What are we reading in February 2023

Another month,another pile of books. Tell us your plans for February

Dusty's TBR for February
SF/Fantasy reads
Harlan Ellison - I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (R) ✔
H Beam Piper - Fuzzies and Other People✔
James Blish - Black Easter ✔
James Blish - Day After Judgment ✔
Doris Piserchia - Star Rider
Roger Zelazny - Eye of Cat ✔
Kim Newman - Anno Dracula
Seana Kelly - The Dead Don't Drink at Lafitte's ✔
Seana Kelly - The Wicche Glass Tavern ✔

from other genres
Michael Innes - There Came Both Mist and Snow ✔
William Shakespeare - Selected Sonnets✔
Jodi Taylor - A Second Chance ✔
John Milton - Paradise Lost ✔
Lindsey Davis - Comedy of Terrors ✔
Veronica Black - Vow of Silence ✔

>2 dustydigger: Reminds me that it's about time for another Innes myself.

Insane amount of stuff on my February list,including Shakespeare's Sonnets and the Milton. I always put Paradise Lost aside,as a bit daunting (I am quite familiar with his lyric stuff and some sonnets). Anyhoo,I made a start on this long epic a few days ago and am loving the majestic epic blank verse.
Never knew the phrase ''his dark materials'' was a quote from the poem,as well as the words Dark Descent,appropriately the title of a famous horror anthology.

I don't usually plan my reading, but I got an advance copy of a novel so I'm reading that now. I'm continuing my re-read of the Saga of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. I have it in my head to read all of Heinlein's juvenile novels (I read somewhere there's 12 but haven't fact checked that yet). And I am rereading a graphic novel Sunstone.

I'm on the downhill slope of Galactic Empires, Volume Two. I want to read The Will to Battle, but I'm dubious about getting it soon from a public library near me. I will probably read Roadside Picnic at long last, and I'm considering a go at Celestis.

>1 dustydigger:
Black Easter is a favorite of mine, and I just read a Blish story "Beep" that Aldiss gushed all over in Galactic Empires.

I have the more modest goal of reading any sf in February.

I'm reading The nature of Middle-earth and I'm amazed at the level of nerdiness! Tolkien sat down and worked out so many obscure facts about how Middle-earth worked, it reminds me of a twelve-year-old GM in a roleplaying game. It's a fast read, there are tables of how the population among the first elves must have increased year by year and similar stuff that's meaningless to actually read closely. Just the fact that he did spend countless hours on these matters amazes me.

>7 AndreasJ: It's good to have goals, at least, so I am told.

One of my book groups is discussing Upgrade by Blake Crouch, which I already have out from the library. So that's one thing planned for this month. Sea of Tranquility is up for two discussions in March, so that may also be in the queue.

>8 anglemark: It apparently beat the hell out of writing his study of Chaucer, which was supposedly what Tolkien really should have been working on!

I've got several on tap for February:
The Dark Between the Stars
Infinite
Genesis Fleet: Vanguard

Also planning on reading The Green Bone Saga (all three books if I have time), Grey Sister , Legends and Lattes

As for my programming for this month, Nophek Gloss, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, and The Genesis of Misery are the sure things. After that, we'll see.

As of Feb. 4, it turns out that "we'll see" includes The Spare Man.

Started The Last Emperox, the conclusion to John Scalzi's Interdependency trilogy.

>9 karenb: Sea of Tranquility has come up in other group discussions recently, and I keep asking the same question; have you read The Glass Hotel? SoT is not a direct sequel but there are connections with TGH that inform the narrative.

Currently reading:
SF/F
Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg
A Fugue in Time by Rumer Godden
Other
Trigonometry for Dummies by Mary Jane Sterling
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

>14 ScoLgo: Oh, thanks, I didn't know. No, I bounced hard off of Glass Hotel, though I no longer recall exactly why other than there things Not To My Taste. Would reading a summary help?

>16 karenb: The books work pretty well as stand-alone stories. There is something specific from The Glass Hotel that informs the narrative of Sea of Tranquility. As I recall, (apologies in advance for my sieve of a memory), the connections between the two are fairly well fleshed out in Sea of Tranquility so it's not really necessary to have read The Glass Hotel first - it just adds another layer of cool to the latest book if the reader has that background.

There are also connections in Sea of Tranquility to both Station Eleven and The Lola Quartet. Again, they are fairly tenuous connections that help place all of these novels in the same universe - although there are hints that we may be dealing with a multiverse instead of a universe - but each book does a decent job of telling its own story.

To specifically answer your question... Reading a synopsis might help - but I would be careful of spoilers.

I started reading Network effect but stopped upon discovering that Fugitive telemetry is chronologically earlier in the timeline and read that instead. Now I've started This virtual night as a break from Murderbot.

>18 Sakerfalcon:

I usually choose to read in publication order even when aware of timeline changes, but I think this is a successful choice. I was a little confused about the seeming decision at end of Network Effect being ... ignored? changed? Until realizing that Fugitive Telemetry took place beforehand.

>2 dustydigger: I had a urge to read Fuzzies and Other People this month too, but I'm not so sure after last month's reading of Fuzzy Sapiens, which sadly hasn't aged well. It may be for the best to keep positive memories of one Piper book...

Just finished Agent of the Imperium - not as bad as I expected it, as an RPG spinoff, to be. Some big ideas and a bit of moral complexity on the good side, counterbalanced by a rather unpleasant hero and Miller's style, which as it says on the book's main page is {redacted} not quite as good as Isaac Asimov's.
Nevertheless, it was free, so I'd count it as a good start to the month.

>17 ScoLgo: I have ownership of a copy of The Glass Hotel now. I've already read Sea of Tranquility which I acquired first. I'll see when I read the former whether the order matters to me.

I've read Station Eleven as well, but I think that I was a little old for it.

I picked up one of The Witcher books, Baptism of Fire at a recent bookstore trip, partly because I have only read 2 of that series. So far it is just ok.

I should start Warbreaker today, part of my sister's ongoing efforts to get me to read all of the Cosmere novels.

Finished Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg. Enjoyed it. Also finished Master of Life and Death by Robert Silverberg. Liked it. Was an enjoyable blast into the past.

