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?
Kirsten wrote: "I really enjoyed that one."My first Kate Quinn. Have you read others by her, I should maybe mark for the future?
Oleksandr wrote: "Colin wrote: "Have finished 
A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark. This is steampunk set in a Cairo of the 1920's after the djinn have been relea..."Re-checked the book. It was 1912. I jumped a decade somehow.
Eric wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "I really enjoyed that one."My first Kate Quinn. Have you read others by her, I should maybe mark for the future?"
No, not yet.
just finished Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle which was pretty good. Earth diplomat sent to a planet with humanoid inhabitants and her adventures there. (view spoiler)
Currently starting the Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger. Only 100 pages in. Pretty good so far. But looking for something more like Harry Potter. lol.I already finished this month 4 books. 2 books from the Avatar Last Airbender books about kyoshi, the House in the Cerulean sea by Tj Klune. That was probably one of my favorite reads this month so far. I also finished Gallant by VE Schwab earlier this month too.
Going to try to get 2 more books done before the month is over, hopefully! I only got 6 more days!
Kirsten wrote: "Just finished reading 
The Ten Thousand Doors of January"I thought The Ten Thousand Doors of January was one of the best portal fictions ever!
Colin wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "Just finished reading The Ten Thousand Doors of January"I thought The Ten Thousand Doors of January was one o..."
Agreed Colin!
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How is the formatting, Allison? I tried the first book rains ago, and it was very sloppy, but it may not be the same ebook edition now. Or are you reading it via audio?
Reading The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark. Set in an alternate US it's equally brilliant as his Cairo set books.
Whenever I try to read at 10pm or later I last like 15 minutes and fall asleep, makes me so mad because as a Dad that works all day it’s only time I get sometimes.
@Tyler, that used to be me, too, when my kids were young.
Colin wrote: "It was 1912.."It is nice to know that I remember such inconsequential trivia. Now I need to find out what for :D
Allison wrote: "reading the Seven Realms series by Chima and absolutely obsessed. they're all chonkers but I'm not sleeping or socializing or doing anything not absolutely essential."I love when I'm reading a book or series & all I want to do is keep reading it to the exclusion of anything else. A nice place to be (for awhile).
Michelle wrote: "eons, not rains."Living in the PacNorWest, Rains made sense as a measurement of time.
Meredith wrote: "I'm reading Can't Spell Treason Without Tea which was apparently inspired by Legends & Lattes, but definitely is charting its own course."On my cozy TBR as well - I hope you like it!
Colin wrote: "Have finished A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark. This is steampunk set in a Cairo of 1912 after the djinn have been released to mingle in our..."
I've read all the preceding short stories, but have yet to get to the main novel. I'm sure once I do it'll take me forever to get through it though, because the short stories alone had so many bits of new cultural and historical tidbits my spiderweb brain was running rampant to look up one thing after another. :)
I read Nimona by N.D. Stevenson. It'd been floating around my TBR for a while, but a rewatch of the show She-ra made me grabby for more content by the creators. Did not disappoint. The art style has that wibbley feel I associate with Kate Beaton of Hark! A Vagrant - clearly a marker of quality.Continuing with the Penric books as well, and loving them as I knew I would. Penric and the Shaman had this lovely ghost story vibe, but with a scenic mountain backdrop, and Penric with his relentless good cheer and quiet smile forever threatening to twitch at the corners of his mouth. And just... good people. I'm trying to think of what to compare it to, and it sort of gives me the vibe of Emily Tesh's Silver in the Wood, but more slice-of-life. On Penric's Fox now, on to the next murder-mystery!
Finally finished a massive anthology of old SF, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929-1964, even reviewing it took hours! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I know it says in the top post of the thread, but I want to reiterate how disappointing it is to get a notification for this thread, and just see a link to a review. It's the main reason I stopped bothering to check it for a long while.If I wanted to just read reviews, I'd go elsewhere on the site. I don't mind a link being included, but the main purpose here I feel should be conversation. A link is boring. It doesn't give us anything to respond to. Include your commentary in the text of your posts please.
</2 cents>
Mel wrote: "I read Nimona by N.D. Stevenson. It'd been floating around my TBR for a while, but a rewatch of the show She-ra made me grabby for more content by the creators. Did not disappoint. ..."I loved Nimona - story and art. You are reminding me I still want to pick up Lumberjanes.
Just finished book two of Mira Grant's newsflesh series, deadline. A fun zombie-romp, I highly recommend it, but start with book 1 (Feed), this is definitely the sequel!Now, off to read an older CJ Cherryh book in her company war series, Heavy Time (first chronologically, not publish date). the follow-up Hellburner will be next, I already read downbelow station
Marc wrote: "Just finished book two of Mira Grant's newsflesh series, deadline. A fun zombie-romp, I highly recommend it, but start with book 1 (Feed), this is definitely the sequel!Now, off to read an older ..."
You can't go wrong with C.J. Cherryh!
Found a way to get more reading in! Using Audible for when I got WAY too much to do. For other parents, excellent little app lol
Pyrophobia, Jack Lance. So far it's...got a lot of sexy time.
