[nesfa-reading-group] NESFA Reading Group -- books read

[A. Ali]

Hi David,

Here are my top three picks, in no particular order:

*Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang *


*Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro*

*The Employees by Olga Ravn*


A note -- my library in CT does not have a copy of The Employees by Olga
Ravn, so if that's an issue for others, I can replace it with my next pick,
which would be *The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson*. It looks like
the Boston libraries have many copies, Groton has 6, Merrimack valley has
0, and I didn't check others.

I went through a few different lists of sci-fi books and my
main criteria was - what would I pick up to read if I walked past it at the
library this week? There are a lot of books I would happily enjoy
re-reading from my childhood, and some I've wanted to read for a while, but
I'm kind of excited about some of the newer books, especially ones that
cross or bend genres or that come from significantly different perspectives
than what I grew up checking out from my small-town libraries in the 90's.
I've gotten more into short stories lately and I really enjoyed Klara and
the Sun as an audiobook, so this is what I came up with. Hope this works.

Best,
Ayesha

On Sun, Jul 9, 2023 at 8:48 PM A. Ali <strawberriesforlunch at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I'll echo that -- thanks for sharing the list, David. The
> hang-out-at-the-library-every-weekend, Midwestern, junior-high kid in me is
> so floored that she'll get her name on this list, lol. Kind of puts the
> pressure on. I'll send you my three book picks on Friday. Most likely, some
> new stuff I haven't read yet.
>
> Best,
> Ayesha
>
> On Sat, Jul 8, 2023 at 9:56 AM Gloria Lucia Albasi <trebbiana61 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> This is a wonderful list!
>> Thank you for sharing it.
>> Gloria
>>
>>
>> On Jul 8, 2023, at 2:19 AM, David G. Grubbs <dggrubbs at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> 
>> We do bias it toward books that everyone can find. That might take a bit
>> of negotiation and research.
>>
>> The Merrimack Valley Consortium that my library in Groton belongs to
>> shows three copies of the Elizabeth Moon book. The Groton Library has none.
>>
>> There is one copy of Matt Haig's  *The Humans*, but there are 20 other
>> copies in the MVLC.
>>
>> The Groton library has no books by Julie Czerneda and the MVLC has no
>> copies of "Reap the Wild Wind".  There are a half-dozen books named "Reap
>> the Wind" by other authors.
>>
>> I started keeping the vote taliies only in May, covering the last four
>> books  Before that, I didn't record votes tallies.  And I have not recorded
>> *ratings* of books other than my own. Maybe Louis has kept a list of
>> ratings or at least averages.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Jul 8, 2023 at 1:41 AM Tracy Marks <tracy at windweaver.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Thank you David.
>>>
>>> I went over all the sci fi/fantasy books I've read in the past 5-6 years
>>> and made a list of about 15 or so I would consider recommending to
>>> the group. Only one of those you've read (Piranesi).
>>>
>>> But then I looked them up both at Amazon and the Minuteman library
>>> network. And I want to know - are any specific criteria for choosing
>>> books that members are likely to be able to get?
>>>
>>> My working hypothesis was:
>>> ----At least 2 (preferably 3) in the Minuteman Library Network (I don't
>>> check the Boston Library Network)
>>> ----And (this isn't important to me, but I thought it would be to
>>> those of you who don't read printed books) -- available on Kindle
>>> or in ebook format.
>>>
>>> Well, that knocked another 9 off my list of 15.
>>> In fact, the library doesn't have ANY of most of my favorite books!
>>> And there's only copy of Czerneda's Reap the Wild Wind, which I loved.
>>>
>>> Anyway, I now need to hone my remaining list of five down to three, but
>>> in the meantime it would be helpful to know about the criteria for
>>> selecting, if there are any.
>>>
>>> Two of my likely choices:
>>> HUMANS by Matt Haig (everyone in my International book club loved it!
>>> it's both incredibly
>>>        perceptive about the human race, and very amusing)
>>> REMNANT POPULATION by Elizabeth Moon (with a marvelous feisty senior
>>> citizen heroine!)
>>>
>>> I'll finalize that in the next few days.
>>>
>>> Tracy Marks
>>> p.s.I'm curious - which of all the books you read do you think received
>>> the most positive response? Were there any that EVERYONE rated high?
>>> (Ha!)
>>>
>>>
>>> -------------------------------
>>>
>>> On 2023-07-07 23:09, David G. Grubbs wrote:
>>> > The list below is best looked at with a fixed-width font. I could
>>> > convert it to other formats if absolutely needed. (e.g. PDF,
>>> > spreadsheet, etc.)
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> reading-group mailing list
>>> reading-group at lists.nesfa.org
>>> https://listsmgt.nesfa.org/mailman/listinfo/reading-group
>>>
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