Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion
Archive [Retired Book Clubs]
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RETIRED THREAD: Vagabond Treehouse Book Club
Near the end now. I'm enjoying the audio re-read of Mirror Dance. Between Brothers in Arms and this, what a great example of what makes Miles, Miles. Lots of comparisons between Miles and Mark are drawn up and the lines seem to be blurry in Brothers in Arms. The unique aspects are in spot light in Mirror Dance and I really like the way Miles is shown to be a great tactician/strategist. Miles is such a tangential jump genius and I like the way it's shown here.
Woo! Diving back into the Parker series by Richard Stark aka Donald E. Westlake. Backflash is the first book that returns to the series. There was a long hiatus between the original and comeback. Before, only the books up to #20 were on Audible +. Now, there's 3 more of the books on AP. Yay! Missing 2 books but I don't think I'll miss too much cause these stories are good as standalones for the most part.
Thankful that #20 has been re-done and the AP version is NOT Michael Kramer as the narrator. Hahaha! Slim miss on having to deal with that crappy narrator. =P
The Parker books are short. All around 250-300 pages. So, the audios are 5-6 hrs. These are gritty stories with fun characters. Heists from the bad guy's viewpoint. =)
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I think this is my least favorite Mira Grant / Seanan McGuire book I've ever read, and I've read most of her work... also not terribly surprised that GR average is 3.67... which is pretty bad for GR... it's pretty hard to go below 4.0 on GR without sucking...
There's just so much holding pattern and diversionary plotting... I did some googling, and this series was originally intended to be a duology... and not only did it gain a 3rd book, but this middle one is over 500 pages...
Every big "reveal" is something I saw coming a mile away... I'll really just be glad when I finish... hopefully today, if I don't keep pausing (I obviously already paused for most of a week after starting last week)
So I guess you won't be rushing out to spend money on this, Soo :D
LoL thanks for saving me a few bucks! Ah, that's too bad. Maybe my library will get it or it'll go on KU at some point.Though, I disagree on the ratings on GR. There are plenty of books on GR that are rated around 3 stars that I've enjoyed. Lots of books rated at 4 that I thought were bad. I can't take GR ratings too seriously. I rely more on friend's reviews and the stranger's that rate 3 stars or extremes on figuring out if I want to try a new to me book.
New Audible 2 for 1 credit sale! I'll take a look at it later today.
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Trying to knock out some extra points before the Oct 31 cutoff Iain. Have 500 pages left in Elantris. Hoping I can knock it out.
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All the TV I've been watching on my days off has tanked much possibility of extra points beyond my usual work and occasional home points...
5 seasons of Castle and 1 season of Mentalist watched this month...
I've probably watched 20-40 seasons of TV shows this year, and a couple dozen moveies...
I really love the yearly competition. It forces me to read more and even read books I might not have thought about in order to get BR points.
=D I like how it makes it possible to talk about more books and try stuff that I may have put off. Also, just a huge fan of the tracker. Vital book tracking tool! lol
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Started my re-read today, and my first thought was (view spoiler)
Probably gonna end out my month with more Buddy Reads... we can count Mirror Dance, since we're at the same spot in the series again... Simon Snow #3, and Alex Benedict #6...
Mirror Dance: I think that has more to do with Miles being closed mouth & not talking about all the stuff he experiences. I doubt there are many that know what he has experienced. They had to be there to really get that.
LoL What's a good way to not get me to read a book? Send me a friend request and talk about how I'll like reading their book on GR. LOL
Decided that I'm gonna celebrate Halloween with thriller/mystery/crime books. =) Got a batch of audiobooks from the library.
Intensity by Dean Koontz was great! Now I wish I had bought the book when it was on sale. I'm sure it'll be on sale again. Will buy it next time. =)
LoL - laughing at this apt but awkward translation:She's like a Swiss army woman!
Basically a genius of all trades.
Lost Planet Homicide <== If you're in the mood for a short but fun SF crime/action story, read this. It's on Audible +. Though, the very last line had me cursing at it in my head. lol
You'll see why when you listen to it. Haha
Discordia by Max Barry is on Audible +. Woohoo! Between the library and Audible Plus, I've had a run of fun books.
