Book a Week 2017 - BW1: Welcome to an adventurous prime reading new year!

[Wheres Toto]

I started reading the Wheel of Time books back in the 90s, maybe 94 or 95? When there were only 5 or 6 of them. My cousin turned me on to them when I was visiting their ranch in the high country of Colorado during the winter, and it was too damn cold to go outside. I inhaled the ones that were out, and then waited eagerly as the next 8 came out, one every two years more or less.  Each time a new one would be published, I'd reread the whole series. So I've read the early books 6 or 8 times! It's a series I grew up with - when I started reading it I was a carefree grad student, by the time it was done I was a mom with two kids, starting to homeschool . . . I think I'll always have a fond place in my heart for that series because I spent my growing up years immersed in that world. 

 

I'm out of likes again. This thread is a Phenomenon.

 

When I read it I thought all of them were out.  I didn't find out until I hit the end that there was one more book expected and the author had died!  I was seriously upset.  I know the last book has now been written but I need to have time to reread the entire series so I haven't finished it up yet.

[Wheres Toto]

It's good to be forewarned that some of you don't like it!  Who knows - I'm only 100 pages in and so far, so good but there's still a lot to go...

 

Considering reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to the kids for my outer space square but I'm not sure if they are old enough to appreciate it.  9 and 11.   Thoughts?

 

I had my son try Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy last year.  He already knew some of the jokes (like 42) from various other places.  He said it was okay, but that he didn't get a lot of the humor so we put it off for another couple of years.

[Matryoshka]

I struggle to read fiction by male writers. I tend to read more when its genre or non-fiction, but my literary fiction list in a year would be 90% female. 

 

Hm, I think you hit the nail on the head here.  I think it's fiction where I have more of a bias.  I also I think I prefer a female protagonist or at least a strong female character - in nonfiction that isn't an issue.  I'm not sure my ratio is 90%, but I'm pretty sure it would come in well over 50% - I was also surprised to see the ratio reversed for most people that reported their stats from last year.

[theelfqueen]

I read a lot of science fiction and usually male authors... because they're more in the part of the genre I prefer (not a fan of dystopia, for example).

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Matryoshka]

I'm out to torture, err, tantalize your reading taste buds today:

 

Speaking of women writers -  The XY Factor - 13 True Tales of Women who changed Science 

 

 

Love that list!  Henrietta Lacks and Girls of Atomic City I've already read, The Fossil Hunter and Rise of the Rocket Girls are physically on my shelf to read, Hidden Figures and Lab Girl are both already on my Goodreads to-read list... I think I may have to add most of the rest...

Edited January 6, 2017 by Matryoshka

[Mom-ninja.]

I was curious about my male/female ratio. Last year 27/80 books were female authors. 

[theelfqueen]

My 11 year old loved Hitchhiker's this year...

my 15 year old hated Martian Chronicles last year (broke my poor heart!lol)

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Pam in CT]

One other thing for the newbies, you can leave the premises for a couple of years, still receive lovely snail mail from the members and step back in to be received with much kindness and generosity :)

 

 

.... counting on this, lol...

 

 

:seeya:

[Butter]

I was poking around the challenges on the 52 books blog.  I brought up with my husband that maybe we could do the Mind Voyages challenge together.  I do NOT like sci-fi usually.  He's always trying to get me to read sci-fi because he (and our oldest son) love it.  He is very excited to do the challenge with me.  I'll be reading, he'll be listening.  We picked our first book, The Yiddish Policeman's Union.  I checked it out right away from Overdrive.  The audiobook is on hold for him.  It'll take us a while to get through the whole challenge, but it should be fun to do it together.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I was surprised to find in 2015 that my male/female ratio was so low, only about 1/3 female. Same in 2016.  I think it's probably because I read a ton of history and a lot of sci fi/dystopian stuff, as well as a lot of older/classics  - partly because I was prepping for teaching Ancient/Medieval history, and there just aren't as many female authors in that era. I'm hoping to improve that ratio this year, I'm more bemused by it than anything. i think I seek out good writing by women wherever I can find it. But the further back in time you go the fewer options. Maybe that's it?

