SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I'm in the middle of Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, the 2nd book in the Southern Reach trilogy. Quite different from the first book since it is (so far) taking place outside of Area X, but still fascinating.

Finally started The Shepherd's Crown and also started The Postman.

Sarah Anne wrote: "I think he's the translator of Three Body Problem, too, isn't he?"
Rob wrote: "Yes. And the 3rd bil book in that series too I believe my"

He's also been translating short stories for Clarkesworld magazine the past few years as well as the upcoming anthology of Chinese stories, Invisible Planets: An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese SF in Translation. He's been quite busy!

I'm wrapping up my re-read of Philip K Dick's Ubik.

I'm also in the final stretch of George R R Martin's A Storm of Swords.

And I've been reading along with my daughter's 7th grade English class as they discuss Lois Lowry's The Giver.

Faith wrote: "I just finished listening to Ubik by Philip K. Dick. What a crazy mind that man had. I loved the book and the narrator was also excellent."

Hi Faith! I'm re-reading Ubik right now. I read it years ago but couldn't remember it clearly and wanted a refresher. As I read it, things start coming back to me. I'll probably wrap it up next week.

How did you like Ubik? Have you read a lot of PKD's other books? So far I think I prefer A Scanner Darkly and The Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? over Ubik.

Reading:

Listening:

Finding it very hard to get into Throne of Glass. I just checked out Brisingr last night, but forgot my phone today so I won't get to start listening until tonight while I'm finishing the pillow I've been making.

I'm interrupting my regularly scheduled programming to read The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly. I love this series. :)

I read The Devourers, which I won in a GR giveaway. The beginning is a bit weak and clunky, but the writing improves quite a bit as it goes to make for a fairly well done debut novel.

Waist deep in The Eyes of The Sun: The Complete Trilogy. Fantastic little urban fantasy by indie author Christina McMullen. If you want a fresh voice in the fantasy world, check her out.

It's amazing how Neal Stephenson can both entertain and teach at the same time. In this case, orbital mechanics, celestial mechanics, survival in space, etc.

I am in the middle of David Falkayn: Star Trader by Grand Master Poul Anderson, book 2 of his "Technic Civilization Saga". It's a compilation of a short novel, novels and short stories about his Polesotechnic League of star traders. This volume concentrates on my fictional hero David Falkayn.

Despair for a group read over at Literary Darkness, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie for fun, and Lord Foul's Bane for because it's been too long.

I'm in the middle of the The Quantum ThiefQuantum Thief by Hannu RajaniemiHannu Rajaniemi. Not bad, but I won't read the whole trilogy. It isn't that captivating even if the world is very original.

Since my last post, I’ve read:

1. The Sheep Look Up, a standalone dystopian-type novel from the early 70's on our group bookshelf. This was one of the bleakest and darkest things I’ve ever read. I’m not sure I’ll ever call a book “dark” again in one of my reviews without first comparing it to this book. My review.

2. Pyramids, another Discworld book. I needed something light and fluffy and ridiculous after reading The Sheep Look Up. This book fit that need, but I didn’t like it as well as some of the previous Discworld books. My review.


3. Flesh and Spirit, the first book in a fantasy duology by Carol Berg. I just finished this one today and I really, really liked it. My review.

I’ve just started the second book in the aforementioned duology, Breath and Bone.

YouKneeK wrote: "Since my last post, I’ve read:

1. The Sheep Look Up, a standalone dystopian-type novel from the early 70's on our group bookshelf. This was one of the bleakest and darkest things I’ve..."

This is an all time favorite novel of mine and arguably the most important Cli-Fi books of all time for its time. I'm due for a re-read.

Started in on The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán. Been looking forward to this one for a while. Liking it so far.

I finished Ubik by Philip K Dick

Now I'm starting on Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card

And I'm still plugging away at A Storm of Swords by George R R Martin which I hope to finish by the end of the month or early July.

Book 6 of the Harry Bosch series came in at the library. Darn, I guess I'll have to drop everything and read books four and five real quick ;)

I started to read a Finnish Cthulhu story collection called Kirotun kirjan vartija. And now that Zoo City: Eläinten valtakunta has finally been translated into Finnish I've added in on my TBR-list and will start reading it as soon as I've finished off something else from my currently-reading list.

Zoo City is a cool book. Have fun :)

city of the lost souls

I finally finished Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters after three weeks and have started Uprooted by Naomi Novik.

In May I read:

Fables, Vol. 7: Arabian Nights and Days - 4 star
The Black Ice - 3 star
An Ember in the Ashes - 2 star
Ancillary Sword - 4 star
City of Bones - 4 star
Cursed - 4 star
The Laughing Corpse - 3 star
Why Not Me? - 3 star
Starship Troopers - 3 star
Welcome to Night Vale - 3 star
Sins of the Demon - 4 star
Marked in Flesh - 5 star
The Girl on the Train - 3 star
Blood in Her Veins: Nineteen Stories from the World of Jane Yellowrock - 4 star
The Fifth Season - 3 star
Kitty Rocks the House - 3 star

Valerie wrote: "In May I read:..."

I just read The Black Ice, too! I was 3.5 stars. The third and fourth books are much better. It looks like you had a pretty good month.

That is good to know. My S.O. has been reading the Bosch books . . . out of order! *Gasp.* He's a monster.

