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| Hi there! We're starting a book club to read and review the SF Masterworks series in order of publication by the imprint. We're doing one a month so this is going to be a lengthy endeavour, but we wanted to make sure that we were as inclusive as possible. If you'd like to join us, Google our Facebook group "Science Fiction Masterworks Book Club." We're starting with The Forever War in September. Thanks!
Edited by Sable Aradia 2015-08-14 12:21 PM
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![100](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/100.gif) Location: Austin, Tx | Is it a Facebook-only group? |
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![2000](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/2000.gif) Location: Dallas, Texas | Sable Aradia - 2015-08-14 12:20 PM Hi there! We're starting a book club to read and review the SF Masterworks series in order of publication by the imprint. We're doing one a month so this is going to be a lengthy endeavour, but we wanted to make sure that we were as inclusive as possible. If you'd like to join us, Google our Facebook group "Science Fiction Masterworks Book Club." We're starting with The Forever War in September. Thanks! Hi Sable, thanks for the invite. You've certainly bitten off a big slice of SF for your club! You know, this sounds like a reading challenge to me. You can certainly start up a RYO and use it to help your club members tag their books as they read 'em. Book clubs were one of the reasons we started doing the challenges to begin with. The only difference here is that your club members will be reading the same books at the same time rather than picking individual books to fit a theme. You are also certainly welcome to use the WWEnd forums to host your discussions and share links to your reviews etc. Let me know if you are interested or if you have any questions. We'd like to help in any way that we can like blogging or tweeting about the club to help you attract members etc. |
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| Hi Karen! Well, so far yes, but I am also on Google+, Tumblr and Twitter and I'd be happy to take this discussions there if anyone was interested. Also, a few of our members have signed up for accounts here and if no one minds, I would be happy to carry on the discussion as a forum topic. |
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| Administrator - 2015-08-14 11:18 AM
Hi Sable, thanks for the invite. You've certainly bitten off a big sliceof SF for your club! You know,this sounds like a reading challenge to me. You can certainly start up a RYO and use it to help your club members tag their books as they read 'em. Book clubs were one of the reasons we started doing the challenges to begin with. The only difference here is that your club members will be reading the same books at the same time rather than picking individual books to fit a theme. You are also certainly welcome to use the WWEnd forums to host your discussions and share links to your reviewsetc. Let me know if you are interested or if you have any questions. We'd like to help in any way that we can like blogging or tweeting about the club to help you attract members etc.
Hi Admin! Love your avatar. Thank you, that would be great! I am brand new to this forum so may require some help, but it looks a lot like the technicals work similarly to a couple other forums I'm on (RPG based, mostly ) so I'm sure I won't be completely lost. But I am clueless on some things that are completely obvious to others I'm sure; such as: what is a RYO, and how do I use it?
I would be delighted if you'd care to spread the word any way at all; blog, Tweet, etc. If you want places to connect to for that I am @SableAradia on Twitter and I am on Wordpress as http://geekqueenblog.wordpress.com. I'm also on Goodreads. Thank you so much for being so welcoming and supportive! |
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Sable Aradia - 2015-08-17 5:14 PM Administrator - 2015-08-14 11:18 AM Hi Admin! Love your avatar. Thank you, that would be great! I am brand new to this forum so may require some help, but it looks a lot like the technicals work similarly to a couple other forums I'm on (RPG based, mostly ) so I'm sure I won't be completely lost. But I am clueless on some things that are completely obvious to others I'm sure; such as: what is a RYO, and how do I use it? I would be delighted if you'd care to spread the word any way at all; blog, Tweet, etc. If you want places to connect to for that I am @SableAradia on Twitter and I am on Wordpress as http://geekqueenblog.wordpress.com. I'm also on Goodreads. Thank you so much for being so welcoming and supportive! Very cool. RYO is short for Roll-Your-Own which is our multi-theme reading challenge. The way it works is you look at the available themes, 35 different ones right now, and if you find one you like you join that challenge. If you don't like any existing challenges or just have an idea you want to try, then you roll-your-own challenge where you determine the theme and the rules. In your case, you simply create a RYO that is built around the Masterworks list. In your description you tell everyone the rules and link over to your blog etc. You can create your own banner for the challenge or I can help you make one. Your club members can use the banner on their blogs and link over to the challenge page were everyone can see how everyone else is doing. Every month you let folks know what the next book is in the forum and they'll go tag that book as "currently reading" and it will show on the shelf with a faded cover. When you're done with that book they tag it as completed and it shows full color. You can add up to 4 different reading levels but for this one it's open ended so you may want to bypass that option. There are 144 Masterworks so far which is a bit too much to put in there all