SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Ryan wrote: "I hate sequels too. Just ask my younger brother."

YES! ;)

I was worried that Spielberg would massacre the movie and when I saw that Cline actually wrote it I decided to go with it and go into it with no expectations. I enjoyed it.

I'm reading Boneshaker now, 50% done... It'd be a waste of time to dnf it now, but damn, I wanna be done with this so desperately! It's as boring as bread in a basket...

Nikki wrote: "I'm reading Boneshaker now, 50% done... It'd be a waste of time to dnf it now, but damn, I wanna be done with this so desperately! It's as boring as bread in a basket..."

I have the same problem. Once I start a book, I feel obligated to finish.

Nikki wrote: "I'm reading Boneshaker now, 50% done... It'd be a waste of time to dnf it now..."

I usually feel the same way once I've invested some time in a book but it's not working right now. I've started four different "this will be my hundredth" books from the group shelf this fall. The farthest I've gotten is about 40%. Maybe one of the December reads will put me over.

Separately I've been listening to Bridge of Birds. I'm enjoying the writing but it's definitely written both for and about a different time.

DNF it! Is it really likely to get better?
Maybe try skipping 20 (or 50!) pages and see if it gets any better. If not, bag it w go to the next HIGHER rated book in your TBR list.

I just finished Sleeping Giants, which was very good! I felt that there wasn’t a traditional story structure, in that I wanted to read contstantly, but when I finished the book I realized that there wasn’t a noticeable climax, at least to me. Maybe, also, this was because I was on an e-reader and I didn’t have a sense of how much I’d read.

That all being said, I started it yesterday and finished it today, so I can vouch for its quality and gripping narrative.

It feels so large. There are major time jumps, the first being 17 years from the prologue to the first interview (this book is written as a series of interviews), and then there were periodic time jumps, the longest being two years, since then.

I highly recommend you read it. 4.25/5.

Oh I read that a while ago and completely forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me about it, Xavaqenia!

I just finished Inda and really enjoyed it. It's like a fantasy Ender's Game with some Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy feel thrown in. And the scale was enormous, easily on scale with ASOIF. But I loved how so many of the characters were root-for-able and having noble intentions wasn't a death sentence, lol. I highly recommend it.

Finished Lilith by George McDonald an early fantasy from 1895. It was good but odd. I haven't felt like writing reviews lately and I'm not sure if I will get around to it for that one, but I am most of the way through Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (which will get a review!). I am on chapter 50. It probably won't be a favorite but I am glad I finally read it.

Also rereading LotR with two other people (not on GoodReads). I will be looking up the old threads for The Fellowship of the Ring as I go and doing some necroposting, as I haven't read it since 2017, before I joined the group.

I'm reading Fate of the Fallen, which I am really enjoying. I took the risk, even though the whole series hasn't been written, since I love her Kings Dark Tidings series.

S. wrote: "Oh I read that a while ago and completely forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me about it, Xavaqenia!

I just finished Inda and really enjoyed it. It's like a fantasy Ender's Game w..."

Yeah, Sleeping giants was good, wasn’t it?

I’m glad to see that in Inda noble intentions aren’t wrong to have; I think that is one of the main problems that we have in modern fantasy. Grim dark is all fine and dandy, but people should be allowed to have good, noble, goals, and not necessarily get punished just for that.

Finished Rhythm of War. I had to stretch to give it three stars versus two. Too much unnecessary information in my opinion. The flashbacks did me in. Started reading The Golden Compass.

After a detour through Moby Dick I hopped back on the SFF train and finished Neverwhere which I enjoyed having only vague memories of watching the show on VHS ages ago. I've also just finished The Pinhoe Egg which is the last of the main Chrestomanci books for me. I honestly think it was my favorite of the series. Now I only need to read the collected short fiction to finish the series off properly.

Finished Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline a few days ago. Gave it 4⭐️ which is what RPO got as well. The first bit was a tad boring but once they started finding the Shards it got much better. I really liked it.

So I finally finished the review for: The Longest Campaign: Britain's Maritime Struggle in the Atlantic and Northwest Europe, 1939–1945 I gave it four stars.

Many books that discuss the Battle of the Atlantic focus primarily on the U-boat battles with a nod to the Bismarck not so with the Longest Campaign. This book touches on almost every aspect of the Naval War in the Atlantic, although it does have a primary focus on British efforts. Along with the U-boat campaign, it includes such high points as Dunkirk, the German invasion of Norway, British efforts against German Shipping, the naval efforts involved in the D-day invasion, and German efforts to stop it, as well as more. For those looking for information on the Naval War in the Atlantic, this is a one stop shopping effort.

