SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
SciFi and Fantasy Book Challenge
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MauQ's Challenge Log - comments welcome
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📚2022 Books:📖 Getting the Love You Want : A Guide for Couples, Harville Hendrix (paperback)
This was recommended to me by a friend, and interested me with it's theory, that we choose our life partners in order to resolve issues from our childhood. So, we might unconsciously choose a partner who is much like our father or our mother and the issues with that parent from childhood will arise again, and this time, with a partner, we are hoping to change the old patterns. Definitely an interesting theory and I do find my partner eerily similar to my mother haha but I did not agree with everything in this book. At times the author seemed too sure of his theory, at other times the exercises given by him to couples in counselling (which he recounts) seem a bit silly or limited, but it's still a good book and teaches a lot about relationships, active listening and not being guided by anger when resolving issues in relationships and it gives some practical tips - 3/5.
📖 Living the Hero's Journey: Exploring Your Role in the Action-Adventure of a Lifetime, Will Craig (audiobook) .
I enjoy metaphors and books on personal development, but lately, I noticed that I might have run out of new things I can learn from books in this genre. There is much waffling going on and repeating of a main concept, which could be explained in half the time. In this book, too much focus was placed on comparisons of the hero's journey to movies. It could have been much deeper but sadly, wasn't. In a similar theme, I enjoyed The Map: Finding the Magic and Meaning in the Story of Your Life by Colette Baron-Reid much, much more, as it really dwelled into the fantasy metaphor and applied it to our individual life stages - 2/5.
📖 The Second Mountain, David Brooks (audiobook).
It's a book about making the best of the second half of life. Or at least, that's what it promises to do. The premise about how our first mountain in life is gaining success and our second mountain is after we realise, that success is not actually the most important thing to focus on, is quite interesting to me and something I can identify with. Sadly, only about two chapters in the book actually are about that. The other chapters are full of tips on relationships, marriage mostly, community and there is a lot about religion. It's not necessarily a bad book, but it seems like the author didn't know how to market it, it comes across as a confused volume, a bit of everything. I found myself irritated that the author didn't talk more about what was promised in the blurb. I later noticed, later editions have an addition to the title ':how to live a moral life' (or something to that effect), now, that fits the actual contents better. A good book for someone who would like some relationship or spiritual advice - 2/5
📖 The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level, Gay Hendricks (audiobook).
The concept of this book is that we can achieve anything in life if we do not sabotage ourselves with limiting beliefs. It aims to motivate to let go of the 'upper limit', a point at which, we have deeply rooted, unconscious beliefs that we can not gain any more success. A good concept but the author lost me when he started stating that illnesses and any misfortune are our fault as well, as we bring on those things due to the 'upper limit theory'. Hm. A bit like a twisted version of 'the secret' sort of ideology. I liked the concept, but not how far the author went to explain anything in life by it, even if sometimes true, there was no room for other explanations as the book went on. There was a lot of repeating - 2/5.
📖I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett (paperback).
So far it was my least favourite Terry Pratchett's novel, I struggled with reading dialogue with a Scottish (ish) dialect, and, more importantly, the plot seemed disorganised, not just the usual Discworld novel joyfully disorganised, it didn't click for me, with the exception for a good beginning and a very enjoyable ending, which made me just about give the book - 3/5.
📖 A Song of Shadow (The Bard from Barliona #2) by Vasily Mahanenko (audiobook).
This sequel disappointed me. The original story of Barliona, which is a fantasy world of a virtual reality MMO RPG, was initially introduced in a great series called 'The Way of The Shaman'. A series which made me fall in love with litRPG genre. I really enjoyed getting back into this world with a new set of characters in a spin off series about 'A Bard from Barliona', the first book was very enjoyable and I was looking forwards to seeing the plant bard character evolve. Sadly, the sequel seemed to have omitted the parts I really looked forwards to learning more about and drawn out parts which didn't add as much to the overall story, in my opinion, a mixed bag - 3/5.
