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Thoughts on the Reading Group?

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
For those that have participated so far, I'd like to get some thoughts on what you've gotten out of the Reading Group or some suggestions on how to improve it. I took over the concept after it was initially proposed, just because I didn't want to see it die. However, I'm often pretty busy so I may not be able to finish a book in one month or even think of questions to spur discussion.

I'd like to posit some questions:

1. Can you suggest any ways we could make it more interesting/engaging? I'm kind of hands-off with it most of the time, but if anyone has some cool ideas, I'll try to integrate them into the process.

2. What are you thoughts on each month's books so far?

Feb. 2014: Prince of Thorns
Mar. 2014: His Majesty's Dragon
Apr. 2014: Swordspoint
May 2014: The Name of the Wind
June 2014: Gone Girl

2a. Which book has been your favorite so far?
2b. Which has been your least favorite? Just curious. :)

3. Is there any theme that you think we should do in the future?

Thanks for any feedback from those who have participated so far.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
1. I'm not sure, to be honest. Getting book choices that people want is always nice. You might consider getting an established group and rotating the book selection, instead of voting. Some people's choices may not ever be chosen, otherwise. Two I've voted for have already been picked. If people never see their choice come up, they may drop off.

2. I've liked every book except His Majesty's Dragon. My favorite so far has been Swordspoint, which I've always liked. I didn't re-read Name of the Wind, because it's pretty long and I was re-reading the two previous installments. I don't often re-read books because there are so many I want to get to, though I'm happy to make exceptions for the book club. Name of the Wind was just too long to have a go at again.

3. Future themes...dark fantasy, Tolkienesque fantasy, historical fantasy, magic realism/literary fiction. Those come to mind.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
That's a good idea. Maybe we could set up a semi-permanent pool and then each month will be dedicated to that person's choice. That way everyone gets a chance to read the book they want. Or perhaps even have one member suggest three books they really want to read and the group picks from those? Something like that.

I've like Gone Girl the most of all so far, which I find worrying in some way. Not sure why, but I feel like I've betrayed my fantasy roots by liking a non-fantasy book so much. I guess it happens. :)

Of the others, I really enjoyed Prince of Thorns and I liked Swordspoint a lot at the beginning. I couldn't get into His Majesty's Dragon and The Name of the Wind proved too long for me as well. I liked what I read of it though.

I'm reading Red Country now, so I'm squared away at the moment.
 

Ophiucha

Auror
1. I like Steerpike's idea, as well. Particularly since a few members have more niche tastes, it broadens the scope of potential books to choose from. I can't complain myself, since something I've voted for has been picked 3/5 times, but I'm sure there are some people who would love to share something they love with the rest of us, or who just haven't found a good excuse to read something that is maybe too old or too obscure to fall under the group's radar.

2. I skipped the first month since I've tried and failed to read it before, but I've liked all the others. Haven't finished Gone Girl yet, but for its genre, it's enjoyable. HMD is a great look into the wave of fantasy coming from fanfiction writers, which will likely be a large portion of writers in the future, and NotW really highlights the quality of modern fantasy that sticks to older conventions. And Swordspoint was just a damn good read.

3. Magic realism, dark fantasy, or non-English/translated fantasy. For that last category, something non-Western, perhaps, or something from Latin America. Maybe for a month with a lighter reading theme, a YA novel? I know the term 'YA' is poison in some circles, but we'd certainly steer clear from the Twilight wave and perhaps look at Garth Nix, Nnedi Okorafor, etc..
 

Ankari

Hero Breaker
Moderator
1. Spread the subgenres over a six month or year period. Each member is asked to chose a month. You can have the tie breaker be whoever has the closest birthday to that month. Whatever book the member picks for that month, we read.

2. My favorites were Prince of Thorns and Name of the Wind. I ended up buying the series (and went so far as interviewing Mark Lawrence). My least favorite was His Majesty's Dragon.

I haven't opened Gone Girl yet, but with a major project completed, I may just get into it.

3. See my answer to the first question.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I like the ideas so far. So for July, let's do the novella/short story collection/anthology deal and then in August we'll see who are going to be our permanent/semi-permanent members of the group.

Of who has posted so far, we could do it like this?

August: Steerpike
September: Ophiucha
October: Ankari
November: Philip

That sound good? If anyone else posts on this thread, we can add them to finish out the year. Of course if you're not happy with your month, you can swap with someone else.
 

Ophiucha

Auror
I'm fine with that, and I'll pre-emptively say that if we have enough people who'd like a month, one of them can have mine since I've already had a book I suggested picked for the group. :) If not, I've already got a few ideas bouncing around in my head.
 

