So, folks... what do we want to read? We've got a whooole heap of options here to vote on. It's not in a poll this time because, well... polls can only support up to ten books, and people kept having really good suggestions after we started last time and there was no way to add them in after a certain point. I'll go over how voting works in a moment, but first... the books! At least, the ones I saw recommended in the last thread and compiled in my quick look-around. I haven't read a bunch of those and I feel like my summaries will probably be woefully bad in comparison to the cases actual fans could make, so hopefully some of the folks who recommended these will join us to better pitch them as I am stealing summaries from goodreads/wikipedia/amazon for those... (Pre-posting Edit: Am actually doing this for all the new ones because holy COW does it save on spoons.) Would tag folks, but it's been almost two years, that seems weird. Spoiler: Holy Wall of Words, Batman! Hidden for length. The Golem's Eye (Bartimaeus Trilogy #2) -- The boy who was going to be a wizard now is a wizard, and part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There's a mysterious beast stalking the streets of London, and some of the non-magical folk seem to be less affected by magic than maybe their magical overlords would like. Nathaniel, the wizard, and his (somewhat unwilling) partner, the spirit Bartimaeus, are charged with investigating. Ringworld (Known Space) -- A bunch of explorers find a massive structure out at the edges of explored space, which is unsettling because who built it? The team they send to investigate has some trouble, gets stranded, and has to make the trek to try and escape. Hugely famous sci-fi book, inspiration for Halo (the structure, at least). The Invasion (Animorphs #1) -- Teenagers walking home one night are in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time and witness the crash-landing of an alien spaceship. They befriend the alien, get the ability to turn into animals at will, and find out that another species of brain-slug type aliens is trying to take over the world and must be stopped. The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials #2) -- Daemons! Lyra follows on from the last book through the portal into an otherworldly city where Spectres that go after adults make the place only safe for children to travel. Well, to a degree, anyway. There she meets a boy from our world, and things happen, and summaries are hard to do without knowing how much to spoil. Small Gods (Discworld Standalone) -- A god is stranded on earth in the body of a turtle because no one actually believes in him anymore despite the massive, sprawling religion that has been built up around him. He tries to rectify this, because turtles are not rated for long-term desert life, and he wants to be a proper god again. Lots of talk about religion, a much better (kinder and truer) parody than most. The Wee Free Men (Discworld, Tiffany Aching #1) -- Tiffany Aching sees the world very differently from most people. This is because she is, or will be, a witch. This is slightly awkward due to local superstitions about witches. When her brother gets kidnapped by the Queen of Faeries, though, she's got to witch up and try to rescue him. For young adults, but don't let that put you off. Mort (Discworld, Death #1) -- Mort doesn't have a lot of direction in life. Death wants an apprentice to pass his work onto, not that he needs one, but it might let him take a vacation. Mort steps in and, later, up as the human and anthropomorphic personification begin to learn quite a bit about how the other works. Going Postal (Discworld, Moist #1) -- Moist von Lipwig is a crook and a conman and, most pressingly, a convict. His life is spared at the last moment only so that he can be given the unenviable task of refurbishing the city's long-decrepit Post Office, despite the telegram-esque Clacks system which has been making it ever more obsolete. If he fails, the hangman is waiting. One of the newer Discworld books, or at least on that end of things, so there might be a few more spoilers -- though I don't think too many, or ones that are too important, really. The Man Who Folded Himself -- Probably the best time travel story I've ever read. A man receives a gift from his uncle, a belt that allows him to mess around with time. He proceeds to do so, which leads to the interesting situation where the person he interacts with most becomes, well, himself -- with all the good and bad that entails. Not entirely safe for work, but really good, I think, and by the guy that did 'Trouble with Tribbles' and other excellent Trek stuff. Nine Princes in Amber (The Chronicles of Amber #1) -- "Carl Corey wakes up in a secluded New York hospital with amnesia. He escapes and investigates, discovering the truth, piece by piece: he is really Prince Corwin, of Amber, the one true world of which our Earth is just a shadow. He is one of nine men who might rule Amber, if he can fight his way past the armies of his older brother Eric." First in a quite famous longrunning series. Vellum: The Book of All Hours -- "It’s 2017 and angels and demons walk the earth. Once they were human; now they are unkin, transformed