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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Here we go again folks.Welcome to the challenge.
In general I will probably be reading less this year,as I am doing a 100 book challenge on another site,so possibly I will only manage 40 books on here,but we'll see.
I do hope to finish up the Hugo and Nebula winners lists at last this year,and make inroads on the Locus winners too,but will be enjoying some vintage stuff,and latest outings from fave authors like C J Cherryh,Simon R Green etc
Maybe I will do a few WWEnd challenges at lower levels,but last year with its tough real life issues made doing massive challenges difficult and quite stressful,so I want to be more laid back this year.Having a 2 year old and a 11 months old great grandchildren is certainly putting a crimp in my reading | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Elizabeth Moon's Into the Fire is an amiable enough outing in the Vatta's Peace series. Returning as a hero to her home planet after hair raising adventures after her sabotaged space shuttle crashlanded and she had to keep her people alive should have been enjoyable. Yet someone has frozen all her assets,had her stripped of her citizenship,and all her people have been quarantined with a supposedly dangerous plague but in reality are drugged. Ky Vatta spends half of the book beseiged in the family home hiding some escaped members of her crew while preparing to rescue the rest, unmasking the cabal of enemies bent on destroying her family,and putting down an insurrection.Situation normal then for our Ky then.Pleasant enough read
I am working my way through the verbal pyrotechnics of Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union | |
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Veteran
Posts: 107
Location: scotland | I enjoy these great challenges. I will complete this as I have selected a low amount which is unfortunately my limit.
Got lots to start on though after the christmas holiday...lots to look forward to. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | finished Nora Roberts' Year One,about the aftermath of a plague that kills billions.Survivors have to fight their way out of the mayhem and violence of New York. Much darker,tense and violent than most of Roberts books.Also completed a manga by Clamp,X/1999:Sonatafor a challenge.Beautifully and romantically drawn.In fact,so elaborately decorative that it was almost impossible to make out what was portrayed! lol And the story was often hard to follow as I attempted to identify similar looking characters,unannounced plot flashbacks,and just plain weird events.I always feel that reading manga gives me a better brain workout that doing Sudoku!! | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | As ever I enjoyed the latest of Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter series.Archangel's Viper,light popcorn read,but good fun and refreshing after the bleak Nora Roberts Year One.
I am also having fun with Ben Aaronovitch's Lies Sleeping,I love the Rivers of London series.
As for the Yiddish Policemens'Union I am battling through it,wishing I had a Yiddish dictionary and a greater cultural connection with this alternate world where the Jewish homeland (temporarily,what else with the wandering people?) is in Alaska after the Israelis lost against the Arabs in 1948!. Loved the first half which was mostly a mystery story hardboiled style,but I am much less enamored of the latter sections with a preposterous sub plot about Jerusalem which I am finding a bit outre.the last 50 pages are going to finally unveil the murderer,and I think I can see where its going,but this whole submersion in the jewish themes is a bit too much for me. Looking forward to finishing it and claiming my 62/67 Hugo winner!
But for now I am reading a vintage crime novel and a charming 1956 Newbery medal winner | |
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Regular
Posts: 62
| Count me in again, albeit likely at a lower quantity than last year. I plan to knock off a couple of hefty series in 2019... I have already begun Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders and will continue into the rest of the Realms of the Elderlings series, (I read and enjoyed the first Fitz trilogy last year). The other series I have started into is Asimov's Robot Mysteries. The ones by Asimov will be re-reads while the others by Allen, Tiedemann, Irvine, and Reichert will be first-time reads. Robert Jackson Bennet's Divine Cities is also on the radar along with a number of stand-alones. Ok, maybe I will end up reading 40 Pick&Mix books again... 🤔 | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Hi ScoLgo,and welcome once again to the fray! Actually you are off to a great start already.
Good to see so many of the old guard back here again. And welcome to a newbie,Darthsweatervest. Now that's a name to strike fear into the the enemy. !!! You are off to a great start too.
I am a bit irritated because I have finished several books which dont count on WWEnd,manga and indie works, or authors not on WWEnd.Last year I really struggled to reach 80 books,whereas the year before I read over 110 books. So for the moment I am going to just set myself 40 books for the challenge
. Our Weesam will do that number in about 2 months!. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| I'm also in with the goal of 20 books. I also read indie authors which aren't on this site, that's why the low goal.
