SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

At first I thought this was a 2021 reading challenge!

I think books should get bonus points for hitting a square multiple times (looking at you, Ready Player One and your Deus Ex Machinas)

"Just the one bed" is the most repetitive and boring cliché ever. Followed by "Attractive, but doesn't know it".

Meredith wrote: "At first I thought this was a 2021 reading challenge!

I think books should get bonus points for hitting a square multiple times (looking at you, Ready Player One and your Deus Ex Machinas)"

oh em gee those destroyed me. Anna also saw this at first and was like "why are you punishing people by making them look for these?!" but never fear! This is just meant to be silly, my challenge will of course be focused on kindness and broadening our personal horizons!

Yes, I was near to tears thinking Allison had scrapped her excellent challenge and went with this instead!

One idea, the group could make a "Novella" only reading challenge.

You can rekindle or adapt the short fic challenge from the past years! I've got one I'm finishing up now, and Anna has the AB Challenge, plus the normal TBRC and RATB, but it's good to know that shorter fic is still interesting for the group!

Jemppu wrote: "Not surprisingly: my free space is for 'calloused hand'."

I think I will use my free square for "gray or purple eyes" which always signal a character has some special power or another.

Leticia wrote: "One idea, the group could make a "Novella" only reading challenge."

Yes, the short fic challenge continues in 2021, and it has a mode you can use for novellas only if you want.

Allison wrote: "You can rekindle or adapt the short fic challenge from the past years! I've got one I'm finishing up now, and Anna has the AB Challenge, plus the normal TBRC and RATB, but it's good to know that sh..."

I will divide the challenge into Novella and Short Stories in my thread comments and add them in the end for the goals. Should I create a new thread for 2021 or keep the one I have now?

Leticia please take a look the personal challenge thread in the challenge folder!

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

And before we bring this thread back on track, a reminder that you can also track personal goals in your personal threads, they’re not reserved for challenges only!

OK, tropes!

I see, sorry I added three new posts in my old thread for 2021. Will try not to add more posts .

That’s not what I meant, just that it answers your question :) I’m technically sleeping, posting this with ghost fingers on my Slumber OS.

OK, no problemo ;-) It's time I go to sleep too.

This is probably a language thing, but what exactly does "just the one bed" mean?

Also, I have - for some reason - decided to do a complete re-read of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles (and the books I haven't read) and I needed a cliché bingo just for her works, and of course the internet did not disappoint. :D

"Just the one bed" is when two people who Totally Aren't Ever Gonna Be Lovers have to stop somewhere and there's only one bed and they have to share it despite Totally Not Wanting To, and of course someone falls in love.

Caillen wrote: "Ok, about the smells thing, I just finished TJ Klune's werewolf series which are admittedly romance novels but are also pretty good werewolf books. Fated mates (an eye-rolling cliche, but to be exp..."

Well, of course scent is important to werewolves, eh? I do like those descriptors!

Anna wrote: "Note to self: Next mod poll should be hidden again and only describe the books with two smells"

This might be fun, actually.

Allison wrote: ""Just the one bed" is when two people who Totally Aren't Ever Gonna Be Lovers have to stop somewhere and there's only one bed and they have to share it despite Totally Not Wanting To, and of course..."

OMG, this is so cliché that I didn't even think it could be ... that easy an explanation! :D

Also, what about women playing with their hair, not realizing it at first as well? Like with the holding breath?

Not to mention all the weird things characters can do with their eyes - was there a topic specifically about that, or was it a different group?

Cheryl wrote: "Anna wrote: "Note to self: Next mod poll should be hidden again and only describe the books with two smells"

This might be fun, actually."

Everyone, you know who to blame if we do this! :D

Phoenix Extravagant: "She smelled of salt and sweat and cedar-sandalwood incense."

Polaris Rising: "He smelled like warm, sweaty male, but under that was the musty, metallic scent of blood."

lol Raucous, I've read that and it was ... something :D

Ok so I haven't been keeping track, but I've absolutely seen all of these in the last weeks or two. YA loves to take advantage of younger readers by forcing cliches/tropes at them while they don't know they're cliches. Like some of these characters only breathe once every three or four pages.

Alabaster wrote: "Ok so I haven't been keeping track, but I've absolutely seen all of these in the last weeks or two. YA loves to take advantage of younger readers by forcing cliches/tropes at them while they don't ..."

lol!

"... he smelt sweetly of a male human and Russian Leather soap." -- Cocaine Blues.

Wow, not leather and soap, but leather soap :D

dunno if that's Russian Leather ... soap or Russian ... Leather soap

... what is different about Russian leather (soap)?

