SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Trike wrote: "DNF = Did Not Finish"

Okay, that makes sense. I was trying to work it more along the lines of Do not Read...but that just was meshing up well. Thx

Dj wrote: "Okay, that makes sense. I was trying to work it more along the lines of Do not Read...but that just was meshing up well. Thx"

We sometimes make our acronyms harder to interpret by using them in a not-quite grammatically-correct manner that makes perfect sense to everybody who’s familiar with them. :)

I always laugh when I see somebody put “ETA Typos” at the bottom of their post. (ETA = Edited to Add.)

YouKneeK wrote: "Dj wrote: "Okay, that makes sense. I was trying to work it more along the lines of Do not Read...but that just was meshing up well. Thx"

We sometimes make our acronyms harder to interpret by using..."

HA1 I hsdn't thoguht of it that wayy!

ETA,,,xtra typos

Allison wrote: "HA1 I hsdn't thoguht of it that wayy!

ETA,,,xtra typos "

LOL, finally, somebody used that phrase and actually followed through with it! I'm always so disappointed when people promise me typos and I can't find any. ;)

Michele wrote: "Gully wrote: "I'm currently reading Grossman's The Magicians."

I loved that series. Dark, weird, unexpected, occasionally uneven, but all things considered an excellent tale."

But did you dislike the first book and hate the characters in the first book?

I heard the MC really improves and his growing is part of the series' interesting points. But I can't convince me to go on when I was so annoyed by the MC.

I finished Red Sister. Great book, though I am not sure why it couldn't be in YA.

I also finished The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter. It was so slow, long and boring with lot of useless details. The author liked too much giving the thoughts of many characters. She also gave 60+ pages of epilogue.

We should have some sort of GR/SFF Club dictionary somewhere though. DNF, TBRing, dead tree, YMMV, doorstop, QFT, bamf (apparently), BR, bookwhack...

Bad enough that we expect everyone to remember all the differences between our American-English-learners and our British-English-learners, but then we verb acronyms. How can anyone grok anything??

Well my favorite Acronym of all time is still
HEAPFSDSDU
But as far as what I am reading, I have gotten far enough into:

To know that I will not only finish it, but most likely will enjoy it.

And I started:

Getting a head start on one of the next group reads. So far, I am intrigued. (nothing more since I don't want to spoil anything.)

Ilona wrote: "But did you dislike the first book and hate the characters in the first book?

I heard the MC really improves and his growing is part of the series' interesting points. But I can't convince me to go on when I was so annoyed by the MC."

Yes to both. In the first book they're a bit childish and annoying, but hey, when I was a freshman in college I was too :) I thought the series improved as it went on -- the second one is all about Julia and her experience becoming a "hedge witch" outside of the formal education system, which was intriguing.

Allison wrote: "We should have some sort of GR/SFF Club dictionary somewhere though. DNF, TBRing, dead tree, YMMV, doorstop, QFT, bamf (apparently), BR, bookwhack..."

I know all those, except QFT!

Michele wrote: "Allison wrote: "We should have some sort of GR/SFF Club dictionary somewhere though. DNF, TBRing, dead tree, YMMV, doorstop, QFT, bamf (apparently), BR, bookwhack..."

I know all those, except QFT!"

I am going to go with Quality Fruit Therapy. Probably not, but it sounds fun.

Quick Fix Time?

If bamf can mean cool, teleportation, and friends of Nightcrawler, then QFT can be all of that.

But I had meant it to mean quoted for truth, so like when I do this:
Michele wrote: "Quick Fix Time?"

and say QFT either I am in complete agreement, or I think Michele is up to something squirrely and might decide to change her post ("NO! Queen Foot Tea!") but I want to make sure posterity knows the truth.

QFT = Quips For Tips

You know who you are.

Allison wrote: "...or I think Michele is up to something squirrely and might decide to change her post ..."

*gasp* I am never up to anything squirrelly. Nutty, maybe, but never squirrelly ;)

My review of The Great Ordeal by R. Scott Bakker

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

I just Google acronyms when I come across them. If it is on the internet it MUST be true!