📖 Good Morning, Good Life: 5 Simple Habits to Master Your Mornings and Upgrade Your Life, Amy Schmittauer Landino (audiobook)
I really wanted some solid tips and ideas, some research on habits that would help with organising the day better by making the best of the mornings. The book was limited though, as the author often spoke about things she admitted, she knew little about (like having kids or having health issues), it was also very limited to the author's experience and preferences, without looking at other people, let alone looking at more research on things that could work (or not), on a larger scale - 2/5.
📖 Our HouseOur House, Louise Candlish (audiobook) .
This book begins with the main character coming home, to find strangers moving in! I thought 'Our House' would be much better, but the plot was all over the place. I only loved the beginning, it went downhill from there - 3/5.
📖 How to Break Up with Your Friends: Finding Meaning, Connection, and Boundaries in Modern Friendships, Erin Falconer.
I started reading it as I received a new credit on audible (was supposed to be paused but one slipped through). I was trying to focus on the already started titles, but I do love this topic so couldn't help myself and added to the already started challenge.. 😅. It was an enjoyable and informative read - 4/5.
📖 The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary.
The blurb says: they share a bed, but they've never met. Two people sharing a flat but they work different shifts. I remember seeing a sci-fi movie long ago with this premise, half a colony asleep whilst others worked, forgot the title 🤔. It was a pleasant surprise as I liked it more than I expected! Enjoyed the story and the voice actors were very entertaining to listen to, sucked me into the story. It was funny, a nice, romantic comedy, not what I usually read but really enjoyed it - 5/5.
📖 Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives, Gretchen Rubin (audiobook).
I was expecting it to be more informative - 3/5.
📖 Life Time: The New Science of the Body Clock, and How It Can Revolutionise Your Sleep and Health by Russell Foster (audiobook).
Very informative and packed with science and research, no fluff - 4/5.
📖 Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World (Dewey Readmore), Vicki Myron (paperback) 😸.
A very touching story, I really enjoyed finding out about the library's cat's habits, his rescue story, how he touched the whole town and even the rest of the world. The book included information about Iowa, history about the town Dewey was from, which I found very interesting and it also included the family story of the lady who found and took care of Dewey, which was a rather sad part of the book, two last chapters were emotional, overall a heart-warming story - 4/5.
💡 Bonus book outside the challenge: Unlearn: 101 Simple Truths for a Better Life, Humble the Poet (audiobook)
I enjoyed listening to Humble speak, he definitely has charisma and is funny but I was expecting more from this book - 3/5.
I think this year's reads put me off from personal development type books a bit, I enjoy that genre but I suspect I will be way more picky with choosing them in the future.
🥳 I was short a few books on the previous year's list. Now I have the whole year so hoping to crush it. This year I am focusing on my already owned books in various formats and finishing already started series.
📚📚📚
2023 TBR Cleanup Challenge
Prompts Completed: 11/20
✔️1. Only one - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, Kate Wilhelm (paperback). This was the last, only prompt I had left to figure out when putting the list together.
✔️ 2. Binary -
✔️ 3. Three's company -
4. Four corners of the earth - Eric (Discworld #9), Terry Pratchett (paperback). It reminded me of four elephants in four corners of Discworld holding up the Great space turtle, A'Tuin. From Discworld Wiki: "Great A'Tuin, the World Turtle, of the species Chelys galactica, is the gigantic turtle upon whose back the Discworld was carried through space. The Disc does not rest directly on A'Tuin; instead, it rests on the shoulders of four immense elephants, Berilia, Tubul, Great T'Phon and Jerakeen, who stand atop the turtle's shell."
5. Five Finger Discount - The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World, Peter Wohlleben (paperback). Before I knew what the phrase meant, it made me think of humans and how we tend to think everything is owed to us, like a discount. So I thought I would choose a book about creatures who are more noble, more humble, like, trees.
