SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hello all! I believe my last attempt to post this was unsuccessful so my apologies if I already posted this question.

BUT. I am studying abroad in Amman, Jordan for three months this summer, and while I am VERY excited I am also VERY stressed about what books I'm going to bring!

I will bring a kindle but do prefer to have some tangible books to have on hand. So if you had to bring a limited number of books with you for a three month span in the summer, what would you suggest???

Thanks y'all!

Dune
The Name of the Wind - I read this one six times when I was in France for 6 weeks with only two books

plus, don't bring in any overtly religious books that might be censored.

also, you might have problems purchasing Kindle books in Jordan as that is a kindle-free country where Amazon cannot sell kindle books. I'd suggest you download a bunch of books in advance as well

CBRetriever wrote: "Dune
The Name of the Wind - I read this one six times when I was in France for 6 weeks with only two books

plus, don't bring in any overtly religious books that might..."

Uff da I was unaware of the Kindle restrictions- thanks so much for the heads up and for the recs!

You can't go wrong with The Inheritance Cycle by Chris Paolini! Or if you like some variety, you can pick up a copy of the Writers of the Future, an anthology of winning short stories (and cool illustrations!)

I have a writing friend, Julia Blake, who wrote "Erinsmore" if you want to pick that up, too!

It depends on what you like, besides my Kindle I usually take two fiction and one nonfiction too. I do talk like this but often take more books than that, even if I have enough books on the Kindle for around two decades LOL (and don't forget the cables/charger for the Kindle).

To be perfectly honest I’d just take a Kindle. Whenever I travel on a plane I only take my iPad mini. You only have limited room in your suitcase and weight limits are a thing. It’s easy to chuck in your handbag/carry on and you can fit all of the books on it. It’s where it comes into its own. I’m normally a physical book fan but when it comes to whether to shove Name of the Wind or extra clothes in my bag I go with the clothes.

Ooh, exciting! I lived in Amman for about six months, almost a decade ago now. I had a really wonderful time there, so I hope you love it too!

My recommendation would be to bring a few paperbacks that you don't mind leaving behind, especially if you're going to be doing any traveling (you should definitely at least go down to Wadi Rum, and if you have the time I recommend getting the ferry from Aqaba to the Sinai to visit Dahab and Mount Sinai). A lot of hostels and other tourist-y places have take-one-leave-one book collections, which is a great way to keep your book selection refreshed without carrying too many yourself.

I think, if it were me, I'd look on my tbr list and try to pick the top 3-6 that I've been looking forward to. These I'd load onto kindle. Number of books dependent upon how fast you read/ how much time you think you'll have for reading/ and how long each of the favorites books is.

If, like me, you need the feel of a 'real' book in your hands sometimes, for comfort : ) , I really like the suggest above ^^^ about the take one/leave one shops! You could look here at home in thrift a shops/secondhand bookshops, for some (3-6) of your all time favorites in paperback (lighter in suitcases). Read them while away, and donate them before leaving. Of course, if you get there & decide you're not in the mood for an old standby, you could then do a swap at the shop. : )

I think 12 books max, is what I'd take for 2-3 months. Half kindle/half paperback... or all kindle. If I absolutely needed some favorites to "live inside" while away from home, from the fantasy genre, I might take:

* The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay.

(Epic fantasy trilogy, with an urban fantasy/alternate world twist. Book One is The Summer Tree; Two is The Wandering Fire; Three is The Darkest Road. 1980s but available in reprint or for kindle.)


* The Sun Sword series by Michelle West.

6 in the first series. (Spinoff series is a prequel set. I'd start with the Sun Sword series.) Book 1 is The Broken Crown. 2 is The Uncrowned King. 3 is The Shining Court. 4 is Sea of Sorrows. 5 is The Riven Shield. 6 is The Sun Sword. Epic world-building, amazing characters, incredible level of detail & intricate plots.


* Or, Sylvia Izzo Hunter's fantasy trilogy, sometimes called the "Noctis Magicæ" novels or series.
Book 1 is The Midnight Queen. 2 is Lady of Magick.
3 is A Season of Spells.

