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Book a Week 2017 - BW30: Bookish Notes and Birthdays


Robin M
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Happy Sunday and welcome to week 30 in our 2017 adventurous prime reading year. Greetings to all our readers and those following our progress. Mister Linky is available weekly on 52 Books in 52 Weeks  to share a link to your book reviews.

 

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We are winding up our Science Fiction and Fantasy months and it's time for another round of bookish notes and birthday! 

 

Arthur C. Clarke Award will be announced on July 27th, 2017 and the authors on the shortlist for best science fiction novel published in 2016 are: 

 

A Closed and Common Orbit  by  Becky Chambers

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

After Atlas by  Emma Newman

Occupy Me by  Tricia Sullivan

Central Station by  Lavie Tidhar

The Underground Railroad by  Colson Whitehead

 

 

The 2017 Sunburst Awards shortlist nominees for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic has been announced:

 

 

Spells of Blood and Kin by Claire Humphrey 
The Witches of New York by Ami McKay
Sleeping Giants, by Sylvain Neuvel
Necessity by Jo Walton 
Last Year by Robert Charles Wilson 

 

 

Unbound Worlds4 Works of Feminist Science Fiction to read right now  and So You Want to Read the 80's: Here's where to start

 

Omnivoracious:   The Best Science Fiction Fantasy of 2017 so far

 

Valley News:  Sci Fi is the Genre of Progress 

 

 

Author Birthdays

 

 

Robert Heinlein - 7/7/07

Dean Koontz - 7/9/45

Sheri S. Tepper - 7/16/29

Cory Doctorow - 7/17/71  -  Excerpts from July Interview in Locus Online

James Cooke Brown - 7/21/21

Gardner Dozois - 7/23/47

Barry Malzberg - 7/24/39

Aldous Huxley -  7/26/1894 

Cassandra Clare -7/27/73

Kate Elliott -  7/27/58

Robert Asprin - 7/28/46

Wil Wheaton - 7/29/72 

Cherie Priest - 7/30/75

J.K. Rowling - 7/31/65


I'm sure your wishlists and tbr piles will grow exponentially as mine has.  *grin* 

 

Have fun following rabbit trails! 

 

*****************************************************************

 

 

War and Peace:   Volume two – Part Two

Chat about what stood out for you, thoughts on storyline, setting, characters and motives as well as favorite quotes.

 

 

 

**************************** 

 

Story of Western Science:  Chapter 25 with three  more chapters to go!

 

**************************

 

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

Link to Week 29

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I finished my birthstone bookology challenge for this month which should have been relatively easy since spelling out RUBY.   However a few other books yelled for my attention in the midst of the challenge.    

 

R: The Rook - Daniel O'Malley (#1 Rook, paranormal, 504) 

 

U: Fire Up Your Writing Brain - Susan Reynolds (nonfiction writing, 266) 

 

B:  The Beautiful Mystery - Louise Penny (#8 Inspector Gamache, 384, e)

 

Y:  The Year of Yes - Shonda Rimes (nonfiction, 336)

 

I just finished reading Ill Wind by Nevada Barr which is the third book in her Anna Pidgeon series. Thank you Jane for sending it to me.   I was annoyed by Anna in this particular book and feel like the author provided too much information and then not enough in some areas including Anna's issues with alcohol.  She had one major blackout and then declared at the end of the book - I'm an alcoholic. Or maybe I missed something in the reading.   I'm just glad I didn't start out with this one or I'd never had read any more of her stories.   The first book I read in the series was Blind Descent which was excellent, so I guess the stories are hit and miss depending on the story line, just like other series. 

 

Plus Roxanne St. Claire's latest in her Dogfather contemporary romance series came out a couple days ago,  Leader of the Pack, which is a quick, delightful, palate clearing read.   

 

For the past few years I have been listening to J.D.Robb's In Death Series in the car and finished with her latest # 44,  Echoes in Death.  It's always a pleasure to listen to her stories because she writes so well,  although the subject matter is a bit tough at times. As a writer, I've learned quite a bit between both reading and listening to the stories. I have to give props to Susan Erickson who does a magnificent job with all the voices.    Knowing myself, I'll probably start missing the characters in a few days and start listening all over again.  Can't get enough.    I started listening to Louise Penny's Beautiful Mystery and am enjoying the narrator so far, however I did find my mind wondering a little bit since its a change.  We'll see how it pans out.  

 

I have no idea what I'm going to read next.  

 

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Finishing War and Peace today. Without giving away spoilers, I hadn't noticed on the prior reading that the peasant prisoner Karataev's story of the innocent man sent to Siberia is the story "God Sees the Truth, But Waits" that I know from my book of children's stories by Tolstoy that I read to the girls. Wikipedia says the short story was written after War and Peace, so Tolstoy must have liked the concept and expanded it.

 

Also reading Thomas à Kempis' Imitation of Christ; really I'm nearly always reading in it, and only note it this week because Matryoshka's picked it up.

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Yup, added a bunch to my TR list. Thanks for those great links! Y'all know that I'm a sci-fi/fantasty fan, though I tend toward very specific sub-genres - I like dystopian, post-apocalyptic sci fi & speculative fiction, more than high fantasy (although I do like some) or space-opera type sci fi (although again, I do like some). I find that I abandon two books in this genre for every book that I read. It is a genre I continue to be most attracted to, though.

 

Pre-reading for our Utopian/Dystopian lit class is exposing me to some new authors this year. I just started The Dispossessed (Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness is one of my favorites) and I'm reading Dune #3, Children of Dune. Lots more to come: after LeGuin, I move on to Samuel R. Delany then Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, and then on to a spate of YA titles.

 

Some of my very favorite fantasy/sci fi books (ones I've 5 starred on goodreads):

Replay - Ken Grimwood

Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Dammerung - McCauley Hunter

Stardust, The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman

Maps in a Mirror - the short fiction of Orson Scott Card

The Sparrow - Mary Dora Russell

His Dark Materials series - Philip Pullman

Dune - Frank Herbert

Terra Ignota series - Ada Palmer

Imperial Radch series - Ann Leckie

Thessaly series - Jo Walton

Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula LeGuin

 

Old favorites include Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, David Eddings' Belgariad and other series, Robert Jordan's Eye of the World, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, and I do confess to liking GRR Martin's Song of Ice & Fire. Those are more fantasy than sci fi, though . . . 

 

What are your favorite sci fi books? I'd love to add some BaW favorites to my TR list!

 

 

Edited by Chrysalis Academy
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Being on vacation I read a lot more...

 

Finished:

Hidden Figures (I preferred the movie)

The major of Casterbridge (the book reminded me too much of Les Miserables, and was a little too wordy here and there)

The Chilbury's lady choir (I really enjoyed that book while being in the area)

Nirgendwo (nowhere) in Africa (little by little I discover the impact of WWII in Africa... :blush: )

The other Einstein (A very enjoyable historical fiction about the first wife of Albert Einstein, a scientist herself too. Mostly catched by her descisions between, Albert, children, her own scientific work)

 

Still reading on a Victoria biography and another book.

 

Bookishes trips:

Dickens House (with his writing desk)

Canterbury (statue of Chaucer and the Cathedral)

Churchill House (We just LOVE his library)

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A one day only currently free book for Kindle readers; I know I've posted this before but perhaps it's new for some here ~

 

The Wonder by J. D. Beresford

 

"A fascinating forerunner of modern science fiction: The mind-bending story of a prodigy in Edwardian England

Born to a famous cricket player, Victor Stott is a giant-headed, awkward boy who never cries or says a word. At first, he is branded an idiot, but as he grows up it becomes apparent that Victor possesses a superior intelligence. He can master any language, memorize entire libraries—perhaps even control people with his mind. As word of his otherworldly gifts spreads, so too do fears of what he might be capable of.
 
First published in 1911 and considered to be the first novel about a superman, The Wonder is a masterpiece of speculative fiction and a compelling portrait of what it means to be extraordinary."

 

Regards,

Kareni

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What are your favorite fantasy/sci fi books? I'd love to add some BaW favorites to my TR list!

 

Some of my very favorite fantasy/sci fi books:

 

Replay - Ken Grimwood

 

As with you, Replay  is a very old favorite of mine.  I've  had it on my shelf for perhaps twenty years or so.

 

Another old favorite is  Jack Finney's  Time and Again.

 

A strictly science fiction new favorite is Andy Weir's The Martian.

 

 

Some more recent favorites which tend to the fantasy end of the spectrum include:

 

Anne Bishop's The Others series which starts with Written In Red

 

Patricia Briggs' Alpha and Omega series which starts with the Alpha & Omega novella

 

And

 

Michelle Diener's Class 5 science fiction romance series which starts with Dark Horse

 

Regards,

Kareni

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I've been focusing on finishing the reading challenge for the fairy tales/folklore group on Goodreads. I read:

 

The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor - prequel to Who Fears Death?  - African folklore mixed with science fiction. IMO, the protagonist complained too much, and it's written in 1p.

 

Don't Pay Bad for Bad by Amos Tutuola - Yoruba folk tales that have been sitting on my Kindle for three years. Enjoyable, traditional folk tales, plus some interesting (to me because I knew nothing) information about Tutuola.

 

Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner - Based on a historical/mythical prophet who whose story about being taken to Elfland is told in ballads and, according to Wikipedia, "medieval verse romance in five manuscripts.". The novel has ballads or parts of ballads throughout. It is romance heavy. Apparently there is really only one thing to do in Elfland--make TeA.

 

A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare - A re-read before I see a performance this week.

 

A Pocket Guide to Flash Fiction by Randall Brown - A combination of craft lessons, essays on craft and essays meant to define flash. 

 

-- Still reading War and Peace, still loving it.

Edited by crstarlette
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What are your favorite sci fi books? I'd love to add some BaW favorites to my TR list!

 

 

ETA: Okay, I ended up listing mostly fantasy books instead of SF. Well, that's how long my memory lasts, I guess. (About 2 seconds.)

 

 

Loved Watership Down, even though the whole time I was reading it I also hated myself for liking it because it was typical in many ways, the journey, the character types. 

