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?
I finished Little Fuzzy and now I’m reading Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi.
Beginning The Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge, Peter Schrijvers. Just finished a good novel (Three Bags Full) and a mediocre history (Decision at St. Vith).
DivaDiane wrote: "I finished Little Fuzzy and now I’m reading Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi."I read Fuzzy Nation earlier this year and enjoyed it. I haven't read the original Little Fuzzy. I'll be interested in how you think the two books compare.
Meredith wrote: ... I read Fuzzy Nation earlier this year and enjoyed it. I haven't read the original Little Fuzzy. I'll be interested in how you think the two books compare. ..."I read Little Fuzzy back when it first came out (early '60s) and loved it. I reread Little Fuzzy when Fuzzy Nation came out in 2012 and, well, it hasn't aged gracefully in some ways. That's especially jarring when it comes to human culture. It's kind of an average book for the older me, for mostly age-related reasons.
I thought that Scalzi did a great job with his "reboot." The culture is going to make more sense to contemporary readers, the humans are more complex/believable, and the Fuzzies are still fascinating. The audiobook version of the courtroom scene in Fuzzy Nation is amazing. Fuzzy Nation was one of my favorite listens that year.
I read one of the more disappointing books from my TBR pile recently. I read it for the Know Thy Shelves Challenge. It's:The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen.
This book was maybe 10% max SF&F and 90+% high school teenager romance. I think the positive reviews for this had to come from other LGBQT+ teenagers and not from SF&F readers. Too much teenage whining. And that sort of romance was much, much better done in Luck in the Shadows which is one of my favorite books.
I realized that I had not read any Neil Gaiman books this year. Got to fix that gap. I am starting The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Cynda wrote: "I realized that I had not read any Neil Gaiman books this year. Got to fix that gap. I am starting The Ocean at the End of the Lane."It sounds like such a good idea, Cynda!
Just finished Timothy Zahn's first novel, The Blackcollar. Now on to the sequel, The Backlash Mission. Good space opera.
Read The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World by Riley Black. This is the story of the changes in life on Earth going from the impact of the asteroid that eliminated the non-avian dinosaurs up to the present, told from the POV of many creatures, both great and small, that lived at particular times. This is mostly paleontology with some, as the author terms it, paleofantasy, since much of what these creatures were doing we can only infer or guess at. (There is a substantial appendix that indicates where documentation stops, and some literary license comes in.) For those who like apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic stories, apocalypse doesn't get any better than the description of the asteroid blasting into Chicxulub and what came after. This is also an excellent book for those who like dinosaurs and other extinct creatures or who like to think about world-building.
Just finished To Shape a Dragon’s Breath and it's one of my favorites for the year! It has Dragons, steampunk, and is an examination of the " Magic school " book from the perspective of an Indigenous girl in a slightly alternate world in the 1800s.
I read Robert McCammon's The Hunter from the Woods, and it was great. But his writing usually is! Then I re-read Of Treasons Born just because someone mentioned it to me and I found that I was in the mood to read it. Now I'm in a buddy read of Quo Vadis for one of my other groups. I will probably re-read A Choice of Treasons at the same time.
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Almost done with What You Are Looking For Is in the Library. It's just such a nice chill book. Although the chapter with the mom whose husband was kind of an unsupportive jerk stressed me out a little. But other than that it's just got a nice cozy vibe. I'd just started on Magic's Promise and got a little in to it when my hold for Bookshops & Bonedust came in, so I've temporarily set it aside to start on that one. Loved Legends and Lattes, so I've got high hopes for this one.
New Murderbot hit the Kindle app today so I'll be getting into some System Collapse. I'm also reading The Secrets of Insects the first short story collection by Richard Kadrey
I’m also going to be reading ‘Star Wars: Rise of the Red Blade’ (I’ve heard once of the best Star Wars books released in 2023)
Polls close tonight (GR time) and one of them is tied and the other is separated by two votes, so make sure you've voted!https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...
Oh and notifs are not working for me right now, so heads up that there is discussion in the polls, too!
CBRetriever wrote: "I'll be starting the new Patrick Rothfuss book: The Narrow Road Between Desires"Still not done with the series I see. Hope you enjoy it.
Dj wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "I'll be starting the new Patrick Rothfuss book: The Narrow Road Between Desires"Still not done with the series I see. Hope you enjoy it."
nope, I have patience and I have more faith in Rothfuss than I have in Martin
Holy crap, Cixin Lui's Deaths End was freaking amazing! Had me up and down, up and down, just wow... great conclusion to the three-body problem series 'Remembrance of Earth's Past'.Now, going back in time to start John Varley's Titan. Never read Varley before, so we shall see!
Don’t believe I’ve ever heard of the series you read Marc. What’s it called again? I myself just finished the Harry Potter series books 1 to 7, hated the movies but absolutely loved the books!!
Jordan wrote: "Almost done with What You Are Looking For Is in the Library. It's just such a nice chill book. Although the chapter with the mom whose husband was kind of an unsupportive jerk stres..."I have this at home, patiently awaiting my perusal. I grabbed it because of the recommendation based on reading the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series.
Marc wrote: "Now, going back in time to start John Varley's Titan. Never read Varley before, so we shall see!.."
