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General SF&F discussion
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What are you reading in June 2019?
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Chris, Moderator
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Jun 01, 2019 08:22AM
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Circe and Witchmark for this and another group's read. Nice to get back to some fantasy! I want to finish up the Murderbot Diaries this month. I'm on Rogue Protocol.
How was Circe? I’ve been hearing good things about it.
MadProfessah wrote: "How was Circe? I’ve been hearing good things about it."Only a quarter of the way so far but I really like it!
I’m reading book 4 in the Great Library YA fantasy series by Rachel Cain, SMOKE AND IRON.
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Needed something new in audio so grabbed We Are Legion. Its really good. Think it could make an excellent discussion book. Lots of neat things going on.
Random wrote: "Needed something new in audio so grabbed We Are Legion. Its really good. Think it could make an excellent discussion book. Lots of neat things going on."I did not like it, ultimately, despite trying to! But that was a very personal reaction and I agree it would be a good discussion book. I would be interested in reading other people's opinions and theories.
I finished We Are Legion which I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend. No again out of genre with A Dog's Way Home
Random wrote: "Needed something new in audio so grabbed We Are Legion. Its really good. Think it could make an excellent discussion book. Lots of neat things going on."All 3 books in the Bobverse were good. I'd be up for rereading them with a group, too. There's a lot of different ideas in there about what it means to be 'human'.
HeartlessThis book has been on my shelf for years and I never read it. I love Marissa Meyer so I don't know why I waited so long.
Finished The Stone Sky. Very good, and the weakest of the three. The ending was sort of expected.Started on book 9 of the Malazan Empire. I put this away a few years ago, I could not get into it. I was talking to my son about Game of Thrones and suggested this series, and it reminded me I needed to finish it
So reading Dust of Dreams
Outpost is the first of an SF trilogy by W. Michael Gear. I read another trilogy by him about 15 years ago & liked it, so I'm not surprised that I was really impressed by this one. I gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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I have liked the historical fiction by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear but have not read any of his SF. Good to know they are also good.
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Now reading The Dragon Keeper for our group series read. About 20% into it, feeling a bit adrift with new characters and multiple POVs.
Jim wrote: "Outpost is the first of an SF trilogy by W. Michael Gear. I read another trilogy by him about 15 years ago & liked it, so I'm not surprised that I was really impresse..."Oh, has the group read this yet? I keep wanting to but getting distracted by others. If it gets nominated, I'd definitely vote for it!
I don't know, Kari. I already promoted a book nomination this month, but I'll try to remember for next month.
Jim wrote: "I don't know, Kari. I already promoted a book nomination this month, but I'll try to remember for next month."Awesome! I keep forgetting I have it unread on my shelves, so I was excited to see it mentioned in a positive light.
Kathi wrote: "Finished Killing Floor and liked it well enough that I will probably continue with the series, interspersing them with other things on my TBR pile..."The books are not anything special, i am about six or seven books in, Sometimes they are annoying but all in all sort of fun
Kathi wrote: "Finished Killing Floor and liked it well enough that I will probably continue with the series, interspersing them with other things on my TBR pile...."I couldn't make it through the second one. The first was pretty bad with the way Jack could run around in that heat for 3 days with the same shirt & no shower, yet still be yearned for by the ladies. The shotguns were ridiculous, but I got past them. Not so in the second, though. Reality took a complete break.
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Ken wrote: "The books are not anything special, i am about six or seven books in, Sometimes they are annoying but all in all sort of fun”
Well, I don’t have high expectations, just reading them for something different. My husband read them & wanted me to try them. We’ll see if I keep going or not. But so far, I’m in.
Kathi wrote: "Jim wrote: "I couldn't make it through the second one...Reality took a complete break."Ken wrote: "The books are not anything special, i am about six or seven books in, Sometimes they are annoyin..."
I love the Jack Reacher books! I don't love Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher.
I thought the Tom Cruise movie was better than the books, but I don't expect much from TV. He's obviously not the right size for the role, though. In books, I expect some logic & authors should write what they know or at least make an attempt to research properly. It's pretty obvious Lee has only seen guns on TV & has no actual experience with them or rural life. Donald Hamilton's books set the bar very high for guns since he was a hunter, wrote articles for "Field & Stream" & other such magazines. A couple of his books had scenes directly from factual articles like a moose hunt in Sweden. Only the quarry changed. I don't expect many authors to live up to his standards, but at least staying somewhere in the vicinity of reality is expected. Handfuls of shot on the floor of a van? Yuck. Just ruins the whole scene.
