SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
What Else Are You Reading?
>
What Are You Reading 2015 Edition
Just finished
It was a quick, but good read. The story itself might have made better for a full length novel, as Reynolds glossed over many of the plot elements that seemed interesting to me.
Currently reading
When I joined this site I fully expected to read the "club list" and follow comments. However so many threads, so many suggestions.I am reading about 2 books a week, and only have done one of the club reads. dam!!!
At the moment I am reading the mistborn triology. Just finished all the Pern series , read Rosie project (and loved it) didn't really love American Gods, but loved the Martian. Re read all of Asmiov books, great stories.
I copy all the books names people recommend and I am slowly working through a lot of them. Thankfully I live one block from the main library.
I'm reading Uprooted on the Kindle and The Adoration of Jenna Fox as a book. I finished the sf-ish novel Osama a few days ago. Up next maybe: Moxyland.Kateb, The Martian and I think American Gods and possibly a Pern book are on the SFF list.
Sumant wrote: "Here is my review of excession, 5th book in culture series."I've read all but three books in the series, including this one, and your review is just one more reason to continue putting it off. If it helps any, I thought the next two books in the series were good. But be aware that Inversions is unlike any of his other books in the series. It's more historical fiction with a touch of fantasy/sci-fi thrown in, than anything else, but I really liked it. The characters are well developed, too.
Just finished the mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. it was great. Read all the Pern books before that. Now onto the Dresden series.
Kateb wrote: "Flash Beagle wrote: "I just started I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. It's for this year's challenge but I think I'll have my own challenge of reading everything by Asimov. I ..."I also really enjoyed I, Robot, some fascinating concepts and unique enough that I couldn't always guess what was coming. It definitely held my interest.
The movie adaption on the other hand .. I think the director and screenwriter must've read a different book by accident because I couldn't really find anything of the book in the movie other than the fact that they both happened to have robots.
I finished the amazing The Iron Dream The Iron Dream, and now I'm reading The Golem of Hollywood The Golem of Hollywood.
Greg wrote: "The movie adaption on the other hand .. I think the director and screenwriter must've read a different book by accident because I couldn't really find anything of the book in the movie other than the fact that they both happened to have robots. "At the end of the movie it said "Suggested by the book by Isaac Asimov." So yes the book was the inspiration, but that was as far as it went.
Charles wrote: "At the end of the movie it said "Suggested by the book by Isaac Asimov." So yes the book was the inspiration, but that was as far as it went. ..."Thanks Charles, I didn't notice the "suggested by." I wonder why they decided to use the title "I, Robot" then? I might've enjoyed the movie more if I hadn't had the idea in my head that it was going to be an adaptation of the book.
I guess I should've researched the movie a bit before I got excited and went! Then I might've been more prepared for what I was getting.
Finished The Shadow Of What Was Lost. It was awesome! I think many of you will like it. My review here
I'm thinking about reading "Mort" any input?
I've finished today The Adoration of Jenna Fox and The Walking Dead, Vol. 23: Whispers Into Screams. I've started Moxyland and Uprooted on the Kindle.Roberta, the reviewers here seem to love or hate The Golem of Hollywood. What's your take on it?
Greg wrote: "Charles wrote: "At the end of the movie it said "Suggested by the book by Isaac Asimov." So yes the book was the inspiration, but that was as far as it went. ..."Thanks Charles, I didn't notice t..."
a good point , if they didn't name movies after good books we might enjoy them more eg endgame, dune.
Don wrote: "I'm thinking about reading "Mort" any input?"I finished Mort about a week ago and liked it a lot, Death is hilarious. It has so far been the funniest Discworld novel I've read and the only one I've rated higher than 3 stars. It's also quite fast to read, so it doesn't take that much time.
Julia, you wrote: "Roberta, the reviewers here seem to love or hate The Golem of Hollywood. What's your take on it?"I'm only on page 168 (not a lot of time for reading) so I can't give a complete impression of the book yet, but I can understand both reactions. I have never read anything by any Kellerman before(Jonathan, Jesse, or Faye) so I was not expecting a book in the style or theme of any previous Kellerman novels. I don't usually read much in the mystery/detective/true crime genres, so I hoped that this would be more of a Golem legend which happened to be set in Hollywood, rather than a detective story which happened to include a golem.
The first chapter actually seemed to be a prologue, without being directly tied in to the chapters that followed. In fact, the first four chapters were disappointing,overly-descriptive action and personal details about the characters which did not seem relevant, like many Stephen King novels. Then it got interesting.
