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In this thread, we choose one work of Resources: Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org - A database of over 17000 books available online. If you can suggest books from here, that'd be the best. SparkNotes - http://www.sparknotes.com/ - A very helpful Cliffnotes-esque site, but much better, in my opinion. If you happen to come in late and need to catch-up, you can get great character/chapter/plot summaries here.  For recommendations on future material, suggestions on how to improve the club, or just a general rant, feel free to PM the moderation team. Past Books of the Month [for BOTM before 2019, refer to archives] 2019: January: Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky February: BEAR by Marian Engel March: V. by Thomas Pynchon April: The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout May: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman June: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann July: The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach August: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay September: Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay October: Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado November: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett December: Moby Dick by Herman Melville 2020: January: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair February: WE by Yevgeny Zamyatin March: The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini by Benvenuto Cellini April: The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio May: Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Dame Rebecca West June: The African Queen by C. S. Forester July: The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale August: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire, by Howard Pyle September: Strange Hotel, by Eimear McBride October:Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (怪談)("Ghost Stories"), by Lafcadio Hearn November: A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) , by Matthew Hongoltz Hetling December: Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John Drury Clark 2021: January: The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley February: How to Read Donald Duck by Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart March: Carrier Wave by Robert Brockway April: The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brian May: You Can't Win by Jack Black June:Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson July:Can Such Things Be by Ambrose Bierce August: Swann's Way by Marcel Proust September:A Dreamer's Tales by Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany October:We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson November:Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers December:Hogfather by Terry Pratchett 2022: January: The Sun Also Rises by Earnest Hemingway February: Les Contes Drolatiques by Honore de Balzac March: Depeche Mode by Serhiy Zhadan April: Kalpa Imperial by Angélica Gorodischer (Trans. Le Guin) May:Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupery Current:  The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip Book available here: https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Beasts-Eld-Patricia-McKillip/dp/1616962771 About the Book quote:I admit it: I have been seduced by Patricia A McKillip's The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, the 1975 winner of the inaugural World Fantasy awards and the latest in my trawl through fantasy champions of days gone by. Gorgeous, lyrical prose, a story that is more than just a linear journey from one drama to another, and a three-dimensional female character: it feels a million miles away from my manful slogs through Michael Moorcock's Corum trilogy, and Poul Anderson's Hrolf Kraki's Saga. https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/aug/20/fantasy-forgotten-beasts-eld quote:But when I sat down to write my first major fantasy, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, I didn’t question the point of view that came out of my pen. It seemed very natural to me to wonder why in the world a woman couldn’t be a witch or a wizard, or why, if she did, she had to be virginal as well. Or why, if she was powerful and not a virgin, she was probably the evil force the male hero had to overcome. Such was my experience reading about women in fantasy, back then. quote:The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a spellbinding novel, and like Gail Carriger wrote in the book’s foreword, I’m finding it difficult to find the words to adequately describe it. It’s a trademark McKillip book with its lovely prose, fairy tale feel, occasional moments of quiet humor, and timeless themes—and yet it’s unlike anything else I’ve read. (Of course, that uniqueness in itself is trademark McKillip!) It twists and turns and doesn’t end up where one may expect from its beginning, and yet its path is always true to Sybel and her character. It’s fantasy complete with a kingdom, magic, intelligent and/or talking animals (including a dragon!), and emphasis on threes and sevens, and like the best stories in the genre, it’s an imaginative, immersive story about humanity that lingers in the memory long after reaching the end. https://www.fantasybookcafe.com/2017/10/review-of-the-forgotten-beasts-of-eld-by-patricia-a-mckillip/ quote:What do you remember when you think of books you read long, long ago? Plot? Character? Setting? Or something more nebulous? https://www.tor.com/2017/10/09/revisiting-patricia-a-mckillips-the-forgotten-beasts-of-eld/ About the author quote:Born in Salem and educated at San Jose State University, McKillip first became a published author in 1973. When the World Fantasy Awards were established, she was part of the initial cohort of honorees in 1975, winning in the novel category for “The Forgotten Beasts of Eld,” a historical romance. She later won another World Fantasy Award for her novel “Ombria in Shadow” and ultimately won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. Pacing  Read as thou wilt is the whole of the law. Please post after you read! Please bookmark the thread to encourage discussion. References and Further Reading She wrote roughly 30 other books too! Discussion of Past Months You can still keep talking about books from prior months, too! Just keep comments for those books in their respective threads -- that's why we link them all at the top! The party doesn't have to stop just because another has started! Suggestions for Future Months These threads aren't just for discussing the current BOTM; If you have a suggestion for next month's book, please feel free to post it in the thread below also. Generally what we're looking for in a BotM are works that have 1) accessibility -- either easy to read or easy to download a free copy of, ideally both 2) novelty -- something a significant fraction of the forum hasn't already read 3) discussability -- intellectual merit, controversiality, insight -- a book people will be able to talk about. Final Note: Thanks, and we hope everyone enjoys the book!
