ŷ������

A grim and different type of First Contact story. I find it difficult to read when you consider the fact that the church, the Catholic Church is the moving force behind putting up the money for a first contact mission. While I do not consider the amount of money needed to do such a thing is beyond the coffers of the church the motivation isn't gone into any great depth, but aside from that I found the book interesting but still difficult to read for other reasons.

Glad I read it but won't be going out of my way to find similar reads.

The Sparrow

finally about to start my next book on the list, Margaret Atwood's handmaid's tale.

I have hit my next prime number - 11 books for this year (out of a goal of 17)! List with my ratings:

5 stars:
-The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K Le Guin
-A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

4.5 stars:
-Dawn by Octavia Butler
-The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
-The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

4 stars:
-Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip
-Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre
-My Real Children by Jo Walton
-Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
-Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

3 stars:
-These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs

Well, that is an amazing list of fabulous books, Kaia!

Marc wrote: "finally about to start my next book on the list, Margaret Atwood's handmaid's tale."

In my view, this book had one of the most perfect endings of any book I have ever read. So much so I am ignoring the sequel.

Kaia wrote: "I have hit my next prime number - 11 books for this year (out of a goal of 17)! List with my ratings:

5 stars:
-The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K Le Guin
-[book:A Fire Upon th..."

A nice set of reads there.

Reached another prime, I've read 7. April was my month of Jinn/Djinn.

5⭐️ Jinn-bot of Shanti-port. I loved the world-building in this as well as the great characters.

4⭐️ Djinn City This went in some different directions than I was expecting, but I enjoyed the different Djinn and their interactions with humans and each other.

Kaia wrote: "I have hit my next prime number - 11 books for this year (out of a goal of 17)! List with my ratings:

5 stars:
-The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K Le Guin
-[book:A Fire Upon th..."

Lots of great books there. Makes me want to pick up the ones I haven't read yet based on your high ratings.

Dj wrote: "...I find it difficult to read when you consider the fact that the church, the Catholic Church is the moving force behind putting up the money for a for a first contact mission..."

What? I don't know the source of that info, but it's misinformation. Could you PM me the source when you get a chance Dj?

Michelle wrote: "Dj wrote: "...I find it difficult to read when you consider the fact that the church, the Catholic Church is the moving force behind putting up the money for a for a first contact mission..."

What..."

I am sorry my only source on that is the book itself. Scientist finds intelligent life, tells a bunch of friends about it, including a priest. Who is just one of his friends? It gets passed up the line and the Church bankrolls the expedition, which includes the scientist and his friends.

There is much more to the story of course but that is the gist of the start of it.

Dj wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Dj wrote: "...I find it difficult to read when you consider the fact that the church, the Catholic Church is the moving force behind putting up the money for a for a first contact ..."

Gotcha. Thanks, Dj.

Well that was a fun book, Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale. Not gonna spoil, makes me quite curious about the TV series! For those of you who don't know, it's a kinda dystopian future, things happen and women of child-bearing age become property to 'Commanders'. Of course, there can only be a few Commanders. And it happened 'recently' that the women remember how it was, careers, education, choices. Won't talk about the ending, again, no spoilers!!

DivaDiane wrote: "Well, that is an amazing list of fabulous books, Kaia!"

Thanks, Diane!

And also thanks to DJ and Michelle!

It's been a good reading year so far. :-)

Finished the 7th of 11 books for this challenge

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

added the 8th of 11 books

Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh

and started on the 9th book: Ninefox Gambit and I will read the next two in the series as well

CBRetriever wrote: "added the 8th of 11 books

Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh

and started on the 9th book: Ninefox Gambit and I will read the next two in the se..."

Belay that, 10% into Ninefox Gambit, I think I might have finally found another DNF book. Too much math, too much killing and too little in the way of character enhancement (plastic).

hmm, I just finished reading the first impressions thread so maybe I should soldier on? No one in that thread seemed to dislike it

CBRetriever wrote: "hmm, I just finished reading the first impressions thread so maybe I should soldier on? No one in that thread seemed to dislike it"

You're not alone. Plenty of people bounced off Ninefox Gambit. The beginning is rough so you may dislike it less, or like it, as the story goes on.

