Books!

[viola]

I've been reading too much fanfic lately I didn't used to but then I got involved with AO3 and now I don't sleep because I have the burning need to read fanfics at all times of the day and night. I never realized that they were so intense, and I just finished reading this 500K word fic that was a mermaid AU of supernatural and it was so good and I don't know what to do with myself anymore.

As for book books I've just started reading Dune because it's about time I read it.

[Jitter]

Oh thank the gods I only have this one fandom! I have many I like, but this is the One.

Well, except Elfquest. But I don’t want to go there, fanfic-wise!

[Róisín]

Interesting! I got into Elfquest when it was a paper comic which came out months apart, and was initially curious because a fellow folklore nerd knew the authors.  At the time the centre of science fiction activity in Australia was the old Space Age bookshop, where interesting things like the first Australian Worldcon were organised. But the thought of writing fanfic for it had never even occurred to me. Hmmmmmm.......*goes off thinking*

[Keep Looking]

I’m back from my trip, so hello again! For part of my trip we camped out for a couple nights on a friend’s vineyard, and I read a couple of their books, branching out from my usual taste in genres and styles. The first book I read was ‘Ender’s Game’, a sci-fi book which came out in the 70’s. I wouldn’t exactly say ‘young boys playing war games and being psychologically manipulated into committing morally dubious acts’ is exactly up my alley, but I really enjoyed reading it, and I found the ending fascinating. The characters and how they reacted to things and manipulated their situations, their ambitions and motives were all very engaging, and the world building was interesting too.

The second book I read was an Australian crime novel called ‘The Dry’. The topic of the book at times cut a little close to home for me, as the central crime at the beginning of the story was quite similar to something that happened in my own old town, and a friend of mine was a casualty. But it was really well-written and definitely hard to put down.

[Róisín]

I know ‘Ender’s Game’ but not ‘The Dry’. Who is the author? And it’s often tough to read a book that echoes your own real-life experience, isn’t it? Especially if the experience was a bad one.

[Keep Looking]

Jane Harper. The book’s cover says it’s her debut novel (published in 2016).

[Keep Looking]

And yeah. It can be tough. You read the book and all you can think about is what happened in your own life, and even when you’re not thinking about it, it’s still in the back of your mind throughout the whole book.

[Jitter]

Ender’s Game is a magnificent book. It’s sequel Speaker for the Dead is also very thought-provoking as is the third part Xenocide (although it’s less good than the first two).

It’s unfortunate the writer is a controversial person to say the least (very vocally homophobic and anti-gay, among other things) but the theme doesn’t come up on Ender. I would be wary of his later work, at least from 2000 onwards.

[Keep Looking]

Jitter, I’ll keep that info about the author in mind. I don’t plan on chasing up his later work, anyhow. It’s good to hear that Speaker for the Dead is also a good read, though.

[Windfighter]

Just finished a short book called "Främmande arter i våra vatten - ska vi bry oss?" (Foreign species in our waters - should we care?) which is about invasive species in the baltic sea. I enjoy it, lots of important information. Brings worries for the future of the underwater nature but seriously what doesn't nowadays.
The book is from 2008 so some of the information is outdated and some things have probably changed from back then, meaning it's not very high on my recommendations list. There are probably other books looking closer at invasive species and the potential dangers the pose to ecosystems, wih more up to date information, but this book was easy to digest and understand.
I say that as someone with a brief history into the world of marine biologists, so it might be a little more confusing to laymen.

I also read "Lycka!" (Happiness) by Rickard Fuchs last week. It's not as funny as some of his other books and while he does hit all points about the constant chasing of happiness it feels like he's lacking faith in happiness. I enjoyed it while reading, had some giggles at some of the chapters, but after I had put it down I spent a few days in a haze of sadness. The book ended on a very bleak note and maybe it was the lack of a bang at the end that made it feel like an exercise in depression, I don't know. Read it if you enjoy other books of the author, otherwise find something else to spend your time on ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Hrollo]

Looking for book recommendations!

