Beyond Reality discussion

There's a nip of fall in the air. What are you reading in October 2020?

I just started a reread of The Dark Beyond the Stars
Read it a long time ago and really liked it and have been meaning to read it again but never gotten around to it.

Mostly the time is now for that reread because I REALLY want to read The Hollow Places. I really enjoyed a previous book by the author called The Twisted Ones, and the premise sounds interesting. but, its not out for 5 more days, so I need something to fill in the gap. :)

Oh, it's October 1! Dangit. I have to go pick up my children now but I will start the monthly discussions later, I promise! :)

I finished Unreconciled a couple days ago; this is my favorite of the four books. The author does leave an opening for another Donovan book
I have started reading Half Broke

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins... I got stuck on this one (my fault, not the book's) a couple months back but my audiobook comes into Overdrive soon.

I'm seeing a repeat... September was Jim Butcher month for me (with Furies of Calderon, Storm Front, and The Aeronaut's Windlass), apparently October is Naomi Novik month.

Yesterday I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows . I was very pleased with the series! It became definitely an all time favorite. Moving on to Frankenstein.

I finished The Word by Irving Wallace, written almost 40 years ago, 7/10. Obviously dated in some ways (and a bit wordy), but the basic premise and the moral dilemmas it presents are pretty timeless.

Now reading Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay. Loving it so far.

I finished Half Broke and am now starting A Torch Against the Night

I am reading The Peacock Emporium. I wish my library would open. I need some Sci Fi

Two out-of-genre reads for me this week so far: New Kid, a YA graphic novel that I'm going to be discussing with my students at school next month, and Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed, a memoir that I found really fascinating. I haven't decide what to read next but I'll probably be coming back to SF/F (waiting on some library loans but none have come in yet)!

I finished Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay, 9/10. This book follows several major characters whose stories move together and apart like figures in a dance, but with rather more bloodshed than one’s usual cotillion. Still, Kay’s writing is as beautiful and lyrical as always, and the characters are unique and memorable, vividly bought to life (and death). I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves, as the author himself relates, “history with a quarter turn to the fantastic”. And for whatever reason, I liked this one just a tad better than A Brightness Long Ago.

Sidelights on New London and Newer York and Other Essays by G.K. Chesterton

I started Greywalker, which was gifted to me a while ago. I'm not very far in and it hasn't quite grabbed me yet, but I'm ok with that because I haven't really had much time to read anyway. I'm optimistic from reading the reviews that it'll be enjoyable!

Reading Sweet Harmony by Claire North. It appears to be in the same kind of future she constructed in 84K only a bit further along. I heard she was tapped to contribute a novella for an upcoming Black Mirror anthology. I don't know if this is it, but so far it would definitely fit right in.

I initially posted this in the wrong thread.

Finished my reread of The Dark Beyond the Stars and enjoyed it as much as I did the first time. I have a thing for the ending, I just like it so much.

Trying to start The Hollow Places, but we're nearing the end of the beta cycle here at work and free time has shrunk on me again. Plus I'm trying to teach myself Python for another project here at work and that is sucking up the rest of what free time I do have.

Beyond the Hundred Kingdoms by Rod Espinosa

The Unremembered Lands by Rod Espinosa

Random wrote: "Mostly the time is now for that reread because I REALLY want to read The Hollow Places. I really enjoyed a previous book by the author called The Twisted Ones..."

Ooh, I have a bunch of T Kingfisher on my TBR too! I'm not generally a horror fan, so I might try some other ones first, but I may steel myself and try those out of curiosity.

Lindsey, I'm about to start a buddy read of A Deadly Education in another group, and am so excited for it!

Otherwise, I've been reading some KJ Charles historical romance, some Edgar Allen Poe for October, and some nostalgic classics.
Highlights are the short story Galatea and the picture book Zenobia.

Hot Dogs, Hot Cats: A MUTTS Treasury by Patrick McDonnell

I finished Greywalker this afternoon - I enjoyed it enough to finish the book, but not enough to seek out the rest of the series.

Next up is Down Among the Sticks and Bones, the second in Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series. I read the first one months ago and have been on the wait list at the library for ages!

Melissa wrote: "Ooh, I have a bunch of T Kingfisher on my TBR too! I'm not generally a horror fan, so I might try some other ones first, but I may steel myself and try those out of curiosity.."

I adored The Twisted Ones and I am very much enjoying The Hollow Places so far. I haven't read any of her other books, but so far I'm liking her work.

I would say they are more of a humor/horror mix. There is that wonderful, delightful spooky, but she breaks it up so it never becomes overpowering.

My only criticism - Text in spoiler tag doesn't say anything you won't know after finishing the first chapter of each book.

(view spoiler)[I noticed there is a bit of a formula. Both books feature a woman immediately out of a relationship, who has gone to small town southern US to help out a relative. Weird things will happen. Along the way she will meet some interesting characters.

