SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

So what are you reading? Currently I'm reading The Fifth Season and A Darker Shade of Magic.

Carrying over into 2016, I'm working on The House of Shattered Wings and a reread of The Walking Dead, Compendium 1. I'm also listening to Use of Weapons on audiobook.

I just started Shifter by Alma Alexander. It's the third book in a series. I'll be interested in finding out where the series settles genre wise. The second book, Wolf , was my last read of 2015. It was definitely science fiction because it focuses on scientists engaged in genetic experiments. The scientists were werewolves. That would seem to be a fantasy element because there's no scientific explanation for the shapeshifting. Yet it looks like there might be one by the end of this book. The central character has said in the previous book that he's looking for an explanation.

Right now I am reading
Chimes at Midnight I also plan to read
The Martian Conspiracy and
The Metal Black this month.
I haven't planned any father than that

Still listening to Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie. So good. I can't see things ending well for Glokta, or for the Bloody Nine.

I'm reading The Cold Between: A Central Corps Novel by Elizabeth Bonesteel and

The Devil You Know by Mike Carey and I'm listening to

The Liar's Key by Mark Lawrence and narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds.

I'm reading The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi. I loved his Windup Girl, but the Water Knife is so near future and so dark that it's actually horrifying. If I weren't reading this for a book club, and it weren't so well written, I might be tempted to stop reading and put my head in the sand like the climate change deniers.

Currently reading Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie It took me a little while to get used to the new characters in this follow on book, especially missing Glokta!
I'm well immersed now though. Love this guys style.

Steve wrote: "Currently reading Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie It took me a little while to get used to the new characters in this follow on book, especially missing Glokta!
I..."

Yes I think I will leave a gap before I move on to that one. Time to get over Glokta etc a little bit!

Sticking just to my current SFF reads, I'm currently "reading" Days of Blood & Starlight, the second in Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. I'm listening to the audiobook version.

I also just picked up A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle from my local library. I'm really looking forward to this one!

I'm waiting for either The Fifth Season or Seveneves so I can read along this month, but I may be waiting awhile. They're very popular at my library right now.

I'm reading The Fifth Season

I'm reading Another Day by David Levithan. Next up might be Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.

I am planning to read 24 books not on the SciFi/Fan Book Club shelf this year. Those books progress, completion, and reviews will appear here.

UPDATED: 12/22/2016

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee -- CURRENTLY READING
IA: B.O.S.S. by John Darryl Winston -- CURRENTLY READING.
American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle -- CURRENTLY READING
The Son by Philipp Meyer -- CURRENTLY READING
The Strain by Guillermo del Toro -- CURRENTLY READING
Dam Busters: The True Story of the Legendary Raid on the Ruhr by James Holland--CURRENTLY READING.
Hell's Fire: A Documentary History of the American Atomic and Thermonuclear Weapons Projects, from Hiroshima to the Cold War and The War on Terror by Lenny Frank Jr. -- CURRENTLY READING.

Planned next:
Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds by Robin Olds
The Goldsboro Broken Arrow by Joel Dobson
The Long War by Sir Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

