Member: goldfishdevastation

Hi,
You have possibly the best username on Librarything.
Cheers,
Wunderkind

posted by wunderkind at 9:55 pm (EST) on Apr 27, 2008

Hi, I've read the first three Carol Goodman's, I think. I have not kept up (too many new authors and books!!!!!!). No, I haven't read the other Westerfeld's. Actually, I read the Uglies trilogy (now 4 books, I believe) just to see what passed for YA SF. I thought they were fun reads, a bit addictive, with some thought-provoking ideas - even if I thought the idea of "new pretty town" was over the top silly. I then read Gwyneth Jones' "Siberia" and bought two of her other YA books ("Taylor Five" and "Dr. Franklin's Island"), all written under the name Ann Halam. Jones is, imo, a high end SF writer for adults, so I was again curious. "Siberia" also has a female protagonist and is one long chase scene with SF underpinnings, very good, imo. Eventually, I will get to the others.

So you have a book group in the Chicago area? What have been some of your recent reads? I started and ran a SF book group at the bookstore I worked at in New Hampshire from 98 to a few years ago when I had someone else in the group take it over, so I could move on to other projects. We learned in just a few months that all of us reading the same book wasn't going to work, so it became a bi-weekly gathering to talk about what we had read in the genre, a brief synopsis, and what we thought about it (without spoilers, of course). The group still exists but I don't get up to see them but rarely.

I think my next genre read, whenever that happens, is going to be Catherine Valente; I've heard some great things about her work.

yeah, LT is very bad for one's TBR piles and wishlists:-)

Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 3:50 pm (EST) on Mar 3, 2008

Hi, ok to friend, yes! MDR's new novel is "Deamers of the Day", here's a link to it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dreamers-Day-Mary-... From the LT readers, it sounds less complex than Thread of Grace, and there's a bit of a love story. Publishers Weekly liked it. Perhaps readers were disappointed that it wasn't along the lines of Sparrow or Thread of Grace...I guess we will have to be the judge.

Margo Lanagan is listed here in the states as YA; she has three collections of short fiction out: Black Juice, White Time and Red Spikes. I think Black Juice, which is available in paperback, is a great one to start with. Her stories are very clever, unusual - which is why I like them. I think the review from School Library journal here is pretty accurate:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Juice-Michae...

I see you have "Salamander" by Thomas Wharton; his newer "The Logogryph" is wonderful! One of my favorite books of last year! It's a bit hard to come by, but worth it. So difficult to describe, but judging from the books we share, you'll love it:-) I think he is supposed to have a fantasy book out this year (I'll have to think about that, I'm not into the quest, epic, sword & sorcery type fantasy).

Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 7:38 am (EST) on Mar 1, 2008

Yes, loved "The Sparrow" and somewhat less "Children of God", I thought "Thread of Grace" superb! Read it before its publication (I was then working in a bookstore). Her new one is about to be published, the early reviews here on LT are mixed.

I'm still pleasantly pleased with the list of books we share; are you a joint library or does this reflect your individual tastes in books? Nice range of SF and what I like to call literary fantasy (a.k.a. "Clever Stuff"). I will certainly miss Octavia Butler. I think SF has a dearth of really thoughtful, female SF writers these days. Sigh. Probably why I read more other lit. The most recent woman author in the field of SF & F to get me excited (in a literary way) has been Margo Lanagan.

Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 3:50 pm (EST) on Feb 25, 2008

Hi, I noticed this new name on my list of people with my books and thought I'd come check you out. We do share a delightful list of books, that's for sure! Love the goldfish picture! Too funny. Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 9:10 pm (EST) on Feb 21, 2008

Hello! Friended! Will you be at WisCon this year? Is there going to be another Think Galactic con?

posted by deepforestowl at 4:02 pm (EST) on Feb 5, 2008