SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
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2021 Bookshelf Rereads
2021 Reread Schedule
January 15th:
Children of Time >> First impressions | Final thoughts & Series
The Poppy War >> First impressions | Final thoughts
February 15th:
The Man in the High Castle >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More
The Lies of Locke Lamora >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More
March 15th:
Assassin's Apprentice >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More & Series
The Obelisk Gate >> First impressions | Final thoughts & Series
April 15th:
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms >> First impressions | Final thoughts
Parable of the Sower >> First impressions | Final thoughts & Series
May 15th:
The Anubis Gates >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More
The Ocean at the End of the Lane >> First impressions | Final thoughts
June 15th:
The Day of the Triffids >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More
Jade City >> First impressions | Final thoughts & Series
July 15th:
Annihilation >> First impressions | Final thoughts & Q&A (First has mild spoilers)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell >> First impressions | Final thoughts
August 15th:
I, Robot >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More
Semiosis >> First impressions | Final thoughts
September 15th:
Anansi Boys >> First impressions | Final thoughts
Station Eleven >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More & Q&A
October 15th:
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More
China Mountain Zhang >> First impressions | Final thoughts
November 15th:
The Last Wish >> First impressions | Final thoughts
Artemis >> First impressions | Final thoughts
December 15th:
Dune >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More
Kindred >> First impressions | Final thoughts
Yay for voting! I voted kind of widely this time. I usually just vote for books that I already own, but I added several others I'm interested in assuming I can get them from my library.My current top picks are Wool, Girl with all the Gifts, and Assassin's Apprentice.
I voted for everything I haven't read yet - and I'm horrified at how much that still is! Somehow it takes its time to read through 300 something books ;pETA: LOL! Just looked at the spreadsheet - and the ones coming up in the top 6 are the ones I've already read.
Only voted two books, both unread and owned: Dawn & A Closed and Common Orbit.
I’ve forgotten my log in details so everyone vote for nice books please.
Glad to see Wild Seed at the top! Have read everything by Butler except the Patternmaster series, so I guess it's time to start
Interesting to see the variety there. Lots of classics as well as some books we've read recently.The one I want to read that is closest to making it is Annihilation, but it is always fun to see how the list will change going forward.
I have to agree there are some great reads in that spreadsheet. I just hope some of the books I voted for make it to be reads
I voted! Great list of books. Next year I hope to really dig into this group and its challenges, as I'm newer to the group
Voting is always a great way to start! :)
Mod
Emmett wrote: "Glad to see Wild Seed at the top! Have read everything by Butler except the Patternmaster series, so I guess it's time to start"After looking at the current results, I am going to have to change the above statement to "Glad to see Wild Seed in 18th place and I guess it's not time to start it yet!" Oops
Allison wrote: "Adrian, we're very much in favor of campaigning for the books you want! Tell folks what you're excited about and we'll see if anyone is swayed to change their votes!"Ha ha, thanks Allison. My choices, that I voted for, that I think people would enjoy are Caves of Steel, Jonathon Strange, Foundation, Childhoods End, Dirk Gently, Rendezvous with Rama .
I could go on, but folks, they are great books to vote for
Mod
Wow, that's an impressive list! Voted for some of the books I've read and enjoyed and some I haven't read that seemed interesting. I noticed The Master and Margarita on the list - this is one of my favorite books of all times. Do you consider it to fall into the category of sci-fi or fantasy though? I don't really know how to classify it, it's such a unique book, but I've never thought of it as being sci-fi or fantasy.
M&M is shelved as fantasy on the group shelf, which means it was in a fantasy poll. Sometimes, if the person nominating, or the mod who adds it to a mod poll, hasn't read the book, all they can do is to go by what people have shelved it as on Goodreads, or what reviews say. That's how we end up with some clearly more fantasy books on the scifi shelf and vice versa, as well as some books that may not be purely SFF in everyone's opinion.
I get it, not all books are easy to classify. They can fall into several categories at the same time or not completely fall into any category at all, so, in the end, it may be pretty subjective. I see how M&M can be viewed as fantasy, it's just never occurred to me before :)
I haven’t read it myself so I have no idea 😄
Allison wrote: "Lot of classics there Adrian! Folks, if you haven't already read them with the group at some point, sounds like Adrian's ready to be a buddy!"A late reply Allison but if any don't make it into reads for next year, then , yes, I would be up for some buddy reads.
