Kathi’s Comments (group member since Mar 31, 2009)

Kathi’s comments from the Beyond Reality group.

So interesting to read these comments… I found The Hobbit, or There and Back Again a bit simplistic, even when I read it back as a teen, but loved The Lord of the Rings trilogy. And as an adult, I’ve read all 4 books a couple times & loved them all.

I had started The Strange Nation of Rafael Mendes by Moacyr Scliar at the end of August, so I’m finishing that before tackling New York 2140 for our September SF BotM and Farilane by Michael J. Sullivan for a different Goodreads group.

Kateblue wrote: "Loved The Raven Scholar

Am also reading (most with other groups)

The Book That Broke the World
Shroud
Automatic Noodle
[book:K..."

Shroud is one of our October BotM choices—you’ll have a head start on that one!

I must be an awfully uncritical reader. While not every book lives up to its hype (usually because the hype is pretty unrealistic), I rarely feel let down or disappointed.

Having said that, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver was a 1 star read for me. I just didn’t see what others thought was so amazing about it. From what I recall, I didn’t like any of the characters & the story didn’t seem to affect me the way it did so many other readers. However, I didn’t feel let down or disappointed. I went into it with an attitude of curiosity, to see what the buzz was all about, but not necessarily expecting great things.

Have you finished reading The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson? What did you think of it? Likes? Dislikes? Strengths? Weakness?

Spoilers OK here!

Have you finished reading New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson? What did you think of it? Likes? Dislikes? Strengths? Weakness?

Spoilers OK here!

I will be reading this book sometime during September. Right now I’m trying to plan the order of my books for this month.

Ah, September! Here in the upper Midwest, we are moving into autumn (my favorite season, although I love all of them). Here’s what we’re up to at Beyond Reality:

Books of the Month - For September, you selected:

—September 2025 Science Fiction: New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
—September 2025 Fantasy: The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

We also have our schedule set for the next couple of months:
—October 2025 Science Fiction: Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
—October 2025 Fantasy: The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie
—November 2025 Science Fiction: Neuromancer by William Gibson
—November 2025 Fantasy: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Series news We are into our series discussion, The Dark Tower by Stephen King, currently reading & discussing Book 1, The Gunslinger. We will start Book 2, The Drawing of the Three on September 15. Please join us!

Please also check out our “What are you reading in September 2025?” discussion (all genres welcome), our Question of the Week discussion (some serious, some not so serious), and the 3rd Quarter Challenge of the Quarter which will run through the end of this month. Please join in!

Enjoy!

Please check in here if you are reading or planning to read The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson, Any first impressions?

No spoilers here, please!

Please check in here if you are reading or planning to read New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson. Any first impressions?

Please, no spoilers here!

I finished Baking Bad by Kim M. Watt, 6/10, comments in our BotM discussion topic thread.

Also read The Way to Glory, by David Drake, the 4th book in the Lt. Leary series, 7.5/10. Another fun adventure among the stars. Adele Mundy continues to be my favorite character.

And The Chessmen by Peter May, 7/10. Although this book was filled with Peter May’s evocative prose & colorful characters, it seemed less cohesive than the previous two books in the Lewis series. The author uses flashbacks extensively in this series & signals them by switching from third person to first, but the past & present seemed to blur somewhat together. I felt like May was juggling a few too many plot lines & a couple of these stretched my ability to suspend disbelief almost to the breaking point. Still, it was a solid read, atmospheric & complex.

I finished listening to The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home by Joseph Fink, 8/10. This is book 3 in the “Welcome to Night Vale” series (based on the Night Vale podcast)—I was not at all familiar with Night Vale & I received this audiobook as a bonus for doing some market research. It was part historical fiction, part pirate adventure story, & part fantasy/horror novel; a weird mix, I know. What can I say? I enjoyed it.

Currently reading The Strange Nation of Rafael Mendes by Moacyr Scliar and listening to Cold Storage by David Koepp.

Gary wrote: "I thought this list from the Grimdark Alliance was interesting.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
There are 101 books on the list of which I have ..."

Interesting list—lots of books & authors with whom I’m not familiar. The Malazan books by both Steven Erikson & Ian C. Esslemont made the list, I see.

OK, not a new author (he died in 2023), but new to me: David Drake. I’ve had books by him, both SF & fantasy, on my shelves for ages, but I never read any of them until recently when I dove into his RCN/Lt. Leary military sci-fi series. Not hard SF, full of action & adventure, with some interesting characters & lots of good interplay among them. Perfect escapist reading; reminds me a bit of the Honor Harrington books.

Forrest wrote: "Of these, my top choice is Daughter of the Forest. That has been on my radar the most lately."

I really enjoyed this series.

Dawn wrote: "Just to be clear, so no one thinks I'm this clever, I am crowd sourcing this stuff. And posting the best ones. :)"

You & your friends definitely are clever!

Dawn, these are great! 😁

“Don’t touch the standing stone circle or this might happen to you!”
(Outlander by Diana Gabaldon)

Kateblue wrote: "I am replying to my own message to let everyone know (if they don't already) that you cannot "browse" bookfunnel for books you don't have. You can search your library, though. "

Many (especially indie) authors seem to offer free excerpts, short stories, or even books via BookFunnel. They email you a code and then you can download them, add them to your library there, and also send them to another app like Apple Books or Kindle.

For fantasy, I’ll nominate Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. The group read this back in 2007 but I did not. And I know there is a British TV miniseries based on it, so there’s an added attraction!

For SF, The Disappeared by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, book one in her Retrieval Artists series. The story apparently tells how Miles Flint goes from being a police detective in the Armstrong Dome on the Moon to being a Retrieval Artist. (And no, I don’t know what a Retrieval Artist does, but this book will likely explain that.)

Still thinking about a Fantasy nomination…