Currently reading:
SF/F
Thorns by Robert Silverberg
Other
Trigonometry for Dummies by Mary Jane Sterling
A fugue in Time by Rumer Godden
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Today, I will finish Joanna Russ’s The Female Man. Quite a good read to get a sense of women’s rage of living in a patriarchal world.

>5 elorin: The next Recluse novel for me is #4 which I believe is The Order War.

But my book club just started a nonSF book by Marina Endicott titled Good to a Fault which I think may bump SF off my reading for a couple of weeks now that my teaching term is in full swing. I’ve read the first few chapters and it is very good. Easy to see why it was nominated for a number of awards when it was first published. Endicott’s writing reminds me a little of Barbara Kingsolver, an author I have greatly enjoyed in the past.

Ha! The hold fairy delivered The Will to Battle. So I aim to put Galactic Empires to bed today (just 2.5 stories left) and start the Palmer book tomorrow. Also: grabed an impulse-borrow at the public library: I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf.

Come back HAL,all is forgiven. You are sweet and gentle,if a bit insane.Yes you kill people to survive,quite understandable.... But AM?. I needed a short story about an AI for a challenge. Hey,I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is short,a mere 17 pages long. I have read it before,so must have built up resistance against the horror,surely???
Nope,the power of dear Harlan's exquisite writing means there is no reduction in the horror,or the reader's desperate wish for all the pain to end for the poor narrator. Nope,once again I will keep having flashbacks of his plight,and wishing he were dead so his suffering will end!
Still amazing even on a third read. I am a wimp with horror at the best of times,but this story grabs and doesnt let go.
I am reading a fluffy popcorn urban fantasy novel as a pick me up after AM,but I am moving rather slowly through Milton's Paradise Lost,excellent but needs attention,its taken a week to get to the end of book 6,out of 12.also Shakespeare's Sonnets,25 out of 154. Loving them both,but I am looking a bit despairing at the insane TBR I set for myself this month. Bonkers,Oh well,they will go on March's list if necessary........

As promised, I finished Galactic Empires last night. I posted my review this morning. Will to Battle, here I come.

Knocked off When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, the second of the author's fables for adults. Already working on Nophek Gloss.

>29 paradoxosalpha: How has Ada Palmer's series been so far?

>31 Luke.w:

I adore it. There's a blurb from Cory Doctorow on the cover of The Will to Battle that touts the plausibility of Too Like the Lightning, which I would not really number among its virtues. But I would agree with his other adjectives: "intricate" and "significant." You can tell Palmer is a professional historian, because her 25th-century future doesn't start today: it starts in antiquity, and the characters think about the 18th century far more often than they do the 20th or 21st. I don't think I've read anything quite this ambitious or well-written since Gene Wolfe's Solar Cycle.

>32 paradoxosalpha: "I don't think I've read anything quite this ambitious or well-written since Gene Wolfe's Solar Cycle."

*blink*

Well, okay then. I do believe Too Like the Lightning just moved nearer to the top of my TBR.

>28 dustydigger: Dusty: we're weirdly on the same trajectory. I decided to read Shakespeare's sonnets, one or two a day, at the start of 2023. I'm up to 48. Not being a big poetry or drama reader, I hadn't realized that most of the sonnets are addressed (seemingly anyway) to one person. With all his turns & twists & wordplay, it requires attention.

And I'm reading Making Darkness Light by Joe Moshenska, a biography of Milton -- after which I plan to finally read Paradise Lost after years of resistance. The Moshenska book is fascinating & brilliant, and also seems to be making a case for Paradise Lost as a good candidate for an SF or Fantasy discussion list.

I suspect I also will need a healthy dose of popcorn books after these (or during them).

>34 rshart3: Its been a few years since I read the sonnets,but I have 4 or 5 off by heart,and recite them (silently!) when I am bored standing at a bus stop waiting interminably for those pesky things that delay for long periods then come three at a time. Grrr.
I have always loved Milton's shorter stuff,but was intimidated by Paradise Lost.I loved the first 4 books,but the last couple have been a bit of a slog,but I'm hoping to do book 7 this week,and hopefully complete the whole epic in a matter of weeks.. He had a turbulent life,and was not the most comfortable of companions,plus he was stubborn,but also principled and brave. He probably would have been executed after the end of the Puritan period. Maybe his blindness made the restored royalists more merciful?
I am intending to ask WWEnd if they can add it to their books.And the Iliad. And the Odyssey. They are primary sources of the plots of thousands of books listed on WWEnd,so why aren't they listed too? I'll try anyway.

>34 rshart3: >35 dustydigger: I listened to the Shakespeare sonnets read by Patrick Stewart when everything was locked down during the pandemic. That was more enjoyable than me reading them.

I also wish WWE would add The Iliad and The Odyssey. I loved those and will reread those again. The Aeneid should be added as well.

I am 3/4 of the way through The Jigsaw Assassin. I am liking it.

>36 daxxh: Jigsaw assassin is on my TBR pile! I love this series!

>31 Luke.w: >32 paradoxosalpha: >33 ScoLgo: I struggled with Perhaps the Stars but that was mainly because it's a year since I read The Will to Battle and I've been to sleep since then. But these are big, intricate and complex books exploring big, intricate and complex ideas. The world-building is remarkable, even if I do find things in it to tease apart; and if there are parts of the work that I can't temporarily grasp or that I do not agree with the author over, there's enough going on elsewhere that I can turn to for entertainment and stimulation. Perhaps the Stars has got world-building surprises all the way through. I posted a review which talks candidly about my problems with the book, but I still want to sit down - most likely after I retire - and burn through the whole series because there's more than enough in all four books to satisfy.

>38 RobertDay:

Yes, I think too long a hiatus between volumes can pose a problem for readers of Terra Ignota. I was honestly a little worried after just a few weeks when I came back to The Will to Battle. But I was happily impressed by the "Seven-Ten List for Our Changing World" in the front matter as an excellent refresher on characters and plot as they had been left at the end of Seven Surrenders.

>39 paradoxosalpha: I read the first three in fairly quick order. But then I was all caught up, and I understand Palmer had health problems which delayed delivery of the final volume. No matter. I'm still so impressed with the whole series that I shall read it again. I started reading SF 50 years ago because I found it exciting to encounter stuff I had to work hard at understanding. It's good to see that modern SF writers can still deliver that sort of exciting strangeness.