 

Embassytown by China Mieville. For me, it was tough to get into. The first ~140 pages felt like a slog, but after that I was into it, and at the end, I was glad I made myself read it. It was about aliens whose language doesn't allow them to lie and the ways they cope with that and try to expand their language and try to figure out how to lie.

 

Of course there's The Princess Bride, and I liked World War Z, which has been discussed here. Another I really liked was Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand, which might be horror rather than fantasy, but light horror. The Turn of the Screw - ish.

 

OH! Have you read Barry Hughart's three books, starting with Bridge of Birds? So funny!

 

One more, then I'm going to stop scrolling through my Goodreads list. At the Mouth of the River of Bees by Kij Johnson. Short stories.

Edited by crstarlette
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Yup, added a bunch to my TR list. Thanks for those great links! Y'all know that I'm a sci-fi/fantasty fan, though I tend toward very specific sub-genres - I like dystopian, post-apocalyptic sci fi & speculative fiction, more than high fantasy (although I do like some) or space-opera type sci fi (although again, I do like some). I find that I abandoned two books in this genre for every book that I read. It is a genre I continue to be most attracted to, though.

 

Pre-reading for our Utopian/Dystopian lit class is exposing me to some new authors this year. I just started The Dispossessed (Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness is one of my favorites) and I'm reading Dune #3, Children of Dune. Lots more to come: after LeGuin, I move on to Samuel R. Delany then Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, and then on to a spate of YA titles.

 

Some of my very favorite fantasy/sci fi books (ones I've 5 starred on goodreads):

Replay - Ken Grimwood

Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Dammerung - McCauley Hunter

Stardust, The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman

Maps in a Mirror - the short fiction of Orson Scott Card

The Sparrow - Mary Dora Russell

His Dark Materials series - Philip Pullman

The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien

Dune - Frank Herbert

Terra Ignota series - Ada Palmer

Imperial Radch series - Ann Leckie

Thessaly series - Jo Walton

Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula LeGuin

 

What are your favorite fantasy/sci fi books? I'd love to add some BaW favorites to my TR list!

 

I think we have very similar tastes in SciFi/Fantasy, Rose. :)

 

Every single one of the books on your list that I have read (the bolded ones) I loved and would count among my favorites too.  Guess I should get reading on the others on your list (many of them are already on my TR list, actually... :D)

 

Things not on your list that I loved:

 

Ursula LeGuin is my favorite author.  My favorites of her novels, are LHoD which you've read, and The Dispossessed (which I see on Goodreads you're reading; I just reread it this year).  I also love her short story collections, especially The Compass Rose and The Wind's Twelve Quarters.

 

Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino (also love Baron in the Trees and If on a winter's night a traveler..., but those aren't SciFi...)

 

The original Pern trilogy (Dragonflight/quest and The White Dragon) and the Harper Hall Trilogy (Dragonsong/singer/drums) by Anne McCaffrey.  They were awesome, after that she seems to have gotten lazy and mailed it in.  The only one I really thought worth it after that (and I read a lot more before I gave up) was All The Weyrs of Pern which finally finishes the story line in the original books.  

 

Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury

 

The Martian Chronicles by Bradbury

 

Z for Zachariah is YA post-apocalyptic, but I was YA when I read and loved it.

 

Have you read Station Eleven yet?  I did really like that.

 

In the more fantasy vein...

 

Narnia (of course)

 

The Dark is Rising sequence  (YA)

 

And looking at my "Fantasy" list apparently a lot of what I've put there is retellings of myths and fairy tales (Mists of Avalon, King Must Die/Bull from the Sea, Palace of Illusions, Monkey, McKinley's Beauty, The Bear and the Nightingale...)  not sure if that's up your alley or not.

 

 

I actually pretty much stopped reading SciFi/Fantasy for many years because a lot of what was out there wasn't really up my alley, and I didn't feel like weeding through stuff to get to what I liked, so I'd just keep reading whatever new thing Ursula LeGuin put out and otherwise more historical fiction or nonfiction or stuff in Spanish (so much Allende!) or whatever else struck my fancy.  So I've been glad to get recommendations here that are pointing me in the direction of new SciFi stuff I've really been enjoying!

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I read: Dennis Prager: Volume 1 - 5 Stars - This is a collection of Dennis Prager’s articles from 2014. As always with Dennis, I loved it. All I can say about him is that he’s spot on. I wish that I had his wisdom and eloquence.

 

Some of my favorite quotes:

 

“While individual human beings do enormous good, mankind has always been morally unimpressive.â€

 

“There is no limit to suffering human beings have been willing to inflict on others, no matter how innocent, no matter how young, and no matter how old.  This fact must lead all reasonable human beings, that is, all human being who take evidence seriously, to draw only one possible conclusion: Human nature is not basically good.â€

 

“If nothing is holy, nothing is profane.â€

 

and We Go to the Gallery - 5 Stars - This book is hilarious. I’m so happy that my daughter spotted these during a recent visit to a Miami bookstore. She knows my taste and knew that I would love them.

“John sees the painting.

‘I could paint that,’ says John.

‘But you didn't,’ says Mummy.'

 

I don’t care for modern art at all, so this book was especially funny for me. The sarcasm and wit are the best.

 

These books are very similar to the Ladybird books for adults. They’re not at all appropriate for children, and also some adults would likely find them offensive.

 

and The Complete Guide to Fasting - 5 Stars - I loved his first book and enjoyed this one equally. It has tons of helpful information on fasting and how beneficial it may be for weight loss and for overall health. Although his approach is quite simple, I haven’t yet been able to fully implement it due to various circumstances and the craziness of life these days. My heart hasn’t really been in it.

 

I have one major concern. I have to cook for a family and here is where the problem lies. I have never, ever been able to lose weight when I cook and that’s not even considering fasting. He mentions that fasting and cooking are not a good mix. I can understand why. I fast once a year for religious reasons and I barely cook during that time. For me, cooking while fasting is simply not happening. He does have some short and simple fasts: 12 hour and 16 hour ones, but then when the weight loss starts to plateau, as it inevitably does, he recommends longer and different types of fasts and I honestly can’t see myself being able to do that, unless if the entire family was on board. He mentions that fasting is most successful among couples when both commit to it, but not everyone is in that situation.

 

So although this is an excellent book, I can’t honestly recommend it unless if one is able to avoid the kitchen and cooking on fasting days or during fasting hours. If I didn’t have to deal with the cooking issue, I would feel far more confident that this approach would improve my health and help me to lose weight. Don’t get me wrong. When the time is right and hopefully it will be someday, I’ll still give his approach a go, but I feel slightly less confident as to it working than before I started the book.

 

Some of my favorite quotes:

“Hunger is a state of mind, not a state of stomach.â€

 

“Fasting, by taking a completely different approach, is much easier to understand. It is so simple that it can be explained in two sentences: Eat nothing. Drink water, tea, coffee, or bone broth. That’s it.â€

 

“We are wired for feast and famine, not feast, feast, feast.â€

 

“The basics of good nutrition can be summarized in these simple rules. Eat whole, unprocessed foods. Avoid sugar. Avoid refined grains. Eat a diet high in natural fats. Balance feeding with fasting.â€

“Try to physically remove yourself from all food stimuli during a fast. Cooking a meal or even just seeing and smelling food while fasting is almost unbearably difficult. This is not simply a matter of weak willpower. Our cephalic phase responses are fully activated, and to feel those responses without actually eating is like trying to stop a piranha feeding frenzy. This, of course, is the same reason you should not shop for food when hungry, or keep snacks in the pantry.â€

 

“Interestingly, I’ve seen the highest success rates with husbands and wives who try fasting together: the mutual support is a big help and makes fasting far easier.â€

 

and We Learn at Home - 5 Stars - As with the other book in the series, I laughed my head off. Some would be offended. I wasn’t. Every page in this short and quick read had me either smiling or laughing uncontrollably.

 

Here’s an example of one of the pages:

“We are having a debate.

‘How do you win?’ asks John.

‘You must tell the other person they are hurting your feelings,’ says Mummy.â€

 

9780992834913.jpg   9781628600018.jpg   9780992834999.jpg

 

Another picture that our daughter took while in Paris. As you can probably tell, we loved Shakespeare and Company. Oh, can you imagine if we were all there together? 

 

e0ba0cd7801b29673d04944d76c955b3.jpg

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

 

Edited by Negin
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Hello everyone. I am supposed to be on a plane traveling home but due to a delay with the first flight, I am stuck in Atlanta for a couple of hours.

 

I am behind in W&P because (drumroll) I was in San Francisco where I had the chance to hang out with three lovely BaWers: Idnib, Rose (Chrysalis) and Shukriyya. Amazing women online and even more amazing in person. I also met the rest of Idnib's family and Rose's girls!

 

My husband was participating in a conference which left me time to hang with my peeps. Such kind and generous women!

 

Thank you Idnib, Rose and Shukriyya for sharing your lives with me.

 

More later--maybe even a few words on books.

Edited by Jane in NC
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... I had the chance to hang out with three lovely BaWers: Idnib, Rose (Chrysalis) and Shukriyya. Amazing women online and even more amazing in person....

 

What fun!

 

So, any advice on something for me to read? I don't want super-heavy or super-long right now.

 

I can't recall if you've ever tried my old favorite (and standard recommendation) ~

The Little World of Don Camillo  by Giovanni Guareschi

 

"In the Little World, eternal forces grapple with the absurd drama of everyday life, and hilarious and unearthly things can happen.

 

If you keep this in mind you will have no difficulty in getting to know the village priest, Don Camillo, and his adversary, Peppone, the Communist Mayor. Nor will you be surprised when a third person watches the goings-on from a big cross in the village church and not infrequently intercedes . . .

 

In story after story, the hot-headed Catholic priest, Don Camillo, and the equally pugnacious Communist mayor, Peppone, confront one another, sometimes in a serious and violent manner.

 

The clever bit is the way Guareschi engineers a resolution to the conflict and transforms the situation to the great benefit of the local community, so that the two men put their political convictions aside and, however begrudgingly, develop respect for one another.

 

To enable this, the author creates a third main character, his finest creation and the most surprising. Il Cristo presides over proceedings from above the altar of the town church and counsels Don Camillo, exposing and undermining the stubborn priest’s personal politics and prejudices and, with fascinating insights and gentle humour, suggests paths of action which, with the benefit of hindsight, we come to see make things right.

