SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Since my last post, I read The Iliad, The Prose Edda, London Falling, and The Collapsing Empire

From best to worst, The Collapsing Empire was superb. It got a bit campy, I could probably find a few little holes in it, but it all worked together so well that it's not worth it. I enjoyed every second I was reading this book and esteem John quite a bit for writing the characters he did.

The Prose Edda was a bit of an up and down. The Gylfaginning (the first half-ish) was great. Timeless, at points funny, badass, and wise. The second half is like a thesaurus for skalds as captured by the most pretentious and perhaps one of the least imaginative poets of the 1200s. Definitely read the first half if you are a fan of folk tales and myths. I liked it so much I wrote a companion read on a blog to the story of Thor at Utgardr.

The Iliad was quite an experience. I think I read it the worst possible way, but there were still some great lines and moments. I also feel like I can check that box off the ol' list, and that's a good feeling.

And then London Falling. I wish it had fallen harder and then stopped moving. Alas. It could have been great. I don't know who this guy's editors were, but I want to shake them. A sentence needs at least one definite subject. "It bounced off it," is a worthless effing sentence and I spent enough time trying to find out what the "its" were that had this book been a client of mine, they would have gotten billed.

Next up is The Book of Phoenix for the group read, and my first Nnedi! Excited!

Allison wrote: "Since my last post, I read The Iliad, The Prose Edda, London Falling, and The Collapsing Empire"

Woot! I've got The Book of Phoenix cued up too.

i have had an embarrassment of riches on my Currently Reading list. I have finally trimmed it back so I actually enjoy talking about it...

In the car for the commute: TLWTASAP, a.k.a. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
On my quest to read all the Dilbert strips in order: It's Obvious You Won't Survive by Your Wits Alone
Audio shile doing chores: Judas Unchained
Two items of fiction before bed, Grass and Memory of Water

I just finished listening to For We Are Many (Bobiverse #2), and I'm about to start The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

Allison wrote: "From best to worst, The Collapsing Empire was superb. It got a bit campy, I could probably find a few little holes in it, but it all worked together so well that it's not worth it. I enjoyed every second I was reading this book and esteem John quite a bit for writing the characters he did."

I've read all of Scalzi's other novels and I've been looking forward to this one. He did a reading of the first chapter at a local library a few months before it came out. Unfortunately I'm swamped with club reads right now so I keep not getting to it. :(

Mike wrote: "i have had an embarrassment of riches on my Currently Reading list. I have finally trimmed it back so I actually enjoy talking about it..."

Five books is "trimmed back"? I struggle switching between two. :)

David, I am very curious how it stacks up to his other books. I have Old Man's War on my list for my "bonus" reads this year; we'll see how that goes. I really think you'll like Collapsing Empire, though!

Mike: sweet! Hopefully it's ready for pick up tomorrow, looking forward to your thoughts, as usual!

David: Yeah, I may have a mild ADD plus a good memory. But yes, four fiction is still too many, and I miss some stuff.

Allison: Interlibrary-loan delivered my copy Wednesday, I think, but I want to finish Memory of Water first.

Just finished Black Wings Has My Angel for a group read. Very noir and VERY good. Other than that, continuing my reread of the holmes russell series by Laurie R. King, currently on #7

I just read Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell and loved it!

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

Here is my review of The Reality Dysfunction.

Allison wrote: "Since my last post, I read The Iliad, The Prose Edda, London Falling, and The Collapsing Empire

From best to worst, The Collapsing Empire w..."

I am normally a monogamous reader but have ended up with 3 books to finish.
Once those are done I am reading The Collapsing Empire. I am a big Scalzi fan and really looking forward to it.

Esther wrote: "I am normally a monogamous reader but have ended up with 3 books to finish.
Once those are done I am reading The Collapsing Empire. I am a big Scalzi fan and really looking forward to it. "

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Also "monogamous reader" made me laugh ^.^

I'm rereading Peter Brett's Demon Cycle, currently on
The Daylight War, and listening to an audiobook of Interview with the Vampire. I'm also reading DC graphic novels in-between.

