EPBOT Readers discussion

Hi Everyone!

Week three already! Winter is always weird in that it doesn't feel like January's already half over, yet I just want spring to get here already.

In case people didn't see the email, the book selected for our next book club read is The Left Hand of Darkness, and Stephanie has volunteered to lead the discussion. There's a thread for pre-reading thoughts, as well as threads for different chunks of the book so you can discuss as you read, if you like. Hope to see people joining in!

This week I finished:

Into the Drowning Deep - I really loved this. I like science fiction meeting fantasy, so a science fiction book about mermaids was right up my alley. I used it for popsugar's book about an extinct or imaginary creature, and ATY's book about a monsterous creature.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Vol. 1, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Vol. 2 - After seeing into the spiderverse and loving it, i decided to read some of Miles' arc. I read Spider Gwen and Gwenpool, and he's showed up in those, but I hadn't ever checked out his solo stuff. I liked vol 1 a lot, vol 2 unfortunately had the civil war 2 nonsense in it, which was just a disaster mess across the board and infected pretty much all marvel titles of that time. Hopefully vol 3 on will be past it.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - This was a meh book for me. It's the Popsugar group read for January, for a book centered around a game or puzzle. I thought I'd really like it, but it was pretty disappointing. I didn't like the main character, and I thought it was overly convoluted. It felt like the author was just really pleased with himself with how complicated and clever he was, but I've read a lot of other break the loop/cycle, figure out what's going on works that did it in a more interesting way.

Station Eleven - Counting this for Popsugar's book I'd like to see made a movie, and ATY's book with a dual timeline. I really loved this! Lately I've been kind of put off of reading too much post-apocolyptic/dystopian fiction just with...the world being what it is right now. However this really managed to keep a tone of "things are bad, very bad, but we'll pull through". I really liked the dual timeline aspect as well, the before and after.

Currently reading:

The Left Hand of Darkness - I read this a few years ago, but I want to refresh my memory for the group discussions.

Blood Rites - Still poking away at this, I'll finish it some day haha.

QOTW:

Do you have a favorite author? I think we've discussed books we love, but how about authors?

I'd say Mercedes Lackey is still up there. I don't love a lot of her newer stuff she's written, but I still adore her older work. She's who I turn to when i'm having a bad day and just need a comfort read to get me through. Several of my paperbacks of my particular favorites have pages that fall out when I read, due to how often I've read them. I have a soft spot for Anne McCaffery because she was my intro into more adult science fiction and fantasy, with her Harper Hall books. Those were still YA, but through those I found her other adult sci-fi. I also love Neal Stephanson for his oh so meaty tomes full of info dumps and geeky humor.

Hello everyone,

Another shameless plug for the book club: I started reading The Left Hand of Darkness this morning and I'm already enthralled! More comments on that when I reach Chapter 5 and debrief how my mind is being blown by LeGuin's craft of writing over in the book club discussion.

Last week I finished reading Station Eleven and managed to talk Sheri into making it her next read, and so we come to the rare point where Sheri and I find ourselves mutually liking the same book. :-) Seriously, though, touching again on the craft of writing, I found this book pretty stunning. The ways in which the author wove together different story lines across different timelines was so masterful, and her use of imagery in helping us see the beauty in everyday life and actions was remarkable. I saw a review where the reviewer commented that the author made him feel nostalgic for the things he does every day, and that seemed like a perfect summary for me. I'm glad that I bought this book when it came out on a $1 digital sale, because I suspect this will be a book I return to more than once. Also, fun fact: It opens in the Elgin theatre in Toronto, and the day I finished reading it, I went to see a play in a theatre right around the corner from it, so it was a bit creepy/fun.

I also finished the audio version of Information Doesn't Want to Be Free: Laws for the Internet Age, and I liked it so much and found it relevant enough to my work and teaching that I ordered a copy of it as soon as I finished it.

I've now moved on to listening to Anansi Boys. For me, this relates to the QOTW, because Neil Gaiman is definitely tops on my list. Also up there would be J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm (no surprise) really enjoying Anansi Boys; it's laugh out loud funny and cheeky at the same time. I picked up a copy of American Gods at a used book sale before the holidays, so I'll likely read that soon, too, so that I can do a comparison.

I finished up The Small Rain that I had started last week - it was really interesting and I definitely have the sequel on my list now after reading the first chapter in the back of this book!

I also finished What If It's Us for IRL book club #2 - it is absolutely adorable, and anyone who enjoys romantic comedies (which I usually don’t, but this one is so charming that you have to love it) should definitely read.

I’m currently reading Ink, Iron, and Glass for IRL book club #1 - I don’t think it is actually part of the Myst universe, but it is VERY similar to that world, and without some of the more problematic elements of the Myst-based novels (probably having a female author and protagonist and being written 25 years later makes a difference...) Of course, I’m only ten chapters in, so that is just my opinion so far!

