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 2024?
CJ wrote: "That might be my favorite of the series. I'm rereading the whole series again (third time) right now ..."How lovely that you've found comfort in/from Murderbot! ^_^ We have an entire series discussion thread for Murderbot, if you'd like to take a look! :)
Stephen wrote: "And very depressing"That, too.
Completed Miles in Love, an omnibus of two novels (Komarr and A Civil Campaign) as well as the short story Winterfair Gifts.Komarr is a mystery, A Civil Campaign is a romantic period piece set in the future, and Winterfair Gifts is a capping short story harking back to the whole book series. My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A Civil Campaign is my favorite Vorkosigan novel. The whole series leads up to this saga of becoming responsible, mature people. Not just Miles, a lot of people leave their young adulthood behind and take on a heavier load. Winterfair Gifts capped it off beautifully, leaving me content.
My review here
Moving on to Diplomatic Immunity.
The books I read and listened to in May:- Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine : An interesting premise though it started to crumble by the end. I wish we got more about the two main characters relationship.
- Murder at Everham Hall by Benedict Brown : A fun enough cozy mystery romp. Not sure if I’ll continue when the next book is out.
- Piglet by Lottie Hazell : I was really excited for this book but it fell flat for me. The descriptions of the food were delectable but I felt too far removed from the main character at times.
- Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis : Another disappointment for me. I was excited for this one. A cozy found family in space? Sign me up. For me, it just didn’t have the sci-fi feel I was looking for and there was so many different points of few I didn’t personally experience a connection between many of them.
- Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose : First I want to say the audiobook production of this is fantastic. The second thing is that I so wanted to love this book but the mystery never hooked and reeled me in.
- A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon : This book was so much fun. I love this take on the magical girl trope.
- I Want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor by Andrew Boyd : This book wasn’t what I was expecting going in and that was my fault.
Top 3 Favorite Comics of the Month:
- A Cat from Our World and the Forgotten Witch Vol. 1 by Hiro Kashiwaba
- Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 1 by Fujita
- Third Shift Society, Vol. One by Meredith Moriarty
Currently reading: The Husbands by Holly Gramazio (Loving this book but taking forever to get through this part because I’m feeling such strong second hand embarrassment.) & Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
Currently listening: I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle
Current Comic: By The Horns, Vol. 1: The Wind Rises by Markisan Naso
I'm currently working my way through the Hugo Awards short fiction reading list (am going to WorldCon in Glasgow).So far the best thing I've read is Ivy, Angelica, Bay by C.L. Polk, a riveting urban fantasy.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
I've now finished Mirror Dance and Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold in my Vorkosigan Saga reading adventure, and they were both excellent and very different from each other. I also discovered an old blog from Jo Walton on tor.com from when she re-read the series back in 2009. It's been fun to read her takes on each of the books I've read so far, and I wonder if Memory had any influence on her book My Real Children, which I read earlier this year.I'm also just about to finish Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, a collection of short stories and novellas by James Tiptree, Jr, mostly from the 1970s. It's taken me a long time to read because I can usually only manage one story per day, if that. Most of the stories are well told and insightful but also tend toward the grim side. In doing some research on the author, I was amazed to discover that she didn't start writing / publishing stories until her 50s, and she was of my grandmother's generation. I would never have guessed that from the stories themselves, which is kind of delightful.
Not my favourite T. Kingfisher but still goodA House with Good Bones
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
just finished P Djeli Clark's A Master of Djinn, a great story! Set in Egypt about 200 years ago, fantasy, human kind re-discovering magical beings, such as.... djinn! aka genie's. yeah, I know most of us including me instantly thought of rubbing bottles and getting three wishes, but it's not quite that easy. And it's more than that! He is a great writer, looking forward to more work from him!Anyhoo, now on to Joe Haldeman's Camouflage...
Enjoying reading Backteria: & Other Improbable Tales by Richard Matheson. I thought-knew I would enjoy this collection after reading I Am Legend a couple of years ago.
Just finished The Dark Throne byJocelyn A. Fox.I liked the book, I like how Jocelyn Fox writes, her characters are really fleshed out. The fae world that she has created is amazing and fun to read about.
Just started reading The Chronicle of Heloise & Grimple by Sean Gibson.
I’m waiting for the witch king paperback to come out - tried borrowing it 3x from the library and I’m too slow reading it to finish in time before it needs to be returned. It’s a lot of great world building.
Sarah wrote: "I’m waiting for the witch king paperback to come out - tried borrowing it 3x from the library and I’m too slow reading it to finish in time before it needs to be returned. It’s a lot of great world..."Yes, I was fortunate enough to get it via the Hugo Packet.
CBRetriever wrote: "Bobby wrote: "I finally finished Les Miserables. Was a bear to read but interesting to see back story to the musical and his views on helping the poor and improving justice."There were a lot of d..."
