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General Discussion -> Roll-Your-Own Reading Challenge | Message format |
Weesam |
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Uber User Posts: 613 Location: New Zealand | I am enjoying this challenge. It lets you do a nice mix of books I can't fit in anywhere else. All the 'just because I want to read it' books, rather than the 'fit a theme' books. And having 40 books to read is a good number. 12 books is never enough as I have so many books I want to read. Edited by Weesam 2015-03-29 3:19 PM | ||
dustydigger |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 1031 Location: UK | That's why I started this last year,to have plenty of leeway. Some people have limited time for books and 12 on one topic could be a stretch. WWEnd have helped enormously this year by the reading levels. I enjoy looking down the members list,which has diverse and interesting books.. I did think of extending the top level to 50 books,since it IS the whole sweet shop.but probably only you and I would reach that,so I left it at 40! | ||
Weesam |
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Uber User Posts: 613 Location: New Zealand | Ha, yeah, I am aware I am a bit obsessive when it comes to the levels. I have to go for the higher one no matter what. Fortunately I don't need to do things like watch TV or eat or sleep or go out and socialize, so I have plenty of time for reading! | ||
dustydigger |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 1031 Location: UK | My kitchen/diner ,where my computer and preferred reading space is, was remodelled 4 years ago,the radiator was moved,and there was no longer any space for the TV stand. My husband uses the livingroom TV for nothing but news and documentaries,so I now watch minimal TV,and dont miss it a bit. I might not go out to socialize,since I have been almost housebound for the last few years with a stroke and arthritis,but I have a big family who live nearby and are popping in and out daily. They are used to me reading so i dont have to fully engage with them,bit I do miss some valuable reading time! When my granddaughter was only 18 months old,she noticed for some reason that I had left my book over on another chair and solemnly brought it over to me. Nana and her book ten feet apart? Inconceivable. So in spite of all the interruptiona i normally read 12-16 books a month. However,only about 8 of them are SF/F,as i am eclectic in my tastes. Still,since I joined WWEnd for all their lists - I am a listaholic,I no sooner see one than I want to read all the books on it - I am finally making some inroads on the Hugos and Nebulas lists,but not doing so well on fantasy and horror. But I have a long way to catch up with Englebrecht. Serves me right for being away from the genre for decades,or I would try to give him a run for his money! :0. But you and I seem to be on quite similar levels in the stats.Watch out,I'll be treading on your heels soon! Edited by dustydigger 2015-03-31 4:00 AM | ||
spoltz |
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Uber User Posts: 370 Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA | Ha, I just realized the challenge was expanded to multiples of 10 up to 40 :-D Now I can throw a lot more books into this challenge, as I'll probably read at least 40 this year. I'm going to focus on books that don't fit the other challenges first, but will probably end up throwing almost everything in. I added Zusak's I Am The Messenger and The Book Thief to WWEnd. They appear in the ISFDB, which is kind of our reference, but probably lie better in the category of speculative fiction than actual SF or Fantasy. I read Messenger for my SF bookclub's April pick. I liked it, but I didn't get the main character's motivation. And though the ending seemed to make the everything rational, it still seemed to me that there was something supernatural, perhaps urban fantasy-ish about it all. And despite the main characters' heavy use of alcohol and the main character's obsession with lack of sex, it definitely has a YA feel. I've posted a full review for the book on my blog and the extract here in WWEnd. | ||
spectru |
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Veteran Posts: 144 Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA | spoltz - 2015-03-31 11:19 AM I added Zusak's I Am The Messenger and The Book Thief to WWEnd. They appear in the ISFDB, which is kind of our reference, but probably lie better in the category of speculative fiction than actual SF or Fantasy. I read Messenger for my SF bookclub's April pick. I liked it, but I didn't get the main character's motivation. And though the ending seemed to make the everything rational, it still seemed to me that there was something supernatural, perhaps urban fantasy-ish about it all. I've read both of these Zusak books and found both excellent. I wouldn't have considered either of them to be in the fantasy genre. But then I wouldn't consider Gone Girl to be in the horror genre, and it's here. | ||
dustydigger |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 1031 Location: UK | Status report end of March. Participants - 13 Books read - 75 Reviews - 42. Very good progress. A few people need to adjust their levels,but all in all we are doing great! | ||