at once so I would recommend you just set the challenge to 12 for now. When you get close to completing 12 books you can update the challenge requirements to 24 to get a second row to start filling in for year 2. That will keep the challenge page from getting ridiculously long with all those blanks. Of course, you could just do yearly challenges for 12 books at a time so that the 2015 SF Masterworks Reading Challenge is the first 12 books in order. The 2016 SFMRC would be for the second dozen in order and so on. That might be a little less daunting for folks that look at 12 books a year rather than 144, a gross amount of books to some. ![](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/emoticons/wink.gif) Take a look at the RYO page for more details and to get familiar with how other folks have structured their challenges. If you like we can have a Skype call and talk about it if you want more clarification on anything. I'm rather excited by the prospect of a club using the RYO to track their progress so I can't wait to see how it works out. It might give us some ideas for improving the RYO overall. |
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| Okay, I went ahead and created the challenge: https://www.worldswithoutend.com/rollyourown.asp?ryo_id=100. And I joined the Space Opera one. Limping through figuring out how to add the books and add reviews. Would welcome suggestions. Thanks! |
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![2000](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/2000.gif) Location: Dallas, Texas | Your challenge looks good and I really like your banner. Well done. Since you've set your start date for September 1st you challenge won't show on the RYO page until then. You won't be able to add any books to your challenge until the start date either. Once the 1st gets here the challenge will be visible on the RYO page and the option to add books to your list will show on the novel page. Since everyone in the challenge will be reading the same book at the same time I suggest you only put the current assigned book on your list. That way you can fill in the list in order. For the Space Opera challenge you can add books by clicking on the empty sots on the challenge page. That will take you to the search page. You can also check the box for the challenge on any novel page where it shows up. In this case the option will only show on books tagged as SF on the site because it's an SF only challenge. More detailed instructions are on the main RYO page. Look for the tab that says "Click Here for Challenge Details". Let me know if you have any trouble. |
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| Thank you so much for your help! I was wondering what was going on there, why I couldn't add the books yet. Okay, great, we're ready to go! Who wants to come and play? |
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![100](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/100.gif) Location: scotland | I started reading this list a few years ago and have now completed ten. I won't join however as I read from so many genres and mix and match so much in general that I will not be able to read them in order or in the timeframe. Great challenge though and I look forward to reviews/comments and will add my own. |
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![1000](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/1000.gif) Location: UK | Great challenge,some of my best reads this year came from that list,my 2016 reads are already pretty much sorted. I have read 61 off the list, 7/12 of your 2016 challenge,and so doing them in order would involve quite a few rereads,and I have a host of books already pencilled in. Its a very impressive list. Occasionally I dislike a book,but still find it striking or important. And many stay in the mind and haunt me. Excellent list |
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| Hey, I understand. I've read more than a few myself already, but it's cool catching up on the ones I have missed out on! And I did it in this format to encourage discussion, is all. By all means offer your thoughts; so far we've done The Forever War and I Am Legend this year. ![](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/emoticons/wink.gif) |
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![100](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/100.gif) Location: Las Vegas, NV | I'm really excited to be a part of this challenge since I have not read many of the 12 books in this challenge! It will be interesting to read so many classics of the genre that I have not been exposed to before. |
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![100](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/100.gif) Location: Las Vegas, NV | I've gotten through the first two books of the Cities in Flight series by James Blish. Interesting world building. Waiting to see where Blish takes his ideas. |
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![100](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/100.gif) Location: Las Vegas, NV | Finished the entire series and was really impressed with the final book, The Triumph of Time. |
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| I'm just finishing Earthman, Come Home so don't spoil it for me yet! But loved this book. What a neat universe Blish has created. I love the ordinariness of his characters. They are delightfully human, with all a human's flaws as well as merits. I think the key to the stories he's telling is how ordinary people react to this extraordinary situation. Awesome stuff; the essence of what makes sci-fi great! |
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![100](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/100.gif) Location: Las Vegas, NV | I agree that Earthman, Come Home is a fantastic book! I loved The Triumph of Time but only because I read Earthman, Come Home first.
