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?
just read Lisanne Norman's turning point and nearly finished book 2
Stephen wrote: "Just finished Invictus - thanks again to whoever recommended it!A solid 4 stars with a surety of writing that gives one confidence to read on. I will review soon.
Now, on to Murderbot - can't wait!"
Oh good! I was wondering how it was for you!
I'm currently reading Brave New World, and I am utterly blown away by the writing and the chilling dystopian society. I may just need to reread The Handmaid’s Tale next.
Michelle wrote: "Stephen wrote: "Just finished Invictus - thanks again to whoever recommended it!A solid 4 stars with a surety of writing that gives one confidence to read on. I will review soon.
Now, on to Murde..."
Yeah good call. Is she self-pub, the author?
Hi everyone! I actually just finished a book of a debuting author (Aurelia Young). The book is called Blood Ink... and if you like a strong character... please read this book!She has great writing style, the story is awesome. I would almost call it dark fantasy. I would recommend it! ❤
Also, I am reading Sword Catcher from Cassandra Clare... and please read it. It's already great world building so far and I haven't finished it yet!📚📚
Stephen wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Stephen wrote: "Just finished Invictus - thanks again to whoever recommended it!A solid 4 stars with a surety of writing that gives one confidence to read on. I will review soon.
..."
Yes!
Just saw the Les Misérables musical. Now I want to read the book. I've seen two high school productions, watched the imperfect movie, and memorized the songs from a recording but got to see a touring Broadway production for the first time. I keep putting off reading the book since it is so long and translated from French to English. But it would be interesting to read the source behind the musical. Would be a departure from SFF.
Les Mis the book has been in my top 5 favorites of all time since I read it 20 years ago. It is a bit of a comittment but I think you will like it Bobby
I finished "The Raven's Mark" trilogy with
Crowfall. Book one I rated three stars. Four stars each for the second two of the series. Entertaining. Listed as "dark," but I would call it gray or simply say "dark" is a misnomer.
read God touched by John Conroe, brilliant
Just finished Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. OMG was that a great book! Society failing, a great dystopian book! Gotta buy her other book and read that soon...Anyhoo, now on to Gene Wolf's Shadow of the Torturer.
Economondos wrote: "Kaiju Preservation Society is on my To-read shelf right now. Looking forward to it even more."Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Brett wrote: "@Dj - added Forgotten 500 to the TBR. I want to know more about that theater (my grandfather was involved in a few raids on Yugoslavia, and two of his crew members bailed out over it IIRC). That so..."I came across it in the group library in the WWII group I am in. Glad I took a look at it. Will probably have more impact on you and that makes it well worth posting about.
I've just finished System Collapse by Martha Wells, which I really liked. I like that Murderbot (view spoiler)
Finished The Vaster Wilds, now on to Death Overdue. Richthofen's autobiography (really a published diary with letters) is turning out to be an interesting read, especially from a psychological standpoint.
Leonie wrote: "I've just finished System Collapse by Martha Wells, which I really liked. I like that Murderbot [spoilers removed]"Yes, it was very very good. I like Murderbot's character arc.
Marc wrote: "Just finished Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. OMG was that a great book! Society failing, a great dystopian book! Gotta buy her other book and read that soon...I have Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents just sitting on my bookshelf waiting TBR.
Almost done with Project Hail Mary and can’t wait till it’s over. Hype doesn’t live up to my expectations. Again. It’s the painfully grey zone in not good enough to enjoy and not bad enough to DNF. Weir finds this “soft spot” of mine with uncanny ease. Narrator is perfect though. Doubt that I would have been able to get through this with eye-read only.
Just finished No Country for Old Gnomes by Dawson and Hearne. Maybe I am spoiled by a recent run of excellent books, but this one was the least enjoyable in quite some time. Just never clicked with me.Now reading (voraciously) Kaiju Preservation Society by Scalzi. This is so much better. Looks like I will have it finished in 2 or 3 evenings. Thank you everyone who recommended this one.
Economondos wrote: "JNow reading (voraciously) Kaiju Preservation Society by Scalzi. This is so much better. Looks like I will have it finished in 2 or 3 evenings. Thank you everyone who recommended this one..."If you like KPS, pick up Starter Villain
Reading The Curse of Chalion. Read it years ago and can't remember much except that I liked it. So it's like a new read. Enjoying it again this time around.Have also just started Deepsix. I'm rereading McDevitt's Academy series (aka 'Hutch' series). This is #2. Again, it's some years since I read these and can only remember the bare bones of the stories. But I'm hooked in again just like when I first read it :)
Rick wrote: "Economondos wrote: "JNow reading (voraciously) Kaiju Preservation Society by Scalzi. This is so much better. Looks like I will have it finished in 2 or 3 evenings. Thank you everyone who recommende..."Old Man's War series is good too I reckon.
Mod
Rick wrote: "Economondos wrote: "JNow reading (voraciously) Kaiju Preservation Society by Scalzi. This is so much better. Looks like I will have it finished in 2 or 3 evenings. Thank you everyone who recommende..."I will take a look at it, thx
Stephen wrote: "Rick wrote: "Economondos wrote: "JNow reading (voraciously) Kaiju Preservation Society by Scalzi. This is so much better. Looks like I will have it finished in 2 or 3 evenings. Thank you everyone w..."I liked the first one, I am so so on the second.
