2020 - 02 - speculative-fiction - What's on your TBR?

[PAS, Moderator AC]

February Shelf will be speculative-fiction



What is it?
"Speculative fiction deals with the "What if?" scenarios imagined by dreamers and thinkers worldwide. Journeys to other worlds through the vast reaches of distant space; magical quests to free worlds enslaved by terrible beings; malevolent supernatural powers seeking to increase their spheres of influence across multiple dimensions and times; all of these fall into the realm of speculative fiction."

I know we've just done 'fantasy' in December (not too long ago!) but such is the nature of random generators. Any fave you read in December that you'd recommend?

And for those seeking to widen their reading sphere, can anyone recommend something easy/not-so-big-book in the genre?

[LynnB]

Although I've read a bunch on the list, I don't currently have much on my TBR. I'm going to try for The Library at Mount Char, but I'm wait-listed for it so I don't know if I'll get it in February. That's my plan though!

[Meg]

I love speculative fic! Yay, one of my favourite genres. I see it as quite different from fantasy though, more like alternate history, alternative presents, and possible futures.

I will start with :
Stories of Your Life and Others
The Memory Police

If you're not sure about this genre, some I highly recommend :
Station Eleven
The Power
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Wool

[Bea]

I am surprised that I have read so many on the first page of this list (31)! Wow!

Only 2 on the first page are on my TBR Wishlist...so I will commit to reading at least one of them.

The Windup Girl
The Left Hand of Darkness

[Susan]

Bea wrote: "I am surprised that I have read so many on the first page of this list (31)! Wow!

Only 2 on the first page are on my TBR Wishlist...so I will commit to reading at least one of them.

[book:The Wi..."

Bea, those are both wonderful books! Have fun!

[Susan]

I've read most of the books on page one of the list, but one that I haven't stands out: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin is an award-winning book I've been meaning to get around to. There are 7 holds ahead of me, though. So I will also plan to check out The Power, which I'd never heard of before, but which looks very good.

For people who need ideas, my 5-star-rated books on that first page are The Hunger Games (all 3 in the series),Ender's Game, Ready Player One, The Left Hand of Darkness, Dune, and The Windup Girl. And don't let the fact that The Left Hand of Darkness is listed as #4 in the Hainish Cycle scare you off. It's totally fine not to have read the others first - they're really only loosely connected. A short and easily readable book with a big punch is The Giver. I haven't yet read the third in that series, The Messenger, so I may add that to my own list for the month too.

[Lusie]

I've read 16 of the first page.

Here are some of my options:
Oathbringer
His Majesty's Dragon
Circe
Dune
The Fifth Season
Storm Front

[Joanna]

Apparently, I quite like this genre. I've read 42 of the books on the first page of the shelf.

I've got lots of books to choose from here, so I'll have to have a look at what is most appealing. I see lots of folks thinking about His Majesty's Dragon, which I have a copy of, so might be fun to read at the same time as others.

[Judy]

I was surprised how many of these were on my TBR. Some of my choices are

A Wizard of Earthsea
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
Soulless
The Left Hand of Darkness

I loved His Majesty's Dragon. If you're looking for something a bit "lighter" I started the discworld series by reading Guards! Guards! and I loved that one too.

[LaurLa]

I can read my steampunk books for this and a couple UF books on my TBR are tagged as well.

Those seem too easy for me so I'm also going to look at the books mentioned in the thread to maybe stretch myself a little :-)

For sure I'll read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - that works for me for Prompt 1 in Just Read It since reading this series is out of my comfort zone (not a big fan of non-romance fantasy, sorry...)

[Marina]

Some I would recommend are:
1984
Fahrenheit 451
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Little Brother
The Circle
all of the Harry Potter series
...and many more

I have a couple on my Kindle:
The Day of the Triffids
Alas, Babylon

And then there's The Haunting of Hill House, which (so far) is first in the poll for February group read in a group I co-moderate, so I might go for that one after all.

