SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

The original thread has been open for 4 years now and has grown a little too large. So we're going to try opening up a new one each year, though the old ones will remain unlocked for now.

Here is a place to discuss what you are reading or what you are planning to read that isn't part of the monthly reads.

I've just started reading To Your Scattered Bodies Go as part of a personal challenge I am doing, separate from the group challenge, to read all Hugo, Nebula and Locus winning novels.

Currently reading Star Trek Federation. Sad to say I've never read any of the ST books, but it's never too late to start! Next up is Dark Space by Jasper T. Scott.

Doing some immersion reading, well back and forth between Kindle and Audio, for Moxyland.

Currently listening to , not that impressed so far

Currently reading dead tree book because everyone ahead of me on the library hold list evaporated.

Currently reading in print version--Delia's Shadow--historical paranormal mystery

Currently reading on Kindle--The Burning Landby Victoria Strauss. Epic fantasy in which the religion seems to be mainly a fantasy equivalent of Tibetan Buddhism. I enjoy that sort of thing.

Currently reading a book I won on a GR giveaway.
Ourselves

My husband just bought me The Infinite Sea. I can't wait to start that one too. (it's the sequel to The 5th Wave

I am reading

I just started I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. It's for this year's challenge but I think I'll have my own challenge of reading everything by Asimov. I love his outlook and the way he approaches the future.

Stuart wrote: "I am reading "

You are a fortunate individual. I have to wait a while. I'm number two on a library hold list.

I'm reading The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks. I've read it before, but when I'm writing, I prefer to read the familiar. I love re-reading, and I'm picking up all kinds of extra bits that I hadn't noticed on my first read through.

I’m currently about 65% into Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. I’m enjoying it a lot, but I’ve had to limit my reading even more than usual so it’s taking me forever to read. I’m taking a time-consuming university course, and work has been busy with business travel and long hours.

But some of my time will free up in a week when I finish my course, so I’ll likely finish the book soon thereafter if not before. Based on what I’ve read so far, I plan to read the next book in the series as soon as I finish this one.

Tiffany wrote: "Currently reading Star Trek Federation. Sad to say I've never read any of the ST books, but it's never too late to start! Next up is Dark Space by Jasper T. Scott."

We've been collecting Star Trek novels since Alan Dean Foster's Star Trek Logs first came out which were novelizations of 'Star Trek: The Animated Series'. At this point we've found 780 or so fictions (including some graphic novels, but not comics) and they keep accumulating.

I have wanted to (re)-read the each of the main series in StarDate order, but have yet to find really good lists. There are lists, but not very complete nor in a format I like. It's not an easy job. Some links:

http://www.thetrekcollective.com/p/tr...
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php...
http://startreklitverse.yolasite.com/

I'd appreciate any other links if you have them.

Currently reading:


Might join in one of the group reads next month once I've finished this - have ordered a copy of Station 11, so hope it arrives in time!

Currently rereading the Dresden files. I just went through Hamilton's Anita Blake series and it kind of soured at the end so I needed to reset and refresh with what good urban fantasy/mystery can be.

Just finished The Martian Chronicles and enjoyed it very much! I love books with ideas to ponder upon.

Now I'll start reading High-Rise because it's on the "1001 books to read before you die"-list

I started slacking again, so here's about 2 (or is it 3?) weeks worth of reviews. Not all of them are SFF, but most of them are.

The Cuckoo's Calling (My Review)

Annihilation (My Review)

Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome (My Review)

The Human Division (My Review) - Might be my new favorite book in the OMW series.

The Autumn Republic (My Review) - Best book I've read so far this year. Excellent ending to the trilogy.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Primary Phase (My Review) - This is really a radio play rather than an audio book, but close enough!

Currently reading:

Control Point by Myke Cole -- it is terrible. Why do people like this thing? Paused to read...

The Intern's Handbook: A Thriller by Shane Kuhn. Just started it. It kind of feels like it wants to be a cross between Fight Club and Thank You for Smoking.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. So far I'm really enjoying this one.