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Jun 5, 2022 03:19
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Thank you! 
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Jun 5, 2022 09:48
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I tore through a stack of McKillip's books last month and this one especially made me kick myself for not reading her work before now. I need to sit down with a timeline and compare what LeGuin was publishing at the same timeframe and see if there are any articles about the two of them cross-influencing each other.
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Jun 5, 2022 15:16
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This should be interesting; I only read the Riddle-Master trilogy from her and while it was mostly enjoyable, it really dragged at points. Hopefully a single volume will be better about pacing.
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Jun 5, 2022 18:40
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There's a lot of exposition, and a lot of telling without showing, I think is is how most fantasy books used to be since I just finished The Broken Sword, but I feel like I'm just sliding off these characters, and not connecting with them in any real way. But I guess I'm still in the first few chapters and and the hero is still getting the call and is probably in the "do not respond to the call" phase.
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Jun 10, 2022 17:52
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pseudanonymous posted:There's a lot of exposition, and a lot of telling without showing, I think is is how most fantasy books used to be since I just finished The Broken Sword, but I feel like I'm just sliding off these characters, and not connecting with them in any real way. But I guess I'm still in the first few chapters and and the hero is still getting the call and is probably in the "do not respond to the call" phase. Yeah there's a certain amount of that especially at the start of the book, but it gets better once the story picks up.. I think it's the Dunsany influence washing over everything in the genre in that era.
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Jun 12, 2022 14:04
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So are folks reading this or . . .. ?
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Jun 14, 2022 13:26
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:So are folks reading this or . . .. ? We’re calling for posts with the deep silence in our minds Also can’t really handle how stupid blammor sounds
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Jun 14, 2022 14:45
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:So are folks reading this or . . .. ? I'm reading it but I haven't gotten very far yet. It's hard for me to read "Mondor", I keep wanting to read it as "Mordor" which would change the reading a bit too much!
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Jun 14, 2022 19:01
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I grabbed it from the library but I just finished the Riddle-Master trilogy, and as someone mentioned upthread, that one's pretty slow at times. I'm looking forward to this because I've never read Eld before, but just haven't gotten very far in it yet, just a handful of pages.
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Jun 14, 2022 19:25
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I'm reading it but I keep switching it with another book; I feel you need to be in the propoer mood for McKillip's style of storytelling to work if that makes sense.
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Jun 14, 2022 19:55
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I am 45% through according to my Kindle. And I definitely agree that it takes the right mood for me to get absorbed in it.
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Jun 14, 2022 21:49
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Just read the 'look inside' preview on Amazon and I've ordered the paperback. I think I want to get properly absorbed in this. It reminds me a bit of Jack Vance, the Lyonesse stuff - I adore this fairytale cadence. It's how everything I write turns out, though obviously not as good as this. I have the Riddle Master books in a big volume somewhere; I should get them out.
