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You can use this topic to suggest a SF/F book you really want to read and discuss with others (you may want to nominate it for one of our regular, monthly group discussions first, but if you're still looking to chat, ask here to see if another member is interested in the same book.

Once two or more have agreed on a start date, whoever proposed the discussion can start the discussion topic, using the book title & author as the topic title.

Thanks for the thread.

I propose some of these losers from previous polls for potential BRs since I was not the only one voted for them:

The Summer Tree
Hunter's Run
Trading in Danger
Ringworld
The Last Days of New Paris

Let me know if anyone wants to buddy read those next year. My schedule looks okay around late January onward.

I'd be up for reading The Summer Tree :)

Edit - although it could be nominated for the series read, if you think you're likely to commit to the series.

Cat wrote: "I'd be up for reading The Summer Tree :)

Edit - although it could be nominated for the series read, if you think you're likely to commit to the series."

Thanks, Cat! Any preferred schedule? How about Jan 25th?

I am hesitant in committing myself to a (full) series read if I have not read the first book ;p

Alif the Unseen has joined the rank of poll losers so anyone want to BR that next month? 😆

I'd actually love to read the Summer Tree as a regular group read, I know there was interest last year in making it a series read so I'm sure there are others that would join :) If you nominate it as a classic for Feb (so only start a few days later) you'll have my guaranteed vote.

Not sure if I'll be joining any buddy reads, I still want to see if I can stop too much splintering of the group and losing the regular reads entirely due to everyone being off doing buddy reads. I joined this group exactly because it wasn't buddy read oriented when I was looking for a group to join :)

February is a no go for now as I have three BRs already that months. I actually like the less restrictive idea of a BR than a group read.

Jan 25th works fine for me. Mainly because I don't really plan my reading that far in advance! I may need a reminder closer to the date. Lol.

Cat wrote: "Jan 25th works fine for me. Mainly because I don't really plan my reading that far in advance! I may need a reminder closer to the date. Lol."

No problem. I usually make the thread two weeks prior. Thanks, Cat!

Just want to point out, that even if you read the book on Jan 25th, you could still join a group read and discussion on Feb 1st. There is no rule that says you cannot read the book before the start date of the discussion (in fact I often do to avoid accidental spoilers from reading the discussions). Just for future reference that is, looks like you've nailed down your plans for this one.

But I guess a buddy read has a different dynamic than a group one? It's meant to be more, well buddy or intimate with only a couple people reading at the exact same time? As mentioned before I'm not in those other groups so not sure how it works.

I guess another question, say you do your buddy read now and then another two people want to read it a month or two later. Do they start their own thread, do they join yours even though the original participants have moved on to other reads? In our current group you could either re-nominate it as a group read if enough time passed, or just revive the older thread, but the buddy thing is more flexible than that I guess?

In BRs you usually start at the same date as agreed. If one can't make it and/or plan to read earlier or later, he or she should notify the others so they know, and they can agree upon the new date or leave it as it is.

BRs only last for as long as the main buddies are reading it, could be a few days or a week or even more but I never see one more than a month unless the book is super long and has many participants. Similar with group reads, others (not the original buddies) can join and necropost but there is no obligation or guarantee the original buddies (who have finished the discussion) will return to the thread and discussion since they'd already moved on to other reads and/or forget the content. I never return to old threads, for instance, no time for that.

If they still want to have buddies then they could make another invitation in this thread, have people expressing interest, agree on the new date, and the moderator will change the date in the original thread. It is all about reading with friends at the same time.

This works for the four groups I am in, including Fantasy Buddy Reads and SciFi and Fantasy Book Club.

Silvana wrote: "In BRs you usually start at the same date as agreed. If one can't make it and/or plan to read earlier or later, he or she should notify the others so they know, and they can agree upon the new date..."

Thanks for the info, I get it more now. It's essentially individual run rather than kind of mod run as this group is, everyone sorting things out on their own, mods just around to keep the peace but not necessarily reading the threads unless something's reported to them. And is really meant to be a "read together" thing.