spectru |
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Veteran Posts: 144 Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA | Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear The only other Greg Bear I've read is Blood Music. It was okay; Darwin's Radio is much better. I heard an abridged audiobook version. It did seem occasionally that people knew things that hadn't been mentioned and occasionally there was a character who seem to just appear out of the blue, but if I hadn't known it was an abridged version, I probably wouldn't have noticed. Stefan Rudnicki did a fine job in narrating except for the voice of Marge Cross. She is describes as talking something like Julia Child - Rudnicki doesn't do a great Julia Child. I'm tempted to read the sequel. There were a couple of time near the end when I had a strong sense of de ja vu, but I'm sure I haven;t read this before. I read a lot of SF in the 70s and much of that has drifted into the fog of memory, but this was published in 1999. Edited by spectru 2015-04-01 6:06 PM | ||
spectru |
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Veteran Posts: 144 Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA | The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang This is Ted Chiang's most recent book, and at 150 pages his longest. I think I've read nearly everything else he's published, which is a small body of work. Chiang's stories are special; They're different, original. His writing is carefully and skillfully done. I'm a little surprised he isn't more widely acclaimed. Edited by spectru 2015-04-01 8:07 PM | ||
dustydigger |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 1031 Location: UK | I have had a great reading week this week. First I completed Leigh Brackett's excellent Long Tomorrow,about a post nuclear war world where,out of fear of rebuilding the technology that brought about the world's ruin,laws have been passed to limit the size of communities,and the total block on scientific development,as the people live like the Amish,and live in total fear and hatred of tech,to the point of stoning any tech advocates to death. But rumours persist that somewhere there is a place where people can learn and build the old world. Two young men,stifled by the straitjacket life of rural farming and thirsting for knowledge go in search of th town. Beautifully written,with sympathetic characters and a fast moving plot,this is certainly worthy of a place in the SF Masterworks series. What I enjoyed most was the even handed approach to the problems of knowledge and what do do with it. Brackett actually has the main young protagonist be totally conflicted within himself as to whether man should follow knowledge wherever it leads,or should stifle or destroy it. Bracket leaves that pretty much open,and I ended the book haunted by the thought that the young hero would never be happy. Haunting and thought provoking,a classic. Then it was on to Redshirts,John Scalzi's amusing metafiction,full of wry affectionate sly digs at Star Trek. Some crew members on a spaceship where every time there is an away mission someone diescome to realize that they are actually expendable extras in a badly written TV science fiction series,and contrive to go back and change the series narrative. I know many people didnt like this book,but I am a sucker for metafiction.and loved allm the digs ar Star Trek.Learning at the end that Scalzi was a writer on Stargate was just the cherry on the cake. Great fun! And i also finished Theodore Sturgeons debut novel,The Dreaming Jewels,an rather bizarre book leaning towatds horror,rather like a less poetic harder Ray Bradbury. Bradbury,by the way looked upon Sturgeon as a model or mentorto follow,as did Harlan Ellison and Samuel Delaney. I found this unusual book , set mainly in a carnival fascinating and intense. I never quite knew where the book would go next as the hero who turns out to be non human. Yet another enjoyable read in the 1950s SF challenge. | ||
spectru |
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Veteran Posts: 144 Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA | dustydigger - 2015-04-02 3:35 PM Then it was on to Redshirts,John Scalzi's amusing metafiction,full of wry affectionate sly digs at Star Trek. Some crew members on a spaceship where every time there is an away mission someone diescome to realize that they are actually expendable extras in a badly written TV science fiction series,and contrive to go back and change the series narrative. I know many people didnt like this book,but I am a sucker for metafiction.and loved allm the digs ar Star Trek.Learning at the end that Scalzi was a writer on Stargate was just the cherry on the cake. Great fun! . Redshirts is on my reading list. I knew about the Star Trek allusion, but nothing else about the book. The only other Scalzi I've read is his Old Man's War, which I thought was pretty good. So now I'm looking forward to Redshirts. I vaguely remember seeing a TV show or a movie that had a similar theme. A Star Trek-like TV show cast (starring Tim Allen, I think) that thought they were actually on a mission battling real bad guys | ||
spectru |