SM-Dreamer

Troubadour
I've been following along, even if I haven't been participating as much as I'd like; I haven't had time to do much reading lately.

2. What are you thoughts on each month's books so far?

Feb. 2014: Prince of Thorns - Liked this book, and the rest of the series is on my to-read list. Glad I got the chance to read it.
Mar. 2014: His Majesty's Dragon - Was an interesting book, but I struggled with it. Might go back and reread later.
Apr. 2014: Swordspoint - Someone else at my library had checked out the only copy, so I didn't get the chance to read it. Sadly; it looked interesting. To-read list.
May 2014: The Name of the Wind - Love this book, have this book.
June 2014: Gone Girl - Eh. I don't mind leaving the genre, but this one didn't sound appealing to me.

2a. Which book has been your favorite so far? - Name of the Wind, but I also liked Prince of Thorns

3. Is there any theme that you think we should do in the future? Nothing in particular.

I am sorry I haven't been participating, it just feels like I'm always running to keep in place (Red Queen...?) and never getting anywhere. But I do have 2 weeks off from school coming up, so I should be able to get back on track with things.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
SM-Dreamer, thanks for your comments. If you would like, you can be in charge of December to finish out the year.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Technically, Ankari is up for October's choice. I notice the participation has dropped off significantly for whatever reason. I wanted to get caught up on some books I already had in September, so I skipped a month.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Would you like to make the pick, Steerpike? I just made one, so I want to have some space before I do another.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Phil:

If no one else wants to make one, I'll throw this one out there:

Dragondoom: A Novel of Mithgar: Dennis L. McKiernan: 9780451458810: Amazon.com: Books

I am planning to re-read it, regardless. The reason I want to re-read it is that it was one of my favorite fantasy books when I was about 20, and I'm curious how it holds up all these years later. It was recently re-issued, so it isn't hard to find. It's very much a traditional, Tolkienesque fantasy, as I recall, which is something we haven't done yet. But I want to make sure we're doing something everyone is interested in, so someone else may have a different suggestion.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
If no one else says anything in the coming days, then we can go with you pick for December, Steerpike. If you want to present some other options just in case, feel free to do so and I'll post an official thread. I was interested in reading this one back when we did His Majesty's Dragon, but I guess that choice was more well-known so it got more picks.
 

Mythopoet

Auror
I've had a huge helping of real life problems dropped on my head and so I don't foresee having much reading time for the next few months. I won't be able to participate in the reading group.

Ah, Dennis L. McKiernan. I tried reading a couple of his books years ago (including Dragondoom), but couldn't make it through. He comes across as badly derivative of Tolkien and this is because he actually started by writing Tolkien fanfiction. A publisher wanted to pick up his work as a sequel to LOTR, but the estate obviously vetoed that. So he rewrote it enough so that it no longer used Tolkien's world, but was still very similar. (That's right, 50 Shades wasn't the first reworked fanfiction to get published.) It's an interesting case, but I could never get into his writing or his storytelling despite my love of Tolkien. Tolkien-esque fiction always seems to be missing something vital that made Tolkien himself so great.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Sorry you can't continue and hope everything's fine, Mythpoet. Feel free to jump back in at a later date if you can.

I downloaded a sample of Dragondoom, so I'll give it a read and see if I want to join in for December. Perhaps I should start a new thread and see if anyone wants to join in. As long as there are two people, we can keep it going! :D
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Other books I want to read:

Ready Player One
Abercrombie's Half a King
Daggerspell, Katharine Kerr
Feast of Souls, C.S. Friendman
Some kind of Fairy Tale, Graham Joyce
Blood of Ambrose, James Enge
The House of the Stag, Kage Baker
1Q84, Haruki Murakami
Winterlong, Elizabeth Hand
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
RE: McKiernan,

I think he gets some unfair criticism on the Tolkien comparisons, and it stems back to his first published trilogy, which was clearly Tolkien fanfic in its inception. It came out at a time when a lot of fantasy was much more heavily Tolkien-inspired than now (Sword of Shannara and others, for example). Since that time, his books branched off into legitimate stories of their own, and not takes on Tolkien. His world, however, is still very much like Middle Earth in terms of the races, etc. and that continues to draw comparisons. Of post-Tolkien writers, his subject matter is as much like Tolkien as any of them.

I haven't read him in a number of years, and while I didn't care for his initial trilogy I did like Dragondoom quite a bit back when it first came out, primarily because I actually formed an emotional connection to the characters. It is one others may not like because it is very much a traditional fantasy, and also because it takes place earlier in the history of his world and he uses archaic language to reflect the time period.

As an aside, I've corresponded with McKiernan about writing and the business of writing, though this was years ago, and he's one hell of a nice guy :)
 
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