What else are you reading - May 2020

[Joseph]

Finished Shannach - The Last: Farewell to Mars and decided to jump right into A Memory Called Empire.

[John (john)]

Just finished Things You Would Know if You Grew Up Around Here. It had a fascinating dreamy strangeness while also brutally sad and dire. Made me think of Eudora Welty, Christopher Brown, and Jeff Vandermeer mixed into one tale.

[Jerimy]

Rob wrote: "A month of quarantine in the books and now May has arrived. What are you reading this month?"

So far I have read:
1. The Banshee by Elliot O'Donnell (a commentary on Banshees from a ghost hunter)
2. To Kill and Kill Again by John Coston
3. Conan of the Isles by L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter
4. The Great God Pan and other Short Stories by Arthur Machen
5. Tarzan at Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs
6. Currently reading the Cepher by those inspired by God, and A Woman at Bay by Nicholas Carter, The last of the Plainsmen by Zane Grey. I'm sure these will take me to the end of the month, and beyond.

[Richard]

RJ from the LBC wrote: "I finished a short one but a good one:


The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Rating: 5 stars
Revie..."

Oooh, I really liked Salem's Lot. It was the novel that introduced me to King, and it is one of his simplest plots. Yet, that is my favorite of his novels.

[Jerimy]

Iain wrote: "Trike wrote: "Recent reads I really riked:

The Last Emperox was great, also painful.

Star Trek: Year Five - Odyssey's End really nails both the character voices an..."

I read Star Trek 5 earlier this year. I liked it very much. James Blish has a way of capturing the characters of the show.

[TRP]

I read Under the Skin by Michel Faber
It was a fascinating read and different from the 2013 film. Of course if the film had followed the book closely, it would have been very horrifying, requiring the kind of special effects that would probably date too quickly.

[Ruth]

Just finished the audiobook of Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch and moving straight on to False Value, the next in the Rivers of London series.

Outside the SFF wheelhouse, I’ve just finished the dead tree edition of Red, White & Royal Blue, a cute and surprisingly affecting YA romance. It’s set in a happier version of reality where the 2016 election was very different, and while it was Mostly funny and light, there were moments when the contrast with reality was too painful.

[Silvana]

Just finished The Sum Of Us: Tales of the Bonded and Bound - one of the best collection of short stories I read in the last few years.

[Verylene]

I have been re-reading The Hunger Games trilogy in anticipation of the prequel’s release this month. It has been a while but happy to report they hold up as I have devoured them. The prequel is next on my list.

[Trike]

Just started Meet Me in the Future: Stories by Kameron Hurley (ebook) and Wanderers by Chuck Wendig (audiobook). So some superduper feel-good stuff for me.

[John (Taloni)]

Read The Neverending Story after seeing some discussion of it here. I'd seen the movie and vaguely recalled kids riding a fluffy animal and saying "yay" a lot. Also an "eternal" child empress that didn't quite work because it was an actual ten year old girl actress mouthing lines too mature for a child's understanding.

So anyway, the book. I can see the artistry and kind-of understand why someone would love it. The book just didn't fully connect for me. Wasn't awful, just meh. The "reader is PART OF THE BOOK!" part seems like it's been done a lot. But as fairy tales go it's a positivity-affirming tale. For the first half.

The second half, well, I see why they skipped it for the movie. WTH is going on? (spoilers for anyone who intends to read it, not really major spoilers though.) (view spoiler)[What's up with Bastian? He slowly becomes a villain and his "redemption" really isn't. And Atreyu? How exactly is he a hero after fomenting beings by the thousands to fight Bastian's forces, killing most of them? How are either of these characters any more than base villains to kick in the dirt? I can't buy any redemption arc here. (hide spoiler)]

Anyhoo, this book sold oodles in Germany and became a crossover hit. Yay for the author. I didn't quite get it. If any fan of the book feels like saying what they like about it, I'm all ears.

[John (Taloni)]

I also read a novellette-length "Superhero Fiction" story called Fatgirl: Fake News. It's as if "Mean Girls" were done with a superpowered member, who isn't mean so much as self centered.

If you watched Stan Lee's "Who Wants To Be A Superhero" of about a decade back, you might remember "Fat Momma," a character who obtained super powers by eating a special kind of donut. It was hilarious, and she actually beat the judged winner in the fan poll by quite a bit. Stan Lee picked "Feedback," but Fat Momma was the real winner.

This book has a similar premise, but I couldn't relate. It wasn't bad, and I could tell the author was making humorous commentary. It's just that the setting of popular high school girls is too far afield for me.

There's a bit too much commentary about greasy nerds which I think the author meant to show the vanity of the MC, but fell flat for me.

Anyhoo, if you're looking for YA superhero fiction, or are even surprised that such a genre exists, yep, it's out there. The novellettes are sold for 99 cents each so it's easy to get a taste. Free on Kindle Unlimited.

[Seth]

Outside of genre I finished Enter the Aardvark which I didn't really like (but was at least short) and The Family Fang which I enjoyed. Now on to The Last Emperox before I decide whether to reread this month's pick so I can chime in on the discussions.

[Ctgt]

Finished
Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic

5 stars

[Brad]

This isn’t Sword or Laser but I felt it was important to bring up today. I’ve been reading Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It’s written in the form of a letter to his 15 year old son and it’s a stark portrayal of what it’s like to be black in America. This should be required reading in schools.

[Colin]

I haven't finished anything new yet, but shouldn't there be a 'June' thread by now? (I know all the weeks look the same at the moment!)