SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
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What Else Are You Reading?
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What Else Are You Reading in 2021?
Don wrote: "Dj, It's not a puff-piece, the author gives you the facts and the evidence. example Eisenhower's Secretary/Driver The Author doesn't say she was his mistress but points out enough smoke to suggest ..."I have D'Este's book on Ike but haven't read it yet. I figure if it is anything like his work on Patton, it won't be a puff piece either. Just too many books on the TBR that come in front of it. Might have to look at this one sometime in the future as well.
Anna wrote: "Soo, it’s on my TBR! 😄"=D
I plan on reading the second at at some point. Going to cross my fingers & hope it goes on sale. Bwahaha
I have the sequel on Storytel, but they don't have the first one. I should get to it while it's on A+ and I have it!
I'm reading JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL. 287 pages in and I still haven't figured out what the hell is going on. It's very slow going. Has anybody else read it? Is there a payoff, somewhere?I am re-reading THE THOUSAND NAMES. It's good action adventure fantasy, tho it's more historical than fantastical until the later parts of the book. Hints and suggestions are there if you pay attention.
Currently trying to read The Last Emperox by John Scalzi. That’s been slightly put off by the fact that I’ve had to make more masks for an order I got a couple of days ago and once I’ve finished sewing for the day my eyes won’t work properly and the fact that my daughter had her baby yesterday. A little girl by the name of Matilda Louise. She’s perfect. So small. Anyhoo...
I really loved Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. It is a verrrrry slow build but yes I think the story is well worth it. I’ve never read anything quite like it.I also really enjoyed The Thousand Names.
Anna wrote: "I have the sequel on Storytel, but they don't have the first one. I should get to it while it's on A+ and I have it!"I think you made a good plan and should do it! =)
Congratulations Jacqueline! Do we call you Grandma, Grandmother, Nana, Nona or Meemaw ?
Pulled a Shelf recommendation from YouKneeK... Thank You YouKneeK. "The Oblique Approach"
by David Drake & Eric Flint.
Congratulations Jacqueline. Pretty name too!!!
The kids haven’t worked that one out yet Don. The other 2 sets of grandparents are variants of Nan and Pop (Nanny and Poppy and something else I wasn’t really listening when she was big noting and wittering away at the Baby Shower but daughters partner has a step dad and a step mum as well as well and his grandmother is Nana so all that’s gone). It will probably end up being Granma and Granpa (or Ma and Pa but that reminds me of Ma and Pa Kettle). My eldest gf is having a baby in May so maybe they can work it out between them. Her father and step mother are whatever the Balinese version of Granma and Granpa are.
Don wrote: "Pulled a Shelf recommendation from YouKneeK... Thank You YouKneeK. "The Oblique Approach"
by David Drake & Eric Flint."
I hope you enjoy it Don! I’m not sure how it showed up as a recommendation because I’ve never issued a formal GR recommendation. Never ever. Was it one of those random GR advertisement things that show up in the feed saying your friend liked such and such a book?
In any case, I still remember the whole series fondly so I look forward to finding out what you think of it! It was a pleasant surprise for me, I think in large part because I’d never read anything like it before and I didn't expect to enjoy it.
Kgwhitehurst wrote: "I am re-reading THE THOUSAND NAMES. It's good action adventure fantasy, tho it's more historical than fantastical until the later parts of the book. Hints and suggestions are there if you pay attention."That is probably my favorite fantasy series! It gets even better in the follow-ups to The Thousand Names.
I finished The Forbidden Library by the same author earlier in the month. Even though it's for kids, I still very much enjoyed it.
Did anyone like The City in the Middle of the Night. I struggled with getting into it , appreciated quite a bit of it and was a little disappointed with the ending.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My reads in the last 10 days were:Black Beach by Glynis Guevara, which I only picked up on a whim, cause the audiobook is read by Raven Dauda, a Canadian artist with whom I had some lovely chats on Twitter. Fortunately it is one of those YA novels that are really good and it sucked me right into its narration of a youth on a Carribean island threatened by poverty cause of enrivonmental desaster.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston I read for one of the popsugar challenge prompts and it turned out to be a beautifully written, heart wrenching story about a young black woman in the 30ies trying to live her own life.