QOTW: Ben Aaranovitch and Jasper Fforde are the ones I love enough to pay international shipping for, and of course J.K. Rowling is the queen (setting aside The Casual Vacancy) - but I also enjoy many others, particularly Deanna Raybourn, Daryl Wood Gerber, Maia Chance...it’s hard to pick just one!

I managed to skip week 2, mostly because I got very little reading done. This week I finished:

Milk and Honey - couldn't relate. Agree with a lot of reviewers that line breaks don't mean the result is poetry. Nonetheless, that was my F&B prompt for Ginny: a book of poetry.

Lolita - A fabulous read, or rather listen - Jeffrey Irons is mesmerizing. F&B prompt Restricted Section: a banned book.

The Great Gatsby - Another classic I'd meant to catch up on for a while. It was alright. F&B prompt He Who Must Not Be Named: a book with a character that shares a name with an HP character - this had a Nick, a Tom, a George, and most importantly, a Myrtle.

The Demolished Man - Winner of the first Hugo Award. I picked it up at a book fair in 2016. H&P prompt Salazar: a book that represents Slytherin values.

F&B challenge total: 6/52

QOTW: Douglas Adams, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, JK Rowling and David Eddings top the list.

This week, I finished The Gilded Wolves which was exactly my cup of tea: a fantasy story about a found-family group of misfits pulling off cons and stealing treasures. Is this a sub-genre now? Because if it is, it's my favorite. It wasn't perfect, but I still enjoyed the book a lot. It's inevitably going to be compared to Six of Crows, but it's less a strict heist and more of a treasure hunt, in the vein of The Da Vinci Code or National Treasure.

QOTW: In no particular order, some of my favorite authors (auto-buy/must-reads): Martha Wells, Lynn Flewelling, Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Lois McMaster Bujold, Patrick Weekes, Tamora Pierce, Diana Wynne Jones, Neil Gaiman

Sheri, Lackey's a comfort read for me, too. I love her older stuff.

Ohhh how did I leave Seanan McGuire off my list, she's certainly up there. I love her writing, also her books as Mira Grant.

Had a road trip this week so finished several books: Curtsies and Conspiracies (part of the Gail Carriger readalong), When Breath Becomes Air, Libriomancer, plus the first two Magnus Chase books that we listened to in the car. I enjoyed Libriomancer based on FoE and other recommendations and will be looking for more by Jim Hines. My eldest (and road trip partner) doesn't read much but recommended When Breath Becomes Air that he had to read for a class. It was well written but sad; I usually don't choose sad on purpose.
I have a lot of favorite authors; their characters are like old friends. Top ones are Elizabeth Peters, Margaret Maron, JK Rowling, John Scalzi, Gail Carriger, and Charlaine Harris.

Last week I finished Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. I found it remained as compelling to the end as it was in the beginning. I was on a business trip and ended up staying up well past midnight on Sunday to finish it. Good thing for me the Monday meetings started at 10! The book's last few chapters were how the investigative reporter got his tip, and all the things this company and their lawyers tried to do to him/WSJ to bury it. The surveillance and threats, it was like reading a spy novel, but true!

After that, all I had with me was magazines, so I caught up on those.

While waiting for the FoE Book Club book, I'm reading a bit of a gag book given to me by a friend. Prancercise: The Art of Physical and Spiritual Excellence is a bit out there for me. My group of friends and I have joked about it because when we do obstacle course races, we don't run. We power walk, skip, do cartwheels, etc, but we don't run. Sometimes we dance around too (believe it or not, we're all totally sober too!). Then we found a video about Prancercise and it kind of became a bit of an in-group joke. So I'm reading this book and will pass it around to everyone in the friend group.

QOTW: I would have to say the biggest authors from my teen/20s were John Jakes and Isaac Asimov. I loved JJ's Bicentennial Series of 8 books and the North&South series. I have loved most everything Asimov wrote, including his non-fiction. His writing was just very approachable. And I'd honestly have to put Nora Roberts on the list because I have read the vast majority of her work even if things do sometimes get formulaic.

This week I started The Left Hand of Darkness. I'm enjoying it so far and glad that I had a bit of a nudge to read it with our book club here. Le Guin has been on my list of authors to read for a long time, but my TBR list is (like most people's here, I'm sure) about 800 miles long so it's sometimes hard to get to all the things I want to read.

I have been working on Alexander Hamilton for several weeks, and I'm loving it, but I needed a bit of a break. I usually don't like to do that because I feel guilty for not finishing, as if the book has feelings and will be upset. But as awesome as the book is, it is incredibly dense and I needed something else for a little bit.

QOTW:

Hands down, my favorite author is Christopher Moore. I "discovered" him during a publishing course I took one summer in college, and he's been my favorite ever since. He has an amazing gift for writing characters who are real and flawed and ridiculous and lovable in spite of themselves. He balances the absurd with real insight into what it means to be human (for better or for worse). His books have helped me learn more about myself while laughing hysterically the whole time.