Now I'm enjoying the book, especially the mythology and fables , midrashic themes, and even the unfolding information about the characters which now does promise to be relevant to the story involving a golem.
I'll tell you more later.
I read Retribution Falls, and really enjoyed it. I hope to continue on with the series soon. (My Review)Attack on Titan, Vol. 17 (thanks to Crunchyroll). Another enjoyable volume, but not quite as good as the last one. (My Review)
In audio, I jumped back into Long Price with book 3: An Autumn War. Best one yet. (My Review)
I just finished Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, which was a creepy, fast read. Now I'm reading The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff and The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, which is really entertaining so far.
Jaleenajo, I've enjoyed everything I read by Fforde so far - The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Big Over Easy, The Fourth Bear, and Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron. All lots of fun!
Greg wrote: "Jaleenajo, I've enjoyed everything I read by Fforde so far - The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Big Over Easy, The Fourth Bear, and [book:..."Yeah, the Thursday Next series is pretty fun, especially catching all those literary characters and motifs.
Greg wrote: "Jaleenajo, I've enjoyed everything I read by Fforde so far - The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Big Over Easy, The Fourth BearTrouble is Jasper Fforde just doesn't write fast enough:)
Just finished listening to Brothers in Valor. The 3rd book in this series of extremely campy military space opera fun. So this book was 85% space battles, I'm not even exagurating. The first 2.5 hours of the audiobook that was 10 hours long was one of the most fantastic space battles I have read, which was followed by an awesome briefing by the admiral for their next high risk mission. The ending was really strong as well, and I'm very much looking forward to the next book.They really need to make the previews for these audiobooks be the Admirals (de)briefings.
Phrynne wrote: "Trouble is Jasper Fforde just doesn't write fast enough:) ..."
So true Phrynne! :)
So I finished Moxyland by Lauren Beukes. I really liked it. I think I've read everything by her, but her most recent book, and GR doesn't want to hare the title of that one now.So I'm reading Dearest by Alethea Kontis the #3 in the Woodcutter sisters. This one among others, deals with the seven swan fairy tale.
Thank you Roberta, for your thoughts so far on The Golem of Hollywood.
Don wrote: "I'm thinking about reading "Mort" any input?"Read it! It is one of Sir Terry's best. There is a small lack of clarity in one episode near the end, that you probably won't notice unless you are a particularly careful reader. The resolution comes in a later book, but if you didn't notice, then you won't be bothered. Its GOOD!
On further reading in The Golem of Hollywood: I now have about 200 pages to go in this Golem-fable, alternate-Biblical-history, speculative fiction detective story. So far, I'm intrigued by the stories , fables, and alternate versions of Biblical history,which are now beginning to connect with the detective story in the modern world. The writing style in the mystery part of the novel reminds me of good Dean Koontz writing- perhaps the way Dean Koontz would write if he were Jewish or had a strong Jewish background. Some of the themes also remind me of Koontz, particularly his early short story about bugs. I wondered when Jacob's mother's Hebrew middle name (on her grave stone) would become significant, since it's not her English middle name. It happens to be the Yiddish version of my mother's name, so naturally I was interested. That Yiddish name has now become important in the story. I am enjoying this novel as speculative fiction, and as such, I don't expect likable characters or features that make a good action mystery police procedural, although those could be found in spec. fiction too. I don't know if I'll enjoy the rest of this book - I'll see.
I just finished Clade by James Bradley. It deals with climate change in the near future ( at the time of the 16th Doctor!!!) in a realistic way. I enjoyed it.My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished Finders Keepers about a week ago. It was on par with Mr. Mercedes.Then I started The Girl on the Train.
I started to read Neurovelho (Neuromancer) by William Gibson some few days back after finishing a classic (scifi) The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.
I'm finally getting around to continuing one of the series this group hooked me on and I'm about to finish the second book in the Black Company series "Shadows Linger"
Oh yeah, and before this I read "Old Man's War" by Scalzi...so now I have another series to continue.
I finished Legend by David Gemmell which I loved and was moved enough to actually write a review.Now I'm taking a break from genre with Cold Comfort Farm.
