SciFi and Fantasy Book Club Challenge 2015

[Sandi]

Whoop! The power just went back on and it finally stopped raining here and I have completed and surpassed my challenge goal of 32! This month I have completed -

28. The Quantum Thief(***)
29. The Eye of the World (****) This gets a 4th star for nostalgia's sake. At least, for now...
30. The Dispossessed (**********)
31. The Long Earth (***)
32. Ancillary Justice (****)

Of course, it's supposed to start raining again tomorrow but by then I will have started another book :)

Update - I just upped my goal to 40, so onward I go into The Martian, Name of the Wind, Tigana, In the Night Garden, and Cloud Atlas, to name my current prospects.

[Maarit]

Since my last update, I've finished two more books, both scifi and have now read 10/12 books of my challenge (still haven't increased the goal).

The books I've read so far:
Magian väri (The Colour of Magic) by Terry Pratchett (***)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (**)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (***)
Hyviä enteitä: Noita Agnes Nutterin hienot ja oikeat ennustukset (Good Omens) by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (****)
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (****)
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (**)
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (****)
The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin (***)
Lapsuuden loppu (Childhood's End) by Arthur C. Clarke (***)
Kissan kehto (Cat's Cradle) by Kurt Vonnegut (****)

I'm currently reading American Gods and The Name of The Wind, which both will take some time for being a bit longer books.

[Felicia]

I'm reading Foundation at the moment. My mum told me that any sci-fi fan who respects themselves NEED to have read this one. So I guess I had no choice :D

[Sarah]

I'm at 22 now. I have three to read this week and something like 9 listed for the month. I should be caught up to that nasty little "you're behind" counter by the end of June. :)

[Sarah]

Has anybody tried the Audible edition of Warbreaker? I'm debating about buying that one for when we read it in November.

[Felicia]

I'm at 2 now... Gee, I can be such a slow reader!

[Beachesnbooks]

I'm at 4 so far this year:


I'm 1 behind schedule for my challenge, and I just started Cloud Atlas.

[Sabrina]

Same here, 4 out of 12:

The Princess Bride
Promise of Blood
Ready Player One
City of Stairs

and I also just started with Cloud Atlas

So far I've liked Promise of Blood the most.

[Monica]

I am at 6 of 12 so far this year:

[Sarah]

I lowered my challenge to 40. I may make more but I'm driving myself completely insane trying to keep up with my challenges AND get some personal reading in. So I'm at 24/40 and almost done with Cloud Atlas.

[Hank]

I am at 18/24 and am starting to feel the insanity myself. Listening to Red Country, reading In the Night Garden and have The Three-Body Problem on deck. After that I think I need to take a sci-fi/fantasy break.

[Sarah]

Me too. And I want to read a book for the fun of it rather than because it's on a challenge.

[Edwin]

Sarah wrote: "but I'm driving myself completely insane trying to keep up with my challenges AND get some personal reading in."

Over scheduling again. (We are all) Guilty as charged.

[Sarah]

Even if I could double my reading it would never be enough. There's too much great stuff out there.

[Christine]

This year I have read/listened to:

The Bone Clocks
Station Eleven
The Golem and The Geni
The Magician's
The Magician King
The Magician's Land

[Valerie]

I am currently sitting at 13 out of 30. Good Reads considers this to be on track, but I am feeling like I am a bit off.

Completed so far:


By far and away thus far, my favorite has been The Warrior's Apprentice. I've consumed 5 of the books this year and a couple of the novellas.

[Greg]

Haven't read any from this group, but I have completed my 20-book challenge for the year, so that's nice.

[Sarah]

I just finished The Master and Margarita, which makes 27 for this challenge. I'm also working on In the Night Garden, Tigana, and The City & the City. There are so many good books on the bookshelf that it's hard to pick just one :)

[Overbooked ✎]

Just finished The Left Hand of Darkness, which puts me at 14 out of 16. My reads for this challenge


I'm currently reading Roadside Picnic and liking it a lot, I've never come across Arkady Strugatsky. Too bad is is not on the bookshelf!

[Sarah]

That one looks really interesting! Congrats on the challenge :) You're very close.

[Overbooked ✎]

Thanks Sarah :)

[Nina]

I think I will read

[Sarah]

Good choice Nina. I love that book.

[Louise]

Currently reading Across the Nightingale Floor and loving it.

[M.L.]

I've been at 10 of 12 for 2 months (progress definitely needed!), so really looking forward to July's group read The Three-Body Problem.

[Kim]

I've been really slow on reading this year, too many things taking up my time. The only reason I'm still on track is because I've already read a few of the picks. Still working on In the Night Garden, slow going.