I started the year with two very enjoyable reads: James Lovegrove's "Firefly: Big Damn Hero" and Martha Wells' "Artificial Condition".
Lovegrove's novel is based on the TV-show Firefly and gets the characters and the setting. I'm eagerly looking forward to his next Firefly book which comes out in March.
Wells' novella was a fine continuation to "All Systems Red" and continues the adventures of Murderbot, the security android who just wants to be left alone and view the shows it likes. This time it is trying to find out what really happened years ago when it supposedly killed a lot of humans.
I just finished H. G. Wells' "The Time Machine". I enjoy time travel a lot (alas, just reading about it  ). In fact, many of my favorite stories have time travel, so it was time to read the first one. Unfortunately, I wasn't thrilled but I didn't hate it, either. Very idea focused story. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 273
Location: behind the 4th wall | I am reading Worlds Seen in Passing, an anthology of 40 of the best short stories published by tor, and am planning to use this challenge to track and rate each of the stories as I read them. I am reading one each Sunday so it's going to take me a good part of the year to complete them all. I'm enjoying seeing the artwork provided on WWEnd for each story (and wish that was included in the anthology!). I hope this is an acceptable way to use this challenge. Happy reading everybody! | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | It took some work to read the Yiddish Policemen's Union,which did finally tie all the disparate themes together.Intricate and rather sad,but certainly thought provoking.
I was happy to take delivery of C J Cherryh's Emergence,#19 in the Foreigner series. I usually complain about books being too long,but not with Cherryh,I was really wishing it was double its 360 pages. I dived into the story and didn't surface for 3 days.lol
I have just finished Connie Willis Blackout,far too long and repetitious for my tastes,491 pages than could have been easily trimmed down to about 300 pages . And its only half the story ,I need to read All Clear,another 640 pages,There weren't any egregious errors in the wodges of wartime info involved, Willis certainly did a lot of research,but the characters were cardboard,the dialogue bland,so it was all a bit meh to me.Anyway,that makes 63/67 Hugos,51/54 Nebulas completed!.No awards for All clear,but I need to read it to complete the story.The two books could have been edited down to one 600 page book.What is it with modern writers that they feel the need to produce 700 page plus books to feel worthy of winning awards! lol.
At least Willis was smooth and moved quickly,whereas I am struggling badly with Susannah Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I can barely managed more than 10 pges at a time,and its a monstrous 800 plus pages.. Stodgy and boring as far as I am concernedAs it is a multi award winner I keep on trying to grasp any underlying themes etc. I'm no historical novel fan,and adding a few magicians to an 19th century tale doesnt cut it for me at all.I get the feeling I am going to take months to read this,and its a chore,not a pleasure at all.
Much more fun for me is Simon R Green's horror/SF/country house murder mystery tale,Death Shall Come,#4 in the enjoyable Ishmael Jones series,I should finish it tomorrow.Aliens and ancient mummys complete with curses. What fun.
Edited by dustydigger 2019-01-28 4:34 PM
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Uber User
Posts: 613
Location: New Zealand | Actually, All Clear won three awards. Although this site isn't recording it as such, if you check out the actual awards for the Hugo, Nebula and Locus on their site (or pretty much any other site than this one), you will see the award went to 'Blackout/All Clear.' | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Thanks for the info,Weesam. I just finished All Clear this morning,it was quite a slog,but I got there in the end. I find Willis far too longwinded and repetitious,but her research was good for the most part. One minor irritation was her giving American titles for the Agatha Christie novels characters were reading.It would be rather unlikely that they would have access to Christie novels published in the US at that time. I suppose it was headsup for her American readers,but it grated a bit. The total 1103 pages could have been easily edited down to around 600 pages IMO,and would have been all the better for it. Willis did skillfully deal with the complicated time travel plot,but all in all the book was a bit too bland,and the frequent changes to character names was a bit irritating as well. Three star read is all I would rate it,but as I don't like historical novels,nor war novels,nor very long books,Willis was at a disadvantage with me from the start!!! lol.
At least reading Willis is fairly easy (if dull0 and I read it quite quickly,but I am finding Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell very hard going. indeed. And still 450 pages to go.....sigh...... I have been picking this book up and putting it down for months! | |
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| I read another classic: Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. I haven't had much luck with Verne's work but this one I quite liked, despite rather dated attitudes to women. It certainly had several fun moments, such as solving the encrypted message right at start and the characters' adventures underground. | |
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Member
Posts: 25
Location: Hitchin, UK | I hope you don't mind me chipping in Dusty, but I found that watching the BBC TV production of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell first actually improved the reading of the book; perhaps you can try to find that somewhere. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Ouch,ashamed to see I haven't been on here for over two months. Ill health,family crises have certainly made mayhem with my reading. Most of my reads have been crime and junior fiction.
