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 2022?
Jacqueline wrote: "Here in Australia lots of retired people sell everything and buy a caravan and drive around the country. They’re called Grey Nomads."it's the same in the US. See the movie Nomadland for one of them and there's lots of people living in them in the US due to poverty and cluttering up otherwise nice neighborhoods (garbage spread all around them
CBRetriever wrote: "it's the same in the US. See the movie Nomadland for one of them and there's lots of people living in them in the US due to poverty and cluttering up otherwise nice neighborhoods (garbage spread all around them a..."
That's a different thing and most of the people in neighborhoods aren't actually nomads, they're just homeless. There's a van life thing too which seems to be part poverty and part adventure. See https://trailandsummit.com/what-is-va... for examples of the latter.
the people Jacqueline described are essentially homeless as well. Sell your house and move into a RV and travel types had lots of problems during the early covid years as state and national parks didn't allow camping and a lot of RV parks were closed. I saw one high end camper trailer pulled by a Humvee parked amongst the junkers and tent campers on the Portland streets during that time.
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I'm reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera and oh my, it's not what I expected starting the book.The first parts of the book felt like going through a photo album. Each short episode like a snapshot of their lives. Parts 3 and 4 feel more like a deep dive into the stories behind the snapshots and some things in them are really puzzling (like the episode with the shooting squad).
Starting Part 5, curious to see what it has in store for me.
Allison wrote: "Ahem. A reminder here that this is for discussing the books we're reading! Thanks!"What is 'book'? :)
Olga wrote: "I'm reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera and oh my, it's not what I expected starting the book.The first parts of the book felt like going through a photo album. Each short ..."
I have been recommended that book, but haven't started it yet. It sounds interesting by all accounts but I'm not sure if it will be my jam.
The fantasy I'm reading right now, The Story of the Hundred Promises, is an ARC from NetGalley. It's a breathtaking fairy tale that comes out in October, I think. It's described as a loose retelling of The Beauty and the Beast, but it's so much more than that. If you like queer takes on old stories, fantasy, and pondering the meaning of love in all its forms, this will be an excellent choice. The author, Neil Cochrane, really did an excellent job.
Outside the realm of scifi and fantasy, my current book club read is Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. It's really heavy. I'm one of the only members of my book club that isn't a clergy person or lay servant (mostly UMC and UCC pastors, I'm a progressive UMC member), and I'm also the youngest group member- so although we're halfway through the book at this point, we still haven't covered any history that I was even alive for. I've learned a lot about the history of US evangelicalism and US politics, but I'm terrible at history so I have really struggled with following some of this book. It's a good read but I've needed to google a number of people/dates/places to really grasp the ideas. I'm hoping it gets easier for me once the narrative enters the 90s.
The book I finished most recently was I'm Glad My Mom Died, which has been making the rounds on social media because it's by Jennette McCurdy, a former Nickelodeon child actor. It focuses on her relationship with her abusive, narcissistic mother, and is written in a series of vignettes that take place throughout her life. I was shocked with how well she described growing up under the thumb of a mother like that- because my mother was very similar to hers. I definitely recommend it to anyone who has a fractured relationship with an abusive mom- but be aware it's very triggering. (I reviewed it: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... but there are a lot of good reviews on the book's goodreads page).
Sorry Allison (just one more) xoxoxIt’s a voluntary homelessness Chessie. They want to see the country and they drive from town to town and sometimes stop and do some fruit picking to supplement their pensions/superannuation. They’re usually 65+ but some young people are doing it too. I’d keep my house and rent it out or something though. A lot of them are coming back and are old or sick and they don’t have anywhere to live except the van and usually end up with family members. My niece and her husband have packed up their 3 young kids and are slowly driving around Australia. They reckon if they find somewhere they really want to be they’ll stop for a while or maybe even stay there. They have met heaps of other young families who are doing the same thing. It’s not cheap either. Fuel is around $12 a gallon in some of these places ($2.50-3+ a litre and there are around 4 litres in a gallon).
There are a lot of tiny libraries around in caravan parks and that for them to take advantage of and some libraries let them become members so they can use the electronic book borrowing facilities. (See Allison…book talk).
Time to catch up on my personal challenge of reading 10 selections of 6 genres, incIuding horror, mystery, and sci-fi. So far this month I have read:* Hard-core horror. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. All the dramatics of the opera and of do the escape/do they not escape scenes drew me and repelled me just about equally. Apparently I was drawn enough as I finished.
* Mystery. I have heard others appreciate the writing of Sue Grafton, so I thought to try her letter series, beginnjng with her first A is for Alibi. I am less than impressed. I am told her other books are better, that this is her first. I may try again another year. The main character here was a private investigator.