I’ve been finding and reading more by SF writer Maureen F McHugh after remembering how much I enjoyed ‘China Mountain Zhang’, a past BOM.I’ve read ‘Mission Child’ and really enjoyed it. She does characters so well and her plots are inventive, unusual, and odd at times: she places her people in situations you really don’t expect and ones that challenge their ideas of themselves.
I’m just starting ‘Half the Day is Night’.
I absolutely loved both China Mountain Zhang and Mission Child! I also really enjoyed Nekropolis and her two short story collections, After the Apocalypse and Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories. My least favorite of all of Maureen F. McHugh's work is Half the Day is Night, which was just OK for me. If her novels ever come out on audio, I will reread any of them repeatedly!
Ive loved Mission Child and liked Nekroplis a lot, but barely remember it. I have yet to read China Mountain Zhang!
Just finished
Roared through this one. It was great, had trouble putting it down long enough to sleep. The writing reminds me of the best parts of Michael Crichton. A wonderful premise and interesting characters. I always wanted to know what happened next.
Gave it 5 stars.
Thanx to all those who recommended this and other works by Scalzi. I have a new author to collect. Good thing we are buying another bookshelf tomorrow!
Next up is Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett. Should be a good reading week!
An interesting book that looks at how the US Military developed the strategy of crush your foe with all your abilities and weapons systems. In this case, the enemy is the military of whatever opponent you are facing at the time. It starts out with the US Army before there was actually a US. going over the tactics of Washington in the Revolution and moving up through the US involvement in Vietnam. It studies the way that strategy was developed and how it was applied in the wars that followed. It shows that in the time after WWII and moving through Vietnam the US Military struggled with the concepts of what to do post-atomic weapons phase. The book brings some things to light but sticks to strategy without getting into the tactics involved. It does bring up some things that individuals will find upsetting, like his assessment of Robert E. Lee, or his thoughts on the bombing campaign during WWII. While these may be upsetting I found them thought-provoking, which is the best way to deal with a strategic situation after all. The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy
A brief look at a concept that is generally done in less than full flavor. Brief is the word too, but the change in dimensions isn't done in any real depth and the reason that things are going on is left mostly to the imagination of the reader. Not the best Simak book I have read, but it is readable and doesn't leave the reader feeling they have lost time spent. This is for Hellhounds of the Cosmos, the search feature was down when I was posting this.
Just started Murderbot - All Systems Red last night. What a fun read and what a cool idea, which like all really good ideas seems obvious in hindsight.
I started When Angles Left the Old Country a couple days ago and I’m really enjoying it!https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
Mod
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6..."
Look for it in a poll in the new year! I found it a bit uncomplicated, but a person wants some joy from time to time and this one was refreshing.
Stephen wrote: "Just started Murderbot - All Systems Red last night. What a fun read and what a cool idea, which like all really good ideas seems obvious in hindsight."I am happy to hear you are enjoying it! :)
Alexandra wrote: "Stephen wrote: "Just started Murderbot - All Systems Red last night. What a fun read and what a cool idea, which like all really good ideas seems obvious in hindsight."I am happy to hear you are ..."
Almost finished, it's a quick read. What fun!
Finished All Systems Red and now onto the next. Really enjoying it, best thing I've read in ages. How many in the series are there?
There are 7 books in the Murderbot diaries so far Stephen. She’s signed to do a couple more as well. Enjoy.
A book that is most certainly not for everyone. The book is written about the time of the American Revolution, a topic that comes up not at all in the book. The author is a member of a religious group called the Friends. Which it seems is either the Quakers or a precursor. The individual writing the book is very religious, a point that comes up in almost every entry in this journal. This can be off-putting to some individuals, but he isn't trying to convince anyone in the work, although he does in real life. While the upcoming revolution isn't mentioned several things of interest are. The biggest one to my mind was Slavery and just how adamantly this individual was against it. It might be a little naive but in the mid-1700s I find it inspiring that someone was this set against enslaving other human beings. This is not a central theme of the work, it generally doesn't have a single theme but it is a strong one. I am very glad that I was directed to this work.
The Journal Of John Woolman
My review of Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder by K.J. Parkerhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thank you all for talking about Martha Wells I added: All Systems Red
Artificial Condition
Rogue Protocol
Exit Strategy
to my audiobook library.
I'm not sure when I will get started with them, but it looks like an interesting series.
I'm a 100 pages into The Night Circus. It is really well written, so I'm not sure why it's slow going on this one for me...
Chase wrote: "I'm a 100 pages into The Night Circus. It is really well written, so I'm not sure why it's slow going on this one for me..."Heh- my daughter just basically said the same thing about that book, Chase!
Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch middle grade fantasy. I thought this would be similar to Kiki's Delivery Service, and it is in the bare outlines. Its very much its own story. This has more conflicts, and its a bit higher stakes.
Gave up on Death Overdue, the writing, and especially the dialogue, was getting on my nerves.Beginning The Forgotten 500, and Chinese Menu, both mentioned above.
I'm trying out a new author and series: Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson. It seems promising so far! I have been bombarded with this rec by GR for I don't know how long, so I'm giving it the ol' college try.
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SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
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Authors mentioned in this topic
T. Kingfisher (other topics)Robin Hobb (other topics)
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Martha Wells (other topics)
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A solid 4 stars with a surety of writing that gives one confidence to read on. I will review soon.
Now, on to Murderbot - can't wait!