February I read some of Murray Leinster's Medship stories,not too bad,but just middling.
Ursula K LeGuin's Powers was an OK read,but not a gleam of light,humour or happiness anywhere.Well written,but dark and depressing,oh so earnest and...well,worthy.Passionate about the plight of woman and slavery and so on.Le Guin certainly likes to hammer home the message. Sorry,but apart from probably the first 2 or 3 Hainish books I find her books too dry and earnestly issue based for my tastes. I read her books,about 1 or 2 a year,but as duty reads really.And I have never fancied rereading any of them.This book felt a bit like an anthropological description of various scocietal models!
I have a soft spot for the BDO subgenre,the Big Dumb Object or more politely the Alien Mysterious Megastructure.The 70s produced some of the most famous examples,Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama,Larry Niven's Ringworld,John Varley's Titan.
Bob Shaw's Orbitsville certainly depicts one of the biggest.A Dyson metal sphere 300 million kilometres across,built round a single star,equivalent in livable space to 5 billion earths! Now that's big! Inside however is is surprisingly dull,just endless savannah,millions of miles after millions of miles.. I did feel at times that Shaw could have been having a bit of a dig at the genre,especially the way they named the vast megastructure as Orbitsville! lol. But the writing didn't seem slyly satirical,so I had to look upon it as a standard,quite enjoyable adventure novel.It did have a rather bleak premise about the purpose of the BDO in the final chapter.But I couldn't feel much sensawunda,as ithe sphere was just too big to grasp,and yet very boring.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | March.
I read some Stanley G Weinbaum short fiction,starting with A Martian Odyssey.Back in 1964 it was voted as the second best SF short story to date by the SFWA. It has now slipped down to #42 on the SF Lists site. I would guess the somewhat cheesy humour and dialogue do it a bit of a disservice today,but it was hugely influential at the time - 1934. I suppose its a common fate. A new brilliant thing appears,everyone copies it,improves on it,and the next generation says ''looks pretty ordinary to me'' It did however save the alien contact genre from its Bug Eyed Monster,(BEM),reputation.It was pretty cool and unusual then to show aliens,OK,as very alien and incomprehensible,but intelligent and likable.
Sadly Weinbaum's career was tragically cut short.He published this story in mid 1934,and was dead of cancer within 18 months,aged only 35.
I was delighted to locate a Wildside Megapack of some of his most famous stories for the princely cost of 55 cents,(74p)Brilliant! :0)
Was very sad to hear of the death of Vonda Macintyre. I loved Dreamsnake and her Star Trek books
Finally got round to Karel Capek's R.U.R.,Rossum's Universal Robots,the source of course of the word robot ,Czech for ''forced labour'',though Capek's robots are more like androids than like Robbie the Robot. The whole idea must have been pretty alarming back in the 20s,and of course the play was very influential. The play itself is very brittle,full of twenties Bright Young Things and their sophisticated artificial dialogue,but the ideas are there,and are today more relevant than ever! Interesting.
In Charlie Stross's The Delirium Brief enemies have brought about the dismantling of the Laundry! Another fun episode of this enjoyable series. And a major and unexpected major plot development too for the next book.Cant wait to read it
Stross has a mighty poor opinion of the British government,as many of the Cabinet are infested with alien worms that will force them to carry out the wishes of an ancient evil creature.
Could do with such an infestation of Parliament at the moment,at least there would be a single focused course of action so something would happen with Brexit! lol | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Of course,the major news in March was that I FINALLY finished Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell!!!!
I will give credit to Clarke's skill in embedding magic into a realistic setting and time frame,and her description of landscape,especially magical places. and the weather, are excellent. But the characters are cardboard,I didn't care or like any of them except perhaps Mrs Strange.I liked the little vignettes highlighting Mr and Mrs Strange's rather charming and rather touching relationship,then she was disposed of summarly by the plot!
The language,purportedly Austenesque,is all over the place IMO. Some of the scenes between the fops Lascelles and Drawlight were strongly reminiscent of Congreve's Way of the World,(1700) then turned rather Victorian.(which era didn't start till 1837. For some reason many many reviews place the book as Victorian - over 20 years too early),often there is no particular language at all,with just some deliberately archaic spellings to try to make things look historical.
