SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Benjamin wrote: "Next up is Zoo City by Lauren Beukes."

Did anyone read Zoo City yet? It's on my wish list.

Becki (and Nicki): My comment regarding preachiness was meant to reassure Nicki, not to say that you claimed it was preachy and thus disprove or contradict you.

As for the rest of it, I suppose what put me on guard was your comment at the beginning regarding the bookseller thinking "you were possessed by the devil" because I'm still not sure what that one was. I'd guess he thought: 'she reads science-fiction; this is real quality science-fiction'.

I suppose I can agree with 'religious-flavoured' if we define as such 'any book that mentions religion in any way beyond an offhand remark'. Which shuffles into that category a rather astonishingly large chunk of literature, and this without counting the merely allegorical and alluding, so I guess I find the statement a bit... misgiving whereas it appears to be defining but, due to its hugely inclusive nature (you can include in it, as I said, books from A Canticle for Leibowitz and through Le Morte D'Arthur) it is really not.

Genia wrote: "I suppose I can agree with 'religious-flavoured' if we define as such 'any book that mentions religion in any way beyond an offhand remark'."

No, I don't define the term that way, Genia. It's pretty clear to me that The Sparrow's religious aspects are quite a large part of the story. It's not merely a couple mentions of the main character's beliefs or religious leanings. The story centers around the Society of Jesus and their mission, with their mission being "for the greater glory of God." It's what gives the story purpose and meaning. Even the title is a religious reference. It would be a much different, and much lacking, story if the religion aspects were removed.

It's because of that religious aspect that I told my story about the bookseller's recommendation. The Sparrow is still nothing at all like anything King has written (he's written a bit of science fiction, but most think of him as a horror writer), and nothing at all like Harry Potter (which is not science fiction at all), so I assume there was a message there, since that was all the info she had to go on in making her recommendation to my mom. Was it a favorite book of hers? Or was it her trying to help my 'bad taste in books' or something more?

I dunno. I probably never will, but it amuses me to think that she was trying to say something with the recommendation, and since so many people DO think that Harry Potter leads to a life of devil worshiping occultism, it's not such a stretch for me to come to that conclusion.

Stephanie wrote: "Benjamin wrote: "Next up is Zoo City by Lauren Beukes."

Did anyone read Zoo City yet? It's on my wish list."

I found it less interesting than Moxyland - which I really enjoyed - cybepunk-flavoured SF. Zoo City is more fantasy and to my mind a bit muddled.

Stephanie wrote: Did anyone read Zoo City yet? It's on my wish list."

I read it a couple months back; my review is on my blog.

I found it interesting but didn't really enjoy it. Partly this was because I think I've decided I'm burnt out on noir-influenced SF (and right when I have to read When Gravity Fails!) and so not the book's fault. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, though it's definitely a flawed book and the metafictional conceit (inserting created documents to provide backstory and add to the realism) bugs a lot of people.

Becky wrote: "I dunno. I probably never will, but it amuses me to think that she was trying to say something with the recommendation, and since so many people DO think that Harry Potter leads to a life of devil worshiping occultism, it's not such a stretch for me to come to that conclusion. "

Which is funny, 'cause it was my life of devil worshipping occultism that lead me to Harry Potter. Huh.

;)

Always doing stuff wrong, Colleen. Will you never learn? :P

Not if I can help it. ;)

Genia wrote: "It's religiously flavoured only in the same sense that Solaris is religiously flavoured. It deals with the Big Questions religion tends to put before people, but it's not religious lit..."

Re The Sparrow being for people who don't like science fiction because it's genre-- Maybe that's why I didn't like The Sparrow as much as Children of God which is very much more genre than The Sparrow.

I started Boneshaker yesterday, about a 1/4 into it now. Not impressed, but I'm not at the point that I'm going to stop reading it and delete it from my Kindle. So, it's ok so far.

I got paid today, so I made my monthly purchase, Theories of Flight by Simon Morden. WooHoo! I'm looking forward to diving into this one, I really enjoyed the first book, Equations of Life.

