Tag Thread #5: Science Fiction and Fantasy

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Welcome to our All-ATY Read-A-Thon! If you need a reminder of the rules (or if you have a question), check out our Introduction and FAQs thread.

We will have five genres of books, and shelf tags that go along with each genre (plus a few freebies, for those of us finishing up monthly challenges). Our goal, as a group, is to cross off as many of these shelf tags as possible by the end of the day next Sunday (April 26th).

For this thread, we have SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY.

THE TAGS

1. fantasy - Sara: The Fish That Climbed a Tree by Kevin Ansbro
2. science-fiction - Trish: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
3. urban-fantasy - Ana: Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews
4. science - Kathy: Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
5. magic - Lisa: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
6. paranormal-romance - Brittany: Pack Challenge by by Shelly Laurenston
7. magical-realism - Hannah: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
8. dystopian - Jo: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
9. scifi - Jen: Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
10. speculative-fiction - Trish: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
11. maybe-someday - Hannah: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
12. to-borrow
13. lgbt - Jackie: Jackalope Springs Eternal by Shannon Watters
14. kindle - Suzanne: Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
15. 2019 - Rachel: Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: An Introvert's Year of Living Dangerously by Jessica Pan

As you complete your books, post them here with the title and author, which tag you are choosing to complete (please only choose one), and a brief note about your book (so we can all get recommendations!).

No, you do not have to read a book in each genre for it to count! It only has to have the tag on the book. (For example, you can read any book tagged 2019 to complete that tag... it doesn't have to be science fiction or fantasy.)

If you need help finding books, Goodreads has an easy way to see the most popular books on each shelf. Just head to www.goodreads.com/shelf and search for the shelf you're looking for.

[Jo]

Station Eleven By: Emily St. John, 4 hrs. 20 mins. Finished
Fiction and Fantasy Tag>Dystopian

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yay, Jo! How did you like it?

[Kathy]

I finished Lab Girl by Hope Jahren and loved it. It's a memoir of Jahren's life as a research scientist studying plants, but also includes her personal struggle with bi-polar illness.

Science fiction and Fantasy tag>science

[Rachel]

This may be a stupid question, but does the book have to be of the specific genre in order to count? I listened to the last 2 hours of the audiobook for Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: An Introvert's Year of Living Dangerously, which is definitely not a sci-fi, but it is tagged 2019.

[Steve]

Rachel wrote: "This may be a stupid question, but does the book have to be of the specific genre in order to count? I listened to the last 2 hours of the audiobook for [book:Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come:..."

Hi Rachel... per the instructions, you can count it:
No, you do not have to read a book in each genre for it to count! It only has to have the tag on the book. (For example, you can read any book tagged 2019 to complete that tag... it doesn't have to be science fiction or fantasy.)

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

I finished Jackalope Springs Eternal today, which can go in #13 LGBT. It's such a fun middle grade series; it always makes me smile even if this volume wasn't my favorite. There are a ton of LGBT characters in the book too if you're looking for that.

[Rachel]

Steve wrote: "Rachel wrote: "This may be a stupid question, but does the book have to be of the specific genre in order to count? I listened to the last 2 hours of the audiobook for [book:Sorry I'm Late, I Didn'..."

Thanks! I did read through the instructions, but must have missed that somehow.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Rachel and Jackie, I've marked you down!

[Kathy]

Emily,
I have Lab Girl finished for the tag "science" in message 4.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Oh sorry I missed that, Kathy! I've got it recorded now! I've been wanting to read that one... what did you think?

[Jo]

Emily wrote: "Yay, Jo! How did you like it?"

Great read ! Had to stop a few times bc it was so spot with what's going on in our world.

[Jo]

The Raven Tower By Ann Leckie 3 hrs 25mins. left
Science Fiction and Fantasy Tag#5> Science-Fiction

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Jo wrote: "Emily wrote: "Yay, Jo! How did you like it?"

Great read ! Had to stop a few times bc it was so spot with what's going on in our world."

Yea, I've had a few people ask me if they should read it and I say yes... but maybe not right now haha

[Kathy]

Emily wrote: "Oh sorry I missed that, Kathy! I've got it recorded now! I've been wanting to read that one... what did you think?"