My edition (Signet Paperback) was 1460 pages. Supposedly complete and unabridged. I hope there is not another 1300 pages out there!
The whole side story about the sewer system was a little much. But even the parts that were part of the plot were tedious. He just loves France and Paris. Lots of names and lists. There were long songs in French translated in footnotes. Quite self indulgent and not in a lot of ways very well written. And yet the message is quite poignant similar to the musical. Jean Valjean is quite the pilgrim and humble saint. Cried my eyes out at the end but it wasn't depressing. It was noble and uplifting and a call to action to help the poor and to seek a more just nation.
Finished up Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold this morning. My rating: 4 of 5 starsVery good plot and the medical parts remind me of James White's Sector General series.
My review here
Continuing the series with Captain Vorpatril's Alliance. Although Alice Bell's Grave Expectations just arrived and I have been wanting to read that for a while.
Bobby wrote: "My edition (Signet Paperback) was 1460 pages. Supposedly complete and unabridged. I hope there is not another 1300 pages out there!"It quite often takes more words to say something in French than in English. Lists, for example almost always have the correct French version of the in front of each noun. The translation may have left out a lot too
Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas was definitely different. 1880s Brazilian prose feels highly accessible, you would be forgiven if you thought it was a new release. I'm starting on Taylor Brown's, Rednecks, historical fiction based around the Battle of Blair Mountain, in early 1920s West Virginia. That's "rednecks" in the political, union strong sense, before it became a smear.
For anyone who is currently reading the Joe Ledger novels and are not yet on Rage, when you get to this book, you will have rage at the end of it. Joe Ledger gets put to the test in this one. Not just with the current situation, but with his own personal issues. RTI, also known as DMS in previous books have no idea what they just got themselves into. The writing per the norm had me hooked but I will admit, somewhere around 70-75% it was kind of hard to get through some chapters. Found myself going back to figure out what was going on. Could've been I was tired when I was reading at the time or it really was confusing. Either way I made it past that and it went 100 mph from then on. I was bummed out that Ghost (Joe's dog) was not in it that much. All of the other books, his dog has been right by his side. I feel like we got to know Mr. Church a lot more in this one. Mr. Church is in charge of Joe's team and a lot of other things, lol.
Overall I'm giving this a 4.5 out of 5. Action just like the rest of the books. Joe and his team putting their lives at risk and 100% should have died ten times already, lol. People....get on this series. You wont regret it. (less)
After Goodreads' algorithm recommending it to me about 50 times. I checked out the audiobook of Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree from my local library. I didn't have high expectations, many of these recent, super popular fantasy books aren't for me, so I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it enough to not return the digital loan after the 4th chapter. Baldree's narration really carries the audiobook. It was a nice fun read for a Sunday.
I started reading A Memory Called Empire this morning and well...I already have opinions. Right now that's mostly about how this novel seems to be trying to do an awful lot of things right out of the box.
CJ wrote: "I started reading A Memory Called Empire this morning and well...I already have opinions. Right now that's mostly about how this novel seems to be trying to do an awful lot of things right out of t..."I really struggled with this book!
CJ wrote: "I started reading A Memory Called Empire this morning and well...I already have opinions. Right now that's mostly about how this novel seems to be trying to do an awful lot of things right out of t..."I read and really enjoyed A Memory Called Empire back in 2021. I remember it started slowly, and I took a little while to get drawn into it. But then I was fully in. By the time I finished, I was thinking, yeah, I can see why it won the Hugo and other awards. Well-deserved IMO.
I guess it's about time for me to try the sequel LOL.
Stephen wrote: "I really struggled with this book!"Yeah, I'm finding A Memory Called Empire a bit of a chore myself. I will wait until I'm finished before airing my opinions/grievances.
I grabbed Witch King by Martha Wells last night (the Kindle version is on sale right now for $2) and immediately got into it. It's funny because 1) I was fully prepared to be disappointed by Witch King because I knew it would not be Murderbot, and 2) I'm usually exceedingly patient with science fiction--I have read a lot of not great SF--and exceedingly fussy with fantasy. And here I am reading a SF book that I'm fussing over and a fantasy book I just dove into.
The Duke and I (Bridgertons, #1)by Julia Quinn
CJ wrote: "I was fully prepared to be disappointed by Witch King because I knew it would not be Murderbot"This is why I haven't tried it! :D
I've got the witch King on Kindle as part of my Hugo package. Let me know what you think?In general, I prefer SF, so a Fantasy has to be a real good'n before I commit!
I've just finished Witch King (Hugo Packet 😊), and really enjoyed it. I love both fantasy and SF, and I love Murderbot. I mostly enjoyed Martha Wells other fantasy, but this one was definitely better, and occasionally I felt Murderbot vibes on the way through. Murderbot wasn't there, but there were a few turns of phrase that were very reminiscent.
