34 thoughts on “Monday Book Day: Sci-Fi and Fantasy Awards”

1. Set in the world of the Kingkiller Chronicles, but I wasn't familiar with that

   Rothfuss is definitely worth reading- I've really enjoyed the Kingkiller Chronicles, and I'm waiting eagerly for the next book. I'll check out The Lightning Tree if I can find it.

   1. It's in George Martin's Rogues anthology which had a few good stories and some big names.

2. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester: The first Hornblower book in terms of chronology (we meet the title character as a seventeen-year-old), but published in 1950, thirteen years after the first Hornblower book was released (The Happy Return - 1937), it's a prequel that introduces the reader to Horatio Hornblower during the Napoleonic Wars and gives an account of his first few years at sea. Each chapter works as a stand-alone short story/episode, but contributes to the overall purpose - fleshing out who Hornblower is and how he becomes the "hero" of later years. If you've read & enjoyed any of the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian, so far, I'd recommend Forester.

   1. Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon - My favorite story of the year.

      Haven't read the rest yet, but this link was definitely worth following. Thanks DG.

   2. A.-M. novels a sure read. Russell Crowe movie was a rip-off of the best of the series.

      1. I thought the movie captured the essence of a lot of the books, but it certainly ignored a lot of important stuff.

         1. Especially the amazing detail, the little things that O'Brian was famous for.

3. I'm embarrassed how little I've been reading lately. Except for case law. Appeal briefs are fun, because of the cool cases you get to read about.

   1. Appellate practice was the part of being a lawyer I enjoyed the most, but I didn't get very many chances to do it.

      1. The other folks in my office don't particularly care for it, so hopefully I should get a few more chances to do it now.

4. My favorite SF author Jack McDevitt has a new book coming out that is a sequel to Ancient Shores, so I thought I'd best read that one first. The story was fine, but I was especially tickled that it heavily relies on Lake Agassiz, and references The Grand Forks Herald, The Fargo Forum, the Minnesota Twins, and a whole lot of "back home" stuff.

5. For the life of me I can't find my personal nomination ballot for the Hugo.

   I know that “The Eleven Holy Numbers of the Mechanical Soul” by Natalia Theodoridou was on there.

   I know I considered “Still Life, with Oranges” by John P. Murphy
   and also "The Mussel Eater" by Octavia Cade

   1. Found it!

      NOVEL

      Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
      Area X by Jeff Vandermeer
      Tigerman by Nick Harkaway
      Echopraxia by Peter Watts
      The Wanderer by Timothy Jarvis

      NOVELLA

      Navidad y Matanza by Carlos Labbe
      The Regular by Ken Liu
      Where the Trains Turn by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen
      Mothers of Voorhisville by Mary Rickert
      Grand Jete by Rachel Swirsky

      NOVELLETE

      Giants by Peter Watts
      The Magician and Laplace's Demon by Tom Crosshill
      Wine by Yoon Ha Lee
      The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado
      The Devil in America by Kai Ashante Wilson

      SHORT STORY

      Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon
      The Eleven Holy Numbers of the Mechanical Soul by Natalia Theodoridou
      As Good as New by Charlie Jane Anders
      The Breath of War by Aliette de Bodard
      Pithing Needle by E. Catherine Tobler

      Or something close to that anyway.

6. Finished Reza Aslan's _Zealot_ and the Preludes and Nocturns volume of Neil Gaiman' Sandman series (b-day gifts from the Girl). More than halfway through _Cloud Atlas_ (hanukkah gift from Boy), and plowed through most of R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series up to what he's finished (through book one of The Aspect-Emperor trilogy within his planned eight- or nine-book series; I don't think he's finished the third book in this second trilogy yet).

7. Ready Player One - I really liked the premise on this one, and it started out strong. But I think it missed the mark on its characterization. I didn't really care about the main character or his struggle. The villain felt thin as well, it didn't seem to go beyond "Giant corporation is evil".