I've started working on a fantasy novel (still at the pre-writing stage for now, doing research and brainstorming in preparation for an outline). While I have a pretty strong vision of what I want to do, I realise that I don't have much of an idea of what modern fantasy novels are like. I've read a fair amount of fantasy novels in the past, but that was years ago; nowadays most of my fiction consuming is in movie and comic forms, and when I do read novel it tends to be old literary fiction.

So I'm asking here if anyone has recommendations for good, recent and original fantasy novels.

By good, I mean that have been widely praised among the fantasy reading audience. By recent, I mean published ideally within the last 5 years, at most within the last 10 years.

And by original, I mean something significantly different from urban fantasy set in the modern world (or close to it) and from tolkien/dungeon-&-dragon-ish fantasy with elves, dwarves, orks, dragons, and a world and society that look like medieval western Europe… My "reference" for an original fantasy universe is The Dark Crystal, where every single person and creature that appears onscreen is a completely original creation, ressembling nothing from either our world or classical fantasy.


Bonus: the above are my minimal requirements. In addition, I would prefer (but won't make that an absolute criteria) if the recommendations were for self-contained novels rather than series, and if they contained little to no focus on romance or sex.


Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

[Jitter]

Hrollo, you may want to try The Raven Rings (sorry, trilogy) by Siri Pettersen. The first part Odin’s Child was originally published in 2013 but the final part is from 2015. The world has many pseudo-medieval elements, yes, but used differently and it’s not about elves, dwar es and orcs. As a bonus it’s (loosely) baaed on Norse mythology, which may mean added interest for SSSS fans. I’m not sure if it fulfills your request but it’s worth checking out!

Another writer that could be worth looking into is Catherynne M Valente. I absolutely love her The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. It is a fairytale fantasy suitable for children, but completely works for adults too (to be exact, this adult). The Girl... is from 2011 but she has several books since. Ia haven’t read the new ones unfortunately, but again maybe a hint on something you can check to see if it is worth a try.

[Mélusine]

So, what did I read in January ?
1. Calvin et Hobbes - Debout, tas de nouilles !, Bill Watterson
2. Les Cinq Terres - Quelqu’un de vivant, Lewelyn & Lereculey
3. Calvin et Hobbes - Chou bi dou wouah !, Bill Watterson
4. Calvin et Hobbes - Enfin seuls !, Bill Watterson
5. Un zoo en hiver, Jirô Taniguchi
6. Le journal de mon père, Jirô Taniguchi
7. Stand Still. Stay Silent - Chapter 7 - Minna Sundberg
8. Petites éclipses, Fane & Jim
I feel lazy for looking for titles in English after midnight, sorry for this time.
As you can see, no novel for me in January. All of these titles, except the webcomic's chapter, have been read during babysitting, directly from the shelves of the house. I enjoyed Calvin & Hobbes, less the Taniguchi mangas even if it's well made, and not at all the last comic. The second title is very special, because a friend is one of the scenarists of this comic
Let's see what February will bring to me !

[Hrollo]

Jitter > thank you for these recommendations!

[Alkia]

Looking for book recommendations!

I've started working on a fantasy novel (still at the pre-writing stage for now, doing research and brainstorming in preparation for an outline). While I have a pretty strong vision of what I want to do, I realise that I don't have much of an idea of what modern fantasy novels are like. I've read a fair amount of fantasy novels in the past, but that was years ago; nowadays most of my fiction consuming is in movie and comic forms, and when I do read novel it tends to be old literary fiction.

So I'm asking here if anyone has recommendations for good, recent and original fantasy novels.

A two-part book series (it is a series) I enjoyed immensely was Nnedi Okorafor's Akata Witch and Akata Warrior. They're. based on African mythology/magic, which is incredibly refreshing, seeing as there are so many tolkien-y fantasy worlds. They're both childrens/YA books (don't remember which), and I'm not sure how widely praised they are, but I really recommend them!!