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Just finished Harry August, an amazing book (especially for intellectuals)! And just starting The Ender's Game for the first time

I've read 3 books from the group shelf this month: The Raven Tower, War for the Oaks and The Golem and the Jinni. The Golem and the Jinni is probably the highlight, I think it's the best really long book I've read in a while. I haven't been writing very many reviews, but I do want to review this one before my library checkout expires.

Just finished Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente yesterday, my first novella of the year and #6 for the short story collection/novella challenge. (I'm aiming to read 12 this year.) I've been looking for discussions and reviews ever since. I found a long one on Youtube that I hope to have time for later today. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

Oh I listened the Apples at the beginning of the year and it really packs a HUGE punch in such a little story doesn’t it!

Yes! I've had a chance to listen to the Youtube video I had bookmarked now. There's some interesting stuff about the writing process and the author's inspirations, and somehow they managed to avoid revealing major details of the plot.
Castle Talk: Catherynne M Valente on Comfort Me with Apples

Finished reading one of the bookshelf challenge books, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I enjoyed it. Getting to know the multi-species crew members, and how they come together like a family.

Just started Old Man's War, another bookshelf read. I should finish Nettle and Bone before moving on to this one. sigh! My reading schedule is out of control.

I finished Into the Labyrinth

A coming of age book with magic? What could go wrong?

Well quite a lot actually, but in this case, the Author misses the pitfalls and brings an interesting blend of outcasts to the fore while only putting forward one Bully to make sure we don't forget that no matter what teenage years we are looking at they exist. I was very impressed with the book and will be moving forward with the rest of the series.

Here are my thoughts on Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen

Okay, I have a soft spot for movies. Especially movies that are a bit out of the way. So I was pretty happy to be only seven movies in when I found one that I had indeed watched. I may not agree with everything he suggests watching but I do find it interesting why he recommends some movies over others. I will probably give a number of them a chance if I can find them.

Japanese Tales

A collection of Japanese Fairy Tales. Like most collections some are great and some aren't. All of them have a different view of the world than what I am used to growing up in the US. It was refreshing to have a new look at what makes us different and what makes us the same.

I finished The Reluctant Coroner

An interesting take on the Murder Mystery genre. Not always really deep or difficult but an enjoyable and quick romp. Certainly a nice break from the groups of books I normally read.

My review of The Maker of Swans by Paraic O'Donnell

/review/show...

The Lincoln Hunters. Interesting ��50s time travel novel.

I've finished
My review

Currently reading America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines and I'm enjoying all the first person accounts.

I'm almost finished the Oh My Goddess! manga series. I finished volume 47. Volume 48 is next.

Enjoyed reading Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. It has some aspects of noir, some of urban fantasy, and plenty of vampires. Ten species of vampires! There is also a strange, awkward, and ultimately touching vampire-human romance. The story is told from multiple third person POV and moves along briskly with, intermittently, biting prose. (Okay, I couldn't resist that.) I would recommend to those who like vampires and urban fantasy.

LaTrica wrote: "Currently reading America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines and I'm enjoying all the first person accounts.

I'm almost finished the Oh My Goddess! manga s..."

I hope this doesn't offend, but this seems to be a case of from the sublime to the ridiculous. And right now both of those seem to be in good order.

I just started a new dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel - City of Orange, by David Yoon. It reminds me a bit of The Road, but less gross.

Dj wrote: "LaTrica wrote: "Currently reading America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines and I'm enjoying all the first person accounts.

I'm almost finished the Oh My ..."

Definitely! But it was welcome. The novel got a little heavy at times.

LaTrica wrote: "Dj wrote: "LaTrica wrote: "Currently reading America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines and I'm enjoying all the first person accounts.

I'm almost finished..."

Absolutely. Sometimes you just need to laugh.

And of course seeing the Japanese use the Norns in semi-Soap Opera setting is pretty fun

Just finished David Brin's Uplift War. great book!

Next up, Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire to be followed by her sequel A Desolation called Peace.

My hugo-award-winning quest is almost complete! Just got Hominids, Calculating Stars, and Lois McMaster Bujold's winners left to do, although I got quite a few of her books to get through before I reach even her first winner...

Currently reading 11/22/63. I can remember where I was when I heard about the shooting (classroom). I was a little overwhelmed when I picked it up from the library and saw how fat it was but really liking it a lot so far. It reads like a much shorter book.
Just finished audio book of The Sparrow. A really good and gut wrenching book.

I completed book 7 in the Charlie Davidson series Seventh Grave and No Body this morning. Another fun romp with the Grim Reaper, various demons, and a mystery to be solved.