But the pace was tediously slow,there were too many diversions,and I never did see an overarching theme or reason for the book as a whole. If you are ambitious enough to produce a work of pseudo scholarship (all those footnotes!),I think it needs to have some real strong theme there,and I never saw it!Perhaps that magic is not a good thing? Hardly worth 850 pages.
Sorry,not my cup of tea.
I wonder if many of those people who adored it just felt relieved that here was something of literary weight and scholarship,to counteract the rather plebian (to academics)Harry Potter books.and equating it will Austen and Dickens is way overestimating its worth IMO
But here has to be something that made the book win 4 major awards and be nominated for four others. I seem to be too dim to see why! lol.
Anyhoo,free at last,and that made 64/67 Hugos,and 52/54 Nebulas completed! 
Edited by dustydigger 2019-04-28 11:27 AM
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Member
Posts: 25
Location: Hitchin, UK | Completed Cory Doctorow's Walkaway, which was a free book from the Tor,com book club.
I've not read any Doctorow before so wasn't sure what to expect. Initially I found this to be a book full of ideas with a loose fitting skin of plot to hold it all together but once the main conceit of walking away was established, the characterisation began to come forward so I felt more engaged with the protagonists and their lives
I wouldn't put this in a must-read category, but it is interesting as a bit of futurism. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| Congrats on finishing Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, dustydigger! I'm one of those weird people who liked it but I read it years ago, when it first came out, so I don't remember much about it. I was probably more patient when I was younger. 
It took me a long time to listen Neil Clarke's huge SF collection "The Final Frontier" even though I had read some of the novellas before. It was mostly enjoyable. However, the vast majority of these stories are about the relationships between the humans who are in space, rather than first contact or colonization which was supposed to be the theme. Some of them also explore the world that the explorers left behind far more than what they encounter.
I finished Greg Cox'a Q-Continuum trilogy. "Q-Zone" focused on Q's past rather than the TNG crew but "Q-Strike" was a good conclusion to the series. Still, it left me wanting more TNG.
I enjoyed V. E. Schwab's Darker shade of magic a lot. It has four Londons in different paraller universes and our hero can travel between them. The Londons are quite different from each other.
Another first in the series was Tanya Huff's Enchantment Emporium which was weird but rather enjoyable urban fantasy.
I also read the fifth book in Genevive Cogman's Invisible Library series, "the Mortal Word". It's a bit different in tone than the previous books because the main character Irene is investigating a murder. The murder of a human-shaped dragon which happened in the middle of a peace conference better mortal enemies (the Fae and the dragons). I throughly enjoyed it. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Well,the site seems to be steady at last.Not sure if we will ever get our missing posts back.and cant quite remember exactly which books I posted on here,or how mainy books should be added. I think my total for the challenge so far should be at least 25. I think its all a bit of a mess this year and I will just add books without really trying to do the challenge properly. We'll try again next year! Hopefully in the new updated version of the site.
So,I think I should just leave the early months mess behind and chart May and June.
May Reads. Not very many,because I was away on holiday in the USA for almost 2 weeks.
Andre Norton - Star Hunter. One of Andre Norton's excellent coming of age stories which she does so well. Her heroes ae always brave honourable and vulnerable. I am often very surprised at the hard situations,often very violent and dangerous,that she puts the young protagonists through. You can always be assured of an enjoyable fast paced adventure with Norton
Anne McCaffrey/Elizabeth Scarborough - Maelstrom.One of many collaborative, rather young adult styled ,rather bland books that just blur in my mind. Perfect holiday read though,on plane flights and sitting around in airports. Mildly enjoyable and forgetable,just whats needed.
Leigh Evans - the Dangers of Destiny. The wrap up novel of an urban fantasy series,pleasant,amiable and readable enough,a tangled tale of witches,fae,weres and the like.OK read,but the first two of the series were much better than the last
James S A Corey - Leviathan Wakes. HmmI just felt a little underwhelmed by this Hugo nominated book,first in the Expanse series set in a future where the solar system has ben colonised,and dierent political systems and factions have developed.Now something very alien and terrifyingly dangerous to mankind is being developed and misused by powerful politicians,with terrible loss of life. OK read,though too long,but I do long for the old impossibly optimistic Star Trek days when humans across the galaxy got on with it each other for the most part,and humans could take the moral high ground. All books these days seem to be about flwed people with often unreliable narrators and shady morals. Supposedly this is more intersting,grittier and more real than the old fashioned sort of heroes,but already it has all become so cliched and its lost its impact..I am an old dinosaurbut for the most part. I want to be able to identify with the heroes of stories and it can be quite difficult these day! lol .