COMPLETED FOR 2016 GOODREADS GENERAL CHALLENGE

1. Black Widow, Vol. 1: The Finely Woven Thread by Nathan Edmondson -- REVIEW.
2. Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction -- REVIEW
3. Reason for Existence by Richard Botelho -- REVIEW.
4. Volcano by Gabby Grant Rosa Turner Boschen-- REVIEW.
5. Leonard Nimoy: I Was Spock by Andrew Alexander -- READ and REVIEW in work.
6. The Tumor by John Grisham -- REVIEW
7. Shot Down: The true story of pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth by Steve Snyder -- REVIEW .
8. A Vision of Fire by Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin -- REVIEW.
9. The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest to Ban the Bomb by Philip Taubman -- REVIEW
10. All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, translated by Alexander O. Smith and Joseph Reeder -- REVIEW
11. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin --REVIEW .
12. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad -- READ. REVIEW is in Work .
13. Seeds of Foreverland: A Science Fiction Thriller by Tony Bertauski -- REVIEW.
14. The Last Ship by William Brinkley -- REVIEW.
15. Second Nature by David Mack -- REVIEW.
16. Weaver by Stephen Baxter -- REVIEW.
17. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank -- REVIEW.
18. With Wings Like Eagles: A History of the Battle of Britain by Michael Korda--REVIEW.
19. Volcanoes in Human History: The Far-Reaching Effects of Major Eruptions by Jelle Zeilinga de Boer -- REVIEW
20. John Glenn: America's Astronaut by Andrew Chaikin -- REVIEW
21. Thinking About the Unthinkable by Herman Kahn -- REVIEW
22. The Battleship Texas by Mark Lardas

2016 FAVORITES Shown in COMPLETED above in bold italics

TOTAL COUNTS READ in 2016

12 -- Completed for SciFi/Fan Book Club 2016 Reading Challenge -- My 2016 list can be found at message 10 at this location. The books in the locations linked above also count on this challenge, but will not be repeated here.

33 -- total number of books completed for the 2016 General Challenge.

I finished a really good book The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Door Into Summer was my first book in 2016, but it wasn't that good (my review).

Just started Cold Magic.

I'm currently reading Absalom, Absalom, by William Faulkner, and listening to American Gods by Neil Gaiman on Audible. After that I plan on Seveneyes by Neal Stephenson, and at some point this year I want to reread the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, my favorite series ever.

I'm on a YA stretch. I just finished Clockwork Angel and am currently reading The Paper Magician. Not sure if I will pick up either Book of the Month. They both are kind of intimidating. I AM hoping to join in with the group re-read of Ancillary Justice later this month.

I started to read Ancillary Justice today, a bit early for the group re-read, but since I read a lot of books at the same time, it takes me more time to finish a single book. And I'm still reading The Blade Itself, a left-over from last year, but I'm well over halfway in it and will finish it soon enough. And it's a good book, I just have a bad habit of negleting some of my reading at times.

I'm reading The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

@Melanie and Maarit, I'll hopefully join you soon in reading Ancillary Justice, but first I'll finish The Fifth Season as I can only read one book at a time. Also I've finished Lagoon today.

Catching up on reviews for the audiobooks I finished at the end of the year.

Lost Stars was ok, but not really my type of book. (My Review)

Fortress Frontier was much better than the first one. (My Review)

Breach Zone was a decent ending, but not quite as good as the second book. (My Review)

Just finished reading Golden Son now waiting for the 3rd book. Really amazing. Recommend to everyone.

Chronicles of the black company by Glen cook

Reading Traitor's Blade.

Started to read the Fifth Wave

I’m in the process of reading the Harry Potter series for the first time. Yes, the first time. I hadn’t even watched the movies, so I knew only the most basic things about the premise. I did manage to deduce in advance that the main character’s name was Harry Potter. Very clever of me, yes?

I started the first book on Christmas Eve and I just started book 5 today. I’m enjoying the series quite a bit. The first book felt really simplistic, but the plots have gotten a bit more complex and twisty as the series has progressed. Sure, this may not be the most unique and complex literature you’ll find out there, but it’s a fun read. It’s been a nice change of pace from the things I had been reading recently.

Reading reviews of popular books can get tiresome fast because there are so many of them. But, if anybody wants them, here are links to the reviews I’ve written so far. All spoilers are safely contained within spoiler tags since I know I’m not the only person left in the world who hadn’t read these books yet!
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Book 4

I'm in the early stages of Seveneves -- so far, so good. Which is a pleasant surprise, because I slogged through Reamde last fall and was ultimately disappointed.

Reading "The Boston Girl" for our local library book club tomorrow night. I've got Seveneves & The Fifth Season on hold to read next!

