SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Tomas wrote: "Are people really reading more books at once? One time, I was reading two series with swapping between books and I had weird dreams where it mixed up a lot, so I quit that and only read one book at..."

I am usually reading one book and listen to an audiobook at the same time. I try not to read two books of the same genre though as that can get confusing.

Ashley wrote: "I’m currently reading:

Six of Crows - really enjoying and trying to find time to finish so I can keep up with the group.

Life After Life - one of my library’s bo..."

This is a great line up! Glad you're enjoying the journey :) Can't wait to hear your thoughts!

Tomas wrote: "Are people really reading more books at once? One time, I was reading two series with swapping between books and I had weird dreams where it mixed up a lot, so I quit that and only read one book at..."


I'm with Tom and Rob. I usually have one thing I slowly (or not so slowly) read with my ears at work when I have administrative "clean up" days and can focus on two things at once, and one that I read with my eyes.

Allison wrote: "Ashley wrote: "I’m currently reading:

Six of Crows - really enjoying and trying to find time to finish so I can keep up with the group.

Life After Life - one of ..."

Might have to try the audio books never tried that way there. Maybe they Sci-fi books won't be so bad. As for reading that them I for some reason I lose interest with the first couple of chapters.

Dj wrote: "Ashley wrote: "I’m currently reading:

Six of Crows - really enjoying and trying to find time to finish so I can keep up with the group.

Life After Life - one of ..."

Haha, no he doesn’t. That’s a great song though. Always makes me think of Fear & Loathing, one of my favorite movies. Still need to read that book too!

Tomas wrote: "Are people really reading more books at once? One time, I was reading two series with swapping between books and I had weird dreams where it mixed up a lot, so I quit that and only read one book at..."

Since I just jumped back into reading, and I am not well-read (I read way more as a kid and teen than anything), I’m trying hard to make up for it. So I do audiobooks when I’m driving, walking, doing housework, etc. I read ebooks on my phone when I’m out and about instead of carrying a hard copy around with me, and at home I will alternate between two or three hard copies. Usually when I have enough down time I’ll sit and read a couple chapters in one book and then a couple in the next and so forth, just go back and forth. I haven’t started having mixed-up dreams yet but I’m anticipating that happening. I think it’ll be interesting. ;)

John wrote: "Allison wrote: "Ashley wrote: "I’m currently reading:

Six of Crows - really enjoying and trying to find time to finish so I can keep up with the group.

[book:Life After Life|157..."

It's totally okay not to like sci fi (as I think we've gathered from your posts ;-) ) but it's a huge genre. You may not like space ships and battles, but how do you feel about cyborg cops trying to stop an assassination? Or something sort of like the Hobbit, except the dwarves are played by a manic alien and a pack of mice? Did you like the movie Jurassic Park? How about Hunger Games?

What about a book that's basically a fantasy world, with men who shine like gold and others who are blue, trying to solve a big crisis on their planet?

Remember any movies or games from the 80s? There's a hilarious sci fi book about that.

All of that is also in the sci fi genre.

Epic journeys, humorous heroes, tense character driven thrillers...all of it!

I read a lot more fantasy than sci fi but there are so many great books in there I'd have missed if I'd dismissed it on the whole. If you ever want to try "sci fi for fantasy lovers" I bet folks in the "lost book and recommendations" folder would be able to help :)

John wrote: "Allison wrote: "Ashley wrote: "I’m currently reading:

Six of Crows - really enjoying and trying to find time to finish so I can keep up with the group.

[book:Life After Life|157..."

I would definitely try some sci-fi audiobooks, John! I hope it works for you!

Tomas wrote: "Are people really reading more books at once? One time, I was reading two series with swapping between books and I had weird dreams where it mixed up a lot, so I quit that and only read one book at..."

I am, but I make sure the genres are different. I'm reading:

Shadowmarch = Fantasy
Two for the Dough = Mystery
William Styron, The Collected Novels: Lie Down in Darkness, Set This House on Fire, The Confessions of Nat Turner, and Sophie's Choice = Classics?
The Sea of Storms = Fantasy, but not very good. It's well written but some of the plot jumps are ludicrous/improbable

I've been reading multiple books for years and in the days of Paper only, I had a bedtime book (like the Styron above), a car book (like the Se of Storms one) and a regular reading book

Ashley wrote: "John wrote: "Allison wrote: "Ashley wrote: "I’m currently reading:

Six of Crows - really enjoying and trying to find time to finish so I can keep up with the group.