✔️6. At sixes and sevens - Exodus: How Migration Is Changing Our World, Paul Collier (audiobook). Another phrase I didn't know! I couldn't find a book for this prompt. so I looked up it's meaning at which point it made me think of this title. Migration being a confusing phenomenon, encompassing so many factors, leaving those who migrate in disarray and world of those who are stationary, forever changed. (A subject close to my heart as I moved countries as a teenager, and later, once more as an adult, having now lived abroad for half my life).
7. Showstopper - The Last Wish (The Witcher # 0.5), Andrzej Sapkowski (paperback). I will be reading the original Polish version. I started this series whilst at uni, borrowed from my flatmate and I read a few volumes and loved it, the show got stopped though, as my dissertation due date was looming and I had to ask my flatmate not to lend me more volumes, so I could study. Finally coming back to it now, ordered from Poland a few years back to keep in my own collection.
✔️8. Book page total ends in an 8 -
✔️9. Nine-to-five - The Calling: A 12-Week Science-Based Program to Discover, Energize, and Engage Your Soul’s Work, Julia Mossbridge (e-book). I think I read this one already, maybe never finished, either way, can't remember it. It's about discovering your calling and made me think about avoiding standard 9 to 5 jobs, which might not fulfil us, instead thinking of creative solutions.
✔️10. Top 10 - Ten Things About Writing: Build Your Story, One Word at a Time, Joanne Harris (audiobook). Another one of unfinished 2022 TBR Challenge reads.
✔️11. From the library -
12. Let's try this again - Biomolecular Archaeology: An Introduction, Terry Brown (paperback). A university textbook, which I really enjoyed, introducing concepts of ancient DNA among other amazing concepts in archaeological science. Whilst at uni, I never had a chance to read it from cover to cover with no looming deadlines and I wanted to do that since.
✔️13. Sweet Revenge - The Eyes of the Dragon, Stephen King (paperback). One of the books my dad gave me a couple of years ago when he was clearing out some of his fantasy and sci-fi book collection, I completely forgotten about it, until this challenge. I had to search my bookshelf and read blurbs for this prompt, as I was out of ideas. This book's Polish version's prompt got me very intrigued, "Flagg, one of the most notorious living mages, knew all poisons, and each one was more deadly than the other. But the worst of all of the poisons was kept away even from those ones. He had a desk in his office, each of it's drawers locked. One had a triple lock. Inside lie a box inscribed with intricate symbols and runes. And inside it lie Dragon Sand, for which there is no cure. It comes from the deserts of Grenh. You can only get close to Grenh when there is no wind. As one breath of the Sand is enough to kill. But not right away. Only after a few days, the lungs get burnt, skin will emit smoke and the entire body will shrink like that of a mummy's. At which point the person will fall lifeless with their hair in flames. Flagg, in the darkness, unseen, started to laugh. In a cage, hanging on long, black shackles a two headed parrot woke up. Death! - screamed one head. Murder! - screamed the other." . One of the best blurbs ever for me, I think this will fit nicely 🧪☠, I didn't know what this book was about, so I am grateful for this prompt leading me to it! (I translated this blurb from my Polish edition, so apologies if somethings sounds off, suffice to say, King wrote that better, I think it's an excerpt from the novel, but I haven't found that particular blurb in the English editions.
14. Technical Challenge - The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century, Ian Mortimer (paperback). I mean, time travel is always a bit of a technical challenge. This book is all about visualising the past as if it was a real destination, with descriptions of smells, sights, places to stay etc. I only read a bit of it for an essay whilst studying and wanted to read it fully from a few years' time.
15. My old friend - The Story Of York, Alan Avery (paperback). A short history of the city of York, England. I keep meaning to read it, I get through a couple pages, then forget to continue! And it's so short it's silly not to finish it. It might be as each part sparks me into research mode about this fact or the other. York is a city I fell in love with when I was 16 years old, visiting for a Viking Festival. It's full of history.