[prairiegirl]

I am reading this thread on my phone and I can't quote on here which is frustrating.

 

Stacia, I love what your son said about The Plover! I haven't read it yet but his words have made put it at the top of my TBR list.

 

Male/female author ratios--I read about 80% female authors last year and that is normal for me. Of the six books that I have read or am still reading so far this year, 4 of them are male authors. I find that interesting.

 

I just received Tribe by Sebastien Junger from the library today. I'm not too far into it but I am finding it fascinating. The book suggests that we are all searching for a community or tribe, if you will. This explains why early Americans, who were held captive by Native Americans wanted to stay with their captors. It also explains why 'combat veterans who come home miss the intimate bonds of platoon life.' Tbought provoking.

[Wheres Toto]

You guys have me wondering about my male/female ratio from last year.  Unfortunately, I didn't keep track of the authors of all the books I read so now I'll have to look them up.

 

I'm pretty sure I'll wind up with more female if I do everything, including my Just For Fun books.  A lot of those JFF books were silly romance novels and they are usually written by female authors.

 

I'll update tomorrow since it's bedtime.

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Angelaboord]

Yep. Bingo. Me too.

 

Is fantasy on the bingo card? Or are we randomly recommending fantasy? (I've been reading with only half a brain today.) I don't read tons of fantasy, but I'll recommend Terry Pratchett (of course) and the Powder Mage series (of which I read the first one, Promise of Blood, last year & really loved it). I rarely read series books but I'm actually planning to read the other books in the Powder Mage series.

I don't think it's on the Bingo card, is it? My favorite epic fantasy is Robin Hobb's Farseer series. I love Fitz, even if he is the kind of character you just want to shake every now and again.

 

I've only read the first 7 or 8 in the Wheel of Time series because I got to the point where I was tired of the female characters thinking about their clothes and the one character I still liked was involved in a hanging subplot that wasn't going to be resolved till the next book. At that point I threw the book at the wall and never looked back. Sorry to all WoT fans!!

 

Another epic series from my youth which I will also recommend: CJ Cherryh's Fortress in the Eye of Time.

 

And actually, for an outer space book, I'd recommend her Downbelow Station. It's a little slow to get into because she likes to write the politics of her worlds, but once you're in, you're in. Downbelow is about human/alien interaction, the culture of a space station vs. planet, cultural misunderstandings, lots of good stuff.

 

My friend Karin's book Warchild is also a good outer space novel dealing with human/alien misunderstandings. It's billed as a YA novel but she didn't write it to be YA; it was just marketed that way.

 

ETA: Also, John Scalzi's Red Shirts was kind of fun. And I think Joe Haldeman's The Forever War would probably count, which is such an excellent book.

 

I don't know what I'm going to do about Outer Space, though... I've got The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet on my Kindle, but I have to confess to having read a teeny tiny bit of it in 2016 when trying to decide if I wanted it or not.

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited January 6, 2017 by Angelaboord

[Chrysalis Academy]

You guys, I tried to read Underground Railroad, but I just can't. It's so brutal and horrible. And real, and true, and shaming. But I just can't. It makes me want to vomit and to just completely give up on the human race, that we could treat one another this way. I feel kind of ashamed at not being able to face it, but I just can't. I'm not running away from the reality, but I just can't take the images in my mind. 

[Angelaboord]

Are Katherine Kerr's Deverry books considered epic fantasy? Those were also fun, but I read them a long time ago.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Angelaboord]

Ok, serial posting here and I need to actually pick up a book and start reading, but another book I'm thinking about for the Outer Space square is Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach. (Nonfiction)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[theelfqueen]

Mary Roach is pretty good!

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[JennW in SoCal]

Oh my goodness -- I'm such a nerd that the Outer Space bingo square would be the easiest for me!  I've read most of the following and the rest are in my "want to read" pile. 

