2020 Read All the Books: Seven Wonders

[John]

Allison wrote: "Three cheers for our libraries and their librarian guardians!"

Wow. I will finish one maybe two this month as working on other challenges. I'll catch up.

Libraries rule. replace duct tape in quote below with libraries/librarians. Suspect they even work in near-vacuum.

“Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.”
― Andy Weir, The Martian

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

haha!

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Wondering if with enough dedication someone could complete the Read All The SFF Books at Their Local Library challenge.

Also, would you read a story about a person who goes around knocking off (aspiring) authors so that they could complete such a challenge?

(Having read Mort by Terry Pratchett, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, and White Cat by Holly Black I'm up to nine (9!) bookshelf reads for the year so far. Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles is up next though I'm currently reading The Quantum Garden by Ted Künsken.)

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Eight*

Getting ahead of myself.

[Lost Planet Airman]

Ryan wrote: "Wondering if with enough dedication someone could complete the Read All The SFF Books at Their Local Library challenge.

Also, would you read a story about a person who goes around knocking off (as..."

Given the number of Bookshelf books that I have had to order through Interlibrary Loan, I think Ryan's Read All The SFF Books at Their Local Library challenge would take me a long time.

Like a week. We are not a very progressive library.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

hahahahaha

[Gabi]

@Mike: sounds like my library. ^^'

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

*Brings Hershey's kisses to all of her librarians for loving SFF*

[Esther]

Ryan wrote: "Wondering if with enough dedication someone could complete the Read All The SFF Books at Their Local Library challenge.."

Not if like me they live in a country where English is not the mother-tongue and interlibrary loans are almost unheard of.

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

I didn't realise how fortunate I was. Both of the libraries a short walk from my home have SFF collections that are small compared to their other fiction genres, but would take me years to read. And that's not including their digital library.

[Anna]

I was at my library yesterday, and decided to take a look at the English scifi section, which I already knew to be tiny. I would've taken a picture, but there were people sitting right in front of the shelf. Anyway, I could easily read that amount of books, less than one shelf unit, but for the first time ever I actually looked at the titles. They were mostly things I've never heard of and/or didn't look like something I'd want to pick up. The five or so books that were featured cover out were all books I've already read, and I agree they seemed to be the best they have to offer. So technically I could read them all in 2020, but I most definitely don't want to.

[Deb]

I am going to go for 36, 2020
I did 26 in 2019
so far I have read V.E Schwab shades of magic

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Nice!

[Bill]

So one month down and I’m 60% of the way to my goal of 30 with 18 books read. Yet somehow I just know like the last 6 years I’ve done this challenge that come December I’m going to be scrambling to finish another 4 books to hit my goal.

[Steve]

I've been disciplined and made my January reads all from the group for the challenge :)

The Way of Kings
Storm Front (re-read as I'll be reading the series)
The Book of Phoenix

Storm Front and Book of Phoenix are such short books but Way of Kings is a BEAST. Might re-read some bits of it as I'm finding my brain not retaining it all (looong month at work too, my brain has been working overtime on everything - work or not - in January).

I have this week off work on holiday/annual leave, a break yay! If I read a bookshelf book I'll make it a shorter one again this time - A Closed and Common Orbit or Sea of Rust

[Pat the Book Goblin]

My goal is 22!

☑️ 1. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
☑️ 2. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
3. The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
4. The Once and Future King by TH White
5. Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein
6. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
7. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
8. Spin by Charles Robert Wilson
9. Pandora’s Star by Peter F Hamilton
10. The Way of Shadows (Night Angel, #1) by Brent Weeks
11. Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
12. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
13. Childhood’s End by Arthur C Clarke
14. Neuromancer by William Gibson
15. Red Mars (Mars Trilogy, #1) by Kim Stanley Robinson
16. The Poppy War by RF Kuang
17. Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1) by James SA Corey
18. Caliban’s War (The Expanse, #2) by James SA Corey
19. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
20. The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1) by Brandon Sanderson
21. The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2) by Brandon Sanderson
22. Assassin’s Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1) by Robin Hobb

[Pat the Book Goblin]

I have a question about the bookshelf. It seems incomplete. For instance, there are two Mistborn books but not the third. Or Red Mars is on the list but no the last two but I know the group read them? Were the other two Mars books group or buddy reads? Just wondering why a full trilogy or series isn't on the bookshelf. If I finish the series can that count toward my goal?

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Hi Patrick,

The group generally only reads the first book in a series. Until a couple of years ago, we had 1 poll a year for sequels, so there are a few second books and I think once in awhile a third book, but very rare.

The Mars books were a buddy read :-)

And for purposes of this challenge, only books on the actual bookshelf are meant to count. Sorry! You can however use them for the TBR challenge or any other applicable challenge/game.

[Pat the Book Goblin]

Allison wrote: "Hi Patrick,

The group generally only reads the first book in a series. Until a couple of years ago, we had 1 poll a year for sequels, so there are a few second books and I think once in awhile a t..."

Ok! Thank you for clarifying Allison! :D

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

So I'm up to 16 bookshelf reads for the year. The target is now 85 books as I miscalculated what I had read, but I'm still aiming for 150 bookshelf reads by years end.