16. Scrumptious - Food: A Cultural Culinary History, Ken Albala (audiobook).
17. Cover with text only, no images. The Unreal and the Real Volume 2: Outer Space, Inner Lands, Ursula K. Le Guin (paperback). Some swirly graphic are there but I think it fits the bill.
✔️18. Around the Shelf -
19. Bingeworthy - Anne's House of Dreams (Anne of Green Gables #5), L.M. Montgomery (paperback). The only book for this challenge which I have yet to purchase. I am thoroughly enjoying this series and looking forwards with each volume, to find out what the next chapter of Anne's life will be like. This one is about her adult, married life I believe.
✔️ 20. Zero to hero -
Additionally, I am planning a couple more reads, one story with a spiritual message I haven't finished from 2022 TBR Challenge and one political themed book, which I wanted to add to this list, but it didn't fit the prompts. So overall aiming for 22 books this year. Wish me luck :)
Completed:
January - March
4/5
4/5
3/5April - May
5/5
5/5
3/5June - August
2/5
3/5October - November
4/5
4/5
3/5Books read outside the challenge:
3/5
4/5
2/5
4/5
4/5
4/5
3/5 
4/5
4/5
3/5
4/5
3/5
3/5
5/5 
3/5
4/5
I also have the Time Traveler’s Guide on my TBR. Will you let me knowWhen you are starting it and I’ll join you, if I can?
That's a fascinating set of choices. Good luck!Oh - I've wondered about the 4 elephants holding up Discworld. How did they get there? What are they thinking? What do they eat and drink? Whose idea was this anyway? I'm hoping that this is all in a book that I haven't gotten to yet.
DivaDiane wrote: "I also have the Time Traveler’s Guide on my TBR. Will you let me knowWhen you are starting it and I’ll join you, if I can?"
Sure, a nice idea :D What do you think of next month sometime?
I think there are more guides in that series, each on different time period, if this one is really good I'll look at the others too in the future.
Raucous wrote: "That's a fascinating set of choices. Good luck!Oh - I've wondered about the 4 elephants holding up Discworld. How did they get there? What are they thinking? What do they eat and drink? Whose ide..."
Thank you :) I am looking forwards to it! For now, still finishing last years' two unfinished reads.
Haha, right? Pratchett keeps teasing how there are other theories about the Discworld but so far I've seen more about the space turtle than the elephants. I am on novel #8 in the series but have read a few out of order. Terry had quite an imagination! I also wonder about the elephants and how they survive and how did they get there and how do they just remain so stationary, A'Tuin at least is actually traversing the galaxy and has his life purpose. I do have The Fifth Elephant on my shelf, that one should say more about them I presume. Although the focus will be on the fifth elephant, which was supposed to join the four in holding the disc, but instead he crushed somewhere else. I read that on that Wiki page yesterday, which indicates I guess, that they came somewhere from space to hold the Disc. If I find more about this whole arrangement from one of the books in the series I will let you know :). Which book in the series are you on? Or are you reading whichever volume you get your hands on?
Edit: Just read the Fifth Elephant blurb, no mention of the actual elephant, so perhaps, not about them after all 🙈.
Actually, I’m not really free to read it until March probably. Can you wait until then? Also, it’s an eye-read for me, which is terribly slow right now because I can only manage a few pages a day before I go to sleep. I’ll do my best to keep up though!
DivaDiane wrote: "Actually, I’m not really free to read it until March probably. Can you wait until then? Also, it’s an eye-read for me, which is terribly slow right now because I can only manage a few pages a day b..."No problem, let's do it then :) Ah, I'm not that quick with paperbacks either, I think the last one took me about two months to read, I only read paperbacks most of the time right before bed for a short while. Sometimes, when I really want to read more, I will sit and read over the weekend. I listen to audio books whilst being mobile so I complete them way faster, more opportunities to do so.