I always have many books going at once but have just started Redshirts for the SF group.

Here is my review of Wizard of earthsea by Ursula Le Guin.

Quantum entanglement on the macro scale!

Holly wrote: "If you just finished Archivist Wasp by Kornher-Stace I would to assume we are living a shared life. "

Haven't heard of that one.

I just finished The Fifth Season (5 stars) and Fuzzy Nation (3.5 stars).

I have started The Windup Girl and The Word for World is Forest.

I've read 100 pages of Ancillary Justice and it's not working for me. I feel singularly uninvolved. And I'm bummed by it, I hate it when I don't like a book, especially a book that won nearly every award and nearly everyone likes.

I'm a little over 100 pages into Hyperion and it's awesome so far.

currently reading the man in the high castle and on my shelf is the fifth season which I plan to finish before the end of January. Has anyone read American gods by Neil Gaiman? I have heard mixed reviews about it from friends, is it worth reading? I have never read any of his books.

Brittany wrote: "Veronica wrote: "Reading Traitor's Blade."

How do you like it? It is on my to read but I haven't heard anything good or bad about it yet."

I didn't love it to the extent that some of my GR friends have but I liked it (gave it 3 stars). It has a bit of an over-the-top-quality to it but I'm pretty sure that's intentional. I think there were some of the usual first book syndrome issues but overall it was an enjoyable read and it had some definite funny bits. I'm interested in reading the second book.

Brittany wrote: "Veronica wrote: "Reading Traitor's Blade."

How do you like it? It is on my to read but I haven't heard anything good or bad about it yet."

The writing felt weird to me probably just first book syndrome, but it was a fun fantasy read I don't really know how so many people love the book but it was pretty good 3-4 star read.

Michael, American Gods is amazing!

I bet my library or inner library loan can get me a copy of The Man in the High Castle.

I'm surprised at how many people rave about it too. It was good but nothing outstanding, IMO. Different strokes, I guess.

Funnily enough, someone gifted me a fanfiction story for Yuletide Treasure that's a fusion of American Gods and Talis Kimberley's "Queen of Spindles" album. S'good stuff. Called "O Immaculate Heart", if anyone interested cares to hunt for it on Archive of Our Own... :)

As for what I'm reading... I can't link them from my tablet or phone app so I'll have to do that later, but:

Audio: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (just finished listening to Chamber of Secrets last night), by J.K. Rowling;
ebook: The Summer of the Danes, by Ellis Peters;
paper: Final Fantasy XIII-2 game guide, because I'm playing it.

I read a lot of long fanfiction that could be classified as novella length, and lately a lot of that has been from fantasy fandoms (The Hobbit, especially), but unfortunately I can't really add those to GR as books.

I just started Seveneves by Neal Stephenson.

Michael - concerning American Gods: I loved it the first time I read it, not so much on a re-read; some parts seemed tedious instead of brilliant. I was glad that I had read it again, to refresh my memory, but I won't be reading it again.

I gave up on Ancillary Justice, for now anyway.

I'm currently reading Barbara the Slut and Other People and liking it.

I'm currently reading Kafka on the Shore and really enjoying it.

Well, I supposed to be reading The Windup Girl, but my copy seems to have vanished into the Great Unread. I swear I have one, and I know that the minute I replace it, it WILL turn up.

I did an audio reread of Jurassic Park (My Review). Better than I remember. Now I want to rewatch the movie.

Any fans of K.J. Parker around? The soon-to-appear novella Downfall of the Gods is really good! Here is my review.

I finished Radiance. Needless to say it wasn't for me (My Review).

Andreas wrote: "Any fans of K.J. Parker around? The soon-to-appear novella Downfall of the Gods is really good! Here is my review."

Yep, thanks! Read most of the novels and shorts. Also been catching the monthly installments of Two of Swords and loving it. Can't wait to read Downfall of the Gods and The Devil You Know too.