As for rural life, (view spoiler) I live in the country. Everyone is related to everyone else or goes to church with them or something. At the local stores, people were questioning or telling me about a contractor I hired when I first moved here within days. A new person in the area or major work being done is like an episode of Game of Thrones - no one wants to miss it.
Christine wrote: "Kathi wrote: "I love the Jack Reacher books! I don't love Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher. "Yeah Tom could of been a foot taller but I thought he played Reacher dead on, especially in the first movie, the second was a big mess
The books are hit and miss, the last one I read was a miss, dont remember the name of it.
I think when I finish the book I am reading I might read the next Reacher book
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Jim wrote: "I thought the Tom Cruise movie was better than the books, but I don't expect much from TV. He's obviously not the right size for the role, though. In books, I expect some logic & authors should wri..."I resent being criticized for liking a book despite obvious (to you) inaccuracies; I love reading and will forgive an author for having too many convenient happenings to move the story along. As a retired physician, I tend to avoid some medical programs due to inaccuracies, but I don't criticize people who enjoy watching them. I really don't care about the gun descriptions in the Jack Reacher books...
Christine, those were all criticisms directed completely at the author & his work to possibly help some other person avoid wasting time, if those are things that bother them. Judging by the popularity of the series, it doesn't bother a lot of people. Still, most of us have a lot more books to read than time.
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I finished The Dragon Keeper and look forward to reading the second book . In the meantime, I've moved on to Children of Ruin
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Shel wrote: "I just finished The Dragon Keeper. I'm a bit under the weather today, so I'll probably disappear into some mindless comfort reading next while I recover from this cold - I hate summe..."Ugh, I hear you on the summer colds thing. Get well soon <3 and please share your comfort read of choice! (I'm always interested in how people define that for themselves.)
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Mindless comfort reading is needed sometimes. A couple of my favorites for that are This Immortal & Planet of the Gawfs. Quite different, practically known by heart, but still a great way to relax.
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Ten Women by Marcela Serrano, 7/10, a very readable collection of first person narratives by 10 very different Chilean women—interesting but, to my mind, not a novel.
About the Night by Anat Talshir, 10/10, an intense love story about loneliness, loyalty, loss, and the healing power of love.
Next up is another Jack Reacher book, Die Trying, and then the final (I think) book in the Avaryan series, Tides of Darkness.
A family emergency sent me on a last minute red eye flight across country and let me with nearly a negative attention span for books or really much at all except for the goings on in my life. I did manage to start White Sand, Volume 1 last night and finished it this evening. Par for Sanderson, I want the rest.
Hoping I will be able to finish For We Are Many on my flight home tomorrow if I can concentrate.
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I've decided to disappear into Pern for a while ;) I haven't read those in ages.
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Shel wrote: "So...let's just say Pern hasn't really aged well..."That's a shame. I've had the same problem, so avoid rereading some old favorites. It's best just to keep fond memories. Hard to know which books those are, though. Pern isn't one I would have expected.
I do not usually read medievalist fantasy, but I am hoping to get White as Snow read by the end of the month. Not much time left.Then, whether it's picked for a BOTM or not, I am planning on reading Janny Wurt's Sorcerer's Legacy by the end of the summer.
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Then I read Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah. I really liked this book, but rated it 7/10. It was engaging and weirdly magical but had a major flaw, IMO. This book has enough details to make it believable and enough imagination to make it both weird and magical. The characters are engaging. I’m glad it has a relatively happy ending. I downgraded my rating, however, because while Jo’s trauma (main female character) as a cancer survivor is dealt with realistically and compassionately, Gabe’s depression and social anxiety (main male character) are not. The author has Jo pushing him, ignoring or minimizing his feelings and concerns, and, of course, these insensitive tactics seem to work and Gabe is suddenly better. It makes the story turn out nicely but diminishes the seriousness of mental illness. On top of that, the trauma and dysfunction that Ursa (child character and catalyst for change) has endured cannot be minimized. She is obviously a very smart, resilient child, but one must expect some difficult times in her future.
Now I am back with Jack Reacher in Lee Child’s Tripwire.
I finished Children of Ruin which I enjoyed and am now back in the Bobiverse with For We Are Many. I found myself hoping a Bob would appear in the last book, but it never happened...
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Beyond Reality
Books mentioned in this topic
The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter (other topics)Children of Ruin (other topics)
For We Are Many (other topics)
Where the Forest Meets the Stars (other topics)
Tripwire (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Joseph Henrich (other topics)Judith Tarr (other topics)
Glendy Vanderah (other topics)
Lee Child (other topics)
Marcela Serrano (other topics)
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