Stephanie wrote: "Did anyone read Zoo City yet? It's on my wish list."

I'm not quite halfway and I'm liking it quite a bit. I don't mind the metafictional bits nor does it seem too muddled (yet). The noir bit seems a little inaccurate as the book combines many different elements besides noir such as urban fantasy and scifi.

Benjamin wrote: "The noir bit seems a little inaccurate as the book combines many different elements besides noir such as urban fantasy and scifi."

I hit on the noir description because that fits the tone to a T (in my mind at least) and it was what was off-putting to me about the book. I quite enjoyed the urban fantasy bits. . . (urban fantasy like Mieville, obviously, not urban fantasy like Laurell K. Hamilton, lol!)

Benjamin wrote: "The noir bit seems a little inaccurate as the book combines many different elements besides noir such as urban fantasy and scifi..."


That's what I mean by muddled - the different elements don't seem to gel together coherently. Without wishing to spoiler it for people, I could have done with a clearer context for the fantastical occurrences - they just seemed rather arbitrary compared with the general noir feel of the piece.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Sc, I'll investigate Moxyland.

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis!

I'm just coming to the end of The Jennifer Morgue. It took me a while to get into it but the pace has really picked up in the second half. I love the concept of the Laundry series, I just keep wanting it to be that little bit better.

Dylan wrote: "Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis!"

I loved the Narnia books as a kid, but could never get into his sci fi.

Denae wrote: "Dylan wrote: "Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis!"

I loved the Narnia books as a kid, but could never get into his sci fi."

Im halfway through and so far its just ok, interesting, but nothing has really happened. /

I am reading some C.J. Cherryh back to back, but only part one of three books, Cyteen: The Betrayal and Kesrith (The Faded Sun, #1).

It's interesting to read the "meh" comments on Boneshaker. I read it last year, and felt the same way, but couldn't put my finger on why. I'm not sure if it's because I figured out the ending early on, or the "grayness" of the setting muted the mood. Probably a combination of both. It was inventive without being surprising, if that makes any sense. I also disliked the son character quite a bit, so I wasn't exactly rooting for whatshername to find him.

OK, maybe I can put my finger on it. :-) Either way, I'm not feeling compelled to hunt up the sequel.

I'm 34% in with Boneshaker on my Kindle now, and I'm not too enthusiastic about it so far. When a book really grabs me I'll read it until I drop, but I'm not getting that feeling. It's either the book or there are more important things right now (end of EPL football season, for instance) that I want to concentrate on.

Usually the dark mood of a book doesn't bother me too much, but I just can't shake the feeling that this book just doesn't grab me. I'm going to soldier on, though.

Dylan wrote: "Denae wrote: "Dylan wrote: "Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis!"

I loved the Narnia books as a kid, but could never get into his sci fi."

Im halfway through and so far its just o..."

I started reading Out of the Silent Planet awhile ago. I didn't find it terribly exciting, either.

I finished Zoo City earlier this evening. Sc and Phoenixfalls made some valid points, though ultimately those things didn't bother me at all. I thought Beukes really brought everything together very well. Great book.

I'm going to continue my re-read of ASOIAF with A Clash of Kings.

Phoenixfalls wrote: ". . . (urban fantasy like Mieville, obviously, not urban fantasy like Laurell K. Hamilton, lol!)"

LOL. Oh, definitely. ;)

Just finished Dragonseye by Anne McCaffrey. Really enjoy this series. In this one, McCaffrey writes more about relationships between those ruling the holds in Pern rather than fighting thread. However, she returns to thread fighting in the final chapter of Dragonseye. Very good read.

Today I'm rereading for a library book club, which reflects and plays with both Slaughterhouse 5 and The Catcher in the Rye.
Tomorrow and in the days that follow I'm hoping to get to , , and . I just finished , which has a bit of magical realism.

I started Ghost Road Blues yesterday. I really liked the beginning. Very griping.