I paid the ridiculous sum of 59 pence for the complete short stories of H P Lovecraft on my kindle. I've read a lot of HPLs stuff,so on holiday I just reread fave tales and filled in gaps of stories I had missed in the past. too, I was staying in a house on top of a hill in the Virginian forests outside of Roanoke(remember CROATOAN?)a mile from the road,1/4 mile from the nearest neighbour,no street lights,only forest all around.Very appropriate for reading these old weird tales. Wonderful stuff. I continued on with reding HPL all through June,and half reluctantly put him aside for a while,but doubtless I'll be revisting his eerie world again in October for Halloween .
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | I havent updated on this page for a long time. I kept wondering if the old missing posts would suddenly turn up,but its looking a bit unlikely,so I'll just continue
The Pick N' Mixers certainly seem to chugging along nicely,despite all the discouraging events of this year.Well doneAnn Walker,Elizabeth R,Paul Jamesand Abalone for completing their challenge. I just got to 40but will extend to 80,though not a hope of reaching that goal,its been a hard time in real life and the reading is downbut I'll keep on soldiering along.
I'll try to update my reads later today Time for cooking Sunday lunch!. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Didnt read much SF/F in June,I had a lot of catching up to do on other genres
Amanda Stevens The Awakening was the final book in the Graveyard Queen series . The Awakening,though the denouement seemed really slow in coming,and then was far too abrupt and a bit unsatisfying. But on the whole,as a taphophile,I have thoroughly enjoyed this series about a restorer of ancient graveyards.
I found Edgar Rice Burrough's Master Mind of Mars a little different from the earlier books in the series.When the original trilogy was 1st person ,with John Carter's point of view as a stranger on a different planet,I just accepted the nonstop fighting as necessary. Once we went on to other 3rd person narrators the brutality of some of the characters gave me pause,when there is no southern gentleman's charm around. I suppose its a clue to ERBs pulp origins. In the present book we are confronted with an evil doctor/scientist,and I couldnt avoid a shudder at my instinctive thoughts of Mengele and his callous cruelty in the camps,where knowledge is the be all and end all of his motivation. This nasty Barsoomian villain was depicted only 12 years or so before the real life Mengele did his ghastly experiments. .
Its all pulp nonsense,but lively exciting nonsense.I'm always happy to revisit Barsoom!
Oh dear......I was very disappointed with Rainbow's End. I really loved Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep,then wasnt so keen on its prequel A Deepness in the Sky.,and then I found Rainbow's End interminable,boring(I am so not into tech. I upset a lot of friends when I had the same reaction to Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash,so its obviously just not my sub genre,leaves me cold).
I found James S A Corey's first book in the Expanse series,Leviathan Wakes only OK,so was happy to enjoy Caliban's War a little better. but still wondering a bit as to why all the fuss abot the series. Oh well,lots of space flight,always a pleasure for me.I only read these two books as prep for reading theLocus award winning Abaddon's Gate.
Very disappointed by Abraham Merritt's The Moon Pool Started off great.Under the ruins of an ancient city is the door to an underground society. The first part apparently was a magazine short story,and was fine. Then it was expanded into a dull,turgid,longwinded,rather boring societies - underground tale with a cringemaking romance. It went on forever then suddenly ended very abruptly! Not amused.
ERB did a much better job 3 years later with his Pellucidar series
I had a lovely self-indulgent month reading Lovecraft,filling in on stories previously unread. I know many modern readers make a big fuss about racism in HPLs work,but reading through a mass of his stuff,ANYONE who is poor or ill-educated or of course female also fares badly. lol. Yep,only white, Anglo Saxon, university educated Protestant (unless they have lapsed to follow Elder Gods and the like) males pass scrutiny. But the grandiloquent prose,the fantastic descriptions of creepy landscape,and the whole doom ridden scenarios make you happily identify with these guys,diligently scratching away with their quill pens to warn us of the terrible hidden creatures lurking in the shadows,or are glub glubbing their slimy way up to the attic to kill them.Lovely stuff! lol.