MauQ wrote: "... Edit: Just read the Fifth Elephant blurb, no mention of the actual elephant, so perhaps, not about them after all 🙈."Too bad. I was holding out hope for that one.
My spouse is a Discworld superfan, so we have all of the Pratchett-authored Discworld books. It looks like I've read about 2/3 of them. I read the first couple in publication order back when they were originally published. Then I lost track of the series for a few decades and, when I picked it up again, started reading by character arc. The Watch novels are the one arc where I haven't made much progress so I've got a ways to go to get to The Fifth Elephant.
Same with me and audiobooks! So let’s revisit toward the end of February. I should have a better idea of what I can manage then.
DivaDiane wrote: "Same with me and audiobooks! So let’s revisit toward the end of February. I should have a better idea of what I can manage then."Hi there Diane, I'm still battling my way through 6 books at the moment, whenever one hit a lull I kept starting new ones haha, now most of them are at a slightly slower bit and I'm trying to get past that. Will check up mid March to see if most of them are completed by then, if so, can start a couple new titles including the medieval book we were talking about. How about you, how is your reading going at the moment?
Regards
Hey there! We’ll, I’m at about the same juncture as you. Too many books in progress! Glad to give it another couple of weeks. 😌
I hope the books you’re reading pick up.
📚2023 Books:📖 The Midnight Library Matt Haig (audiobook)
4/5I enjoyed it. It was disappointing that the cat did not play as central of a role as I imagined 😮. It is an engaging story, which prompts to think about life choices, presented from the perspective of the heroine. Without getting into spoiler territory, I really liked the whole concept of the library and the various stories in the book.
📖 The Search for Hidden, Sacred Knowledge Dolores Cannon (e-book/audiobook)
4/5Started reading this a couple of years ago as an e-book and I really loved the first few chapters back then. Coming back to it after a while, it had some more interesting stories and some, which I found a bit dull. Maybe I was just not in the right mind-space for another Dolores Cannon book at this moment though, they have a rather particular POV, which means extra work to imagine the stories behind the conversations with the author's clients. Ended up switching to an audio version around halfway through.
📖 Conversations With Nostradamus: His Prophecies Explaned, Vol. 1
3/5Not quite as engaging as I was hoping for but I enjoyed it. The newer prophecies might be more interesting to me, so I might pick up the final tome of this series. The final part of the book with some additions, explaining what had happened since the book was originally published was my favourite part, with different theories as to what might have already transpired and some clearer timelines.
📖 Sidewinders Robert V.S. Redick
5/5An instant favourite, loved this audiobook. This was better than the 1st of the series for me and I am eagerly waiting for the 3rd! Might be a while still though... ugh. I felt like I was travelling through the desert with them, so well written, each stop, each part of the journey vibrant and with exciting turn of events. Each stop a chance for some character development.
📖 Peaches for Monsieur le Curé Joanne Harris
5/5Totally different from the second book in the series, I loved this one, an instant favourite! Kept me at the edge of my seat, couldn't put it down. So many mysteries! And scents and spices and deliciousness in between the suspense.
📖 A Scheme of Heaven: Astrology and the Birth of Science Alexander Boxer
3/5Not quite what I was looking for. Some insights and information on various key figures were useful but the book was organised in a somewhat chaotic fashion. Detailed maths was given a fair bit of focus at times, at other the book felt aimed at absolute beginners to the subject, a mixed bag.
📖 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, Kate Wilhelm (paperback).
4/5I enjoyed it, but I wish it was a bit longer and explored stories of a few of the characters at more depth, instead of leaving the ending open at certain points in the story.
📖 Exodus: How Migration Is Changing Our World, Paul Collier.
3/5Started well but soon turned out disappointing for me. I was hoping for a more comprehensive outline of the subject but instead, this book focused on economics predominantly, despite it promising otherwise.