Discordia - Don't read the blurb. It's sorta true but not.
- Ridiculous, Humor, Action & Alien/s Invasion
All you need to know is that it's a satire and there's an alien invasion. I thought it was funny and packed with commentary, but not in a way that bugged me.
Diego is the main character and the right foil for the plot. You'll see what I mean when you listen to the story.
For this author, the other book I would recommend is Lexicon. I got that one from the library & enjoyed it. That one was more like a thriller.
Hm, yeah, the blurbs for Max Barry books are misleading. I always think the story is an eschewed version of whatever the blurb says. lol
Goodreads Glitch with Friend RequestsSo, I found a person I don't know showing up in my GR feed. I remembered that I got a friend request from this person, but I ignored/deleted it. I un-friended him and I get a new notification saying that I have a new friend. Same guy.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... - P.L. Stuart
Some author.
You can't block an author. I didn't know that.
I did a search in GR forum and it's a known bug. =(
Now I'm going to look at my friend list and make sure it doesn't have strangers added to it.
Keep in mind that my profile is viewable by any member of GR, but you have send me a Friend Request & answer a question. I used to network like crazy before, but now I only add people I interact on GR.
This may be a glitch related to author profiles. I'm not sure. I've rejected a few author friend requests.
Update
Yup. I found another "Author" that was added to my friend list. I had ignored the request. I had to delete remove them as a friend twice before it stuck. Super lame.
At least you can sort your friends from date added. That made the search easy.
That's a weird glitch. You can also remove them from Top Friends so they don't hit your feed ever.
You can also just let requests sit in your approval queue forever. Though if the little reminder is annoying, that might not work :)
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I posted about the bug in two other groups. Apparently other people are just getting any friend requests that have been Ignore/Declined accepted as friends. I've only had it happen with the author friend requests. I've ignored a handful in the past week. Eh, I don't want to bother with people I don't interact with or authors I like to be on my friend list. People on your friend list can see what you post for books and if you post in groups, etc. Considering all the bots and spammers that are on the site now, I'd rather know who is on my list vs bunch of strangers.
For me, removing the "friend" twice has worked to keep them off my friend list. It doesn't sound like that worked for other people. It probably depends on what they're using to be on GR too. Like, I only go on GR with a browser on my laptop or cell/tablet. I don't use the app.
May be more glitches on the app than via browser.
Yes, I just saw it in other groups too. I haven't had it yet, but I don't add people who I don't know from other groups and I rarely add authors.
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This is more when they try and friend you to promote their indie book... and you decline... and end up friends anyway...
It's happened to me a few times (the invites)... sounds like it happens to Soo more often...
From what I read in groups & help section, this is a recent glitch. It's not a good one though. Security/privacy issues, etc.
Barely finished audio book before deadline. Got to page 300 out of 662 in Elantris so adjusted points. Really wanted a push fo final day but took daughter trick or treating tonight and had tons of fuN. Excited to start challenge again in January. Hopefully we can find some good BRs together again. Something new and different
We can still do BRs. =D It just won't count for points. What did your daughter dress up as for Halloween?
Audible's Current 2-for-1 SaleNightfall - The first three books are on KU Read & Listen. It looks interesting and a friend enjoyed it. Plan to read it sooner or later.
If you have KU, don't buy it. Just read/listen for free. Woo~
My snark comment will be, what the heck is up with some of these pen names? LoL - Leather. Hm. Other one that cracked me up: Demitria Lunetta
Books #1 & 2 of Miriam Black are on the sale. If you want a gritty story, this series will definitely hit, kick and smash the mark. Miriam is one of the characters that I cannot stand, but I'll read any story that Wendig writes about her. =)
Lots of other goodies are on this sale. Whoever was in charge of it was kind of silly. I already think the categories for Audible are wonky, but this one made it seem more so than usual. Romance was in mystery and horror/mystery were in SF/F, etc. It also had some decent starter books for good series and odd picks in the middle for series.
What I got:
Baal - On the sale, but cheaper as KU Borrow & buy audio. It was $3 something with the KU borrow. Okay cult story. Good start, meh finish.
