What Else Are You Reading in 2023? Showing 1,851-1,880 of 1,880

[Stephen]

Michelle wrote: "I guess from this review that you’re planning to read book two 😹"

figure I'll have to!

[Michelle]

Economondos wrote: "I reread the Black Company series every year or two. I really enjoy it. Let us all know about Man Plus, Pohl is an author that I like, but often seem to forget when it is book-buying time."

I must have read The Black Company six or seven times.

[Michelle]

I'm rereading the Frontlines series by Marko Kloos because I was in the mood for it. A few days ago I finished his latest, Scorpio, and that one is part of a spinoff series called Frontlines:Evolution.

[Brett]

The Counter-Revolution of 1776 was fascinating. I devoured it, and will be on the hunt for more of Horne's work.

Beginning Tim Blanning's biography of Frederick the Great.

[Marc]

frederik pohl's man plus is actually quite good. set in the near future, mankind has been to Mars, but only a few manned landings. earth going to crap, kinda like today! so America is looking at colonizing Mars, but none of us can really live there without domes/terraforming. so they decide to convert an astronaut into a cyborg capable of living there. I wonder if robocop the movie got part of its inspiration from this book. and maybe terminator too, as both are early 1980s movies, while this book was first published in 1976. parts I did want to argue with, but really, I couldn't make a good counter. religion does play a role, but it's not that big. thumbs up from me!

[Economondos]

OK Marc, onto the list it goes. Thanx.

[Economondos]

Finished Golden Dream: A Fuzzy Odyssey last night. This is a supplement to Little Fuzzy, I can't see it working well without the background in Piper's work.

3 of 5 stars


Starting Generation Ship based on the many recommendations here. 30 pages in and already hooked!

[Marc]

Now I'm taking a brief break from Sci-Fi and reading Rob Halford's kinda-autobiography, Biblical. He earlier did an autobiography called 'Confess: The Autobiography' which I haven't read yet, I thought this was his autobiography!

[Rick]

Finished the excellent Titanium Noir. Next up is finishing Way Station then, I think, The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas. I have The Burning Stars but am saving that in case it is next month's choice.

DNFed The Mountain in the Sea

[Stephen]

I just ordered the last 2 Murderbot books I haven't read.
What will I do after that??

[Michelle]

One of my daughters gifted me Darth Vader and Son, and it is really adorable. I just had to order the next couple: Vader's Little Princess and Goodnight Darth Vader.

[DivaDiane]

I finished Starling House on Christmas Day. It may be Horror, which I don’t normally like, but it’s quite mild. It’s more about relationships, familial and found family, how history and the present are twisting and turning around one another - in this story quite literally , and a sentient house. It reads like the mostly first person account of a much bigger book about the supernatural “weird” occurrences in a small town in Kentucky, its lore and legends and cryptozoology. I really enjoyed it.

[Marc]

Just finished Rob Halford (of Judas Priest)'s Biblical, his heavy metal revelations, really, about his experience and some advice being in a band, the ups/downs. Actually a quite good book, and I know he hates Spotify!

Anyhoo, back to sci-fi, now starting Gregory Benford's Timescape.

[Gary]

I finished reading Assassin's Apprentice (Book #1 of the Farseer Trilogy) by Robin Hobb. It’s a great start to her series about an unwanted bastard with a talent no one wants, but who persevered to find his place in life. I also read System Collapse (Murderbot Diaries #7) by Martha Wells. Another great entry in the Murderbot series. Picks with a new continuing story arc. I am reading Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold. I plan to read New Spring (Wheel of Time prequel) by Robert Jordan next.

[Michelle]

Gary wrote: "I finished reading Assassin's Apprentice (Book #1 of the Farseer Trilogy) by Robin Hobb. It’s a great start to her series about an unwanted bastard with a talent no one ..."

That's a great collection of books!

[Leonie]

I just finished Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher, which was another great addition to the Paladin series. Very much looking forward to where this is going!

[Bobby]

My daughter bought me two space related books for Christmas/birthday (mine is Dec 26th). I may read these next:

Old Man's War

Project Hail Mary

[Economondos]

Just completed Generation Ship by Michael Mammay

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a good, character-driven work. The first 80% is excellent. Lots of attention paid to the problems of running a ship for more than two centuries and doing so with near-future technology. At that point it is at least 4-star book. The ending seems a bit rushed and could have been fleshed-out more.

But the thing that cost the fourth star happened 16 cycles after arrival in an Eddie Dannin chapter. Without spoiling it, the problem is a clear violation of physics. With all the care paid to science and physics early on, this event was jarring.

Next up is The Three-Body Problem. I want to keep writing reviews next year. How many books should I set up for next year's challenge?