Edited by dustydigger 2019-09-02 4:58 AM
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| I'm sorry for not posting my progress for so long.
Anyway, dustydigger, I too found the Expanse series a bit too gritty. While I (mosty) enjoyed Abbadon's Gate in February, I haven't read the next book, even though I have it. Master Mind of Mars is one of my favorites in the Barsoom series and I agree with you that Ras Thavas is a nasty piece of work.
I read S. A. Chakraborty's "City of Brass" which was very, very long and wordy tale in a world with Middle Eastern inspired folklore come to life. I enjoyed it a lot but unfortunately the second book in the trilogy "Kingdom of Copper" left me cold. Perhaps is was the newness of the setting which drew me in the first time. The third book isn't yet out and I honestly don't know if I'll read it.
Planet X by Michael Jan Friedman was quite fun. It's a cross-over of two of my favorite franchises, Star Trek (TNG) and X-Men. Most such cross-overs are usually either horrible or almost pure fanservice. However, this was a bit too short to give me all the character interactions I wanted, but it was still fun. (Come on, both Geordi LaForge and Nightcrawler are in the book but have only one scene together? And no scenes about Kitty Pryde and Geordi? Or Kitty and Data?!! At least Storm and captain Picard had a couple of short scenes.)
I listened two novellas from Aliette de Bodard: "On a Red Station, Drifting" and "Vanishers' Palace". Red station is space SF set in a space station in an Empire at war. But this is the story of the people struggling not in the front lines but behind, with little resources and spouses gone to war. It's also the story of two strong women in their own right but they loath each other. Vanishers Palace is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the main character is sacrificed to a dragon. Of course, the dragon turns out to be rather different than a beast. Very complex world-building.
Theodora Goss' "The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter" is probably the most unique and fun book I've read for this challenge this year. It's set in Sherlock Holmes' London and yes both Holmes and Watson appear but both are secondary characters. But the strange writing style guarantees that the reader will either love it or hate it because the characters critique the book while it?s written. This sounds like a cute or even charming style, and it is, at first. But ultimately, it robs the book of any tension. We know that the characters will not only survive the fight scene, they all become such good friends that they feel free to give snarky comments while reading the (presumably) first draft. It frustrated me at time but I got used to it.
"Rogue Protocol" from Martha Wells is the third in the wonderful Murderbot SF series. I recommend the whole series, it's lots of fun. But it's in first person so everything depends on how much the reader likes the voice of Murderbot.
"Till We Have Faces" by C. S. Lewis is historical fantasy and retells the story of Cupid and Psyche from the POV of one of Psyche's sisters. The gods are the only supernatural element in the story. I mostly like it, but the end got a bit too preachy for me.
"Ancestral Night" from Elizabeth Bear turned out to be the first in a new space SF series. It's about a small crew of space salvagers who encounter the relic of a previous civilization. One of the crew is a sentient AI. The main character is infected with an alien techological parasite. I liked it very much.
I've throughly enjoyed Becky Chambers' two previous space SF books. While "Record of the Spaceborn Few" isn't my favorite of the three, I very much enjoyed it. It doesn't have a plot really. Instead it follows five very different human characters for some years.
I thought about upgrading my challenge level but decided against it because I've got quite a few indie books to read. | |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 556
Location: Great Lakes, USA | I finished my 10 books before December 31! I have had so many time consuming things going on, that I haven't had as much time to read and am not sure that I will finish my challenges. I thought I had updated my progress when I was half done, but that post must have been deleted during the website problems.
The Stepford Wives - ok. I remember this being such a big deal when I was a kid. According to my mom, I wasn't old enough to read/watch this on tv. Perhaps it was better when it was first published.
Great North Road - Good. I like Peter Hamilton - always a good story. One thing I will always remember about this book was having to borrow the ebook from the library because the print in my paperback copy was so small, I could barely see it.
Death of a Clone - Good. Another murder mystery involving clones, but not as good as Great North Road.
Dogs of War - Excellent. Dog soldiers who learn to think for themselves. Really liked this one.
Voyage of the Dogs - Very good. Poor dogs left alone, but they figure it out.
Infinity's End - Good collection of short stories.
The Wolves of Winter - ok. I have been reading too many dystopian/end of civilization books lately. But, there was a dog in this book too. Lots of dog books this year.
The Last Dog on Earth - good. Another dystopian/end of civilization books, but from the perspective of Lineker, the dog.