Life A..."</i>

I'm currently reading [bookcover:Assassin's Apprentice




Which is a group read and I'm about 1/2 through the book when I finish with it I think I'll start reading

Which is the last book in the series which I'm looking Forward to seeing how Jeff Wheeler finishes it out.

@Ashley when we start are reads next the first of the year I'll try one of the Jan reads and see how it goes. Curious does listening to the book count as reading it?

Tomas wrote: "Are people really reading more books at once? One time, I was reading two series with swapping between books and I had weird dreams where it mixed up a lot, so I quit that and only read one book at..."

I read around 4-8 different books at a time although they are usually from different genres and I tend to focus on 2-3 daily. It's not really much different than keeping up with a few different TV shows if you think about it. It keeps me from getting bored and falling into the dreaded reading slump.

I never used to read more than one book at a time, but in the past year I've been able to manage up to three if they're very different. One audiobook and one ebook isn't uncommon for me these days, and sometimes I add a physical library book to the mix. The physical book stays in my backpack, so I only read it when I'm not at home. I don't bring my Kindle with me, I read on the phone if I don't have a physical book or an audiobook. The only time I'll add a fourth one to the mix is if it's a short fiction collection/magazine. But to be honest, when I have more than two books at the same time, I tend to finish the extras as fast as possible.

Usually 3 at a time. One physical, one audio and one e-book on my kindle or phone.

Anna wrote: "I never used to read more than one book at a time, but in the past year I've been able to manage up to three if they're very different. One audiobook and one ebook isn't uncommon for me these days,..."

Now since allot of books are now available for my fire tablet I usually download them to there. And I always have it in my backpack as it's so much lighter and easier to manage than say 1/2 dozen books. Have yet to try out the Audio books but I might. Seems like another way to do things.

I’m nearly always reading at least 2-3 books at once (one ebook, one audio book, one physical book)

John wrote: "Have yet to try out the Audio books but I might. Seems like another way to do things."

You can listen to audio books on your Fire tablet too, so nothing else to carry :)

John wrote: "Maybe they Sci-fi books won't be so bad. As for reading that them I for some reason I lose interest with the first couple of chapters. "

I'm always baffled by people who dismiss entire genres. One person I know was adamant that Westerns were all the same and boring, so I showed her Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Support Your Local Sheriff, the first which is exciting, funny, romantic and tragic, the latter which is just flat-out fun silliness.

Science Fiction and Mystery are even more diverse than Classic Westerns, so there's something to appeal to everyone within those genres.

I agree with Trike. I prefer fantasy over sci-if, but there’s so much diversity. Closed minds don’t make sense to me.

Tomas wrote: "Are people really reading more books at once? One time, I was reading two series with swapping between books and I had weird dreams where it mixed up a lot, so I quit that and only read one book at..."

I read many more than two at a time. I generally don't have any of them mixing up together in my dreams.

Maybe I should try it though, it would make for some fun story building ideas.

I only ever read one book at a time.

I am mainly a monogamous reader.
I don't get on with audio books and until recently I didn't read many e-books.
I still prefer dead-tree versions but at the moment I am doing a course for work where only attendance is really checked and there are no tests so if I get bored I can read discretely in class. Discretely = on my phone.
I had already started a dead tree book before the course so was left reading 2 books. Although the books are quite different I am not really keen and am looking forward to finishing the DT version in order to concentrate on the e-book.

Esther wrote: "I am mainly a monogamous reader.
I don't get on with audio books and until recently I didn't read many e-books.
I still prefer dead-tree versions but at the moment I am doing a course for work whe..."

So when I read that the first thing that came to mind was, do other books get mad if you read out on them?

Dj wrote: "Esther wrote: "I am mainly a monogamous reader.
I don't get on with audio books and until recently I didn't read many e-books.
I still prefer dead-tree versions but at the moment I am doing a cour..."