Man in the High Castle!! Quick someone else vote for it! I’m in the middle and would love to discuss it with someone! It’s gonna I take me a while to finish reading it aloud to my husband before bed.
I just voted for Man in the High Castle, before seeing this post.:)
Diane wrote: "Man in the High Castle!! Quick someone else vote for it! I’m in the middle and would love to discuss it with someone! It’s gonna I take me a while to finish reading it aloud to my husband before bed."Diane, Great book! I love that one. First read it for a literature course in college. I voted for it!
Top 6 will become our rereads for January-MarchVOTE HERE until November 25th
Live results in spreadsheet
21 Assassin's Apprentice (480 pgs)
21 The Poppy War (544 pgs)
19 Children of Time (600 pgs)
19 The Lies of Locke Lamora (722 pgs)
18 The Caves of Steel (206 pgs)
18 The Man in the High Castle (259 pgs)
17 Fuzzy Nation (303 pgs)
17 The Obelisk Gate (448 pgs)
16 The Calculating Stars (431 pgs)
16 Mort (243 pgs)
The Calculating Stars has dropped! Alas, I intend to read that soon as I've heard such good things. I encourage other votes for it :) (Not that I can't read it on my own, of course!)
By this time tomorrow voting will be closed, so get in there if you still want to!
Voting is closed! Here are our rereads for the first quarter of 2021. Head to the buddy read thread to discuss the schedule!The Poppy War (544 pgs)
The Lies of Locke Lamora (722 pgs)
Assassin's Apprentice (480 pgs)
Children of Time (600 pgs)
The Obelisk Gate (448 pgs)
The Man in the High Castle (259 pgs)
If we can avoid Children of Time and the Obilisk Gate in the same month I’d be grateful. Thanks!!
Thank goodness! Children of Time is lengthy. Not familiar with Obilisk Gate, yet.
Here's the schedule for January-March:January 15th:
Children of Time >> First impressions | Final thoughts & Series
The Poppy War >> First impressions | Final thoughts
February 15th:
The Man in the High Castle >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More
The Lies of Locke Lamora >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More
March 15th:
Assassin's Apprentice >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More & Series
The Obelisk Gate >> First impressions | Final thoughts & Series
First rereads of 2021! Will you be joining one or both? When are you starting? Feel free to jump into discussions whenever you want, no need to wait until the official start date :)January 15th:
Children of Time >> First impressions | Final thoughts & Series
The Poppy War >> First impressions | Final thoughts
CoT is on sale today in the US Kindle store.
I just put The Poppy War and The Man in the High Castle on hold at the library! And The Obelisk Gate I've already been pausing, so it's coming even sooner I think. This is working out nicely. ;)
The only ones i have not read are both of the January ones! Yay! Hopefully I can fit them in
I just started reading The Poppy War so I'll be looking forward to that discussion.
I just finished The Poppy War! But I'm new here and I'm a little confused on how this all works. Do people start adding to the old "final thoughts" thread on the 15th?
Mod
Children of Time
>> First impressions | Final thoughts & SeriesThe Poppy War >> First impressions | Final thoughts
Official start date January 15th, start chatting whenever! :)
I'm starting "The Poppy War" next week :)
VOTE HERE until February 25thLive results in spreadsheet
Voting is open for April-June 2021 rereads! I'll start updating the results here in early February.
Links to all books on the form:
(view spoiler)
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SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
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Dune (other topics)Kindred (other topics)
Artemis (other topics)
The Last Wish (other topics)
China Mountain Zhang (other topics)
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For the past few years we've gone through a process of voting for and scheduling past reads from the group bookshelf and reading them as a side group. This is intended to work in conjunction with the group Read All the Books! challenge. It is not necessary to join the challenge to participate in this process.
We'll be voting and scheduling for three months at a time. We'll be scheduling two reads per month based on member votes.
1. Voting will take place in
-> November for January-March
-> February for April-June
-> May for July-September
-> August for October-December
2. Schedule will be posted by the end of the voting month
3. Books that have been read by the group (main or reread) in the 24 months prior to the scheduled period will not be eligible, and will not be listed on the form
The only thing you'll need is a gmail login. You'll be able to change and update your votes at any point during the voting process. Books will be listed as title, author, page count.
For all books on the group shelf, see the links at the bottom of Current Events.