As a polygamous reader, I'm working on:
- Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman - enjoying it although the offerings are pretty uneven
- Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson - it's impressive when hard SF can be this entertaining
- A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge - I have high hopes for this one - it got off to a good start
- Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee - kind of boring in the beginning, hoping it picks up soon
- A Dance with Dragons by this guy - I'd really like to see some positive news on a Winds of Winter release date

Randy wrote: "As a polygamous reader, "

Lol! Good one.

Friends, my beloved library is failing me in every way a library can fail a person. It's been a week to date since my book request went in, and it's still not ready. And the first e-book it had in common with my list was one that I hadn't anticipated reading until next spring.

So, I am listening to the dramatization of Foundation while I work, and reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings at home, and once again I am ready to don my tinfoil hat. They are both excellently done, however, so at least when I snap and go to live in a cave with my cat, I'll have had a beautiful decline to reflect on.

Lately I've read We'll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywoods Most Beloved Movie by Noah Isenberg, which I quite liked. My RL book group chose Olive Kitteridge and after reading some numbers of pages, and not liking it at all, I watched the HBO four episode series. I liked that a lot! (That's so unusual for me that I wore my "The book was better" t- shirt to book group.)
Now I'm reading the magical realism- ish My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman for a library discussion group. It's okay.

I'm catching up a bit on my book reviews:

I finished listening to Knife of Dreams as my Wheel of Time audio re-read is nearing it's end. It was just as good as I remember: ★★★★☆ - (My Review)

My hold from the library for Saga, Vol. 7 finally came in, and that was yet again another solid entry. Now to wait for volume 8. ★★★★☆ - (My Review)

Finally, thanks in part to a BOGO sale on audible I finally listened to We Are Legion (We Are Bob) and very much enjoyed it. So much so that I'm nearly done with the sequel already. I know a few others have been talking this series up recently, so consider this me adding my voice to theirs. ★★★★☆ - (My Review)

Since my last post (May 22), I’ve finished:

1. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I had read this in high school, but all I remembered was that I didn’t like it. I appreciated it more as an adult. My review.

2. The Nexus trilogy by Ramez Naam. I enjoyed this quite a bit. It wasn’t completely without its issues, but it was well-written and had an interesting premise.
Review of Book 1 - Nexus.
Review of Book 2 - Crux.
Review of Book 3 - Apex.

3. Vici by Naomi Novik, a short prequel story to the Temeraire series which is what I plan to read next. My review.

4. The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales. I started this at the beginning of the year and have been slowly working my way through it. Some of the stories were entertaining, but it was very repetitive. My review.

Later tonight I plan to start His Majesty's Dragon, the first book in the Temeraire series. I’ve been wanting to read this for a while.

https://shop.figu.org/b%C3%BCcher/die...

Die Art zu leben by Billy Meier. Great read

I just finished Bookburners , which was a lot of fun and I plan to read the next, er, season.

I'm also listening to two books on audio, The Witch With No Name while I'm on the treadmill and Feast of Sorrow: A Novel of Ancient Rome while I'm driving.

YouKneeK,

Two weeks ago or so I finished the last Temeraire novel. I need to read that prequel! Thanks!

I finished and loved My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman.

This morning I finished Mockingbird Songs: My Friendship with Harper Lee by Wayne Flynt, a picture of Harper Lee, partly in her own words.

I'm about to start All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely.

Julia wrote: "Two weeks ago or so I finished the last Temeraire novel."

Did you enjoy the series all the way through? I’m about halfway through the first book now and I’m loving it far more than I had hoped or expected.

Veronica wrote: "I just finished Bookburners , which was a lot of fun and I plan to read the next, er, season."

I really enjoyed that book. So much fun.

What really amazed me was how consistent the tone and style were, despite being written by multiple authors.

I felt Temeraire series got bogged down in the middle books (as is common with long series) but worth staying with it through the whole thing.

Just finished The Wheel of Osheim. It was great fun!

I did something not so smart before I read the last Temeraire book, besides taking years between books, the books I read immediately before the last Temeraire book were a bunch of the Marie Brennan A Natural History of Dragons series.

