Book Recommendations?

farley3k wrote:

In case you want more to add to your reading list

The 2022 Hugo Award Nominations Are Here

Best Novel

A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine (Tor)
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager / Hodder & Stoughton)
Light From Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki (Tor / St Martin’s Press)
A Master of Djinn, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom / Orbit UK)
Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir (Ballantine / Del Rey)
She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor / Mantle)

I'm reading She Who Became the Sun for my book club at the end of April. Very excited about that.

I made it halfway through A Desolation Called Peace. First the audiobook narrator didn't work for me (a bad call on my part initially) and then I had trouble with the static story. I don't say I won't finish it, but it will be a push, and I expected more after all the rapturous reviews.

I read "The Galaxy and the Ground Within" last year and loved it. I've just finished "A Psalm for the Wild-Built" and it was more of the same stuff. It's not about the plot, but great characters and dialogue.

DudleySmith wrote:

I read "The Galaxy and the Ground Within" last year and loved it. I've just finished "A Psalm for the Wild-Built" and it was more of the same stuff. It's not about the plot, but great characters and dialogue.

Agreed. I love anything Becky Chambers.

Light from Uncommon Stars is one of the best novels I've read in some time. The pace/writing style of the author throws some people off but its a great book.

“A Psalm for the Wild-Built” was one of the most relaxing books I’ve read in years.

https://twitter.com/Goodable/status/...

The Brooklyn Public Library has announced that any teenager in America is now eligible for a Brooklyn Public Library card.

Teens can sign out ebooks + audiobooks from wherever they live.

The move is designed to combat censorship, with some titles listed as "always available." https://t.co/iweORm4QNG

Big audible sale with lots of Sci-fi and fantasy stuff for pretty cheap. I'm a member but it doesn't look like you need to be one to take advantage of it.

EvilDead wrote:

Big audible sale with lots of Sci-fi and fantasy stuff for pretty cheap. I'm a member but it doesn't look like you need to be one to take advantage of it.

It's a crazy long list, but there are some great finds there at low prices.

Natus wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

Big audible sale with lots of Sci-fi and fantasy stuff for pretty cheap. I'm a member but it doesn't look like you need to be one to take advantage of it.

It's a crazy long list, but there are some great finds there at low prices.

Edit; Yeah there is a lot to go through. I picked up the standalone books in Joe Abercrombie's First law world and some other wishlist stuff.

So hard to buy something when I have an audible membership. It feels sill to buy something when I can wait for a new month and can look at my wishlist.

farley3k wrote:

So hard to buy something when I have an audible membership. It feels sill to buy something when I can wait for a new month and can look at my wishlist.

A credit from them is equivalent to around a 20-30$ purchase. Their sales have things as low as 4$... waiting to get one of those via credit is a bit of a waste.

ranalin wrote:
farley3k wrote:

So hard to buy something when I have an audible membership. It feels sill to buy something when I can wait for a new month and can look at my wishlist.

A credit from them is equivalent to around a 20-30$ purchase. Their sales have things as low as 4$... waiting to get one of those via credit is a bit of a waste.

It depends on how many books you listen to a year. If you listen to around 12 a year then his approach makes sense.

In terms of credit value I put them at $8-11 since that's how much I buy them at. Unless I'm missing something there is no reason to buy @ retail when you can just "Stock up" on credits when you run out. I do find it hard to resist purchasing stuff when it's $5 or less though. Even with my huge backlog..

ranalin wrote:
farley3k wrote:

So hard to buy something when I have an audible membership. It feels sill to buy something when I can wait for a new month and can look at my wishlist.

A credit from them is equivalent to around a 20-30$ purchase. Their sales have things as low as 4$... waiting to get one of those via credit is a bit of a waste.

I hadn't thought of it that way....

I have just finished two short story collections by Jeremy Dyson called Never Trust a Rabbit and The Cranes that Build Cranes. He is the usually off screen member of the League of Gentlemen who in my opinion produced the best comedy to come out of the U.K in my lifetime.

The stories are maybe a bit straighter and less macabre than you might expect from a writer who produced the League and Ghost Stories but I thoroughly enjoyed them in the vein of Roald Dahls adult stories with the racism and anti Semitism removed. Recommended if that's your thing.

Enjoyed The Broken Room by Peter Clines

karmajay wrote:

Enjoyed The Broken Room by Peter Clines

Have you read his other books? If so, i guess you can kinda see where things are going. Still it was a fun story.

bbk1980 wrote:

I have just finished two short story collections by Jeremy Dyson called Never Trust a Rabbit and The Cranes that Build Cranes. He is the usually off screen member of the League of Gentlemen who in my opinion produced the best comedy to come out of the U.K in my lifetime.

H*ly Sh*t! I went to school with Jeremy Dyson! I thought I recognized his name so looked him up. Total Math prodigy.

Agree about League of Gentlemen. Great stuff!

Moggy wrote:

H*ly Sh*t! I went to school with Jeremy Dyson! I thought I recognized his name so looked him up. Total Math prodigy.

Agree about League of Gentlemen. Great stuff!

I am so jealous! Also Leeds is a great place, despite my Scottish origins my Dad is from Bradford so I spent a lot of time in that part of Yorkshire.

ranalin wrote:
farley3k wrote:

So hard to buy something when I have an audible membership. It feels sill to buy something when I can wait for a new month and can look at my wishlist.