1. Pandora's Star - Peter F Hamilton 4.5 stars
2. Nine Princes in Amber - Roger Zelazny 2.5 stars
3. The Bear and The Nightingale - Katherine Arden 4 stars
4. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells 1.75 stars
5. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstein 4.5 stars
6. Mort - Terry Pratchett 4 stars
7. The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison 3.5 stars
8. The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury 2 stars
9. The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman 4 stars
10. Wool Omnibus - Hugh Howey 4 stars
11. Rosewater - Tade Thompson 4 stars
12. The Martian - Andy Weir 5 stars
13. A Scanner Darkly - Philip K Dick 2 stars
14. The Collapsing Empire - John Scalzi 3.5 stars
15. The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker 4.5 stars
16. Ten Thousand Doors of January - Alix Harrow 3.5 stars

It's been hit and miss so far. The next week or two will be taken up by Buddy reads (The Water Dancer and The Sudden Appearance of Hope) and the two scheduled rereads, which will be first reads for me.

I'm craving some light Fantasy though so I may throw my February reading plan into disarray.

[Bill]

Great Job Ryan!

I’ve been spending this month trying to finish some of the series I started last month with group shelf reads.

[DivaDiane]

Thats amazing, Ryan! I’ve read 3 group shelf books so far this year:

Embassytown, China Miéville ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Farthest Shore, UKL (a reread aloud to my son)⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny ⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

4 of 16 books under a 3 rating seems like a pretty good ratio to me! Glad you're still more or less on track :)

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Discovered a tagging error with the surprisingly good standalone novel White Cat by Holly Black. I'm at 17 books for this challenge. :)

[Bill]

White Cat is the first book in the Curse Workers trilogy. :)

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Not in my universe it ain't lol. Despite what my library loans history says White Cat is a standalone novel.

*puts fingers in ears and sings loudly to himself whenever anyone tries to deny this truth*

[Bill]

Ryan wrote: "Not in my universe it ain't lol. Despite what my library loans history says White Cat is a standalone novel.

*puts fingers in ears and sings loudly to himself whenever anyone tries to deny this t..."

Lol I wish I lived in your universe more.

[Chris]

Ryan wrote: "Not in my universe it ain't lol. Despite what my library loans history says White Cat is a standalone novel. "

Dead or alive? 🙀

[Hank]

Won't know until you open the cover ;)

[Gabi]

This is my first 2 months.

til February: 139/301 (46%)

- This Alien Shore ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- His Majesty's Dragon ⭐⭐⭐
- The Goblin Emperor ⭐⭐⭐
- Nine Princes in Amber ⭐⭐⭐
- The Eye of the World ⭐⭐⭐
- The Martian Chronicles ⭐⭐⭐
- The Collapsing Empire ⭐⭐
- Six of Crows ⭐⭐⭐
- Little, Big ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Anna]

11 stars for Little, Big?! :D I guess I have to read it soon!

[Eva]

So far, I've already read 7 books from the group shelf this year (for some reason, Warbreaker is counted twice in the tracker and I can't get rid of it, so the tracker shows 8 instead of 7):

Ninefox Gambit⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Fifth Season⭐⭐⭐
The Three-Body Problem⭐⭐⭐⭐
Six of Crows⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Kindred⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Warbreaker⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Anna]

Eva, you have two read dates for Warbreaker, you can remove the other one by editing your review.

https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...

[Eva]

That fixed it! Thank you, Anna. :-)

[Anna]

No problem, this used to happen all the time after they introduced rereads!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I'm at 6 completed and 3 more in progress.

This Alien Shore: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
House of Spirits: ⭐⭐
Ten Thousand Doors of January: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Elantris: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Martian: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Many Colored Land: wouldn't you like to know?

Currently reading Doomsday Book, about to start Sword of Kaigen and Left Hand of Darkness :)

[Anna]

I've only read the five BOTMs (I'd read one before). I need to start reading the backlist. But at least I'm 100% for 2020 BOTMs!

[Gabi]

Anna wrote: "11 stars for Little, Big?! :D I guess I have to read it soon!"

I didn't want to freak out again, so I tried to be subtle :D.

But I'm not sure I would recommend the book, it is very special. Slow doesn't even begin to describe it. Folks compared it with Hundred years of Solitude which I never read but know that lot of people are bored out of their wits with it. From the ones I've read perhaps Murakami's 1Q84 comes nearest in terms of pace. It is a long, weird poem of a dream.

[Anna]

I haven't read 1Q84 yet, because everyone keeps saying it's slow and boring, but I've enjoyed all the other Murakami I've read, and I loved GGM when I read him as a teen, so I'm not too worried. And I have it on audio, so it doesn't matter how slow it is, it'll chug right along at the speed I set it to :D

[John]

Just made palindromic triple digit status (111) with Spinning Silver Read around 6 of her dragon series but not sure I would have picked this up without the nudge from here so another thanks for a good book.

Now I can eat the chocolate from both ends.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

XD Well that was an image! But congrats!!

[Hank]

I have surprisingly read 7

The Gospel of Loki ⭐⭐⭐
This Alien Shore ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The House of the Spirits ⭐⭐⭐
Parable of the Sower ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Ten Thousand Doors of January ⭐⭐⭐
The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack ⭐⭐⭐
The Sword of Kaigen ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Gabi]

Hey, you're already done with Sword of Kaigen! (or did you already read it earlier?)

[Hank]

At the risk of Allison chastising me AGAIN, I just finished. I started early because it was long and I wanted to read the other club book this month as well. It was really good and I sort of raced through it.

[Hank]

And I already voted on the polls for next month too! (just kidding, neither Anna or Allison let me do that, spoil sports)

[Anna]

I wish *I* could do that, I hate having to wait!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Hank, I tried to find some sort of German cheating scandal I could reference because I am not sure American football translates well globally, but then I gave up, got a drink and decided just to shout shame at you whenever it comes up. So...

SHAME!!!

lol

[Gabi]

LOL!

[Beth]

I felt that roasting all the way over here. Better not tell anyone I've read the first chapter ahead of time! (Oops.)

[Hank]

Too funny!