I just finished Earthseed by Pamela Sargent. I am amazed I had not come across this author before now!
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Smoking Poppy by Graham Joyce

good book with an astounding number of typographic errors

Shomeret wrote: "Stuart wrote: "I am reading "

You are a fortunate individual. I have to wait a while. I'm number two on a library hold list."

You could say I cheated by getting it for my Kindle

I've been reading The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey which is fantastic, but it's making me want to go out hiking in the snow (which is dangerous here at the present moment) and also making me want to read fairytales (not dangerous, as far as I know! ha).

Will finish, probably, on Tues. Being an online gamer and fairly tech savvy, Halting State is not nearly as good as I was hoping.



Foray out of SFF next.

Just starting...

I'm just starting Golden Son
Oops no - that's a March challenge book.
I'm just starting Ancillary Justice

I finished Suldrun's Garden book 1 of the Lyonsees series by Jack Vance—very good mythic fantasy.

I'm about a third of the way thru Killswitch book 3 of the Cassandra Kresnov Sci-Fi series—purely escapist fun.

I read The Wild Road by Gabriel King. After all the books mentioned in the 'nonhuman protagonist' nomination I wanted to read an animal fantasy and came upon The Wild Road.
The blurb said, "In the grand storytelling style of Watership Down and Tailchaser's Song comes an epic tale of adventure and danger..." so that was intriguing...but Watership Down is mentioned a lot of times in connection with animal stories.

So it was the blurb from Richard Adams (author of Watership Down), that got me to dive in:
"Most enjoyable...The exploits of the kitten are so easy to believe and although the story is sometimes sad, it is always intriguing, making the book difficult to put down....As a fanatical cat lover and owner, I would recommend this book to everyone, and if, like me, there are people who believe in the spiritual awareness of cats, they will be moved, saddened but ultimately overjoyed at this tale."
I totally agree! The author puts the reader right in the world.

Read Clockwork Planet クロックワーク・プラネット１ (講談社ラノベ文庫) Sadly all setup, and fairly generic otherwise. However the setup could turn vary interesting I just hope it turns into a more out-thinking crazy strategies like in his NGNL series while the first book was kind of just too easily solved, like ohh hey we make a great team...well okay fine. I'm just worried the main character is going to be more thrown around the wacky world then use his super hearing occasionally to solve problems and otherwise be kind of boring. Who am I kidding I just want more NGNL.

I read Vicious That was terrible. It read like a bad web novel the characters were so one dimensional and unbelivable...how did this get published exactly?

Reading An Officer's Duty beginning was a bit rough with the main character the largest Mary Sue in Military Sci-fi explaining to multiple people why they need to fucking listen to her...over and over again. Thankfully it seems to have moved past that and moved back up to a 3/5 in my mind. I got the next book ready to go after I finish this one.

Listening to Spell or High Water It's weaker then the first but still enjoyable so far. The Jimmy segments have been the best so far.

Flash Beagle wrote: "I read The Wild Road by Gabriel King. After all the books mentioned in the 'nonhuman protagonist' nomination I wanted to read an animal fantasy and came upon The Wild ..."

How wonderful to see this title mentioned with such enthusiasm - there are four in the series, and I enjoyed them all. The magic and the interaction with feral cats was amazing. FYI, the author - Gabriel King - is actually pseudonym for a collaboration between M. John Harrison of SF renown and Jane Johnson, who wrote other books under her own name/as well as The Rose of the World/Jude Fisher. I don't know if it is still true/how in print these works are - but at one time, some of the proceeds went to shelters for ferals, so I understood - that was some time back/my recent information may be sketchy.

I am loving Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. It's the first book I've read by her. Now I want to read them all! I've had this on my shelf to read for nearly six years. Did I say I love it?

I just started The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer--it's the first non-SFF book I've read in awhile and it's good but I'm sort of struggling with it in a weird way because I do like having at least some kind of scifi/fantasy element in whatever I read. I like to read multiple books at once so I'm also looking for my next scifi/fantasy read--hopefully something that can balance out The Interestings. I have so many books on my TBR but I can't figure out what I'm in the mood for!