 

Some varied ideas for non-fiction:

Packing for Mars (huge thumbs up -- funny & informative) 

Hidden Figures

Rise of the Rocket Girls

Neil deGrasse Tyson's works from The Pluto Files to Death by Black Hole 

The Right Stuff (about the early space race)

 

there's memoirs and biographies such as:

Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space

Apollo 13 (originally published as Lost Moon)

Failure is Not an Option -- Gene Kranz on his life at Mission Control

 

There's so much fiction, too:

The Martian

The Martian Chronicles

John Carter of Mars (well...maybe!)

Many of Heinlein's "boys books" are great fun such as Have Spacesuit will Travel or Citizen of the Galaxy or The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Ender's Game

 

 

 

[LauraBeth475]

I'm going to join this year. 😊 I'm going to try a birthstone acrostic.

 

G - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

A - Agent of Change by Sharon Lee

R - Roll Jordan Roll by Eugene Genovese

N - The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah

E - Embassytown by China Mieville (or maybe reread The Elegant Universe)

T - The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

 

This is a really ambitious list for one month though, so we'll see how far I get.

Edited January 6, 2017 by LauraBeth475

[Violet Crown]

Well I'm in good company then...along with all the rest of the good company on this thread. And yes to your first sentence. I generally have to make a conscious effort to read male writers. I always knew my reading skewed towards women authors but until I tallied up the results I didn't realize just how skewed. Plus I was fascinated to see that I was in the minority here re the male to female ratios.

I may hold down the other end of the spectrum. I never posted a wrap-up, but in 2016 I read 76 books, of which only seven were written by women. And of those, only three I thought were very good (Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado; Margaret Oliphant, The Beleaguered City; Catherine Carswell, The Life of Robert Burns); and two of them were among the books I most disliked that year.

[shukriyya]

I finished The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley. It was a good read but nothing outstanding. I preferred the historical story line, 18th century Russia and England, to the modern day one.

 

The King of Elfland's Daughter is on my list. I came across it a few weeks ago and put it on the tbr pile. Now the with the GR' Into the Forest' group it has a perfect place within my list for that.

 

Here's what William Butler Yeats has to say about the author... Lord Dunsany "who has imagined colors, ceremonies and incredible processions . . . has yet never wearied of the most universal of emotions and the one most constantly associated with the sense of beauty; and when we come to examine these astonishments that seemed so alien we find that he has but transfigured with beauty the commons sights of the world."        --William Butler Yeats

 

Rarified air up there but I'm intrigued. Plus it's only .99 as a kindle book.

[Matryoshka]

Oh my goodness -- I'm such a nerd that the Outer Space bingo square would be the easiest for me!  I've read most of the following and the rest are in my "want to read" pile. 

 

Some varied ideas for non-fiction:

Packing for Mars (huge thumbs up -- funny & informative) 

Hidden Figures

Rise of the Rocket Girls

Neil deGrasse Tyson's works from The Pluto Files to Death by Black Hole 

The Right Stuff (about the early space race)

 

there's memoirs and biographies such as:

Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space

Apollo 13 (originally published as Lost Moon)

Failure is Not an Option -- Gene Kranz on his life at Mission Control

 

There's so much fiction, too:

The Martian

The Martian Chronicles

John Carter of Mars (well...maybe!)

Many of Heinlein's "boys books" are great fun such as Have Spacesuit will Travel or Citizen of the Galaxy or The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Ender's Game

 

All this outer space and I haven't seen my favorite author mentioned.  Does no one else love Ursula Le Guin?  I've been thinking it might be high time to reread The Dispossessed or The Left Hand of Darkness... but I think there are too many new things on my list his year.

[LaughingCat]

Fiction wise, I am pretty sure I read almost all women authors(although I am including several husband/wife teams in that) - it is biased enough that I both noticed it and it felt strange when i was reading Jim butcher's Dresden Files and also about the same time the Iron Druid books. that year, 2015?, is probably the only time in years that I got over 25% male authors ( counting by books not by unique author)

 

Non fiction wise I'd say it leans the other way, although not as extremely.