📖 The Calling: A 12-Week Science-Based Program to Discover, Energize, and Engage Your Soul’s Work, Julia Mossbridge.
2/5The Calling wasn't to my liking personally. I didn't remember anything from it, despite reading it before. I think I now know, if a self help type book promises too much, such as providing information in a spiritual package but in a scientific way, probably it won't deliver sadly. It was more into affirmative thinking, positive thinking, encouraging to figure out what to choose as a calling but I found the process it laid out lacking. Maybe because I read too many similar books so now I hardly ever find anything new in such titles. It had weekly exercises and I found a few of them helpful but I don't think it helped me choose which thing to focus on from my interests to call my main 'calling'. I again can't remember much from its contents beyond that after my second reading, it went over my head again. I do wish it did do what it promised well, that would have been very helpful.
📖 Ten Things About Writing: Build Your Story, One Word at a Time, Joanne Harris.
4/5A good selection of tips. I had to stop reading halfway through as I realised I'm not memorising much, since the chapters are short and filled with selected bullet points. I re-read and took notes instead. I wish some chapters were more in-depth but that was not what the book was supposed to be, since it is a selection of tips originally posted on Tweeter, put together for a book. Surprisingly to me, I found the last chapters the most interesting, which gave a lot of useful insights into what to do after you write your book regarding all aspects of publishing, editing, promoting etc.
📖 The Eyes of the Dragon, Stephen King.
3/5I really enjoyed it, but it had too much animal cruelty mentions for me, which I particularly don't like in books, and maybe a few too many boogers and such. Without as much animal suffering it would have been a 4 for me.
💡 Books read outside the challenge (books from other challenges or unread 2022 TBR challenge titles etc.):
Friending: Creating Meaningful, Lasting Adult Friendships Gina Handley (audiobook)
3/5Written more simply than I would have liked, it did not dwell into the subject too deeply, would have been better for a younger reader, who is starting to think about the subject of creating lasting friendships.
Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends Marisa G. Franco PhD (audiobook)
4/5An informative read, I found one chapter more dull but other than that, enjoyed it. It is a well researched book, the author is a psychologist. I am looking for books on the subject matter of non-romantic relationships from a more psychological standpoint than simply personal experience, they are not so easy to find.
Grace: A powerful story about discovering your purpose and finding true happiness. Christine Friel McGrory
2/5The sort of story which The Midnight Library did better. This felt too forced, not quite a novel, not quite a spiritual guide book.
Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody by Helen Pluckrose
4/5A good introduction to different movements in history and theory and how they shaped the debate. Presented all sides well I thought.
Weyward by Emilia Hart
4/5A good story about witches and women and how hey struggled and persevered.
Master Assassins Robert V.S. Redick
4/5 Re-read to have the events fresh in my mind for book 2. I liked it as much as I did the first time around if not more.
Orfeia Joanne M Harris
3/5Didn't realise this would actually be a fairy tale, I was expecting a dark, emotional more typical type of novel with more character development and more magical realism or whatnot.
The Strawberry Thief Joanne Harris
4/5I enjoyed this, but the 3rd in this series in unrivalled for me. 2nd and 4th had villains whom I did not find very convincing but it's always a joy to check in on Vianne and her close ones.
A Sick Life: TLC 'n Me: Stories from On and Off the Stage, Tionne Watkins
4/5An inspirational story of how one of the singers from the band TLC managed a serious illness and succeeded despite it. Some insights on bad practices in the music industry too.
Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life, Christie Tate
3/5I thought it would give a bit of a story and educate on what group therapy can be like. Instead the story read more like fiction. If this therapist was real, hm, some of his behaviours were questionable.
How to Be a Friend: An Ancient Guide to True Friendship, Marcus Tullius Cicero
4/5I really enjoyed this bit of wisdom coming from a historic figure who lived nearly 2000 years ago. Very relatable, which is fascinating. I will definitely read more of his writings.
Science of Friendship, Kyler Shumway
3/5Didn't add much new information or taken an interesting point of view etc.