Reading Tigana right now. I'm enjoying it.

I just finished Vamped, and it was really rather cute. It got a bit tiresome by th end, but it was a surprisingly decent book, considering the topic.

Just finished and . Needed some lighter reading for the end of the school year. (High school mathematics and statistics teacher-- so finals and grades and we are moving into a new high school for the fall). Plan to do much more reading in June.

I finally worked my way through The Deed of Paksenarrion. It took me a while but I enjoyed it.

Next up is The Hunger Games. Time to see what all the hype is about.

I am readingNeverwhereby Neil Gaiman

Kathy wrote: "Just finished and . Needed some lighter reading for the end of the school year. (High school mathematics and st..."

What did you think of Eona?

I just started on The Collected Short Fiction of C.J. Cherryh.

Colleen ~blackrose~ wrote: "Kathy wrote: "Just finished and . Needed some lighter reading for the end of the school year. (High school math..."

I liked both of the books. Not the best books I've read this year, but I enjoyed them.

Stuart
I'm waiting for the library to find their copy of Neverwhere, remember watching a programme by the same name years ago.

Stuart wrote: "I am readingNeverwhereby Neil Gaiman"

I thought that was a fantastic read. Enjoy it.

I have liked everything that I have read by Gaiman so far.

Neverwhere is wonderful, I am glad I own a copy!

Deanne wrote: "Stuart
I'm waiting for the library to find their copy of Neverwhere, remember watching a programme by the same name years ago."

Yes - it was a BBC TV series- so goodI bought the DVDs. I think the book is the novelization of it.

I just finished Orson Scott Card's 'Ender's Game' last night, and taking a dramatic turn into Terry Pratchett's 'Guards! Guards!' as of this morning. Since reading Card's How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, I'm attempting to get a little more education on the genres that I love. Hence, I'm devouring books as fast as I can (not very fast but, hey...).

Clayton wrote: "I just finished Orson Scott Card's 'Ender's Game' last night, and taking a dramatic turn into Terry Pratchett's 'Guards! Guards!' as of this morning. Since reading Card's How To Write Science Fict..."

Love both of those books

Finished The Hunger Games a bit ago. It was entertaining beginning to end.

I think I've settled on Hawkwood and the Kings for my next read. It'll be my first Kearney book outside of The Ten Thousand trilogy so I'm pretty excited about it.

It does look like I picked the right book...

Trevor wrote: "I think I've settled on Hawkwood and the Kings for my next read. It'll be my first Kearney book outside of The Ten Thousand trilogy so I'm pretty excited about it. "

Monarchies of God is awesome. Kearney is criminally underrated.

Now reading yet another C.J. Cherryh, which is Finity's End, which is now out of print.

Ala wrote: "Reading Tigana right now. I'm enjoying it."

I've heard a lot of good things about this book. I think I'll take it on holiday with me this summer :)

I finished it a few days ago. It's actually really good, though for me there seemed to be an undercurrent of... melancholy? Depression? Sadness?

Not sure which fits, but something akin to those feelings was there throughout the book.

Currently in the middle of our June SciFi read Consider Phlebas. It hasn't grabbed me yet, but it's enjoyable so far.

Just finished my re-read of A Clash of Kings.

Now re-reading The Inferior by Peadar Ó Guilín in preparation for his new book The Deserter.

Ala wrote: "I finished it a few days ago. It's actually really good, though for me there seemed to be an undercurrent of... melancholy? Depression? Sadness?"

Yeah, you do get that sense from the book. All of Kay's work as has that to some degree, though it's strongest with Tigana.

Currently switching between Mistborn: The Final Empire and Graveminder.

Just finished Mistborn: The Final Empire. I had been switching around, but once I reached the 30% mark on Mistborn it had me hooked straight through to the end. Trying to convince myself to get started on the GR books before picking up the next in the series.

Hey guys, im kinda new to the book club. I just started reading Electric Church and Snow Crash... love them both! Wanna start the Dresden Files soon!