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson was an epic retelling of human history where Christianity is but a footnote and the world has been conquered by Muslim states and China. KSR genius with a lot of information about ... everything (especially religious philosophy), a wonderful structure and one of the best last sentences ever (I got the same shiver as I got with the last sentence of Tigana)
Failed State by Christopher Brown I picked up because it is on the PKD award nominees list for this year. It is about a near future North America which is divided. The idea is a good one, but the execution is somehow unexciting.
Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin is an eerie story of subtle horror with an all too imaginable scenario of toys that are navigated by other people and allow insight into one's private life. The mosaic structure with different stories of misuse of those toys is a good one, yet I would have wished for a more succinct ending.
Attack Surface by Cory Doctorow is one of those stories told from the POV of a badass, outsider young woman where you are a lot of the time in her head with snappy remarks. This and the fact that it is very IT heavy made it more on the boring side for me to get through - even though the topic is an important one.
The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North - she simply is unrivalled. I put her up there with Haruki Murakami and John Crowley - poet writers where I would even read a grocery shopping list of. It is just a sheer pleasure to dwell in this kind of language use.
And now I start The Expert System’s Champion, already the second new release of Adrian Tchaikovsky in this year. Yeah! (and for a decent price at that! I was interested in the new Nnedi Okorafor as well - but there I have to pay thrice as much for the same amount of pages)
Jacqueline wrote: "Currently trying to read The Last Emperox by John Scalzi. That’s been slightly put off by the fact that I’ve had to make more masks for an order I got a couple of days ago and once I’ve finished se..."Babies always come before reading. I am sure there is a rule about that somewhere.
Babies come before everything I believe the rule is. Went and had my second cuddle today.
Gabi wrote: "My reads in the last 10 days were:Black Beach by Glynis Guevara, which I only picked up on a whim, cause the audiobook is read by Raven Dauda, a Canadian artist ..."
Little Eyes sounds a lot like a Teddy Ruxpin doll. Man those things always creeped me out.
I recently finished Persepolis Rising and have to say the thirty year time jump was a bit of a hurdle at the beginning but I still really enjoyed it. Now I'm heading back into Alex Verus territory.
Jen wrote: "I really loved Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. It is a verrrrry slow build but yes I think the story is well worth it. I’ve never read anything quite like it.I also really enjoyed The Thousand Names."
Thanks for the encouragement on Strange and Norrell. I'll give it a little longer.
I find it such a slog (excruciating level of detail); the characters are generally unlikeable (except for Mrs Strange and Sir Walter and Stephen Black); so little happens, that I wonder if there IS a story here. The voice is highly distinctive for modern fantasy, but it reads to me like Jane Austen without either her bite or her brevity.
The narrative voice in 1000 NAMES is nothing to write home about, but a reader can't help but like Marcus and Winter. There's a whole lot of intrigue going on, but Wrexler keeps things moving, enticing the reader, so the reader knows there will be a magnificent train wreck at end.
Jacqueline wrote: "Currently trying to read The Last Emperox by John Scalzi. That’s been slightly put off by the fact that I’ve had to make more masks for an order I got a couple of days ago and once I’ve finished se..."congrats on the new grand daughter.
we are having some variable weather in Australia, so i am staying inside with air con on.
i went to the library and grabbed an assortment of books from authors i have never read before. Hoping to start with a new series. so far nope, havent liked any of them
i have two pages of two columns each of suggested authors from goodreads. so will go back to the library today and grab a few more
Sapkowsky's Witcher saga, I'm on the fourth book now
DuneI was afraid reviews I read online (25k+ Goodreads alone) & not far from 1 million ratings.... that maybe I had my expectations set too high. NOPE! Man is this thing amazing. I've not read anything that I can remember, that had so many supporting characters of this complexity. Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings are other worlds with a ton of characters yes, but the complexities and how they are written just hits different - I hope this makes sense. I'm all over the place raving about this thing!
This book is a BRICK, and with the small print and thing pages I thought I would take a bit to get through it, but at 2 days in I'm ~50% through,,,, that's a good thing. They are remaking a film at the moment and it looks amazing too. This is the first of what I believe is a six book series. Very excited about that as well.
I didn't think any of the sequels were near as good as the first book. It wasn't planned to be a series is my understanding
Krysta Champagne wrote: "DuneI was afraid reviews I read online (25k+ Goodreads alone) & not far from 1 million ratings.... that maybe I had my expectations set too high. NOPE! Man is this thing amazing. I..."