[Justine]

Flash Beagle wrote: "I've been at 10 of 12 for 2 months (progress definitely needed!), so really looking forward to July's group read The Three-Body Problem."

I'm in the same spot, but I've already read both of July's BOTM picks...so I'm going to have to pick some others! I'm interested to hear what you think of Three Body FB!

[Maarit]

Since my last post I've finished two more books and by that reached my original goal of 12 books read. Though I increased it a bit and now my goal is to read 15 books, which is one book more than last year, when I ended up finishing 14/12 books.

The books I've read so far in order of finishing:
Magian väri (The Colour of Magic) by Terry Pratchett (***)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (**)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (***)
Hyviä enteitä: Noita Agnes Nutterin hienot ja oikeat ennustukset (Good Omens) by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (****)
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (****)
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (**)
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (****)
The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin (***)
Lapsuuden loppu (Childhood's End) by Arthur C. Clarke (***)
Kissan kehto (Cat's Cradle) by Kurt Vonnegut (****)
Mort by Terry Pratchett (****)
Unohdetut jumalat (American Gods) by Neil Gaiman (**)

For the latest two books, I liked Mort a lot and it's currently my favorite of the meager three Discworld novels I've read so far.

As for the balance I didn't like American Gods at all. The story felt too long and I hated the constant travelling around without a seemingly purpose. I seem to have some sort of a problem with Gaiman's books, because I've only truly enjoyed Neverwhere so far and both of his books read this year have ended up in the 2 star category. I still think I will give Anansi Boys a go and let it decide if Gaiman is an author of my tastes or not (so far it seems he's not).

I'm currently reading The Name of the Wind and plan on reading The Wise Man's Fear immediately after it, because it is the next months group read after all. Just need to see if I finish The Name of the Wind on time. I'm also reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, just to balance up my overtly large consumption of fantasy books.

[Chris]

I just finished Alif the Unseen.

[Sarah]

What did you think Chris?

[Chris]

Sarah wrote: "What did you think Chris?"

It was decent, but not fantastic. I did enjoy the Middle-Eastern culture bits since I was stationed over there once.

[Sandi]

End of the month update. I have now completed 38 of my new goal of 50 (which I need to go and change). This month's reading...

33. The Name of the Wind (****)
34. In the Night Garden (*****)
35. Cloud Atlas (***)
36. The City & the City (*****)
37. The Martian (**********)
38. The Three-Body Problem (****)

Update - 7/10
39. Tigana (****)
40. Dune (*****)
41. The Wise Man's Fear (***)

Now next up - Altered Carbon, Ready Player One, The Golem and the Jinni, and The Dark Between the Stars (not on our list). We will see how much more I get through this month.

[Alex]

I've completed 100 scifi/fantasy books. Apparently I put the commitment on the 2014 challenge but in fact it was for 2015. I certainly read well over 100 books in 2014 most of which were scifi.

[Tegan]

I had thought I joined the challenge but it doesn't seem to be reading my entry for it....

Link to shelf: www.goodreads.com/review/list/6882367...

I have signed myself up for 15 books to start although I added more than that to the shelf. I have finished one so far since I have been on a kick with a different genre but am hoping to come back to sci/fantasy and go on a reading bender for the next month or so.

[Sarah]

Alex, this particular challenge is for books off of the group's bookshelf.

Tegan, they don't show up as completed on the challenge until they're read and the date completed is set.

Hope that helps.

[Trike]

Other than that, Tegan and Sarah, is Everything Awesome?

[Robyn]

Lolz.

[Robyn]

Or they might build a wall of books.

[Sarah]

Lol! That's is hysterical! Everything is most definitely awesome :)

[M.L.]

11 of 12 finished! The Three-Body Problem. For a half dozen reasons it's my favorite this year! The indicator says 92%.

[Justine]

Nice!

[Sarah]

Congrats!

[M.L.]

Thanks! One more to go. I'm determined to finish this year!

[Sarah]

Have you picked your final one yet?

[M.L.]

Hm, I should go back to my original list but so many books keeping coming up each month that maybe I'll do one of the group reads again. Tough choice. (Probably just need more discipline.) And of course there are new ones coming up!

[Sarah]

There isn't enough discipline in the world to allow us to read everything we want. It's very sad.

[Justine]

I only have two left to do and I keep thinking I have lots of time, but before I know it the end of the year will sneak up on me. :) Not that I won't be reading lots of other things, but I did want to finish the challenge too!

[Julia]

I've read a lot of SF/ F this year but so far four have been on the list.

1. Station Eleven
2. The Golem and the Jinni
3. The Sword-Edged Blonde
4. The Martian

[Richard]

How'd you enjoy the Golem and the Jinni? I read it last year and really enjoyed it.

[Felicia]

Aaaaand I'm on 3 now.