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 2023?
After finishing Our Hideous Progeny, the most fun part about reading for me is choosing the next book! 😄 I'm finally starting my "re-read" of The Passage, which I did half-read a decade ago, but never finished because my library hold was ending. Now I own the entire series and you bet I'm going to enjoy and savour the whole thing!😋
Just read Starling House by Alix Harrow. This is a gothic fantasy with the decaying mansion set in the aptly mis-named Eden, Kentucky. The storytelling is excellent; it pulls you along (I gave up the afternoon football game to finish it). The mood (gloomy), setting (foreboding), and cast (problematic people) all work. The protagonist (Opal), who narrates most of the book, and the sole inhabitant of the mansion (Arthur) are two of the most exquisitely crafted anti-heroes I have read. The plot is carefully constructed from a tangle of threads, with unreliable narration from multiple sources slowly being pulled into focus as the story proceeds. See spoiler, if you want, for what I didn't like. (view spoiler) I would recommend this to anyone who likes gothic horror/fantasy and even if that is not your genre, the two leading characters are worth the read for people who like anti-heroes.
Since it's just one day until the end of the month, and I'm nowhere near finishing anything that's currently on my plate, here is yet another small monthly report:Ready Player One: this is definitely of the "more fun than it is good" school. After a slow beginning, the story gallops along with an online treasure hunt slathered heavily with Gen X pop media references. (review)
My Immortal: I recently joined the Patreon for "372 Pages We'll Never Get Back" and among their "bad book club" selections, MI was both readily available and short. Little did I know that this infamous piece of (view spoiler) terrible goth-Mary Sue-HP fanfic from the MySpace generation would send me down a week-long rabbit hole. I think it's purged now, and I can move on to other things. (review)
I read a few hundred pages of some other books, so this isn't as pathetic as it looks. I'm some ways through: Valley of the Dolls, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Nona the Ninth, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Dracula, The Devil is a Part-Timer! 1, The Land of the Moepek (another 372 Pages selection), and Network Effect. Um, that's pretty ridiculous now that I look at it. I should finish at least a couple of them before the end of next month....
Jan wrote: "I'm 60% through Crisis. It's starting to build momentum to (I hope) a grand finale. Definitely not to be read until you've read Part 1, Captive.I just finished N..."
I loved that book. I was really disappointed to find out that the recent film wasn't based on it.
Beth wrote: "Since it's just one day until the end of the month, and I'm nowhere near finishing anything that's currently on my plate, here is yet another small monthly report:Ready Player One:..."
Take an example from our little felines: try to hack up My Immortal like a bad hairball and move on 😹
Kirsten wrote: "Jan wrote: "I'm 60% through Crisis. It's starting to build momentum to (I hope) a grand finale. Definitely not to be read until you've read Part 1, Captive.I jus..."
It was good. I was thrilled that she only had us wait three weeks between books!
finished Miles Cameron's Traitor Son series beginning with The Red Knight
Book 12 in L.M. Modesitt's Saga of Recluce series = Wellspring of Chaos and started on book 13
Jo Clayton's Duel of Sorcery series ending with Changer's Moon
Continuing with
The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood which is kinda a mix of SF&F
The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence which will complete the TBR Challenge
Book 3 of Juliet E. McKenna's Green Man series = The Green Man's Silence
Kirsten wrote: "Jan wrote: "I'm 60% through Crisis. It's starting to build momentum to (I hope) a grand finale. Definitely not to be read until you've read Part 1, Captive.I just finished N..."
I loved that book. I was really disappointed to find out that the recent film wasn't based on it."
Do you mean Moonfall? I do remember liking the book years ago, but it's been a while. Hopefully I'll enjoy it again this time around.
Michelle wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "Jan wrote: "I'm 60% through Crisis. It's starting to build momentum to (I hope) a grand finale. Definitely not to be read until you've read Part 1, Captive.I jus..."
It was good. I was thrilled that she only had us wait three weeks between books!"
Yeah I'm liking it although taking my time with it. A pity it was split into two books, really. I feel like I lost momentum in between. But yes, the short period before #2 was released is definitely a plus if it did have to be split.
I went back to the first and reread the scene where...hmm. I don't want to spoil for anyone. Jan, you'll know what I'm referring to when I say that they dropped into a certain area of space. That way I built up proper dramatic momentum and jumped straight to Book 2.
Beth wrote: "Since it's just one day until the end of the month, and I'm nowhere near finishing anything that's currently on my plate, here is yet another small monthly report:Ready Player One:..."