I finished Elantris by Brandon Sanderson which isn't his best book but is still very good indeed:)My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished Station Eleven in text. Ended up liking it more than I expected, especially after the first few days of reading. (My Review)I also finished The Price of Spring in audio. I really enjoyed this series. I'm kind of sad I finished it so quickly. (My Review)
After I finished The Golem of Hollywood I wrote a review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...I also commented on a question about a reference to a conference in "Calgary, Ontario". Calgary is in Alberta, and search engines replying to a search for Calgary Ontario show links to sites for Calgary and Ontario. Calgary doesn't seem like a reasonable setting for a conference of architects anyway, since if a large group of North American architects had met there the city might still have a few interesting, beautiful downtown neighbourhoods instead of becoming a forest of huge glass towers blocking even the river views from downtown.
In my review I emphasized that I wasn't expecting a typical detective novel, and that the ending is a set-up for a sequel, which I might or might not read. Since the listing for this book shows it as Detective Lev, #1, I understand why many readers would have expected the beginning of a detective series. I hadn't noticed that label when I chose the book, and when I put my copy back on my bookshelf in the rec room downstairs, I examined the cover again. The cover of my copy (c. 2014), culled from the library collection for its book sale table) I confirmed that it makes no mention of a Detective Lev series. If it had I might not have chosen the book, since I don't want to feel manipulated into expecting to commit to reading a series of books to finally understand the complete story. I do read some series, but only if I'm really interested in a book and then see another with some of the same characters that makes sense on its own, and eventually read all the books in the series but not usually in order. I wonder when The Golem of Hollywood became marketed as #1 in a series. No wonder so many readers were disappointed, since they reasonably expected a standard detective tale!
Now I'm reading "Slammerkin" by Emma Donoghue.
Hey all! I read a bunch of comics yesterday. Secret Six #2, Secret Six (2014-) #3, Thor #1, Thor #2, & Thor #3. They were all good. I can't wait to read more in those series, especially Thor. I'm itching to get the next issue.I'm continuing my comic binge with Adventure Time Vol. 1.
I think I am in the supreme minority not really liking Uprooted. I am actually really surprised I didn't before that I devoured books 1-5 of the Temeraire series and enjoyed them a lot. It was well written just couldn't get into the story or the characters for some reason. I am reading The Shadow Of What Was Lost about 75% through and loving it. Really impressive debut so far.
Ken, thanks for suggesting my next read, while I'm waiting for Robinson's "Aurora" to come in from inter library loan. I have a print copy of Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and Back Again.Oops! I just brought out the book and see that it's title is "From the Earth to the Moon and A Trip Around It".
You might be interested in one of my favourite short novels about man's first trip to the moon, Herman Wouk's "Lomokome Papers" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
a fantasy in the style of Swift and Erewhon ("lo makome" means "no place" in Hebrew) satirizing the age of the cold war with its threats of nuclear war.
Roberta wrote: "You might be interested in one of my favourite short novels about man's first trip to the moon, Herman Wouk's "Lomokome Papers"..."
It seems to be very hard to find.
It seems to be very hard to find.
I just finished His Majesty's Dragon and enjoyed it very much. I will continue with the series, hoping the other books are as good. But for now, I've started The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. I hope it's good. It's the author's first novel. Is anyone else going to read it?
Donna wrote: "But for now, I've started The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. I hope it's good. It's the author's first novel. Is anyone else going to read it?"I have it on my to-read, but I have no idea when I'll get around to reading it.
Here is my review of white night 9th book in Dresden files series.The review is spoilerish so don't read if you haven't read the book.
Way back in my teens, I started the Dune series and never finished it. I recently listened to the full-cast recording of Dune, and decided to go back and read/listen to the entire series (including the later titles co-written by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson).
The full cast Dune audiobook is awesome wished they did that with at least the rest of Frank's books but sure that's expensive to produce. If you liked that and haven't listened to it the Hyperion Audiobook is done the same way and is awesome too.
The full cast Dune audiobook is awesome wished they did that with at least the rest of Frank's books but sure that's expensive to produce. If you liked that and haven't listened to it the Hyperion Audiobook is done the same way and is awesome too.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Ghost King (other topics)This Perfect Day (other topics)
Our Dried Voices (other topics)
The Rabbit Back Literature Society (other topics)
I Am Crying All Inside and Other Stories (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Chuck Wendig (other topics)Elizabeth Bonesteel (other topics)
Kevin Hearne (other topics)
Ilona Andrews (other topics)
Trudi Canavan (other topics)
More...
I really enjoyed the first of the series. Hope to get read the second one soon!