The Halloween Tree - good for a kid book.
The Goblin Reservation - fun. I have yet to dislike a Simak book.
Looking forward to this challenge again next year!
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Congrats on finishing,Mervi and daxxh! I too completed my 80th book last month. sorry not to have been posting my comments on my reads as in the past - not been on here except to add books since September- as I thought everyone had diappeared into a black hole,a fitting end for a SF group! lol.
The core group of WWEnd stalwarts are still reading a LOT of books,but no one posts about them,and I got very discouraged about the whole site. We seem to be back to normal as far as the malicious ware busines,are adding huge numbers of titles to the site thanks to the marvellous efforts of the Uberusers,and as ever I find the info on this site very reliable,very informative,and I still love the lists as much as ever. But I often feel I am the only person around. I have had serious personal and health issues and so in discouragement I slacked off here.
I can only hope that a new year will see some improvement.
And will we EVER get our new look site,or that been given up.
I still intend to carry on with the Pick N' Mix next year,as i think it fulfils a need for a variety of readers. Perhaps I will get back on track with comments on my reads.. I have 6 SF books left on my TBR for the year,but reading time is drastically reduced because of Xmas. Still got all my shopping for 15 family members to do! EEK.
Here's hoping Santa provides me with some book tokens this year. Our library system has drastically reduced on all fronts,especially SF/F/UF stock additions. At least half a dozen of my fave series are no longer being bought by the library.
Latest disaster is the non-appearance of Charlie Stross's Labyrinth Index. Came out in 2018 still not a copy in sight at the library.Very annoying after the turmoil unleashed in The Delirium Brief ,I really really want to see how the new story arc will develope.
Nyarlet-Hotep,Elder God,crony of Cuthulhu,is now Prime Minister!.
Huh,got to be an improvement on the shower we have in Parliament already. An infestation of wriggly creature to make them all follow like sheep would be welcome indeed.. | |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 556
Location: Great Lakes, USA | Glad to see you back and commenting, Dusty. I, too, am a little disappointed in the lack of comments on this site. I used to get a lot of book recommendations from the comments, but not lately. Perhaps I shouldn't complain though, as I rarely make comments myself.
I will be back for this challenge next year. It is where I put the books that don't fit in any other challenge. Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to all! | |
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Member
Posts: 43
Location: Chicago, IL | I've seen bits and pieces here of people talking about how dead the forums are. I would love to participate more but often don't know what to say, since most of the topics seem stagnant. It's hard for newer users to get involved, as well as discouraging to older users. I was trying to think of things that might boost activity, especially since there are so many people who are active in the RYO and with adding and reviewing books. What has worked in the past? Why do you think things have died out here? | |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 556
Location: Great Lakes, USA | It seems like a lot of the people who used to post a lot are no longer on the site. Some are now uber users, so maybe they focus more on projects now instead of discussing what they have read. The site problems a few months ago made things worse.
Various people used to start a thread at the beginning or end of a month to ask how people were doing with challenges. That died out as few would respond. I jumped over to Library Thing to get more book recommendations as there is some discussion there, but I prefer this site since I read a lot more science fiction than anything else.
There are a lot of new people and a lot of Challenge participants. I am surprised that there aren't more discussions and comments. Maybe no one wants to start a thread that gets no responses.
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Uber User
Posts: 456
| Hi Dusty! As in previous years, I used your challenge to show my favorite reads of the year, although this year, I couldn't limit it to just ten reads, so I went to twenty! I'm another who's not good about posting feedback, but if you (or anyone!) want some feedback on any of these, just let me know. Cheers, and hoping you're having a good holiday!
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Oops! Havent been on here for weeks,so I missed THREE replies. Cant moan about nobody posting,when I too am an offender! lol.Family dramas,ill health,and then manic preparations for Xmas in only one week before the big day did not help. And I only read a couple of the genre this month,so barely visited to add the books.. But I was happy to complete my Pick N' Mix 80 reads.,and completed all the Hugos and Nebula winners up to 2017.
In 2020 I will try to read some Hugo nominees,I've only read 150/319 titles,a long way to go! .And some good oldfashioned pulpy classic reads from the 50s and 60s.Sounds good.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Daxxh made some good points above about why people have gone away. As for the uber users,they are doing magnificent work adding books to the site,but I do miss the interesing reviews and comments from members like Rhondak,Scot Laz and many others.