Did you see the film version? I got bored by it in the end ...
I watch maybe one movie every two years, so no.
Stephen wrote: "Beth wrote: "Since it's just one day until the end of the month, and I'm nowhere near finishing anything that's currently on my plate, here is yet another small monthly report:[book:Ready Player ..."
I liked it fine. Luckily, I watched it long after I read the book so I couldn't tell if they screwed with the book too much.
This read I am reading the duology of Earthseed by Octavia E. ButlerEarlier this year I read Parable of the Sower with my GR classics group.
Now I am reading Parable of the Talents to complete the duology and to complete a challenge at another GR group.
The religion put off some of the classics group readers. It sounds more like a philosophy than a religion, sounds much like the bits of wisdom I have gathered over a lifetime, serves the story.
I liked Parables duology very much
Haven't read the book but the film version of Ready Player One is basically "Remember This? The Movie"
Yeah - what was all that recreation of The Shining about? Looks like they had a lot of fun, but ... ?
Michelle wrote: "I went back to the first and reread the scene where...hmm. I don't want to spoil for anyone. Jan, you'll know what I'm referring to when I say that they dropped into a certain area of space. That w..."Yeah good move. I kinda wish I'd done that too. Oh well, I'm well into it now.
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Brett wrote: "Haven't read the book but the film version of Ready Player One is basically "Remember This? The Movie""It's based on "Remember This? The Book" so that isn't surprising.
Just finished Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It was actually pretty good, for such an old book. Horror-wise, nope, rather tame since we now have seen much scarier movies and read scarier books. But as a tale of an inventor and his invention, pretty good. It's different than the movies, very little in the actual making of the 'monster', no electrical sparks, grave robbing, and no Igor/Eyegor! As I read, I caught other books 'borrowing' things from it. I am glad I read it!!Anyhoo, on to finish Cixin Lui's 3-body problem trilogy, starting the last book, Death's End.
Marc wrote: "Just finished Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It was actually pretty good, for such an old book. As I read, I caught other books 'borrowing' things from it."I just finished Our Hideous Progeny a couple of days ago, which is a love-letter and a tribute to Mary Shelley and Frankenstein. Might be fun to read it and see what the similarities are.
Nicky wrote: "Marc wrote: "Just finished Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It was actually pretty good, for such an old book. As I read, I caught other books 'borrowing' things from it."I just finished [book:Our Hi..."
Ooh, thanks for that! I've added it to my to-read/to-buy list! next October, I hope to be reading it!
Oh yes. I am reading/rereading some great Romantic works. Frankenstein is coming up for me too.
It's based on "Remember This? The Book" so that isn't surprising."
Kind of like Psych TV show with all the references. I watched the RPO movie first then read the book. I didn't get a lot of the references. I think in high school we read The Waste Land which was just packed with references. Anyway, I digress.
After a string of pretty heavy (but good) books, I am now reading Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann, which is a mystery where a flock of sheep try to solve their shepherd's murder. It's fun so far. I'm also listening to We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis Taylor, which I am also enjoying. The narrator does a great job with the main character's voice, and it has a lot of humor in it.
That's a very cute concept. Not sure if it would sustain me for a whole book though!
Cynda wrote: "Oh yes. I am reading/rereading some great Romantic works. Frankenstein is coming up for me too."A couple of years ago I read Jude Morgan's Passion: A Novel of the Romantic Poets, a somewhat dark and intense but powerful and very interesting read. Basically follows the intertwined lives of some of the Romantic poets and in particular, the women who loved them, including the likes of Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein), her mother Mary Wollstonecraft (author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women), Augusta Leigh (half-sister of Byron), Caro Lamb (who became obsessed with Byron), Fanny Brawne (who loved the doomed poet Keats).
If you are interested in this cast of extraordinary, brilliant and eccentric real-life characters, it's well worth a read. It is rather dark though.
Well, The Beetle was weird. Good on atmosphere (Gothic), bad on plot, decent on character - surprisingly strong female character, as it were. It jumps from character to character in 1st person, following a very murky mystery involving pseudoscience and scientific racism (1897 after all).Starting on Three Bags Full. I'm very reminded of Watership Down. There's a lot more going on here than is let on at first.
I'm reading Robert McCammon's new Matthew Corbett book Seven Shades of Evil. It's dense! I was surprised that it's not a novel, though; it's comprised of short stories and novellas. Anything in that series is fine by me, though.