I just finished Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi, an excellent look at mortality and memory. I loved the mystery element as well. Currently reading The Village in the Sky by Jack McDevitt, I love his books, just plain fun.

>40 RobertDay: My expectation is that I'm going to have to look over Palmer's first book again before I begin the second, but I'll be retired by the summer so I'll have more time!

>42 Shrike58: Congrats!

I read the first two Terra Ignota books in quick succession, but then I had a small gap before the third and a very long gap before the fourth. Someday (God knows when) I will go through all four in relatively quick succession to see how they all go together... and to see how much more I understand now that I know where it's going.

The r/TerraIgnota subreddit did a chapter-by-chapter reread that was very illuminating about small details I had missed the significance of, which I read alongside book four. I'd like to reread all four with it at my side.

I finished my advanced reader copy of the sci-fi YA novel Hierarchy of Blood and I am dipping into another Heinlein juvenile Space Cadet.

I finished Vanguard: Genesis Fleet which is a departure from the usual series. No Admiral Geary altho we do have a lieutenant Geary. Also a strong Marine female. I should add, that as noted in the book, every Marine I've worked with (I was stationed at the Pentagon and worked for the Navy with Marines in the mix too) was crazy. So hearing the Marines in these stories say things like "He's crazy enough to be a Marine" hits the nail on the head, lol. I'm a retired Zoomie so take my views for what they're worth, lol.

About halfway through a re-read of Ubik.

Finished Nophek Gloss. With my hot take being that the author seems to be ambitious, but this first novel has issues rising above the clichés. Some clunky prose doesn't help matters. Just good enough that I'm prepared to look at the follow-on books. It also doesn't help that my patience is tried when I know my next two novels are likely to be much better reading experiences.

>40 RobertDay: "I started reading SF 50 years ago because I found it exciting to encounter stuff I had to work hard at understanding." Yes, me too. Though that's not the only reason that I read SF, but it's a good part of it. Thank ghu that so many writers are up to it, still.

>42 Shrike58: Happy impending retirement!

Just started my reread of Murderbot stories. I haven't reread the first one (All systems red) in a few years, so it's interesting to return to it after reading all the other books since.

>49 karenb: Just started my reread of Murderbot stories.

Should set you up well for the November release of the next installment.

Finished Thorns by Robert Silverberg. Did not care for it.

Finished This virtual night which is set in the same universe as This alien shore. I really enjoyed it. The main characters aren't connected to the earlier book and I think you could read this as a stand-alone without much confusion.

>52 Sakerfalcon: Good to hear you enjoyed those, I may have to pick those up, I like Friedman's stuff, usually.

Began February with a very long read of Kushiel's Chosen. A rather mediocre 2nd novel. I rather liked Kushiel's Dart, which was also a long book. I rated Dart at 7/10 while Chosen only gets a very average 5/10.

Now on to another long one... R. F. Kuang's Babel. Only ~10% in but fairly interesting so far.

Also dipping in & out of a pair of collections: Innocents Aboard and Stranger Things Happen. Both being very good so far.

After Babel will be Foundation's Edge, which will notch another title off the Hugo Winners, leaving an even dozen remaining.

Still reading The Moonstone, and also started on Paul Kincaid's study of Iain M. Banks.

The hold fairy just coughed up a copy of Escape from Yokai Land for me, but I still have to get through the second half of The Will to Battle before I dive in.

Havent read any SF yet this month,because I have been grappling with the amazing Paradise Lost quite difficult but great. Now of course I feel a need to reread the Out of the Silent Planet sequence,its an obvious homage to Milton. Everytime I read Perelandra I used to be a bit annoyed at the LOOONNG paean of praise to Maleldil after the temptation of the Lady is foiled.It seemed a bit pointless.Now I understand why it is there. Hey,only took 55 years to get the point! :0) Shouldnt wait till I'm so old to read a great classic..
I am 370/770 pages through Jo Taylor's A Second Chance,in the St Mary's series. A lot darker in tone when we visit the fall of Troy,and some odd developments in the personal relationships,but ringing some changes should keep the series fresh. Still lots of fun among the crazy historians.

>57 dustydigger: Perelandra is my least favorite of the trilogy, but some of the planetary descriptions (like when his container first lands in the ocean there) are really good. By the way, if you're at all open to electronic ambient music, in this case "Space Music", Kevin Braheny did a fascinating impression of Perelandra in his album The Way Home. Here's a link to a Youtube version (or you could just google Braheny & Perelandra)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dpg45WnguY
He was the creator of one of the first really powerful Moog instruments and was know for his "woodwind" sounds.

>58 rshart3: thanks,I'll look it up later.After just reading about the Fall,and the grief of the angels who had earlier been so full of joy at the Creation,I can see why Lewis did the long song of joy and triumph when things went right on Perelandra,but it is still a very LONG paean!
Yes the descriptions of Perelandra(Venus) are wonderful.And still when I hear the word Perelandra it immediately conjures up Professor Weston torturing the beautiful little frogs!.That obviously made a horrific impression on me at 15! :0)
I do miss stories of Venus. All those clouds were conducive to authors imagining wonderful things happening below.It ruined a whole genre of lit when fly pasts took place over Mars,Venus and Mercury. The solar system is a much less exciting place once the scientists got involved :0(

>54 ScoLgo: Will you read any other of Carey's novels about the D'Angelines? I agree that the second novel is not as strong as the first, but I liked all 9 (I think it's 9) that I have read. I didn't enjoy all of her other work, but I did like some of her other stuff (I 'd have to research to come up with the other titles).

Finished a re-read of Ubik and started the pretty obscure Reprieve from Paradise.

Finished Warbreaker yesterday, and have started Terry Pratchett's Wintersmith today.

Just read All systems red today. I quite liked it. Lightweight perhaps, but not without some depth.

I started reading Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War. It’s been on my TBR list for sometime. I’m still reading Good to a Fault with my book club but I just can’t resist having at least one SciFi novel on the go with whatever else I am reading.