I finished Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. It was very good.
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Black Powder War at the moment.
Well, I have to say, the fighting scenes are exciting but some of the other stuff can be quite tedious. From what I gather these books seem to work with cliffhangers and then simply continue the story so it's not a 'you can pick up any book of the series' kind of series. Which is absolutely okay with me.

Sparrowlicious wrote: "Black Powder War at the moment.
Well, I have to say, the fighting scenes are exciting but some of the other stuff can be quite tedious. From what I gather these books seem to work with..."

I was stuck on that one for a long time. My wife has read all the released books and says that one was her least favourite.

Janny wrote: "Flash Beagle wrote: "I read The Wild Road by Gabriel King. After all the books mentioned in the 'nonhuman protagonist' nomination I wanted to read an animal fantasy an..."

Thanks very much for the information. I bought The Golden Cat and just found The Knot Garden and Nonesuch on Abe's. I'll follow up on the individual works too. They showed me the most brilliant magical world, the most honest characters, it's been right in front of me, but never knew it was there. Thanks again!

I've moved on from To Your Scattered Bodies Go, an interesting book though a little dated, and am now reading Darth Plagueis, the story of Palpatine's master and how Palpatine became a Sith Lord.

I took a quick read yesterday and read Smith of Wootton Major by J.R.R. Tolkien. I liked it a lot and it fitted perfectly for my need for a short book.

I'm also almost halfway through Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson.

Right now I'm reading Stephen King's revival...

Finally got my hands on Saga, Volume 4 (My Review)

I also finally got my hands on the audio version of The Providence of Fire. Probably better than the first one, but I was a still a bit disappointed because I had higher exceptions for it than The Emperor's Blades. (My Review)

I just finished Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Here's my review.

I plan to start the next book in the trilogy, Green Mars, later today.

Starting Golden Son. It starts well - lots of action:)

Rob wrote: "Finally got my hands on Saga, Volume 4 (My Review)

I also finally got my hands on the audio version of The Providence of Fire. Probably better than the first one, b..."

I've had Saga 4 for a bit now and haven't gotten to it. I'm glad to see you liked it, and I'm glad to know it's more of a transition volume. Ahead of time. :)

Almost 200 pages into The Mirror Empire, it's real interesting thus far.

Good to hear Liam. I need to bump it up my list. I was so excited to finally get it.

I just finished an ARC of The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks which I won on Booklikes. I wanted to get updated on fandom for the current generation. I'm old enough to be their grandmother. Fandom was very different in my time.

Tooth and Claw
Dragons who are kind of like people but at the same time not. I admit I didn't read much of it yet.

Shomeret wrote: "I just finished an ARC of The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks which I won on Booklikes. I wanted to get updated on fandom for the current generation. I'm ..."

Ah, that book has a really nice cover. I love how the superhero outfit has pants and no boob-window (I hate boob-windows with a passion).

I think I want this book.

Sparrowlicious wrote: "Tooth and Claw
Dragons who are kind of like people but at the same time not. I admit I didn't read much of it yet.

Shomeret wrote: "I just finished an ARC of [book:The Fangirl's Guid..."

Yes, it's a pretty cool book, but it's not out yet.

I finished Pet Sematary. I loved the ending.

Now I'm reading Seven Deadly Wonders. This is the first book I've read from him. I've heard good things.

I finished and continued loving historical fiction circa ~1880's Fingersmith. Then I read historical fiction/ biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood from 1937- 1940 West of Sunset and I really liked it.

Now I'm reading Gunmetal Magic.

I finished Golden Son. That was good!
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Julia wrote: "I finished and continued loving historical fiction circa ~1880's Fingersmith. Then I read historical fiction/ biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood from 1937- 1940 West of Sunset and I really liked it.

Now I'm reading Gunmetal Magic"

I actually watched the TV series of Fingersmith several years ago. It was really good! I should really get around to reading the book, too! What were your thoughts on it?