   The Martian - This one I really, really enjoyed. Mark Whatley was a much more fleshed out character. I cared whether he survived or not. I think largely the voice given him by the author with his gallows humor helped immensely by making him more relateable.

8. BOOKS READ IN AUGUST

   Jailbird and Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut - with 3+ months to go, I have four novels left to read to complete my "read or re-read all the Vonnegut novels" project. Right on pace. I enjoyed Deadeye Dick a lot more than I thought I would, with its return to Midland City and overlap with Breakfast of Champions. Also, I can now definitively say that I had not read Jailbird before this year (I couldn't remember if that was the case when I started).

   Oryx & Crake, The Year of the Flood, and Maddaddam by Margaret Atwood - This trilogy started off pretty well, but I find myself losing interest as it winds down. I still have about one third of the last book to go, but this has been the least interesting of the three so far. I read somewhere that book one was from the male point of view, book two from the feminine perspective, and book three trying to tie them together, and I can kind of see that, but what it ends up being is the same story told three different times, with ever increasing coincidences necessary to keep the cast of characters manageable. My other complaint is that the world is so pessimistic, even for a dystopia, that I sometimes have a hard time taking it seriously.

   The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean - Non-fiction, popular science book about the elements. I really enjoyed this, which is no small feat considering it's a pop-science book in my field of expertise. My dad recommended this book to me about 5 years ago, and I finally got around to it, and I have to say that he was right. Great anecdotes about the people and the atoms that make up the periodic table.

   The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross - In a previous year's Hugo post, I read Stross' Equoid and mentioned that I really liked the world it was set in. This is the first book in the six-book series set in that world. I liked the short story better, but I've heard this series gets better as it goes on, so I may just keep working on it.

   Today I am a Book by xTx - This book of stories hit the sweet spot for me. The first thing I've really read by xTx and I am in love with her language. The stories were short, the sentences direct, but everything has something moving just beneath the story. It's the kind of thing that really gets me, every time. Undoubtedly, my favorite read of the past month.

   The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard - I was so excited to read this because I've loved her short stories (two more were nominated this year, but aren't available online). And it was a really interesting novel, although not knock-your-socks-off wonderful. The war in heaven has destroyed Paris and fallen angels rule the city in factions and houses.

   1. I liked Oryk & Crake quite well, but I liked The Year of the Flood much less so. (Clearly I don't like feminine perspectives!) I'm not sure I'm motivated enough to pick up Maddaddam.

      1. If you didn't enjoy Year of the Flood, I'm not finding much in Maddaddam to recommend right now.

9. Has anyone else read The Orphan Master's Son? I wa so engrossed by this book that I started reading it again as soon as I finished. What a read. The depiction of human struggle and the internal fight with loyalty with North Korea as the back drop was fascinating. I haven't been able to stop thinking about the protagonist, and the overall mesaage that if the Story is useful then it is Real

   1. Read it last year. It was really good. I remember being struck by how freedom and truth and happiness were intertwined and sometimes at odds with each other.

10. I couldn't decide what I felt like reading last month, so I let others decide for me.

    Talking to Ourselves by Andrés Neuman. Novel. DG had good things to say about it, so I requested it from the library. I was intrigued throughout by the three narrators. I did find it a wee bit contrived that all three were recording their thoughts in writing, but without that conceit, the book wouldn't be what it is. As a parent, I found it particularly interesting how much the parents hid from their son--I was frustrated by their decisions, but I guess in a way that's a compliment to Neuman for creating characters who felt so real.

    The Likeness by Tana French. Mystery. A friend loaned this one to me. It's about a woman, Cassie Maddox, who used to be an undercover detective. A dead body turns up, and the deceased woman bears an uncanny resemblance to Maddox. What's more, her ID lists her name as a persona Maddox had created for a case a few years prior. Sleuthing ensues. This was an enjoyable read, but I have to confess I found the writing to be a bit adjective-heavy and the pacing to be on the slow side. I'm too much of a wimp for a lot of mysteries, but I'd hoped for a few more pulse-racing moments than this one offered me.