>60 elorin: Honestly, probably not. Despite 'Fantasy of Manners' not being a favorite genre, I gave Kushiel's Dart a chance because of all the positive reviews. I enjoyed it enough to proceed with Kushiel's Chosen but this installment presented enough issues with character behavior and unnecessary descriptions of food, landscapes, clothing, room decor, etc, that I am not very motivated to continue. Still, never say never, eh? I suppose there is a slim chance I might attempt Kushiel's Avatar at some point, if only to complete the Phèdre Trilogy. If I do, should the issues I had with book 2 manifest themselves again, I will likely abandon it.

Finished with The Moonstone and found it most enjoyable. Still working on Paul Kincaid's book on Iain Banks.

>65 ScoLgo: If you find the descriptions unnecessary I would say don't waste your time as that's Carey's writing style for these novels.

I roared through Heinlein's Space Cadet and I am in fantasyland for a while reading Modesitt's The Mage-Fire War.

>66 RobertDay:
I am glad you enjoyed The Moonstone.

Thank you for reminding me that I have the Paul Kincaid book. I have been reluctant to read it incase his views disagree with my views of Iain's work. Silly really. I must get to it soon. I am retiring this week, so I should have more time for reading. That's the theory anyway.

Cant settle to read in a focus way this month.Cant call it a reading slump,because I did complete Paradise Lost I have no less than SEVEN books on the ,which I turned to when Milton got too heavy,so am seeing little progress with any in consequence. Then I pop off and read some kindle unlimited light fluff crime story,only 165 pages,straight off in a day! oops.
OK,I promise to be a good girl and stick to Fuzzies and Other People and Black Easter,with only one crime novel as ''snack'' reading the rest of this week. I need more ticks on this TBR :0)

Finished Simak's City and while still mulling over it, I definitely admire that the "easy presentation" smuggles in some pretty heady concepts: if not actually implicit, neither are they left for the reader in clumsy exposition dumps. Key example that with increased ease in transportation and communication, cities no longer are "needed" and are abandoned as both dangerous and unattractive. (Also serves as a classic example of the argument "SF is not so good at predicting the future".)

Doing a The Left Hand of Darkness re-read, though it has been a long, long time since my last reading.

>71 Karlstar: That's one of those books I remember so fondly I'm afraid to re-read it.

>70 elenchus: Classic example how? For getting it wrong or getting it right?

I'd say we are at a cusp point now with respect to cities; many are becoming too expensive to live or work in, whilst remote working may be the writing on the wall. There are those with vested interests or a control-freak mindset trying to reverse the trend for those who can to work remotely, either using the argument that city centre economies have suffered enough and need to be revitalised, or expressing their distrust that workers - yes, even "salaried professionals" - can deliver results whilst working from home.

Speaking personally, I've not worked in a city centre since 2010 - all the jobs I've had since then have been based out of city centres; and in any case, I've been working from home for three years now and will most likely only go back into the office for my retirement party in around six months' time.

Move electrons, not people!

>73 RobertDay:

I meant for getting it wrong, but there is evidence for both sides and clearly the argument is not "done".

>68 pgmcc: I envy you having the time to read once you retire! I still have a couple more years to go and then I can join you wading through the mountain of books I have been collecting over the years! 😀

>75 Neil_Luvs_Books:
I will keep the home fires burning for you while you work through those remaining years.

>73 RobertDay:
I have worked in the city centre all but one year since 1982. Working from home was a good break from commuting, and I am in the office today because I am having my retirement lunch this afternoon. The lunch starts at 2pm so it may go on a bit.

On Friday I have invited folks along for drinks in a bar near the office. That will be my last day in the office. :-)

One thing I will say for the pandemic and working from home, it was good preparation for retiring.

>76 pgmcc: How very true. I'm rather thinking that my WFH day might well look very similar to my daily routine after retirement - though I may have to limit my reading time just to make sure I get stuff done.

Finished Paul Kincaid's book on Iain Banks. Now started In Green's Jungles.

Hi - new to this group. I've decided to read considerably more SF this year (my first reading love). So far in February, I've read:

1. A Case of Conscience - James Blish
2. The Dying Earth - Jack Vance
3. The Palace of Eternity - Bob Shaw
4. Blood Music - Greg Bear
5. The Dream Master - Roger Zelazny

All five of these books were good reads I can recommend. They were also new authors for me to read, with the exception of Zelalzny - his Amber series is one of my all-time favorites & if you haven't read it yet, I suggest you do so. My next books TBR (not sure I'll get to all of them in February):

6. City - Clifford Simak
7. Solaris - Stanislaw Lem
8. The Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu
9. The King of Elfland’s Daughter - Lord Dunsany
10. The Iron Dream - Norman Spinrad
11. Cage of Souls - Adrian Tchaikovsky
12. Childhood’s End - Arthur C. Clarke

Oh Wow! James Blish Black Easter was a totally weird and wonderful surprise. I seem to be reading a lot of stuff about angels and devils lately. Paradise Lost of course,and am planning on rereading C S Lewis Space sequence.So Black Easterall about an alternate history world which has real black and white magic,and a black magician bringing about Armageddon, fits right in. And in fact I see Blish dedicated the novella to C S Lewis in memoriam ( Jack Lewis died in 1963,this book was published in 1968)
Its certainly a weird tale. Blish spends a lot of time to making it real and grounded. It teeters on the brink of overdo it and tipping into tedium,but somehow doesnt fall off. Naturally I have got hold of the sequel,After Judgment Day and will carry straight on. It seems God is dead,and Satan is in control! :0)

>78 ChrisG1: I'll second dusty's Oh Wow! Thinking back, despite the fame of his Slow Glass stories, I suspect that The Palace of Eternity may well turn out to have been Bob Shaw's best novel. Certainly a firm favourite of mine back in the 1970s when I was discovering SF, and it well deserves its place in my list of my 100 best books.

>78 ChrisG1: Hi Chris,great list! I am known round here for my delighting in lists :0)
I havent read #3,9,10,11.
~3 is definitely on my radar,I really need to dig into Bob Shaw more
.I will probably be reading the Elfland book in April. Lots of people readers of surprisingly disparate interests really have praised it to the hilt over on Booktube.
I have #10 and #11 already lined up.
I too am a Zelazny fan,I have a couple of his books ready for later in the year,but next month I am taking part in a challenge ,''the March of the Mammoths'',and one of my choices is yet another read of Amber books 1-5. Looking forward to it.
The other mammoth is Lord of the Rings
Am I crazy?
Dont answer that all you guys smirking in the background. :0)

>73 RobertDay: Putting on my nerd classes from a paper I wrote for a history class, part of the problem is that most American cities don't have the infrastructure that allow for expansion while still providing a reasonable/easy commute. Most of the American infrastructure was build with an auto focus, while other areas (such as Europe) are most focused on rail. While the focus on autos provides more mobility in larger areas, it actually just makes congestion more of an issue in large cities. I think the focus on autos has become so ingrained in the American psyche that I think larger cities will have trouble transitioning off (such as has been discussed in LA for a while now).