I've read three more books for the challenge:

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach
Deeplight
The Fox Wife

I'm taking a different strategy this year and trying to read both current and backlist titles.

Starting to read my 6th book in my challenge, P Djeli Clark's A Master of Djinn.

up to 9 (my total will be 12 for this challenge unless another monthly read sneaks in

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

Picked up a few paperback copies of books on the shelf and reading them across the summer!

Howl’s Moving Castle (love the film and many other Ghibli, looking forward to reading the books!)
Rendezvous with Rama
A Canticle for Leibowitz

finished my latest book, P Djeli Clark's A Master of Djinn, set about 200 years ago in Egypt, human kind re-discovering magical beings such as djinn (aka genies), although it's not all genies living in bottles granting wishes, although there is some of that, but even in that case, wishes extract a price. It's about a new type of cop dealing with magical beings instead of just plain old humans committing crimes. In this case, hunting for a human who appears to be the 2nd coming of a human who was... a master of djinn... and doing bad things. I won't say more than that, no spoilers! It's actually a quite entertaining book, highly recommended by me!!

Now shifting away from this challenge for a book, maybe two... but I know Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea series is coming up pretty quickly, it's just a huge book that's too big to take on trips, won't fit in my laptop bag...

Marc wrote: "Now shifting away from this challenge for a book, maybe two... but I know Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea series is coming up pretty quickly, it's just a huge book that's too big to take on trips, won't fit in my laptop bag... ."

Kindle

I have one, and a B&N nook too, but ebooks, I tend to read on my phone... I wonder where those devices are... But I am a bit old school, if I can find a real book, I'll read that. I do have Julian May's many-colored land on nook though, mainly because I couldn't find it physically and get it immediately!

Marc wrote: "I have one, and a B&N nook too, but ebooks, I tend to read on my phone... I wonder where those devices are... But I am a bit old school, if I can find a real book, I'll read that. I do have Julian ..."

I always use my Kindle on trips - I read a lot and read fast, so carrying that many physical books would be a pain

I just made the halfway point, 13 out of 25 for the year.
just treading water at 69% of the bookshelf.
I will group them here by my rating.

5 stars:
The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler (well, 4.5 rounded up)

4 stars:
The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

3 stars:
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells
Thistlefoot by Gennarose Nethercott
The Fox Wife by Y. Choo

2 stars:
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakrabordy
The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu
These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick

On deck.
Re-read program: Babel-17, Her Majesty's Dragon, Infernal Devices
-Embassytown (for IRL group, nominated by me)

Hmm what else.
F- Elatsoe, The Warded Man, Just City, Cold Magic?,
SF- The Marrow Thieves, Prey of Gods, Pushing Ice?

finished Book 10:

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

this was a struggle and added to that is the fact that I have the two next books in the trilogy lurking in my TBR pile. It was part of a Trilogies bundle I purchased.

Will you keep going and read the next two?

eventually but after I've completed the challenges. Ditto for the rest of the books in Fonda Lee's Jade War series which I liked much better than Yoon Ha Lee's first book in their series

Starting my next book in my challenge, Ursula K LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea!

Marc wrote: "Starting my next book in my challenge, Ursula K LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea!"

On the SFFBC Discord, a couple people asked about Buddy reads on this one. Would you be interested?

Sure! is that a discord channel?

Marc wrote: "Sure! is that a discord channel?"

Yes. Allison, Fairy Modmother and and other mods set it up about a year ago. There was a message about it, but of course I can't find it now. I browsed Discord channels for sffbc and that seems to find it.

A Wizard of Earthsea >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More & Series

Feel free to take over the most applicable thread! :)

Marc wrote: "Starting my next book in my challenge, Ursula K LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea!"

A few summers ago I set out to read the Earthsea books, and completed the original trilogy. This is not that summer, but I'd be happy to discuss the books.

Marc wrote: "Sure! is that a discord channel?"

Here's the Discord link:

CBRetriever wrote: "finished Book 10:

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

this was a struggle and added to that is the fact that I have the two next books in the trilogy lurking in my TBR ..."