Alternate world series, similar to 1700s-1800s England and France. Certain comedy-of-manners elements, classes in society with almost a loosely-Jane-Austen feel. Great magic system. Fabulous characters. Very well-written.

Whatever you decide: Have a great time on your trip!! : )

It's hard to suggest anything without knowing your tastes but, as a general idea, if you are reading a series you enjoy, maybe load your Kindle with the sequels?

Take some paperbacks (mindful of course about censorship). You never know when you might lose battery life or forget your kindle in your friend's apartment or something. I suggest that you consider comfort reads from your childhood, and/or short story or poetry collections.

I always recommend poetry because it can be read over and over for more and more enjoyment. Especially if you read it aloud (or at least sottovoce).

Finished series/trilogies:
Bel Dame Apocrypha trilogy Kameron Hurley - this one is set in a desert, Middle Eastern-inspired world so might be more immersive
The Dagger and Coin series (five books) by Daniel Abraham
The Divine Cities trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett
World of the Five Gods trilogy by Lois McMaster Bujold

CBRetriever wrote: "also, you might have problems purchasing Kindle books in Jordan as that is a kindle-free country where Amazon cannot sell kindle books. I'd suggest you download a bunch of books in advance as well..."

One can always change own address in Amazon website (go to Kindle setting, address and content and device tab) to work around geo-restriction.

Silvana wrote: "One can always change own address in Amazon website (go to Kindle setting, address and content and device tab) to work around geo-restriction."

Not always. People on the UK forum, where a lot of the folks are UK expats living in Europe are having problems. One of them even quoted a reply from Amazon stating that after 4-5 books purchased in a row outside the UK, a message will be sent gently hinting that the customer seems to be purchasing books from a country other than the one they claim to live in and that they need to change their country settings. A couple of people have reported having their ability to purchase books from their account blocked until they could prove that they physically lived in the UK.

Amazon can tell where a Kindle is downloading from. I was able to get apps for a while from amazon.com while living in France by purchasing them on my computer with my Country Setting set to my US address, but after a while that was blocked. I never could purchase them from my Fire, but the computer method worked for a while. BTW, this was before amazon.com sold apps worldwide, so I had to get third party apps for quite a while.

CBRetriever wrote: "Silvana wrote: "One can always change own address in Amazon website (go to Kindle setting, address and content and device tab) to work around geo-restriction."

Not always. People on the UK forum, ..."

Good info, I luckily never had those problems. Maybe it's for those coming originally from Amazon.co.uk?

Anyway I never bought 4-5 books in a row from a country I don't actually live in (US or UK), so maybe that's why I never got the notification...

a few are OK, but it might depend on the country. I remember one guy on the old Help forum who often had to go to Singapore (another kindle-free country) and every time he bought a book there he was asked to check his country settings. He was registered to amazon.com and this was 3-4 years ago.

Noted, and thank you, CB!

I'd take one old favorite, something that I re-read when I'm stressed that makes me feel better. I'd take one littler one I've been meaning to read, and maybe an anthology or collection so that I can pick it up whenever is needed to fill a gap.

And then I'd take about 800 on my Kindle haha! Another note, if you have something like an iPad, if you turn on airplane mode you can hang on to library books you've downloaded for a bit, too. They'll go away once you connect to wifi again, but this helped me when we were overseas for longer than a library hold period :)

See, this is the problem with the new kindes--you can't just download your books and have them, you have to log in, so country settings become a problem.

Doggone dishonest books stealers make it hard for us, don't they? this is why they had to change it.

Wait, the new Kindle obliges you to login everytime you want to read a book downloaded before your trip?

Silvana wrote: "Wait, the new Kindle obliges you to login everytime you want to read a book downloaded before your trip?"

I think so, but I might be confusing this with something else.

Someone help!

Anyway, I may well be wrong, just don't try to buy kindle books while there, I guess.

