Getting Ready for 2015

[Sarah]

Edwin wrote: "Sarah wrote: " at the same time frustratingly over-long and needlessly wordy ..."

This totally made me laugh because this is one of the things that annoys me about Stephen King. It's like he takes 3 times longer to tell the story than what is actually necessary. I think I'll stick with just The Gunslinger since I have to read that for the group. Maybe in 2017 :)

We seem to have a lot of people interested in The Handmaid's Tale. We could have a great conversation on that one.

[Maggie]

my list would include:
Ready Player One
The Dispossessed
The Day of the Triffids
Watchmen
The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack
A Night in the Lonesome October
The Algebraist
Fahrenheit 451
A Scanner Darkly
Blackout
The City & the City

[Sarah]

I just read Blackout but there are quite a few of yours I want to read, Maggie.

[Maggie]

I am thinking we should get something onboard for January---anyone else????

It sound like there are a few overlap ones...ready player one for one, lol.

[Cypher]

This will be the first time for me participating with any challenge on here.
I think I'll go for about 20 books as I've just started getting into the hobby again and don't know how much I'll be able to read next year. Perhaps I'll up the number over time.

I'm planning on finishing another 13 books of the Wheel of Time first and foremost and then moving on to some of Brandon Sanderson's books:
Mistborn: the final empire
The way of kings

[Edwin]

Maggie wrote: "I am thinking we should get something onboard for January---anyone else????"

I'm in. My tentative list for next year includes:

The Handmaid's Tale
Fuzzy Nation
I Am Legend
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
The Dragon's Path
The Windup Girl
Promise of Blood
Neuromancer

My suggestion for January would be The Handmaid's Tale as it seems to be on several wish-lists so far, but quite honesty, I am open to most anything, including Ready Player One.

And Sarah and I are thinking about Fuzzy Nation for February depending on interest.

[Sarah]

I agree with everything Edwin just said. :)

I also am interested in finally reading World War Z this year.

[Chris]

Count me in for Fuzzy Nation.

[Michael]

Hank wrote: "Overwhelming! A tad depressing just because it isn't possible to finish all of them even if they are fantastic but at least we are filled with books we know are good, rather than the alternative..."

Glad to hear it, thanks! I agree the discussions add a lot to my reading, a lot of times I forgo my immediate queue to get in on a good discussion. And you're right, having to choose between many good books is better than choosing among bad ones!

[Michael]

Maggie wrote: "I am thinking we should get something onboard for January---anyone else????

It sound like there are a few overlap ones...ready player one for one, lol."

Okay, I put my planned 2015 list out there already, but here is my "read in the next 3 years list" since it looks like other people's choices may map to mine and I can move some of those to this year. For example, The Handmaid's Tale is on my list, and I could see doing that next year, even January since it looks like it's half the length of Perdido Street Station! I'm reading Ready Player One now but would be happy to contribute if there were a discussion later in the year...

*Definite
*To Say Nothing of the Dog
*Ready Player One
*Neuromancer

Possible Sci-Fi
The Speed of Dark
Childhood's End
Boneshaker
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Dispossessed
The Word for World is Forest
Wild Seed
Embassytown
The City & the City
The Handmaid's Tale
Regarding Ducks and Universes
Altered Carbon
Consider Phlebas
The Martian Chronicles
Fuzzy Nation
The Accidental Time Machine

Possible Fantasy
A Wizard of Earthsea
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn
White Cat
Deathless
Zoo City
Those Who Hunt the Night
Weaveworld
Perdido Street Station
The Color of Magic

[Sarah]

There are a lot of these I want to do but I'll hold off until I'm on my computer to say which ones. Since you're also interested in Perdido, I'll wait on that one to see if we can set it up later in the year. I'm definitely happy to do The Handmaid's Tale in Jan.

[Maggie]

so maybe
Jan: The Handmaid's Tale
Feb:Fuzzy Nation
Mar: Ready Player One

at least to start?
I see some other overlaps too--anyone see any they want to make sure and get in?

Maybe The Dispossessed, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War,or The Day of the Triffids?

[Sarah]

I like that list, Maggie. I'm definitely interested in World War Z and I don't think it will be my kind of book so a group read would be nice on that one.

[Maggie]

ok-we can do WWZ in April!

I myself don't want to read Handmaid again in January-not because it isn't beautiful, it is, but because it is so full of anguish I hate to start January that way--best left for summer in my opinion....


any Mieville lovers want to read The City & the City?

