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Tildes Book Club - 2024 summer schedule
Following this month's discussion of the Dispossessed, we are set up for Project Hail Mary towards the end of June. After that we will discuss Ocean at the End of the Lane at the end of July, Small Gods at the end of August and This is How You Lose the Time War at the end of September.
I look forward to reading with you.
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Just downloaded Project Hail Mary a few minutes ago, and plan on reading as much as I can tomorrow before I have to resume the landscaping work around our house again... which is why I've been absent from Tildes most of the last two weeks. Looking forward to discussing it with y'all!
Saying this mostly to bump the topic to remind people about the next book. :)
I just finished Small Gods, a little too early for book club. I just want to say it was wonderful, and I'm very interested in reading more Terry Pratchett! The blurbs on the back of his books say things like,
"Unadulterated fun . . . witty, frequently hilarious . . . Pratchett parodies everything in sight.” - San Francisco Chronicle
and
"There is no end to the wacky wonders . . . no fantasies as consistently, inventively mad . . . wild and wonderful!” - Isaac Asimov Science Fiction Magazine
so I was expecting more silliness, like a Douglas Adams book. Maybe his other books are like that. But small gods was not wacky at all. It was written by a witty curmudgeon who takes frequent humorous stabs, but not in an overwhelming way. I'm looking forward to the discussion.
For another one that is Philosophical like Small Gods try Theif of time.
It's a long series and the style changes. If you feel like investing, then chronological is a good way to go but it is equally valid to hit the highlights.
Thanks for the suggestion! I don't think my next Pratchett read necessarily needs to be similar to Small Gods. I now know that I like his style and that he's a very capable wordsmith, and any topic he writes about is probably going to be enjoyable for me.
I just finished up Project Hail Mary and could not put it down, I might have to queue up The Martian next. Looking forward to the discussion.
The Martian is very good, IMO. If you liked Project Hail Mary you will undoubtedly like it too.
p.s. If you're looking for similar books, We Are Legion (We Are Bob), the first book of the Bobiverse series, is great. It has a similar-ish starting premise to PHM, and a very similar tone; Hard-scifi but with aliens, and a healthy dose of comedy. I already plowed through all four books after reading PHM for Tildes book club, and am now eagerly awaiting the fifth book in the series, which is due to be released Sep 5. :P
If you are looking for another satisfying first contact book, I am a huge fan of Elizabeth Moon Remnant Population.
I'm about 75 percent finished with Project Hail Mary. It's getting exciting
I am always looking for more scifi, and had never heard of that one before, so thanks for the rec! I'm currently tearing my way through the Starship's Mage series right now though, which is a space opera with a nice mix of scifi+fantasy, and so far has been great. I'll check Remnant Population out after that, but Starship's Mage is a suuuuuuuuuuper long series, and I'm only on book 3/18 so I have no idea how long it'll take. :P
Elizabeth Moon also wrote a fun space opera revenge series called Vatta's War starting with Trading in Danger. I'm also a fan of her fantasy work.
Glad I could add to your to read list.
Oh, nice. I might have to check that out too. The comparison of Vatta's War with Vorkosigan Saga on Wikipedia has me intrigued, since I absolutely loved Vorkosigan Saga! Which I only read a few years ago after it was recommended to me by another Tildes user, @stu2b50.
p.s. Funnily enough, Starship's Mage is also a lot like Vorkosigan Saga too, now that I think about it. I don't want to say exactly how, since that could spoil things for both series, but two main characters end up having very very similar roles. :P
I also enjoyed Vorkosigan saga. Bujold is awesome.
I've enjoyed nearly all of Moon's work except her Serrano series but I haven't read her newest books.
I really should read some more of Bujold's work given how much I liked Vorkosigan. So far it's the only thing of hers I've read.
What didn't you like about the Serrano series?
It's been a long time. Some extremely wealthy characters and their hobbies in the book.
Hmm.. rich people hobbies or rich people "hobbies"? I typically really enjoy grimdark, but even that genre can go way too far for me sometimes, especially when it gets into torture porn territory. E.g. I remember seeing The Broken Empire series being praised all over the place, so decided to read it. And it was awful, IMO. The main character is a psychopathic sadistic edgelord of monumental proportions, and so I couldn't even get through the first book because how uncomfortable it made me feel. I genuinely don't understand the praise that series gets. :/
This isn't grimdark. It's been a long time but I remember a lot of horse riding competitions on various planets, mixed with mysteries. I prefer Moon's other work
Ah, lol. Ok, so actual hobbies. That's far more mundane than I was expecting. :P
I didn't read The Dispossesed but I'm halfway through Project Hail Mary. Looking forward to participating in the next book club!
Great!
I was not able to get The Dispossessed in time and then I was in the middle of reading another book, but I have a hold out for Project Hail Mary and I'm next in line so looking forward to joining in on the next discussion.