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Jun 15, 2022 01:09
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p sure mckillip died last month, is that why you picked this now? i'll see if i can grab it at the library, doesn't seem like a long read
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Jun 15, 2022 20:36
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I've started it! This author is good.
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Jun 15, 2022 23:07
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This one was really good, as predicted! I like how most of the drama is basically from trying to predict what the main characters will do and who's trustworthy, because all of the main characters are a bit opaque and the book is askew from romantic fantasy norms, so it's entirely possible to believe that a heel turn might come from any direction.
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Jun 17, 2022 22:46
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Rand Brittain posted:This one was really good, as predicted! I might have to give this one a shot, in that case. I'm approaching the end of Book 2 of McKillip's Riddle-Master trilogy, and while her prose is lovely, I haven't really been feeling the story. Both books have consisted almost entirely of the main character wandering around doing very little and (at least in book one) "refusing the call", while everyone else talks about the profound destiny they've been marked for, to the point where I've been wondering if I'll even bother starting book 3. It seems she turned to writing exclusively stand-alone novels since 1994 - maybe that's the format where she does her best work? Hieronymous Alloy,, did you turn up anything about a dialogue between McKillip and LeGuin's work? The publication timeline certainly lines up, and their styles "rhyme" with each other so well that I'd be curious to know if there was more going on than just writing in the same general period.
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Jun 18, 2022 02:35
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Kestral posted:I might have to give this one a shot, in that case. I'm approaching the end of Book 2 of McKillip's Riddle-Master trilogy, and while her prose is lovely, I haven't really been feeling the story. Both books have consisted almost entirely of the main character wandering around doing very little and (at least in book one) "refusing the call", while everyone else talks about the profound destiny they've been marked for, to the point where I've been wondering if I'll even bother starting book 3. It seems she turned to writing exclusively stand-alone novels since 1994 - maybe that's the format where she does her best work? Yeah, I read five or so of her books and skimmed some others and picked this as the best I found of the lot. It really came across like this was a book she wanted to write and Riddle-Master was the result of her editor or publisher telling her a trilogy would be a good idea. Not that Riddle-Master is bad, it's good, it's just not as good as this one. quote:Hieronymous Alloy,, did you turn up anything about a dialogue between McKillip and LeGuin's work? The publication timeline certainly lines up, and their styles "rhyme" with each other so well that I'd be curious to know if there was more going on than just writing in the same general period. I haven't found anything specifically on point yet. Leguin's website doesn't contain the word "McKillip". Big problem is searching them both together generally just finds hundreds of articles from people saying "I like LeGuin and McKillip" or "my two favorite authors are" or "This work is reminiscent of [them both]" etc. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 02:48 on Jun 18, 2022 |
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Jun 18, 2022 02:45
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So, like the ending feels pretty unearned, I mean.... So the prose is fine, feels mostly mechanical, all the characters talk basically the same, there's no voice to any particular character. There's some kind of mysticism to names but there's no exploration of this or real introspection in it. There's some kind of way that the term name is being used but we're just left to imagine it. Like we are a lot of things. There's a loving dragon, but it's just a quote:the green-winged dragon Sybel is so passive. She doesn't seem to want anything, and then when she does want something, it's the absence of things. Her ultimate victory comes from giving up. For all her power all she really does is give up. She gives up and takes care of the baby, gives up and needs comfort from Coren then gives up and throws everything away when she finds out that actually pursuing something she wants is somehow really bad and it magically works out for her. This seems kind of strange given it was written during the heyday of second-wave feminism by a woman author. Also from a moral standpoint, she's not exactly good she has all these animals basically enslaved, but they're magic talking animals, so slavery seems kind of gross. She's real upset when someone else goes to mind-enslave her, but there's no realization on her part that hey maybe she shouldn't treat the forgotten beasts this way, she's just kind of gives up at the end. There are a lot of boring fantasy tropes too, but they weren't so established then, so I can't really hold it against her. But wizard families, bleah, enough already with some people being genetically superior. Also Blammor just sounds so loving stupid to me.