[Sarah]

It's been a couple of years since I read Handmaid's Tale so I think I've recovered enough emotionally to read again. It's an amazing book.

I'm definitely in for The City & the City. I have yet to read Mieville and I'm dying to try him.

[Valerie]

If we are going to do like we did last year and have one book per month, I have tallied up the books in which everyone has expressed an interest.

The Top 12 in Order Are:
Fuzzy Nation
The Handmaid's Tale
The Martian Chronicles
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Altered Carbon
Deathless
Dune
Foundation
Promise of Blood
Ready Player One
The Day of the Triffids
The Dragon's Path

Does this sound like a good list to everyone?

[Overbooked ✎]

My main goal for 2015 is to reduce my TBR, which has an abundance of sci-fi and fantasy titles. I have planned many challenges to help to achieve this goal, I'm still in the process of selecting books for them, but I'm sure I will get to read at least 20 books. This year I read about 30 sci-fi/fantasy books so it is a conservative number.

Some of the confirmed reads are:
Sixth of the Dusk
The Ghost Brigades
The Slow Regard of Silent Things
The Forever War
Redshirts
The Martian
Station Eleven
The House of the Scorpion
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Blood Song
The Emperor's Blades
The Crown Conspiracy

[Galaxy Press]

Valerie wrote: "If we are going to do like we did last year and have one book per month, I have tallied up the books in which everyone has expressed an interest.

The Top 12 in Order Are:
Fuzzy Nation...

Sounds good!

♥,
Cat at Galaxy Press

[Hillary]

I'm not sure I'm going to commit to the challenge next year, because while I enjoyed it this year, having a fairly small pool to pick from felt constraining. (I'd already read a number of the group books and some of the books I hadn't I had deliberately avoided b/c they're part of unfinished series or in a subgenre that's not my fav) I tend to pick my reading selections based on my mood at the moment.

That said, there are still a number of group titles on my to-read list, so I might join in some of the small group reads if they fit my calendar & mood; Handmaid's Tale is one I feel guilty I haven't read, and I want to check out Richard K. Morgan's sci fi with Altered Carbon now that I've read his Land Fit for Heroes fantasy trilogy

[Sarah]

I don't want to do Promise of Bloodor The Martian Chronicles. I read both of those this year. If everyone else wants those two, I'll just skip that month.

How many people wanted Altered Carbon?

[Sarah]

Maggie, I just saw your extended list on the other thread. I'm interested in Fahrenheit 451and The Snow Queen. I'll try to get online later and tag these.

[Enrique]

i did fullfill the challenge this year, but in the end i feel a bit burned out of both genres, plus sometimes i end the series and that does not count for the challenge :P

I dont know for next year, i dont hope to read more than 8 books of the genre in 2015, need something refreshing

[Sarah]

I've been putting off doing a priority list for this year since I wasn't on my computer. Here are the ones I plan on reading.

Fuzzy Nation
The Handmaid's Tale
Ready Player One
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
His Majesty's Dragon
Tigana
Perdido Street Station
Altered Carbon
The Snow Queen
The City & the City
Wild Seed
Embassytown
The Mote in God's Eye
The Diamond Age
Fahrenheit 451

[Michael]

Kiwi wrote: "My main goal for 2015 is to reduce my TBR, which has an abundance of sci-fi and fantasy titles. I have planned many challenges to help to achieve this goal, I'm still in the process of selecting bo..."

Sounds like a great goal, Kiwi, but I wanted to make sure you know that the 2015 Challenge for this SFF Group will be for books from the bookshelf. The bookshelf is here. That's why some people don't commit - because they may want to read a bunch of SFF that is not on our bookshelf.

[Michael]

Valerie wrote: "If we are going to do like we did last year and have one book per month, I have tallied up the books in which everyone has expressed an interest.

The Top 12 in Order Are:
[book:Fuzzy Nation|964753..."

Sounds good to me so far. My only caveat is that for 2014, we didn't start talking about group reads until 19 days after the thread opened, and we had a lot more people's lists to look at. For comparison, this thread has only been open 5 days.

As a compromise, maybe we could schedule the top 5 now, and allow for others to be added to the list once we see more lists and books are confirmed to be in the top 10 or 12 or whatever. Of course, those who have already posted may be the most enthusiastic and interested in participating, so it could always turn out to be a moot point.

[Sarah]

That's probably a good idea, Michael. Plus, we may adjust our goals part way through the year.