[ErinE]

Ok, serial posting here and I need to actually pick up a book and start reading, but another book I'm thinking about for the Outer Space square is Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach. (Nonfiction)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Packing for Mars was excellent and funny. On a long car trip, I read it aloud to DH (who rarely reads) and he enjoyed it as well.

 

If you like Scalzi, Old Man's War is a personal favorite.

[hopskipjump]

I'm joining in for the book-a-week part, but doubt that I'll be able to juggle any of the challenges. Keeping track of what I'm reading over the year will probably be more than I can handle! I'm sure gonna try though! 😄😄

 

So far this year, I've read:

 

1) Letters to My Daughter by Maya Angelou and

 

2) Grit by Angela Duckworth

 

In the process of reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Angelou and For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway annnnd The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (which I don't like, but will trudge onward and finish...).

 

My reading plans for the year are to read as many biographies and auto-biographies by/about women and/or powerful political figures and governments. I also have a few "bucket list" authors I'm reading for the first time (Hemingway is the first of those!).

[samba]

All this outer space and I haven't seen my favorite author mentioned.  Does no one else love Ursula Le Guin?  I've been thinking it might be high time to reread The Dispossessed or The Left Hand of Darkness... but I think there are too many new things on my list his year.

 

Left Hand of Darkness is up next on my list. Different reason, though. I decided one of my categories would be "re-reading a book from years ago that I didn't particularly care for but always suspected I would react differently to later in life." How's that for a category title? :tongue_smilie:It was between LHoD and Calvino's Invisible Cities. I saw that Calvino is another favorite or yours. LHoD holds more promise for me, I suspect.

 

 I enjoyed The Wind's Twelve Quarters and may re-read that as well. Le Guin and Lessing's Marriages of Zones Three, Four and Five will probably be it for me as far as speculative fiction...not my favorite genre. 

[Penguin]

Calling for snow here this weekend, so I stocked up yesterday! Working through Thirteen Reasons Why now (can't wait to see how it ends!), followed by The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Those fulfill my YA picks.

 

Next on my list is a recommendation from a friend, so I got Homegoing and City of Thieves, both recommended by my sister.

 

Not necessarily planning on reading two for every category, but I just couldn't decide!

 

No. 5 on my list is a picture book. Ack! I read tons and tons of picture books to ds6, so I'm kinda not feeling this one. Any suggestions for something more adult, or at least something with really good writing and illustrations? Thinking possibly a biography or nonfiction, but open to anything.

 

Also on the lookout for a new epic fantasy, if anybody has a fave. I loved A Song of Ice and Fire and The Name of the Wind/Kingkiller Chronicle (and Narnia, natch -- see my siggy). I'm not a Tolkien fan.

For the picture book, how about something by Shaun Tan?

Shaun Tan Goodreads page

 

 

I have started a collection of wordless picture books, and The Arrival is one of my favorites. Maybe it is too close to a graphic novel (?).

 

Someone upthread told us about his new book, The Singing Bones, and it looks wonderful. (I forget who mentioned it, but I am grateful. I peeked at it in B&N last week. Stunning!).

 

ETA: oops, glossed over the nonfiction/biography request. We just got this one about Leonard Nimoy

Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy

Edited January 6, 2017 by Penguin

[DawnM]

I am now well into The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency on audiobook.  What a treat.  The accents are wonderful to listen to and I can't stop laughing.  I listen while I drive and I am sure the other drivers think I am off mental, but it is so funny.

 

So glad I started back to reading more.  I have not read a lot in the last 2 years.  Life just got in the way.  If I had pushed myself to do audiobooks last year, I could have done it, but I didn't.

 

I wish I could find an excerpt from this book for my English classes for next semester.  I may start looking.  

