Beyond Reality discussion
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General SF&F discussion
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What are you reading in February 2025?
I’m currently reading Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, and it’s pretty good. I find Hendrix has a good knack for setting and of the three other books of his I’ve read, I’ve loved two of them: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires and How to Sell a Haunted House. This one doesn’t has the same black humour as those did, and I don’t like it quite as much as those two, but I’m still only at 40% so we’ll see how it turns out.I’m also listening to the Andy Serkis audiobook version of The Fellowship of the Ring, which is excellent.
Justine wrote: "I’m currently reading Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, and it’s pretty good. I find Hendrix has a good knack for setting and of the three other books of his I’ve read, I’ve loved two ..."I have that book on my wish list. I've enjoyed all of the books of his I have read so far. I am interested to see how Witchcraft for Wayward Girls turns out without the black humor.
Random wrote: “I have that book on my wish list. I've enjoyed all of the books of his I have read so far. I am interested to see how Witchcraft for Wayward Girls turns out without the black humor�"Ok just finished and it’s good. Sad and scary and no easy outs, but ultimately I liked the way it played out. I think Hendrix is an author who tries very hard to understand women and in this case, girls, and that understanding comes through in his work.
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I just recently heard about that book from a book podcast I listen to. It sounds like something I'd love. On my list!
Two finishes for me over the past few days, both quick reads.
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young: this was really lovely and a bit spooky. I found some of the twists predictable, but there was a big one near the end that I didn't see coming and it totally made the book for me. I haven't read any of her other work (yet) but I intend to now!
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten: this was a fun little surprise. I didn't have anything handy that fit my mood when I sat down to read yesterday, so I looked up my library's ebooks available now section and downloaded this gem of a short story collection. It features Maud, an 88-year-old serial killer. Yes, you read that right. She doesn't go out seeking to kill, but if you annoy this cranky old lady then watch out. It's darkly hilarious. There's a second collection that I'll definitely be reading soon.
I've just started Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts, which looks like fun, and then my loan FINALLY came in for Somewhere Beyond the Sea so I'll be able to put my two cents in on the group discussion a few months late.
Justine wrote: "Ok just finished and it’s good. Sad and scary and no easy outs, but ultimately I liked the way it played out. I think Hendrix is an author who tries very hard to understand women and in this case, girls, and that understanding comes through in his work."I have to agree. I read some criticism of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires about the female characters. But I grew up in the 80s. It was very much like that. I witnessed it. Hell its still around, though not as pervasive as it used to be. To this day, there isn't much that will put me into a rage faster than being talked over instead of being talked to. Or others deciding how I should feel or what I should think.
Shel wrote: "It features Maud, an 88-year-old serial killer. Yes, you read that right. She doesn't go out seeking to kill, but if you annoy this cranky old lady then watch out. It's darkly hilarious.."Oh I have got to hunt that one down!
Random wrote: " I have to agree. I read some criticism of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires about the female characters. But I grew up in the 80s. It was very much like that. I witnessed it. Hell its still around, though not as pervasive as it used to be. To this day, there isn't much that will put me into a rage faster than being talked over instead of being talked to. Or others deciding how I should feel or what I should think.Yes same! Another person who read this commented that she didn’t think this was really horror, and I do not understand that. It’s as if the situation of these girls and women in near past historical settings seems so made up that somehow they must be at fault? People now do not at all seem to understand what the usual and pervasive attitude actually was? While we were in it is bad enough but being told now that we should have just not put up with it then and so somehow it’s our own fault we were treated that way is just frankly gobsmacking.
Justine wrote: "People now do not at all seem to understand what the usual and pervasive attitude actually was? While we were in it is bad enough but being told now that we should have just not put up with it then and so somehow it’s our own fault we were treated that way is just frankly gobsmacking."Victim shaming and blaming is very common. A society's attitude has such a huge affect. That can't be left out of consideration. Hell even my mother on her death bed in the 21st century, could not accept that a woman could have a job that was as valuable or as hard as a man. Didn't matter what the job was. Only men could work hard. It was a message drilled into her head from the time she was a young girl, and she could never leave it behind for what it actually was.
But, back to the subject of the book
My mother once told me about 3 girls in her class (and she went to a very small rural school in the late 50s) got pregnant. Yeah, it was more common than people want to admit. So much we think we know of the time period is really just Leave It to Beaver type fiction.
One ended up with a HEA type situation. They truly loved one another, he was a good guy, they both had supportive parents (unusual for the time period), and they ended up spending the rest of their lives together as far as my mother was aware.
One was sent off to one of those places and my mother never heard of her again. Like she had never existed from that moment forward. As far as she was aware, they never spoke her name again.
And the third one committed suicide.
Yeah, its not just ghosts, hauntings, serial killers, or the like. Reality can also be horror.
Random wrote: "Yeah, its not just ghosts, hauntings, serial killers, or the like. Reality can also be horror..."Well said!