 

Guareschi claimed that the voice from above the altar was simply the voice of his own conscience, but in the stories it is a living reality which enables solutions so simple that they are beyond the reach of political minds clouded with ideology and the need to win.

 

Guareschi’s message is that what works at the level of the Little World can be made to work universally, the world over.

 

More than fifty years on, these enchanting, wise and strangely moving stories of life in the Lower Plain continue to enthral millions of readers of all ages around the world. They have been feted not only in books but in films, in series on TV, on radio and most recently on YouTube. In this newly translated volume, many are available in English for the very first time."

 

Regards,

Kareni

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I think we have very similar tastes in SciFi/Fantasy, Rose. :)

 

Every single one of the books on your list that I have read (the bolded ones) I loved and would count among my favorites too.  Guess I should get reading on the others on your list (many of them are already on my TR list, actually... :D)

 

Things not on your list that I loved:

 

Ursula LeGuin is my favorite author.  My favorites of her novels, are LHoD which you've read, and The Dispossessed (which I see on Goodreads you're reading; I just reread it this year).  I also love her short story collections, especially The Compass Rose and The Wind's Twelve Quarters.

 

Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino (also love Baron in the Trees and If on a winter's night a traveler..., but those aren't SciFi...)

 

The original Pern trilogy (Dragonflight/quest and The White Dragon) and the Harper Hall Trilogy (Dragonsong/singer/drums) by Anne McCaffrey.  They were awesome, after that she seems to have gotten lazy and mailed it in.  The only one I really thought worth it after that (and I read a lot more before I gave up) was All The Weyrs of Pern which finally finishes the story line in the original books.  

 

Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury

 

The Martian Chronicles by Bradbury

 

Z for Zachariah is YA post-apocalyptic, but I was YA when I read and loved it.

 

Have you read Station Eleven yet?  I did really like that.

 

In the more fantasy vein...

 

Narnia (of course)

 

The Dark is Rising sequence  (YA)

 

And looking at my "Fantasy" list apparently a lot of what I've put there is retellings of myths and fairy tales (Mists of Avalon, King Must Die/Bull from the Sea, Palace of Illusions, Monkey, McKinley's Beauty, The Bear and the Nightingale...)  not sure if that's up your alley or not.

 

 

I actually pretty much stopped reading SciFi/Fantasy for many years because a lot of what was out there wasn't really up my alley, and I didn't feel like weeding through stuff to get to what I liked, so I'd just keep reading whatever new thing Ursula LeGuin put out and otherwise more historical fiction or nonfiction or stuff in Spanish (so much Allende!) or whatever else struck my fancy.  So I've been glad to get recommendations here that are pointing me in the direction of new SciFi stuff I've really been enjoying!

 

As soon as I started reading The Dispossessed, I realized I have read it before. But I don't remember all the details so I'm going to enjoy it again.

 

Yes, I really liked Station 11 too.

 

I really like retellings of ancient myths, or things like Shakespeare plays. Not so much modern fairy tails, though. But I liked The Bear and the Nightingale. The Mists of Avalon (read as a teenager) and the Palace of Illusions.

 

And Harry Potter! I did really enjoy the Harry Potter series, but only because I saw the movie Goblet of Fire first which convinced me it wasn't just for kids.

 

Hello everyone. I am supposed to be on a plane traveling home but due to a delay with the first flight, I am stuck in Atlanta for a couple of hours.

 

I am behind in W&P because (drumroll) I was in San Francisco where I had the chance to hang out with three lovely BaWers: Idnib, Rose (Chrysalis) and Shukriyya. Amazing women online and even more amazing in person. I even met the rest of Idnib's family and Rose's girls!

 

My husband was participating in a conference which left me time to hang with my peeps. Such kind and generous women!

 

Thank you Idnib, Rose and Shukriyya for sharing your lives with me.

 

More later--maybe even a few words on books.

 

I so enoyed our lunch together! It was such a pleasure to meet both of you IRL.

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Well, I'm not convinced that I'm going to stick it out with Ready Player One. Even though the action picked up after slogging through the first 75-100 pages or so, I still feel almost no draw to actually pick up the book & read it. While I can enjoy the '80s references, there are just too many (& too much detailed explanations of what those things were). It's not fun like I thought it would be. And I don't feel very invested in characters living in a virtual world. Thinking I will probably abandon this one.

 

I also started we are never meeting in real life., essays by Samantha Irby. I saw it reviewed somewhere that it was funny (& I need funny these days). I've read a couple & while there is humor, some of it is dark & some is just sad. Essays &/or short stories are not my thing either, so I may not continue further with this one either.

 

So a lot of "meh" reading for me this week that I won't even be finishing. Which leaves me sans book right now. Ds says I need to start on the 5th HP book (since I'm giving up on Ready Player One). I will, but I wish I had something really compelling that I want to read right now.

 

Re: the sci-fi & fantasy books.... I rarely think of myself as reading sci-fi, though I guess I've read enough of it as The Martian, The Sparrow, The Time Machine, & even Slaughterhouse-Five have been put into the sci-fi category. Saw World War Z mentioned too & that's another one I read & enjoyed. I guess I tend to mentally file books as "fiction" but don't really think about if they fit sci-fi or fantasy or whatever. I sometimes read fantasy but I'm not really a fan of traditional/"high" fantasy. I find Tolkien horribly wordy & boring & get so tired of long swaths of elf song (or whatever creatures are always singing in there) <ducking flames now>. I did love Uprooted & I also love almost all of Terry Pratchett's books that I've read. I guess HP is in the fantasy genre too. I am sure I will think of plenty of others that I've read in both sci-fi & fantasy, but overall, I don't consider them my main genres for reading. As soon as I say that, though, I'm sure I'll amass a great list of books from the rest of you in those categories & then I'll probably read a bunch in a row. :lol:  (I do stuff like that all the time -- say it's not my category or genre, then turn around & read something of that type & love it.) Oh well. At least I recognize my contradictions, eh? :tongue_smilie:

 

So, any advice on something for me to read? I don't want super-heavy or super-long right now.

 

I liked Ready Player One, but wasn't over the moon about it.  You saved me from We Are Never Meeting in Real LIfe - I'm still looking for a Bingo book that will make me laugh out loud!

 

I love classic sci-fi, as you know - Frankenstein, Jekyll & Hyde, War of the Worlds & Time Machine and that ilk. I liked World War Z, too. The one thing that lots of people mention that I didn't dig was The Martian.  I didn't really give it much of a chance, it's true, but the tone/language just annoyed me.  

 

Hmm, recommendations: thinking about the Venn diagram of our overlapping tastes, how about Born a Crime, Trevor Noah's autobiography? You have to get the audio version though. Or Rabbit Cake, which I loved. or Exit West, or The Summer Book? Those are all 5-star reads for me from this year that I think you'd enjoy.

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What are your favorite sci fi books? I'd love to add some BaW favorites to my TR list!

Mainly dystopian - Justin Cronin's Passage series, Robert McCammon's Swan Song, Stephen King's Dark Tower series, Philip K Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep to name a few.

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I finished another Captain Lacey Regency Mystery, A Disappearance in Drury Lane. This is one where I felt the author didn't play fair. The "whodunnit" was barely a character in the book. Oh well; those are just quick reads for fun.

 

Also read Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I put this on hold after we watched the movie several months ago because I really couldn't follow the movie. Now that I've read the screenplay it makes a lot more sense. I'll probably try the movie again.

 

I'm still managing to read one part per week of War and Peace, finishing Book Two Part Two this week as I didn't take a week off. I'll just say that I prefer war scenes to freemasonry.

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Finished two books this week:

 

75. The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman (audiobook).  I'm so glad Rose pointed me in the direction of the audio.  The narrator was great, and I think really added to my enjoyment of it.  It was fun and enjoyable.  3.5 stars.

 

76. The Good Women of China by Xinran.  Very interesting compilation of women's stories from modern China by a former Chinese radio personality (now living in England).  I have already read much about modern China, so much of this wasn't surprising or shocking to me except for the last section about the women of Shouting Hill.  Meeting them is actually what was the final straw for Xinran, after which she quit journalism and left China.  The book was well done and I'd recommend it.  4 stars.

 

I'm using this book for "Book translated from a non-European language" (even though there are lots of others I've read this year, they all fit other categories so far ;) ) , and it also completes my A-Z author challenge.  So now I've finished both A-Z author and title challenges (no overlap), and am only one square away from BaW bingo blackout - but I'm waiting to read the last book for that till after W&P.  So that's why I was starting to think more methodically about the Big Bingo challenge and starting to think about completing rows.  I know I'm not coming close to finishing that this year, so I've X'd out a few rows that seem like a stretch to focus on ones that look doable.  That would still leave me with 175 books, though, and I'm probably going to manage about 120 tops (and that's counting books that might not match Bingo categories or already done in rows I won't get to), so we'll just have to see how I do... :D  Bingo is fun.  Thanks to those who helped make and share it! 

 

Currently reading:

 

- The Sympathizer (ebook) - I am really, really liking this book.  I love the way the author uses language. I also really like the conflicted narrator.  He's, well... sympathetic.  He doesn't think in black and white, and it makes it very hard in a world that insists that you do...

 

- The Essex Serpent (audiobook) - I've really only just started this one, and still haven't even figured out what the plot is going to be...

 

- War and Peace - I've just started Book 2, Part 2.  I think that's what we're supposed to be reading this week?  Someone please clarify; Robin put Book 2 Part 2 up this week, and wanted to make sure that's what we're reading this week, not what we were supposed to have finished last week and be discussing now...

 

 

Coming up:

 

I have on hand The Fold, which is the next book my SciFi bookclub picked.  I also got Perseopolis (graphic novel about Iran) out of the library, as I've long been curious about it and it will complete a Big Bingo row.  I'm going to start something for that pesky 240 category - and hey, War and Peace just talked about Imitation of Christ!  Maybe that's a sign I should just finish it. ;)  After that, I think I need to go through my newly organized Big Bingo file and prioritze... :D

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As soon as I started reading The Dispossessed, I realized I have read it before. But I don't remember all the details so I'm going to enjoy it again.