Earthman, Come Home had the feel of a pulp serial, each chapter a new adventure for Mayor John Amalfi and his crew aboard the Okie city of New York. I really like that aspect. Blish kept the action rolling right along the entire time.
Edited by devilinlaw 2015-11-22 7:28 PM
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| It's been a while since we opened dialogue here! How did people do with "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and "The Stars My Destination?" |
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![100](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/100.gif) Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA | So, I joined you on goodreads. The book for February, Babel-17, is the first on the list I hadn't already read, so I guess that was good timing. Here at WWEnd I signed up for the challenge and listed the three SF Masterworks I've read so far this year.
Edited by spectru 2016-02-06 7:29 PM
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![100](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/100.gif) Location: scotland | I loved The Stars My Destination. So action-packed and inventive. Not sure I fully understood everything which is ok as it only means I need to re-read in the future. |
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| Some of my reviews aren't showing in my list. Is there a problem with the site? |
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![2000](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/2000.gif) Location: Dallas, Texas | CDR_Bill - 2016-03-14 6:48 PM Some of my reviews aren't showing in my list. Is there a problem with the site? Give me a novel ID where you submitted a review and it's not showing on your list and we'll check it out tomorrow -- time permitting of course. Thanks. |
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| Did you make sure to click the box that changes the review from "private" (the default) to "public?" I made that mistake at first and it took me a while to figure it out.
How goes the reading? I loved Babel-17 (though I know it's not for everybody) and I also loved Lord of Light (which I realize some people don't get). Am now drumming my fingers, waiting for my Amazon shipment of The Fifth Head of Cerberus, so I expect I won't be starting that one until mid-month or so. |
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| That did it! The reviews not showing were all set for the "private" default.
It took me a bit to get in to both Babel-17 and Lord of Light. Actually had to re-read parts of both to make the right connections. However, The Fifth Head of Cerberus just wasn't for me. |
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| It was a simple fix. The reviews not showing I had forgot to mark public. Thanks for the help! |
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| CDR_Bill - 2016-04-30 2:48 PM
That did it! The reviews not showing were all set for the "private" default.
It took me a bit to get in to both Babel-17 and Lord of Light. Actually had to re-read parts of both to make the right connections. However, The Fifth Head of Cerberus just wasn't for me.
*nods*Babel-17 could be a bit confusing at places, I agree, but I loved Lord of Light and didn't find it nearly as challenging. Then again, I read a lot about mythology, psychology and religion, so since much of it read like mythology, I suppose it's an acquired taste.
I wasn't fond of Cerberus either. I understood it, which most of the people whose reviews I read who didn't like it did not, but I'm not a literary sci-fi fan. For me, stories are about characters, and Wolfe had no characters I could really identify with. Plus each story completely changed style and that's a little jarring. The first novel was a monster flick you watch at 3 a.m. in black and white; the second was an aboriginal mythology, and the third was Kafka. Neat that he can do that, but odd how it was all meshed together into one book.
I had to read Gateway early because I had to get it back to the library, and I thought it was amazing. |
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| By the way, for those interested in joining us, you have just enough time to get in on the ground floor for 3 books before we start the new list in September!
For the rest of the 2015-16 challenge, we're reading:
June - The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith
July - Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
August - Earth Abides by George R. Stewart (also good for the Apocalypse Now challenge!)
Starting in September, for next year's challenge we will be reading:
September - Martian Time Slip by Philip K. Dick
October - The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
November - Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
December - The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
January - The Drowned World by J.G. Ballad (also good for the Apocalypse Now challenge!)
February - The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
March - Emphyrio by Jack Vance
April - A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
May - Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
June - Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock
July - The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg |
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| Hey guys! So I've been thinking about it, and I think next year I'm going to open up more flexibility in the challenge. The challenge that I feature here will be to finish 12 books out of the whole SF Masterworks imprint in a year. If you want to follow along once per month, then most of you who are interested in that have already joined our Goodreads book club, and I think we can continue that way over there. What do you guys think? How have you found the challenge, and have you enjoyed what you've read? |
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| Hey guys! So I've been thinking about it, and I think next year I'm going to open up more flexibility in the challenge. The challenge that I feature here will be to finish 12 books out of the whole SF Masterworks imprint in a year. If you want to follow along once per month, then most of you who are interested in that have already joined our Goodreads book club, and I think we can continue that way over there. What do you guys think? How have you found the challenge, and have you enjoyed what you've read? |
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![500](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/500.gif) Location: New Zealand | That would work for me. I have already read so many of the books. Out of the next 12, there are only 3 I haven't already read. |
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![0](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/0.gif) Location: Belgium | Well, that seems like a good idea. Mostly because I already interpreted it that way. As it gave me a little more freedom since I only joined up recently. |
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| kabouter - 2016-07-06 6:11 AM
Well, that seems like a good idea. Mostly because I already interpreted it that way. As it gave me a little more freedom since I only joined up recently.