The read is pretty easy, although it does get bogged down in places with a sort of scorekeeping mentality. It not only states the numbers of lost shipping, and the tonnage, but sometimes lists the specific U-boats lost. For me, this seemed to bog down the flow of the read, but for others, I realize that they would see this as a plus of the book, so it will depend on the outlook of the reader how much or little that changes their view of the book.

All in all a very well written and enjoyable book. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in this area of the war.

let us know how Mexican Gothic is - I bought it when it was a Daily Deal for Kindle

Finished reading The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley. I thought the book delivered on establishing a strong, and charming, sense of place and time. The characters were engaging. However, I lost some interest in the story about halfway through, though it picked up again toward the end. Quite a good, and slightly unusual, read.

CBRetriever wrote: "let us know how Mexican Gothic is - I bought it when it was a Daily Deal for Kindle"

I thought it was the best novel I read this year. Moreno-Garcia manages to merge haunted house with fairy tales with Weird Tales. Her protagonist, Noemi, is a young woman coming into her strength and challenged by the need to aid her cousin in her cousin's in-law's home.

Been a while since I posted, I think. Having not finished anything since late October will do that to a person. As is typical of my reading slumps, I'm midway through a bunch of stuff. Hoping to finish one or two of 'em before the virtual meet-up in a couple of weeks!

Blood of Elves: currently on the second-last story, "The End of the World."
Pyramids: 1/3 of the way through
Harrow the Ninth: just Act V to go. c'mon, me!
Children of Time: restarted the audiobook. it's quite a good book but sleep issues are making my experience of it erratic at best.
A Fashionable Indulgence: maybe rereading a romance I enjoyed quite a bit will help with whatever is going on with dumb brain.
The Wandering Inn: Volume 1: definitely an on-and-off thing. about 25% of the way through. they've just introduced the second pov character.

just finished wanderers by Chuck Wendig, gave it 4 stars.
the apocalypse is not always fun nor is it pretty. The ending was a zinger though.

Wanderers is definitely on my TBR list but I haven’t bought it yet. Worth it? Or library borrow?

Thomas wrote: "I've finally got round to finishing my next Anthony Ryan novel. The Legion of Flame was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. I really look forward t..."

I think it's a solid trilogy, compared to his first one.

MadProfessah, Wanderer's... The book is longer than it needs to be and Wendig paints his protagonists with warts and all, so his antagonists can be grim.
I'd go library borrow, I cannot imagine a reread on this one.

Currently reading "The Spirit Ring" by Lois McMaster Bujold and the Lady still brings the Thunder! Great so far!

strange unassociated facts did you know? that Australia has a sizeable wild Camel population
(hundreds of thousands).

*pops up at the mention of Inda*

I love that series! I've been wanting to do a reread since it's been years since I read the whole thing.


I'm currently reading Among Others by Jo Walton and next up is either Phoenix Extravagant or A Brightness Long Ago. I'm hoping to get lots of reading in this month!

The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Reading Jo Walton’s “Informal History of the Hugo Awards.” It really gives one some great reading ideas. For example, I just read one of the recommendations: John Crowley’s “Great Work of Time” which involves a mad scientist’s unique way to use a time machine to enrich himself. It also involves an attempt to kill Cecil Rhodes who endowed the Rhodes Scholarships for Americans in his final will. But in an earlier will he endowed a secret society to preserve the British Empire.

Trying to come up with a reading plan for 2021. My first thought was to try to read all 24 club reads, plus maybe 12 books off my TBR (which is over 100+ books at this point, not sure this rate would even have me finish them before I retire). But the question then becomes... what about all the new books that come out? Not sure I can really do much more than 3 books/month, think my personal best is somewhere around 40 or so in a year.

I guess I'll root for the club reads to be some combination of TBR books, new books I want to read, and books I've already read! Could also just maybe go through the books I own and maybe give some away (although not sure how that works in Kindle).

Chris, why do you need to finish them before you retire?!? Isn’t that what retirement is for? Well, I think you do great reading all the group reads! If you like doing that, I say carry on! A mix sounds good!

I also can nigh guarantee hype books will appear on polls from time to time.

Good point Diane, maybe nice to have lots of books waiting for me when I'll have plenty of time to enjoy them -- part of the concern, however, is that my TBR might grow exponentially such that even retired me couldn't catch up, although I guess having too many choices for reading isn't such a bad thing.

Yes Allison, counting on it! Appreciate the nigh guarantee, although still fun to discover books that had been off my radar too, so it's all good.

yep, my number of books per year definitely increased after retirement.