by the ancient machine-code language of reality itself. They seek The Book of All Hours, the mythical tome within which the blueprint for all reality is transcribed, which has been lost somewhere in the Vellum–the vast realm of eternity upon which our world is a mere scratch." The Riddle of Stars -- "The land-rule of Hed passed to Morgon prematurely, when his parents died at sea. He became one with his rural homeland, his heart and senses bound to its every living creature. And if he hadn't loved harping and riddlery, he might have remained a farmer all his life. [...] But Morgon had been born with three stars on his brow, and no one in the High One's realm knew why..." Apparently a trilogy gathered in one book, so we might start with The Riddle-Master of Hed, depending on length? Deep Secret (Magids #1) -- "Rupert Venables is the junior Magid assigned to Earth and to the troublesome planets of the Koyrfonic Empire. When the Emperor dies without a known heir, Rupert is called into service to help prevent the descent of the Empire into chaos. At the same time, the senior Magid on Earth dies, making Rupert a new senior desperately in need of a junior. Rupert thinks his problems are partially solved when he discovers he can meet all five of the potential Magids on Earth by attending one SF convention in England. However, the convention hotel sits on a node, a nexus of the universes. Rupert soon finds that other forces, some of them completely out of control, are there too...." Assassin's Apprentice (Realm of the Elderlings, The Farseer Trilogy #1) -- "Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father’s gruff stableman. He is treated as an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him secretly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz’s blood runs the magic Skill—and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family. [...] As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom." Sabriel (The Old Kingdom/Abhorsen) -- "Since childhood, Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who refuse to stay dead. But now her father, the Abhorson, is missing, and Sabriel must cross into that world to find him. With Mogget, whose feline form hides a powerful, perhaps malevolent spirit, and Touchstone, a young Charter Mage, Sabriel travels deep into the Old Kingdom. There she confronts an evil that threatens much more than her life and comes face-to-face with her own hidden destiny. . . ." I remember liking it a lot when I last read it, but it's been a long while. Inda (Inda #1) -- "Indevan-Dal "Inda" Algara-Vayir is the younger son of a Marlovan prince. He is sent to the Academy to learn the art of war, the highest art of his warrior country. [...] Once at the Academy, life is not as Inda expected. Through determination and unexpected friendships, Inda survives until a fateful summer when one of his classmates dies and his life is changed forever. Now exiled to the sea, serving aboard a merchant sailor Indevan-Dal's life is no more and Inda's begins" Storm Front (Dresden Files #1) -- "Meet Harry Dresden, Chicago's first (and only) Wizard P.I. Turns out the "everyday" world is full of strange and magical things―and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Harry is the best at what he does―and not just because he's the only one who does it. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they look to him for answers. There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get…interesting. Magic―it can get a guy killed." Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch -- "According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world's only completelyaccurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner. [...] So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture. [...] And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . ." Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The Goblin Emperor -- "The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three sons in line for the throne are killed in an "accident," he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir. [...] [H]e is alone, and trying to find even a single friend . . . and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne–or his life." Won/nominated for a bunch of rewards, and I don't think I know of anyone who's read it and not loved it. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy #1) -- "Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history. [...] With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate - and gods and mortals - are bound inseparably together." I asked my partner for her favourite N.K. Jemisin book to propose and this was it. Full of, to quote her: "glorious assholes in love with each other" if that seems like your cup of tea. Now, this isn't a poll, which means there'll need to be posts to vote. I'm using the NetTally program done by Kinematics over on Sufficient Velocity. There's a bigger explanation of how it works there, but here's a quick summary: A vote is considered to be any line of text that starts with "[X]". Spaces, other punctuation, and capitalization do not make things count as different votes. The program counts the votes of the most recent