I'm continuing to listen to The Golem and the Jinni and Spinning Silver. I like them both but think they could have been shortened a bit.

Cannot wait to start False Value. I didn't realize I am a book behind with the Rivers of London series. Hopefully his latest release, Amongst Our Weapons, will be available by the time I'm finished with all of these.

I've read the following books (always with one eye on the Popsugar challenge prompts)

- The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan - yeah, I know, ^^' those who know me will ask themselves if I'm out of my mind because I wasn't a fan of the series on my first read. But I found a wonderful group of book fans on Twitter through my obsession with the screen adaptation and have such a good time chatting with them. So now I feel I owe them another attempt at their beloved books, reading (listening) with their enthusiasm in mind. (and preparing for season 2 because I already forgot what happened in books 2 and 3)

Popsugar prompt: "A book about or set in a nonpatriarchal society")

- The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed. This is a short book about the time between getting a college acceptance letter and making up one's mind what to do. The setting is in a dystopian world, where everything went down to a much smaller scale and the people living in the community with the protagonist don't even know if this college exists or if it is just a lure to get the girl into something shady. There is an inheritable fungal disease and a lot of situations around the topic of self determination versus staying to help their people.
Wonderfully quiet and poetical prose - just the way I love a book to be written.

For the Popsugar prompt: "A book you can read in one sitting"

- Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey. I have finally watched the remaining seasons of "The Expanse" screen adaptation and decided to just read the books following that (which are fortunately on storytel - books 1 - 6 are not). My hope was that after all the military/war stuff going on all the time we now get a plot evolving around the gateways and alien culture/artifacts ... hahaha! Another full scale war, only 30 years later with a crew supposedly said 30 years older but feeling just like they left off on season 6. Certainly good for fans of military SF - which I'm not.

For the Popsugar prompt: "A book about a found family"

- Purgatory Mount by Adam Roberts - whew! Philosophical thoughts around Dante's Inferno wrapped in two SF storylines. One in a far future on an exploration/generation ship with 5 godlike cybernetically enhanced humans and their 'lifestock', one in an oppressive, intense near-future end-of-society setting where computer nerd kids are being interrogated and abused by police while a war breaks out in the US.
Really good in structure, idea and style. Another one of those authors perfectly on the same page with my taste in books.

For the Popsugar prompt: "A book with a quote from your favorite author on the cover or Amazon page"

- Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, I've read it a second time after the BR here in the group and the knowledge about how the story is structured enhanced the reading pleasure for me. So many phrasings and little details beautifully interwoven in Mandel's poetic writing skill. Another book more on the quiet side for those who love a more literary, lyrical tone in their SF (like myself)

For the Popsugar prompt: "A book featuring a man-made disaster"

May is my birthday month and this year I decided to "be greedy" and just read stuff I wanted to rather than do any group reads. Not 100% successful, as I did do a single buddy read. :)

The Lotus Palace: this is a mystery-romance set in the Tang Dynasty. I liked the characters and setting, and could take or leave a lot of the rest, but I definitely enjoyed it enough to want to pursue more of the series. (review)

Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire: British musician Akala interweaves discussion of (mostly) British-specific racism with autobiographical sketches illustrating his points. I read this in audio with Akala's own narration. (short review)

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong (Novel) Vol. 2: this was a web serial in Chinese that's now been translated into English in a very nice paperback edition. Great evocative illustrations accompany some of the major scenes. M/M romance (??), wuxia-like fantasy, comedy. This is the kind of story a reader is either 100% (in bold) on board with, or is unlikely to "get" at all. It's completely bonkers and I love it. (review)

Also got about halfway through King's Dragon. I'll get back to it in a bit but Spinning Silver for VBC is next.

Beth wrote: "May is my birthday month and this year I decided to "be greedy" and just read stuff I wanted to rather than do any group reads. Not 100% successful, as I did do a single buddy read. :)

[book:The ..."

M/M Romance. The romance is between male/male, or gay romance, not quite the same as LGBT label.

Right. it's the difference between writing about this kind of romance "as an outsider" or "as an insider," more or less. the (??) was because as romances go, it's pretty out there. :D

With just an hour or so to go last night, I finished the audiobook of Children of Time. It three months off and on (admittedly more "off" than "on") to finish it, mostly because it's highly conceptual but not very character-oriented, and I get easily bored by stuff like that even if the concepts themselves are interesting. It's also too long (imo). It came together really well in its last third, so it squeaked its way into four stars. (review)

Making my way through the Penric series. Next up:
The Physicians of Vilnoc by Lois McMaster Bujold

Jason, check out our Penric buddy read thread! :)

/topic/show/...