Windswept & Interesting: My Autobiography, Billy Connolly
3/5Some interesting an funny stories but written in a chaotic way in terms of why certain things and not others were included.
Big Book of Reincarnation: Examining the Evidence That We Have All Lived Before (Paperback) - Common, Roy Stemman
5/5It surprised me that i liked this book as much as I have. It is a good book of case studies of people who claimed to have remembered their past lives, a good scientific approach to the data analysed. I felt like watching a documentary with various stories and looking at supporting evidence on whether it might be proven to be true beyond the story, like names, places, facts that only that person could have known. Very interesting and a good introduction to the subject.
Dirty Laundry: Why Adults with ADHD Are So Ashamed and What We Can Do to Help, Richard Pink &
Roxanne Emery
3/5I enjoy YouTube shorts by this couple but the book was very basic, more for someone who is only starting to look at this subject. I need a more in depth book about ADHD.
Project Daily Grind, Alexey Osadchuk
4/5A litRPG series about a character who does not start out with doing combat, he is just trying to work in order to earn some real life money to help his daughter. An interesting world, I enjoyed the story and will be continuing the series.
Hi! Your update popped into my feed, so I thought I’d check in. I’d really like to finish Babel before I start a new book. Not sure how long that will take. A week? Maybe less? I have 8 hours left. After that I could either start The Time Traveler’s Guide or a different book (Contact), which is relatively short and shouldn’t take me longer than 5-7 days.
What do you think?
DivaDiane wrote: "Hi! Your update popped into my feed, so I thought I’d check in. I’d really like to finish Babel before I start a new book. Not sure how long that will take. A week? Maybe less? I have 8 hours lef..."
Hi Diane! I'm nearly done with a few of my titles, so will be starting something new in the next few days, I had Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris in mind as my next paperback novel and The Calling: A 12-Week Science-Based Program to Discover, Energize, and Engage Your Soul’s Work as my next e-book. I'm happy to also get started on The Time Traveller's Guide soon, I don't mind if it's in one or two weeks time. Just drop me a line when you get started, I'll get started soon too. :) What's Contact about? Sci-fi? I expect to be reading The Time Traveler’s Guide for a while either way, as I have read too many non-fiction/history/political/self-help etc. titles recently and feel the need to focus more on novels whilst having more serious titles going on slowly in the background.
I'm conflicted what to choose as my next audiobook 🤔
Either Weyward: Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, seems to be about witches, or Orfeia: a beautiful and tragic quest as a heartbroken mother sets out to save her lost daughter, through the realms of the real, of dream, and even into the underworld itself. To save something precious, she must give up something precious, be it a song, a memory, or her freedom itself, alternatively, a fantasy series continuation Sidewinders (continuation of Master Assassins), a long story about a journey of two brothers: two village boys mistaken for assassins become the decisive figures in the battle for a continent in the thrilling new desert-based epic fantasy. It focuses on the journey, landscapes, camping etc, it reminds me of The Lord of the Rings adventuring style. Hmm.... Can't make up my mind.
Sounds good. I’ll let you know how I get on and give you a heads up when I’m about to get to it. Those books sound interesting.
Yes, Contact is SF. It’s the SFFBC’s SF group read this month. It’s about scientists that listen for signals from aliens and one day get them. But much more than that. I’ve watched the movie with Jodie Foster, which was great.
DivaDiane wrote: "Sounds good. I’ll let you know how I get on and give you a heads up when I’m about to get to it. Those books sound interesting.
Yes, Contact is SF. It’s the SFFBC’s SF group read this month. It..."