Next I read about a sleuth. What a delight is Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief written by Maurice Leblanc. A sleuth who also thieves, who rescues women, who has his own sense of justice, who delights in his intelligence and seeks to woo with his intelligence. Planning to read more of the Arsene Lupin series :-)
Having read all of the Miss Marple novels and short stories, I seek to expand my reading of the works of Agatha Christie. I read my first Poirot selection, Murder on the Orient Express a selection made by another group I read with. Glad to read the novel version of the 2017 movie I watched and delighted in.
* Science Fiction. What a delight was reading Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I was reminded of Gulliver's Travels: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. by Jonathan Swift. This is slimmed down, feminine version, more utopian in vision. By reading Herland, I now feel better able to understand Gulliver's Travels. . . .Don't you just love listening on the dialog writers carry on through the centuries :-)
* The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. I listened to this audiobook linked here which I found on Hoopla. What a delight! Without the audio, I may have been to yawny to continue, might have disappeared the book from my lists and continued on find another. . . . .I came to understand the novel to be something more than fixed up and more like an episodic novel. Accurate description of how exploration of new worlds happens. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Also this month I have * Made a bow to my family of the American Southwest by reading Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. What a too true description if the experience of women in a man's world.
* Read The Nineties which is enjoyable and good as it was. Without a strong controlling statement, I felt as though Chuck Klosterman missed this topic and that topic and that one over there too. Pretty much enjoyable. Not well written.
I read A is for Alibi and whatever the B one is. I started C is for Corpse but didn’t get around to finishing it. They’re not wonderful but they fill a hole. She’s no Agatha Christie. I love Agatha Christie. Hubby didn’t read much of A is for Alibi. He hated it and it was his first DNF that I’ve ever seen. Then not long after he didn’t finish Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb (which I loved by the way). Only two I’ve seen that he didn’t finish. He usually slogs through no matter how bad it is. He hated Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil too but still finished it. That was his last one. He’s currently reading Recursion by Blake Crouch and seems to be enjoying it. I’d bought it for me to read when it came out but he’s snavelled it first. He’s got his eye on my A Master of Djinn I’m currently reading and Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky which I picked up the other day in dead tree format because I was sick of reading it on my iPad even though I was enjoying it immensely. It’s ok….if he nicks Shards I can always read Recursion eh. They’re the only 3 we have with us on this trip to work.
So probably not reading anymore Sue Grafton. . . .and may try the fantasy Assassins Apprentice. Several of my GR friends gave the novel 4 and 5 stars. Good suggestion.
I'm still in the middle of a series reread of historical fiction and finished Sharpe's Eagle, #8 of 22. Terrific book!Now I am reading Chains of Command.
Rick wrote: "Allison wrote: "Ahem. A reminder here that this is for discussing the books we're reading! Thanks!"What is 'book'? :)"
It is one of those squarish dusty things I have filling shelves in my living room. And I am looking at getting another one due to a recommendation from someone in the Group. There and Back Again It would seem that this book has a limited shelf life since the estate of JRR seems to have shut down publishing of it.
Robin Hobb is brilliant. I definitely would read Assassins Apprentice. Anything by Mark Lawrence is always a win as well. And Hubby is not reading Recursion. He’s reading Upgrade by Blake Crouch. Geez I’m dum today.
Thanks all. I have requested through library system. Let's see if book arrives in timely manner. Looking forward. . . .
Inferno
One of the 1001 books to read before you die that I am looking at seeing how deep into the list I can get. This is an interesting mix of disturbing insight with an equal mixture of being somewhat topical to the time it was written so makes some of the allusions hard to follow. Still, it was a well-done story that seems to come to an abrupt ending. Admittedly there are two more to the series I am not sure how much interest I have in continuing on.
Dj just reading Inferno is an accomplishment! I read in 2020, struggled and struggled. Then I read a retelling Inferno by Larry Niven. I set the data from these books to whirling in my pretty brain for all this time and have reached this conclusion: When I reread, I will pay far less attention to politics and to focus on the spiritual and physical asoects. The references I have seen and heard--such as on House the medical series--are about the spiritual and physical aspects of the narrative. . . . Just my experience and my plan. . . .Use if works for you.
Cynda wrote: "Dj just reading Inferno is an accomplishment! I read in 2020, struggled and struggled. Then I read a retelling Inferno by Larry Niven. I set the data from these books t..."I will keep it in mind if I decide to read the next two in the series. I did read a modern update, don't know if it was by Niven or not, but it had Mussolini as the guide, which at least for me made the political aspects come clear. The ending was a bit of a twist.