Agree, it is pretty out there, :-)

Currently in the middle of reading A Master of Djinn by P Djèlí Clark. Really enjoying it. Picked up A Mirror Mended by Alix E Harrow yesterday when I went to another town to get the car serviced. Really want to start it. Can’t get back to either of them today. Maybe tonight. Going the other way to another big town. At least this one is only 45 minutes away. And has two decent speciality bookshops. Yesterdays was about an hour and a half and only had one. But it did have a great selection of SFF books.

I just picked up a copy of Our Lady of the Artilects after i saw it on a kindle promotion. I loved it! Its different---kind of a blend of sci fi amd spirituality. Very interesting characters and plot.

Anna wrote: "Jason, check out our Penric buddy read thread! :)

/topic/show/..."

Oh very nice! Thank you, I will!

I just finished A Master of Djinn and loved it. I'm bummed that there's not a sequel out, but I still have The Haunting of Tram Car 015 to read at least.

I'm almost done with my reread of Dealing with Dragons, which I read as a child. I remember liking it a lot, but it is so much better than I remember!

And I'm just starting on The Thousand Eyes. It's been a while since I finished book one and the wikipedia summary was not very enlightening, so I'm struggling to remember what I need to from the first book.

Jordan wrote: "I just finished A Master of Djinn and loved it. I'm bummed that there's not a sequel out, but I still have The Haunting of Tram Car 015 to read at least.

I'm almost..."

I found the Dealing with Dragon's series to be so much fun

Just reread
Was in the mood for some light hearted, pun filled, fantasy.

Finished The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World by Shelley Puhak. With all the wars, assassinations, betrayals, torture, and dizzying political twists, you might assume you were reading a G.R.R. Martin prequel to A Song of Ice and Fire. (The author notes at the back that some of Cersei's actions are consistent with what these queens actually did - or were accused of.) Except this all happened. This is the history of two queens, Fredegund and Brunhild, who rose to power in rival Frankish kingdoms in the 6th century. It is a fascinating tale. Puhak had to piece it together from limited sources because, aside from the sparse historical record from that time, after their deaths both queens were turned into unpersons with Orwellian thoroughness. This lack of records is the one weakness of the book. Too often, motivations and actions need to be presumed because no record exists or the person who wrote the chronicle had an obvious agenda. An example given is that the only remaining letters from Brunhild were those sent to the Byzantine emperor and, therefore, safe from the purge. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy in a medieval setting (because this can be even better), history, or women's history. It makes a good companion to Brown's The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women

Last week on my popsugar challenge quest:

Palestine +100 edited by Basma Ghalayini - a short story collection where Palestine authors write about their people in the year 2048 (100 years after the Nakba). The stories range from weirdly surrealistic to melancholically brutal - and often both. Anger is palpable throughout most of the collection. Every story is above average in the quality of the writing.

(For the popsugar prompt: An #OwnVoices SFF (science fiction and fantasy) book)


The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. A good concept of a girl who sells off her soul to the devil in exchange for freedom in her life. As usual the problem lies in the small print and Addie LaRue can't leave any impression of her anywhere from then on.
I liked the beginning and the end, but in the middle where the story takes place in nowadays New York it feels too typical contemporary YA for my taste. I guess it is a good book for readers who like that kind of writing.

(For the popsugar prompt: A book with a constellation on the cover or in the title - I exchanged it for the book I used for this prompt before because it is a better fit)


The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich - okay, I'm biased here, because I'm meanwhile in the state of loving everything she writes, even if it would be a telephone book. This story centering around a murder and several generations of two families impacted by that is written in a more complicated structure than her books I've read so far. A lot of jumps in time and POV and sometimes it takes every bit of attention to stay on top of who-is-who and what is going on. But wonderful Erdrich writing as always.

(For the popsugar prompt: An Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner)


Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - I'm probably one of the few people who hadn't read this book before. Yet since it works for several popsugar prompts now was the time to rectify it (since I had bought it some time ago anyway). Terrific beginning, soulshattering description of child neglect that went deep under my skin, combined with utter love and knowledge for the beauty of fauna and flora of the marshes. All the points for the first part.
But then there is the second part, a crime investigation several years later and there the prose and the style just can't keep up with the nature description. It feels clumsy in parts.

(For now for the popsugar prompt: A book becoming a TV series or movie in 2022)


Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro is a short novel about the coming of age of an Korean boy in a Japanese highschool. I learned a bit about the racism against Koreans when I read Pachinko, but here it is portrayed even more vivid. As well as a toxic environment produces toxic behaviour to get through the day.
The witty prose makes this serious topic into a surprising easy read. Of course I can't say how much is original and what was changed during translation, but it reminded me in parts of the ease of Haruki Murakami - so no question, I loved it.