Gary wrote: "On Tor.com they are posting pre-release chapters every Tuesday at 9:00 AM Eastern Time. The prologue and chapters 1 to 12 are up so far with chapters 13 to 33 to come.
https://www.tor.com/2017/09/..."

Oh yes, I did know that. I've chosen not to look. (Self control is everything, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.) I really thought that somehow you'd managed to score an ARC or something!

MadProfessah wrote: "For some reason THE MAGICIANS was a big fat DNF from me. Couldn't get past the first couple chapters. Seemed awfully derivative (of Harry Potter) and ultimately uninteresting to me."

Good decision. I struggled through to the bitter end. Boy, was it bitter.

Trike wrote: "QFT = Quips For Tips

You know who you are."

Glad you still know who you are, Trike! ;-)

Michele wrote: "Allison wrote: "...or I think Michele is up to something squirrely and might decide to change her post ..."

*gasp* I am never up to anything squirrelly. Nutty, maybe, but never squirrelly ;)"

XD

I enjoyed the first episode of the show Magicians, and am beginning to wonder which camp I would be in. I feel like this is the book equivalent of "this tastes weird, try it."

I just finished Queen of Sorcery. I read this as a teen, and in rereading the series, I'm finding the female characters a lot more annoying than I remember. Still, I did enjoy reading this again.

I'm now reading Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration and Showdown at Centerpoint

Just to chime in on The Magicians, I read the series as well. I have to say that over all, it was ok. I would not read it again and it is not in my top 500 favorite's. I still dislike Quentin.

Jennifer wrote: "Just to chime in on The Magicians, I read the series as well. I have to say that over all, it was ok. I would not read it again and it is not in my top 500 favorite's. I still dislik..."

That book was a DNS for me. I didn't like his book Codex or his twin brother's Soon I Will Be Invincible, so I bailed on the follow-ups. The parts of the TV show that I watched were fine, although I only tuned in to see how little Freddy Crane from Frasier turned out. (He's mostly just a larger version of his 10-year-old self.)

In August & September I read:

The Night Circus
The Princess Diarist
Radiance
Midnight Tides (officially halfway done with the Malazan book of the Fallen!)
Transmetropolitan, Vol. 4: The New Scum
Pushing Ice
Red Rising
Arcadia

and I'm currently reading:
Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic and the Domestic (a wow moment on nearly every page)
A Wizard of Earthsea

and I have slated to begin any day now:
The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of Americas Wealthy
The Blade Itself

I got ever so excited by the Princess Diarist coming out and then just couldn't get into it and gave up. :(

Must re-read A Wizard of Earthsea - not read it in years.

Just about finished The Dark Domain, so have also started Three Men in a Boat which is hilarious :)

Trike wrote: "Randy wrote: "Veronica wrote: "Well, darn, to no Buckaroo Banzai tv show. :-/"

Wait a second...there was a Buckaroo Banzai tv show in the offing? I can't tell you how many people I've given that movie to. So memorable and so many memorable performances.

Finished Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration. I really enjoy reading about polar exploration, but I really don't ever, ever want to go there. Even in the heat I was shivering listening to this.

Also finished Six Degrees of Separation. It really wasn't my thing, but I enjoyed listening to it well enough.

Shanna_redwind wrote: "Finished Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration. I really enjoy reading about polar exploration, but I really don't ever, ever want to go there...."

Visiting Antarctica has been on my bucket list since I read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea back in the 1970s. I've been actively trying to get there for the past few years but one thing or another has prevented it each time.

I would definitely prefer going by small cruise ship rather than nearly dying and having to eat my sled dogs, so reading a book like this seems rather more horrifying than entertaining. Still... Antarctica!

Trike wrote: "Shanna_redwind wrote: "Finished Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration. I really enjoy reading about polar exploration, but I really don't ever,..."

I was in Olso in January and I visited the Fram Museum and walked in to wooden ship that has been to the Arctic and Antarctic. The history of the ship is amazing.

http://frammuseum.no/


(they ate their dogs)

Carro wrote: "Must re-read A Wizard of Earthsea - not read it in years."

I love that whole cycle of stories. One of my perennial re-reads.

Jennifer wrote: "(they ate their dogs)"

Oh no!!

