2024 Bookshelf Rereads

[Meredith]

We would only read one of the LeGuin's if two wind up in the top six. So, make sure to vote for your preferred read!

[a.g.e. montagner]

Really?
I was hoping for the SFFBC equivalent of an Ace Double.

[Anna]

I'm not sure if that applies to rereads, I don't remember if we've ever had that situation?

[Meredith]

Anna wrote: "I'm not sure if that applies to rereads, I don't remember if we've ever had that situation?"

I stand corrected!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I mean it is true we've never read an author twice in one quarter

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

Vote here: https://goo.gl/forms/joASo8yDfm9oGvDm2
Live results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Voting ends: November 25th / GR links to all books here

Top 6 will be our rereads for January-March

17 Jade City (498 pgs)
15 The Lathe of Heaven (176 pgs)
15 The Obelisk Gate (448 pgs)
14 Perdido Street Station (623 pgs)
14 The Word for World is Forest (160 pgs)

13 Ancillary Sword (356 pgs)
13 The Best of All Possible Worlds (308 pgs)
13 The City We Became (437 pgs)
13 Dune (604 pgs)
13 Piranesi (245 pgs)
13 Snow Crash (470 pgs)

12 American Gods (480 pgs)
12 Dawn (248 pgs)
12 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (256 pgs)
12 The Left Hand of Darkness (304 pgs)
12 A Master of Djinn (396 pgs)

11 City of Bones (488 pgs)
11 The Color of Magic (228 pgs)
11 Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (306 pgs)
11 The Dispossessed (387 pgs)
11 Frankenstein (273 pgs)
11 Good Omens (430 pgs)
11 She Who Became the Sun (416 pgs)

10 Anansi Boys (384 pgs)
10 Ancillary Mercy (330 pgs)
10 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (216 pgs)
10 Hyperion (483 pgs)
10 The Martian Chronicles (182 pgs)
10 Red Sister (469 pgs)
10 Warbreaker (688 pgs)
10 Watership Down (478 pgs)

[Anna]

I'm not for or against the rule, I just don't remember it ever being an issue?

[Anna]

I dare you to vote six UKLGs into the top six! :P You have seven to choose from :D

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I'm voting for lathe and not word for world. my heart can't handle word for world right now

[Meredith]

That would be an intense three months.

[Cheryl L]

Either Le Guin is fine with me. I likely voted for all of hers. Except for Left Hand of Darkness, which I've already read, but would absolutely read again, Such a fascinating book.

[Cheryl L]

I'm fine with either of the Le Guin's. And I likely voted for all of hers, save for The Left Hand of Darkness, which I've already read. Would absolutely read that again though. Such a fascinating book!

[CBRetriever]

Jade City is the only on in the top that is in my TBR so I'll likely participate in that one. I read the Le Guins back in my tree books life and don't feel like purchasing them again. I do own Snow Crash, so I'd be up for a re-read of that one

[a.g.e. montagner]

Anna wrote: "I dare you to vote six UKLGs into the top six! You have seven to choose from".

I mean, I did.

[Anna]

Yes but collectively! :D

[Hank]

Challenge accepted! But now I will feel compelled to join in if any/all win.

[Anna]

Haha, we are now at 3/6 UKLG :D

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

2024: the year the mods say f*ck it, rules are only for the ruled

[Cheryl L]

OOOO! Look at you Left Hand of Darkness. I would love to have a group to discuss this book with.

[Anna]

UKLG #4 is now in tied 6th position XD

[a.g.e. montagner]

Reading a lot was one of the (few) joys of in spring 2020, while Italy was in hard lockdown. And I have a fond memory of reading The Left Hand of Darkness at the time; I think it was for a previous SFFBC re-read?

Currently 4 out of 6.
Please let's keep The Obelisk Gate among the winners!
The Dispossessed has been nominated for the same quarter in other Goodreads forums. Can we do a merger?

[Anna]

Yeah Left Hand has been discussed in VBC.

[Hank]

I can't read the Dispossesed again so I took it off my vote. I will happily read any of the others.

[Anna]

All 4 non-Earthsea UKLGs are in the top 6.

Three days left to change that! :D

[Meredith]

Anna wrote: "All 4 non-Earthsea UKLGs are in the top 6.

Three days left to change that! :D"

Amazing!

[Bonnie]

Horsetrade offer:
I will trade a vote for a UKLG book* for a vote for The City We Became by N.K Jemesin.

For the Re-reads I cast a ballot for every book I have not already read; in the current 12+, The City We Became is the only one I haven't read. I'll go in and vote for another book if you'll add one for City.

*or any other top title, for that matter

[insert little horse emoji here]

[Cheryl L]

Bonnie wrote: "Horsetrade offer:
I will trade a vote for a UKLG book* for a vote for The City We Became by N.K Jemesin.

For the Re-reads I cast a ballot for every book I have not already read; in..."

Bonnie, I would happily comply with your trade, but I already voted and (sheepish grin) voted for all of the UKLG books.

[a.g.e. montagner]

Interesting proposition, but we are re-reading a series by the same author already, and I'd rather finish one before starting another. This is the reason I did not vote for the Inheritance nor the Dreamblood series this time. Besides, I think the Great Cities series isn't even concluded yet?