 

 

[Wheres Toto]

Okay, when I sorted my list of books read from last year this is what I came up with:

 

126 Total

98 with female authors (78%)

49 for specific categories

of those 32 were female authors (65%)

[ErinE]

I only wanted to hit a 50/50 split between men and women this year because I'm trying to explore new authors. I don't plan on reading many mysteries, YA, or romance (genres with a large woman author presence) and I was looking for more translated-to-English books in which, as Stacia noted, there are fewer women authors. It was more of a challenge for me personally.

I didn't like the portrayal of some women in Snow and 1Q84, two translated books I read recently. I felt like they were s*xual extensions of the men and not well-rounded characters, something I didn't experience reading Like Water for Chocolate, which is a more explicit book written by a woman. So I was left wondering was it a cultural disconnect on my part or was it a reflection of the men's cultural biases?

Edited January 6, 2017 by ErinE

[Butter]

Are Katherine Kerr's Deverry books considered epic fantasy? Those were also fun, but I read them a long time ago.

Kind of a total aside, but did you know Katharine Kerr has a Patreon people can contribute to to help with some significant monthly bills they have due to her husband having Alzheimer's.  She's been having trouble concentrating on writing because of the looming bills and stress of helping to care for her husband.  She has a contract currently for another book in the Deverry universe.  Anyway, I'd never heard of her until when Tony James Slater was on his way around the US he stopped in with her for a day or two.  She's his very favorite author ever (and she loaded him up on books while he was there).  And I learned about the Patreon also through Tony.   If anyone is interested, go to https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4574164

 

In the process of reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Angelou and For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway 

Ah, so you just stick with light reading.  :lol:

[theelfqueen]

I'm loving seeing some of my favorite books mentioned :) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is an all time favorite. I've read everything John Scalzi has published (Oldest Man's War and Red Shirts would be recommended entry points!) I really enjoyed Haldeman's Forever War.

Another big time favorite is John Varley.

I've read dozens of books on the early space program (anything Mercury to Apollo).

Yeah Outer Space would be the easiest topic for me...

 

I guess I should look at the bingo card;)

 

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Violet Crown]

A very chilly morning in Central Texas, with our totally inadequate heater failing to make a dent in the cold. So the girls and I are tucked into my bed - the cat determinedly staking out the foot - with our books (Great Girl with a math problem*), while dh laughs at us as Bryn Mawr in pajamas and heads off to work.

 

Our book choices: Hakluyt's Voyages; Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; Margaret Storey's The Dragon's Sister and Timothy Travels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*"Find a 9-digit number made up of the digits 1-9, ending in 5, which is a perfect square, or prove that no such number exists."

[fastweedpuller]

10 pages! 

 

ok so I am halfway finished with Norwegian Wood and I also am wondering when the other shoe is going to drop!!  maybe because it's (and you know it's) a reminiscence?  so *something* spooky or horrid this way comes?  And I checked '16 books and it's 60/40ish female/male.  Not intentionally except I doubt it would be a guy researching American Girls and Girls and Sex, but then again I wouldn't think it would be a woman writing about the Pentagon (How Everything Became War and War Became Everything)...and the social-consciousness books were  a mix of women and men (Evicted, $2 a Day, White Trash, Dreamland). There were quite a few authors whose sex I did not know until I intentionally looked it up (as in, their voice could be either).  I guess it's not a thing until it is a thing with me.

 

I am going to do the Bingo challenge this year too...but this year I admittedly want to read (way) less fiction, so I will approach things like Outer Space with Brian Green's The Fabric of the Cosmos and Ancient with SPQR and one-word title Tribe (hi, praririegirl!) and western with some Joan Didion (Where I Was From, a re-read, but excellent, about CA) or maybe Timothy Egan, on whom I have a huge crush....  I will have you all know though that Georgette Heyer is pegged for Flufferton!  whee!

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley. It was a good read but nothing outstanding. I preferred the historical story line, 18th century Russia and England, to the modern day one.