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Jun 18, 2022 17:29
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In other news, the UK version of the ebook is way better than the one available in the USA.
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Jun 20, 2022 17:47
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What are the differences? Edit: I finished it and got the feeling that the author was trying her hardest to have a story where war doesn't solve anything but the story ends up being incomplete because there's not even a short battle scene with magic taking the place of combat. Lord Zedd-Repulsa fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Jun 21, 2022 |
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Jun 21, 2022 05:13
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Lord Zedd-Repulsa posted:What are the differences? The stylesheet in the American one is frankly a mess. It's possible nobody cares about this but me, although I do notice that nearly all the American ePubs of most of McKillip's books only have bad scans of the paperback as the cover image. I wound up splurging on some of the British ones and man, The Book of Atrix Wolfe is really good. I like this one okay but that one is way better.
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Jun 21, 2022 06:59
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suggestions for next month?
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Jun 22, 2022 12:39
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:suggestions for next month? Let's continue the run of "female fantasy and sci-fi authors I should have been told about sooner" with The Curse of Chalion. Alternately, let's go with "female socialist childrens authors of the 1910s that other people should have been told about sooner" and do something by E. Nesbit, possibly The Story of the Treasure Seekers or The Enchanted Castle.
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Jun 24, 2022 00:20
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Just finished this in two sittings. I did my usual audiobook+kindle thing and enjoyed it quite a bit. I can't argue with any of the criticisms above, but they didn't occur to me while reading. I really liked the moodiness and the Leguin 'echoes' for lack of a better word. I'll probably check out The Book of Atrix Wolfe.
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Jun 25, 2022 00:02
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To some degree I think that slow, dreamlike fantasy is just a hard medium in which to convey "seething, searing rage", so that while Sybel clearly has reason to die mad about what happened to her, she doesn't quite come across as someone who's actually mad enough to make as many bad decisions as she decides to rack up. I dunno, maybe that's intentional? On reflection that book does kind of have Sybel repeatedly dip her toes into some aspect of the human condition that she's never experienced before and going all-in on it until something happens that drops her another step down the ladder: 1) basic human connections 2) fear 3) murderous rage 4) love Also possibly step zero, "liking birds a lot".
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Jun 25, 2022 01:33
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I didn't get a poll up in time (my bad, other things going on, sorry) so I'm probably going to throw up a thread for The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler for next month, unless someone changes my mind.
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Jul 2, 2022 13:24
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My opinions about this book are conflicted overall. The fairy tale style made me feel like I would have likely enjoyed it as a child, especially if it was read out loud to me. I liked all of the creatures and enjoyed their varied personalities. The boar in particular struck a chord with me, and I liked how even though he was under the spell of Sybel he still would push her and provoke her when she was going down a dark path. I agree with the other posters that Sybel was rather hypocritical. On the one hand having your mind controlled by another is the worst thing in the world, on the other she keeps a menagerie of wonderous sentient beings under her command and sees nothing wrong with it. I would have been fine with the beasts just enjoying living under her protection, rather than explicitly held. The various men of Sirle, Rok Eorth and the others, weren't very fleshed out and I had a hard time remembering who was who. I also felt that Coren was a bit of a nothing character, and I never understood why Sybel put up with him even before he slapped her in the face. Rommalb sounds too much like "Ronald McDonald" in my head and I had a hard time taking it seriously. I forced myself to read it as Romm-ALB, and that improved things. I didn't feel the ending where it became the Lurelin was particularly earned either. All of this said, I quite enjoyed the world the book created, and I could imagine a book with maybe a boring layperson as the main character would have landed better with me. Someone experiencing these events with wonder, rather than just accepting magic as a common occurrence. Thank you for recommending!
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Jul 4, 2022 00:17
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