100 isn't bad - I have far more than that

My review of The Book of Malachi by T.C. Farren

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

The World of Mr. Mulliner by P.G. Wodehouse

Slogging through Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings. I read 20% of it today. It's okay so far. I don't know WHY every single thing has to be described. I wish the characters seemed a little more alive. They do stuff, but you can't feel their passion. POTENTIAL SPOILER : || the only thing that has moved me has been what amounts to a wood sprite. || Everything else seems flat. (I'm already ignoring some leaps of faith I've already had to take in how people do things.) I love that it's a unique world so far and that there are tons of characters, but it hasn't made me care yet. I'm just hoping that it gets better. Otherwise, I won't continue to the other books in the series.

I just finished the second book and had forgotten just how slow the beginning was. (I found the beginning of Kaladin's arc particularly painful and slow, but oh! He's a wonderful character!) I think/hope that you'll be pleased, once the story really picks up steam. It took me a long time to read the first book, but it was worth it, for me, in the end, especially once I started reading the second book.

So, Chris, with only 100 books unread on your shelf you have plenty of room for improvement (adding more books)! Here’s a calculator to see how long it will take you to read them if you don’t succumb to the new and shiny:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bl...

Stephan wrote: "Slogging through Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings. I read 20% of it today. It's okay so far. I don't know WHY every single thing has to be described. I wish the characters seemed a little more ..."

It won't get better until the end of the book.

Diane wrote: "... Here’s a calculator to see how long it will take you to read them if you don’t succumb to the new and shiny:..."

Hmm... When I run that using my TBR here and what's on my physical shelves the result is within a few months of the life expectancy for someone my age.

No more TBR additions for me? Hah! Like that will ever happen...

Stephan wrote: "Slogging through Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings. I read 20% of it today. It's okay so far. I don't know WHY every single thing has to be described. I wish the characters seemed a little more ..."

:D I had no problems to connect with nearly every character quite early on and I had no problems to already read the book 3 times within the last 2 years (and certainly will again for years to come). For me it is actually the only Fantasy book where I can connect with the characters so profoundly. - But of course mindsets differ a lot from reader to reader.

Stephan wrote: "Slogging through Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings."

We have discussions for The Way of Kings here: First impressions (no spoilers) & Final thoughts (spoilers)

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I'm hearing the audiobook of The Way of Kings and that is so long. I'm enjoying it, and I connect to all the characters, but this series isn't only a book series but a life project. ;-)

@Silvana lol at "it won't get better until the end of the book" for a 1200 page book... it gets better after the first 1,000 pages lol!

@Diane yeah the problem is a combination of 100 books on my TBR being a *very* lowball estimate (I don't have them all logged) and my inability to avoid the shiny. But I did check out that calculator, pretty cool. Would likely just have to modify the books I read/year down to account for the newcomers to get a more accurate assessment.

Speaking of shiny, I started Ready Player Two last night and am also working on The Thief alongside trying to finish Gideon the Ninth sometime this month.

After mostly dnf'ing Fantasy books at the moment, or slogging through them being horribly bored, I found a jewel and am so happy about that.

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy is a near future perfection of a book in the fashion of Maja Lunde's books. Grandiose prose, soulfull, melancholic, utterly devastating and beautiful. Yes, this is how a book is supposed to be written, thank you very much.

Diane wrote: "Here’s a calculator to see how long it will take you to read them if you don’t succumb to the new and shiny:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bl..."

lol

No idea what the calculations are on that calculator. Results said that I would read my current TBR in 12 years 10 months. Except I don't think I will ever read as much as I have in 2019 & 2020 ever again.

It is nice to know that I can read thousands of books within my lifetime. Yay!

I just finished Unfettered by Shawn Speakman on Kindle. My next Kindle book will be Riddle-Master by Patricia A. McKillip

I am trying to finish To Green Angel Tower, Part 2 by Tad Williams. Excellent series; now one of my favorites
I am also going to finish Traitor's Blade by Sebastian de Castell I am really enjoying it and plan to read the rest of his Greatcoats series.

I loved Riddlemaster, and I thought the Greatcoats series was a lot of fun!

Raucous wrote: "Diane wrote: "... Here’s a calculator to see how long it will take you to read them if you don’t succumb to the new and shiny:..."

Hmm... When I run that using my TBR here and what's on my physica..."

The way I look at it is if I have unread books that I own then I won't be able to die.

Diane wrote: "So, Chris, with only 100 books unread on your shelf you have plenty of room for improvement (adding more books)! Here’s a calculator to see how long it will take you to read them if you don’t succu..."

Hmmm, at my pace I'm only good for 2 years and 3 months ... for 533 books if i continue on at my current rate of 242 so far this year

The calculator doesn't count the re-reads. =)

I normally do not re-read very often but I've become a fan of re-reading via audiobook.