Good to hear. I will definitely read. I think Translation State is going to get my Hugo vote - really loved it!
Kristen...I started throne of glass and ended up reading all 6 books in like 2 weeks...they are so addictive.
I'm just starting a memory called empire good to know it takes a bit to get into it...I was about to put it down
Leonie wrote: "I've just finished Witch King (Hugo Packet 😊), and really enjoyed it. I love both fantasy and SF, and I love Murderbot. I mostly enjoyed Martha Wells other fantasy, but this one was definitely bett..."I am really enjoying it myself, and like with the Murderbot Diaries, I'm finding myself going back and reading chapters or passages over again, not because I didn't get them the first time but because I am so fascinated by Wells' skill as a storyteller. I will write more about this possibly in the discussions threads after I'm done.
I'm in kind of a weird reading mood so I'm trying to get back in the habit by catching up on The Chronicles of St. Mary's. It's very OTT and nonsensical which apparently I need right now.
Jan wrote: "Jacci wrote: "I'm just starting a memory called empire good to know it takes a bit to get into it...I was about to put it down"I encourage you to hang in there, Jacci."
I finished it, but mainly because I was afraid of the DNF police. I was never able to get into it!
I am currently reading "I Will Find You" by Joe Kenda...I loved his show on ID so I thought I would give his.book a try...I am loving it..I really enjoy it when the author reads their books sometimes...
Kristen wrote: "I am currently reading "I Will Find You" by Joe Kenda...I loved his show on ID so I thought I would give his.book a try...I am loving it..I really enjoy it when the author reads their books sometim..."I had assumed that was romance or something from the title until I looked it up! Nope, not romance 😂 I guess my assumption was due to Daniel Day Lewis saying that in The Last of the Mohicans.
I started reading murderbot thanks to this thread and it's fing awesome....sorry A Memory called empire but you're going to the dnf pile ....I'm now obsessed with MURDER BOT
I'm still struggling on with Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee and I think my strategy of one chapter a day will lead me to the end. Far too much death and gore and math and tactics.I'm interspersing it with
Swords of Haven by Simon R. Green which is a fantasy mixed in with a policier with the first book in the bundle. Nice and fast paced and interesting
The Blackwing War by K.B. Spangler which is very interesting and I'm liking it
The Song of Homanaby Jennifer Roberson = a comfort read. I'm reading this for the first time in Kindle format (two prior reads in paperback). I'll be doing the whole series
Cyador's Heirs by L.E. Modesitt Jr. which is book 17 in the series (23 total). I'm hoping to finish the series late 2024/early 2025
The Killing Mood by T.F. Muir which is a nice break from Ninefox Gambit as it's a mystery
Took some time this morning to enjoy the end of Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold. The last 80 pages of this book are enthralling and hard to set down.My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the side-character book that other authors should envy. My To Reread Shelf may collapse under the weight of Bujold books, but I will just have to reinforce it.
My review here
Going to start CryoBurn tonight.
Jacci wrote: "I started reading murderbot thanks to this thread and it's fing awesome....sorry A Memory called empire but you're going to the dnf pile ....I'm now obsessed with MURDER BOT"Murderbot is the best thing to happen in SciFi for decades in my opinion. And I found A Memory Called Empire almost impossible to read as well!
Jacci wrote: "I started reading murderbot thanks to this thread and it's fing awesome....sorry A Memory called empire but you're going to the dnf pile ....I'm now obsessed with MURDER BOT"Ha! Welcome to the club. I'm battling cancer right now, and was looking for something to just lose myself in. Tried Pratchett--not really for me. Read the first 6 Legend of Drizzt novels and then re-read All Systems Red and was like "This is exactly what I need right now," I've been just re-reading the whole series in a loop in between all my other reads.
I'm currently re-reading the full length Murderbot novel, Network Effect, which is a RIDE. Was reading it through my infusion treatment this morning. I suspect you'll love it.
I'm sending well-wishes your way, CJ!
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SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
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There were a lot of digressions off topic in that book and this wikipedia bit is spot on
More than a quarter of the novel—by one count 955 of 2,783 pages—is devoted to essays that argue a moral point or display Hugo's encyclopedic knowledge but do not advance the plot, nor even a subplot, a method Hugo used in such other works as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Toilers of the Sea. One biographer noted that "the digressions of genius are easily pardoned". The topics Hugo addresses include cloistered religious orders, the construction of the Paris sewers, argot, and the street urchins of Paris. The one about convents he titles "Parenthesis" to alert the reader to its irrelevance to the story line.
the page counts are all over the place for the Kindle versions so pieces may have been cut out in some. Oddly enough, it doesn't appear the Hugo wrote any short stories.
and as it took him 17 years to write Les Miserables, there may be some hope yet for Martin and Rothfuss to complete their next books...
edit to change yout to yet