2025 Virtual Book Club > Likes and Comments

A staple now in our group, come have an in-depth discussion of a book selected from one of the books of the month OR one of the re-reads to be discussed in the first half of the month.

We meet on Zoom, both video and voice are optional as there is also a lively chat.

We pick the book and the time as a collective joint effort from those who follow this thread. Days and times are usually submitted via Doodle which does not require any sign ups or personal information beyond a name which can be any name you choose.

Books are ranked by choice and we do ranked choice voting which means we see which book is picked first. If there is a tie, then we do an immediate runoff with the tied books in second place being counted.

If you'd like more on how that works, please see the example in the following spoiler tag:

(view spoiler)[
First person votes, in order:
Book A
Book B
Book C
Book D

Another person votes
Book B
Book A
Book C
Book D

Person 3 Votes
Book A
Book C
Book B
Book D

Person 4 votes
Book B
Book A
Book D
Book C


The votes for books in first place are tied between books A and B. Therefore, the majority would like A or B. We then look at votes for A or B in second place and see that 2 people voted for A second and only 1 other person voted for B second. Thus, book A would have 4 votes versus Book B's 3 votes and win the selection.
(hide spoiler)]

It seems complicated, but don't worry, the moderator hosting will do the math for you! All you have to do is say which books you want to talk about, read the book that wins (if you'd like) and then attend (as long as you're OK that there may be spoilers about that book).

The discussion is moderator-led and the conversation is lively. Often, even if folks do not finish a book they have wonderful insights they share, so don't be shy! If time permits, we then chat books in general for the remainder of the hour.

The book options are:

Our Wives Under the Sea
Our Share of Night
A Natural History of Dragons
A Memory Called Empire

Help pick a date and time here:

https://doodle.com/group-poll/partici...

My choices are...

1- A Natural History of Dragons
2- Our Wives Under the Sea

Our Share of Night is 700+ pages...

I vote for:
1. A Memory Called Empire
2. A Natural History of Dragons
3.Our Share of Night

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to read January BOTMs, as they're both horror and I'm a scaredy-cat.

I'll be happy to discuss either A Natural History of Dragons, or A Memory Called Empire.

I’m in Olga’s camp. Please put me down for the same votes as her.

What, did Mariana Enríquez actually win the poll? Wow.

It's way past time I start reading her books; I'll see if I can squeeze it in a schedule that's already becoming crowded.

Melanie wrote: "Our Share of Night is 700+ pages..."

The English edition is actually shy of 600 pages.

a.g.e. montagner wrote: "What, did Mariana Enríquez actually win the poll? Wow.

It's way past time I start reading her books; I'll see if I can squeeze it in a schedule that's already becoming crowded."

I would like to read it but I’m not sure if I can squeeze it in my reading schedule for January.

That was my thinking behind putting it in the third place.

I with Aga and Diane:

1. A Memory Called Empire
2. A Natural History of Dragons
3. Our Share of Night

Although, Our Share of Night is going to be a real stretch for me in January even though it sounds fascinating.

1. A Memory Called Empire
2. Our Wives Under the Sea
3. A Natural History of Dragons
4. Our Share of the Night

Looking like it'll be Memory!

I forgot about that

It's a joke on so many levels, since, I believe, you're also the only one from the actual empire too.

It looks like our time will by Jan 26 at 11 ET. Please vote in the Doodle, final call!

https://doodle.com/group-poll/partici...

We will be discussing A Memory Called Emore Jan 26 at 4pm GMT / 11 am ET

Tagging this for future activity, since I missed it until Melanie sent me the link (after I posted in the old thread). Memory wouldn't have been my choice, but that's okay, since I have read it already.

Who is Emore?

LOL, Allison meant A Memory Called Empire

Lol! Sorry.

Looking forward to the virtual book club on the 26th...where will I be able to find the zoom information?

Levi wrote: "Looking forward to the virtual book club on the 26th...where will I be able to find the zoom information?"

Here, about an hour (or a bit less) before the meeting.

A Memory Called Empire is on Kindle Unlimited if anyone needs a copy of the book and has KU. :)

SFFBC wrote: "The book options are:

Our Wives Under the Sea
Our Share of Night
A Natural History of Dragons
A Memory Called Empire

Help pick a da..."

