I’ve been recommending Chambers a lot lately, even to my husband who has pretty different science fiction tastes. This is surprising because I didn’t like Chambers’ first book, A Long Way to a Small, Dark Planet even though most people raved about it. I found it a bit contrived and self-conscious. But, in my eyes at…
I loved Egan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad, although now, nearly 12 years later, I didn’t remember much about the book. Maybe I should have reread it before reading the sequel, The Candy House, but instead I read it much like a stand-alone book. Maybe that’s why I had trouble connecting with it. Both…
I wasn’t initially a fan of Chambers, but after Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, I’ve come to like each of her books more and more. This one was no exception. Psalm is a novella and the start of a science fiction series about man and robot. As a novella, there wasn’t as much…
The finalists for this year’s Nebula Award were announced on March 15, 2021. The Nebula Awards are voted on by members of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America which, according to its website, has over 1,500 members. I’ve read four of the six Nebula finalists for best novel, and I started but didn’t finish…
I’m seeing plenty of reviews of this book, but I’ll add mine to the mix. I highly recommend it to anyone who needs something a little different and a little escapist right now. It’s a short (too short) novel and one I couldn’t put down once I started reading. It’s one of those rare books I…
I wasn’t sure I’d like this book at first. I don’t love science fiction that focuses too much on technology at the expense of character development, and this book features a high-tech robot as a main character. I read it because I needed a winner of a Lambda Literary Award for the Reading Women challenge,…
Recently, BookRiot posted this list of 50 Must-Read Fantasy Books by Women. https://bookriot.com/2019/07/25/fantasy-books-by-women/. Like most readers, I love a good list, and I’ve read a lot of the books on this list. If you’re a fantasy reader and you’re looking for a few good books, check it out, and let me know what books on the…
This year I read nearly all of the Hugo nominees for best novel and best novella, because my husband and I get to vote for the winners. Voting closes at the end of this month and the results will be announced at WorldCon at the awards ceremony August 18 (we bought a non-attending ticket so…
This year my husband signed up to vote in the Hugo Awards, and together we’re reading as many of the nominees as possible. Voting runs from May 11 to July 31, and the awards are announced in August at WorldCon in Dublin. As described on their website, the Hugo awards are awards for excellence in…
I love David Mitchell – I love how every book by him is more of an experience than just a read. This book felt like a whirlwind, or a roller coaster. It’s told in nine slightly-interlocking chapters. At first the chapters feel very distinct – a character in one might bump into a character in…
Instead of reading the series I’m already into, I started three more series last month. All worth checking out, but at the top of my list goes this novella: All Systems Red by Martha Wells The first novella in the Murderbot series, it’s won the Nebula Award, the Alex Award, and is a finalist for…
I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while now, because I love the science fiction/detective genre, which combines two of my favorite kinds of stories. After Atlas is about a detective, Carlos Moreno, who is actually an indentured servant to the government. In Newman’s future world, everyone is chipped with an AI, privacy…
The Book Stop 