Mussolini oh my! I will see if I can google the title and if I have access to the book through various services I use. . . .I don't know if I will continue on either, but the curiosity is piqued.
Finally finished A Master of Djinn by P Djèlí Clark🧞♀️ Really enjoyed it. Hubby finished Upgrade by Blake Crouch tonight as well and he said it was pretty good. High praise from him. Not sure what’s next. I’m probably going to get back to Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
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One week more of reading 2022 releases only:- Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan: A tale of a daughter who wants to lift the ban on her mother set upon her by the celestial emperor. The story takes place in the realms of immortals following Chinese mythology. I loved reading about mythological tales that I know little of. These stories work better for me than Greek mythology or fairy tale retellings, because the plots are fresh for me and the outcome is unclear. The heroine was relatable, I liked her much better than other young women heroines I've read about in recent Fantasy novels. And even though we have a rather tropey love triangle, it did feel a bit more mature and not so grating like it often does.
One of the few recent Fantasy series where I will pick up the second book.
- Spear by Nicola Griffith is a very well done re-telling of the Holy Grail myth. It started as a contribution to the gender bend Arthurian short story collection, but then got ouf of hand and became a novel on its own. Griffith's prose is succinct and mature, not once did I have this 'fanfiction' feeling I often get with mythological re-tellings. I especially liked that Nimue got a bigger part (and a positive one for that) in this re-telling.
- The Veiled Edge of Contact by James Brayken - this one came as a super positive surprise. I'm not sure why I put it on my kindle in the first place, but it absolutely delivered. A suspenseful story set in Central Africa about first contact of two different kinds. The protagonist is totally unheroical and stumbles quite agenda-free through the tale mainly because his wife told him to go into the jungle after she had to disappear due to problems with the government.
The protagonist's loyalty is constantly tested when he learns about a secret that literally can destroy humankind.
A perfect debut of an author I could find absolutely nothing about.
- High Spirits by Camille Gomera-Tavarez: A book of individual but interlaced short stories across several generations of a larger Domenican family, where some have emigrated to the US.
I enjoyed it a lot. The short stories are unspectacular on the surface, but deeply melancholical and life changing underneath. The spare prose worked fantastically here.
- Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse: I wasn't going to continue this series, because I wasn't a fan of the first book. And predictably the second one wasn't for me either (even worse than the first one, I might say, because nothing seemed to move forward). - I only picked it up because of a prompt in the bingo card.
I loved Larry Niven's Inferno but I did not know there were two sequels... I'll have to check them out! Also, now curious about 'How High we go in the dark', I'll have to check that book out too!Me, still trying to finish Lois McMaster Bujold's series both the Vorkosian and Five Gods. Just finished the Vor Game and starting Ceteganda and also finished the Hallowed Hunt and now devouring those Penric novellas, in the middle of Penric's Demon (the start!). Just 2 more Hugo winners to go... And am looking forward to reading Andy Weir's new book and finishing up Gaiman's sandman comics (still gotta find a couple I know I bought but misplaced...)
Just finished The Man Who Pulled Down the Sky. It was like Barnes had just read The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and was inspired to try his hand at an earth vs space political epic.
Mathew wrote: "Just finished The Man Who Pulled Down the Sky. It was like Barnes had just read The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and was inspired to try his hand at an earth vs space politi..."
Did the inspiration allow for something good?
The Nightmare Stacks
by Charles StrossLaundry Files #7, probably best to read in order. No Bob, No Mo. Instead we have Alex, one of the vampires from the bank. I was prepared to be disappointed but I was wrong -- this is a fantastic adventure with a plot that bangs ahead at a hundred miles an hour. No spoilers. Book is highly recommended, 5 stars.
I am reading a great Space Opera book by Ely Freysson called Oath Keeper. It is a follow up on his first called First Run. Great Characters, lots of excitement and the good ending. If you have Kindle they are free.
I just finished reading another Star Trek novel: the book by the actor who played Garak on Deep Space Nine, Andrew J. Robinson. The book is called “A Stitch in Time” (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...) and is basically autobiographical. It’s great! Well written and great background to the character and to Cardassians in general. I read it before but better would be to read A Stitch in Time first and then “The Never-Ending Sacrifice” by Una MacCormack. They complement one another nicely.
A Stitch in Time is indeed a terrific book, Diane! McCormack has written extensively about Cardassians and Garak in her novels. A couple that I would recommend are The Crimson Shadow and Enigma Tales.
Started a John Scalzi novella last night. It came from Tor as a free book a couple of months ago. Unlocked. It’s the prequel to Locked In. Interesting to read it after the last couple of years. And it was written in 2014. I was getting into it and then I went to sleep. We had a long day driving yesterday. Another one coming up today.