[Olga]

Please don't vote The Obelisk Gate out of the top 6, we need it for January VBC! *fingers crossed*

[Anna]

You are all absolutely bonkers! XD

Also Obelisk looks safe for now.

24 The Lathe of Heaven (176 pgs)
21 The Left Hand of Darkness (304 pgs)
19 The Word for World is Forest (160 pgs)
18 The Dispossessed (387 pgs)
18 Jade City (498 pgs)
18 The Obelisk Gate (448 pgs)

15 Perdido Street Station (623 pgs)
15 Piranesi (245 pgs)

14 The City We Became (437 pgs)
14 Dune (604 pgs)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

*opens this cursed thread*

*stares at the chaos*

*closes the app*

XD

[a.g.e. montagner]

I like the detail of the number in bold... LOL.

Four UKLGs in the top four is something I'd actually never expect to see, and I'm happy it happened with her (I took a screenshot, just in case). I wouldn't be opposed to planning ahead for the second quarter. Other names in my SFF to-read list are Ann Leckie, Octavia Butler, Samuel Delany...

... but I can easily persuaded.

p.s.: UKLG VBR in, say, late March or April?

[Anna]

Haha I wanted to draw attention to the fact that the top 6 looks very secure.

It's just an invitation for someone(s) to blow everything up again! :D

[a.g.e. montagner]

Please don't, this is so great.
And if nothing else, her novels are short and basically stand-alone, despite being set in the same narrative universe in the case of the Hainish cycle.

[a.g.e. montagner]

But given the number of members of this group, anything could happen.

[Cheryl L]

a.g.e. montagner wrote: "But given the number of members of this group, anything could happen."

Anything could happen, but ...

Now Ursula has the top 4 spots on the list. Whatever will our Mods do??

I wonder if part of the enthusiasm for UKLG's scifi is related to people "rediscovering" her. I read A LOT of scifi in the '70s and '80s, but I was not even aware of her scifi books until a few years ago. I read The Left Hand of Darkness, and it instantly moved into my top 10 favorite books. I've been meaning to read more of her since then.

[a.g.e. montagner]

Was she "forgotten" in the meantime?
I wouldn't know... In my case, she's just one of a series of now-canonical sci-fi writers (along with Delany, Butler...) that I wish to read.

On the practical side, I think we'll schedule The Obelisk Gate for January.
We can either also schedule Jade City for January, and then leave two months for a Le Guin marathon, or couple the shorter Le Guin novels with the longer Obelisk and Jade.

[Tesseract]

I’m looking forward to reading all these UKLG books :) Piranesi almost made it, and I think that would be a fantastic book to have a VBR about, but maybe next time.

[Anna]

I will definitely schedule the two non-UKLGs into different months!

[Anna]

24h left!
(Or well, probably less, I'll likely close earlier tomorrow if it's still this clear.)

25 The Lathe of Heaven (176 pgs)
22 The Left Hand of Darkness (304 pgs)
19 The Dispossessed (387 pgs)
19 Jade City (498 pgs)
19 The Obelisk Gate (448 pgs)
19 The Word for World is Forest (160 pgs)

17 Piranesi (245 pgs)

16 The City We Became (437 pgs)

15 Perdido Street Station (623 pgs)

14 The Best of All Possible Worlds (308 pgs)
14 Dune (604 pgs)
14 A Master of Djinn (396 pgs)

13 Ancillary Sword (356 pgs)
13 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (256 pgs)
13 Snow Crash (470 pgs)

[Cheryl L]

a.g.e. montagner wrote: "Was she "forgotten" in the meantime?
I wouldn't know... In my case, she's just one of a series of now-canonical sci-fi writers (along with Delany, Butler...) that I wish to read.

On the practica..."

Interesting. I found The Obelisk Gate to be a super fast read, but with Le Guin, I'm always pausing to think and reread.

I'll look forward to the Le Guin marathon. We still have ~24 hrs so things could change.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I want everyone to recall we have A WHOLE YEAR to pick for and this is just q1

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

I have no intention of stopping this after the next year. We haven't even reread my beloved Steerswoman and Quantum Magician yet!

[Anna]

24 The Lathe of Heaven (176 pgs)
21 The Left Hand of Darkness (304 pgs)
19 Jade City (498 pgs)
19 The Obelisk Gate (448 pgs)
19 Piranesi (245 pgs)

18 The Dispossessed (387 pgs)
18 The Word for World is Forest (160 pgs)

16 The City We Became (437 pgs)

15 Perdido Street Station (623 pgs)

[Kaia]

Someone please rescue The Word for World is Forest! It’s the one UKLG book I want to read most (the others are all re-reads for me).

[Melanie, the neutral party]

OK, Done :)

[Michelle]

Kaia wrote: "Someone please rescue The Word for World is Forest! It’s the one UKLG book I want to read most (the others are all re-reads for me)."

I just voted for it, too. I don't even like UKLG 😂

[Kaia]

Thanks, Melanie and Michelle! Let me know your favorites for the Q2 re-reads, and I’ll be sure to add them to my vote when the time comes. 🙂

[Bobby]

Now I’m interested in 1Q84. Saw it on my brother in law’s shelf over thanksgiving. He says author wrote the short story behind Drive My Car Oscar winning international movie. Had sexual content. I guess 1Q84 does too and it’s very long. But the movie was cool.

[Michelle]

Bobby, would you like some of us to vote for it?