SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Just curious to what is coming up on your reading list for this month? I just started on A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan.

I can't decide. Almost done with Kushiel's Dart so I have a desire for something light and quick. But I have a big trip to Rome coming up and I want to save some of my more anticipated reads for the flights to and from. Probably Tigana. I have the TPB of that and won't want to lug it around.

Soon as I finish A Clash of Kings, I hope to jump right into A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows. Unless something else catches my fancy. I have a hard time planning reads, I usually go with whatever my mood dictates. But I really want to read these two before much time passes and I forget what I've already read from the first two books. Oy, series. Love 'em, hate 'em.

I won't plan anything this month. Just read whatever happens to grab me.

Though I did get Grunts and Territory yesterday. So those two might get read in May.

Territory sounds good. Very interesting era. I had to add it. If you get to it, Ala, be sure to tell me what you think of it.

Finished The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin and will be starting Opening Atlantis, May's reading challenge. Looking forward to it as I haven't read a Harry Turtledove book in quite a while

Will do, Jackie. It, and Grunts, were in our recent poll and they both sounded interesting enough that I went ahead and ordered them.

Gotta love it when you get a free gift card from Borders. It was most serendipitous :)

Bill wrote: "Finished The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse"

This title is amazing

Right now I'm reading The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and First Lord's Fury. Both are very so-so. Next on my list is Water for Elephants, and, hopefully sometime this month I'll be getting Doc: A Novel, at which point I will be dropping every other read, and gulping that down.

I'm currently reading and disliking The Black Company.

Boring or...?

Weird pacing, the names irritate me, boring when it isn't just the same tired tropes, trying way too hard to be dark, not holding my attention very well, although at least it's a fast read.

Well damn. I was looking forward to it, too.

You may feel differently. I'll save any other comments for the thread once I finish it. (Well, other than the fact that it has the sentence "The arrows from the second tier fell like flakes in a heavy winter snow, steadily and evenly." which, to me, is just terribly written.)

Ouch. That's unfortunate. Off the cuff, my inner editor suggests "The arrows from the second tier thundered down like a winter storm."

Given time, I could improve "thundered down," but it's difficult to nitpick when you don't know the context. :-)

Thundered is definitely better than floated, given that there arrows, to pick at one of the myriad problems with the sentence.

Finishing up Heinlein's Puppet Masters. Have a shelf full of books - mostly second hand - that are calling to be the next on my plate. I am open to suggestions. My top contenders are:

A) Margaret Atwood "Handmaid's Tale"
B) Neil Gaiman "American Gods"
C) Kim Stanley Robinson "Red Mars"
D) Ursula K. Le Guin "Lathe of Heaven"
E) Michael Moorcock "Behold the Man"

American Gods is fantastic. Absolutely brilliant piece of writing and philosophy. The Handmaids' Tale is also quite good; it's considered a classic even outside the genre, though in my opinion it doesn't match American Gods (it's probably more liked because of its political, polemic nature). Ursula Le Guin leaves me cold, and Kim Stanley Robinson, despite his meticulous research and detail, is a bit dry.

'American Gods', definitely.

For some reason I'm feeling scattered about my reading right now. I'm in the middle of four different volumes:

Meat: A Benign Extravagance, by Simon Fairlie, which is fascinating but too dense to read for very long;
Passion Play, by Sean Stewart, which is wonderfully written but somehow not grabbing me;
World-Building, by Stephen L. Gillett, which I've almost finished but which has stopped being useful so I haven't felt like pushing through the last 20 pages;
and
Quatrain, by Sharon Shinn, which I wanted to be light and fun (I've been a fan of Shinn since Archangel) but which is kind of crappy so far.

I have the following two volumes waiting to be read so I can review them:
Embassytown, by China Miéville
and
Cut Through the Bone, by Ethel Rohan

I've promised my dad I'm going to read Until I Find You, by John Irving.

And various book groups I'm in have several titles that I want to read planned for discussion in May.

But in my current mood I'm probably going to pick up some more Georgette Heyer. She's shot all my reading challenges to hell this year, but I just can't hold it against her. (Mostly because her novels are delightful, but also because she's dead so I don't think she'd care.)

Just started The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

Chris wrote:
"A) Margaret Atwood "Handmaid's Tale"
B) Neil Gaiman "American Gods"
C) Kim Stanley Robinson "Red Mars"
D) Ursula K. Le Guin "Lathe of Heaven"
E) Michael Moorcock "Behold the Man" "

that's five classics right there. Every one a five star book, IMHO

Thanks for the comments, all!

I'm reading Kraken by China Miéville and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories by Haruki Murakami

Just finished Edding's Sparhawk series. Not impressed! I think he was running out of ideas with this one.

I love Murakami. Haven't read that one yet. It's on my TBR though!

Docd wrote: "Just finished Edding's Sparhawk series. Not impressed! I think he was running out of ideas with this one."

I was not really impressed with any of his books, especially after I read a lot of fantasy. All them were quest fantasy based is what I hated the most, but it was good for the early 80s when epic fantasy was just basically starting up.