 

Yes, I really liked Station 11 too.

 

I really like retellings of ancient myths, or things like Shakespeare plays. Not so much modern fairy tails, though. But I liked The Bear and the Nightingale. The Mists of Avalon (read as a teenager) and the Palace of Illusions.

 

And Harry Potter! I did really enjoy the Harry Potter series, but only because I saw the movie Goblet of Fire first which convinced me it wasn't just for kids.

 

I very much enjoyed rereading The Dispossessed.  It held up very well (it's probably been 30 or so years since I'd last read it).

 

Have you read the Mary Renault books The Bull from the Sea and The King Must Die?  They are about Theseus.  I loved them - I did read them I think when I was in high school, but they are not YA, and they've stuck with me.  I'd like to reread them sometime.

 

And of course I love Harry Potter - although I've only read them once and don't yet have a burning desire to reread (maybe because my kids keep rewatching the movies when I'm around and that's enough?)

 

 

I so enoyed our lunch together! It was such a pleasure to meet both of you IRL.

 

 

I'm jealous! ;)

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- War and Peace - I've just started Book 2, Part 2. I think that's what we're supposed to be reading this week? Someone please clarify; Robin put Book 2 Part 2 up this week, and wanted to make sure that's what we're reading this week, not what we were supposed to have finished last week and be discussing now...

 

Yes, book 2 part 2 is what reading this week. Discussion question is for all that has come before or while reading part two this week.

Edited by Robin M
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Bringing over lori's post from last thread.

 

My library doesn't seem to have any either. The subject area for 240 appears to be "Christian Moral and Devotional Theology":

241 = Christian Ethics

242 = Devotional Literature

243 = Evangelistic writings for individuals and families

[244 = no longer used -- formerly Religious Fiction]

[245 = no longer used -- formerly Hymnology]

246 = Use of art in Christinaity

247 = Church furnishings & related articles

248 = Christian Experience, Practice, and Life

249 = Christian Observances in Family Life (Devotional Guides)

 

 

 

 

Mars -- if you don't mind OLD sci-fi ;)

- The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury)

- War of the Worlds (HG Wells) -- the attacking aliens are from Mars

 

 

 

 

Pen Names -- some fun ones from this Wikipedia list  :)

pen name --> real name

 

- Anne Rice --> Howard Allen Frances O'Brien

- Acton Bell --> Anne Bronte

- Currer Bell --> Charlotte Bronte

- Ellis Bell --> Emily Bronte

 

- Dr. Seuss --> Theodore Geisel

- Edith Van Dyne --> L. Frank Baum

- Isak Dinesen --> Karen Blixen

- JD Robb --> Nora Roberts

- John Lange --> Michael Crichton

 

- John Sedges --> Pearl S. Buck

- Jonathon Oldstyle --> Washington Irving

- Mark Twain --> Samuel Langhorne Clemens

- Mary Westmacott --> Agatha Christie

- NW Clerk --> CS Lewis

 

- Nancy Boyd --> Edna St. Vincent Millay

- Ogdred Weary --> Edward Gorey

- PL Travers --> Helen Goff

- O. Henry --> William Sydney Porter

- Paul French --> Isaac Asimov

 

- Robert Galbraith; Newt Scamander; Kennilworthy Whisp --> JK Rowling

- Saki --> Hector Hugh Munro

- Silence Dogood; Martha Careful --> Benjamin Franklin

- Sylvia Plath --> Victoria Lucas

 

 

 

 

Has Pretty Pictures

- Griffin & Sabine trilogy (Bantock)

- JRR Tolkien Artist and Illustrator (Hammond) -- non-fiction

 

 

 

 

Made into a Musical

- Romeo and Juliette (Shakespeare) --> West Side Story

- Oliver Twist (Dickens) --> Oliver!

- Phantom of the Opera (Leroux) --> Phantom

- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Loos) --> same title

- Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions (Wallace) --> Big Fish

 

 

 

 

Neil Gaiman

- The Graveyard Book

- Sandman -- graphic novel

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So Sci Fi, not a huge favourite so I haven't read much. I really enjoyed A Close and Common Orbit recently but didn't care overly for the sequel. I also really enjoyed Station Eleven and Cronin's Passage Trilogy. I loved Narnia, Lord of the Rings, and HP.

 

Jane, What fun. I'm feeling a bit jealous too.

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Regarding The Little World of Don Camillo  by Giovanni Guareschi:

 

Kareni, I may have to break down & buy a Don Camillo book. You have recommended them previously & I always check my two library systems & they have... nothing. :toetap05:

 

Hmmm. Need to check my sister's library system. Maybe they have it.

 

ETA: My sister's library system doesn't have it either.

 

 

Hmm, indeed!  It may be time for a purchase suggestion.  I see at the link above that it's been re-issued in paper.  Or there's inter-library loan....  You can check with WorldCat to see if any other library near you has it.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Greetings, earthlings. I'm back in suburbia, recuperating after an intense couple of days in the alternate universe that is Comic-Con. Cannot handle all 4 days there any more, especially when you throw in evening dinners and parties. I was out of the house from 8am til midnight yesterday and had to be pleasantly social almost that entire time!! Aaaacckkk -- making small talk in noisy rooms, walking through jostling crowds, organizing things like dog sitting and transportation for friends. I've had 2 naps so far today....

 

Only managed a couple of book panels this year, one on rebellion in epic fantasy and one on space-based sci-fi -- a perfect fit for this year's bingo card! Before I talk specific books, I have to say that Christopher Paolini, the homeschooler who wrote Eragon back in his teen years, continues to impress me with his articulate and enthusiastic erudition. He was on the rebellion panel and had some of the most thoughtful things to say. Andy Weir, of The Martian, was of course on the space panel, and has usual was delightful because he is so happily unabashed to be the biggest nerd in the room -- the kind of nerd who knows his calculus and physics. 

 

I bought one of the books from the Space panel, but I also got an ARC of Andy Weir's new book, Artemis, which is out in October or November.  Artemis takes place in a future where space travel has come down enough in price to become affordable to the middle class, resulting in the building of a tourist resort on the moon next to the Apollo 11 landing site. In the panel conversation, he dismissed the idea of mining colonies being established on the moon or other planets because robots would be so much cheaper and easier. Mining on alien planets is so often the basis of sci fi books, but he argued it just isn't a logical trajectory of our technology or society.  

 

I bought Defy the Stars, the first in a YA, space based, series by Claudia Gray. She seems to be a prolific writer, based on the list of books at her website. I loved hearing her talk about writing Star Wars books. She was poking fun at the lack of a basic internet in the world of Star Wars (the thumb drive of the plans of the Death Star needs to be physically taken to the rebellion leaders -- wouldn't email be faster and easier?) and at all the oxygen-eating fireballs that happen in the vacuum of space. But she said writing for an established world was very freeing because all the world building was done, all the design concepts and science and magic (or whatever The Force is) were all well established. I figured Defy the Stars would be worth a try, and perhaps some of you might enjoy it to fill your Space square on the bingo card.

 

I picked up The Fifth Doll by Charlie N Holmberg on a whim. She was delightful in the panel on rebellion, and the Fifth Doll refers to those Russian nesting dolls. I figure I'm on a Russian kick with War and Peace, so why not?! Apparently her "Paper Magician" series has been very popular. Can't remember if any of you have read those.

 

And I bought The Apothecary's Curse simply because the author, Barbara Barnett, was wearing a fabulous hat!!! She had just sat down for a signing at the booth of my favorite bookseller, there was no one in line, so I struck up a conversation with her. The book sounded right up my alley, so I bought it. 

 

35310289943_754594d4f0.jpg   Barbara Barnett in her fabulous hat.

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Missed the jump to hyper space... er, the new BW thread ;) -- and was typing while Robin M. was putting us into warp drive/new week's thread. So I'm just reposting my reply to Matryoshka:

 

 

Matryoshka, on 21 Jul 2017 - 3:25 PM, said:snapback.png

..."Random book from the 240 shelf in your library:"  There are NO books in the 240 category in my library... So does anyone have any idea what the heck is the actual topic of 240?  How about 241-249??  HELP!

 

My library doesn't seem to have any either. The subject area for 240 appears to be "Christian Moral and Devotional Theology":

241 = Christian Ethics

242 = Devotional Literature

243 = Evangelistic writings for individuals and families

[244 = no longer used -- formerly Religious Fiction]

[245 = no longer used -- formerly Hymnology]

246 = Use of art in Christinaity

247 = Church furnishings & related articles

248 = Christian Experience, Practice, and Life

249 = Christian Observances in Family Life (Devotional Guides)

 

I did see that my library list like Respectable Sins (Jerry Bridges), among other more brain-busting theological titles, under the call # of 241, which is very close to 240... And C.S. Lewis' The Abolition of Man has a 239 call # at my library...

 

 

Matryoshka, on 21 Jul 2017 - 3:25 PM, said:snapback.png

...Here are some easier categories I'd love suggestions for... Mars - this one should be easy for me, since I love SciFi.  I just read The Martian last year, so that's out.  Radiance would work, but it's already happily filling another category.  Any other good ideas?...

 

Mars -- if you don't mind OLD sci-fi  ;)

- The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury)

- War of the Worlds (HG Wells) -- the attacking aliens are from Mars

 

 

Matryoshka, on 21 Jul 2017 - 3:25 PM, said:snapback.png

...Here are some easier categories I'd love suggestions for...  Author who uses a pen name - not up for Middlemarch atm.  Just re-read Silas Marner a few years ago.  Who should I be looking at other than George Eliot?   ;)  No serial romance writers, please (don't many of those use pen names?)...