[Dee]

i'm hoping to read:
Record of a Spaceborn Few (to finish out the series);
MaddAddam (will also finish series);
Red Clocks sounds interesting as does All the Birds in the Sky

[Christina]

This month I am going to read The Handmaid's Tale. And if I manage to wiggle in a second one I will tackle Brave New World because both of those are on my upcoming to read list.

[Coralie]

I have already read most of the books on the first dozen pages. The ones I might read next month are
The Bird King (waiting for me on the reserve shelf at the library)
The Golem's Eye
Fall, or Dodge in Hell
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
The Priory of the Orange Tree
The Light Brigade (which my daughter gave me for Christmas)

[Amy]

I've got these:

Strange the Dreamer
Fortune's Pawn
Caraval

[Stacey]

I have Fahrenheit 451 on audible. I'm going to give that a try. And The Windup Girl is on my list if I have time.

[Karin]

Well, I have read MANY books in this category--32/50 on just the first page, including the first 9! Plus I've read 22 on the next page. In fact, I don't get to a single digits number of books until the 7th page and then it's back to double digits for several more pages. In fact, there is only ONE page of the 25 (page 24) where I haven't read any--the other lowest one was 2 books.

Odds of me reading something here are high, but I am not yet sure since at least two that I have marked want to read that I have out now I might read before Feb 1 (not sure yet if I'll read both before then or not).

[Paige]

Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban. On my TBR list. Even though read it 1x already years ago

[Charity]

I'm going to attempt to read Oryx and Crake as it's the first book on the list that I haven't read yet.

[Lahni]

These are on my Just Read It prompts:

Xenocide - I'll do this one for sure since I have it on audio
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Host

[Beverly]

I love this genre and have several on my TBR list! Here are a few I’m looking at:

Son
The Power
Allegiant
Red Clocks

Will probably start with Allegiant, since I already have a copy! Hope it’s better than some of the reviews! I enjoyed the first two books in the series.

[Sassafrass]

I'm going to read Warm Bodies since I need it for another challenge.

[♞ Pat]

So vampires? Dracula is on the list, but I've read that one....

I just picked this one up at the library, which looks kind of delicious and fits a bunch of assorted February challenge tasks, so I'm going to go with it!

Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness

From the blurb...
Time's Convert channels the supernatural world-building

[Kristina Simon]

♞ Pat wrote: "So vampires? I just picked this one up at the library, which looks kind of delicious and fits a bunch of assorted February challenge tasks...

"

I have that one on my TBR list, too, Pat. Hope you enjoy it!

I apparently read a lot in this genre. I've read over half of the books on the first page and have another 10 on my TBR list. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to get to any of those in Feb.

I have 3 books on my Just Read It Prompt 2 list that fit this genre:
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice (1207 pages!)
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander #7)

I (obviously) want to read all of them, but WOW they're long. ;-) I usually tackle at least one Outlander book a year so I'll probably go with that one. I do love the series, but they're 1000+ pages! At least we get one more reading day this February......

[Lusie]

I discovered our buddy read for Oathbringer (the stormlight archive book #3) works for this shelf

[Joyce]

Hello everyone I know I've been away from here for a while. But I'm back and found I have a lot of books on this list on my TBR

I am going to start with Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King

[Ebony]

I have so many books to read from this shelf! But not to over-do it, ive selected a few.

The Handmaid's Tale - ive placed on reserve, may not get it this month but we will see.
Ready Player One - saw the movie when it came out and loved it, very eager to read this one!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - have read this a long time ago, but found an audiobook version read by Stephen Fry, so will be a nice refresher. Will probably listen to while driving.

[Joyce]

Ebony wrote: "I have so many books to read from this shelf! But not to over-do it, ive selected a few.

The Handmaid's Tale - ive placed on reserve, may not get it this month but we will see.
[book:..."

I loved Ready Player One. I still have not got around to seeing the movie though. LOL