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Veteran Posts: 144 Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA | When my wife and I go on a road trip, I check out audiobooks on CDs from the library and then she picks the one we listen to. She likes Neil Gaiman books, read by Neil Gaiman, Toady we listened to Stardust, written by Neil Gaiman, read by Neil Gaiman. It's standard Gaiman fare. It was pleasant, but unremarkable. | ||
spectru |
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Veteran Posts: 144 Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA | At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft This was the first Lovecraft I've read though I was familiar with his name. At the Mountains of Madness is billed as a horror story, I think because that is what Lovecraft wrote, but I would put it squarely in the science fiction genre. It dragged, and wasn't particularly horrifying, though it was obvious that Lovecraft tried to make it so. I must say that I was somewhat disappointed. | ||
dustydigger |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 1031 Location: UK | Mountains of Madness is rather slow,I admit,and the trek though the tunnels seems interminable! And giant penguins seem a little amusing rather than awesome! lol. I much prefer Lovecraft's shorter fiction. Are you familiar with the Lovecraft Archive at www.hplovecraft.com ? Its a website with all his work free online,and I am steadily working my way through his stories. They are not so much horror stories in the modern gruesome sense as weird fiction. I love to settle down on a winter afternoon in a cozy room with a cup of hot chocolate,and revel over the grandiloquent prose and read about nameless creatures from the depths of space driving men to madness. Love it.I particularly like The Color out of Space. Not to everyone's taste,but Lovecraft is still massively influential right up to today. | ||
daxxh |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 556 Location: Great Lakes, USA | I have been delinquent in writing my quick reviews for this challenge. A lot of the books that I've read for this are books published in 2014 didn't fit in the 2014 challenge. (I love having access to current books and not having to wait for them to come out in paperback or wait to buy them used. Thank you, Library!) The Pretender Book 1 Rebirth - This book is a typical tv spinoff type book. It was a fast read and if you liked the tv show, you will like this book. The Best Science Fiction Stories of Clifford D. Simak - an excellent collection of Simak's stories. There wasn't a bad one in the lot. I recommend this one. The Graveyard Game - Book 4 in Kage Baker's Company series. This was best of the series so far. I much prefer the books where Joseph is the main character as opposed to Mendoza. There are a few more details in the conspiracy that Joseph uncovered in Book 2 and he and Lewis are paying the price for having pried too much to find out what happened to Mendoza. I am looking forward to Book 5. City - I liked this one, although it seems that a lot of people didn't. I have liked everything I've read by Simak. And I'm sure my enjoyment of City had something to do with the two little dogs lying on top of me while I read it. Alif the Unseen - a coming of age tale about someone who was a little late coming of age. Alif, the main character, is an adult hacker who still lives with his mother. This was a fun story as Alif gets caught and ends up in an adventure with the djinn. I liked the book, but not as much as others. Although I feel that it's worth reading, I wouldn't consider it as the best book of the year. The End of the Sentence - this novella was one of the few horror pieces that I've read in years. There was a lot of mythology in this book, and I'm sure I would have enjoyed it a lot more had I been more familiar with it. It reminded me a bit of Children of the Corn, which I found very creepy as a kid. The Goblin Emperor - I almost didn't finish this. The constant descriptions of clothing, changing clothing, and proper manners made this very boring for me. It got such good reviews and was nominated for the Nebula and while I was trying to read it, for the Hugo, so I gritted my teeth and plowed through it. The last third of the book was actually pretty good. I guess the author figured the readers had enough instruction in court protocol and dress that she could get on with the story. The Goblin Emperor is a character driven book. Maia is a likable character who matures and learns a lot about his fellow elves and goblins. Had this story not been so dull during the first two thirds of the book, I would say that it deserves its nominations. As it stands, I don't think so. | ||
spectru |
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Veteran Posts: 144 Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA | Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne I imagine this was well received when it was written 150 years ago. It was cutting edge science fiction, when science fiction wasn't an established genre. I found it a little outlandish and sometimes even silly, but an entertaining read. | ||
spectru |