 

Pen Names -- some fun ones from this Wikipedia list   :)

pen name --> real name

 

- Anne Rice --> Howard Allen Frances O'Brien

- Acton Bell --> Anne Bronte

- Currer Bell --> Charlotte Bronte

- Ellis Bell --> Emily Bronte

 

- Dr. Seuss --> Theodore Geisel

- Edith Van Dyne --> L. Frank Baum

- Isak Dinesen --> Karen Blixen

- JD Robb --> Nora Roberts

- John Lange --> Michael Crichton

 

- John Sedges --> Pearl S. Buck

- Jonathon Oldstyle --> Washington Irving

- Mark Twain --> Samuel Langhorne Clemens

- Mary Westmacott --> Agatha Christie

- NW Clerk --> CS Lewis

 

- Nancy Boyd --> Edna St. Vincent Millay

- Ogdred Weary --> Edward Gorey

- PL Travers --> Helen Goff

- O. Henry --> William Sydney Porter

- Paul French --> Isaac Asimov

 

- Robert Galbraith; Newt Scamander; Kennilworthy Whisp --> JK Rowling

- Saki --> Hector Hugh Munro

- Silence Dogood; Martha Careful --> Benjamin Franklin

- Sylvia Plath --> Victoria Lucas

 

 

Matryoshka, on 21 Jul 2017 - 3:25 PM, said:snapback.png

...Here are some easier categories I'd love suggestions for...  Has pretty pictures - any suggestions?...

 

Has Pretty Pictures

- Griffin & Sabine trilogy (Bantock)

- JRR Tolkien Artist and Illustrator (Hammond) -- non-fiction

 

 

Matryoshka, on 21 Jul 2017 - 3:25 PM, said:snapback.png

...Here are some easier categories I'd love suggestions for... Made into a Musical - has anyone else noticed that this is in Big Bingo twice?  I've already read The Wizard of Oz and Wicked.  What else is there?...

 

Made into a Musical

- Romeo and Juliette (Shakespeare) --> West Side Story

- Oliver Twist (Dickens) --> Oliver!

- Phantom of the Opera (Leroux) --> Phantom

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Loos) --> same title

Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions (Wallace) --> Big Fish

 

 

Matryoshka, on 21 Jul 2017 - 3:25 PM, said:snapback.png

...Here are some easier categories I'd love suggestions for ...  Neil Gaiman - Read American Gods and was disappointed.  What should I read instead?

 

Neil Gaiman

- The Graveyard Book

- Sandman -- graphic novel

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Hello all! 

 

I wasn't able to settle down and finish anything last week. I've been getting my two youngest dds ready for their first day of school - it starts tomorrow!  This is the first time they will go to public school and they are excited and I am, too, but I know I will miss them during the day. :(

 

I have made a little more progress in War and Peace - my kindle tells me I'm at the 25% mark. I just finished the part where Princess Mary turns down Prince Vasili - poor girl, she seems so unhappy.

 

 

 

 

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... I also got an ARC of Andy Weir's new book, Artemis, which is out in October or November.

 

I picked up The Fifth Doll by Charlie N Holmberg on a whim. She was delightful in the panel on rebellion, and the Fifth Doll refers to those Russian nesting dolls. I figure I'm on a Russian kick with War and Peace, so why not?! Apparently her "Paper Magician" series has been very popular. Can't remember if any of you have read those.

 

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on Artemis.  I already have a purchase suggestion in for the  book at my library.

 

I read the Paper Magician series and enjoyed it. 

**

 

Some currently free books for Kindle readers ~

 

How can I resist? Alligators in the Trees  by Cynthia Hamilton

 

The Many Lives of Fitzwilliam Darcy  by Beau North 

 

The Clock Keeper  by Melissa Delport  (I recently read the author's  The Cathedral of Cliffdale (Guardians of Summerfeld Book 1) which also happens to be free.  The latter ends on a cliffhanger.)

 

Raptor: Urban Fantasy Noir  by B.A. Bostick

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Hello, BaWers!

 

War and Peace is so compelling that I have already finished the reading for Weeks 6 and 7. I have not made as much progress in the “Shakespeare in a Year†project, however: I’ve read through Sonnet 106 but must still (re)read As You Like It. Speaking of the sonnets, I love this from Sonnet 104:

 

To me, fair friend, you can never be old;
For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
Such seems your beauty still….

 

It has been a week, but “The Drowned Girl†from Joyce Carol Oates’ new collection, Dis Mem Ber continues to haunt me, and not simply because of its true-crime inspiration. Rather, I remain deeply unsettled by the insightful depiction of students marginalized by “alternate route†admission programs for transfer and / or non-traditional students.

 

Dream Hoarders (Richard V. Reeves) has also unsettled me (and sent me off to the shelves for Keith Payne’s The Broken Ladder). Reeves’ discussion of internships and other unpaid opportunities for students was particularly uncomfortable: My older daughter works twenty-plus hours per week as an summer intern. Yes, it’s an unpaid internship, but it’s also a priceless opportunity in a competitive (if wildly underpaid) field, where entry-level positions require both education and experience.

 

She and my younger daughter, both undergraduate research assistants, were also asked to continue their projects over the summer, and although one daughter was, quite unexpectedly, offered funding, the other was not. (She did, however, earn a scholarship for achievement in non-major coursework, which had the effect of making the unpaid research seem less… indulgent? privileged? dream-hoarder-like?) Earning an undergraduate research position, especially at a such a large university, where so many capable students vie for so few spots, well, that’s quite an achievement, one that yields the experience, the letters of recommendation, the opportunities to contribute to publications and to present at conferences that make a student a more desirable graduate school applicant and / or jobseeker. So why would any parent say, “No� And that’s the problem, maintains Reeves. It’s unfair that some students can accept unpaid opportunities while other students cannot. It’s particularly unfair, he continues, that some students have, through their parents' professional and social networks, access to opportunities, paid and unpaid.

 

Talk about a challenging read!

 

Here are my commonplace book entries:

 

p.3
There is one good reason why many Americans feel as if the upper middle class is leaving everyone else behind: They are.

 

Americans in the top fifth of the income distribution – broadly, households with incomes above the $112,000 mark – are separating from the rest. This separation is economic, visible in bank balances and salaries. But it can also be seen in education, family structure, health and longevity, even in civic and community life. The economic gap is just the most vivid sign of a deepening class divide.

 

p. 15
The big question is whether we are willing to make some modest sacrifices in order to expand opportunities for others or whether, deep down, we would rather pull up the ladder.

 

p. 54
The debate over college debt is lively and largely misplaced. It is lively because almost everyone involved in public discourse – scholars, journalists, politicians – went to college and has children who have done or will do so. (Almost every member of Congress has a college degree.) It is misplaced because the real problem in American higher education is not about debt, but distribution and quality. The debt problem is for people from poorer backgrounds who borrow to attend bad colleges.

 

p. 97

Discrimination on the basis of social class — what we call snobbery in the old country — is largely unacknowledged. Even Americans highly sensitive to the risks of sexism or racism often engage in classism, unaware that they are doing so.

 

In other bookish news… my younger daughter and I are (re)reading The Odyssey and listening to Elizabeth Vandiver’s wonderful lectures; I am enjoying a flurry of graphic works (more later); and the “twist†in Final Girls (Riley Sager) is no twist. At. All.

Edited by Melissa M
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Hi ladies, I've been busy with boring, real life stuff, but I had to pop in and read this discussion. Sci-fi & fantasy are some of my favorite genres. I'm nodding along with all the suggestions so far (and adding some to my TBR list) but here are a few random thoughts:

 

Asimov is my favorite ckassic sci-fi author. I love the logic of his robot stories and how he eventually tied all of his stories together.

 

I grew up skipping all the songs in Tolkien. My mom read us The Hobbit and we always skipped the songs, so I kept that up when I read through LOTR. I liked that in the movie version of The Hobbit you could hear the dwarves actually singing the songs. So much better that way.

 

I also liked A Wrinkle in Time which would be YA sci-fi. I'm excited to see how the movie version turns out.

 

Finally, I have to give a shout out for my man Brandon Sanderson. My favorite fantasy author. I'm hosting my IRL book club next month and I am making everyone read a novella by him, The Emperor's Soul. It's short (for him) at under 200 pages so a good place to start if you want to give him a try.

 

 

Hopefully I am not repeating things that have already been discussed this month. Nice to "see" everyone again!

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I am still reading a lot less since the concussion last year and (as you'll see) much less challenging works.  I'm mostly okay with that - though I miss having my brain work the way it used to!

 

I read $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America which was as much of culture shock as I expected.  I'd recommend Evicted and On the Run over this, but felt it was a reasonably valuable addition to my shelves and my knowledge base.

 

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics is a beautiful, slender collection of physics based essays.  Clearly intended to be accessible to those without a science background, but I found it enjoyable.  The piece that will really stay with me though isn't purely scientific - he talks about the way our thinking shifts when new, paradigm altering breakthroughs are made.  And I thought about the conversations I've had here and in real life about many of the hard issues in our world - catastrophic climate change, race, gender... and so much more... and how many ways I've needed to challenge my default assumptions and stretch my mind and heart to include a more complex understanding of the universe.

 

And for my fictional diversions: Love and Folly by Sheila Simonson a Flufferton read.  This is a sequel to both Lady Elizabeth's Comet and The Bar Sinister, though it, mostly, stands on its own.  It isn't going to replace Heyer, but Simonson's books have been sweet and I appreciate the respect her various couples have for each other.

 

...and Before the Fall, which was a page turner in some ways, but frustrating in others.  The triteness of some of the plot lines was an expected component for this type of book, but the mixture of realism in the politics and thumb-on-the-scales distortion to undermine the ickiness didn't work for me.  The more realistic parts made me tense - not in a reading-a-thriller sense, but in the sense that it put me in a pseudo Fox news space repeatedly and I just wanted out, away from that kind of thinking... and that made the resolution of that strand unsatisfying, because it didn't get to the heart of anything.  I think it would have bothered me less if those folks had been more two dimensionally portrayed, but I'm not sure.  It isn't just the not fairness of it, I think it is that by raising those issues (tangentially) and then cheating (authorially) to resolve them made the tension of them being raised really not feel worth it.  It felt more like a stunt or a raising the stakes by having characters experience certain traumas type of writing. 

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I abandoned two books last week and returned them to the elibrary today. 