Melanie wrote: "A Memory Called Empire is on Kindle Unlimited if anyone needs a copy of the book and has KU. :)"

I'd love to join the chat but I'm in South Australia. It is looking like 3:00 am on 27th here for me... Maybe next book group :) A Memory Called Empire is one of my most favourite books. It's brilliant and breathless.

argh! Australia is the one place on the planet my eastern time zone makes very difficult! please do help us pick the next time! I'm sorry to miss your thoughts on this one

Hi. I'll be joining you for the first time on January 26th. I'm from the Hudson Valley in New York State. Very excited about finding a SFF book club. I hope I can get the technology to work properly. -Celia

hooray! it should be fairly straightforward if you've used Zoom before! if not, downloading Zoom ahead of time will help :)

Celia wrote: "Hi. I'll be joining you for the first time on January 26th. I'm from the Hudson Valley in New York State. Very excited about finding a SFF book club. I hope I can get the technology to work properl..."
Thanks Allison. Yes I use Zoom regularly, tho my internet is a bit slow. I'm looking forward to it. :)

tomorrow!!!

(or I guess today for those GMT+1 or more)

45 minutes!

Click https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81101505306... to start or join a scheduled Zoom meeting.

passcode: 124927

edit: please note that the link will not open from the app. Please use the browser version to open,

OMG, I completely missed it. I thought the time was 6 p.m. EST. Looks like it was at 11 a.m. Very disappointed ... is there any taping of the discussion, or any texts I might look at? I'm so curious what everyone thought about the book. - Celia Seupel

I noticed you weren't there! We do not record our general VBC so that folks can feel comfortable sharing their thoughts within the context of a small chat--they sometimes become quite personal and we want to encourage folks to share their full feelings. But there will be one next month!! And you can always go to the Discuss Everything thread and chat there!

On the note of next month, our book options are:

Iron Widow
Masquerade
The Last Unicorn
The Stars My Destination

and here's a link to a Doodle of possible dates and times! (I've tried to do some with Australia in mind, but it is still quite early, sorry!)

https://doodle.com/meeting/participat...

Also, if it's helpful, you can follow the club calendar here:

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/...

It will automatically set the appropriate time zone for you :)

As always, it was great to see you all.

I vote for:

1) Iron Widow (got it from my library)
2) Masquerade (on my IPad)
3) The Last Unicorn (on my TBR like forever… )

I haven't read any of the picks, so it's very difficult to choose. I'll go with my expectations then :)

1. Masquerade
2. The Stars My Destination
3. The Last Unicorn
4. Iron Widow

I need to get over my nerves for next time. :)

My vote is for:

1. Iron Widow
2. Masquerade
3. The Last Unicorn
4. The Stars My Destination

Melanie wrote: "I need to get over my nerves for next time. :)

My vote is for:

1. Iron Widow
2. Masquerade
3. The Last Unicorn
4. The Stars My Destination"

I'm so glad you were there, Melanie! It's a very kind, welcoming group, and it will be wonderful to hear your thoughts when you're ready.

happy to have you and no pressure! there's always the chat function too that many folks use that's totally viable! We want you and everyone to feel safe and welcomed however participation looks for you :)

Thank you both, this is a really nice group!

Iron Widow
Masquerade
The Stars My Destination

I don't feel The Last Unicorn will be discussion worthy, but if I am available, any other book will work.

3 for Iron Widow, 1 for Masquerade so far!

Hello, I'll be sure to figure out the correct time for next book club.
My votes are for

1.Masquerade - sounds really mythic and interesting.
2.The Stars My Destination - I've read but this is a great old classic!!!
3.Iron Widow - I read this; it was good and could read it again.
4.The Last Unicorn - sounds a wee bit young.

It looks like Feb 23 at 11 ET is the winner!

I'll leave it til the end of today, but so far Iron Widow leads by 1 vote

I just restored receiving notifications for group threads, so I just made it! I probably won’t be able to read Iron Widow before the meeting (the library hold was 10 weeks when it was voted in and buying it would break my vow not to by any new books this year) I may be able to use my Audible credit. If I can squeeze it in. I’ll do my best.

I'll do my best to upset the lead! (LOL)

1. Masquerade
2. The Last Unicorn
3. The Stars My Destination
4. Iron Widow

a.g.e. montagner wrote: "I'll do my best to upset the lead! (LOL)

1. Masquerade
2. The Last Unicorn
3. The Stars My Destination
4. Iron Widow"

Yay! ))

And I’ll vote too:

1. The Stars My Destination
2. Masquerade
3. Iron Widow
4. The Last Unicorn

I will say I think Iron Widow has more discussion points than Masquerade but I'd be willing to chat about either