RMFAO (Reading My Frigging A** Off) discussion

Hello everyone,

Happy New Year guys! Hope this year you get to read tons and tons of new and amazing books!
At RMFAO we always begin our year with a Science-Fiction month and this year, keeping up with this tradition, we'll be starting 2018 with a month full of out-of-the-world sci-fi reads.

There are absolutely no limits so you can interpret this genre in its broader sense and include other similar genres and/or subgenres that you feel might have a wee bit of similarity with the main genre. You can also include books that are not particularly centred around the main genre but has its components or elements somewhere in the story.

The main intent of this challenge is to incorporate different kinds of books and genres in our normal reading routine to make the experience more fun and entertaining. Please do not lose yourself in the technicalities as we all know how literary genres can be confusing.
If you have any doubts or questions, then post them below and we'll be happy to answer/discuss them.

Here is the DEFINITION for this month's genre:

Science-Fiction: Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or scifi) is a genre of speculative fiction, typically dealing with imaginative concepts such as futuristic science and technology, space travel, time travel, faster than light travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life. Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a "literature of ideas." It usually eschews the supernatural, and unlike the related genre of fantasy, historically science fiction stories were intended to have at least a faint grounding in science-based fact or theory at the time the story was created, but this connection has become tenuous or non-existent in much of science fiction.

Here's a quick summary of the levels:

Level 1: Casual Reader: 1 book (easy)
Level 2: Frequent Reader: 2 books (moderate)
Level 3: Bookworm: 3 books (mildly strenuous)
Level 4: Bibliophile: 4 books (strenuous)
Level 5: Bookiopath: 5 books or more (challenging)

Please mention what type of books you'd be reading:

PB: Paperbacks
HB: Hardbacks
EB: E-Books
AB: Audio Books

Please feel free to announce your to-read books along with the level you are targeting for below.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯BONUS CHALLENGE⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Read a book with a popular expression for the title (eg. Gone With The Wind, Carry On, Catch-22)

PS: We're having a sci-fi buddy read this month starting from 5th January for Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. You can join us anytime throughout the month of January here: Buddy Read: Ready Player One

PLEASE READ (especially new members):
1. You can read any number of books for the respective genre each month in one particular month.
2. Take your time and go through your entire TBR-list before deciding the books to read.
3. You can join the challenge at any stage (in any month.)
4. You can drop out of the challenge any time you like.
5. You can select different levels every month.
6. Use this discussion board to share your reads with other members of the group.
7. Please be active and don't hesitate to ask questions or recommend books.

Happy reading!

Happy New Year, guys!!

I'll be going with Level-5 this month. My to-read list for Sci-Fi for Jan:
1. Stranger in a Strange Land - Paperback
2. Ready Player One - Paperback
3. For the Glory of the Motherboard: Rise of the Robotariat - E-book
4. River Rising (by one of my favourite Sci-Fi authors) - E-book
5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Audiobook

So far even I'm liking it. The writing is a bit too rich, but I'm getting the hang of it the more I'm reading.

Hi--I'm currently reading a mystery for my other group challenge, but I looked through my TBR list, and found The Martian was a book that I had wanted to read. I didn't see the movie, but I see that the book got a lot of good reviews, so that will be my pick for January.

Dagny wrote: "OK, the only science fiction for sure this month for me is The Lost World (Professor Challenger #1) by Arthur Conan Doyle. Notice this is not the Michael Crichton book which is a great read. This i..."

After reading your suggestions on Classics' page, I also wanted to read this book (even series), but Jan looks packed already. Though I'll be reading it in the later months. Do let me know your thoughts on the book.

Donna wrote: "Hi--I'm currently reading a mystery for my other group challenge, but I looked through my TBR list, and found The Martian was a book that I had wanted to read. I didn't see the movi..."

Great pick! I wanted to read Martian too for this challenge but other books came in the way. I've watched the movie and it was really good, so I'm sure the book's going to be great. Happy reading!

Dagny wrote: "Donna wrote: "I looked through my TBR list, and found The Martian was a book that I had wanted to read. I didn't see the movi..."

I absolutely loved this book! It's one I can easil..."

Great! I'm looking forward to reading it and then seeing the movie!

I will be aiming for Level 5. There are alot of YA science fiction books I've been wanting to read, so I'll put them on my list for the January challenge.

Cheryl wrote: "I will be aiming for Level 5. There are alot of YA science fiction books I've been wanting to read, so I'll put them on my list for the January challenge."

All the best, Cheryl!

I've posted the Bonus Challenge in the first comment (the description) on this thread.

Heena wrote: "I've posted the Bonus Challenge in the first comment (the description) on this thread."

Heena,

You could not have planned the Bonus Challenge any better for me this month. I am reading Gone With the Wind for another book group's January read. What luck!

Hi! I am new here and will be going for Level 3 this month :)
My list has-

1) The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
2) Warcross by Marie Lu
3) The Origin by Dan Brown

The Dan Brown books are paperback and hardcover while Warcross is epub. Good luck everyone!

Charvi wrote: "Hi! I am new here and will be going for Level 3 this month :) "

Welcome to the group, Charvi, and welcome to the Science Fiction Challenge. Your book choices all sound interesting. Enjoy them!

I just finished my first book for the challenge:

1.) Scythe by Neal Shusterman (hardcover)
4 stars. A great YA science fiction book!