Hey, that's cool by me! I say finish it any way you like at this point, especially since the new challenge starts in August. And welcome!
Congrats to CDR_Bill, by the way, who has finished the whole challenge as originally described! And I see that Weesam only has "Earth Abides" left!
So, what did you guys think? Was this worth it? Were the books what you hoped they would be? What recommendations do you have for next year? |
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![0](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/0.gif) Location: Belgium | I'll probably sign up again in August, I'll try to do 12 next year. Now I'll be happy to do half of that, but I only signed up in May so the time was short.
The books I've read were certainly worth it. 'Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep' was on my to-read list for a long time, but thanks to this site I finally took the time to actually read it. And the others I've read for this challenge were all quite good. These challenges certainly help in reading something beyond what you would normally read, and also avoid reading the same ones over and over. |
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| Hello all, and welcome to a new year of the SF Masterworks Challenge!
I was inspired by an imprint called SF Masterworks to create a book club to read these legendary sci-fi classics together and critique them. This imprint will be our reading list. Our inaugural year was a smashing success! But I've learned a few things so this year I'm offering two different ways to approach the challenge:
1. Read 12 books of your choice from the SF Masterworks list.
2. Read along with the Science Fiction Masterworks Reading Club, which will be reading the entire list in order of publication. This year we will be reading:
September: Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick
October: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
November: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
December: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
January: The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard
February: The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
March: Emphyrio by Jack Vance
April: A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
May: Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
June: Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock
July: The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg
August: The Time Machine & The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Our goals are:
1. To promote the reading of science fiction.
2. To share and discuss the classics of the genre as fans and literary critics.
3. To enjoy good reading in a subject that interests us as a social activity that we can share.
Care to join us?
You can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/849620445151239/ and onGoodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/170669-science-fiction-masterwo... |
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| Weesam - 2016-07-11 4:47 PM
Whoops, have I not marked Earth Abides as read yet? How slack of me. I think I read it back on 1 July. Liked it. Marking it off now, so consider me finished.
Congrats, Weesam! You and me, we did it the way I originally intended it, didn't we? I thought Earth Abides was a hell of a good book. Really glad I read it. And I struggled hard with The Last and First Men, but it won me over in the end. |
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| kabouter - 2016-07-12 11:36 PM
I'll probably sign up again in August, I'll try to do 12 next year. Now I'll be happy to do half of that, but I only signed up in May so the time was short.
The books I've read were certainly worth it. 'Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep' was on my to-read list for a long time, but thanks to this site I finally took the time to actually read it. And the others I've read for this challenge were all quite good. These challenges certainly help in reading something beyond what you would normally read, and also avoid reading the same ones over and over.
"Androids" was on my to-read list forever and a day too, and I, too, found this site to be a great motivator to finally get around to it. I'm really glad that you're finding these challenges are giving you that experience, in reading things you wouldn't normally read and getting something out of it. I'm finding the same, and I can feel my horizons expanding as we speak. ![](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/emoticons/wink.gif) |
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![500](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/500.gif) Location: New Zealand | Sable Aradia - 2016-09-02 2:26 PM
Weesam - 2016-07-11 4:47 PM
Whoops, have I not marked Earth Abides as read yet? How slack of me. I think I read it back on 1 July. Liked it. Marking it off now, so consider me finished.
Congrats, Weesam! You and me, we did it the way I originally intended it, didn't we? I thought Earth Abides was a hell of a good book. Really glad I read it. And I struggled hard with The Last and First Men, but it won me over in the end.
It was tough for me doing it that way. I kept wanting to read ahead, and it was hard to stop myself and only read one a month. Got there in the end though. I can't do it this way for the next 12, as there is only one of them I haven't read, and I don't really want to do a re-read of the others just yet.