In February, I am committed to reading one book each week by authors recommended for Black History Month. Reflecting on my reading from January, I noticed that out of the 15 books I completed, only 3 were written by authors of color--James Baldwin, Percival Everett, Ken Liu. This highlights the need for me to improve in diversifying my reading choices and to honor a broader range of voices.What I'm reading in February for Black History Month:
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
Currently reading Mentats of Dune (Schools of Dune 2). This is a pretty good trilogy and I’m enjoying it! I started reading these because I watched Dune: Prophecy, which had a great esthetic but storywise was confusing. Anyway…the purported source material is actually completely different and has turned out to be a fun read.I just finished The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes because there is a new book coming out in March. It was good although YMMV because it’s a psychological story where you’re basically following a sociopath and that is not everyone’s idea of a good time. Snow isn’t a loveable character at all.
I ordered some older books from ILL. I loved The Anything Box and am trying to find more by Henderson. The Calico Year was a delight, too, and would have saved me a lot of grief if I'd read it, and learned its lessons, when I was a teen.Currently reading A Star Above It and Other Stories and, while it's too dated to recommend, I'm glad I found it, as I'm a longtime fan of Oliver.
So snow came into town this week and you would think that working from home would mean more reading time. In fact its the exact opposite as I spent way too much time staring at my computer screen than I did anything else.But I finished Columbus Day
I'm struggling to understand why no publisher would pick this up. It was a fun read and I really liked the characters.
Its kind of military SF, but its not really about the military.
I guess you could toss it into space opera, only it doesn't feel like it to me.
There's some real laugh out loud humor, but its not a humor book either.
It is, at least so far, quite an adventure.
I'm glad my coworker kept bugging me to read it.
I'm glad I mentioned it to my husband during an audible sale and he bought it strictly because he's a fan of the narrator. So he could then bug me to read it.
In short, I'm really glad I read it.
I will be continuing on in the series, but first I wanted to try to read The Good House for Black History Month.
Random, have you read Tananarive Due before? I think she’s a terrific writer. I haven’t read The Good House yet but it’s definitely on my list of things to read soon.
Justine wrote: "Random, have you read Tananarive Due before? I think she’s a terrific writer. I haven’t read The Good House yet but it’s definitely on my list of things to read soon."Ok, so here's me reading your post.
"I think she’s a terrible writer."
Me: Aww, I was looking forward to that
"I haven’t read The Good House yet but it’s definitely on my list of things to read soon."
Me: Huh??? That doesn't make sense.
*Squints at screen*
*grabs glasses and looks at screen*
OH! terrific, not terrible!
The joys of getting older. :D
Anyway, I have not read anything of hers before. But the blurb looked interesting so I had to give it a try.
Haven't gotten very far yet, but so far so good. :)
🤣🤣🤣 yeah I’ve done that!I’ve read the first two in her African Immortals Series, My Soul to Keep and The Living Blood. Most recently I read The Reformatory. All of them were excellent. I think until The Reformatory started getting so much attention she was one of those criminally under read writers, but given that book’s success I think her entire backlist will start getting more of the attention it deserves.
Justine wrote: "🤣🤣🤣 yeah I’ve done that!I’ve read the first two in her African Immortals Series, My Soul to Keep and The Living Blood. Most recently I read [book:The Reformatory|6291984..."
And there's another on the mountain of a to read pile
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Ditto that! I've not read any of her books but I think I need to now.
Just started Emergence, book 19 in the Foreigner series by C.J. Cherryh. I’ve done the entire series on audio but this is the last book in the series where the audiobook is available. So disappointed about that as it has been a great audio series even if one of the characters who is a security specialist is voiced to sound exactly like Worf in TNG 🤣 I’ll finish the last few books on my ereader but it won’t be the same!Also just started Rose Madder by Stephen King.
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Is this series finished? I have up through book 21 (Divergence) on my shelf but have not started reading them because I hate to start an unfinished series. I know C.J. Cherryh is in her early 80s—is she still writing?
Thanks!
So, the last book published was book 22, and was cowritten by Cherryh and her daughter Jane Fancher, so I’m not sure if it will continue beyond that or not. The story arcs are in 3 book sequences, so book 22 would technically start another sequence? But I haven’t got there yet so I can’t say for sure. Cherryh was undergoing treatment for breast cancer as of late 2024 so probably not much writing I would think. It’s a great series though so I would encourage you to read it especially if you like political SF. The books are fairly short and the story is kind of like life, you know, there are some mind blowing points but mostly it just keeps going on and ends when it ends, if you take my meaning. It’s not like, just as a random example, a main character gets stabbed by his own men of the Night’s Watch and is left seemingly for dead at the Wall. I mean, it would really suck to leave a book series on that kind of a cliffhanger 😂😂😂🙄
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Also still listening to Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman.
Still struggling to keep my attention on reading� 🤷🏻
Just finished Tress of the Emerald Sea and I am about to dive into The Will of the Many, which I've heard some good things about.
