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Textual Relations - Talking Time's Book Club 2021 Edition

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
Welcome Tyrant's to Textual Relations, Talking Time's once and future Book Club! This year we will be reading 10 books and I hope you will join us!

This year's reading list:

February - The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
March - The Other Madisons by Bettye Kearse
April - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
May - An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
June - The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O by Neal Stephenson
July - Franchise by Marcia Chatelain
August - A Borrowed Man by Gene Wolfe
September - Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
October - The Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
November - A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

I'll be making a new thread for each book/month and linking to them here. I don't think anyone minds if you get your reading in early but please don't begin discussing the book until the month has started and let's keep spoilers out of discussion until the last two weeks or so of a month?

The thread for The Only Good Indians will go up in the next few days! Excited to be reading with you all this year!
 
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Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
I have received some information from someone familiar with the author of our April book and I no longer feel comfortable having the book on our reading list. I would like to pull it and replace it with Artemis by Andy Weir? Both of the books are sci-fi and were on some of our lists.

Thank you
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
I have received some information from someone familiar with the author of our April book and I no longer feel comfortable having the book on our reading list. I would like to pull it and replace it with Artemis by Andy Weir? Both of the books are sci-fi and were on some of our lists.

Thank you
Oh bummer, I haven't looked into what happened but thank you.

I nominated Artemis but have since heard poor reviews of it. I will note that his newest book, Hail Mary, comes out next month.

What if we do The Tenant of Wildfell Hall this month since that's a classic on the list that should be cheap (possibly free?) and easy to find, then do Hail Mary in September?

I'm hoping since this is the same day you're making this change that's not too much to ask, but I'm a little worried I nominated a book a lot of people won't like.
 
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Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
I am happy to change out this month's reading. It's not my book club, it is our book club! I didn't know that about Artemis, a shame.
 

Egarwaen

(He/Him)
Yeah I'm not a huge Andy Weir fan - I like the idea of bumping up Wildfell Hall and swapping in a book later. I feel like we had a good thematic thing going with the list as it came together, with a lot of novels revolving around empire and colonization, so I'd like something that fits with that.
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Yeah I'm not a huge Andy Weir fan - I like the idea of bumping up Wildfell Hall and swapping in a book later. I feel like we had a good thematic thing going with the list as it came together, with a lot of novels revolving around empire and colonization, so I'd like something that fits with that.
Oh yeah, that's true, if we swap those we have until September to pick another one if people would rather not do Andy Weir. I'm cool with that, and maybe the most fair thing is to pick a book from List 1, 2 or 4 of the original nominations?

And I've been looking, since it's a classic the Tenant of Wildfell Hall is easily found online, here's the project Gutenberg link. Likely easy to find at a library or used bookstore too!
 

Egarwaen

(He/Him)
Oh yeah, that's true, if we swap those we have until September to pick another one if people would rather not do Andy Weir. I'm cool with that, and maybe the most fair thing is to pick a book from List 1, 2 or 4 of the original nominations?

Here's the novels from the original lists that I think fit broadly into an SFF bucket:

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer
Artemis by Andy Weir

Of those, I think Black Sun or The Once and Future Witches are the closest fits to what I feel like is the theme of the list we've settled on.
 
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FelixSH

(He/Him)
Tenant of Wildfell Hall was one of my picks, and I'm just in the middle of a short-story collection, so it's easy enough to start that one. Would be nice if I finally participated in these book clubs.

So, yeah, I would be for reading that one now, and choosing another book as a replacement for September. The Once and Future Witches sounds good, but that's mainly because I like witches. Uh, I'll (try to) read whatever you decide on.
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Here's the novels from the original lists that I think fit broadly into an SFF bucket:

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
I've read this since we did the nominations and it is not science fiction and fantasy, more of a family drama story. I do still recommend it but it wouldn't work to replace one of the same theme unfortunately.
 

Egarwaen

(He/Him)
I've read this since we did the nominations and it is not science fiction and fantasy, more of a family drama story. I do still recommend it but it wouldn't work to replace one of the same theme unfortunately.

Whoops, I meant to edit that out of the list! Thanks for catching that.
 

Rosewood

The metal babble flees!
(she/her)
And I've been looking, since it's a classic the Tenant of Wildfell Hall is easily found online, here's the project Gutenberg link. Likely easy to find at a library or used bookstore too!
There are several audio versions available as well, including one that is available for "free" if you're subscribed to Audible.

My reading has been floundering a bit these last couple weeks, but I'm willing to give this one a shot if it ends up being this month's pick (or whichever month's). I've been wanting to read the Brontes for quite some time.
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
If there are no objections then, I will move Tenant of Wildfell Hall up to this month and then we will hold a short conversation/vote on what to read in September.

Thank you everyone.
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Oh no how is June already partway over?! For the September replacement I still like the idea of something from this list Egarwaen curated*:

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

I added Goodreads links if people want to learn more. Personally I'd be most interested in Black Sun and Handmaid's Tale. Maybe we each vote for two and see how things shake out?

*removed Artemis since I originally nominated it and have since learned it got generally unfavorable reviews
 

John

(he/him)
I just read Piranesi, so could talk a bit about it, but it wouldn't be a fresh read. I vote for Handmaid's Tale, I've only watched the movie back in the 90's and most of the new show, so I'd be interested in seeing how the novel started out.
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
Any interest of adding Weir's Project Hail Mary to the potential list? It appears to have had a better reception.
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
A few days early but the thread for next month's reading, A Borrowed Man, is up.

Please send me an email in the next two weeks with your preference for either Handmaid's Tale, Black Sun, or Calculating Stars! Or you can post your vote for one of those here. I'll check both but I didn't want anyone to feel pressured about their vote if they made it public.

Thanks!
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
I'm going to say Handmaid's Tale for the lazy reason that I already own a copy and haven't read it yet. But definitely interested in all three.
 
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