 

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up - I found it annoying, the author seemed sanctimonious, and I hate the way she uses the term tidying up. To me tidying up is: There's a glass and a spoon on the counter and you put them in the dishwasher, there's a shirt and a pair of shoes out in the bedroom and you put them away, there are 3 pieces of junk mail on the table and you toss them in the recycle bin. Purging your whole house in one super-purge episode (who actually has time to do it all at once?) is not "tidying up". Also, if she thinks anyone can follow her method she hasn't met very many people with ADHD. Please come and meet my ds, Ms. Kondo. Anyway, I hated the little I did read and didn't see any reason to finish torturing myself.

 

Snow Crash - It seemed dated which is an odd thing to say about a novel in the dystopian future genre. It wasn't just that many of the things in this future are actually kind of our reality now (yes, I read your Goodreads review Stacia :) ). I can't put my finger on what made it seem dated but it did. 

 

Currently Reading - 

 

The HIstories (audio) - I admit some of it is boring. There are a few descriptions of various peoples or lists of what tributes they give a particular king that are a bit like the begats in Numbers. For the most part though, it's interesting, funny (both Herodotus' humor plus some unintentional hilarity) and I like the way he tried to report events and people. I can see why he's called The Father of History as well as The Father of LIes.

 

War and Peace - I'm right where we should be, at Volume II, Part II.

 

Persuasion - another reread

 

I downloaded the sample of The Radium Girls and immediately after finishing placed a hold on it at my library.

 

Science fiction and fantasy aren't my thing. There are only a few novels in each of those genres I've enjoyed. Harry Potter is the only fantasy series I can say I loved. There are a few sci-fi novels I liked but can't think of a single one I loved. Can I still hang out with you guys? :)

Edited by Lady Florida.
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Yup, added a bunch to my TR list. Thanks for those great links! Y'all know that I'm a sci-fi/fantasty fan, though I tend toward very specific sub-genres - I like dystopian, post-apocalyptic sci fi & speculative fiction, more than high fantasy (although I do like some) or space-opera type sci fi (although again, I do like some). I find that I abandon two books in this genre for every book that I read. It is a genre I continue to be most attracted to, though.

 

Pre-reading for our Utopian/Dystopian lit class is exposing me to some new authors this year. I just started The Dispossessed (Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness is one of my favorites) and I'm reading Dune #3, Children of Dune. Lots more to come: after LeGuin, I move on to Samuel R. Delany then Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, and then on to a spate of YA titles.

 

Some of my very favorite fantasy/sci fi books (ones I've 5 starred on goodreads):

Replay - Ken Grimwood

Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Dammerung - McCauley Hunter

Stardust, The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman

Maps in a Mirror - the short fiction of Orson Scott Card

The Sparrow - Mary Dora Russell

His Dark Materials series - Philip Pullman

Dune - Frank Herbert

Terra Ignota series - Ada Palmer

Imperial Radch series - Ann Leckie

Thessaly series - Jo Walton

Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula LeGuin

 

Old favorites include Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, David Eddings' Belgariad and other series, Robert Jordan's Eye of the World, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, and I do confess to liking GRR Martin's Song of Ice & Fire. Those are more fantasy than sci fi, though . . . 

 

What are your favorite sci fi books? I'd love to add some BaW favorites to my TR list!

 

 

Max Gladstone's Craft series: Three Parts Dead is, imho, the best starting place (the first in publication order, but not in internal chronological order.)  This series isn't a comfortable as some of my other favorites, but it engages with important and interesting ideas with freshness and intelligence and heart.

 

Joan Slonczewski's Elysium Cycle.  The first, Door Into Ocean, starts slowly and can feel hard to get into.  ...but well, well worth it.  Her writing can be a little clunky in some of the books, but however many times I reread her, there is always something more to be gained.

I think you would also like her Wall Around Eden, though it left such a deep impression on me at 18 when I first read it, that I cannot see it impartially.

 

One that goes further than that and is practically embedded in  my DNA is Pamela Dean's Tam Lin.  (It was the first book I read once I could read again post-concussion... it helped that every word is familiar.)

Passage by Connie Willis (also her Oxford time travel series).  In this book Connie's seemingly rambling style and the physical layout of the main space and some of her recurring themes and tropes all come together very powerfully.

 

Most books by Sherwood Smith.  Her Inda series is her best work, though her YA Crown Duel, Trouble with Kings, and Sasheria en Garde are delightful comfort reads.

 

Neither Brust nor Bull's solo work makes my top list (though Bull's War for the Oaks, which rocked urban fantasy before urban fantasy was a thing, comes awfully close) but their coauthored epistolary novel Freedom and Necessity with its erudition and heart definitely does.

 

many of Robin McKinley's books have been comfort reads for a long time, but my favorite is Sunshine - the first, and last, book I ever bought from the horror section... back when having vampires in a story meant it got shelved with horror.  Some of what I love about McKinley is the voice, but most of it is, as with Smith and Dean, that it can feel as if they are writing stories etched in my backbrain... the stories that speak to my heart and resonate with how I experience the world.

 

Nancy Bond wrote some of the most amazing YA books back in the day and her time slip fantasy Another Shore is my favorite from that genre and her semi-dystopian Voyage Begun paints a near-future that is even more imaginable now than it was when she wrote it.

 

Another Walton series you might like is her Small Change series - it would fit with your dystopian reading, though you might not want to share it with Shannon yet.  Farthing is the first, and does stand alone, and is, in some ways a cross between a dystopia and a cozy mystery, Ha'Penny is more of a thriller (with extra interest if you've read about the 1930's and the Mitford family), and Half a Crown resolves things, though the resolution doesn't quite work for me, much though I want it to.

 

Lower tier favorites:

 

Bujold's Vorkosigan series (start with Cordelia's Honor, which contains the first two novels, but skip the most recent in the very, very long series) and her Chalion series Curse of Chalion which is meatier, but no less compelling.  (the more recent novellas set in the universe are enjoyable but not as satisfying as the three novels)

 

Sorcery and Cecilia (and Wrede's Marlion books) are fantasy Heyer and I found them delightful.

 

Goblin Emperor is a sweet, enjoyable fantasy which I've yet to reread, but still think of as a favorite.

 

Marie Brennan's series beginning with Midnight Never Come does both history and faery with a depth of knowledge and a (rare) in tune-ness with not just the facts but the feel.

 

Have I suggested you try Andrea Host?  Her books are all, theoretically YA and their worldbuilding and writing style defintely feel very YA-y, but the content is often older and there is a freshness and heartfelt-ness to them that appeals greatly to me, ymmv.  The first one I read, and still my favorite, might fit your reading theme at the moment: And All the Stars

 

A couple of other dystopian/utopian books you might find interesting:

 

Brunner's The Sheep Look Up  - not one I can reread often, but powerful and disturbing... and all too plausible, still.

 

 

...and Benard's Turning on the Girls... and hey, this could count as something you'd be embarrassed to be seen reading in public

 

Ooh, and another one (this one YA) Rite of Passage by Panshin. His Anthony Villiers books are great fun, if you're in a Douglas Adams type mood, but Rite of Passage is more serious and I think you might appreciate it.

 

And yet another: Losers in Space by John Barnes - probably not one for Shannon either, but I think you'd find it interesting.

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Dream Hoarders (Richard V. Reeves) has also unsettled me (and sent me off to the shelves for Keith Payne’s The Broken Ladder). Reeves’ discussion of internships and other unpaid opportunities for students was particularly uncomfortable: My older daughter works twenty-plus hours per week as an summer intern. Yes, it’s an unpaid internship, but it’s also a priceless opportunity in a competitive (if wildly underpaid) field, where entry-level positions require both education and experience.

 

She and my younger daughter, both undergraduate research assistants, were also asked to continue their projects over the summer, and although one daughter was, quite unexpectedly, offered funding, the other was not. (She did, however, earn a scholarship for achievement in non-major coursework, which had the effect of making the unpaid research seem less… indulgent? privileged? dream-hoarder-like?) Earning an undergraduate research position, especially at a such a large university, where so many capable students vie for so few spots, well, that’s quite an achievement, one that yields the experience, the letters of recommendation, the opportunities to contribute to publications and to present at conferences that make a student a more desirable graduate school applicant and / or jobseeker. So why would any parent say, “No� And that’s the problem, maintains Reeves. It’s unfair that some students can accept unpaid opportunities while other students cannot. It’s particularly unfair, he continues, that some students have, through their parents' professional and social networks, access to opportunities, paid and unpaid.

 

Talk about a challenging read!

 

 

This is on my TBR stacks  - thank you for helping bump it up the list! (And for mentioning The Broken Ladder, which I'm also adding to the list.)

 

Yes, this type of book has often been challenging, but very illuminating.  I am seeing the world through more complex lenses now.  I don't have any brilliant, actionable reactions yet, but I believe seeing and naming is the first step.

 

The one, generic, suggestion I've heard is to look for places where my privilege intersects with someone else's lack thereof, because that is where I can most effectively act.  ...but, like most generic suggestions, it sounds easy and is hard to practically envision.

 

 

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Greetings, earthlings. I'm back in suburbia, recuperating after an intense couple of days in the alternate universe that is Comic-Con. Cannot handle all 4 days there any more, especially when you throw in evening dinners and parties. I was out of the house from 8am til midnight yesterday and had to be pleasantly social almost that entire time!! Aaaacckkk -- making small talk in noisy rooms, walking through jostling crowds, organizing things like dog sitting and transportation for friends. I've had 2 naps so far today....

 

Only managed a couple of book panels this year, one on rebellion in epic fantasy and one on space-based sci-fi -- a perfect fit for this year's bingo card! Before I talk specific books, I have to say that Christopher Paolini, the homeschooler who wrote Eragon back in his teen years, continues to impress me with his articulate and enthusiastic erudition. He was on the rebellion panel and had some of the most thoughtful things to say. Andy Weir, of The Martian, was of course on the space panel, and has usual was delightful because he is so happily unabashed to be the biggest nerd in the room -- the kind of nerd who knows his calculus and physics. 

 

I bought one of the books from the Space panel, but I also got an ARC of Andy Weir's new book, Artemis, which is out in October or November.  Artemis takes place in a future where space travel has come down enough in price to become affordable to the middle class, resulting in the building of a tourist resort on the moon next to the Apollo 11 landing site. In the panel conversation, he dismissed the idea of mining colonies being established on the moon or other planets because robots would be so much cheaper and easier. Mining on alien planets is so often the basis of sci fi books, but he argued it just isn't a logical trajectory of our technology or society.  