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Veteran Posts: 144 Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA | Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie I'm about halfway into this book. It's complex and intense. It's basic concept takes awhile to get accustomed to. I won't explain it here - at this point there are 35 reviews of the book here on WWE. It puts me in mind of The City & The City by China Meiville. Not that its story is similar; it's not at all - but that its concept is so unfamiliar, original, different, that it takes concentration to grasp it. The prose is dense; I sometimes find myself rereading a sentence or a paragraph to get the meaning of it. Here is a little oddity: Our narrator frequently comments on the length of time a speaker pauses in conversation, 3 seconds, 6 seconds. I just found it curious. Perhaps it is to convey her Commander Data-like personality. I jumped the gun in posting this here - I am still far from finishing the book. It would make for a good discussion. Edited by spectru 2015-04-17 10:02 PM | ||
spectru |
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Veteran Posts: 144 Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA | Now I have finished Ancillary Justice. It is intense and compelling, except for one segment, a bit after halfway through, where it drags. This is my main complaint about an otherwise terrific book. After the main characters get to the palace station and before they meet the Lord of the Radch, the story bogs down in the nuances of the etiquette of the culture. Aside from that one part, the story keeps one reading. Up until that point the chapters alternate between the present story line and a parallel story nineteen years earlier, a story of political intrigue and treachery, that explains how the protagonist finds herself in in her current situation. The feminine pronouns she and her are used by the protagonist and those speaking in the Radch language, where gender is ambiguous. This is, I suppose, an innovative treatment of gender, but it seemed odd, sometimes when the protagonist would refer to a character as she and someone from a different culture would refer to that same character as he. Regardless of this, I pictured most of the main characters, including the protagonist, as male, and others as female. Frankly I found this quirk of the novel to be just slightly annoying, and I think I would have preferred the conventional treatment of gender. | ||
dustydigger |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 1031 Location: UK | I personally am struggling with Ancillary Justice. When I read about a''inventive and intelligent space opera'' and ''a bold new voice'' I had such high hopes,but I am finding it slow,dry and heavy going. I am hoping it will finally get up a head of steam,but meanwhile I read for what seems a long time,then discover I have only covered 10 pages. Mind you,I am on painkillers,am a little dizzy and nauseous from them,so I may be not be at optimum mental level to appreciate the book,but I am unashamedly from the old school of SF,willing to put up with clunky or pedestrian prose for the sake of a good story,full of fast paced action and sympathetic characters.. Philistine I am maybe,and a bit impatient with issue driven books,but still I am with Hamlet,''the tale's the thing''.and so far this tale aint gripping me,and so called fine writing doesnt cut it for me! Oh well,only 300 pages to go,it MUST start heating up soon! About the gender thing,I am only so far in,so when I keep seeing ''she'' in a generalized phrase,I just assumed it was a feminist sort of thing,you know,when a statement could use the phrase ''he or she'' but finds it clunky,doesnt want to use the term ''they'',and shortens it to either ''he'',the usual older style, or ''she'' in more modern,feminist books? Told you I was only seeing this book through a medicated daze ( my bone graft op on my knee seems to be going south,I have developed a hollow above the knee!). Think I should abandon the book for a while,and try again next month! Edited by dustydigger 2015-04-19 1:24 AM | ||
dustydigger |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 1031 Location: UK | Hi Daxxh,I am so glad you are enjoying Simak so much,I was delighted to get hold of Way Station and Time is the Simplest Thing in one of those SF Gateway omnibuses from Gollancz,so thats 1961 and 1963 wrapped up for the Defining Books challenge. Now if only I could locate Ring Around the Sun and City,my Simak shelf would be sorted! | ||