 

The King of Elfland's Daughter is on my list. I came across it a few weeks ago and put it on the tbr pile. Now the with the GR' Into the Forest' group it has a perfect place within my list for that.

 

Here's what William Butler Yeats has to say about the author... Lord Dunsany "who has imagined colors, ceremonies and incredible processions . . . has yet never wearied of the most universal of emotions and the one most constantly associated with the sense of beauty; and when we come to examine these astonishments that seemed so alien we find that he has but transfigured with beauty the commons sights of the world."        --William Butler Yeats

 

Rarified air up there but I'm intrigued. Plus it's only .99 as a kindle book.

 

Thanks for posting this! Lord Dunsany has been on my TR list, vaguely, ever since I read about him in a Michael Dirda "book about books" - I'm going to try this one this year.

 

All this outer space and I haven't seen my favorite author mentioned.  Does no one else love Ursula Le Guin?  I've been thinking it might be high time to reread The Dispossessed or The Left Hand of Darkness... but I think there are too many new things on my list his year.

 

The Left Hand of Darkness is one of my all time favorite books.  I will plug (again, I think?) Anne Leckie's Ancillary series for either sci fi or outer space.

 

I think I'll read either Dava Sobel's new book The Glass Universe, or Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space, or Hidden Figures.  Or all 3!

:grouphug:

 

Don't feel shame. I think your reaction highlights your extreme empathy & intelligence. And, you have read many other 'hard' books that face the harsh realities of life, our society, etc....

 

Thank you for saying that. I think it's hitting me especially hard after just finishing Stamped from the Beginning. We have such a long way to go, still.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Chrysalis Academy

[Lady Florida.]

Some of the outer space book suggestions are on my TR list (Rise of the Rocket Girls, Hidden Figures) but our fearless leader chimed in and said the setting must be in space, not just about space or space travel. 

 

It seems to me one of the In Death books was set in space - at a space resort or something. Robin or anyone else who reads this series, am I imagining things? I remember starting such a book but it had to go back to the library before I got very far, and I never borrowed it again.

 

I am now well into The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency on audiobook.  What a treat.  The accents are wonderful to listen to and I can't stop laughing.  I listen while I drive and I am sure the other drivers think I am off mental, but it is so funny.

 

 

 

I read the first one for a book club years ago. It seemed an odd choice for book club, but the person who chose it wanted to introduce the rest of us to one of her favorite series. I ended up enjoying it and read several more in the series. My library didn't have the rest so I didn't finish. I keep meaning to go back to it. I can imagine the audio book would be fun.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Some of the outer space book suggestions are on my TR list (Rise of the Rocket Girls, Hidden Figures) but our fearless leader chimed in and said the setting must be in space, not just about space or space travel. 

 

 

 

Oh, I missed that. Wonder why?  I'm looking at you, OOC thread!  

 

Does that mean on a spaceship? Or does a non-earth planet count as outer space?

[ErinE]

Can I suggest an interesting, but out-there outer space book? Catherynne Valente's Radiance is an alt-reality, sci-fi, mystery that bounces between Mars, the Moon, Neptune, Pluto, and Venus with silent pictures, time shifts, religious cults, and space whales. I read it early last year and loved the bizarre setting and Valente's voice.

Edited January 6, 2017 by ErinE

[mumto2]

Yes, space as in outer space, not of this planet, no air. Space beyond the atmosphere of earth. Can include climbing in a rocket and leaving our world or life on another planet or alien worlds.

 

For example

 

 

Beth Revis Across the Universe

Arthur C Clarke's Rama

Larry Niven's Ringworld

Robert Charles Wilson Spin and Axis

Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Following Robin I have moved several onto my watch list. Not sure what I will read because outer space is a stretch for me. Sort of funny because I have no problem with Vampires and Werewolves in a steampowered Victorian London.....alternative worlds fine. Time travel, love it! Anyway I have been watching the thread and peoples suggestions. I did end up with Redshirt on my potential list.