Also, if people are saying they want to read the book for the challenge we need to actually check and see if they want to participate with everyone or if they're reading it on their own.

[Michael]

Sarah wrote: "That's probably a good idea, Michael. Plus, we may adjust our goals part way through the year.

Also, if people are saying they want to read the book for the challenge we need to actually check an..."

That's a good point. I didn't always confirm last year that everyone who shared their list was interested in the discussions. It turned out mostly successful, but it's a good question to ask...

[Sarah]

I came into it rather late this year but it did seem to work out well. I did wonder how you guys came up with the choices.

Maybe once we get the first 4 or 5 choices locked in we can move it back to the Coordinating thread? Then we're more likely to get people who want group reads, I think.

[Sarah]

I was just looking at your list again, Michael, and I also want to read Boneshaker and The Word for World is Forest.

[Michael]

Sarah wrote: "I was just looking at your list again, Michael, and I also want to read Boneshaker and The Word for World is Forest."

I'm excited about both of those. I keep thinking I should start at the beginning of Le Guin's series with Rocannon's World, but they can be read in any order, and I've already read and loved The Left Hand of Darkness, so I am game for any of the series. (Though I have heard particularly good things about ...Forest.) The Left Hand of Darkness, The Word for World is Forest, and The Dispossessed are the ones on our bookshelf from that series.

[Sarah]

Oh, I still haven't read Left Hand. I'm glad you told me about that. I think it isn't available on kindle. There was some reason I was holding off on it.

[Edwin]

Michael's point: (Michael wrote: "My only caveat is that for 2014, we didn't start talking about group reads until 19 days after the thread opened, and we had a lot more people's lists to look at. For comparison, this thread has only been open 5 days.") is well taken.

Michael wrote: "As a compromise, maybe we could schedule the top 5 now, and allow for others to be added to the list once we see more lists and books are confirmed to be in the top 10 or 12 or whatever."

Fabulous idea, I am all in. So far then, it looks like we have:

Jan: The Handmaid's Tale
Feb:Fuzzy Nation
Mar: Ready Player One
Apr: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

We would wait for the rest of the group to weigh in to decide on the side read choices for the rest of the year.

[Maggie]

Michael wrote: "Sarah wrote: "I was just looking at your list again, Michael, and I also want to read Boneshaker and The Word for World is Forest."

I'm excited about both of those. I..."

I really want to get in The Dispossessed!

[Sarah]

Maggie wrote: "Michael wrote: "Sarah wrote: "I was just looking at your list again, Michael, and I also want to read Boneshaker and The Word for World is Forest."

I'm excited about b..."

Okay Maggie, I'll vote with you :) I need to read all three of them.

I would like to read The Dispossessed

[Michael]

Edwin wrote: Fabulous idea, I am all in. So far then, it looks like we have:

Jan: The Handmaid's Tale
Feb:Fuzzy Nation
Mar: Ready Player One
Apr: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War"

Sounds lovely. Although Fuzzy Nation is not available at any of my libraries. Hmm...

The Hitchhiker's thread reminded me that The Color of Magic is still on my list. I must have had my female-authors filter on when I was making my fantasy list. I've updated my thread back near the top (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...). This also moves Perdido to fantasy, I'd forgotten about that. So I added City & City to my sci-fi list, I'd be willing to do that one as my first Mieville since it looks like people are interested and I prefer more sci-fi-ish stuff anyway...

[Michael]

Michael wrote: "Edwin wrote: Fabulous idea, I am all in. So far then, it looks like we have:

Jan: The Handmaid's Tale
Feb:Fuzzy Nation
Mar: Ready Player One
Apr: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War"

S..."

Oh, except that Ready Player One is only #10 in the list. I think it got in there just because Maggie wants to read it and she started the proposals. If we wanted something more popular, we could do The Martian Chronicles in March. Or two for March if different groups of people are reading those two books. (For example, Maggie, Sarah, Jes, and Edwin could read Ready Player One, whereas Valerie, Chris, Richard, and I are more interested in The Martian Chronicles). I probably missed somebody, Ready Player One seems more popular than the rankings imply...

Sarah, I noticed you forgot to tag Fahrenheit 451 in your updated post. Unless you changed your mind...

[Valerie]

Michael wrote: "Sounds good to me so far. My only caveat is that for 2014, we didn't start talking about group reads until 19 days after the thread opened, and we had a lot more people's lists to look at. For comparison, this thread has only been open 5 days...."