I loved it. 5 stars. She writes about plants and trees and setting up research labs, but also her writing is excellent.

[Brittany]

I finished Pack Challenge by Shelly Laurenston this afternoon. I feel like every year I go through a small cringe worthy phase were I can't help but read weird werewolf books. It's tagged as Romance > Paranormal Romance.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Got it down, Brittany!

I'm surprised by how quickly we are going through the science fiction and fantasy genre. I guess now, more than ever, people are wanting to escape into the made up worlds.

[Johanne]

Ha Brittany I so relate. I have recurrent phases of shifter romance and ridiculous instalove. As a matter of fact I'm having that at the moment. That and fantasy=ultimate escape from real life problems.

[Sara]

The Fish That Climbed a Tree tagged #1 "fantasy".
This is a strange book. I am not a huge fan of fantasy and this was a bit too violent for my tastes.

[Trish, Annular Mod]

I can offer The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy for Science Fiction - just reread it for the first time since it came out!

[Hannah]

I finished Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind for Maybe-someday. I found it by searching the maybe-someday tag for books, rather than the most popular tags for that book.

One of my goals for this year was to read more non-fiction. It was a book that lots of people were talking about a few years ago, but I never got round to reading it. The book covers a lot of ground, and so huge topics are condensed into short chapters, but the book is basically an accessible history of humankind that could then lead you to do further reading about the areas you were most interested in.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Got these down!

Trish, Hitchhiker's Guide was the first audiobook I ever listened to, back when you could only get them on CD haha! I enjoyed it, but it is so far out of the realm of what I normally read that it kind of blew my mind.

Hannah, I'm glad to hear you liked Sapiens. It's on my maybe-someday list haha.

[Jen K]

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice for #9 scifi, tagged 14 times.

An interest story of a First Nation community way up north in Canada and what happens when the rest of world stops working.

[Trish, Annular Mod]

Emily wrote: "Trish, Hitchhiker's Guide was the first audiobook I ever listened to, back when you could only get them on CD haha! I enjoyed it, but it is so far out of the realm of what I normally read that it kind of blew my mind."

It's unique, and barmy, and wonderful - and it hasn't aged too badly. I haven't read the series since they first came out in the early-1980s, hence the reread.

On the subject of which, I finished
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Douglas Adams yesterday, which could work for scifi, or possibly speculative fiction, if you want to use it.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Got both of those down!

[Suzanne]

I just finished Fleishman Is in Trouble and I see that this was tagged as "kindle" but 70 people. If you don't want to use that one, let me know and I'll look at the other threads. Thanks!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

That's perfect, I've marked it down.

Did you like the book, Suzanne? I've been on the fence about reading it.

[Hannah]

I finished The Starless Sea for Magical Realism.

I enjoyed this book, but I felt it could have done with a bit more editing as it was just too long and the plot was a bit meandering at times. When I was reading this book, it really reminded me of The Binding. I had previously read The Night Circus, and not really liked it, so I had been a bit reluctant to try this. Whilst I definitely think The Starless Sea was better, I’m not sure I’d reach for another book by this author any time soon if she were to write another novel.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Considering she took 11 years to write The Starless Sea after publishing The Night Circus, you are probably good haha! I agree with your review on The Starless Sea, although I loved The Night Circus.

[Lisa]

I just finished Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. I very much enjoyed the Duology (Six of Crows is the first book) and will be reading more by this author. I think it fits the tag of Magic (#5) as almost 500 people put it on this shelf.

[Bana AZ]

I just finished Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews for the "urban-fantasy" tag.

Ilona Andrews makes really great urban fantasy books, although I think this particular book in the series isn't so "urban", but that's one of its top tagged shelves, so...

This is the 4th book in The Innkeeper Chronicles. I recommend the series for anyone who likes fantasy mixed with sci-fi.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Great!

Only one more left for this set -- to-borrow!

[Suzanne]

Emily wrote: "That's perfect, I've marked it down.

Did you like the book, Suzanne? I've been on the fence about reading it."

I did not love it but appreciated some of the narrative devices she used. It would be good for a book club discussion. I don't think it's a must-read.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

That's good to know!