 

Speaking of time travel I finished my first bingo book, The Seventh Miss Hatfield. Prime number is done. I found this book on one of our lists a couple of months ago.....maybe a 5 best time travel you never read sort of list. It was an interesting concept and I totally enjoyed it. Two more in the series which I will definitely be reading. When I was looking in goodreads I saw it's labelled as YA and that is appropriate content wise. No problem letting a younv teen read this one. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25566211-the-seventh-miss-hatfield

[TravelingChris]

I read about 50% of books with female authors though I think it is a little higher because I haven't written down the books I read on my kindle during my vacation yet.  But of the books I had written down in 2016 already, it is exactly 50%.  I think normally I tend to read a bit more on the feminine side because it seems like more of the writers of mysteries are females and that is what I primarily read.  But I did read a lot of Tony Hillerman mysteries last year and thrillers, classics, and the non fiction I do tend to read are usually male authors.  

 

On another note, I am currently reading Death In Cyprus by M. M. Kaye (female) a mystery written in 1956,  One murder has already happened and the person was poisoned with a variation of a drug I was almost put on- pilocarpine.  It was pilocarpine nitrate which is used as eye drops for glaucoma and I was given a choice between pilocarpine hydrochloride and cevemeline for my then very dry mouth.  Since I recognized the drug, I decided to look it up as a means for murdering- like had anyone actually done it.  Apparently they had but all were in the early 20th century and I had to go deep into my google search to find them.  

[ErinE]

My local library just got rid of the Dewey decimal system. I don't know where anything is located... Subjects are still grouped together, but now it's harder to find books because the categories are so big.

[Butter]

My local library just got rid of the Dewey decimal system. I don't know where anything is located... Subjects are still grouped together, but now it's harder to find books because the categories are so big.

 

That's... weird.  I use the DDS all the time when looking for specific books on specific subjects.  I feel for the librarians who have to pull holds.  No Dewey Decimal could make it take much longer for them.

[ErinE]

That's... weird. I use the DDS all the time when looking for specific books on specific subjects. I feel for the librarians who have to pull holds. No Dewey Decimal could make it take much longer for them.

Nothing's in alphabetical order (neither author nor title). There's just large multi-shelf categories. I feel bad for those who must re-shelve the books, because it's a nightmare finding anything.

[Mom-ninja.]

 

Female vs. male writer ratio. I've always read way more male writers than female. In the past, I would say that I didn't really notice either way when selecting books. 

 

Same here. I don't pay attention to the gender of the author. I do not make any effort to read more female authors. I read what I'm interested in reading without considering authors' gender. 

 

However, I do very much pay attention and purposely try and go to female physicians when possible. Being a woman I prefer discussing my body with another woman, and I'm aware of how much harder a woman must work to become a doctor compared to men. Plus, a bonus is that my sons see a woman in a highly regarded and respected field when I take them to female doctors. 

 

 

 

You guys, I tried to read Underground Railroad, but I just can't. It's so brutal and horrible. And real, and true, and shaming. But I just can't. It makes me want to vomit and to just completely give up on the human race, that we could treat one another this way. I feel kind of ashamed at not being able to face it, but I just can't. I'm not running away from the reality, but I just can't take the images in my mind. 

 

I had a hard time reading Uncle Tom's Cabin and I'm sure the descriptions are tame compared to a contemporary piece about the same subject. 

 

 

Today is a turning out to be a bad day. Yet, I need to pull myself together and get school done with my kids. I need another dose of kickboxing later. 

[shukriyya]

 

 I enjoyed The Wind's Twelve Quarters and may re-read that as well. Le Guin and Lessing's Marriages of Zones Three, Four and Five will probably be it for me as far as speculative fiction...not my favorite genre. 

 

It's not my preferred genre either but I read Lessing's entire Canopus in Argos: Archives series and surprised myself by absolutely loving it. Looking over the GR reviews is an eye-opener. I'm amazed by how many people disliked this, found it plodding, dull, too dense...wow, I was enthralled by its brilliance, its vision, its creative muscle.