    1. Neuman has a story collection coming out this month. Already ordered it, I'll report back.

11. There was some talk about doing a WGOM Group Read of Infinite Jest. I was going to put that in the main post this month, but then I forgot.

    Is there interest in that? Do those interested want to start this month? Next month? Maybe someone wants to write a Book Day post on the next First Monday about it?

    1. I'd still be interested. Can we start next month so I can finish what I'm on already?

       1. I'll start now to get a head start on not finishing.

       2. I'm interested too. I'm in agreement with pushing it back a bit.

          My hope is that when I'm done with this brief (2 weeks) I can finish up 100 Years Of Solitude pretty quickly (it's been moving along), and then start Infinite Jest. I had been toying with the idea of trying to reread Notes From The Underground between the two, but that's probably a bad idea, and will ensure IJ doesn't happen, so... yeah. Next month works for me.

       3. I'm down with next month too.

    2. I'm glad you brought this up, DG--I meant to but then forgot. I put Infinite Jest on hold, but I'm 87 of 90. Given that, coupled with the fact that there's no way I can read that many pages in 3 weeks, I should probably just buy the thing already.

       I also requested David Foster Wallace: The Last Interview and Other Conversations. I don't know much about the book, but it's published by Melville House, so I'm hoping that means it's good. (Actually, I know very little about Melville House other than that they're funny in a very bookish way on Twitter.)

    3. I haven't done a group read since, well, two years of an English degree program required reading and discussion ... that counts, right?

       Whatever, I'm in.

    4. I think that a book this big will cover multiple months, so we can let people start when they get to it, and join the discussion whenever, with the understanding that not everyone is going to drop whatever they are reading and plow through Infinite Jest this week.

       That said, Maybe someone wants to write an introductory-type Book Day post on the next First Monday about it?

    5. Well, that's interesting. I have The Pale King and Both Flesh and Not, two books published posthumously, checked out from the library. Deciderization 2007 is so good that I've tried to find The BAE 2007 to no avail. I keep reading parts of it over and over. I'd be down with giving Infinite Jest a go, but I'm in the camp that probably needs to read ahead.

12. SCI-FI / FANTASY AWARD NOVEL NOMINEES

    I've picked a few here and there from the lists linked above over the past few months.

    Nebula Winner - Area X (Annihilation/Authority/Acceptance) by Jeff Vandermeer - this series is weird in a very dreamlike interesting way. I find myself liking them more and more as I think back on them.

    Hugo Winner - The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu - I loved this book, it's a great big bold book of SciFi ideas that encompasses China's Cultural Revolution and first contact with a non-friendly alien race.

    Locus SciFi Winner - Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie - A space-faring adventure told from the point of view of the empire that has already conquered most of the galaxy. Lots of thoughts on how we perceive the "other" whether that's an alien species, a colonized world, or a different gender. This is book 2 in the series, maybe not as great as book 1, but still a really engaging and interesting story. The final book in the trilogy is out in a couple weeks, and I recommend the series wholeheartedly.

    Locus Fantasy Winner - The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison - A young half-goblin/half-elf is unexpectedly crowned emperor, and must deal with all the court intrigue and such that comes with that. This book was fun to read, it wasn't anything too heavy and most of the plot points you could probably predict from here, but it was well done. I'll admit that I haven't read much other fantasy this year, so I can't comment on whether this deserved to win. But it was nominated for Nebula, Hugo, World Fantasy, and the Locus award, so it's obviously well-liked.

    Non-winners

    The Peripheral by William Gibson - I enjoyed this. Gibson creates a really interesting alternate universe and plays around in it. The ending was maybe a little neat, but that's a small quibble.

    Lock-In by John Scalzi - It was fine. Nothing that was too mind-bending or anything that wowed me. It's a detective story set in a world where some portion of the population is suffering from a disease that paralyzes them and only allows them to communicate with the world through android avatars.

    1. Lock-In was an interesting read.

13. I just read The Jackalope Wives. That was really, really good.

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