dustydigger |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 1031 Location: UK | Because of the knees,I cant be on the computer long,so I have fallen far behind with reviews. Not that i do proper reviews,I am in awe of some of the great in depth reviews I see here on WWEnd.I have no skills whatsoever in that area,(feel as if I am back at school!) the most I can achieve is a sort of ''mood piece'',a quick snapshot of what caught my admittedly lightweight mind as I was reading .Maybe later in the year I can catch up a bit. I have actually read very very little this month so far for me.what with real life issues,but I did read and enjoy Terry Pratchett's follow up to Going Postal - Making Money. This time Moist Von Lipwig has been coerced by the Patrician into taking over the national Bank. Its a fun book,with typical Pratchett social satire couched in wryly humorous asides,but I didnt find it as riveting as the hilarious Going Postal. However,we saw a lot of one of my favourite Pratchett characters,the Patrician,someone who makes Macchiavelli look as straight as innocent as a lamb. . Pratchett himself said that he saw Alan Rickman as the perfect Lord Vetenari,and I that that is so brilliant,I now see Rickman,so smooth,so debonair,so devious,whenever I read the books. How sad we wont have anymore of Terry's wonderful bonkers characters. Such a sad loss. I also completed Murray Leinster's rather odd Forgotten Planet,where 40 generations ago a survey spaceship crash landed in a world full of gigantic insects,and they descendants of the survivors have degenerated into scavenging savages. Very peculiar,with a lot of dodgy science - eg they have almost forgotten language entirely,their vocabulary has reduced to only a few hundred''labials'',and they have even forgotten the use of weapons entirely,and dont even have fire. Very odd,but its fun seeing the ''monsters'',just ordinary insects living in the normal way. The young hero rediscovers the use of weapons,and contact is made at the end with the outside universe,but it is a bit of an oddity among Leinster's usual space opera sort of stuff. Still,I found it more engaging than Ancillary Justice. Really will have to clear the head and re-engage with that next month. lol. | ||
Rhondak101 |
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Uber User Posts: 770 Location: SC, USA | Dusty, I had the same struggles with Ancillary Justice. Too long, too overwritten, not enough to keep me entertained. I thought that the last 100 pages were better than the earlier parts, but I've read reviews that say the opposite. I am glad that I finished it, but the next two will have to pass me by. There was an announcement recently that Leckie has signed a two-book deal. One of them is set in the AJ world; the other is not. I might give her non-AJ setting a try. I'm not sure if I didn't like HER writing or if I didn't like the parameters that she set for herself because she was having to speak through the voice of an AI-character. Read on and feel better, Rhonda | ||
Rhondak101 |
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Uber User Posts: 770 Location: SC, USA | @spectru--It is funny. I liked the part that you said bogged down. And I saw the AI as a woman (Uma Thurman in a Kill Bill sort of way). I saw Seivarden as male and Awn as female. I was not sure about Awn's lover. I do like the fact that we "see" it differently even though I didn't like the book that much. The more that I'm thinking about it--especially in reference to what you said about the length of pauses--I think Leckie hampered herself by having the AI be the narrator. One of the things that drove me crazy was Brecq's descriptions of her facial features--"I raised my left eyebrow to show concern." I know what Leckie was trying to accomplish, but the repetition of similar sentences was annoying. Rhonda | ||
spectru |
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Veteran Posts: 144 Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA | Again Dangerous Visions, by Harlan Ellison Once, I really liked short stories, but now, not so much, I guess. Or maybe it was just these particular short stories. I read Dangerous Visions not too long ago and it was okay. I got Again, Dangerous Visions mostly because it contained Ursula K Le Guin's novella The Word for World is Forest, which is wonderful. But on the whole, Again, Dangerous Visions missed its mark. It took me a long time to read this book, about four months. It seemed I just couldn't take it on a continuous basis, so would read a story or two between novels. Ellison wrote an introduction for each author's story. I found myself skipping many of these introductions. There were several good stories, a couple of gems, stories by some famous science fiction writers, and some not so famous. There are a few memorable stories in this collection and many forgettable ones. I've already forgotten them. | ||
spectru |
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Veteran Posts: 144 Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA | The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu Here are some random thoughts, that probably make more sense if you've already read this book: -- I thought it was very interesting to see the dystopic cultural revolution through the eye's of a present day Chinese author. --It was never really explained why scientists were committing suicide. --Why didn't Shi arrest Pan at the first Three-Body game meet-up, for the murder of Shen? --Why wasnt math prodigy Wei's outside-the-box solution of the three body problem ever tested? It seemed to become immaterial and just fell by the wayside of the story. --The Three-Body game was full of self inconsistencies, but then, of course, it was just a game. --Ye had a fever dream about three suns before she knew anything about Trisolaris and before the three-body game. --The end of the book, the dimensional unfolding of protons by the Trisolarians, was just too bizarre. | ||
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