CBRetriever wrote: "eventually but after I've completed the challenges. Ditto for the rest of the books in Fonda Lee's Jade War series which I liked much better than Yoon Ha Lee's first book in their s..."

Fair Warning. I am enjoying the second Ninefox book, but it does start out somewhat off-center like the first book.

is it better than the first one?

aw, link invalid

Valid link here: Discord Clubhouse

thank you!!

Finished Ursula K LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea, a good quick read, now moving on to book 2, the Tombs of Atuan!

Read all the Books! Goal:
-Complete all of the 2024 books.
-Minimum of ONE book from each year prior to 2024.

Wow, there were a lot of want-to re-reads in this giant list of 400+ books. To date, I have read-prior to joining SFFBC��135 books from the list. I believe that means I have 270 books left unread o.o

Keeping with PRIME theme I selected 43:

2024 Novels

�� December:
SciFi: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman AND Fantasy: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

�� November:
SciFi: Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio AND Fantasy: The Will of the Many by James Islington

�� October:
SciFi: Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky AND Fantasy: The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams

�� September:
SciFi: How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu AND Fantasy The Path of Thorns by A.G. Slatter

�� August - SciFi: Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
�� August - Fantasy: The Afterlife of Mal Caldera by Nadi Reed Perez
�� July - The Wings Upon Her Back
�� July - Lonely Castle in the Mirror
�� June - Sci-Fi This Is How You Lose the Time War
�� June - Fantasy An Inheritance of Magic (Inheritance of Magic #1)
�� May - Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
�� May - The Tusks of Extinction
�� April - The Fox Wife
�� April - Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson
�� March - The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport
�� March - The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker
�� February - These Burning Stars
�� February - Thistlefoot
�� January - My Real Children
�� January - The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
��

Prior Years
�� 2023 - Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries
�� 2022 - Vita Nostra by Marina DyachenkoOR
�� The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie
�� 2021 - The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein
�� 2020 - Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
�� 2019 - The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher AND Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
�� 2018 - Jade City AND �� Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
�� 2017 - The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
�� 2016 - A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan AND Uprooted by Naomi Novik
�� 2015 - Red Rising by Pierce Brown
�� 2014 - The Mote in God's Eye
�� 2013 - Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
�� 2012 - Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler the Queen Mother of Sci-fi herself
�� 2011 - Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
�� 2010 - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
�� 2009 - The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin from The Books of Earthsea
�� 2008 - A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin from The Books of Earthsea

Possibly more to follow...

gotta admit, I am impressed! wow that's a lot of read books (135)! and going back in time, which I admit, I only looked at this year's list. how did you find those previous years books anyway?

ah, found the older book lists!

I think ( I could be wrong), the SFFBC appends new books to the previous list, so that big 405 list is all the books of the previous years plus 20 more books added in 2024. No wonder why the list seemed familiar compared to the 2023 list that I also participated in. It was last years (385) plus 20 new books. not that I'm threatening to read all 405 books by 2025! I am approaching 100. might be at 100 by Dec 31 2024.

100 is still a huge landmark! you gain access to the (fictional) clubhouse at that point!

haha! I always wanted to be in the fictional clubhouse

Marc wrote: "gotta admit, I am impressed! wow that's a lot of read books (135)! and going back in time, which I admit, I only looked at this year's list. how did you find those previous years books anyway?"

It took me awhile to figure out where they all were also

Allison wrote: "100 is still a huge landmark! you gain access to the (fictional) clubhouse at that point!"

hahaha!!! now I gotta get there! (fictional) clubhouse, here I come!!! ;-)

Anyone else who is trying to find something, first of all, check Current Events, there are links to so many things! And the link to Current Events in on the group's front page in the description, so it's always easy to find :)

For browsing the group's bookshelf and the related discussion threads:

GR account with group books (Mod account)
-> you can use search, this is what I recommend

Group Bookshelf
Spreadsheet of group books
Links to all group book discussions (BOTM list)

edit: All of those links are also in the starting post of this thread, so that's another easy place to find them :)