>79 dustydigger: Black Easter is definitely on my TBR list. Interesting to hear that Blish dedicated it to Lewis. I just reread his Space Trilogy last year.

>80 RobertDay: I'll definitely pursue more of Shaw's work - if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

>81 dustydigger: LOTR is my most reread novel - I'm pretty sure I've read it at least 10 times now (I'm old, so that helps).
Amber 1-5 is probably #2 on that list - I'll guess I've read it 6 times.

You have a Top 100 list? Do you have a link?

>79 dustydigger:

I recently got a copy of a newly-published solitaire card game based on Black Easter called Aleph Null. It is fun.


https://capstone-games.com/board-games/aleph-null/

>78 ChrisG1: Welcome! That is a good list!

>78 ChrisG1: What really improved my reading life was starting to read books published in the last thirty years and female authors. That made a huge positive difference -- I heartily recommend it.

>77 RobertDay:
What did you think of Paul Kincaid's book?

>81 dustydigger:
Am I crazy?
Dont answer that all you guys smirking in the background. :0)

I do not know why anyone would be smirking. Is being crazy not a prerequisite for being book mad?

>78 ChrisG1:
Welcome.

Great list.

I am another fan of Bob Shaw's work. I am particularly fond of his Land and Overland trilogy which starts with The Ragged Astronauts.

Enjoy your reading.

Finished The Genesis of Misery, which was a real pleasure after reading a novel that I mostly had to damn with faint praise. One presumes that the follow-on novels will be entitled "The Purgatory of Misery" and "The Apotheosis of Misery!"

I've been reading on the dark side. Just finished Fonda Lee's Jade City and rushing on to Jade War.

Has anyone read her Exo and that series? That's Sci Fi.

>78 ChrisG1: What a great list! And thanks for placing Zelazny’s Amber series on my radar. I have heard good things here and there. Time to place it in my TBR list.

>89 pgmcc: I'm pleased to have read it. There was stuff in it that I knew about, and stuff I didn't. (Banks' liking of the songs of Pete Atkin and Clive James, for example.) (Yes, that Clive James.) There was stuff I hadn't thought of, including the division of the Culture novels into three loose thematic trilogies. I need to re-read the earlier mainstream books now, of course.

My review: https://www.librarything.com/work/19518677/reviews/234254903

>84 ChrisG1: My particular favourites of BoSh's novels are The Two-Timers, Palace of Eternity (as I said), Other Days, Other Eyes (a fix-up novel that brings together most of his "slow glass" stories, though in any case you must separately seek out the short story Light of Other Days* which won a Hugo and has been widely anthologised), Orbitsville, Ground Zero Man/The Peace Machine (the latter title being a revised editon of GZM, although I could barely find any difference between them), Vertigo, The Ceres Solution and his fine comic novel Who Goes Here?. >91 pgmcc: has already given his recommendation of Land and Overland.

You should also try to find some of the collections of Bob's fan writing, though you will have to haunt specialist second-hand bookshops and websites for these. Recommended are The Best of the Bushel, which brings together some of his Glass Bushel columns from Walt Willis' fanzines; and The Eastercon Speeches, which bring together a number of the "Serious Scientific Talks" Bob gave at the UK's Easter convention for many years. (You may rest assured that they were neither serious nor scientific, except in the precision awfulness of his puns.) Other Eastercon speeches have been collected under other titles and you may find those whilst searching.

*Checking the touchstone for this revealed the existence of a book called Light of Other Days; Irish Life at the Turn of the Century in the Photographs of Robert French, which I must now try to find if only to see if it has any relevance. I know the line comes from a poem by Thomas Moore, but the coincidence of the Irish connection is striking.

>71 Karlstar: >72 majkia: I did a re-read of The Left Hand of Darkness after many decades. No need to fear. The primary story holds up very well. Only the glimpses given of the Ekumen society seemed very stuck in the 1960s.

>97 ChrisRiesbeck: Oh, cool. I've got the audio I've just been afraid to get to it.

I've just finished The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz - which was absolutely great and I have Hopeland by Ian McDonald ready for my next read.

I've finished and reviewed The Will to Battle, so I'm on to Escape from Yokai Land.

>100 paradoxosalpha: I strongly suggest taking your own advice over how soon to read Perhaps the Stars.

>76 pgmcc: Hi! New to the group but wanted to say Happy Retirement. I was retired early due to COVID but have been loving it oh so much.
Interestingly I wrote a short story when I was in high school (many many years ago) about working and taking school courses from home on a computer. The plot was that the pollution was so bad one could not go outside. Was I a hippie or what? I hope you enjoy retirement as much as I do.

Of course after Black Easter,James Blish's fantastic tale of magicians,Armageddon and demons galore,I naturally had to rush on to the sequel, The Day After Judgment,where the traditional story of the apocalyse did NOT turn out the traditional way!Black Easter was a tight focused little story,the sequel was much more spawling,with several themes,but still Milton inspired. Wry,sly humour,satire sharp as knives,intelligent philosophical musings,very ambiguous religious views,and some high vocabulary. I rarely if ever need to use a dictionary with novels,but here I used it often. All in all unusual,and intriguing.Good stuff.
And I see reading The Sparrow looming up in the future!
Back to Fuzzies and Other People,a vintage crime novel,and Shakespeare's Sonnets
variety is the spice of life.

>102 SueHerbine:
Hi, SueHerbine. Welcome to the group and thank you for the good wishes. I am glad to hear you are enjoying your retirement.

I remember as a child hearing all the stories about children doing school-work by radio because they were living so far away from schools. I suppose it was the earliest example of technology assisted distance education.