Besides both series being about dragons, they are also about stuffy, Victorian- like class- bound characters.

You're doing something I maybe should done: read all the books at one time, instead of as they came out, or as I got around to them.

Yes, I enjoyed the series.

Rachel wrote: "I felt Temeraire series got bogged down in the middle books (as is common with long series) but worth staying with it through the whole thing."

Thanks Rachel, that’s helpful to be prepared for. It does seem like longer series tend to get bogged down in the middle. At least in this case all of the books are fairly short.

Julia wrote: "Besides both series being about dragons, they are also about stuffy, Victorian- like class- bound characters."

Oh, I could definitely see where that would be a problem, and I’m glad you mentioned it. The Brennan series is on my list also, so I’ll have to make sure to let a good bit of time pass between the two series.

Recently ran into someone I know in real life who reads books! He convinced me to continue the Malazan series. I re-read Gardens of the Moon along with the Tor re-read, its quite an incredible story when you have an idea of some of the context (which I did not when I brute-force read it with the group earlier this year). Now I'm continuing with Deadhouse Gates. Reading this series will be my ambitious summer project. I'm going to try to keep up with the group reads at the same time.

Julia wrote: "This morning I finished Mockingbird Songs: My Friendship with Harper Lee by Wayne Flynt, a picture of Harper Lee, partly in her own words. "

How was it?

Hi Thomas

Maybe Fan Is to big a word but after listening to all the books a couple of years back they definitely hold a special place in my book-heart.

Completing Wheel of Time is a little like running your first marathon, you feel proud and somewhat elated and you are sure you will never do it again.

Having completed the first 10 books you are in for a ride with the last ones, especially the last 3 completed by Sanderson.

I am reading Chanur's Homecoming , I finished The Last One.

I just finished The War of the Worlds.
I can say with certainty this is not sci-fi and the moralizing got on my nerves pretty fast.
I did not like it. The pacing was erratic, the story bland and the few scientific ideas that did get into it where just ludicrous.

Just finished The Hum and the Shiver, a pure-D 5-star successor to the Newford novels of Charles DeLint.

Also picked up The Stepford Wives, which is next. It's so short it looks more like a pamphlet than a book.

I'm currently reading Kindred. I'm nearing the end, and I think it's a fantastic read! I'm also listening to an audiobook of The Skull Throne.

Sakuko wrote: "I just finished The War of the Worlds. I can say with certainty this is not sci-fi and the moralizing got on my nerves pretty fast.
I did not like it. The pacing was erratic, the story bland and the few scientific ideas that did get into it were just ludicrous."

Sorry, it is sci-fi, maybe just not your style.

On your other points, yeah, I expect that is a risk with much literature from the late 19th century. Life was a different pace, morality discussions were carried out in books, and half of what we think we know today had no scientific basis as yet .

Since last time, I've read:

The Epic of Gilgamesh
Beowulf
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Foundation
and
The Book of Phoenix

I really am enjoying reading the old epics. Gilgamesh was great and I think I will try to read it with my eyes next time so I can capture the names better. Beowulf was exactly the poetic thing you fear/love. I think maybe I'd like to read a cleaned up version of it because this one took a lot of attention to gather when something was happening and when the skald was being imaginative.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings was just the classic I had always heard it was. Very much worth a read if you haven't, especially in this climate. I would like to read more by Maya Angelou.

Foundation was fun! Until it was super weird! And then it was still fun but it's like we went from having a glass of wine over a super bougie yet titillating debate to some sort of trip and the pigs are everywhere except where you are. I don't quite know what to make of it, but I listened to the dramatization and the voice acting was superb.

Book of Phoenix started and ended great. The rest I'm not sure did anything for me. I'll save discussion though for the discussion group.

Now onto The Gunslinger and my fourth orange book of the summer! Also my 19/20 self-ascribed challenge to read popular authors I'd never read and 9/10 on my bookclub challenge!

Esther asked what I thought of Mockingbird Songs: My Friendship with Harper Lee by Wayne Flynt.