2.) Copperhead, Vol. 1 by Jay Faerber (paperback)

3 stars. This is a space-western graphic novel, so there are alot of genres combined in this one book. Alot of fun, with a great female sheriff and her alien deputy.

I just finished Warcross by Marie Lu and am giving it a 5/5 rating because it simply stole my heart and I cannot stop thinking about it(I read it in one sitting, it was so addictive)

Definitely recommend you all to read it unless you have a sensitive heart because the sequel comes out God knows when 😭💔😭

Cheryl wrote: "Copperhead, Vol. 1 by Jay Faerber (paperback) 3 stars. This is a space-western graphic novel, so there are alot of genres combined in this one book. Alot of fun, with a great female sheriff and her alien deputy."

I love Copperhead. I've read the first two volumes only, but I'm looking forward to reading the entire series.

Charvi wrote: "I just finished Warcross by Marie Lu and am giving it a 5/5 rating because it simply stole my heart and I cannot stop thinking about it(I read it in one sitting, it was so addictive)"

Sounds interesting. I'm going to add it to my TBR list. Thanks for the rec.

3. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

4 stars. (If I was a gamer, it would get 5 stars.) So much fun! It's ultimately a futuristic treasure hunt set in a virtual world. Lots of late 1970s through 1980s nostalgia. So glad I read it.

Dagny,

It would fit in Adventure or Mystery categories, in my opinion.

4.) Planetoid Vol. 1 TP by Ken Garing

3 stars. Another science fiction graphic novel. This one is pretty dark, with robots kind of like in The Terminator ruling a planet.

I have two mysteries under my belt for my mystery group, and have started The Martian for the January genre challenge for this group. I'm about 100 pages in, and am enjoying it. It draws you in pretty quickly. This is the first book I've read by Andy Weir, and I'm looking forward to reading others by him. Much of the chemistry and calculations that Mark figures out for survival are over my head, but I'm enjoying the thriller aspect of his and NASA's race against time to save his life.

1. Stranger In A Strange Land - 3/5 - a lot of unnecessary wandering, though great concept.

2. Ready Player One - 5/5 - Amazing book. A must-read for everyone! Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished The Martian today. Wow, what a great read--very suspenseful! Some parts of it get a little technical, but overall, it drew me in from beginning to end. I'm looking forward now to seeing the movie to see how it compares.

Donna wrote: "I finished The Martian today. Wow, what a great read--very suspenseful! Some parts of it get a little technical, but overall, it drew me in from beginning to end."

So glad you enjoyed it, Donna! I'm sure it will be extra fun to watch the movie now, after reading the book.

5.) Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

3 stars. It's more Apocalyptic YA, but there is a mad scientist who creates an army of giant killer praying mantisses so I'm claiming it for the Science Fiction Challenge.

6.) The Night of the Long Knives by Fritz Leiber

2 stars. 1960 SF set in a post-nuclear war America. It started off good (kind of like Mad Max), but got preachy with anti-violence monologues by one character towards the end of the story. It can be found for free at Project Gutenberg.

Finished my second book- 'Origin' npvy Dan Brown.
It was pretty good and the author's theories were mind blowing as usual but I feel that the middle was pretty strethed out. Giving it a four star review

3. River Rising - 5/5 stars

This was my 6th or 7th book by the author and as usual, author Heldt's time-travel story was as good as it can get. I'm glad that this was the first book in his new series, so I'm looking forward to the other books too!

7.) Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian k. Vaughan

3 stars. First in a graphic novel SF/Fantasy series.

My fourth book for Sci-Fi is Swan Song by Robert McCammon. I had wanted to read it for the Apocalyptic month, but I already have The Stand by SK for it, so I thought I'll read it this month, but considering that I'm only 2/9 parts done with it, it'll probably take me another 10-15 days to finish this.

I'll try and finish the other short story I was reading and count it as 4th instead.

Here's the link to the February - Mystery-Thrillers' board: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

4. For the Glory of the Motherboard: Rise of the Robotariat - 3/5

A unique concept where robot community start a revolution against humans. Very light and quick read. It is based on a game so I'm sure other parts will follow.

5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly - 4/5 stars.

A mindblowing read! Realy loved it :D

Dagny wrote: "Uh, oh. It looks like I won't get Ash and Quill read by the end of the month. Still over 100 pages to go. The worst part is that it will go into Mystery/Thriller month and I'm already wondering how..."

This sucks. Even I'm stuck... I'm still reading Swan Song and have another 300 pages left. Feb as it is have only 28 days and now this... It's going to be a difficult month.

Ahhhh I missed my mark too. Am still only 200 pages through The Lost Symbol (

I'm done for the month with 5 books that I had planned. I won't be counting the 6th one as I still have 250 pages to go.

Only one sci-fi this month. A re-read for me: :-(
1. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. 2 stars. Can't get over the slang nor the violence.

Kathy wrote: "Only one sci-fi this month. A re-read for me: :-(
1. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. 2 stars. Can't get over the slang nor the violence."

Kathy,
I agree with you. I read it many years ago, and have no desire to read it again.

Dagny wrote: "I did manage to finish Ash and Quill (The Great Library #3) by Rachel Caine, so ended up with four."

That's great, Dagny! I really have to find the first book now, since it's worth reading the series.