vote-including post from each person. So if you change something or choose two and later add another, it's better to either edit your vote or repost your whole vote. The program doesn't count votes in quotes, because it was designed for quests where people would discuss options more and that'd run into potential problems. You need to copy-paste or delete the quotation coding for the vote to be counted. Anything written after the appropriate symbols count. That means you can vote for books not on the list above just as easily as for books that've already been listed. Along with no limit on choices, this is the big reason for trying to change over for this round. If it's too much, we can change back next time. The non-book selection votes have sub-sections beginning with "-[X]" and will count as being tied to the vote directly above with one hyphen less in front. That way the voting on guidelines and how many books won't get too much in the way of which book to read. You get up to three votes on books! While using the title provided above would be nice, the Tally program saves enough time and spoons that I'll be able to go over things and manually merge differently counted votes for the same thing together. Voting for the same thing multiple times won't change how many votes there are for it, though. You don't have to vote on everything if you don't want to. Whatever you do vote for will be counted. It won't count my votes, as I'm the OP but I'll be listing them at the bottom of this post anyway so people can see what they are and get an example. But there's still the non-book stuff to mention. Oog. This is what I said in the first post of each thread, after welcoming people and mentioning what the book for the thread was: Spoiler: Guidelines of previous bookclub threads All posts after this one are fair game for untagged spoilers. The assumption is that you'll acquire the book, read it, and come back to talk about it once you've read it. That might not be for a few weeks, and that is totally fine. If you're have a hard time finding the book, or want to talk about the rules or selection or problems or anything else not related to the content itself, bring that over to the main Bookclub Thread. We'll help as best we can. Same with if you think these guidelines aren't useful, they can be changed! You can totally post in here without being done, though. Just scroll all the way down and write out your thoughts if'n you want to liveblog them. (Please let us know where you are so we don't reply/tag you and spoil things unintentionally if you care about not being spoiled.) Ignoring this thread until you're caught up might mean missing alerts. That's totally okay. You can find it in the forum browser or in your list of Watched Threads (if you're watching it). You can participate in as many of the Bookclub threads as you want, in whatever order you like. The idea here is to provide discussion and encouragement in a way that lets everyone have the best reading experience we can manage. Do these still work for people? [X] Guidelines -[X] Yes, that's fine. -[X] No, we should change things. --[X] (Replace this bit with what you think should change.) Additionally, do we want to stick to three books, do more, or do fewer? [X] Number -[X] One book. -[X] Two books. -[X] Three books. -[X] Four books. -[X] Five books. ...aaand actually, here's a list of all the books in vote-form so that it's easier to copy-paste them. [X] The Golem's Eye [X] Ringworld [X] The Invasion [X] The Subtle Knife [X] Small Gods [X] The Wee Free Men [X] Mort [X] Going Postal [X] The Man Who Folded Himself [X] Nine Princes in Amber [X] Vellum [X] The Riddle of Stars [X] Deep Secret [X] Assassin's Apprentice [X] Sabriel [X] Inda [X] Storm Front [X] Good Omens [X] The Goblin Emperor [X] The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms My votes are for: [X] The Man Who Folded Himself [X] The Goblin Emperor [X] Deep Secret [X] Guidelines -[X] Yes, that's fine. [X] Number -[X] Three books. Will tally the votes sometime around the end of the month, with at least 48 hours of notice. ...I'm gonna go lie down now.
Holy shit @Helen of Boy , you've put a lot of work into this tyvm My votes: [X] Ringworld [X] The Goblin Emperor [X] Mort [X] Guidelines -[X] Yes, that's fine. [X] Number -[X] One book. Edit: literary bookaloo
[X] Guidelines -[X] Yes, that's fine. [X] Number -[X] Two books. [X] Assassin's Apprentice [X] Mort [X] Procession of the Dead Ive never heard of any of the books on the list so i picked the coolest sounding ones and added one i really liked when i was younger and want to reread, hope that's cool. It's by darren shan if you want to look it up, but it may also be listed under d b shan as that is his adult titles author name
I'd be up for this. [X] Guidelines -[X] Yes, that's fine. [X] Number -[X] Two books. [X] Assassin's Apprentice [X] The Man Who Folded Himself
*slides in 1 month late/w starbucks* is this still gonna be a Thing? bc i still really want to do this. [X] Guidelines -[X] Yes, that's fine. [X] Number -[X] Two books. [X] The Goblin Emperor [X] The Riddle of Stars [X] Good Omens note: i will probably happily read just about anything though! i'm always up for broadening my horizons. :>