 

I bought Defy the Stars, the first in a YA, space based, series by Claudia Gray. She seems to be a prolific writer, based on the list of books at her website. I loved hearing her talk about writing Star Wars books. She was poking fun at the lack of a basic internet in the world of Star Wars (the thumb drive of the plans of the Death Star needs to be physically taken to the rebellion leaders -- wouldn't email be faster and easier?) and at all the oxygen-eating fireballs that happen in the vacuum of space. But she said writing for an established world was very freeing because all the world building was done, all the design concepts and science and magic (or whatever The Force is) were all well established. I figured Defy the Stars would be worth a try, and perhaps some of you might enjoy it to fill your Space square on the bingo card.

 

I picked up The Fifth Doll by Charlie N Holmberg on a whim. She was delightful in the panel on rebellion, and the Fifth Doll refers to those Russian nesting dolls. I figure I'm on a Russian kick with War and Peace, so why not?! Apparently her "Paper Magician" series has been very popular. Can't remember if any of you have read those.

 

And I bought The Apothecary's Curse simply because the author, Barbara Barnett, was wearing a fabulous hat!!! She had just sat down for a signing at the booth of my favorite bookseller, there was no one in line, so I struck up a conversation with her. The book sounded right up my alley, so I bought it. 

 

35310289943_754594d4f0.jpg   Barbara Barnett in her fabulous hat.

 

 

Well your list of new finds certainly doesn't disappoint! I was able to find Defy the Stars as an audio book on overdrive so will eventually try it in that format. I loved the first two books in Christopher Paolini's series and never managed to finish it. I bought the books but there was such a scramble for them with the dc's I sort of gave up and never read them. They are sitting on dd's bookshelves with The Belgariad series which was also on this year's list. ;)

 

 

 

Hi ladies, I've been busy with boring, real life stuff, but I had to pop in and read this discussion. Sci-fi & fantasy are some of my favorite genres. I'm nodding along with all the suggestions so far (and adding some to my TBR list) but here are a few random thoughts:

Asimov is my favorite ckassic sci-fi author. I love the logic of his robot stories and how he eventually tied all of his stories together.

I grew up skipping all the songs in Tolkien. My mom read us The Hobbit and we always skipped the songs, so I kept that up when I read through LOTR. I liked that in the movie version of The Hobbit you could hear the dwarves actually singing the songs. So much better that way.

I also liked A Wrinkle in Time which would be YA sci-fi. I'm excited to see how the movie version turns out.

Finally, I have to give a shout out for my man Brandon Sanderson. My favorite fantasy author. I'm hosting my IRL book club next month and I am making everyone read a novella by him, The Emperor's Soul. It's short (for him) at under 200 pages so a good place to start if you want to give him a try.

Hopefully I am not repeating things that have already been discussed this month. Nice to "see" everyone again!

 

 

I did LotR as a read aloud. The dc's took turns singing the songs which made them fun. I skip them when reading to myself.

 

I have been on a waitlist for Sanderson since the beginning of the year. I think I am down to 10......waiting for the audio version I think.

 

 

 

Hmmm. That's an interesting comment & now that you point it out, there are a few immediate items I can think of that make it seem dated.

 

 

 

So many people who come into the library seem to love this book. It's not my normal type book, but I did read it. I didn't really care for it (but some of it was ok). I agree on the too-much-like-the-current-news stuff in parts. And I, personally, really disliked the ending, the "answer" as to why the plane crashed in the first place. I felt there was a lot of diversion to try to put you (the reader) on different tracks & then the author resorted to a cop-out ending (imo). The more I think about that book, the less I like it.

I remember being very disappointed with Before They Fall, too much of a formula. I really can't seem to remember much of it and your post made me realize I don't know how it ended. :lol: Irritating, but I think my sappy ending conclusion is probably right?

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A few San Francisco book notes:

 

The Contemporary Jewish Museum is featuring a Roz Chast retrospective which in turn has all of the drawings from her memoir Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Many of us in the BaW community found this graphic tribute to her parents and their last years to be heartwarming and heartbreaking.  I loved it when I read the book a year or two ago.  Reading it again on the walls of the CJM, seeing the layered corrections on her original drawings, was a thrill. 

 

Many of you are aware that I am a fiber freak, i.e. a sewist, knitter, textile crafter.  Imagine my delight in seeing Chast's hooked rugs that she has made of her cartoons!

 

The exhibit also had sketches from her children's books and a number of original New Yorker cartoons.  What fun to be in a room of giggling people. 

 

The City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco has been a beacon for decades.  This was my fifth trip to San Francisco but the first time I stepped into City Lights thanks to dearest Idnib.  BaWers would have enjoyed the conversation we had at the fiction shelves, pulling out books that we have enjoyed or have wanted to read.  It was great to see so may independent publishers represented!

 

Idnib graciously offered to pick me up at my hotel and drive north to wine country for our tapas lunch with Rose.  No surprise to BaWers that Rose and I immediately handed each other a book after that first hug.

 

And about Shukriyya who has not been seen in the BaW group for a little bit.  She is busy living her life but she took time out to meet me at Golden Gate Park where we strolled around Stow Lake.  At a bench we paused for conversation and tea--Shukriyya had packed a thermos and pottery cups. 

 

This trip was amazing for so many reasons.  Among them was seeing my 90 year old uncle and his 88 year old wife who live at Lake Tahoe.  What hearty souls!  They spent this winter with its record snowfall in their home, living their independent lives.  This is the uncle I resemble.  I hope I have his resilience.

 

And speaking of independent...I am currently reading Independent People by Halldor Laxness.  Obviously not over my Iceland obsession. More importantly, this book is *not* being passed along. Wow, what a novel--about sheep!

Edited by Jane in NC
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Hey BaWers!  Jelly here (as my dd might say) that lots of you get to meet IRL.  Sounds like a fun trip, Jane. :hurray:

 

Finished a couple this week, including one from my Forever pile (as in, "my stars, this book is taking forever"), Age of Anger: A History of the Present by Pankaj Mishra, which was a fairly discombobulated, depressing-as-all-get-out treatise connecting our particular angry age to previous ones. I found his arguments somewhat persuasive and found him very well-read, but overall, not light holiday fare/flufferton at all.  He harbors particular animus towards Nahendra Modi, pm of India; his election was impetus for writing, and Brexit happened when he was concluding it (and Trump when it went to the printer's).  This is, after all, a book about how people can be persuaded by autocrats.

 

The other was likewise discombobulated, but in a good way:  Elvis Costello's autobiography, Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink.  This was an audiobook read by the author; frankly, hardly anyone can read as fast as this man can talk, and his meanderings (it was only very loosely chronological) were enhanced by the fact that he was reading it, at least to me.  I was a teenaged fan, always loved his wordplay, and now I understand why he ran (screaming) away from "pop" music as his acquisitive brain just could not be contained by one genre.  I would recommend it only if you were likewise a fan; I am apt to read the musical autobios of my heroes, and I would put this 2nd behind Keith Richard's Life and ahead of Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run; unlike either of these blokes, though, Elvis did not need a co-author...

 

And I abandoned Rabbit Cake.  (sorry, Rose!)

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Books read last week:

  • Banana Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke. Cozy Mystery. A small town baker seeks out the murderer of the local theater director. I picked this because it had banana in the title for the Big Bingo challenge. Recipes are provided between chapters. I don't think this was a book for me. The interactions between the characters felt strange as they spend half their time talking about the foods they're eating and asking for the recipes. But that's not the worst part. The main character, the owner of a bakery, commits a crime so terrible I hesitate to provide details. Read no further if you can't handle the abuse of innocent food. She uses... Cool Whip and packaged vanilla pudding in her Banana Cream Pie. I'm an amateur baker. Stabilized whipped cream and a homemade vanilla custard aren't difficult to make. I just couldn't handle it.
  • I, Claudius by Robert Graves. Historical Fiction. In ancient Rome, the lame, brilliant Claudius plays the fool to survive the intrigues surrounding the ruling family, which includes a grandmother with a particular poisonous talent. After being sidetracked by Russian literature and history, I've decided to read at least one planned Bingo reads a week. I felt bogged down by the stories of the many people surrounding Claudius, but enjoyed it when it focused on the title character. Plus any story that ends with a man, during a celebration of his sudden rise to power, wondering if he will have access to the restricted books in the library: that's an excellent character. Ancient Bingo read.
  • The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, trans. by Pevear and Volokhonsky. Urban Fantasy/Magical Realism. The devil and his minions come to Stalinist Moscow and have a grand time. Reading Catherynne Valente's Deathless (highly recommended) inspired me to explore Russian history and literature. My sibling and I were talking about the book and The Master and Margarita came up in the conversation, as Valente has said it inspired her to write Deathless. It was a tough start, but when the devil appears and the world fills with flying hogs, empty talking suits, clever cats, and musical monkeys, I grew to love it. Stacia, I was going to recommend this book to you but I see you've already read it. Highly recommended.

 

If you're looking for a fantasy writer, I recommend Catherynne Valente. It's hard for me to pick my favorite, but I think two books in particular are great showcases of her talent: ​Deathless​ in fantasy and Radiance​ in space opera/science fiction/weird/her own special category.

 

​Deathless​ starts like a typical fairy tale. A young girl Marya is waiting by a window. 

 

"In a city by the sea which was once called St. Petersburg, then Petrograd, then Leningrad, then much later, St. Petersburg, there stood a long, thin house on a long, thin street. By a long, thin window, a child in a pale blue dress and pale green slippers waited for a bird to marry her."

 

 

Birds arrive, change into men, and ask for the girl in the window, but end up marrying her sisters instead. A rook turned man promises "houses full of seed", a plover promises "fields full of worms", and a shrike promises "rivers full of fish". Marya grows up and continues to sit by the window, waiting for life to happen for her.

 

"When Marya saw something extraordinary again, she would be ready. She would be clever. She would not let it rule her or trick her. She would do the tricking, if tricking was called for."

 

 

It's a world at the intersection of magic, war, and totalitarianism, of house goblins who must report discrepancies to the komityet, file paperwork, make formal complaints. Marya is forced to spend time with the Widow Likho, who gives her a book and requires her to read a story about the Tsar of Death and the Tsar of Life.