I've been reading investing books so far this month, Beat the Bank: The Canadian Guide to Simply Successful Investing, Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!, & Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School. For fun I've been "reading" cookbooks though, and I have high hopes for Claudia Roden's Mediterranean: Treasured Recipes from a Lifetime of Travel A Cookbook & Falastin: A Cookbook.
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Somewhere Beyond the Sea - finished a few days ago and my comments are on the group discussion thread. Finally :)
Currently reading Mr. Timothy by Louis Bayard, which is a murder mystery where the protagonist is Tiny Tim Cratchit grown up. I'm not very far in yet.
Currently on a serendipitous trek for Black History Month, courtesy of three different ŷ groups: If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes, If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin, The Reformatory by Tananarive Due.
a.g.e. montagner wrote: "Currently on a serendipitous trek for Black History Month, courtesy of three different ŷ groups: If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes, If Beale S..."</i>[book:The Reformatory looks good. I also saw it mentioned in ŷ' 99 Beloved article:
/blog/show/2..."
It was one of two books of the month for January in a horror-themed group. Unsurprisingly, it's also included in the list for Black History Month.Tananarive Due has been on my radar for a long time, and this new novel, published after a long pause, looks like a great occasion.
On topic, I just finished The Good House by Tananarive Due.I'm honestly a little torn. I liked the characters and I liked the story, but I struggled a bit with the pacing.
It took half the book before things really got moving, but wanting to know what happened/what was going to happen kept me going forward.
It was also neat that this takes place in Washington state, and while its not directly in my area (Seattle), I am still familiar with where it takes place and what the area is like.
It was also obvious that the author is either also familiar with the area or did some really good research. On the little things, like how it rains here, or that thunder and lightning are rare even though we can have a lot of rainy days. Things like getting the highways right, or that SW Washington is more centered around Portland Oregon than it is around the rest of the state like Olympia which isn't much further, just in the opposite direction.
But, back to the subject, I did enjoy it though I did struggle a bit. The Reformatory is on my list, though I need to get back to the Expeditionary Forces series first. My husband might lynch me if I don't. As is he yells at me at least once a day to read faster. :)
Oh, and I do have to add, Robin Miles narrates the audiobook and I have to admire her skill, handling some strong accents with seeming ease, and handling a cast of characters in a way where each felt unique. I like to say the sign of a really good narrator is one you don't even notice while you are listening. And she nails that really well.
Oh, and I started Jeremiah Bourne in Time by Nigel Planar yesterday by accident. I was messing around with my ereader settings, opened a random book to see its affects, and next thing I knew I was a few chapters in and enjoying myself. :)
I'll likely be starting SpecOps tomorrow. Maybe this evening if the rain lets up enough to take a walk.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeIt was the 2005 Hugo Award winner. The new 20th Anniversary Edition (2024) hardcover by Bloomsbury is stunning.
I enjoyed getting lost in the labyrinth with Piranesi by Clarke; hoping to enjoy this Napoleonic-era read just as much.
Forrest wrote: "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeIt was the 2005 Hugo Award winner. The new 20th Anniversary Edition (2024) hardcover by Bloomsbury is stunning.
I enjoye..."
I enjoyed them both, but be aware it's not at all the same type of story.
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I continued reading the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt mysteries by Anne Perry with Long Spoon Lane, 8/10. Since Thomas Pitt has moved from regular police work to Special Forces, his cases are no longer traditional mysteries, but there are still murders, multiple plots, informers, and dangers. Political plots and strange partnerships� a good story!
I’m still struggling through the World of Tiers series by Philip José Farmer & read the second last book, Red Orc's Rage. Almost a DNF, 1/10. I thought this was a rather self-indulgent book on the part of the author, using his own books as a tool for projective psychotherapy. It matters little to me that a real psychiatrist actually chose the World of Tiers series to use in his therapy groups. I found the gratuitous drug use, violence, and sex to be juvenile (fitting, I guess, since the main character is a teen) and unappealing, though apparently it was somewhat ground-breaking at the time it was written. The prose was too pulpy and the plots, both in Jim’s world and Orc’s world, were ridiculously shallow.
I’m currently reading For Love of Distant Shores by Adrian Tchaikovsky, his third book of Tales of the Apt, and almost done listening to Lady in the Lake. Also starting The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan.
I finished Emergence (Foreigner 19) and am sad this is the last of the books available as an audiobook, but on the plus side, I can finally be done with Audible (who had this series exclusively) and just use Libra.fm for audiobooks and support my local bookstore at the same time. I’ll finish up the last 3 books in print. I’ve started The Two Towers on audio, with Andy Serkis narrating. It’s good but I do FF on the singing parts 😂I finished The Terror (5 stars!) and am rereading The Clan of the Cave Bear, which I’m pretty sure I read when I was about 14? Anyway�
Also reading The Green Mile but in between other books, in sections, like a serial as it was originally published.
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Beyond Reality
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