A credit from them is equivalent to around a 20-30$ purchase. Their sales have things as low as 4$... waiting to get one of those via credit is a bit of a waste.

I consider my "buy" point vs credit to be around sub $7 or $8 a book. I get the annual deal and have been able to renew on $100/year almost every year through one method or another.

Also always check if something is available for cheap + audible add on in Kindle world before buying. I also horde up Kindle Unlimited with upgrade options to audio and get a KU sub for a short time to buy those books (often on free or discounted trials).

I'm disturbed looking at this current sale at how many titles I've already got

ranalin wrote:
karmajay wrote:

Enjoyed The Broken Room by Peter Clines

Have you read his other books? If so, i guess you can kinda see where things are going. Still it was a fun story.

Yes but there is always a kick to the "oddness" of the stories that I enjoy. Also the path there is always fun!

Just finished ' A Visit from the Goon Squad' by Jennifer Egan.

Such a bizarrely structured book, but entirely satisfying ending. It rotates around a small group of people through 30 years and around the music industry. It's like a Tarantino movie.

I noticed a follow up to it just released last month. I want to read it, but this one left me satisfied and i kind of don't want to expand on the experience. Not yet at least.

The Perfect Run by Maxine J Durand (a trilogy I've only read the 1st book so far)

Amazon wrote:

Ryan "Quicksave" Romano is an eccentric adventurer with a strange power: he can create a save-point in time and redo his life whenever he dies. Arriving in New Rome, the glitzy capital of sin of a rebuilding Europe, he finds the city torn between mega-corporations, sponsored heroes, superpowered criminals, and true monsters. It's a time of chaos, where potions can grant the power to rule the world and dangers lurk everywhere.

Ryan only sees different routes; and from Hero to Villain, he has to try them all. Only then will he achieve his perfect ending... no matter how many loops it takes.

Just finished Mark Lawrence's The Girl and the Moon, the third volume of his Book of the Ice trilogy - or to put it another way, the 15th book in his epic aeon-spanning Taproot series (16th if you count Road Brothers). It's up to his usual high standard, full of exciting adventure and cool ideas, and both brings Yaz's story to a satisfying conclusion and ties up a lot of threads from the wider series (including a guest appearance by a character you definitely weren't expecting). I don't know if this the end of the Taprootverse but it would be fine if it was, and equally fine if it wasn't.

I can't help that think, while The Handmaid's Tale is the future Republicans want, The Parable of the Sower is the what we're all going to get. I just finished the latter. I found it interesting, but ultimately disappointing. I kept waiting for something big to happen, or for an interesting or clever way for the heroes to deal with a climatic event. But it was just more of the same throughout the last three quarters and an ending that just ... ended. I doubt I will read more of Earthseed.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced the winners of the 57th Annual Nebula Awards:

NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVEL
A Master of Djinn, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom; Orbit UK)

NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVELLA
And What Can We Offer You Tonight, Premee Mohamed (Neon Hemlock)

NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVELETTE
“O2 Arena”, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Galaxy’s Edge 11/21)

NEBULA AWARD FOR SHORT STORY
“Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3–4/21)

THE ANDRE NORTON NEBULA AWARD FOR MIDDLE GRADE AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION
A Snake Falls to Earth, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)

THE RAY BRADBURY NEBULA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION
WandaVision: Season 1, Peter Cameron, Mackenzie Dohr, Laura Donney, Bobak Esfarjani, Megan McDonnell, Jac Schaeffer, Cameron Squires, Gretchen Enders, and Chuck Hayward (Marvel Studios)

NEBULA AWARD FOR GAME WRITING
Thirsty Sword Lesbians, April Kit Walsh, Whitney Delagio, Dominique Dickey, Jonaya Kemper, Alexis Sara, and Rae Nedjadi (Evil Hat Games)

THE SFWA DAMON KNIGHT MEMORIAL GRAND MASTER AWARD
Mercedes Lackey

THE KATE WILHELM SOLSTICE AWARD
Arley Sorg
Troy L. Wiggins
Petra Mayer (posthumous)

THE KEVIN J. O’DONNELL, JR. SERVICE TO SFWA AWARD
Colin Coyle

Yay WandaVision

Yay Thirsty Sword Lesbians!

I read Master of Djinn and thought it was fine. Fresh setting and characters but otherwise it felt much like monster of the week type of tv show. Fun enough when you're watching but quickly fades away when you're finished.

I read about five entries down and already the awards are guaranteed to have the MAGA incels frothing at the mouth. Good!

Suvanto wrote:

I read Master of Djinn and thought it was fine. Fresh setting and characters but otherwise it felt much like monster of the week type of tv show. Fun enough when you're watching but quickly fades away when you're finished.

Same. Loved the first 50 pages and the world building. The rest read like a plot-driven YA novel with very little character development. I was disappointed.

bigred wrote:

Same. Loved the first 50 pages and the world building. The rest read like a plot-driven YA novel with very little character development. I was disappointed.

You have perfectly put into words how I feel about so much fantasy/sci-fi these days. So many authors who had a really good idea for a story, and put some great thought into a world/system/event, and then after about a quarter or third of the book I've just lost interest because the characters are uninteresting and I don't care what happens to them.

Everyone's so focused on being inventive and winkingly twisting up tropes that they're failing to deliver a connection with their characters.