I think this is a great idea. I just did the compilation to try to get a "best fits most" perspective since the first four months were already being discussed and proposed. I pulled from this thread and couple others where we've discussed this topic.

I would definitely prefer The Martian Chronicles for March, but that is because I have read the other four books being proposed for the first quarter. It would be nice to participate in at least one of the discussions during the first part of the year.

[Edwin]

Valerie wrote: "I would definitely prefer The Martian Chronicles for March"

Fine with me. Although I read it a LONG time ago and it is not officially on my list, it is short and I would love to do a reread.

[Maggie]

Michael wrote: "Michael wrote: "Edwin wrote: Fabulous idea, I am all in. So far then, it looks like we have:

Jan: The Handmaid's Tale
Feb:Fuzzy Nation
Mar: Ready Player One
Apr: World War Z: An Oral History of th..."

It doesnt matter to me, but I fell the most popular ones should be spread out a bit. I know of the first 3, Ready Player One is the only one I haven't already read. My first choice would be LeGuin or Mieville. So, it wasn't me trying to be getting my choice in.

[Sarah]

Thanks Michael. I fixed Fahrenheit 451

The list of popular books, how was it calculated? And how many "votes" does each have?

I have no desire to read The Martian Chronicles but if anybody wants to read something with me that month I'm open. Maggie, are you reading this one? If you aren't, we could do The Dispossessed that month.

I'm surprised that Ready Player One was #10 on the list. It seemed like everyone was talking about it.

[Maggie]

Sarah wrote: "Thanks Michael. I fixed Fahrenheit 451

The list of popular books, how was it calculated? And how many "votes" does each have?

I have no desire to read [book:The Martian Chronicl..."

Right, that's why I brought it up.

I think I will go through and do a count.

[Sarah]

Also, a couple of the first people to post may not have been talking about joining in. That may not really matter. I'm obsessing because I've lost track of things!

[Sarah]

Okay, I didn't count June, Jes, Richard, Andy, Djaisin, or Hank because they sounded like they were talking personal goals rather than reading with the group. Please correct that if I'm wrong. Here's what I have:

Fuzzy Nation 7
Ready Player One 4
The Handmaid's Tale 4
Altered Carbon 4
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War 4
Old Man's War 3
His Majesty's Dragon 3
The Martian Chronicles 3
The City & the City 3
The Dispossessed 3

Everything else is 2 votes or less. The order is just the order I wrote them down, so one 3 is the same as another 3. Also, it's pretty confusing because a bunch of us have tagged things more than once. If I'm wrong, please correct me. We also need to know about the people I removed. Hank sounds like he's participated before but the books mentioned were series he wanted to read this year.

[Sarah]

Maggie, is your list anywhere near mine?

[Maggie]

well, I included those people, but must have missed some others, but order-wise it was Fuzzy Nation, MArtian CHronicles, and DUne that came out on top.

[Sarah]

Could you post yours so we have both?

Also, Ready Player One was at 4 but that was because Michael said he would be willing to discuss it. Since he's reading it now that should probably be 3.5 votes. :)

[Overbooked ✎]

Michael wrote: "Kiwi wrote: "My main goal for 2015 is to reduce my TBR, which has an abundance of sci-fi and fantasy titles. I have planned many challenges to help to achieve this goal, I'm still in the process of..."

Thanks Michael for clarifying things for a newbie :-)
I won't commit on a definite number then, but I will keep an eye on the group reads and join in if they match one of my planned reads, happy reading everyone!

[M.L.]

I'll go for 12, no list; most likely the group reads or a couple I have been meaning to read that are on the group shelf. (I still have one to go for this year to get to 12; hope I make it!)

[Deedee]

I've read 68 of the books, tossed 7, and have 99 to go. My goal this year was 16 books but sadly I only did 7. I'll keep the same goal of 16 for next year: that is 1 per month plus 1 per quarter.

Here is my list (plus whichever books become the BOTM)
I won't get to all of them, but these are the ones at the top of my list
Fuzzy Nation
The Lathe of Heaven
The Carpet Makers
Little, Big
The Blade Itself
Consider Phlebas
Oryx and Crake
Storm Front
1Q84
Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1)
Infernal Devices
The Native Star
Assassin's Apprentice
Promise of Blood
The Magic of Recluce
Spin
Doomsday Book
Mistborn: The Final Empire
The Anubis Gates
Frankenstein
The Snow Queen

[Michael]

Noticed this was post #100, so I put my big post at the top of the next page for easier reference...