Last and First Men was very strange. I really am not sure what to make of it, but I do admire the author for writing it. I agree that Earth Abides was good. Much better than I expected given my general apathy towards the apocalyptic sub-genre. |
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| Weesam - 2016-09-02 1:19 AM
Sable Aradia - 2016-09-02 2:26 PM
Weesam - 2016-07-11 4:47 PM
Whoops, have I not marked Earth Abides as read yet? How slack of me. I think I read it back on 1 July. Liked it. Marking it off now, so consider me finished.
Congrats, Weesam! You and me, we did it the way I originally intended it, didn't we? I thought Earth Abides was a hell of a good book. Really glad I read it. And I struggled hard with The Last and First Men, but it won me over in the end.
It was tough for me doing it that way. I kept wanting to read ahead, and it was hard to stop myself and only read one a month. Got there in the end though. I can't do it this way for the next 12, as there is only one of them I haven't read, and I don't really want to do a re-read of the others just yet.
Last and First Men was very strange. I really am not sure what to make of it, but I do admire the author for writing it. I agree that Earth Abides was good. Much better than I expected given my general apathy towards the apocalyptic sub-genre.
I have read pretty much none of this year's list yet. Can't even find them in the library, so Amazon's gonna make money off of me this year. But by all means do it any way you want! Like I said, I think we're up to 12 years to read the whole list in this way. And I'm reading Starship Troopers before the end of this year anyway, regardless of the challenge, because I haven't read it for so long I barely remember it and I feel like it. I'm doing it for the Space Opera challenge instead. |
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![500](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/500.gif) Location: New Zealand | You are in for a treat this year. There is some really great stuff in the upcoming 12. Star Maker is a personal favourite of mine, and although it is not everyone's cup of tea (like First and Last Men, it may be an acquired taste), it just totally blew my mind the first time I read it. I haven't dared re-read it since in case it doesn't live up to that first reading, 20 some years ago.
The Sirens of Titan is the only one of the list I haven't yet read.
I don't have to worry about getting hold of any of this series as when Gollancz started putting them out I thought they looked like a good way to get hold of some of the classics of SF, and started buying them. As I only had to buy 1 or 2 at a time, it wasn't too difficult. Now I still collect them as they come out, and the only problem I have is where to store them all! I long ago ran out of shelf space. I may have to buy a bigger house.
Edited by Weesam 2016-09-02 5:18 PM
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| Weesam - 2016-09-02 3:14 PM
You are in for a treat this year. There is some really great stuff in the upcoming 12. Star Maker is a personal favourite of mine, and although it is not everyone's cup of tea (like First and Last Men, it may be an acquired taste), it just totally blew my mind the first time I read it. I haven't dared re-read it since in case it doesn't live up to that first reading, 20 some years ago.
The Sirens of Titan is the only one of the list I haven't yet read.
I don't have to worry about getting hold of any of this series as when Gollancz started putting them out I thought they looked like a good way to get hold of some of the classics of SF, and started buying them. As I only had to buy 1 or 2 at a time, it wasn't too difficult. Now I still collect them as they come out, and the only problem I have is where to store them all! I long ago ran out of shelf space. I may have to buy a bigger house.
Looking forward to them!
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| Thank you for option 1. I have read 9 of the 12 on your list and will get to at least 1 of the unread 3 in the coming 12 months. I am more driven by my TBR pile which has 4 SF Masterworks on it at the moment. |
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| justifiedsinner - 2016-09-13 7:01 PM
Thank you for option 1. I have read 9 of the 12 on your list and will get to at least 1 of the unread 3 in the coming 12 months. I am more driven by my TBR pile which has 4 SF Masterworks on it at the moment.
You're not alone, for sure! Welcome to the 2016 challenge! |
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![100](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/100.gif) Location: scotland | I recently bought Flowers for Algernon which will be my next SF Masterowrk. Though I am not doing the challenge I thought I would see how many I want to read at this moment in time. I currently have 92 in total of which I have read 12. So a lot of fun ahead for me. |
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| pauljames - 2016-09-18 10:53 AM
I recently bought Flowers for Algernon which will be my next SF Masterowrk. Though I am not doing the challenge I thought I would see how many I want to read at this moment in time. I currently have 92 in total of which I have read 12. So a lot of fun ahead for me.