[Stephen]

Economondos wrote: "Just completed Generation Ship by Michael Mammay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a good, character-driven work. The first 80% is excellent. Lots of attention paid to the problems of running a ship ..."

I hate that when some small detail throws you out of suspension of disbelief. Happened to me recently as well ...

[Marc]

Just finished Greg Benford's Timescape. It deserved it's Nebula! A almost 500 page book just pulled me in, and I devoured it! It's basically set in two time periods, the 1960s and 1998. It's sadly kinda similar to what we are facing today, with climate change, although (not a spoiler, it's right near the beginning of the book) they were facing some climate change issues, but, in 1998, the real issue was a funky algal bloom that won't stop blooming. Algae are normally in our water systems, but bloom when there's excessive runoff of farm fertilizers, when rain falling on farms wash excess fertilizer into the rivers and eventually into lakes and oceans. Algae is like woohoo! and multiply like crazy, which can rob water creatures of oxygen and secreting toxins. that's real life. In his book, he sets it so it's self-replicating, which isn't a good thing. Anyhoo, some physicists have discovered tachyons (its theoretical right now) and some tried to warn the past about the cause of that bloom in hopes of preventing it from occurring. Paradoxes anyone?

He talks of university politics some, which I'm sure he has first had knowledge of, since he was a physicist teaching at UC Irvine.

Highly recommended! Now, moving to Octavia Butler's sequel, Parable of the Talents. Loved Parable of the Sower!

[Rick]

Huh, I've not read Timescape - that sounds interesting. Butler was a master. Not easy reads (topically - the writing is great) but some of the best SF written

[Jan]

I finally finished Crisis, Bk 2 of the Invictus duology. It dragged a little for me around 60% so I took a break for a month or so, but I finally came back and enjoyed the ending. Overall I liked both books. 4 stars.

Now rereading an old fav, Chindi.

Marc, I remember reading and liking Timescape some time ago but can remember little about it. I might try a reread.

[Kaia]

I finished two books recently with unusual narrators:

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, which is not SFF but more of a mystery. Unreliable narrators are normally not my thing, but I found this one to be incredibly interesting - an older woman who is very observant.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. I imagine a lot of people would find this story bleak, but I found it to be just right for where I am right now, and I’m glad it will be my final book completed in 2023. The narrator is a young woman who has no memory of her time before the main events in the book begin, and so she approaches the world in a very different way than those around her. You have to be okay with not having all (or even many) of your questions answered with this book, though.

[Anna]

I absolutely loved I Who Have Never!

[Oleksandr]

I plan to read I Who Have Never Known Men next month with another group and I have high expectations :)

[Eric]

I completed Crucible of Chaos . Sebastien de Castell brings back a "Greatcoat" in this goofy saga of weird doings at a monastery. Since I thought the best character in this book was a mule, I gave it two stars.

[Melanie, the neutral party]

(For Hank)

I recently finished Hogfather which completes the full discworld series for me (a goal for this year). Hank requested my opinion on the various parts of the series, so here it is ...

Favorite Overall Book:
1st- Night Watch, Perfect blend of literary significance, character growth, and satire. Ironically this is the first Watch book I read.
2nd- Small Gods, Because religion *is* funny when you think about it. It can be read as a stand alone without being immersed in the series and let you know if Pratchett will be for you or not. I find him delightful (obviously).

Least Favorite Overall: The Last Continent, I just didn't get the humor in this one perhaps because I don't have opinions about Australia.

Favorite Sub-Series:
(If you don't know discworld has several characters the books can focus on which provides sever sub-series within the series. It makes sense when you start reading the books.)
1st- City Watch books: strong diversity themes, always a mystery/crime to solve, lovable characters
2nd- Industrial Revolution: defining progress and who gets to benefits from it, but in funny anachronistic ways
3rd- Tiffany Aching: because I'm a sucker for coming-of-age tales and for clever winning the day

Least Favorite Sub-Series:
*Rincewind/University
*Witches
I think I just don't like these characters.

Discworld list of books: https://www.discworldemporium.com/rea...

[Marc]

just finished octavia butler's parable of the talents. wow! her follow up to parable of the Sowers was amazing!!

gonna now briefly leave scifi, reading 'the genius of birds' by Jennifer Ackerman. mainly because I briefly lost parable and started reading it instead!

[Kaia]

Anna wrote: "I absolutely loved I Who Have Never!"

I really loved it, too - I can't stop thinking about it.

Oleksandr, whether or not you love it, I think it will make for an excellent discussion book.

[Hank]

Melanie wrote: "(For Hank)

I recently finished Hogfather which completes the full discworld series for me (a goal for this year). Hank requested my opinion on the various parts of the series, so he..."

Thanks Melanie! I love hearing summary opinions. Pratchet is usually a miss for me but I hear consistantly good things about Night Watch