Funny thing is I did that for real once with my cousin. We lived in different cities but every time we got together we'd read Dracula aloud to each other (it was that book because she had a DOS game that we kept getting drained or turned into vampires or ending up in a mental hospital and we wanted to see if we read the book we'd figure out how to win the game!). Took us several years mind you, but it was probably the very definition of a buddy read.

BTW, I like the term "necropost" :) I've seen it called gravedigging before but I'll be using your term in the future. I actually did go back in the folders and read older discussion of books I'd read before joining the group but I didn't try to revive any of the discussions. Was of course only about 5-10 threads anyway, so many more I need to catch up on :)

Since I don't think it's quite 'classic' enough for the monthly discussion, would anyone be interested in reading Philip K. Dick is Dead, Alas by Michael Bishop? I found it in a second-hand bookshop and it's sat long enough gathering dust in my bookshelf.

Laura wrote: "Since I don't think it's quite 'classic' enough for the monthly discussion, would anyone be interested in reading Philip K. Dick is Dead, Alas by Michael Bishop? I found it in a secon..."

Buddy reads is an excellent place to suggest out of print or hard to get books. Two people might easily own it, but harder to find a whole bunch of people that do.

Well, since it just lost in the run off poll, do the voters of the Books of the South want to do a buddy read instead? I am open for the timing, but preferably after March.

Argh, I don't think I can do Summer Tree in January but it's way up my list. I'll be enviously stalking the updates!

Also, I love buddy reads. I love group reads, too, but buddy reads let you have the really in depth, in-the-moment conversations that I haven't been able to find as readily in group settings. I am interested to see how this works here!

Oh yeah, I hope we can copy the best practice here too.

Allison wrote: "I love group reads, too, but buddy reads let you have the really in depth, in-the-moment conversations that I haven't been able to find as readily in group settings. ..."

I'd love to understand why that is.

Traitor's Blade. going to try and read the full great coats quartet next year. think it would make a fun buddy read.

G33z3r wrote: "Allison wrote: "I love group reads, too, but buddy reads let you have the really in depth, in-the-moment conversations that I haven't been able to find as readily in group settings. ..."

I'd love ..."

Was wondering that too. Is it really that different when it's just 2-3 people compared to maybe 5 or so that might participate in the group read. Can't we post the exact same comments whether we have 1 or 5 people reading the post? The only difference I see is that the group might read it a little more spaced out, so spoilers alerts are appropriate, at least when the discussion first starts.

Lonesome October might be a good example, wish a few more people participated actually, to get even more thoughts and theories. But that was conveniently broken down into daily reading assignments :)

Bryce wrote: "Traitor's Blade. going to try and read the full great coats quartet next year. think it would make a fun buddy read."

I have literally just read that, and had a lot of fun doing so. I'd jump on board for buddy reading the rest of the series.

if it would work better, i dont mind reading traitors blade alone and doing a buddy read for the later books in the series . traitors blade is fairly short so it would only take me a few days to read. anyone interested in doing that?

Bryce wrote: "if it would work better, i dont mind reading traitors blade alone and doing a buddy read for the later books in the series . traitors blade is fairly short so it would only take me a few days to re..."

That works for me :) When should we do it?

early january, say the fifth/ sixth

Bryce wrote: "early january, say the fifth/ sixth"

Yes, ok.

FYI, I am now somewhat overcommitted to books in Jan (now at 4 including this buddy read, another buddy read and both my nominations won the classic and contemporary nomiations, eep!). I'm not usually this organised with my reading so I'm finding it at bit disconcerting! But my library has the whole series, so it'll be fine.

I'd be up for joining a BR for The Summer Tree as well.

It would be my first BR in the group so I was wondering do we do page assignments per day and whatnot or is it more freestyle than that in here? How long does a BR usually last for?

The Greatcoats series is pretty high up on my list of get-to-asap so I'd love to join in on that as well.

Ariel, it depends on the readers. Usually it does not last more than a month. We don't assign pages or chapter per day, I think it is too restricting though I know some BRs do that. I usually just post updates, chapter/percentage, with spoiler tags whenever I have something to say or ask.

Ah, sorry, I didn't get the notification!