Seriously, though. I'd like to read and discuss them with him, so it is good to know they will get better. We actually listened to Black Ice together on a road trip. He thought it was just ok, too.

I did have a good May. June is not going to be so spectacular since I am losing my commute audiobook time. My nephew is visiting over the summer to be my intern at work, so he is riding in the car with me. I am being a nice auntie and going with music rather than torturing him with my audiobooks.

Valerie wrote: "That is good to know. My S.O. has been reading the Bosch books . . . out of order! *Gasp.* He's a monster.

Seriously, though. I'd like to read and discuss them with him, so it is good to know they..."

That's appalling! That totally makes me cringe. I was amazed by the improvement in writing with The Concrete Blonde. I'm addicted. I just got book 8 from the library (holds are so unpredictable) so I'm like "Well, I guess I better hurry up and read 5-7. Darn."

You are indeed a very nice auntie. :)

Valerie wrote: "In May I read..."

Woah, Valerie. That's impressive!

I finished Lock In by John Scalzi. My review is here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Faith wrote: "I finished Lock In by John Scalzi. My review is here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I just started listening to Wil Wheaton's reading of Redshirts. So far I'm really enjoying it. I've been reading some pretty heavy books though and am in the mood for something light.

Tom wrote: "Faith wrote: "I finished Lock In by John Scalzi. My review is here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I just started listening to Wil Wheaton's readi..."

I wasn't crazy about Red Shirts. My review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It wasn't bad enough to make me give up on the author though.

I loved Redshirts and was not crazy about Lock In. It's funny how that works :)

Faith wrote: "I wasn't crazy about Red Shirts. My review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It wasn't bad enough to make me give up on the author though."

I haven't gotten to the codas but I see what you mean by the repetitive he said/she said. I think authors must walk a fine line because one can easily go too far the other way leaving the reader with no idea who is talking.

Currently reading:
Drums of Autumn and I'm so so close to being finished! I'll start the next one soon. I'm obsessed with these books.
Three Parts Dead from a couple of months ago. I'm about 30% through this and so far I really like it. My husband finished it in a few days. I think this will be a fast read and I'll finish it this month.
Edgewise: A Picture of Cookie Mueller; This is the most lovely biography I believe I've ever read. It's written interview style, which I think gives it an intimacy and grittiness that is pure Cookie Mueller.
Left to be read in June 2016:
Uprooted and Aurora

Sarah Anne wrote: "I loved Redshirts and was not crazy about Lock In. It's funny how that works :)"

I probably liked Lock In better than Redshirts, but not nearly as much as Fuzzy Nation (or some of his Old Man's War books for that matter).

Fuzzies!!!!!!!!! :D

I was ambivalent about both Redshirts and Fuzzy Nation. Scalzi has some major talent, but his humor just doesn't work for me.

I just think he's not as good as he thinks he is. That being said, REDSHIRTS is really good. But I couldn't get past the first chapter of LOCK IN and I'm just not interested in the Old Man's War universe.

League of Dragons (Naomi Novik). One last time.

MadProfessah wrote: "I just think he's not as good as he thinks he is. That being said, REDSHIRTS is really good. But I couldn't get past the first chapter of LOCK IN and I'm just not interested in the Old Man's War un..."

I really like the meta in Redshirts. Old Man's War is good enough but it was not as funny for me.

Finished Despair and then tore through The Suicide Motor Club (excellent!!). Now into The Broken Hours: A Novel of H. P. Lovecraft (weirdly compelling, or compellingly weird).

I'm about a third of the way through The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin. So far it seems he is bringing his trilogy home in style!

Phrynne wrote: "I'm about a third of the way through The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin. So far it seems he is bringing his trilogy home in style!"

I'm very excited to read this book... but it's farther down on my to read list. Glad to hear it's concluding well!

Just finished reading the Hugo novels and novellas. There was only one I didn't enjoy and actually stopped reading, but the rest are all lovely. My favorites were: Uprooted and Aeornaut's Windlass for novels, and Penric's Demon and Slow Bullets for novellas. I enjoyed the novellas because I found new authors I hadn't read before.

Going on a road trip soon where I have lines up: Slaughterhouse 5, The Road to Little Dribbling (not sff), and Redshirts.

I recently finished The Aeronaut's Windlass. I liked it but didn't love it. I was disappointed that the story was mostly land based (I was expecting aerial battles galore!) and that a good chunk of the story ended up being about a small handful of 16-17 year olds. The marketing set me up with different expectations.

I haven't posted in awhile. I have recently read The Last Whisper in the Dark, Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with the Grateful Dead, Big Fish, The Golem and the Jinni, and The Sirens of Titan.

Now I'm reading End of Watch.

I just finished Sunset Over Abendau, grimdark sci-fi from Jo Zebedee (second part of a trilogy, Abendau's Heir is the first, I think).

Pretty dark and very emotive (reminds me a bit of Robin Hobb, actually).

Currently on Alfred the Great: The Man Who Made England, by Justin Pollard. Only a little in, but enjoying reading about a period which is pretty unfamiliar to me.

My review for The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin I gave it five stars.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just finished last night Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I've just started, because it's so different from Uprooted, Austenland by Shannon Hale.

Liked "Uprooted" very much. the author went into much trodden territory and cut her own path.

dang it !!! I stopped reading Mr. Mercedes just before the bomb at the concert went off.... time to finish it.