I found this...
"Russian leather fragrances have a long heritage, recently enjoying something of a revival as we crave perfumes that are bigger, badder and bolder than before, and it’s the intense, relentless smokiness of birch that’s the vital scent ingredient giving Russian leather it’s characteristic smell."

huh!

Huh, indeed. Learn something new every day. This made me immediately think of "Mäntysuopa" ('Pine soap' - made of tall oil), curious if these two had any shared history.

Distinct woodsy smell seems characteristic to both. Birch or pine.

"She smiled, and the breath he hadn't realized he was holding ran out of him swiftly." Alphabet of Thorn.

Oh GOD YES I need a space to vent
//signs up

Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower

I listened to the audiobook, and I don't have the book, so I can't get the exact quote, but along the lines of:

"She let out the breath she'd been holding, so she could take another breath."

This novella kicks so much trope-butt!

Tamsyn Muir is so meme-savvy and funny! Can't wait to listen to Floralinda.

It was great. I wasn't in love with Gideon, but I think I am a little bit in love with Floralinda :)

Anna wrote: "I recently read a book that would've made me spit out my tea if I'd been drinking it. It was along the lines of "He gripped the teacup he hadn't realized he'd been holding" XD It was SO HILARIOUS, ..."

Hahahaha! I need to get on some Cat Sebastian, if only for her cheek. XD

I love this idea. I laughed aloud reading through the old Clue thread at the mention of "features multiple inns." At just how easy that one would be to fulfill. Far too common to use for a free space I'm afraid.

I'm reminded of that "I hate cliches" meme
[Edit: Aw man, had myself a good laugh reading though a bunch. Still so good. One of my fave meme formats, gotta say.]

I've been thinking about that teacup thing, and I'm not entirely sure it wasn't my imagination? Maybe it was just something about holding a teacup, and my brain filled in the rest? I tried searching for it but couldn't find it, and *surely* someone would've mentioned it if it was real?

My free space will be: felt a chill that wasn't from the wind or the cold, etc - listening to The Wise Man's Fear and I swear it is in every chapter lol

LMAO

Palace of Jobs or whatever it was hit the following:

No so alien
Adults are useless
Speaks bad old timey
Colonizer victim
Saved by deus ex
Best idiots
Trauma as growth
...

I just looked,

This son of a bunghole has 4 on every row, and none for a Bingo.

You absolute turdgoblin.

Allison wrote: "This son of a bunghole has 4 on every row, and none for a Bingo.

You absolute turdgoblin."

Yikes, all that, and not even a Bonus Bingo for your trouble?
Turdgoblin, indeed!

Allison wrote: "...This son of a bunghole has 4 on every row, and none for a Bingo... "

I guess that I didn't look at the board that closely when it was posted (I was too taken by the "smells of" discussion) and so I was having trouble parsing the colorful language here. When I went back to look I realized that I'd just finished a book that accomplishes the same thing for columns. So, so close in multiple places. Argh.

I feel embarrassed now for liking the book even though it did feel annoyingly derivative in places. And, yes, it was a YA (or at least read like one).

hey tropes are used because a lot of the time we love them when done well! this is very tongue in cheek, not meant to shame!

Michelle wrote: "What about horse and leather? I've read that more than once."

Re-reading this thread, I realized I've first seen this in the Warcraft series, specifically Arthas: Rise of the Lich King - which was my first read in English, by the way.

And, in case someone is curious... no, my sense of smell still isn't back.

Allison wrote: "Palace of Jobs or whatever it was hit the following:

No so alien
Adults are useless
Speaks bad old timey
Colonizer victim
Saved by deus ex
Best idiots
Trauma as growth
...

I just looked,

This so..."

Yaargh. I remember that book I DNFd it because of all the wtfery and emotional disconnects.

Allison wrote: "hey tropes are used because a lot of the time we love them when done well! this is very tongue in cheek, not meant to shame!"

Good point. I've read trope-filled books that I wouldn't recommend to anyone because they were used in offensive or contradictory ways. When I find myself repeatedly screaming "I don't care who you are! You can't do that!" there's a problem.

This one wasn't like that. It had a good heart and I was going to enjoy it anyway. My embarrassment (also a bit tongue in cheek) was perhaps more that there were so many that I let fly by. They came in waves. A flood of them. But still not the right ones for a Bingo. Maybe layering tropes for maximum effect is a thing.

I just finished the third book in the Star Wars X-Wing Series. The Star Wars books have their very own, very specific tropes and love to use them and I always expect to encounter at least five of those per book, but then...

...Corran Horn, the hero pilot and Gary Stu of the New Republic, released a breath he didn't know he was holding and I nearly fainted! I never expected this to be in a Star Wars book. Gosh, they really are everywhere... *looks around nervously*

"Van let out a breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding. "-- Seven of Infinities.