SFFKIT 2023 - January Challenge "Cobwebs and Dust"

So...you have a book you meant to read before January 2023, but it sits on your shelves, nightstand, or perhaps even in a stack in a corner...covered in dust, or cobwebs...



...literally or figuratively.

January is the month to wipe it off, blow off the dust, and get it done!



Additionally, if you have a scifi/fantasy volume about spiders or webs, this would also be a good month to read it.

Be sure to post your choices AND your reviews here!

(please remember to use spoilers HTML)

Wiki is here: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2023_SFFKIT#January:_Cobwebs_and_Dust

>1 fuzzi: Why do you want us to give spoilers?

>2 Robertgreaves: to use spoilers html, silly.

Spoilers: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Basic_HTML_/_How_to_do_Fancy_Things_in_Y...

Might be time to buy another web shifters novel. We'll see.

I've had The Princess Bride by William Goldman sitting on my shelf for some time. I've seen the movie a couple of times but haven't read the book so I will finally get to it in January.

I'm planning on Over Sea, Under Stone which I've had forever.

I've stacked The Doomsday Book (by Connie Wills). This is a book that a lot of my friends have been recommending to me over the years; but which I've been avoiding because I didn't like Crosstalk (by the same author). I finally dnloaded a copy of The Doomsday Book last year (November 2021)-- so it's time to see what all the fuss is about! :-)

>6 majkia: BBC4 is doing a podcast of the 2nd book in this series, The dark is rising, starting December 20th. I'm excited to hear it!

I have SO many I could read here! Need to decide.

>8 markon: oooo!

I'm still deciding, there are SO many choices from my 2022 unread books.

I can't believe I still haven't gotten around to Starless Crown, James Rollins' foray into fantasy, so that's going to be my pick for January.

What We Plan to Read in January!

>7 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I loved this book! One of my favorites, reread every couple years. I'll have to find something else by her now.

>7 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Doomsday Book is VERY different from Crosstalk, if that helps -- much more serious in tone, while Crosstalk is more of a rom-com.

>14 tilmar: I adore Connie Willis, so I definitely support reading more by her! My favorite is To Say Nothing of the Dog, which is a lighter, more comic offering. But the closest in tone to Doomsday Book might be her Blackout/All Clear duology, which is also great.

I think I will finally get to the first Nevermoor, The Trials of Morrigan Crow.

I need to get back into Naomi Novik's Temeraire series having just finished her Scholomance trilogy, so Black Powder War is next up. I've also got an omnibus of Anne Bishop's The Black Jewels trilogy - no cobwebs but there should be.

>16 JayneCM: I quite liked the Nevermoor books and am waiting for book #4.

Last night I stayed up and finished The Doomsday Book (by Connie Willis). I didn't have to get up early to go skiing as high winds are closing down the lifts at the local ski resorts-- So, reading by the fire with hot chocolate in hand was my consolation :-)
In 2054 Oxford, England, the college town still has bicycles, pubs, and intramural fighting amongst the professors; but it also features a "time machine" of sorts (actually more like a Star Trek transporter, but with additional time fixes instead of just places/space coordinates). One of the students from Mediaeval (college/department) has convinced various professors to have her trained to go back to the fourteenth century and, during the Advent season, succeeds in being delivered to a time of Old English, kirtles and Roman Catholicism. Unfortunately, instead of landing in the relatively safe year of 1320, Kirven ends up in the year 1348--- at the onset of The Plague in England.
As I mentioned earlier, I had had an underwhelming experience with Connie Willis before (Crosstalk-- which I didn't even finish) so I was a bit wary of picking up another book of hers, especially one that clocks in at 608 pages; but I love this story! The research and the dual timelines are well done; the characters well developed, credible and relatable; the descriptions of place, and atmosphere, vivid. I ended up emotionally engaged. Highly recommend with the only caveat being that this does deal with deadly pandemics and graphic descriptions of the symptoms & deaths of plagues victims.

>18 Tanya-dogearedcopy: good review, thanks for sharing it with us.

>18 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I liked Crosstalk, mostly, but it does show off one of Willis's weaknesses. She loves screwball comedy, which is hard to make work in print. Good screwball requires the pace that we can only get in listening; very few of us can read quickly enough to make those rhythms fly the way they need to. And even when it's done well, comic banter starts to wear thin at novel length. Willis has better luck with that style in some of her short stories; she's especially fond of it in her Christmas stories, which are conveniently collected in A Lot Like Christmas. ("All Seated on the Ground" is the best of that bunch, if you ask me.)

