Current book choice rotation thread

NeilNjae

> @Apocryphal said:
> So, I think we’re good with Cherry in November, Witch World in December, and have you made a final choice for January @NeilNjae ?

_The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi_ by SA Chakraborty.

RichardAbbott

Great! I'll set that up as well early in the week

Apocryphal

I was just reading Wikipedia and it turns out that the story that starts with Witch World is incomplete - it is completed in the sequel, Web of the Witch World, which I did not previously know.

We could (a) read both, given its over the holidays, or (b) read one and (if we like it) I can pick the second as my next pick in the spring, or (c) I can find something else for December entirely.

I defer to you guys. Two books is a lot to commit to, though in page count probably around 410 pages.

RichardAbbott

@Apocryphal said:
I was just reading Wikipedia and it turns out that the story that starts with Witch World is incomplete - it is completed in the sequel, Web of the Witch World, which I did not previously know.

We could (a) read both, given its over the holidays, or (b) read one and (if we like it) I can pick the second as my next pick in the spring, or (c) I can find something else for December entirely.

I defer to you guys. Two books is a lot to commit to, though in page count probably around 410 pages.

Well, Witch World is complete in itself as a story, though it is true that it is continued in Web of in a way that ties up a number of loose ends. But it's perfectly fine to read just Witch World on its own

Apocryphal

Ah, ok then.

RichardAbbott

Slightly ahead of expectation, I have set up the categories for the monthly reads in December (Witch World, @Apocryphal ) and January (The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, @NeilNjae ).

As usual I've started them off with the cover blurb and a snippet about the author.

RichardAbbott

Hi all, plenty of time to chat more about The Wager, but also this is a quick reminder, should such be necessary, that November's read is Tripoint, by C. J. Cherryh, hosted by @clash_bowley who will, no doubt, be posting discussion starters at or around the end of the month.

clash_bowley

I am currently re-reading it again in preparation!

Apocryphal

I’ll start it tonight or tomorrow.

NeilNjae

I've got loads of Cherryh's Merchanter books on my shelves, and I know I've read Tripoint, but can I find that book anywhere? I've had to order another copy from World of Books.

World of Books (now called WoB) was a discovery. They buy books by weight from charity stores, then sell them individually. (I think they're in the US, I don't know about Canada.) It's probably better than feeding the monster that is Amazon.

Apocryphal

WOB is a UK company.We get referred to the UK site of WOB. For use, the prices are not cheap, and shipping not included. I liked The Book Depository much better, but they shut down about a year ago.

RichardAbbott

I also had to buy a real physical copy as it's not available in kindle

Apocryphal

I was lucky to find a used one. It wasn’t on the shelf, but I asked the store owner if he had one, and he checked his inventory, went down to the basement, and voila.

RichardAbbott

All: still some chatter going on about Tripoint (which has generated a lot of chatter, so obviously a good choice @clash_bowley ) but probably this is a good time to remind all that December's book is Witchworld chosen and with discussion led by @Apocryphal . From memory, it's a much quicker read than Tripoint so I don't think there'l be any issues finishing by the end of the month.

clash_bowley

I picked Tripoint because it's very interesting but flawed. That kind of book tends to generate a lot of discussion.

Apocryphal

True.

RichardAbbott

I was about to put out a mild nag about February's book chooser making a choice, but I've just realised that actually it's down to me... I'll give it some thought.
Meanwhile the January book is The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi+ by SA Chakraborty, selected by @NeilNjae

RichardAbbott

All: for February's read I'm thinking the first two of Karl Schroeder's _Virga_ series of novellas (presupposing we haven't read them before my time?). Schroeder is a Canadian writer currently living in Toronto. The _Virga_ books are all set on (or rather in) a spherical blob of air, water and solid matter a few thousand km across, in which various townships exist in loose orbits, either competing or collaborating with each other.

The novellas are loosely linked by characters, but so far as I can tell you can read just the first two and feel happy with the conclusion. The first two (_Sun of Suns_ and _Queen of Candesce_) are collected into a single volume _Cities of the Air_ which is available - at least in the UK - in kindle and paperback format, but maybe not audio.

Any thoughts?

Apocryphal

The two volume omnibus is available here, bit expensive. Also, it's 600 pages! Are you sure these are novellas and not novels?

Apart from that, the only Schroeder I've read was his contribution to the Metatropolis anthology, and his story was by far the best of that batch.

clash_bowley

I'll get the kindle edition as soon as you say go.

RichardAbbott

@Apocryphal said:
The two volume omnibus is available here, bit expensive. Also, it's 600 pages! Are you sure these are novellas and not novels?

Hm that's weird. They must be pretty small pages in the print edition I whipped through 1/6 of the compilation of the first two books pretty rapidly while deciding on it. But if it gets burdensome we can stop after just the first one. Let's see how it goes once we're in Feb.

Apart from that, the only Schroeder I've read was his contribution to the Metatropolis anthology, and his story was by far the best of that batch.

Good to know.

RichardAbbott

@clash_bowley said:
I'll get the kindle edition as soon as you say go.

I'll set up the new discussion area early next week but have currently reverted to reading The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

clash_bowley

I had to stop reading Amina al-Sirafi for a couple weeks. I was zooming through it! Back to it now.

Apocryphal

@clash_bowley said:
I had to stop reading Amina al-Sirafi for a couple weeks. I was zooming through it! Back to it now.

Did you give up on the Nights?

Apocryphal

@RichardAbbott said:

@Apocryphal said:
The two volume omnibus is available here, bit expensive. Also, it's 600 pages! Are you sure these are novellas and not novels?

Hm that's weird. They must be pretty small pages in the print edition I whipped through 1/6 of the compilation of the first two books pretty rapidly while deciding on it. But if it gets burdensome we can stop after just the first one. Let's see how it goes once we're in Feb.

The individual books come hardback or trade paperback, and are between 300 and 400 pages each - so it might actually just be you breezing through things! I guess a testament to how much you like it.

clash_bowley

@Apocryphal said:

@clash_bowley said:
I had to stop reading Amina al-Sirafi for a couple weeks. I was zooming through it! Back to it now.

Did you give up on the Nights?

I got way behind because of one thing or another and it looked like I was just too far behind.

RichardAbbott

> @clash_bowley said:
> (Quote)
> I got way behind because of one thing or another and it looked like I was just too far behind.

They're pretty much all separate stories so it doesn't matter if you skip some sections! I can't see there's any necessary order in terms of character development etc. The only mild spoiler alert is that, so far at least, Shahrazad _does not die_!

RichardAbbott

> @Apocryphal said:
> (Quote)
> The individual books come hardback or trade paperback, and are between 300 and 400 pages each - so it might actually just be you breezing through things! I guess a testament to how much you like it.

Fair enough! Let's start with just the first one, _Sun of Suns_, and see how we get on. I'll read both once I've finished _Amina_ but base the discussion primarily on #1

RichardAbbott

Discussion area set up for Sun of Suns

RichardAbbott

@Apocryphal said:

@RichardAbbott said:

@Apocryphal said:
The two volume omnibus is available here, bit expensive. Also, it's 600 pages! Are you sure these are novellas and not novels?

Hm that's weird. They must be pretty small pages in the print edition I whipped through 1/6 of the compilation of the first two books pretty rapidly while deciding on it. But if it gets burdensome we can stop after just the first one. Let's see how it goes once we're in Feb.

The individual books come hardback or trade paperback, and are between 300 and 400 pages each - so it might actually just be you breezing through things! I guess a testament to how much you like it.

Yup you're right, they are individually quite long so we'll just tackle Sun of Suns for Feb