>103 dustydigger:

I have Black Easter and The Day after Judgment bound in one mass paperback volume, The Devil's Day. They really are the peak of After Such Knowledge, although I like the other two books for their own reasons. Doctor Mirabilis hardly rates as "science fiction," although it is a fine read.

Finished Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore's "Quest of the Starstone", which I think is best classified as simultaneously sf and fantasy.

I've now finished and reviewed Escape from Yokai Land, and I've read the Ursula LeGuin introduction to Roadside Picnic and its opening "excerpt." The hold fairy has been sent to retrieve Perhaps the Stars.

Done with The Spare Man. I was doubtful about a homage to classic Hollywood set in space and the novel turned out not to be my taste; and this is keeping in mind that I liked the first two novels in this cycle. That I'm nominating for the Hugo's probably made me more critical; I can easily note five novels published last year that I liked better than this.

Next up: Olympus Bound; the middle book in this trilogy I liked considerably less than the first, so this might be a chore.

Finished The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. Enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Added Miniatures: the Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi to my rotation

>108 Shrike58: Is The Spare Man really set in the Lady Astronaut universe?

>110 Stevil2001: Yes...yes it is. I would have preferred to see the third book taking place about 20 years after the second, when the emergency was climaxing. Mind, you Kowal was always clear that there was going to be a big gap between the events of the second and third books.

>109 seitherin: I've read a ton of Scalzi, but haven't gotten around to this one yet, even though it's sitting in my Kindle library. Gotta move it up the TBR list.

>111 Shrike58: But the third book was The Relentless Moon. Do you mean Spare Man is the fourth? But everything I have seen says the fourth is the yet-unreleased Martian Contingency/Derivative Base.

>97 ChrisRiesbeck: Agreed, Left Hand of Darkness was even better the third time around for me. I also just finished Radio Free Albemuth, which was interesting but weird.

I first read Left Hand from the library in college, then reread it when I bought my own copy, and rereread it when I got the Library of America Hainish volumes. Strong story every time... though the Le Guin that's grown the most for me on reading is The Dispossessed.

I've been enjoying NESFA's Lester Del Rey collection, and in nonfiction I followed a tip from Martin Elvis and I'm reading Mining the Sky.

>113 Stevil2001: I'm just counting the novels.

>117 Shrike58: I am not sure what you mean by this. There are three Lady Astronaut novels: The Calculating Stars, The Fated Sky, The Relentless Moon. The Spare Man is not the third one, even if it is one.

>118 Stevil2001: Lost one in there. However, The Spare Man is still set in that universe.

>119 Shrike58: Ah, thanks. Interesting choice on her part I guess given what I know about Spare Man.

>120 Stevil2001: I interpret this book as her "plague" novel, in that dwelling on apocalyptic themes was not something emotionally tenable in 2021. Not to mention that Kowal was pulling chestnuts out of the fire for people who are friends of mine in the DC con-running community!

I finished Hopeland last night. A very interesting climate change novel with a large dose of optimism, and a novel of star-crossed lovers and of family.

>123 andyl:

Good to hear of that book! I would definitely like to read it at some point.

>122 Shrike58: >120 Stevil2001: The Spare Man is a riff on The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett.

>125 seitherin: Yes, that I know, which is why it confused me to be told it was a Lady Astronaut novel. Not really the same vibe at all!

>122 Shrike58: Makes sense. The Relentless Moon ended up being unexpectedly topical, all of its airborne illness stuff being written pre-COVID.

>115 Stevil2001: The Dispossessed is on my queue for re-read. It was one of those books I respected but didn't enjoy when it came out. We'll see if I've grown up now.

>127 ChrisRiesbeck: I only got around to reading The Dispossessed last year & it was my favorite book of the year. Maybe it's a good thing I waited until I was old (I'm 64)....

Finished City by Clifford D. Simak. One of many older, well regarded, scifi books I'm getting around to. I liked, but didn't love it (3 stars). Very melancholy - pessimistic about humankind, whimsical about what takes our place.

I'm diverting from my reading plan to pick up Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. It won the Goodreads Choice Award for sci-fi & seems a good opportunity to read a newer author.

>127 ChrisRiesbeck: & >128 ChrisG1: Okay, I'm convinced to get to The Dispossessed this year. There are a few Ursula K. LeGuin books that I read when I was a younger version of myself that I didn't quite get at the time. I read The Lathe of Heaven last year and have The Dispossessed sitting in my TBR bookcase.

>125 seitherin: I appreciate that. If Ms. Kowal felt the urge to do that sort of homage who am I to say that she shouldn't? It's just not my thing.

>130 vwinsloe: For anyone that might be interested, there is a group read of The Dispossessed happening over in The Green Dragon.

I'm joining the list surge of LeGuin by starting a reread of The Left Hand of Darkness. I've read it several times but the last was 19 years ago. Actually it's been on my TBR pile for several months since I'm guiding a friend into trying some SF, and want to reread to be sure of choices. So far, A Door into Ocean -- probably next, Left Hand. She's a research biologist, but also interested in cultures.

>132 ScoLgo: Thanks, I may not get to The Dispossessed right away, but I will star the discussion to look at later. I appreciate your mentioning it!

Because Wells is the guest of honour at this year's Eurocon, I am reading Murderbot and just finished Artificial condition. I have many friends who don't understand the popularity of the Murderbot stories, but I must say I think they hit a very sweet spot. I'm a fan.

Today I started on Klara and the sun, which is slightly different in about every sense.

I felt like reading something to stretch my mind. SF in a future century but thoroughly mixed with an ancient culture,poetry,stream of consciousness writing,difficult to understand plot,with bizarre twists and turns,and wonderful descriptions of wild landscapes. And the weather,of course the weather. Oh, and I needed an author name beginning with Z for an alphabet challenge. Step up Roger Zelazny with Eye of Cat.. A first read for me,so I just went with the flow. I'll reread it perhaps next year,and will understand more. Definitely thematically linked with Creatures of Light and Darkness,which I also need to reread it too was a difficult,though fascinating, read
But for now for March of the Mammoths I am going to reread the Book of Amber,books 1-5. I read Nine Princes in Amber for the nth time last year,but its going to be fun reading the whole sequence for the first time in probably a decade.
For now I need to finish Fuzzies and Other People. Very dated,and repetitious. I read for what seems ages,squinting over the small print and find I have barely read 10 pages. Only 102 pages in after probably a dozen reading sessions! ......sigh..... There was a 20 year gap between book 2 and 3 of this series,and it shows.
After that I will start my other March of the Mammoths book,Lord of the Rings.My kindle died so I have to read a physical version. So not my beloved huge brick size tome,1200 plus pages,my wrists wouldnt stand for it,so its the trilogy for me.