Yeah, I might be a fangirl. :)

Neil Gaiman is also way up there, along with John Scalzi and Maureen Johnson. I'm sure I'll think of more as soon as I hit post.

I love Christopher Moore too! Picked him up on aw whim ages ago because I thought Bloodsucking Fiends: A Romance was the best title haha

I finally finished the brick that is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.
The ending was a bit anticlimactic but I loved the book as a whole and I’m really glad I got round to reading it at last.

I then followed that with God Touched by John Conroe. I had picked this one up because urban fantasy is my favourite genre and I am always looking for a new series to discover and there were a lot of decent reviews for it. Wow though, it was AWFUL. It was so awful that I returned it to Audible, something I very rarely do!

I’m going to read the book club book next I think, something which I can rely on being good!

QOTW, so many favourite authors! Ones I instabuy new books for are: Jim Butcher, Ben Aaronivitch, Paul Cornell, Benedict Jacka, Samantha Shannon, Jodi Taylor, Gail Carriger, Seanan Macguire, Rachel Aaron/Rachel Bach, J K Rowling, Philip Pullman, Mike Carey

Sheri wrote: "I love Christopher Moore too! Picked him up on aw whim ages ago because I thought Bloodsucking Fiends: A Romance was the best title haha"

Yes! That is a great one to start with! My favorite is either Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal or A Dirty Job. Both tackle some pretty heavy topics and show so much heart and sensitivity, but they are still so funny that you can't help but laugh out loud (and get strange looks in the process). Just the best.

I think my favorite is Sacre Bleu, possibly because I’m an artist and I liked the whole concept. I did read those both but they’re not my favorites. I really liked Fluke too. I think I’m going to read Serpent of Venice for one of my challenge prompts later this year :)

Sheri: Sacre Bleu was wonderful. I can see how that would be a favorite as an artist. I liked Fluke, but I struggled with it a little. It could have been what I was going through when I read it. I should reread to find out. You know, since my TBR list so short and all. 😆

This week I finished:
- The Flight Attendant - this was a let down. The premise was good, but the execution was slow and generally uninteresting. The ending was completely out of left field. This is one of the very few books that probably would be better as a movie, and that's the prompt that it fills for my Popsugar challenge.

- Fairest - Thank you Kathy for the recommendation! It was interesting to learn Levanna's backstory. I'm about 2/3 of the way done with Winter and I'm still loving this series. The characters keep getting richer and their story lines more intertwined. And the narrator is really, really good! She's intersting to listen to and does a great job keeping all of the characters distinct! I can't wait to finish! As far as my PopSugar challenge is going, I've decided I need to wait until I have read at least 15 books before assigning audiobooks to prompts. Otherwise, it's possible I'll fill all my prompts with audiobooks. :-)

I'm also a little more than half done with Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are. So far I like it. As a statistician, I'm generally interested in data sources, analyses, and the conclusions drawn. I've played around with a couple of the Google tools that the author cites as data sources - very interesting! Even though it's been interesting, I don't love it - it's starting to feel repetitive. I'm going to finish it and it will fill PopSugar's author with first and last name starting with the same letter.

Daisy wrote: "I finally finished the brick that is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.
The ending was a bit anticlimactic but I loved the book as a whole and I’m really glad I got round to reading i..."

Daisy are you doing the Parasolverse readalong? I started and it's been fun-Gail is offering insider tidbits on each book. I somehow missed that Sophronia is Ivy's aunt.

I’ve been planning to but haven’t started it yet, need to get onto that as I had been planning a reread soon anyway!

Let's see if I can meet last years goal of being more social about my reading, but this year instead. I has two goals last year. The social goal crashed and burned by mid-February, however as a hermit bookworm I did manage my second: to be over 100 books in the year. Final total: 107.

This year's goal is to do a complete re-read of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Yes, I know that it's definitely a love/hate controversial series, but I really love it. This will be my third full read, but it's been since the series was finished, almost 8 years, since I've done so. So far this year, are through books 1 and 2 (The Eye of the World, and The Great Hunt), and am 3/4s of the way though book 3 (The Dragon Reborn since the beginning of December.

In other readings, I finished The Left Hand of Darkness for book club. My thoughts are posted there. I'd been wanting to read this one, and I'm glad I finally had a reason to pick it up/

I'm also working on the Murderbot Diaries (starting with All Systems Red), at the recommendation of one of my mentor librarians, who has rarely steered me wrong. These are so much fun!!!! The premise is a hybrid human/robot security unit who is having an identity crisis. He has a blank spot in his programing and indications that the deleted data was a result of his murdering a whole colony of explorers that he was assigned to protect. As a result he constantly broods out of remorse and confusion, and is hooked on human soap operas as a coping mechanism, while he tries to piece together what happened. It is a wonderfully empathetic look at humanity, but is also a delightful series to read, in general!

Sarah, I love the Wheel of Time Series and was planning to re-read this year, too!