Hi Diane,
I'm about to start the Medieval Guide today or tomorrow :)) I saw you enjoyed Babel :))
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Big Book of Reincarnation: Examining the Evidence that We Have All Lived Before (other topics)Windswept & Interesting: My Autobiography (other topics)
Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life (other topics)
How to Be a Friend: An Ancient Guide to True Friendship (other topics)
A Sick Life: TLC 'n Me: Stories from On and Off the Stage (other topics)
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2022 TBR Cleanup Challenge
Prompts Completed: 13/18
✔ 1. Dressed to the nines -
I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett (paperback)chose due to the book title - 3/5.✔ 2. A little slice of heaven -
A Song of Shadow (The Bard from Barliona #2) by Vasily Mahanenko (audiobook)chose because the main character was able to visit, let's say, a type of heaven - 3/5.✔ 3. ???
Living the Hero's Journey: Exploring Your Role in the Action-Adventure of a Lifetime, Will Craig (audiobook)A book, which didn't fit any prompts - 2/5.✔ 4. Thorns and roses -
Getting the Love You Want : A Guide for Couples, Harville Hendrix (paperback)A book about marriage and counselling seems like a good fit, the good and the bad in relationships and life in general - 3/5.
✔ 5. Of its time -
Good Morning, Good Life: 5 Simple Habits to Master Your Mornings and Upgrade Your Life, Amy Schmittauer Landino (audiobook)A book about managing time and also something that is a popular topic nowadays - 2/5.
✔ 6. "Humans are doing the best they can"
The Second Mountain, David Brooks (audiobook). It's a book about making the best of the second half of life - 2/5.✔ 7. "Revolution is in the individual spirit"-
The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level, Gay Hendricks (audiobook). The concept of this book is that we can achieve anything in life if we do not sabotage ourselves with limiting beliefs - 2/5.✔ 8. Fluffy! -
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World (Dewey Readmore), Vicki Myron (paperback). A book about a fluffy cat 😸 - 4/5.✔ 9. I need a nap! -
Life Time: The New Science of the Body Clock, and How It Can Revolutionise Your Sleep and Health by Russell Foster (audiobook). A book about sleep - 4/5.✔ 10. Nein -
Our HouseOur House, Louise Candlish (audiobook). Chosen as this book begins with the main character coming home, to find strangers moving in! She is obviously very alarmed - 3/5.✔ 11. 9 or 22 * -
Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives, Gretchen Rubin (audiobook).Reason for choosing: This audiobook is 9 hrs long (only noticed the Hobbit reference in the prompt later, duh! :P) - 3/5.✔ 12. Why not both? -
The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary. Reason for choosing: the blurb says: they share a bed, but they've never met - 5/5.✔ 13. One for the clubhouse -
How to Break Up with Your Friends: Finding Meaning, Connection, and Boundaries in Modern Friendships, Erin Falconer.. A club of female friendships, or club of lost friendships - 4/5.Unfinished (5):
14. Head in the clouds - Ten Things About Writing: Build Your Story, One Word at a Time, Joanne Harris (audiobook, started)
A book about writing, and therefore, imagination.
15. Cover with distinct art style - Grace, Christine Friel McGrory (e-book, started)
16. Seasonal - Peaches for Monsieur le Curé
(Chocolat #3), Joanne Harris (paperback). Fruit.
17. Don't be suspicious - Search For Hidden Sacred Knowledge, Dolores Cannon (e-book)
Hidden knowledge, a bit of pseudo-science, but how amazing (and scary!) would it be if it were true and even if not, the stories are great for me.
Dolores Cannon bases her stories on what her patients said whilst under hypnosis. She goes into the scope of aliens, ancient times, different planets. I think you don't have to believe her claims to be able to enjoy the fantasy/sci-fi themed rich stories. It would make a great movie.
18. Book with nine lives - The Midnight Library, Matt Haig (audiobook). Chose as a cat is involved (view spoiler)[ and from the intro, it seems he becomes a ghost or something of the sorts. (hide spoiler)]
September:
October:
November:
December:
Unfinished:
Books read outside the challenge:
Congratulations to everyone on their completed reads and I am looking forwards to the 2023 challenge :D 🎉