[JennW in SoCal]

 

ok so I am halfway finished with Norwegian Wood and I also am wondering when the other shoe is going to drop!!  maybe because it's (and you know it's) a reminiscence?  so *something* spooky or horrid this way comes?

 

After a long day on the road in the rain yesterday, I sat down to start Norwegian Wood then hardly budged til I finished it at midnight. I love this book! It touched me at a deeply personal level, the writing is brilliant, and the setting fascinating to me due to the stories I'm hearing from my ds who is teaching high school in Japan. I will write more when we are ready talk about it as a group.

 

And sorry if I muddied the bingo waters with my suggested reads for the "space" square. I'm a child of the 60s with a dad who worked on rockets in the early days of the space program and am fascinated by the stories of the men and women who never physically left this planet but whose lives were nevertheless spent in outer space. I'm also a fan of good sci-fi, though, so am loving the follow up suggestions! 

 

And a library with no Dewey Decimal System? Nor Library of Congress? That's just, well, dumb!! 

Edited January 6, 2017 by JennW in SoCal

[Matryoshka]

It's not my preferred genre either but I read Lessing's entire Canopus in Argos: Archives series and surprised myself by absolutely loving it. Looking over the GR reviews is an eye-opener. I'm amazed by how many people disliked this, found it plodding, dull, too dense...wow, I was enthralled by its brilliance, its vision, its creative muscle.

If you liked that, you may like Le Guin's Always Coming Home, which is an anthropological survey of a future, post-apocalyptic somewhat Utopian society.

[shukriyya]

Ds is kind of, sort of, following along. His goal is to read 52 books this year though he'll likely surpass that. He's finished two and is more than half-way through his third, Harpist in the Wind by Patrcia Mckillip. He was keen to offer his thoughts on these and, as a homeschooling mom, how could I discourage voluntary who lit crit. Hoping that's ok. He's familiar with some of you ladies from back when I was more active and I guess he feels a part of things via moi :D He wrote this up quickly last night and sent it to me to post...

 

Book 1: The first book I read this year was the recently published, The Reader Book 1 from the series, A Sea of Ink and Gold by Traci Chee. The premise of the book is that in the world of Kelanna reading doesn't exist. The story follows Sefia whose aunt is stolen away by a mysterious assassin. Sefia tracks the assassin as best she can while trying to learn more about the mysterious object she found, called a book. 

 

Wow, this book blew me away. Fantasy is one thing, this is another. The number of story lines, timelines, and characters the reader had to keep track of was quite large, but all those different stories made the book so compelling because you knew they had to connect in some way. The book is a mix of discovery, adventure, and intrigue. I am eagerly awaiting the next books in the series, and I won't forget this book for awhile. Anyone who likes fantasy will love this.

 

Book 2: I started The Riddlemaster of Hed series, stopped, and now am picking it up again. This was the second book as I reread the first one in 2016. The second book in Patricia McKillip's masterpiece is The Heir to Sea and Fire. This book follows Raederle, Morgon's sort-of fiancée as she tries to figure out what happened to Morgon. He disappeared a year ago on a journey to the High One, the Lord of the Realm, and hasn't been seen since. Throughout the story Raederle realizes her dangerous and powerful heritage, the same heritage that is, at that moment, attacking the realm. 

 

This book is quite different from the first book in the series. Although you can anticipate what happened to Morgon, a good portion of the book is spent with Raederle trying to figure out what you know. This is quite fun as it gives the reader a peculiar feeling of control and you rarely get this in books. Although I love this series, I would caution anyone thinking about reading it because for most of the first and second books and a good part of the third book, the reader isn't really sure about too much. The motives of everyone but the main characters are completely unknown, seemingly random events happen which later become important after you have dismissed and forgotten them, and even the main characters make actions that seem odd or even random at times. That said it is an amazing book, and I quite agree that it is on par with such writings like Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, both of which I have read and loved.