DUNE is a brilliant book, but as you've been warned, the sequels aren't up to the same snuff. I listened to my friends who nixed the sequels and didn't bother.
You Have Arrived at Your Destination is a short story about genetic engineering some time in the near future and written by Amor Towles. I enjoyed it very much!My reveiw: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Kgwhitehurst wrote: "Jen wrote: "I really loved Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. It is a verrrrry slow build but yes I think the story is well worth it. I’ve never read anything quite like it.I also really enjoyed The ..."
I read the intro, which basically said that Strange and Norrell would be unlikeable characters. So I am expecting that. Does make things harder to read when you actively dislike the main character though.
Krysta Champagne wrote: "DuneI was afraid reviews I read online (25k+ Goodreads alone) & not far from 1 million ratings.... that maybe I had my expectations set too high. NOPE! Man is this thing amazing. I..."
I have read Dune a number of times over the years usually with about a five-year
spacing between readings. Every time I pick it up I find some new facet of it that I had either forgotten or overlooked previously. I consider that a sign of fine craftsmanship.
I. am reading The All is an Egg: A Synthetic Theory of the Universe, Humankind and Religion by Urban Vyaas
Just finished another short story this time by Jemisin called The City Born Great. She is one inventive lady! Now I am really looking forward to The City We BecameReview: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - a literary masterpiece. Despite being a tremendous Alfred Hitchcock fan, I never managed to see his film adaptation in its entirety, but I now see why it was chosen. My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3178309692
A friend who is a Japanese ex-pat gave me her favorite novel she found in English translation, It's The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi. Uehashi has won awards for her writing. I've enjoyed this immersive fantasy so much that two-thirds of the way through, I have ordered the sequel. This is a great book with surprises throughout. I highly recommend this book and perhaps this author.
Pamela wrote: "A friend who is a Japanese ex-pat gave me her favorite novel she found in English translation, It's The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi. Uehashi has won awards for her writing. I've enjoyed this imm..."Added and thanks!
JCM wrote: "I. am reading The All is an Egg: A Synthetic Theory of the Universe, Humankind and Religion by Urban Vyaas"My goodness, that sounds interesting and annoying all at the same time. LOL. You will have to let us know what you think I might have to take a gander at it.
Good Morning DJI have completed this read !! I have added a review & also comments in the discussion portion as well if you're curious.
The All is an Egg: A Synthetic Theory of the Universe, Humankind and Religion by Urban VyaasThe author warns this book is not an easy read... He is correct, however let me say... I opened the book to quantum physics, formulas, equations and soon to follow, introspection and interpretation. So I glanced back at the title of the book. The All is an Egg and did not make my own personal connection yet… as I continued reading I was in awe with the great length of research, analytics and history encompassing so many subjects from the historical beginning of mankind carried through to present day. Vyaas' condensed version of Roman, Chinese history and great artists gives the reader enough information to be interested, yet not be overwhelmed. The All is an Egg for me personally symbolized the earth and within the egg is the yolk (life) surrounded by white (the glue that binds us, spirituality, connectiveness (nature) in all living things). I admire your intellect Urban Vaayas !! This book requires a second read in order to comprehend all subject matter
YouKneeK, I did a "shelf raid" which mean I looked over your "read" shelf and found something interesting which I am enjoying very much so far. Belisarius doesn't get his due with folks these days, I like that this series might get a few folks to look him up.
Don wrote: "YouKneeK, I did a "shelf raid" which mean I looked over your "read" shelf and found something interesting which I am enjoying very much so far. Belisarius doesn't get his due with folks these daysI like that this series might get a few folks to look him up."I recently shelf-raided (nice vocab) YouKneeK as well, and discovered these. ~I want another star to give this six~ she says, ~or I may go back and subtract stars from other books because this one was so good~
Flesh and Spirit & Breath and Bone by Carol Berg
Can't wait!
Those two Carol Berg books are excellent!! I've read them several times.
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Anna...theme idea???
raiders of the lost story arc (fantasy)RAID 10 (scifi)
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Hmm; good to know, Allison. The only copy available at the libraries here is an e-audiobook, so hopefully it's a different reader...