(For the popsugar prompt: A book with the name of a board game in the title)

18 down 32 to go.

Read another good time travel story in All Your Wrong Today's by Elan Mastai. Would recommend.

Adding Go to TBR! I’ve wanted to read Palestine+100 but my library doesn’t have it 😕 I read Iraq + 100: stories from a century after the invasion some years ago, from the library because Blasim lives in Finland.

Ryan, I hated that one! I made fun of it once in VBC 😜

Anna wrote: "Adding Go to TBR! I’ve wanted to read Palestine+100 but my library doesn’t have it 😕 I read Iraq + 100: stories from a century after the invasion some years ago, from the library be..."

I intend to read the Iraq story collection as well. Did you like it?

Some stories weren’t great, and it’s very bleak, but worth it for the good ones!

Anna wrote: "Some stories weren’t great, and it’s very bleak, but worth it for the good ones!"

Bleak is what the Palestine is as well for sure.

As expected

What did you say about All Our Wrong Today's, Anna? It's not one of the books that if people dislike it I'll think less of them so feel free to mock it.

Haha, I read it in 2017 so I really don’t remember.

I also don’t remember what I said besides not liking it.

edit: I think I talked about the method of travel, which was a cool idea, but I didn’t like the book as a whole for whatever reason.

I finished the four book series Tales of the Ketty Jay - The Complete Series. Innovative, high end, steam punk. Action, deception, demons and more. Book four was by far the best. Four stars overall for the series.

Eric wrote: "I finished the four book series Tales of the Ketty Jay - The Complete Series. Innovative, high end, steam punk. Act..."

I think this series is unappreciated.

I finished reading The Sins of Our Fathers (The Expanse Book #9.5) by James S.A. Corey. It is a novella set after the final novel of the series. It gives the series a nice coda. I wish it was longer but appreciate what was written. I am reading It by Stephen King. Amazingly enough, I’ve never read it before. I suppose it’s because the novel is over one thousand pages long but I did read The Stand which is almost as long, so that might not be the reason. I plan to read Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman, next. I’ve read great reviews about it and want to find out how good it is for myself.

Started reading a sample of Spellmonger by Terry Mancour and totally revelling in some great writing! I just hope the quality keeps up because there are 15 books in the series!

These had the tiniest smidge of speculative, so I feel OK talking about them here, even though they're not SFF :)

I read Rainbirds and The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida by Clarissa Goenawan back to back yesterday/today. They're loosely connected but could be read in any order. These are exactly the type of "Japanese" book I enjoy, very character focused, atmospheric, not a lot happens but that's OK :) I say "Japanese", because the author is Indonesian/Singaporean, but all her books take place in Japan. Her newest one, Watersong, just came out, and I'm sitting here wondering if I should eye-read it today, or wait to see if we get an audiobook. I really enjoyed David Shih's (and Cindy Kay's) narration of both books, crossing my fingers that there'll be an audiobook for this one, too, and he'll narrate it.

Rainbirds is on Storytel ;) I saw someone describe it as Murakami-esque, and I agree. It even has a male protagonist who sleeps around :S That was my least favorite part of the book, but the rest was good enough that I continued on to Miwako, which I enjoyed even more despite the heavy topics it deals with. Content warnings for Rainbirds (view spoiler)[ loss of loved one (hide spoiler)] and for Miwako: (view spoiler)[ suicide, bullying, mild transmisia, sexual abuse, abortion, loss of loved ones (hide spoiler)]

I immediately looked at other books narrated by David Shih (Cindy Kay isn't new to me), and several of them were already on my TBR, so now I have a good reason to get to some of them sooner!

I don’t think it really matters if it’s SFF or something else Anna. It’s interesting to see peoples taste in books. We don’t have to read SFF all the time.

I read A Mirror Mended by Alix E Harrow last night. Bought it on a trip to another town last week when we got our cars serviced. I really enjoyed it. Don’t know if it was as good as A Spindle Splintered even though I gave them both 5 stars. I didn’t want to put it down until I’d finished it so that usually denotes a 5 star read for me. My husband put his book down (he’s currently reading Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor which he said feels like something he’s read before after finishing either the 6 or 3 book by Matthew Reilly a couple of nights ago which he really enjoyed) and started snoring when I was around half way through and I usually just follow suit but not last night.

Still reading A Master of Djinn which I’m really enjoying but haven’t been in the mood to read much over the last week.