Denae wrote: "Bill wrote: "Finished The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse"

This title is amazing"

Denae - It's a good story, quite different, but I'm not sure it lives up to the title. The title does catch your attention though. I've got The Toyminator still to read.

I just finished reading Room which was amazing - the first half moreso than the second half, but what an idea. If it didn't have to go back to the library tomorrow, I would be tempted to have another go at it.

I decided to keep reading the Foundation trilogy Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation
I'm almost done with the Hyperion books: Rise of Endymion
I'm planning on giving both book group titles a shot: Opening Atlantis, The Blade Itself
My classic selection: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Gotta hone those parenting skills: The Happiest Toddler on the Block: The New Way to Stop the Daily Battle of Wills and Raise a Secure and Well-Behaved One- to Four-Year-Old
Continue with Dresden: White Night, Small Favor

Okay, I now think I'm a bit nuts to have that many titles. Oh well. I was never known for my sanity.

Someday I'll finish off the Hyperion books...

I just finished Alexey Pehov's SHADOW PROWLER. The review on the front of the book says it's 'gritty, and relentless.' I thought it was pleasant and fun.

The writing is charming, the protagonist is likeable, and it sort of ambles along at its own pace. More like reading THE HOBBIT than LOTR, if you take my meaning.

I'll write a more complete review soon, but I found this a pleasant read. Be forewarned that it does leave you hanging at the end, since it sets up for a sequel.

I finished When True Night Falls and, just like the first in the series, I wasn't very impressed. It has nice world building and some complex characters but I just can't bring myself to care most of the time. There was a lot of potential for this trilogy to be better and I'm hoping the third book will live up to it.

For now, I'm going to read Corvus (The Macht #2).

Woah, I don't know how this happened, but I just blazed through five books in something like three days. It's a bit absurd because I also somehow managed to be mildly productive.

So my current reading list is comprised of The Scarlet Letter as my "classics read", The Wealth of Nations for my school read, and Have His Carcase to read on the computer. Slowing down to do some writing and homework in between books might be good...

Genia wrote: "Woah, I don't know how this happened, but I just blazed through five books in something like three days. It's a bit absurd because I also somehow managed to be mildly productive.

So my current rea..."

The Wealth of Nations is one of the most often referenced and least actually read books.

Im currently reading The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck for a group read, and then I plan on reading The Blade Itself for this group read - which I hope I end up liking more than I think I will.

After that I don't have any plans for the month other than chipping away at my owned-to-read shelf.

Chris-
Lots of those on my shelf. Comes with the territory, I suppose. When you take a minor in History and Philosophy of Science, these things happen to you. Smith is one of my readings for a History of the Enlightenment in England course, together with Gibbon, Fielding and Hume.

I just finished the emotionally draining Traitor's Knot by Janny Wurts and last nite started Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany

I just read Moondogs, and currently im reading "The Cursed Man" which i won in a giveaway, its not so good.

Next on my to-read:
-War of the worlds
-The Man in the Gray Flannel Skirt (giveaway win)
-Catch-22
-Island

was trying to read Opening Atlantis but just could not get into it.
Started Old Man's War on the Nook and The Black Company plus a re-read of House of Chains for other group reads

MetaGame by Sam Landstrom. I'm about half-way through. I like the world he has constructed, but there's something a bit amateurish about the way he writes, but I'm getting more and more into it.

I'm reading Starfish by Peter Watts; lol too bad I'm actually afraid of water.

Right now I'm reading the latest issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine on my Kindle, and I want to dive into Boneshaker when I'm done with the magazine. Also, as soon as I get the chance I'm going to pick up Theories of Flight by Simon Morden. I finished the first book in his Metrozone trilogy, Equations of Life, and reallly enjoyed it. Lastly, I want to pick up Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi when it's released next week.

Genia wrote: "Chris-
Lots of those on my shelf. Comes with the territory, I suppose. When you take a minor in History and Philosophy of Science, these things happen to you. Smith is one of my readings for a Hist..."

I studied Middle Eastern history with a focus on comparative Islamic political philosophy. I have developed a love/hate relationship with treatises, manifestos, and thick books written in an archaic manner.

Earlier this evening I finished Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. I enjoyed this one a bit more than Valente's other recent work. While Palimpsest and Habitation were good, they didn't grab me that much. Deathless was a fair bit stronger.

Going to try a historical mystery with The Alehouse Murders by Maureen Ash.

I finished Corvus (The Macht #2) last night and it was awesome. Next I'll try The Left Hand of Darkness.

I am currently reading Mad Kestrel by . It's been great so far. It has a strong female character named Kestrel who was born, hmm... with some *very special* magic abilities. The setting for the part that I'm in is on a pirate ship (which has been a really nice change of pace). I'll have to admit that the end of the first chapter gave me goose bumps! (Creepy stuff!)

It'll be nice to see how the book turns out.

Kevin wrote: "Just curious to what is coming up on your reading list for this month? I just started on A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan."

How far are you on A Wizard of Earthsea?

Started Martin Amis' Time's Arrow. So far it's been a surprisingly fascinating read.

Genia wrote: "Started Martin Amis' Time's Arrow. So far it's been a surprisingly fascinating read."

i've heard good things about it, although i am leery as i dislike Martin Amis generally