I've heard (in Jo Walton's review of Hugo nominees) that around that book he went from great to awful. Therefore for the start his earlier novels are recommended. I've read only The Ophiuchi Hotline which I can recommend
Marc wrote: "...(titan)..."Titan is weird. Very weird. His early stuff (Ophuichi Hotline, Persistence of Vision) is excellent. I also quite like his Eight Worlds stuff, starting with Steel Beach.
I liked Titan and the 2 sequels, but they're very odd and I can see them being polarizing.
Also, Walton is wrong.
Rick wrote: "Also, Walton is wrong.."I have to apologize, for her phrase had the meaning I supplied, but I re-phrased it a bit so most likely she sounds much less harsh
Tyler wrote: "Don’t believe I’ve ever heard of the series you read Marc. What’s it called again? I myself just finished the Harry Potter series books 1 to 7, hated the movies but absolutely loved the books!!"I get why 'Remembrance...' doesn't ring a bell! The three books that make it up are (all by Cixin Liu):
- The Three Body Problem
- The Dark Forest
- Death's End
All are great. The first one is a little weird at first, took me a while to get into his universe, as it's written starting around 1966 in the time of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Once I got it, the book moved along. It is about the search for extra terrestrial intelligence, and actually finding it! a civilization we call trisolaris. tri meaning 3 suns, the 'Three body' in three body problem. The other two books were a bit easier to read, set in the near-future. Some of the characters you'd think behaved oddly, like choices that you'd think wouldn't happen, that is, until our recent pandemic, where yeah, there are people who make just horrid decisions! (keeping politics out of this post, but we all can fill in the blanks! don't want to argue on that, wrong forum!)
I have a huge cat in my lap preventing me from reading the bigger stuff I have in progress, so I'm biting the bullet and starting Bookshops and Bonedust.
Brett wrote: "I have a huge cat in my lap preventing me from reading the bigger stuff I have in progress, so I'm biting the bullet and starting Bookshops and Bonedust."Sure...blame it on the cat :). That's actually happened to me, too. They certainly know what they're doing! It's uncanny how they fully center themselves in front of a computer monitor.
Actually, since the last kitten came into our house I haven't read nearly as much as usual. It's such a small price to pay, though!
Bookshops and Bonedust was a fun read!
That actually sounds good, I’m going to add it to my already sizeable TBR list. Already hopping between like 4 series. 😂 One of them Star Wars, which has multiple series and over 300 books…
I've been reading Too Late by Colleen Hoover
Just completed Blackcollar: The Judas Solution by Timothy Zahn. Tyler, he also wrote my favorite Star Wars series starting with Heir to the Empire.Next up on my list to reread is Lois McMaster Bujold's The Curse of Chalion - I reread it every year or so. This may well be my favorite fantasy novel.
The kickstarter for The Orpheus Protocol is complete and I am reading those RPG rules as well. It must count as a book, it is 343 pages. Listened to the podcast for years.
Econo - Attempting to read all Star Wars books in Chronological Order, over 300 I’m on the 2nd one 😂
Tyler wrote: "Econo - Attempting to read all Star Wars books in Chronological Order, over 300 I’m on the 2nd one 😂"Dear. God.
Economondos wrote: "Just completed Blackcollar: The Judas Solution by Timothy Zahn. Tyler, he also wrote my favorite Star Wars series starting with Heir to the Empire.Next up on my list to reread is Lois McMaster Bu..."
I reread that every now and again, too. Plus her Vorkosigan series! I must have read that at least a dozen times.
Right there with you Michelle. Bujold has got to be one of my top three favorite authors. At that level, it isn't just day of the week but probably time of day that they change places.
I just started reading Invictus. Thanks whoever was talking about it!
Tyler wrote: "Econo - Attempting to read all Star Wars books in Chronological Order, over 300 I’m on the 2nd one 😂"There are over 300 Star Wars novels?
Stephen wrote: "I just started reading Invictus. Thanks whoever was talking about it!"That was me and Jan, and you're welcome 😉
Michelle wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I just started reading Invictus. Thanks whoever was talking about it!"That was me and Jan, and you're welcome 😉"
Have only just started but it's great. I ordered the print on demand from Amazon, and I do wish these were just a little less clunky. But that is being pedantic I know!
Stephen - yep over 300, I’m on the 2nd and it’s awesome so far!
Tyler, are you doing canon, Legends, or both types of novels? What is the 2nd one that you are currently reading (starwarsreadingorder.com, which is what I use for a chronology reference, has either Revan or Quest for the Hidden City as the 2nd full length novel, depending on whether you are in Legends or Canon)?I recently finished Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi, which I liked quite a bit.
Tyler wrote: "Stephen - yep over 300, I’m on the 2nd and it’s awesome so far!"The good thing is, you know what you're going to be doing for the next little while!
Re-read The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan because this seems like a good time for it. The book is a paean to science, skepticism, and critical thinking. It also provides a thorough deconstruction of pseudoscience, and magical thinking, and shows the evidence and consequences of poor education. The book was published in 1997 so it antedated wide public use of the internet and social media, but its assessments are as valid today (more so!) as they were in the nineties. It is very (and sadly) easy to find current examples of the types of behavior that are detailed in the text. A key book for our times.
Colin wrote: "Re-read The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan because this seems like a good time for it. The book is a paean to science, skepticism, and critical thin..."Should be taught in school!
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SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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I liked this one a lot, too ..."
There are adventures in a parallel universe with lots of snark. Also, monsters :)))