For me, I don't tend to go to group read discussions every time I find a quote I love or a question I have. I wait for a logical break or until I see people are around the point I wanted to talk about so that I don't spoil anything or force my POV on anyone. In a BR, it's up to others to determine when they want to read and engage in spoiler tags and such.

Oh and one thing about BR, you can ask for reschedule if you suddenly feel you are overwhelmed. Should be easier if there is only one or two buddies.

And try not to commit to more than four or five in a month. You'll never know your real life schedules. I remember committing to read nine and ended up ditching two and late with four.

Thanks for the info Silvana & Allison. Always like to check bc every group does them a bit differently. I agree, the assigned pages/chapters can be a bit restrictive. And yeah, I plan to start off with lowballing how many buddy reads I join in on so that I can get a feel for them. Plus, the beginning of the year is always crazy.

Silvana wrote: "Well, since it just lost in the run off poll, do the voters of the Books of the South want to do a buddy read instead? I am open for the timing, but preferably after March."

I'd be all for a buddy read of Books of the South (kind of a late reply but my notifications seem to get lost in the shuffle). I've read the first one but would like to read the others and wouldn't mind re-reading if necessary.

Hi Caitlin, thanks for the interest! I've three books for early April, so is it possible to start on the 16th?

Silvana wrote: "Hi Caitlin, thanks for the interest! I've three books for early April, so is it possible to start on the 16th?"

January 16th? I'm open to any start date that's not in December.

April 16th haha. I've lots of scheduled books till March already, oh dearie me.

Silvana wrote: "April 16th haha. I've lots of scheduled books till March already, oh dearie me."

Haha no worries. I'm good with April 16th. Not in a rush, the buddy read will finally motivate me to read through the series since it's been sitting on my shelf for awhile.

Perfect, thanks, I'll put in my schedule!

Just a quick update - the planned buddy read for the second book in the Greatcoats series, Knight's Shadow has hit a slight snag and will be delayed, more likely for a Feb read if anyone else would like to join Bryce and I. We'll update once there is a confirmed date

I wanna join the Great Coats group! I'll need to read the first book, which I was planning on doing in February. Does February work for everyone else better than January?

I'd like to join in on Great Coats as well. Have to read the first book so February works better for me.

I may join if time permits for the last two volumes

Feb for Knight's Shadow - sounds like a plan :) I'm not able to get my hands on the library copy until Feb 14th. Is that an ok date to start the buddy read?

yep works for me. February works good for me since it means i can finish few books that im currently reading.

anyone reading/planning to read either the Resist: Tales from a Future Worth Fighting Against or A People's Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers anthologies? I ordered both, not sure which I'll start first

I recently read "Resist" & wasn't impressed. Of the 27 stories, only half a dozen were better than OK & almost half were terrible, IMO.

I'm planning to read a bunch of obscure and out of print unicorn books. Maybe by chance someone out there has a copy and wants to join me in the read

The Particolored Unicorn - Jon DeCles

The Unicorn Dancer - Rhondi A. Vilott Salsitz and it's sequel Daughter of Destiny

The 6 book The Unicorn Quest - John Lee series

Unicorn Highway - David Lee Jones

Jim wrote: "I recently read "Resist" & wasn't impressed. Of the 27 stories, only half a dozen were better than OK & almost half were terrible, IMO."

too bad; sounds like a vote for reading People's Future first ...

My reserve for Jemisin's The Stone Sky is finally available and I plan to read it right after I finish Good Omens (so in about 4-5 days), anyone want to complete the series discussion? Kind of last minute but I had no idea when the library would have it available and now that it is I'll have only 3 weeks before I have to return it :)

Andrea wrote: "My reserve for Jemisin's The Stone Sky is finally available and I plan to read it right after I finish Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (so in about 4-5 days), anyone want to complete the series discussion..."

<raises hand>

I was wondering if you'd get around to it. :)

G33z3r wrote: "I was wondering if you'd get around to it."

Looks like at my normal reading pace I should finish Good Omens tomorrows so can start on The Stone Sky on Wednesday.

FYI I’m going to fit in Theory ofBastards as my last possible Hugo nominee read between now and the 15th if anyone else had it on the TBR list