Just finished Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. Gotta say, it's my favorite book of the year so far. Mandel is a fine writer, able to accomplish a lot with no excess fluff of words. The story uses time travel in a clever manner. I hate spoilers, so I'll not elaborate, but strongly recommend this.

>137 ChrisG1: I appreciate a writer who has no unnecessary verbiage as well, and I enjoyed Sea of Tranquility. Now I am time traveling myself; circling back to read The Glass Hotel.

I'm on the third book in Martha Wells' Raksura series, The siren depths. Meanwhile, the local library has a backlog on the second Murderbot book, so I'll likely reread those out of order.

>137 ChrisG1: It'll be interesting to see how it goes over with the various award-voting cliques, though this year's Hugo voting I expect to be a $#!+ show, considering how the Chinese world con staggers forward spasmodically at best; one lurch ahead of collapse at a time. This is as compared to the Nebula voting, which can often be a SFWA popularity contest. Probably the Locus and, ironically, the Dragon awards will be most telling. Frankly, if Mandel's novel does well, it'll be a sign that SF is now just literature, and not a life style!

>138 vwinsloe: I'm definitely going to look into her other books, as well.

>140 Shrike58: One of my reactions to the book is that it reads more like LitFic than SciFi, in terms of the writing style.

I'm just starting Jack Campbell's Fearless, the second of his Lost Fleet series.

>143 Jim53: Oh... my series.... I do love it.

Just finished a fun book How to Mars by David Ebenbach. What happens when one of a small group of scientists sent on a one-way mission to Mars gets pregnant?

>145 gypsysmom: Did they name the baby Valentine Michael Smith? ;)

I'm reading Changing vision, the middle volume of Julie Czerneda's Web Shifters trilogy. Czerneda writes very alien aliens!

>145 gypsysmom: That does sound like fun. Wishlisting it!

>146 ScoLgo:. Ooooo, clever.

I finished the Green Bone Saga, which I highly recommend. Starting Infinite.

>142 ChrisG1: Do you mean Sci Fi should be badly written because the only distinction aside from the subject matter is the quality of the writing. P. D James writes mysteries but at a literary level. The genre doesn't detract from that.

>150 justifiedsinner:

I can't speak for >142 ChrisG1:, but I think "Literary Fiction" has stylistic attributes and tropes that are not reducible to enhanced quality or a higher "level" of writing. It is in fact a genre in both a marketing sense and an informed critical one.

Finisshed The Garden (Into Shadow collection) by Tomi Champion-Adeyemi and Persephone (Into Shadow collection) by Lev Grossman.

I finally picked up something genre (weird reading year): A Robot in the Garden. Which is surprisingly annoying in its first 100 pages - not enough to make me stop reading but just enough to get on my nerves a bit...

>150 justifiedsinner: Paradoxosalpha says it well @ 151. I do think that LitFic is something of a genre & has it's own sensibilities that tend to differ from what you most commonly see in SFF. There are exceptions, of course, and this is one.

Finished In Green's Jungles, which I found interesting. The unreliability of Horn's narration mounts.

After a short break with some travel writing, I shall pick up Alain Carrazé's book on Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner.

>155 RobertDay:
I loved In Green's Jungles. The final book drives the plot for a crazy Solar Cycle ouroboros loop (or two), but I really appreciated the tensions in the penultimate volume.

I've just read and posted my review of Roadside Picnic, and I am off to wrap up Terra Ignota with Perhaps the Stars.

Just finished Solaris a sci-fi classic from 1961 by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem. A highly unusual approach to a "first contact" story. Recommended.

Next: The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin - 2nd installment of Earthsea

>155 RobertDay:, >156 paradoxosalpha:

Continuing the Solar Cycle (I’ve read TBotNS and UotNS) is on my much too long list of things to do.

Finished Fuzzies and Other People. The sections where Little Fuzzy is around are good fun,but there are long repetitive sections which are tedious.
The whole vibe of the series seems odd now. The Fuzzies are sentient s on a planet being colonized by humans. The whole thing feels very patronizing today. The humans say the Fuzzies are to be classed as being like children,and they will always be like that,can never develope to be as intelligent as humans,so must be protected. But they teach them to smoke pipes,use bows and arrows,and are designing single shot pistols for them! A bit odd that. lol.
I should go on to Doris Piserchia's Star Rider,but I was a bit irritated by the style,will put aside for now.And Anno Dracula would need lots of concentration and attention I think,so I will put those two books aside till April.
March is of course March of the Mammoths,read books over 800 pages long. I chose Lord of the Rings and the First Chronicles of Amber Both delightful but taking time. So once I have finished Comedy of Terrors in the Flavia Albia series I am going on the road with the Fellowship. fantastic Middle Earth,and Amber,what could be more delightful.

I have started Ian McDonald's new book, Hopeland. Two chapters in and I am hooked.

>157 ChrisG1:. Do make sure that you read the 4th book Tehanu which is my personal favorite.

>157 ChrisG1:, >161 vwinsloe:

Tehanu is polarizing - some people love it, some hate it despite liking the first three.

(FWIW, I liked it less than the first three, but didn’t hate it. Also, I read the series as a teen, a quarter century or so ago, so there’s no telling what I’d think of it today.)

Finished The Six Deaths of the Saint (Into Shadow collection) by Alix E. Harrow and started What the Dead Know (Into Shadow collection) by Nghi Vo.

>162 AndreasJ: As a middle-aged man, I liked the last three novels a lot more than the first three. The first three are fun, but they are ultimately novels for young readers, and that's obvious when you re-read them many years later. But all six of them are good.

>164 anglemark:

When I read the series, there were only four books in it.

>164 anglemark: As an older guy (64), I had read the first three a few times & never got around to the others, but intend to this time. Looking forward to them. Have never read a Le Guin that wasn't at least a decent read.

>165 AndreasJ: Well, the first time there were only three! But the last time I read them, they were six.

