Category: cr sci fi fantasy book club

It came up in Book Club that it would be nice to have notes about what people enjoyed or didn’t enjoy on our book club reads. So here’s the nutshell information about what we read and how we felt about it.

Book club: Cedar Rapids SciFi/Fantasy Book Club

Venue: Cedar Rapids B & N

Book:

Overall impression: Liked by people who finished, but it was a small meeting.

Warnings: Second in a series.

My personal take: I did not finish (DNF). I liked book one well enough but I had pacing issues with the book personally.

Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that all the Bobs are lonely. Worse, they will never get the human connection they are missing because they aren’t human anymore. They missed their opportunity, because should have been looking for that connection when they were alive.

That idea just seemed sad to me, and I wasn’t invested enough in the larger plot to continue reading.

It came up in Book Club that it would be nice to have notes about what people enjoyed or didn’t enjoy on our book club reads. So here’s the nutshell information about what we read and how we felt about it.

Book club: Cedar Rapids SciFi/Fantasy Book Club

Venue: Cedar Rapids B & N

Book:

Overall impression: Book Club liked the book, though the ending wasn’t universally liked.

Warnings: LGBTQIA+ themes (non-sexual)

My personal take: I enjoyed the book. It felt like it trailed off, which was a little unsatisfying.

It came up in Book Club that it would be nice to have notes about what people enjoyed or didn’t enjoy on our book club reads. So here’s the nutshell information about what we read and how we felt about it.

Book club: Cedar Rapids SciFi/Fantasy Book Club

Venue: Cedar Rapids B & N

Book: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Overall impression: Liked by people who finished, but it was a small meeting.

Warnings: Colonialism, Long, unfamiliar words (assuming you’re a typical Midwesterner.)

My personal take: I was ill on book club day. That said, I can’t say enough good things about this story. I bought the sequel. Don’t be put off by the long words. The story is worth it.

It came up in Book Club that it would be nice to have notes about what people enjoyed or didn’t enjoy on our book club reads. So here’s the nutshell information about what we read and how we felt about it.

Book club: Cedar Rapids SciFi/Fantasy Book Club

Venue: Cedar Rapids B & N

Book: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Overall impression: Split. One of the themes of the book is how tied into antisemitism the monster myths of the Western world are, and some found it an uncomfortable read. Some people liked the story.

Warnings: Antisemitism. First-person narration. Multiplicities of first-person narrators. My notes say 6 different first-person narrators.

My personal take: I skipped this month. I have a bias against first-person narration, especially when there are more than three first-person narrators in a book. Who is speaking again?

It came up in Book Club that it would be nice to have notes about what people enjoyed or didn’t enjoy on our book club reads. So here’s the nutshell information about what we read and how we felt about it.

Book club: Cedar Rapids SciFi/Fantasy Book Club

Venue: Cedar Rapids B & N

Book: Radicalized by Cory Doctorow

Overall impression: Positive. 6 liked. 2 abstained.

Warnings: Politics. Police violence.

My personal take: Four short stories? What’s not to like? It was easy bedtime reading.

I enjoyed all the stories, but Model Minority was my favorite story. I see what you did there, Cory Doctorow.