Ah, thanks, Brandon! I think I actually meant Enigma Tales as the sequel to A Stitch in Time!! Never-Ending Sacrifice is great too though.
The second book by Kerstin Hall, Second Spear just hit my iPhone and I loved the first in this series, The Border Keeper so that's up next.
Along the lines of re-telling mythologies, I finished
Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel. This is a re-telling of the Ramayana but from the POV, and in first-person, of Kaikeyi, the maligned queen. In the book, the author has made her a strong, positive, and sympathetic character, in contrast to the way the myth runs. (view spoiler) The book also takes a very strong feminist stance. I enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone but particularly those who like re-tellings and feminist books. I would note that despite a very positive response on Goodreads (4.26 rating with over 9000 ratings and almost 2000 reviews), a couple of very lengthy, highly critical, negative reviews are prominently placed on the book page. The criticisms seem to be based on cultural and religious positions, which suggests that the author has (whether intentionally I don't know) struck a particular nerve.
I'm about to start The Man in the High Castle, but all I want to say about it right now is that I got on the wait list to borrow this book at my library in March of 2020! And finally it became available for me to borrow. Over 2 years of waiting! That's by far the longest I've had to wait at the library, and I'm just glad they didn't remove it from circulation in the meantime.Sure, I could have gotten it somewhere else if I really wanted to, but this is the good thing about having a colossal TBR -- there's always something I want to read that's available immediately, so it's no problem to have books lined up in my wait list for months to come.
The Joy of Erudition wrote: "I'm about to start The Man in the High Castle, but all I want to say about it right now is that I got on the wait list to borrow this book at my library in March of 2020! And finally ..."Hurray for Mt TBR
I picked up
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland on impulse. This seemed to be a paranormal portal fantasy (and YA). It is centered on a mystery - the disappearance and reappearance a month later of the three Hollow sisters. It may be better categorized as horror. It's promising for a long way into the book. The writing is solid, the fantasy world well-constructed, and I became invested in the principal characters. However. The plot then goes in a direction I find totally repellent. One effect of this is that I have no sympathy for and no sense of connection to any of the principal characters. I think they are despicable. The book also resolves its central mystery by creating another one that is left without any explanation at all. The plot leads to a blank space. This was a New York Times bestseller and has loads of high ratings and positive reviews on Goodreads, so plenty of people like it and I am in the minority, but I can't recommend this to anyone. Note: content warning in spoiler. (view spoiler) I really regret having taken the time to read this book and I can't think of another time I have said that. I won't be reading anything else from this author.
Colin wrote: "I picked up House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland on impulse. This seemed to be a paranormal portal fantasy (and YA). It is centered on a mystery..."Thank you for the warning, Colin!
I just completed Piranesi and was pleasantly surprised. It took me forever to read it due to 1) it being a digital book, and 2) the beginning was not very gripping. But I'm glad I stayed the course because it ended up being quite a twisty turny book.
was on a trip, and accidently read the two Vorkosigan books I brought (up to but not including Mirror Dance). so, I ended up buying 3 new books, now finishing up J.G. Ballard's The Drowned World. so far, not a very happy book to read! Then I'll go back to finish up Lois McMaster Bujold's Mirror Dance, where I'll then pause on the Vorkosigan series and flip back to her World of the Five Gods series, which will then conclude my Hugo award winner challenge!
I finally got around to reading The Vela, and with such an star-studded collaboration of authors (Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, Rivers Solomon, JL Huang) I’m surprised it hasn’t a wider readership. Strong themes of refugees and environmental devastation, immigrant identity, politics and power, I think it would make a good book club read.
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Allison wrote: "loved the Vela! last i heard it was subscription dependent distribution though. has that changed?"You can buy the book normally now but yeah, it was Serial Box only for a long time. It's a good book but a little odd in that there are different authors doing different chapters. Not BAD... just odd because each author does have their own voice.
Rick wrote: "It's a good book but a little odd in that there are different authors doing different chapters. Not BAD... just odd because each author does have their own voice.."The The Mongoliad: Book One series was like that with Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Nicole Galland (aka E.D. deBirmingham), etc. It wasn't bad, but it was more alternative history rather than Fantasy.
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I agree, it's a bit of an odd set up, but I thought it worked well enough, and it told a cohesive story, which is darn hard to do in that format.
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Here in Australia lots of retired people sell everything and buy a caravan and drive around the country. They’re called Grey Nomads. There’s no way I could spend every day in the car. 2 days is 2 too many of you ask me. I’d make a shit Grey Nomad.