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text 2019-08-05 19:59
Halloween Bingo 2019 PreParty -- Question for 08/05 (Day 5): Favorite Series with Supernatural Elements?
Witches Abroad - Terry Pratchett
Harry Potter Box Set: The Complete Collection - J.K. Rowling
The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis,Pauline Baynes
The True Game: Kings Blood Four/Necromancer Nine/Wizard's Eleven - Sheri S. Tepper
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Once and Future King - T.H. White
The Dragonbone Chair - Tad Williams
Merlin Trilogy - Mary Stewart
The Green Mile - Mark Geyer,Stephen King
The Complete Vampire Chronicles (Vampire Chronicles, #1-#4) - Anne Rice

Hmmm, are we talking "series" as in "including trilogies and quartets" here, or does it have to be more than that number?  Also, what about works that were intended as one (very long) book but are traditionally broken up into several parts that are published separately (like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings) and books originally published in several self-contained parts but now frequently combined into one omnibus volume (like Stephen King's Green Mile)?

 

Anyway, starting with the beasts that nobody can legitimately dispute are series and moving on from there, based on the assumption that it's "yes" to all of the above:

 

MULTI-BOOK SERIES ( >5 INDIVIDUAL ENTRIES)
Terry Pratchett: Discworld
J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter
C.S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia
Sheri S. Tepper: The True Game (all nine books, including the Mavin Manyshaped trilogy and the Jinian / End of the Game trilogy)

 

TRILOGIES / QUARTETS / MULTI-PART OMNIBUS VOLUMES
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
T.H. White: The Once and Future King
Tad Williams: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
Mary Stewart: Merlin Trilogy
Stephen King: The Green Mile

 

JUMPED THE SHARK
Anne Rice: The Vampire Chronicles

 

Unsurprisingly, almost all of my favorite supernaturally-tinged series are fantasy -- and I read both Green Mile and the Vampire Chronicles for pretty much everything but their horror contents.  That said, Rice jumped the shark for me when she insisted on using Lestat (of all characters) as a vehicle for exploring her rapidly altering expressions of faith ... shortly before going BBA and thus earning herself a place on my no-go list once and for all.  I still like the first books in the series, though, especially the first two.

 

 

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text 2018-12-08 23:36
Just starting for booklikes book club "Virtual Speculation"
The Gate to Women's Country - Sheri S. Tepper

One of the classic SF/F always been meaning to read.

 

For booklikes book club at http://booklikes.com/book-clubs/50/virtual-speculation 

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review SPOILER ALERT! 2018-11-23 21:42
Reading Anniversaries & First-in-a-Series — August Edition
 
Originally published at midureads.wordpress.com on November 23, 2018.

 

 

2018

 

Go here for the books I read in August this year!

 

2017

 

104351

 

A Plague of Angels by Sheri S. Tepper

 

My review

 

 

1000810

 

Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker

 

My review

 

 

2016

 

840178

 

The Unadulterated Cat by Terry Pratchett

 

My review

 

2015

 

20299735

 

Samurai Jack, Vol. 1 by Jim Zub

 

As fun as the cartoon had been!

 

 

2014

 

104344

 

The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper

 

I'm beginning to appreciate Tepper's writing I think. This book started the way most books based on a dichotomous society would start. The women were good for breeding and whoring. The men enlisted in the military and lorded over the women. But the twist at the end took me by surprise! Read my appreciation of her other book here.

 

2013

 

19086439

 

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 

While political strife forms the backdrop in this book, our focus is on one family trying to get through all the chaos in one piece. I loved every bit of this book! This was my first book by Adichie and I can't wait to try the others.

 

 

2012

 

33459

 

Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore

 

Irreverent as heck but laugh out loud funny is how I'd describe Moore's humor. In this book, a conman meets The Conman i.e. Coyote, the trickster god. Hilarity ensues!

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review 2018-09-29 13:52
Hoodwinking Readers: “The Gate to Women's Country” by Sheri S. Tepper
The Gate to Women's Country - Sheri S. Tepper


(original review, 1987)

“The Gate to Women's Country”, remains the best written and most provocative of the lot when it comes to Feminist SF. It's one of the few books where I turned the last page and flipped back to the first and read it straight through again when I realized how deceptive the text, itself, was. I love when Septimus Bird tips Tepper's hand by noting that all good magicians keep us riveted on the left hand when the real trick happens in the right. That ends up being an ingenious clue about the ways we, as readers, are about to be hoodwinked. It's the very rare book that surprises me (my wife swears I have a seventh sense for foreshadowing; and I thought I was just a regular guy...) but this one did;

 

 

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

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review 2018-03-22 01:55
The Gate to Women's Country
The Gate to Women's Country - Sheri S. Tepper

If I had read this when it was first published, in the 80s, I think I would have really liked this book. Alas, I read it now and it mostly made me angry.

 

This book channels second wave feminism pretty heartily, and unfortunately it also falls into some of the movement's pitfalls. Powerfully negative attitudes towards men lie the foundation for this story - an idea that men are innately violent and aggressive, and women are not, is the true dividing line. This book pretends that personality is based purely on nature with nurture making little difference. Bodily autonomy and emotional connectivity fall to the wayside in favor of eugenics and manipulation. And to make it even worse the lack of gender non-conforming or non-heterosexual individuals in this world is not an oversight - the book flat out states that queer characters were bred out (see page 76 in my edition). To say that the story is misandrist, gender essentialist, and aggressively heteronormative would not be inaccurate nor unfair.

 

As much as I wanted to throw this book across my room at times, or to give it a half star rating, I will give it some credit where credit is due. This book is of its time, and it came from an angry place. And I get that. I've felt that. A lot of people have. It is interesting to use science fiction to play around with thought experiments, and our book club had an excellent discussion about this one. Tepper quite obviously put a lot of thought into her world, and the world-building was fairly intricate. The characters were drawn well enough that I truly hated many of them, and some mirrored individuals I've known in my past. There are some really excellent insights in here, and even passages that I reread because they struck a chord with me. However, I just couldn't get past the politics. It's a great book to talk about and critique, but it is not a book I feel I can recommend outside of that capacity.

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