Sounds like fun! Good for you that you've collected so many! I have found the challenge to be a good way to encourage me to broaden my horizons and expand my sci-fi education. Many of these books I probably wouldn't have read otherwise, and most of them I enjoyed completely. Though so far 2017 hasn't been very good to me this way. I thought The Drowned World was boring and The Sirens of Titan made me angry. Hoping I'll like Emphyrio better! |
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![0](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/0.gif) Location: Belgium | Wanted to read some more in the SF Masterworks series and so ended up reading three H.G. Wells': 'The Man in the Moon' (rather so so), 'The Time Machine' (pretty good) and 'The War of the World' (good stuff). Apparently the last two are included in the series individually as well as in one tome. So I cheated a bit there with the challenge :-)
Now I've started with 'The Last and First Men' by Olaf Stapledon. |
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| I really liked Last and First Men. It grew on me. I wasn't enjoying it at first, because I couldn't identify with what was going on, but then I realized that "humanity" was the protagonist, and then it was awesome.
Not doing well with this one right now. Wasn't fond of The Sirens of Titan and I'm not liking Emphyrio so far either. I didn't like the MC of Titan, didn't see what point the story had, and didn't find it funny. It seemed like a bunch of miserable crap happening to someone for no reason to me, and we get enough of that in the real world. And so far, as far as Emphyro goes, it reminds me of a Cordwainer Smith story and I think he did it better and with less words. Don't like the MC so far either, but he's still a kid at the moment, so we'll see as the story progresses. |
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![100](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/100.gif) Location: Alief, TX | I recently joined up, and I appreciate your expanding the challenge away from the pre-picked list. I had already read five of those books.
So far, this year's Masterworks are:
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
Now Wait for Last Year by Philip K. Dick
The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick
Ubik by Philip K. Dick
Up next, the Simulacra by Philip K. Dick.
Yes, you sense a pattern. |
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| Hi gang! I'm sorry I've been really quiet for a while. Welcome to our new members and I hope some of our old hats will consider re-joining this year's challenge! We have a new logo. I'm a bit behind in the list myself and am struggling to catch up (gotta admit, Stapledon bogged me down this time, in addition to a very busy writing schedule) but I'm progressing. This year's list is:
August: The Time Machine and War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
September: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
October: Ubik by Philip K. Dick
November: Timescape by Gregory Benford
December: More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
January: Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
February: A Case of Conscience by James Blish
March: The Centauri Device by M. John Harrison
April: Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick
May: Non-Stop by Brian W. Aldiss
June: The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke
July: Pavane by Keith Roberts
Remember that you can also choose to do any 12 of the SF Masterworks as well as doing it month-by-month, as I'm doing. That also counts. So the PKD reading schedule that @jontlaw plans is perfectly legit! Happy reading, everyone!
Edited by Sable Aradia 2017-09-25 5:42 PM
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| Finished The Time Machine/War of the Worlds and Flowers for Algernon. Really glad of the re-read. I've read Wells before of course, and I remember the Flowers for Algernon novella from school, all of which made a lasting impression on me. But all are even better as an adult reader, even though I was a precocious child. I had not realized what a genuinely good writer Wells was. And though I remember the novella of Flowers clearly, and it stuck with me, the novel is really so much better because it's so much more personally intense, especially in regards to the subplot of Charlie's relationship with his family, which was intense. Reviews for all forthcoming! |
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![500](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/500.gif) Location: New Zealand | I've rejoined again. This year I want to re-read some I read a very long time ago and only have a hazy memory of. Also, I will read 2 of the new additions to the list that I haven't read before, an HG Wells and a Strugatsky Brothers. |
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| *waves at Weesam* Hi! Welcome back! Sounds great! I just chewed through a bunch, playing catch-up! |
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| How goes the battle, everyone? I am still not finished Star Maker, but otherwise I have caught up to everything up to this point. Still not a huge fan of PKD (though I did like Ubik) and I just remembered when I picked it up again that I'd read More Than Human before and I loved it! |
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| Holy crap, Weesam, you don't waste any time, do you? Congrats on being the first to finish! |
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![500](http://w.worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/images/decorations/single/500.gif) Location: New Zealand | Why thank you. At the time I started the challenge, it was the only one I had, so I just powered through them. And as most of them were re-reads of favourites, they were quick reads. |
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