The author is a retired history professor whose specialty was Alabama Depression- era history. He met Harper Lee's sister long before he met Harper Lee. They have a 30 year friendship conducted a lot in letters. It's fun to read her letters, and his. If you are fascinated by Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird, you might enjoy this short book. If these two paragraphs are too much about a subject you don't care for, read something else.

Since that I finished YA contemporary novel All American Boys by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely, which I liked a lot.

Now I'm reading Connie Willis' most recent novel Crosstalk. It is not a time travel novel. It takes place ten minutes in a future, where if you have money, you can have a minor surgery so you will know what your partner is feeling. It's a Connie Willis novel, so things do not go well, but they are funny.

I am still slogging along with High Couch of Silistra. Right now I am at the halfway point. I would love to put this book down and forget about it, but I feel the need to read the whole thing in order to justify my bad review. The characters are poorly actualized, the world building is lame and the plot plods at slow pace. Also, it was my understanding that this is a fantasy novel and all the sci-fi stuff is really annoying me. I hope to read a yummy fantasy after this pile.

I started Lincoln in the Bardo a few days ago. It took some getting used to but I really like it so far. The audio has 166 narrators! Most of it is from the POV of some ghosts who can't admit they're ghosts and there are some hallucinations and delusions going on. It's definitely not easy and there was a point about 50 pages in that I didn't know if I'd make it. Now I love it.

Sarah Anne wrote: "I started Lincoln in the Bardo a few days ago. It took some getting used to but I really like it so far. The audio has 166 narrators! Most of it is from the POV of some ghosts who c..."

I really liked that book! Its definitely very unusual:)

I'm starting The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. . Just got it today. Sounds like fun. Neal Stephenson is a co-author, and he's always good value. The premise sounds a bit cheesy, but it's NEAL STEPHENSON so I'm in. Magic is real, is kinda the premise, but not like The Magicians where magic is, well, magic. In the new NS book magic is kinda sciency. Sounds just up my alley.

Didn't know Neal Stephenson had a new one out, yay!

Currently reading Mary Shelley' s The Last Man. A bit of a slow start, 75pp in and no sign of the plague yet, but I persevere...

I recently finished the second book in the BLACK CITY SAINT series by Richard Knaak. Loved the Prohibition Chicago setting and the history mixed in. Some very intriguing characters including the hero Nick Medea (he was once St. George)


Going to try to read Brian Staveley's SKULLSWORN next.

I finished Injection Burn by Jason M. Hough. My review:

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

Thomas wrote: "I have just finished Magician by Raymond E. Feist, I really enjoyed it but have received mixed opinions on the rest of the Riftwar series, if any of you have any advice f..."

I liked Silverthorn and A Darkness At Sethanon but never read any of the others.

I finished Crosstalk by Connie Willis and enjoyed it a lot.

Next up is Human Acts by Han Kang.

Thomas wrote: "I have just finished Magician by Raymond E. Feist, I really enjoyed it but have received mixed opinions on the rest of the Riftwar series, if any of you have any advice f..."

In addition to the rest of the Riftwar Saga, the below series were really good:

The Empire Trilogy (3 books)
The Serpentwar Saga (4 books)
Krondor's Sons (2 books)

These were decent but not as good as the series above

Conclave of Shadows (3 books)
The Riftwar Legacy (4 books)

Read these if you are a completionist

The Darkwar Saga (3 books)
The Demonwar Saga (2 books)
The Chaoswar Saga (3 books)

I have not read any of the books written with other authors so not sure on the readability.

Legends of the Riftwar (3 books)

The Empire series co-written with Janny Wurts is pretty good.

I haven't read the other Riftwar books but generally I think Raymond Feist's books are pretty good.

I fell behind a bit on my reviews, here's my last 3 books. All enjoyable, though For We are Many was the best of the lot.

For We Are Many - ★★★★☆ - (My Review)

The Hum and the Shiver ★★★★☆ - (My Review)

Elon Musk: Inventing the Future ★★★★☆ - (My Review)

Finished The Last Man (Mary Shelley). Not quite what I expected, but pretty good.

Now on to Laurie R. King, The God of the Hive.