An awesome pet is involved.
(hide spoiler)]

Despite that, I am still enjoying myself quite a lot and I wish there was more like it.

A Witch's Printing Office, Vol. 1 by Mochinchi

Mid October reads:
The Wind Crystal, 8/10, and The Jewel of Fire, 9/10, by Diana L. Paxson. Both are in her Westria series, and I think were meant to conclude the series. Certainly The Jewel of Fire is a fitting finale—a powerful story in its own right, it ties up all the threads that were woven throughout the series. I understand the author revisited the land of Westria in a book written more than 10 years later, which I likely will read, but I don’t see how it can be anything other than a footnote to the main series.

All That Remains by Patricia Cornwell, 7/10, part of her Kay Scarpetta series.

Life by Lu Yao, 7/10. The push-pull of traditional, rural Chinese life and modern, urban life in the early 1980s is the theme of this book, and each life is embodied by a woman Gao Jialin loves—the peasant Qiaozhen and the radio broadcaster Yaping. Jialin fits into each world and each fills certain needs in his soul, just as each woman holds a unique place in his heart. Neither is right or wrong, even for him, and that ambiguity remains at the end of the book.

Random wrote: "Melissa wrote: "Ooh, I have a bunch of T Kingfisher on my TBR too! I'm not generally a horror fan, so I might try some other ones first, but I may steel myself and try those out of curiosity.."

I ..."

Good to get a better idea of the tone. I can take spooky alright, and I have a higher tolerance in books rather than film. I enjoy a good murder mystery, for example. Still, I try to avoid particularly disturbing or gruesome material.

I wonder if animal companions are her calling card, because one of the main characters in A Minor Mage is the mage's aardvark familiar.

If at some point you feel like reading or discussing more Kingfisher, we could open up another thread for that.

Melissa wrote: "Lindsey, I'm about to start a buddy read of A Deadly Education in another group, and am so excited for it!"

I'm about 60 pages in and so far love it. It's got a ton of worldbuilding, which should feel info-dumpy, but doesn't because of the lead character's "voice". Which group is doing the buddy read?

I finished The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes a few days ago and wow, seriously good. If you liked the Hunger Games trilogy, this one matches them for quality. It's subtle and fills in some serious backstory on the Katniss Everdeen-District 12-Coriolanus Snow dynamic from the original trilogy.

Lindsey wrote: "Melissa wrote: "Lindsey, I'm about to start a buddy read of A Deadly Education in another group, and am so excited for it!"

I'm about 60 pages in and so far love it. It's got a ton of worldbuildin..."

It's with Fantasy Buddy Reads over here if you're interested. I agree with the infodumpy opening, but I have a pretty high tolerance for such as long as I find the premise interesting. And I agree - I like El's voice with all her snarkiness and pragmatism.

A Witch's Printing Office, Vol. 2 by Mochinchi

I just finished The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper. Amazing book, should be mandatory in history class.

Really enjoyed Down Among the Sticks and Bones - a quick read that fills in some back story after Every Heart a Doorway.

I'm now about a third of the way into Children of Blood and Bone and totally loving it. Fantasy alternate Africa is a nice change from all of the alternate Europe books out there, and I'm loving the setting and the magic.

After zipping through Cruel & Unusual by Patricia Cornwell, another Kay Scarpetta mystery (8/10 rating), I read Reclamation by Sarah Zettel, one of her stand alone science fiction novels (9.5/10]. Wow! This amazing book was thought-provoking, complex, and satisfying. Not a 10/10 score because the first quarter or so of the book was a bit confusing to follow since the information needed to understand the worlds and their inhabitants was doled out in small doses. I highly recommend this book. I have read several of her fantasy books and this is the third of her SF books that I’ve read. While they have all been good, I’d say her SF is a notch above her fantasy. More original, maybe.

I've also been reading:

K.J. Charles's Sins of the Cities trilogy
Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson
The Power by Naomi Alderman - this was both empowering, and disturbing. Like A Handmaid's Tale it was thought-provoking and uncomfortable, and let's just say, watching a shift of political power and the global conflicts that arise from it was... timely. Perhaps more than I liked.
Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Some humor comics like Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh and Herding Cats by Sarah Alderman
Some short stories like The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K LeGuin

I'm currently buddy reading This Is How You Lose the Time War and it's so good I'm forcing myself to slow down to savor it!

Ooh, Omelas is one of my favorite of her short stories. If you haven't read it yet, the first story of N.K. Jemisin's How Long 'til Black Future Month? is an homage!

Shel wrote: "Ooh, Omelas is one of my favorite of her short stories. If you haven't read it yet, the first story of N.K. Jemisin's How Long 'til Black Future Month? is an homage!"

That's cool, How Long 'til Black Future Month? is on my shelves right now and I loved that story.