I think I will start up the ''What are we Reading?'' monthly thread again. Cant believe how long ago it was that I set up that thread,June 2012,a,few weeks after I joined WWEnd Wow,does time fly! Then I had my stroke end of 2013,and Justified Sinner and Badseedgirl kindly carried it on for a good while,up to the end of 2015.Then WWEnd began its slow depopulation.
True,there are unlikely to be many posts,but a surprising number of people read the posts,so that cant be bad. Its very disheartening to come on site and find nothing new on the forums,when people are beavering away on their challenges. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Hi Jess Leigh,thank you for commenting. Hope you do the Pick & Mix next year,and come and join. in. Anyone is very welcome to talk about any of my posts,even if you disagree with me! lol. Sometimes this year I have got very discouraged with the lack of comments,but I honestly think people got out of the habit of posting during all the problems and uncertainty. but I enjoy giving a snapshot of my reading.
We could all make visiting WWEnd a new years resolution,and rebuild the site bit by bit.
The next few days I am building up my book lists for 2020. I keep changing my reading direction. One minute I want to read lots of old classic SF,then I think I should try to complete some of the lists I have been slogging through for years,or pick a particular genre and read lots on a topic,or trying to push my way through some of the mighty tomes I am avoiding,or fill in gaps of some favourite author's output.
So many books,so little time! 
Edited by dustydigger 2019-12-28 5:16 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Engelbert,thanks for your post. good to see you were impressed by so many books this year.
I know nothing about almost every book on your list.Only Anderson's Feed is on my TBR for 2020.
I see that both you and Jess Leigh both enjoyed Ann Leckie's Raven Tower. I am not much of a fantasy fan,and wasnt a huge fan of her Ancilary sequence.SF,so I wont be searching it out o buying it but if I do seeit in the library I may take a punt at it.
Hope 2020 will be another good reading year for you. .. | |
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Uber User
Posts: 456
| Dusty, You really should try something by Ted Chiang or Greg Egan - both fabulous writers, and just about the most thoughtful writers out there.
Chiang's been writing for twenty years, but only has two collections out (no novels), but practically every story he writes is nominated for/wins some award or other. Egan is hard, HARD SF, which may or may not be your cup of tea, but he grapples with the science in science fiction like no one else. Theory of Bastards is another I'd recommend to you - it incorporates a lot of well researched, cutting-edge real-world science on primate behavior, much of it eye-opening. Hope I'm not doing too much damage to your next years reading plans! Every December, I put together a spreadsheet list of books to read in the coming year, but every year, it seems like I never get to even half of them!
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | Hi engelbert,thanks for the recommendtions.Sadly Chiang isnt in my library,nor Theory of Bastards,but Egan's Orthogonal trilogy,Diaspora,Schild's Ladder,and Permutation City are all still in stock.so I'll keep an eye out! .
You cant do damage to my reading plans,I usually pencil in about 50 SF books for the year as my must read or basic list,and then add on others by serendipity from WWEnd lists to make up my 80 Pick & Mix. So there is always space for something. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 107
Location: scotland | I enjoyed all the books I read this year. Highlight was Imajica such an immersive book I found also Midnight Tides probably the best fantasy world and series I have read so far.
I agree I would like to see more on the forum. I stopped apart from the odd comment simply because I realised I wasn't good at writing, I struggle to get things from my head to paper or computer. However I enjoy reading all the comments posted and get a lot of inspiration for new books or If i am in a bit of a reading slump this site always cheers me up.
I do like giving regular updates on books Im reading and new books i have bought. So a thread like this sounds great for me to post more. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Paul,I dont seem to be able to bring myself to read Clive Barker. I read Abarat,and found it too frentic,overloaded with events and detail to a ridiculous extreme. I was exhausted before I finished it.lol.I have had his Weaveworld unread on my kindle for over 3 years as a result.Am I sensing a similar sort of vibe with Imajica as with Abarat,or is it betterpaced and constructed. I'll keep it in mind anyway. Thanks | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | So our 2019 challengeends. Thanks to all the participants,many of whom completed their challenges,and several more got very close.
Our best result ever,783 books read! YAY.And that in the face of difficulties,so very well done.indeed.
Hope to see you all again in 2020. Its such a flexible challenge.As long as you can manage 10 books in a year,you will succeed!
Cant believe 2020 will be year six for the RYO challenges.
Edited by dustydigger 2019-12-29 5:50 AM
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Pick & Mix 2019 challenge