 

 

"After a space of time longer than it takes the stars to draw breath together, the Tsar of Death was so well loved by his court of souls that he became puffed up and proud. He bedecked himself in onyx, agate, and hematite, and gave bayonets of ice and cannons of bone and horse of drifting ash with eyes and nostrils of red spark to each of the souls that had perished in the long, tawdry history of the world. Together this great army, with shrouds flying like banners and trumpets of twelves swords lashed together marched out across the deep snow and into the lonely kingdom of the Tsar of Life."

 

 

All the while, she is starving, her family sharing a home with eleven other families. A man arrives and she runs away with him, despite warnings from her house goblin. The man feeds her bread, butter, and roe, bring tears to her eyes at the taste of "salt and sea". He warns her about being too wise and clever.

 

 

"The goblins of the city may hold committees to divide a single potato, but the strong and cruel still sit on the hill, and drink vodka, and wear black furs, and slurp borscht from the pail, like blood."

 

 

She follows him to his land where she discovers he is the Tsar of Death and his world is filled with magical creatures: gun imps, water goblins, firebirds, a woman with swan feathers for hair, and a witch who owns a car with chicken feet. Women, all named Yelena, sit at looms weaving soldiers to fight against the Tsar of Life.

 

 

"The rapt pupil will be forgiven for assuming the Tsar of Death to be wicked and the Tsar of Life to be virtuous. Let the truth be told: There is no virtue anywhere. Life is sly and unscrupulous, a blackguard, wolfish, severe. In service to itself, it will commit any offense. So too, is Death possessed of infinite strategies and a gaunt nature - but also mercy, also grace and tenderness. In his own country, Death is kind."

 

 

 

She meets an Ivan, because there's always an Ivan in Russian fairy tales. The war between life and death continues, parallel and intermingled with World War II, and it goes badly for Marya. At the end of the tale, the magic is gone and her friends among the victims. They are no longer goblins and imps, just butchers and dressmakers. The Tsar of Death no longer remembers her and lives as a mortal man. Marya wants it all back, to return to the start of the story, even the darkness of it, but the witch tells her it isn't possible.
 

"Death is not like that. The redistribution of worlds has made everything equal - magic and cantinas and Yelenas and basements and bread and silver, silver light. Equally dead, equally bound. You will live as you live anywhere. With difficulty, and grief."

 

 

Valente's prose is so gorgeous, I want to read it aloud, but this isn't a book for children. It's adult, very much so, yet imaginative, lovely, and poetic. 

Edited by ErinE
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Books read last week:

[*]Banana Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke. Cozy Mystery. A small town baker seeks out the murderer of the local theater director. I picked this because it had banana in the title for the Big Bingo challenge. Recipes are provided between chapters. I don't think this was a book for me. The interactions between the characters felt strange as they spend half their time talking about the foods they're eating and asking for the recipes. But that's not the worst part. The main character, the owner of a bakery, commits a crime so terrible I hesitate to provide details. Read no further if you can't handle the abuse of innocent food. She uses... Cool Whip and packaged vanilla pudding in her Banana Cream Pie. I'm an amateur baker. Stabilized whipped cream and a homemade vanilla custard aren't difficult to make. I just couldn't handle it.

 

I have read this series on and off for years, probably skipping half the books. I think she got married in the last one I read so you accidentally found my spot in the series. :lol: I like to bake too and have tried a couple of her recipes without great success. No keepers. No Cool Whip here so I definitely did not try any with that!

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Max Gladstone's Craft series: Three Parts Dead is, imho, the best starting place (the first in publication order, but not in internal chronological order.)  This series isn't a comfortable as some of my other favorites, but it engages with important and interesting ideas with freshness and intelligence and heart.

 

Joan Slonczewski's Elysium Cycle.  The first, Door Into Ocean, starts slowly and can feel hard to get into.  ...but well, well worth it.  Her writing can be a little clunky in some of the books, but however many times I reread her, there is always something more to be gained.

I think you would also like her Wall Around Eden, though it left such a deep impression on me at 18 when I first read it, that I cannot see it impartially.

 

One that goes further than that and is practically embedded in  my DNA is Pamela Dean's Tam Lin.  (It was the first book I read once I could read again post-concussion... it helped that every word is familiar.)

Passage by Connie Willis (also her Oxford time travel series).  In this book Connie's seemingly rambling style and the physical layout of the main space and some of her recurring themes and tropes all come together very powerfully.

 

Most books by Sherwood Smith.  Her Inda series is her best work, though her YA Crown Duel, Trouble with Kings, and Sasheria en Garde are delightful comfort reads.

 

Neither Brust nor Bull's solo work makes my top list (though Bull's War for the Oaks, which rocked urban fantasy before urban fantasy was a thing, comes awfully close) but their coauthored epistolary novel Freedom and Necessity with its erudition and heart definitely does.

 

many of Robin McKinley's books have been comfort reads for a long time, but my favorite is Sunshine - the first, and last, book I ever bought from the horror section... back when having vampires in a story meant it got shelved with horror.  Some of what I love about McKinley is the voice, but most of it is, as with Smith and Dean, that it can feel as if they are writing stories etched in my backbrain... the stories that speak to my heart and resonate with how I experience the world.

 

Nancy Bond wrote some of the most amazing YA books back in the day and her time slip fantasy Another Shore is my favorite from that genre and her semi-dystopian Voyage Begun paints a near-future that is even more imaginable now than it was when she wrote it.

 

Another Walton series you might like is her Small Change series - it would fit with your dystopian reading, though you might not want to share it with Shannon yet.  Farthing is the first, and does stand alone, and is, in some ways a cross between a dystopia and a cozy mystery, Ha'Penny is more of a thriller (with extra interest if you've read about the 1930's and the Mitford family), and Half a Crown resolves things, though the resolution doesn't quite work for me, much though I want it to.

 

Lower tier favorites:

 

Bujold's Vorkosigan series (start with Cordelia's Honor, which contains the first two novels, but skip the most recent in the very, very long series) and her Chalion series Curse of Chalion which is meatier, but no less compelling.  (the more recent novellas set in the universe are enjoyable but not as satisfying as the three novels)

 

Sorcery and Cecilia (and Wrede's Marlion books) are fantasy Heyer and I found them delightful.

 

Goblin Emperor is a sweet, enjoyable fantasy which I've yet to reread, but still think of as a favorite.

 

Marie Brennan's series beginning with Midnight Never Come does both history and faery with a depth of knowledge and a (rare) in tune-ness with not just the facts but the feel.

 

Have I suggested you try Andrea Host?  Her books are all, theoretically YA and their worldbuilding and writing style defintely feel very YA-y, but the content is often older and there is a freshness and heartfelt-ness to them that appeals greatly to me, ymmv.  The first one I read, and still my favorite, might fit your reading theme at the moment: And All the Stars

 

A couple of other dystopian/utopian books you might find interesting:

 

Brunner's The Sheep Look Up  - not one I can reread often, but powerful and disturbing... and all too plausible, still.

 

 

...and Benard's Turning on the Girls... and hey, this could count as something you'd be embarrassed to be seen reading in public

 

Ooh, and another one (this one YA) Rite of Passage by Panshin. His Anthony Villiers books are great fun, if you're in a Douglas Adams type mood, but Rite of Passage is more serious and I think you might appreciate it.

 

And yet another: Losers in Space by John Barnes - probably not one for Shannon either, but I think you'd find it interesting.

 

Eliana, thanks for all these great recommendations. Some of them are on my radar (or my TR lists), quite probably because you turned me on to them! I've added many others. Surprisingly I haven't read any of them, although I did take a stab at A Door Into Ocean, and as you mention, had a hard time getting into it. I wanted to love it for the biology and the feminist utopia, but it was so slow-moving and the male character was so irritating I didn't think I could put up with a him for a whole book. I may have to give it another chance.

 

I've been immersed (mired?) in the feminist dystopias of the 70s and 80s recently, and I have to say, I couldn't get through most of them. Either the writing was really bad, or it was just so wrapped up in the female vs male thing (in a very formulaic way) that it didn't feel fresh or interesting. I ended up putting putting Houston Houston Do You Read on Shannon's list, as a short representative of the time period. It's not fantastic writing, but it will be illustrative. I also have Native Tongue (an interesting precursor to The Handmaid's Tale) and Starfarers (which was just a fun story, not particularly dystopian) that she can read if she wants to.  I was happy to move on to Ursula LeGuin - same time period, some of the same issues around gender and power, but such a different feel. Such a wonderful writer.

Edited by Chrysalis Academy
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Well it was optimistic to say War and Peace would be finished yesterday, as I'd forgotten that the Second Epilogue is Tolstoy laying out his philosophy of history, necessity, and free will. Which I find very interesting, but isn't good late-evening reading.

 

Must finish today! Life gets Very Very Busy for a while starting tomorrow.

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A one day only currently free classic for Kindle readers; I've posted this before but perhaps it's new for some here ~

 

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott 

 

"A young Saxon knight proves his worth in Sir Walter Scott’s immortal classic blending history and romance

In the twelfth century, England is in ruins. The tension between the Saxons and Normans are at an all-time high. While King Richard the Lion Heart is away, his brother Prince John sits on the throne, allowing the Norman nobles to ravage the Saxon countryside further. There is no one to protect them. Their land is repossessed. They are made to flee into the forests as outlaws, leaving behind the stand-in king who has forsaken them.

Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, disowned by his father after pledging allegiance to King Richard, has returned from the Crusades eager to win the love of Lady Rowena. The young knight, eager to prove himself worthy of her affections, sets out to demonstrate his merit—fighting his enemies with aid from the likes of Robin Hood.

A classic of historical fiction, Sir Walter Scott’s masterpiece brims with romance, adventure, and action."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

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I forgot to list The Brothers Karamazov in my currently reading list. I'm not sure why I decided to read two Russian classics at the same time but so far it isn't causing me any trouble. My Kindle says I have 26 hours and 26 minutes left in the book. I get weirdly amused sometimes when looking at the time left or page count  (ex., page 33 of 333 pages) on an e-book 

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