Not if I eventually go back to them :0)

Esther wrote: "Not if I eventually go back to them :0) "

good answer!

John wrote: "Ashley wrote: "John wrote: "Allison wrote: "Ashley wrote: "I’m currently reading:

Six of Crows - really enjoying and trying to find time to finish so I can keep up with the group...."

Yes, I say listening to the book does count as reading it! It takes just as much concentration, at least for me!

I'm usually reading 2 e-books, one audio and one physical book at the same time but I probably won't read more than 3 of them on any day.

Finished up a pair of audio books this week:

Doomsday Book - ★★½☆☆ - (My Review)

Artemis - ★★★½☆ - (My Review)

I also realized I never reviewed Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection for some reason back when I read it. ★★★★☆ - (My Review)

Tomas wrote: "Are people really reading more books at once? One time, I was reading two series with swapping between books and I had weird dreams where it mixed up a lot, so I quit that and only read one book at..."

I definitely get what you're saying, but I've found advantages to reading more than one book at once.

I do try not to have more than one book in the same genre or that are too similar. I usually read 3-5 books at a time. Right now I'm reading 5: one non-fiction history (Alexander Hamilton), one sci-fi (The Martian Chronicles), one fantasy (The Name of the Wind), a classic kids historical fiction (Johnny Tremain), and a contemporary literary fiction (The Lifeboat).

I'll usually read a bit of each one in order, and I find that reading more than one book at once often makes me read through all the books I'm reading more quickly than I would otherwise. I'm almost always enjoying one or two of my books more than the others, so I'll push through reading when I otherwise might stall out on a more difficult or slower book in order to get to the ones I'm enjoying more.

It works for me, but ymmv.

just started "Strange the dreamer" so far it is amazingly good. Laini Taylor is an author to watch. I had to find it all by myself !!! get to work people ! Phyrene read it first and did she tell anybody noooo!

I just finished Artemis. I'm a bit disappointed but I still love Andy Weir's writing. Here is my review.

Finished:

Two for the Dough and Three to Get Deadly then started Four to Score
and
The Genome which was pretty good
and
Envy of Angels which was really odd, but funny and was about catering a conventions of two rival demon groups
and
The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince which was OK
and
Man Overboard = typical good Jance mystery
and
Wide Is the Water = a re-read which wasn't as good as I remembered

working on:
The Sea of Storms which I cannot recommend (too much eye rolling while reading it).
and
Shadowmarch = a reread that is still good
and
William Styron, The Collected Novels: Lie Down in Darkness, Set This House on Fire, The Confessions of Nat Turner, and Sophie's Choice where I'm on book 2

City of bones, book #1

My review of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

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

Don wrote: "just started "Strange the dreamer" so far it is amazingly good. Laini Taylor is an author to watch. I had to find it all by myself !!! get to work people ! Phyrene read it first and did she tell an..."

Lol! I think you mean Phrynne and it is a really good book!!!

yes Phrynne, that is what I meant.
what a treat to discover a goody like "strange the dreamer".

Tom wrote:

My only problem with these two books was that they were inten..."

Yes, luckily I saw that before I started reading and was able to get both at the same time, so I just read straight through and treated them as one book. I felt it could have been edited better.

I want to read Doomsday Book but I'm intimidated by what Julia, MadProfessah, and David all said! I'm definitely going to read it but I need to recover first. I'm still sad from Blackout/All Clear, I'm not even 100% sure why! I was hoping the group had read All Clear so I could go process these unexpected emotions, but alas.

I'm still in a reading kick so I've since finished:
Rondo Allegro by Sherwood Smith
The Touchstone Trilogy by Andrea K Host
Medair by Andrea K Host

The Touchstone Trilogy is exactly the type of story I love, so I didn't mind that it was quite long. I liked the first Medair book a lot, but the second fell flat for me (didn't like the ending).

Last weekend I was in a community theater production of The Music Man: A Musical Comedy.

I was/ am reading The Right Side by Spencer Quinn, in part because it fulfills my a- z author's last name final book of the challenge. The verb is because I left it somewhere, while I was doing errands last week, but I better find it, because it's a library book. I read enough of it, to know I want to keep reading it.

