I'm liking it though, and I'm slowly chipping away at it.
CBRetriever wrote: "I'm having that problem with By Demons Possessed but I don't want to reread the other 8 books in the series in order to remember what went on before. Yes, I know the book page on Go..."Whoa, this series has grown since I read the first two books! At this stage it would be tempting to just go back and reread the first one for the third or fourth time, and leave it at that...
it was pretty good - I read the 8 books in 2017 and enjoyed them however, I'd read the first one years ago in a paper version. I'm starting to remember more as I read. It's fairly good so far
Leticia wrote: "I consider Seanan McGuire way over hyped and absolutely not for me too. I read three of her books and there was always a depth that belongs to stories missing, the plot was always way too rushed up."I had a similar arc with McGuire a few years ago. I read four of her books, and all of the three leads between those four books were pretty much identical to each other (and it didn't help that I disliked them). Also, she's a prolific author and it showed in books that felt like drafts to me.
Still, I've considered trying her again to see if her craft has improved in the meantime, or if she's learned how to write a different protagonist.
Things have certainly changed in the library system Chessie. Now I’m allowed 6 (plus 6 ebooks) with a three week limit but of course you can go and change them anytime you want. That’s still pretty low compared to some places. Mum read of a night (we would go to bed and read and dad would sit up and watch TV) and during the day when I was at school in between the housework and whatever else she was up to. Socialising with her bestie or sewing or whatever. She never read on weekends when Dad was home. The 4 big books usually just lasted a week. She didn’t drive so she had to go to town once a week on the bus. If she ran out she’d reread an old favourite. There were a heap of books here. Still are. Just nobody to read them anymore.
The books I was looking for weren’t in the local second hand store either Trike so I might have to go to Melbourne to get them after all. Or at least up to the good one up at the farm.
Jacqueline wrote: "I found The Paladin, Fires of Azeroth and Fortress in the Eye of Time."The first Fortress is a nice chunky detailed fantasy with a very Cherryh (rhyme not deliberate until I noticed it) main character. I enjoyed it a lot, but unfortunately also lost interest in the series after reading the second book.
Yep chunky is a word I’d use. 773 pages with very small writing. It’s a mass market type paperback so it’s pretty small but very thick. Most of the first chapter or so of this copy is falling out. Well loved is how I’d put it. I think I’ll be wearing my sewing magnifier thing if I read them lol
Just re read Demon Accord series again, I am waiting for the author to do the next book. ( John Conroe) So will finish J D RObb series, I got a little sick of this series after about 12 books, but will attempt to do the rest
Reading Among Others. It's slow going because I keep stopping to look up the books that are referenced. My TBR will be increased when I finish the book.
Ellen wrote: "Reading Among Others. It's slow going because I keep stopping to look up the books that are referenced. My TBR will be increased when I finish the book."If you want an easier way to look them up:
GR list: Novels mentioned in Among Others
Jo Walton's What Makes This Book So Great is fun to dip into. It's not exactly literary criticism -- a phrase/concept/practice that seems to make her cringe -- but her thoughts on her favorites. It's not quite literary cheerleading since she does point out a flaw or two along the way, and is thoughtful in how she praises.
Walton has a new one coming out next year that I’m dying to read, can’t link because I’m in the app but it’s called Or What You Will.
Stratos wrote: "Just started The Road. Its style is way too lyrical for my taste. Currently struggling. I 've heard it's pretty grim so I 'm nervous for that as well."Oh dear The Road is on my TBR. I don't mind grim but have little patience for 'too lyrical'. Does it get better?
Thanks @Chris @Don @GabiGoing by your responses I really must read all three (poor me :0) but it sounds like Tigana is first.
This Is How You Lose the Time War looked like it would be just my type of thing but I missed the vital fact that the author is a poet. Even though it is only a novella it dragged and became repetitive and while part of me realised the ending was quite good by the time I got to it I was too fed-up to enjoy it.review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Anna wrote: "Ellen wrote: "Reading Among Others. It's slow going because I keep stopping to look up the books that are referenced. My TBR will be increased when I finish the book."If you want a..."
Thanks Anna
@Esther The Road was a 4 star read for me. Certainly unique and dark. Once you get used to the writing style it can steal your heart!
Esther wrote: "Oh dear The Road is on my TBR. I don't mind grim but have little patience for 'too lyrical'. Does it get better?"I may not have a proper understanding of what “lyrical” means in the context of literature, but I would not personally describe The Road as lyrical.
When I think “lyrical”, I think of flowery/poetic/musical phrasing. If that’s what you think of when you hear “lyrical”, you may not have to worry because that’s pretty much the exact opposite of how I remember the writing in The Road. A brief quote from my review pretty much sums up my opinion of the writing: “This book doles everything out sparingly – prose, dialogue, world-building, and even punctuation.”
I gave it 3 stars as a middle-of-the-road read, but I thought it was a really fast read. There were many lines with only a few words due to large quantities of minimalistic dialogue.
YouKneeK wrote: "I may not have a proper understanding of what “lyrical” means in th..."Well, poetic doesn't need to be flowery or injected with multiple doses of metaphor. (Ahem) Lyrical can be rhythmic and while McCarthy's prose is certainly pared down, composed of short declarative sentences, there is a rhythm to it as you read.
Randy wrote: "YouKneeK wrote: "I may not have a proper understanding of what “lyrical” means in th..."Well, poetic doesn't need to be flowery or injected with multiple doses of metaphor. (Ahem) Lyrical can be ..."
I’d definitely place The Road more on the lyrical end of the spectrum. It’s not full-on Le Guin, but McCarthy certainly went for a more stylized type of writing than typical for these sorts of novels.
Here’s a quote from The Road:
Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.
Not the usual sort of writing in a post-apocalypse survival story.
Here’s one from Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan:
The Earth is beautiful, and bright, and kindly, but that is not all. The Earth is also terrible, and dark, and cruel. The rabbit shrieks dying in the green meadows. The mountains clench their great hands full of hidden fire. There are sharks in the sea, and there is cruelty in men’s eyes.
Trike wrote: "Randy wrote: "YouKneeK wrote: "I may not have a proper understanding of what “lyrical” means in th..."Well, poetic doesn't need to be flowery or injected with multiple doses of metaphor. (Ahem) L..."
Definitely lyrical as I understand it. I don't mind a certain amount of lyrical but an awful lot of writer's seem to fall in love with their own writing and don't know when to stop.
The Road was also a 4 star read for me. I found it compelling, but the subject matter is pretty bleak.I'm trying to decide which of my library books to read as I won't have time for both before they are due and cannot be renewed.
A) Exhalation: Stories
B) The Institute
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Currently reading "The Purge of Babylon" by Sam Sisavath. First book I've read by the Author and it's pretty good so far, a spin on the Zombie Apocalypse merry go round.