Even though I haven't finished Wyrd Sisters, I ended up moving on to book 4 of the Temeraire series, Empire of Ivory. Due to an early sportsball match for my oldest offspring, I had to pause to sleep at 91% done, just after Laurence has decided to (view spoiler)[commit treason (hide spoiler)]. Stupid sportsball! I suspect I'm going to need to move immediately to book 5.

I also read If You Ask Me for my IRL book club. Not overly impressed; it was pleasant but not really remarkable.

Lindsey wrote: "I ended up moving on to book 4 of the Temeraire series, Empire of Ivory. ."

I thought the Temeraire series was somewhat uneven. Some of the books were great—original and a nice balance of fun and serious—and others seems to meander about.

I added How Long 'til Black Future Month? to my TBR. I admit I have a hard time picking up anthologies or short story collections. I can't bring myself to read straight through them, but feel uncomfortable leaving them half-finished. Just me?

I had the same experience with Termeraire. There was a lot to like, but a couple of the middle ones got to be a little repetitive, more connective tissue to the series than engaging in their own right.

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Volume 1 by Satoru Yamaguchi

Melissa wrote: "I admit I have a hard time picking up anthologies or short story collections. I can't bring myself to read straight through them, but feel uncomfortable leaving them half-finished. Just me?"

Nope, not just you. I rarely read short story collections, although I have quite a number of them on my shelves. If a short story is good, I just want more and wish the author had expanded the story to a book! If it’s not so good, I feel like I wasted my time. The exceptions are short stories that fill in backstory or side-stories to a series; they are part of something larger so I don’t look at them the same way.

I think, however, that I could listen to short stories, like when I exercise or walk. Then I wouldn’t care if they were short and I wouldn’t feel like they were taking time away from reading “real” books. (I rarely listen to audiobooks.)

I like short stories for times when I’m too busy to get lost in a full novel but want something to read.

Short stories are like an espresso shot of emotion to the gut. The good ones at least. I need time to process and ponder them; I can't simply the flip the page and move on.

Shel, same. When I do turn to them, it's usually between books, undecided what to start next. I'll nibble at them to pass the time in limbo, but it's an uneasy state.

I do think they're great for reading aloud or for discussion though. Because short stories are about ideas. The condensed format is the perfect mode of transport; I wouldn't want them to be any longer. However, I don't fall in love with them the way I do novels because there's no time to build a meaningful relationship with the characters.

Kathi, I agree with your excerpt/bonus scene provision. As extensions of longer books and series, they feel different.

Shel wrote: "I like short stories for times when I’m too busy to get lost in a full novel but want something to read."

That’s typically when I read magazine articles or maybe a chapter from a not-too-serious non-fiction book.

Finished Splitegrate
I liked it, her writing has gotten better since she wrote Mainline

In the meantime I read another Inspector Rebus book
Standing in Another Man's Grave
Very good. I really like Rebus and Ian Rankin

Restarted Noble House

I understand lots of people like the Temeraire
Books but I bounced hard off book #2 when it seemed indistinguishable from book #1. DNF and Never looked back!

MadProfessah wrote: "I understand lots of people like the Temeraire
Books but I bounced hard off book #2 when it seemed indistinguishable from book #1. DNF and Never looked back!"

I think two things redeemed the series for me—the personalities of the dragons (often more interesting than the humans) and the way various “sides” were presented—not necessarily “good guys” and “bad guys” but fallible people mostly trying to do what they thought was best.

MadProfessah wrote: "I understand lots of people like the Temeraire
Books but I bounced hard off book #2 when it seemed indistinguishable from book #1. DNF and Never looked back!"

Same! I liked Temeraire, bounced off bored with book 2, then thought Uprooted was okay, then liked Spinning Silver, but Novik has yet to fully wow me.

I agree about short stories: anthologies always take me much longer to read than novels, because I feel as if I need to let a story settle and digest it properly and think about it afterwards.

I have been on an Agatha Christie binge. I have been stressed with the increasing covid numbers. Agatha is comfort reading for me.

Three of my must read authors have released books this month. Thieves (Diving Universe #8) by Rusch, Kristine Kathryn -

The Legacy of Tomorrow (Starhawke Rising Book 4) by Sharpe, Audrey

In the Black (book #1) by Tomlinson, Patrick S.

Jo (Mixed Book Bag) wrote: "Three of my must read authors have released books this month. Thieves (Diving Universe #8) by Rusch, Kristine Kathryn."

I have her Retrieval Artist books on my shelf but have not read them yet. What is it you like about her as an author? Maybe I need to move that series up my list...

How is IN THE BLACK?? I quite liked Patrick Tomlinson’s “Children of Dead Earth“ trilogy. It’s so rare to get good mystery/sci-fi genre mashups that are loyal to both genres and he did it well. I wish he would write more in that universe.

I liked it. My sci-fi book club read Children of Dead Earth and loved it for the same reason you did. In the Black has some familiar troops but with a edge and a twist