BUT you know they have bookstores in Singapore - here is a link to the 5 best, and perhaps there are used bookstores where you can trade in and only pay part of the price or something.

that's not true. Maybe for a Kindle Reading App and is true for the Cloud Reader, but not for Kindles and Fires. You do have to input a pin to unlock them, but that doesn't even require wifi to be on in order to do so.

Well not really, my kindle lite removes a book once I have read it, even if I have bought it. The name is still there but no content, if I want to re read ( which I often do) I have to re download it.

I find when I travel in central Australia that has little wi fi, that I load all the books up, make sure they are all downloaded then turn off the wi fi. take that amazon!!!!

as to your travel I would load as many books as you can onto your kindle turn off wi fi and enjoy what is there.

I usually take 3 books when I travel and try to pick them with the following rules in mind.
1. A book you've previously read & loved and would enjoy reading again.
2. A book on your TBR list that you are excited to start reading.
3. A book on your shelves or TBR list that you keep putting off reading (for whatever reason).
This way you can finally tackle that book that just keeps getting shoved to the bottom of your reading list and by taking a much loved book that you've already read before you can guarantee that if for some reason you don't like the other two books you'll have a backup that you know you'll enjoy.
I also try to pick books that are mid-sized. Not too small or it will only take you a day to read it and not too large for the obvious luggage restrictions. I also prefer to travel with paperbacks rather than hard cover because they're lighter.

Download the whole Wheel of Time series into your kindle before you leave. With fourteen books and about a gazillion pages, you should have plenty to read!

You could also pick a paperback that you could leave behind (extra space when going home!) as some hotels or inns have their own libraries of previous guests' reads.

Kateb wrote: "Well not really, my kindle lite removes a book once I have read it, even if I have bought it. The name is still there but no content, if I want to re read ( which I often do) I have to re download it."

Never had this issue myself. Maybe you're out of storage space (or close to it)?

got tons of space left. a friend who was going on a trip decided to download books from bookbub, from amazon and so on. the day before she left she was showing her mother all of the books and yep only a few opened, the rest said "queued" and then downloading and finally downloaded.

she had to do 30 out of the 35 on her kindle. not full to capacity.

I would definitely load the kindle with a bunch of books and take maybe one or two tangible books (probably field guides to the local area).

Fantasy recommendations:
The Princess Bride
Anything by Terry Pratchett

Science fiction recommendations:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Children of Time

Have a great trip!

Candice

Kateb wrote: "got tons of space left. a friend who was going on a trip decided to download books from bookbub, from amazon and so on. the day before she left she was showing her mother all of the books and yep o..."

I’ve never seen anything like that either, and I’ve been using Kindles since the original version came out over a decade ago. If I’ve put a book on my Kindle, then it stays on that Kindle until I remove it.

Are you sure the books were sent to that specific device? Maybe she has an older Kindle on her account and hasn’t updated her settings to send books to her newer Kindle by default, so she’s buying books and doesn’t realize they’re automatically being sent to an old Kindle. Likewise, if she’s e-mailing herself books purchased from a site other than Amazon, she might be using the e-mail address associated with the old Kindle. Each device has a separate e-mail address.

Then when she opens her newer Kindle she may have it set to view “ALL” rather than “DOWNLOADED” which will list books even if they're just on the cloud, so she thinks they’re there when they aren’t?

I have two kindles, both bought in the past two years. When I buy a book I go to my amazon account and make sure both kindles get the book

I have two so that I can leave one in my hand bag to read when out, one sits near my desk. Plus one can be charging when the other is being used.

I leave books on my kindle after I finish reading them because I read too fast and miss things, I wait a month and decide to re read one again.

That is when I find that I have to wait for them to be downloaded. I have already read them so I know they were there.

I have had this conversation with someone on good reads before, but then I have spoken to a lot of people here in Aussie land that have had the same hassle that I have had.

It doesn't really bother me since I just make sure it is downloaded on the kindle I want to read the book on and read something else on the other kindle.

But I mentioned it so this person going to a country that doesn't have a good wi fi situation wont get caught.

ps , when I know I am going somewhere with no to few places to connect to wi fi, I just download and then turn the wi fi off so the books cant be placed in the cloud again.