I picked up Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay for my RL book club, which I have from the library as a DT book & I DLed it for my Kindle, too, at some point.

About Blackout/ All Clear, Stephanie, I don't remember the quote verbatim, but after rescuing a woman from a destroyed building, the rescuers ask her if they should look for her husband, too. She says something like, 'He's got it easy, he's at the Front!'

I just finished Edgedancer which was fun. I love that world, obviously, and I think Lift is a fun character, so it was nice spending some time with her and C3PO Wyndle. Poor Wyndle. I hope he gets to garden some boots soon.

Now onto Oathbringer which I'm scandalously allowing to cut the line on the library books I have. Hoping I can finish it by Sunday so that my mind can be my own again.

Tomas wrote: "Are people really reading more books at once? One time, I was reading two series with swapping between books and I had weird dreams where it mixed up a lot, so I quit that and only read one book at..."

Usually my "now reading" has two or three books on it, but I don't read them all at a time. If a book is difficult or absurdly long, I'll read a couple hundred pages and break it up with something shorter, but I won't alternate chapters or anything like that. (I've tried. Doesn't work, for the same reason as Tomas said.)

Sometimes I'll put a book that I'm committed to reading on there, even if I haven't started it, as a reminder to get to it sooner rather than later, so the list will look longer than it actually is.

Ok I just finished reading :

Assassin's Apprentice



And I am now reading https://smile.amazon.com/Forsaken-Thr...

John wrote: "Ok I just finished reading :

Assassin's Apprentice



And I am now reading The Forsaken Throne by Jeff Wheeler which is the last one in the series. https://smile.amazon.com/Forsaken-Thr......"

Beth wrote: "Sometimes I'll put a book that I'm committed to reading on there, even if I haven't started it, as a reminder to get to it sooner rather than later, so the list will look longer than it actually is."
I often mark a book a 'Currently Reading' on GR so I remember I am commited to reading it next and don't get distracted by 'Oooo Shiny!"

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

Chris wrote: "Elantris by Brandon Sanderson"

That one is on my TBR list

I've gotta try Elantris and Warbreaker at some point. But not now! The Sanderson du jour is Oathbringer and I'm loving it so far, but I think there's only one thing that could make me not love it and I'm not far enough in for that to be possible.

Edgedancer was also fun. I liked it more than The Color of Magic which I think tried too hard to be funny, but was still amusing.

I took a slight detour and read The Perks of Being a Wallflower and was glad for it. I am thankfully no longer in this stage of my life, but I can see why it is important to those who are. Gonna keep this around for when the small humans in my world get pimply.

I also started Red Sister on audio as I doubt I'll have time to read it with my eyes next month. It has the makings of being a true grimdark :) Curious to learn more about Nona.

I just finished Oathbringer and enjoyed it a great deal but the first book is still my favorite. Actually, I'd rank the three books in their publication order for how much I've liked them. The series is getting bigger and more broad in scope, adding more and more POVs but I guess that's why TWoK is my favorite. It had a tighter, more focused, and intimate feel to it.

Now I'm about to start The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay. Boy do I love this man's prose.

Currently reading Flash-A Death Story. Not so far into it, but now realise it's more Science Fiction than horror, which is what I thought it was when I started reading it. Will let you know how it goes. It's written in the first person, which is always a difficult read for me.

Last weekend finished listening to The Monk -- oh my, such fun!! The king of gothic novels -- lustful monks, naughty nuns who summon demons, virtuous girls who faint at the least provocation, and rather a surprise ending. I also read Kelly Link's collection of short stories, Get in Trouble, which I very much enjoyed.

Now back to The Traitor Baru Cormorant -- lots of politicking so I have to take it slow and pay attention. I do love the rich world the author creates.

I'm reading THE CORE by Peter V Brett, the fifth and final book in the Demon Cycle.

Oh yes, I also read My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry (a recommendation from my mom) -- a lovely, warm, rich, complex book, all wound about with a great love of stories and storytelling.

Veronica wrote: "Now I'm about to start The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay. Boy do I love this man's prose. "

Veronica, your first time reading it? Oh how I envy you!!!