Trike wrote: "...and having to eat my sled dogs...."

Yeah, not my favourite part of the book...

In September I read Arcadia (★★★), Pushing Ice (★★★★★), The Three-Body Problem (★★★), The Blade Itself (★★★★★), and Shattered (★★★½).

Michele wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "(they ate their dogs)"

Oh no!!"

Ended up not doing them much good in the end.

Shocked that Chris liked PUSHING ICE (which I think is secondary Alastair Reynolds) more than THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM, which won the Hugo for Best Novel Before the Jemisin sweep.

MadProfessah wrote: "Shocked that Chris liked PUSHING ICE (which I think is secondary Alastair Reynolds) more than THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM, which won the Hugo for Best Novel Before the Jemisin sweep."

I thought that Pushing Ice was solidly executed. I can't compare it to Reynolds' Revelation Space, which I haven't read yet, but I did like it more than House of Suns.

I've heard that The Three-Body Problem benefitted from the novelty of Chinese SF to Western audiences. I'm not qualified to make such sweeping judgments, but it did feel to me like a throwback to a less sophisticated era in the genre. I will continue the series eventually, mostly just to see what the fuss is about. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised.

I have the exact same ratings to Pushing Ice, Three-Body, and The Blade Itself, Chris. Now if only you agreed with me on Arcadia...

Michele wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "(they ate their dogs)"

Oh no!!"

Pretty much every tale of exploring Antarctica ends up that way. As a 36-year veteran of animal rescue, it's the worst part of those stories for me.

Trike wrote: "Pretty much every tale of exploring Antarctica ends up that way. As a 36-year veteran of animal rescue, it's the worst part of those stories for me. "

At least it won't happen anymore. They've banned dogs from Antarctica for fear of the possibility of passing canine distemper to the seals.

I've just finished Not Without Hope. It was ok, but I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone except a huge fan of true overboard stories.

Currently reading an unpublished until recently jungle thriller by Frank Herbert called Angels' Fall. It's pretty good, but very much a product of the time it was written. (Shortly before Dune)

I'm looking forward to reading Pushing Ice. I hope my library adds it to its digital library soon.

Shanna_redwind wrote: "At least it won't happen anymore. They've banned dogs from Antarctica for fear of the possibility of passing canine distemper to the seals."

And it's just not the same.

LOL

Omg, Trike. That's hysterical.

Shanna_redwind wrote: "They've banned dogs from Antarctica for fear of the possibility of passing canine distemper to the seals. "

Srsly? They've had dogs in Alaska for yonks, has it ever happened there?

Michele wrote: "Allison wrote: "We should have some sort of GR/SFF Club dictionary somewhere though. DNF, TBRing, dead tree, YMMV, doorstop, QFT, bamf (apparently), BR, bookwhack..."

I know all those, except QFT!"

Typically it means Quoted for Truth. I didn't see anyone throw out the actual meaning among all the jokes..

I finished listening to Crooked Kingdom and really enjoyed it - ★★★★☆ - (My Review)

I also finally finished Helliconia Spring, but that one not so much - ★★☆☆☆ - (My Review)

Michele wrote: "Srsly? They've had dogs in Alaska for yonks, has it ever happened there? "

Actually, after googling it, the answer is yes. That's probably why they banned the dogs in the Antarctic.

Michele wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "(they ate their dogs)"

Oh no!!"

I read a report once on why people in icy climes had stopped using ski-doos and returned to using sled dogs and one person replied "You can't eat a ski-doo if you get stranded." :0(

Still working on Three Men in a Boat, but took time out to read Tunnel in the Sky (utterly classic golden-age sci fi) and Anya's Ghost (YA graphic novel/ghost story). Normally graphic novels and I don't get on, but this one is a delight.

I love Tunnel in the Sky. One of my teen favourites.

Just finished Showdown at Centerpoint. I don't read Star Wars books very much, but I enjoyed this series. I think I prefer books set in other worlds though.

Also finished Angels' Fall. It was fun to read with lots of action.

And I finished Dead Water Zone. This was an ok quick dystopian read, though the characters were all pretty simple and straight forward.

Started reading March to the Sea which is really good so far and Crypt of the Shadowking.