>166 ChrisG1: I doubt you will be disappointed. Moreover, they are more accessible than some of her books, all six of them.

>151 paradoxosalpha: >154 ChrisG1: I think the distinction is dubious, one perpetuated by overpriced "creative" writing classes and the unimaginative lit professors who teach them. There are certainly books with mundane subject matter but there are an increasing number of authors who defy such stereotypes and elevate the mundane: Atwood, Lessing, Iain Banks, Chabon, Mitchell, Murakami, Ishiguro, Kate Atkinson et al.

>159 dustydigger: March of the Mammoths

This is news to me, but it sounds like a good idea. I should read the remaining books in my single-volume Ambergris. I might have a go at 2666 or Alan Moore's Jerusalem.

>162 AndreasJ: It may depend on your affinity for dragons. :)

>165 AndreasJ:
When I read it, it was a trilogy. :-)

>172 pgmcc:
Me too. Even without the further books, I've long considered it eligible for a re-read.

>170 paradoxosalpha:. I read 2666 . I can't believe I finished it as I didn't like it.

I am almost finished with Needle , which I am really liking and have started The Last Wild Horses on my Kindle. That one is interesting so far.

I read Islands in the Net. Interesting early cyberpunk. Seeing what they thought the "net" would bring.

>170 paradoxosalpha: and >174 daxxh: I did like 2666 in the end, but it was a difficult read.

>146 ScoLgo: No, but that would have been a good idea.

>129 ChrisG1: her Station Eleven is next up for me once I finish reading The Forever War this weekend. I watched the first episode of Station Eleven on Amazon Prime (or was it HBO?) and became so intrigued that I stopped watching and picked up the book. Looking forward to that read.

>178 Neil_Luvs_Books: Forever war is a classic! It's literally been decades since I read it, but it sure left an impression.

I think this year will be one for me to delve into Bob Shaw. Over on BookTube Stephen E Andrews,the Outlaw Bookseller just did a video wondering why Bob Shaw has been so neglected,has not been esteemed enough.
I bekieve our own Robert Day knew Bob when he waaas in Newcastle? Steve Andrews says Bob was one of the most charming nice people you could meet.
Of course Shaw is much respected for his ''slow glass'' Hugo and Nebula nominated ''Light of Other Days''. Ted Chiang's ''Story of Your Life'' seems to be in the same sort of area,certainly it made a great impact,but whereas the Shaw tale was just simple,a simple spec fic idea worked out in the sad emotions of a sad man ,Chiang's is more complex. It didnt impact with me at all I'm sad to say,but I can see why it was so popular. Did anyone else feel that the narrative style diffused the impact? Probably just me! lol.

>180 dustydigger:

Most of us of a certain age in British (and Irish) fandom will have probably met BoSh at a con or two. He was indeed a nice guy.

Started Count Zero by William Gibson.

Finished 3001, started The Girl Who Drank the Moon.

>179 ChrisG1: Yup! I finished The Forever War late last night because I could not put it down. A very good novel that seems to have lasted the test of time. It really well considered the impact of time dilation on returning soldiers and used that to explore possible social evolution. Plus the impact of leap frogging in military technology and tactics was interesting. But… I wish there had been a bit more character development. Still, i thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ll eventually also read The Forever Peace but first up is Station Eleven. After 4 or 5 chapters I am hooked.

>182 seitherin: I read Neuromancer years ago and never went on to read the other two in Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy. I must do that soon. There is Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive. Which one is number two and number three in that trilogy? And did they end up being as good as Neuromancer? I really liked Gibson’s more recent The Peripheral but was not as keen on Idoru.

>185 Neil_Luvs_Books:

Count Zero is part two. (Here is the series page)

Just started my third Vorkosigan novel, Shards of Honor.

>180 dustydigger: Well, it's true what >181 andyl: says: most of us who were around fandom in those days got to know Bob pretty well. He had his inner demons, and sometimes struggled with them. But who doesn't?

His reputation for fans was built around his fanwriting first and his professional work second. He continued to do pieces for fanzines and conventions, which only cemented his place in peoples' affections.

I came to know Bob because I created the Newcastle Polytechnic SF Society, and as a consequence had a budget from the Students' Union for events. Having also built links with the Gannets, the Newcastle fan group of the day, that gave me the contacts I needed to approach professional authors, such as Bob. And as by then he lived in Ulverston, on the edge of the Lake District, it was reasonably easy for him to get over the Pennines to Newcastle.

As (I think) one of the few authors in those days on a fixed contract with their publisher (Gollancz), Bob was under an obligation to produce three novels and a collection of short stories within the term of the contract (usually three years). As a former journalist, he was quite comfortable with this rate of work, at least to begin with. Many people felt that this meant that his novels, which were usually fairly short, sacrificed something of their quality in return for their frequency. Bob was capable of taking hold of big ideas and dealing with them in workmanlike ways; but when he finally got the chance to work at longer length (the Land and Overland trilogy), he showed himself perfectly capable of working on that scale.

Finished The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin - part II of VI, although I only ever read the original trilogy. Excellent read - it holds up well! For me, even the "worst" Le Guin is merely good instead of excellent.

Now on to Neuromancer by William Gibson. It's simply ridiculous it's taken me this long to get to it.

>185 Neil_Luvs_Books: I liked Neuromancer and I've had Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive in my TBR pile forever. I finally decided I needed to tackle the next book just to clear out some backlog. :D

Finished:
What the Dead Know (Into Shadow collection) vy Nghi Vo - meh
Undercover (Into Shadow collection) by Tamsyn Muir - meh
The Candles Are Burning (Into Shadow collection) vy Veronica G. Henry - liked
Out of the Mirror, Darkness (Into Shadow collection) by Garth Nix - loved

Finished with Olympus Bound. It's okay, but I'm left with the feeling that Brodsky could never quite decide whether she was writing a thriller, a paranormal romance, or an urban fantasy, and so fell between stools. I also suspect that these books could have been put on a diet. Oh well, on to next month!

Finished Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi by John Scalzi. Fun read. Added The Race by Nina Allan to my rotation.

>181 andyl:
Hear! Hear!

Quickly got through the first volume of Raksura stories by Martha Wells. That should hold me until I can get to the library to pick up the next book.