Just completed my decennial rereading of Harry Potter. Time to put them away for another decade. Next up is Baldree's Bookshops & Bonedust.
That's a good idea. Have not revisited Harry Potter since the series ended!
I completed the next two Star Wars titles and am currently reading the Adventures of Han Solo, followed by the Adventures of Lando Calrissan.
Oleksandr wrote: "Marc wrote: "A side note, I'm curious, will there be any fiction about vampires more based on real folk tales from the Balkans or Slav lands, after all Brem Stocker created a sexy Dracula from a story that was much more gruesom"Both Frankenstein and Dracula seems to have all had their foundations in Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelly, Lord Byron. and Byron's doctor John Polidori when they were all vacationing together. Apparently ugly weather kept them cooped up in their villa, so they passed the time reading horror stories/poems, and challenged each other to write something better than those stories/poems. Frankenstein was born there (later fleshed out into a book), and Polidori wrote 'the Vampyre' which is, of course, about a vampire!, It is might have been a seed to Bram Stoker's Dracula, which was published about 70 years later. No mummy/werewolf though, I at least not that I'm aware of!
Great anecdote. A whole genre spawned from one vacation!
I've started reading The Starless Sea. It seems to have more of a plot than The Night Circus (which I enjoyed quite a lot). The universe is interesting so far, and everything is very mysterious - at 18%. I'll see how it goes ;)
Reading an old classic, Little Fuzzy, by H. Beam Piper in anticipation of reading Fuzzy Nation, by Scalzi
Quantum of Nightmares
by Charles StrossLaundry Files #11, New Management #2. Gone are the Laundry Files, gone is Bob and his wife Mo and everybody else. It's now the New Management who rules England and it's horrible. Now this particular book has about 4 or 5 balls in the air at the same time, which is too many, and none of the characters are close to lovable old Bob. I've been reading the series in order, loved it until New Management started, and I'm now done. 2 stars.
DivaDiane wrote: "Reading an old classic, Little Fuzzy, by H. Beam Piper in anticipation of reading Fuzzy Nation, by Scalzi"Love that series!
I finished Moonfall by Jack McDevitt. A classic disaster epic from 1998. A comet is going to hit the moon. What will happen?????? I read and liked this years ago, and found on this reread it was just as entertaining. Well-paced and quite gripping. 4 stars.
BTW as someone already pointed out, this is NOT the book of the 2022 film Moonfall, which is apparently a totally different beast.
Jan wrote: "I finished Moonfall by Jack McDevitt. A classic disaster epic from 1998. A comet is going to hit the moon. What will happen?????? I read and liked this years ago, and found on this ..."
reminds me of the two Bladerunners.
Finished Bookshops and Bonedust (Baldree) last night. A fun romp that left me feeling good. During the insomnia time this morning, read 'Toons for Our Times (Breathed). That is the latter half of 1983 Bloom County cartoons. It was a nice reminder of when I was younger.
Not sure what is next. Will look through the bookcases later today.
I've been listening to The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist's Warning by Peter J. Hotez. Only about half way through, but fascinating.
This is a topic I think about and am deeply disturbed about as well.
I've just finished John Scalzi's "The Katsu Preservation Society". It's very geeky and bonkers but great fun. A page turner and clever.
Anne wrote: "I've just finished John Scalzi's "The Katsu Preservation Society". It's very geeky and bonkers but great fun. A page turner and clever."I liked this one a lot, too :)
KPS was a lot of fun. A reddit thread on black authors spurred me to pick up The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps yesterday so that's my next read.
Alexandra wrote: "Anne wrote: "I've just finished John Scalzi's "The Katsu Preservation Society". It's very geeky and bonkers but great fun. A page turner and clever."I liked this one a lot, too :)"
What's the synopsis?
I liked Old Man's War
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SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
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I just finished Nia Forrester's new book, Reversible Error. A decent defense lawyer/whodunnit/murder mystery. 4 stars. This one should also probably be read after #1, Jane Doe Black for better continuity.
I'm starting a reread of a book I read years ago, Moonfall. A classic disaster story written in 1999. A meteor is going to hit the moon! Eek! Funnily enough, I noticed when I cracked open the pages (of the paperback), the story starts off in April 2024. Whoah. I guess that seemed pretty far away in 1999 lol. I've always had a soft spot for McDevitt's brand of space adventure, especially the Hutch books (The Engines of God). Not sure whether I'll be able to stay the course with Moonfall this time around though. We'll see.