I'm back on my Fantasy genre, currently on the Aldoran Chronicles & after that see if I can catch up on any of the Series that are awaiting new editions! I've dipped by toe in a bit of Sci-fi & so far what I have read has been good but not convinced it's totally for me. I sort of miss the days when I used to get Bookclub magazines & you could take a "punt" on something new, tried that with Amazon reviews but whilst I'm not saying there are loads of fake reviews but more than once I've had to return a 5* for being garbage!
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Thank you :)
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Mel wrote: "I know it says in the top post of the thread, but I want to reiterate how disappointing it is to get a notification for this thread, and just see a link to a review. It's the main reason I stopped ..."I too like to see someone's short opinion about a book even if it's just a couple of words
Meredith wrote: "I loved Nimona - story and art. You are reminding me I still want to pick up Lumberjanes."Oh, same! I didn't realize it was 20 volumes though! So even for a graphic novel series, I need to mentally readjust to set aside a bit of potential binging room.
I just finished Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield and I unfortunately didn't like it. The whole mood of the book was very sad, I didn't warm to the characters and the plot moves very slowly. Beautiful prose but not much else in that one for me
Audiobooks for a parent that works full time, huge game changer.Also, finished reading Leviathan Wakens book 1 of The Expanse. Check my profile out for the review. (May need to add me as friend.
Finished
Baking Bad. Kim Watt gets three stars for this humorous murder mystery solved by two members of The Women's Institute in a small English village. With the help of scone eating, tea drinking dragons.
Whoooeeee. I've already finished Philip K. Dick's Eye in the Sky. Felt more like a horror novel than a science fiction novel in many ways--in particular, it felt much like the Twilight Zone (whose premiere date, believe it or not, is the date when this novel begins--October 2nd, 1959--albeit in a very near future setting from the novel's original 1957 publication), especially in the last two-thirds when the family is surviving the monster-house, as well as the instances of abolition at intervals.So, why write a science fiction novel that will become incredibly outdated within only two years of its publication? Well, I don't even know. This novel, Eye in the Sky, is off-putting, baffling, terrifying, surreal, barely even considered a work of SF, and downright bizarre, but not in a way that's considered enjoyable. I was almost hoping for an Outer Limits-like experience, but it's not nearly unhinged and surreal enough to be appealing in the same manner. Honestly, I'm not convinced enough that PKD was a horror writer in many ways when writing this strange abomination. And if you think that's a far-fetched accusation, I've seen weirder. Just take a look at PKD's Solar Lottery, which is his first published novel. It still exists! Anyway, I can go on and on, but I really don't want to waste any more time. In fact I think I've wasted enough of my time and yours with this. I still have some more of PKD to read this coming month, with other stuff as well.
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Sam wrote: "Whoooeeee. I've already finished Philip K. Dick's Eye in the Sky. Felt more like a horror novel than a science fiction novel in many ways--in particular, it felt much li..."Please waste our time more often with posts like this one 😄
After a discussion on children's literature, I read
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente. This is MG, and probably could be read to kids a little younger. I wish it had been around when my children were the right ages. This is a delightful book. It features September, a girl of 12, who journeys to Fairyland, has adventures there, and saves Fairyland. It is about growing up, standing by your friends, learning to be resolute, resourceful, and brave. Importantly, it does not shy away from some sadness and tragedy near the end. What really surprised me was the stunning and explicit rebuke it delivers to the trope of the Chosen One. (You can find that in chapter 17, page 205 in my hardcover edition.) I would recommend this book to any reader who is a child, has a child, or who once was a child.
Klara and the Sun - It's been on my TBR for a while and I'm happy to finally get to it. I'm almost halfway through, and I'm enjoying it, especially how observant Klara is.
DNF on Pyrophobia. Terrible. Continuing on Victor Klemperer, and Malcolm X
^^ The Speeches of Malcolm X at Harvard (fat-fingered the previous post.)
Brett wrote: "^^ The Speeches of Malcolm X at Harvard (fat-fingered the previous post.)"you can edit your post
CBRetriever wrote: "Brett wrote: "^^ The Speeches of Malcolm X at Harvard (fat-fingered the previous post.)"you can edit your post"
Unless you're on the damned app....the useless horrible app.
Eric wrote: "Finished Baking Bad. Kim Watt gets three stars for this humorous murder mystery solved by two members of The Women's Institute in a small English vil..."Everything about this cozy mystery premise sounds delicious. I'm a bit wary though of pop-culture titles that feel opportunistic in their marketing. Hm. Still adding it to the TBR to check out.
Colin wrote: "After a discussion on children's literature, I read [book:The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of H..."I also found it to be delightful. Reminds me that eventually I should come back to the series to read the sequels. One of those fairy tales that you just want to recommend to everyone.
Jacqueline wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "Brett wrote: "^^ The Speeches of Malcolm X at Harvard (fat-fingered the previous post.)"you can edit your post"
Unless you're on the damned app....the useless horrible app."
ah, je comprende
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SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
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I really enjoyed that one.