Okay, it's JANUARY 1, let's get reading!

I've made a tentative choice, a book that's been sitting on my shelves for several years, Prince Valiant, Volume 10 by Hal Foster. The stories are fun and the artwork is...oh, need I say anything?

I have had The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson sitting on my shelves since probably around 1995 when it was published. Maybe it's time to finally get it read...

>4 markon: Ooh, good idea! I'd read the first book in the Web Shifters Library last year and have been meaning to continue the series.

My other possibility is the next book in the October Daye series, Chimes at Midnight. It's collecting virtual dust, as it's been sitting on my e-reader for a while now.

The three oldest Sci-Fi/Fantasy on my Audible bookshelf are Red Mars, Elantris, and The Eye Of the World. Now I just need to pick one.

I discovered Terry Pratchett much later than I should have, a couple years back when I read most of the Discworld witch books. I then somehow didn't read any Pratchett at all last year, so I'm starting off 2023 with Mort.

The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis
I don't want to even calculate how long this book has been in my possession. I have the box set with the castle on the spines that I got when I was in grade 7. Nope, not doing that math. Sufficed to say, my son will be that age in about 4 years.

EDITED TO REMOVE “What I’m reading” post.

So sorry, just realized I had posted in completely the wrong place! 🤦🏻‍♀️

I read Emily Gee's Thief with No Shadow, which had been languishing on my shelves unread since 2010. I have mixed feelings about it, but I'm pleased to have finally read it!

I read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which has been on the shelves since before I joined LT in 2011.

I've had Alive: The Generations Trilogy on my shelf since 2021. It is a young person, dystopian novel. Entertaining.

Originally published in 1973, The Princess Bride was an excellent read. Full of action and adventure, I can now recommend this warped fairy tale and the 1987 film.

I got stuck on a (wonderful!) chunkster for almost three weeks, but am planning on picking up my Prince Valiant choice by the weekend, woo!

>32 DeltaQueen50: The Princess Bride is my favorite movie which I had seen before reading the book and ended up being disappointed with the book. Not sure if so many times watching the movie spoiled my enjoyment of the book. Keep thinking I should give it another try.

Currently reading The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson, which has been lurking on my virtual TBR shelf since 2017. Also, in the beginning our shrinking hero is being pursued by a spider as shown on some covers (but not mine, alas).

>34 staci426: That was my fear when I picked up The Princess Bride, but once I got used to the way the author played with us with all his asides, I was able to relax and really enjoy the book.

COMPLETED The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson

Finished The Starless Crown by James Rollins. He's long been a favorite author of mine, but this was his first foray into fantasy. I enjoyed it, though my feelings are mixed overall, I admit. Full review written, though!

Tomorrow is the last day of the January challenge, what did you finally read, what did you think?

In case someone missed it, here's the link to the February challenge thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/347834#

I meant to read Brothers of the wind last year when I acquired it and got sidetracked. I picked it up yesterday but I don't think I can finish it today, alas.

>39 fuzzi: I read Dorsai! Which didn't age very well and I finished it but not interested in more. On the other hand I finally read Over Sea, Under Stone and really enjoyed it, and plan to read the rest of the series.

>42 majkia: I've got book 4 and 5 in the Dark Rising series, not read yet. I am keeping an eye out for Over Sea, Under Stone so I can read them in order.

>41 MissWatson: let us know when you do finish it, don't let a deadline spoil the read.

I'm counting A woman of the iron people by Eleanor Arnason. Wish I had run across this in the 1990s when it was published. A first contact story featuring a human anthropologist and a a culture where the women are in charge.

Has anyone read others in this series?

>44 markon: I've never heard of the book or the author before, sorry.

>41 MissWatson: I have finished it and it is everything I hoped it would be. It paints such a convincing psychological portrait of Ineluki, the future Storm King and how he got be like this.

>41 MissWatson: I didn't realize that was a Tad Williams book, now it's on my wishlist!

>47 fuzzi: I hope you like it. It provides a lot of backstory!

In 2018, or thereabouts, my boyfriend and I took a bus trip to Salem where I picked up a copy of The House of the Seven Gables in the House of the Seven Gables. I started the introduction but never got more than part way in (never got to the first actual chapter). This morning I grabbed it off the shelf and am now a couple pages into chapter one. I skipped the introduction and preface, they really weren't doing it for me.

It has taken me a while but finally dusted off my box set of Morrigan Crow and read the first book, The Trials of Morrigan Crow. And it was well worth it - loved it.