Robert A. Heinlein:
Farmer in the Sky
Methuselah's Children
LitRPG:
- Pilgrim #1 by Harmon Cooper
- Etherwalker #1 by Cameron Dayton
Mix of Stuff:
- The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
- Spell Blind by David B. Coe
- The Guardian's Grimoire #1 by Rain Oxford
- Shadow of a Dark Queen #1 by Raymond E. Feist
- Crown of Vengeance #1 by Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory
These 2 are on my maybe list:
- The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
- Aching God #1 by Mike Shel
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Read 99,750 pages... so close to 100k, and I didn't know until it was too late... :(
You know, the three of us are the biggest buddies of the year by points?... Iain, Brian, then Soo...
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Join tons of BRs... especially recently... I feel like all did this month was Buddy Reads and watch TV...
Woohoo! =D Yeah, I totally ditched half of the BRs that I planned at the beginning of the year. I was way more consistent with our club BRs.
This year, I didn't like re-using old threads and stuff. So, I thought about those BRs and then "nahhh!" in my head. I totally wanted to get back into the Janny Wurts series, but my physical books are buried. I don't like the Euro punctuation in the ebooks and that particular series doesn't have all of the books turned into audiobooks. So, I made a thread for it all, but haven't dived in. I'll probably wait until I get my print books unburied. lol
I didn't bother noting all of the comics I read in the tracker. I only posted some of them. Put down the light novels that I've enjoyed & are completed vs the ones that are still ongoing series.
These next two months I’m gonna try and clear out my paperback collection (that keeps growing). I’ll post a few to see if you want to BR them but wanna clear it out before Jan 1 if there not going to be BRs.
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Brian, post your books. I know there were ones you had and I already said I'd be down to read some of them. You can post a list and I'll say which ones I'm down for. =)
In the last Audible sale, Audible had Zeroes & Invasive posted as a series. lol
Turns out that the books are written in the same story world & share some characters, but are standalone novels with a few connections.
Zeroes: It turned was a thriller with a crew of misfit hackers. There's a Jonathan Maberry style twist to the story.
Invasive: Great suspense thriller with uber creep vibes. It was creepier than Baal for setting Halloweenesque atmosphere. =)
Started the Wind Through the Keyhole - Dark Tower #4.5 but paused it to start up tomorrow vs now. I didn't realize that Stephen King also narrated the version I borrowed from the library. He has an okay reading voice. Plus, it's cool to hear how he pronounces the words from the series.
Zeroes sounds interesting. It's going on my watch list. Whenever I get through Joe Ledger maybe that will be my next thriller series.
It's only two books. Your library may have both books. Mine only had Zeroes. =)
I ended up going back to the Dark Tower book that's read by Stephen King. Overdrive audio play setting is at 2x. I like King's narration at 2x. I put it back to normal and it sounded SOOOOOOO slow + older! LoL Also, the accent and vocal age sounded different. That was interesting to me. It used to be that I started out all books at normal speed and then crank it up. Now it's all at whatever speed I listen to last. lol
There was a sample of the Shining at the end of the Wind Through the Keyhole. ...
I'm now going to get the Shining from the library. lol
Oh! The sample was the sequel, Doctor Sleep. Which is better because I can get that one now vs later. Hahahah
I put the Shining on hold.
That lead to me seeing this book: Later
Which sounds like a fun UF. =D
Put that on hold.
Doctor Sleep - Definitely creepy, gross and depressing. King can write though! That barf scene was disgusting and the hauntings/visions are creepy.
Cradle #10 audiobook came out. =DYou can borrow the ebook on KU and buy the audio for $1.99 right now. Woo!
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lol good moments! Dr Sleep by Stephen King was great! It was that weird mix of disgusting, creepy and poetic that can make a good suspense/horror. Though, it's weird to understand how an author's life can bleed into the pages. I think that happens every time an author writes. I mean, you write what you know and what you make up. Either way, it's still from the writer.
I'm tempted to re-read all of Cradle. I mean, an audio spree will only last a few days. LoL
Eh, maybe I'll wait for the BR? Reaper - Cradle #10, here I go!
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Part 13, Ch22 - Hahahahha! (view spoiler)[A drugged up and regaining memory Miles is still a tough nut to crack! (hide spoiler)]