Our next book club meeting will be at Jen´s house on Saturday, January 11, 2011. That date is 1/11/11 and I wonder if there is any cosmic resonance associated with that date?
Our book is "The Windup Girl" by Pablo Bacigalupi. It's a biopunk science fiction novel which received the 2009 Nebula Award and the 2010 Hugo Award
The book is set in the 23rd century and global warming has affected everything. The economy is controlled by bio-tech companies that deal with gene spliced everything. The companies are referred to as calorie counters as they are involved in all forms of energy generations. It's a fascinating read. So join in the reading and follow the blog reports of our discussion.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Our Reading List Working Backwards from Oct 2010
These are the books I read and when - so, I think we read them together. Not sure which of Marge Piercy's books we read together because I read both of them back to back.
Next by Michael Crichton 8/2010
In War Times by Kathleen Ann Goonan 4/2010
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood 8/2009
"Woman on the Edge of Time" or "He She It" by Marge Piercy 5/2010
Beggars and Choosers by Nancy Kress 2/2009
Broading our horizons
We really did it, collectively and creatively. We resurrected ourselves and have reconnected to our own blog. Yeah for us!!! Over the five years that our book club has existed, we have struggled to find really well written women authored Science Fiction. So often, the women writers in this genre, are creating more of the fantasy books, ones about witchcraft, dragons, alternate worlds and mystical powers. While some of these books are quite fascinating, like the works of Mercedes Lackey or the great Marion Zimmer Bradley, they are unlike the science fiction that is just beyond our reality with their at least plausible scenarios. That was a reason that we read Michael Creighton's Next. It is such a plausible scenario, and frightening that corporations and geneticist could be lured into such creations, in the name of science.
Together we will recreate our reading list and will also add a commentary on some if not all of hte books that we have read in the two year hiatus from this blog.
Together we will recreate our reading list and will also add a commentary on some if not all of hte books that we have read in the two year hiatus from this blog.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
The Time Traveler's Wife
I feel like we are great adventurers in our own story today. We used our collective brain power to rediscover this blog, remember the passwords, and then figure out how to get us all signed on. And we did it! This is my own first post to this blog.
Today we discussed The Time Traveler's Wife. I thought it was a beautiful love story that happened to also fit into the sci fi genre. Our next book club meeting is at 1pm on January 15, 2011 at my house. We will be reading The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi.
This is a small departure from our original purpose - it is written by a man. This will be only the second book that we have read that is written by a man. (The first was Next by John Grisham.) We decided to open our options to male writers after reading one too many bad books. We agreed that we would rather read great books than limit ourselves to only female writers.
Don't misunderstand - We have read an incredibly large number of talented female sci-fi writers since we started this book club in 2005. (With help, I hope to recreate a list of all the books we've read.) Unfortunately, there are a limited number of great sci fi novels published every month and an even more limited number are written by women. Not only do I say - Please write more!!!! - but we are going to try writing our very own sci fi book. Wish us luck!
Today we discussed The Time Traveler's Wife. I thought it was a beautiful love story that happened to also fit into the sci fi genre. Our next book club meeting is at 1pm on January 15, 2011 at my house. We will be reading The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi.
This is a small departure from our original purpose - it is written by a man. This will be only the second book that we have read that is written by a man. (The first was Next by John Grisham.) We decided to open our options to male writers after reading one too many bad books. We agreed that we would rather read great books than limit ourselves to only female writers.
Don't misunderstand - We have read an incredibly large number of talented female sci-fi writers since we started this book club in 2005. (With help, I hope to recreate a list of all the books we've read.) Unfortunately, there are a limited number of great sci fi novels published every month and an even more limited number are written by women. Not only do I say - Please write more!!!! - but we are going to try writing our very own sci fi book. Wish us luck!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
How Time Flies
Wow. It's already November 14, 2008 and we haven't updated this blog in a long time. By the way, this is our third year!! Happy BF Bday to us. A lot has been happening. Like Healther's daughter is singing in a choir on Sunday's; Jennifer got married back in May and then moved to New Jersey; and we haven't formally welcomed Dianne as our newest reader.
What I can say is that we are getting together on December 6 (yes, a Saturday) and driving to Jennifer's to discuss Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban (yes, its magic and fantasy but we do reserve the right to self-define our SF reading). We are going to watch one of the H.P. movies while munching popcorn.
Last month we read Elizabeth Moon's "Once A Hero" - a few pages into the first chapter I had to put the book down and could not bring myself to pick it up again. It was bad. Really BAD. But, I did go to the discussion at Dianne's because I had a BAD head cold and she was making some GOOD HOT chili.
Is Everyone watching Fringe?
Well, I'll try to get back to posting on this blog with more regularity.
Stay Tuned. Oh, check out the latest SF Book Review link.
What I can say is that we are getting together on December 6 (yes, a Saturday) and driving to Jennifer's to discuss Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban (yes, its magic and fantasy but we do reserve the right to self-define our SF reading). We are going to watch one of the H.P. movies while munching popcorn.
Last month we read Elizabeth Moon's "Once A Hero" - a few pages into the first chapter I had to put the book down and could not bring myself to pick it up again. It was bad. Really BAD. But, I did go to the discussion at Dianne's because I had a BAD head cold and she was making some GOOD HOT chili.
Is Everyone watching Fringe?
Well, I'll try to get back to posting on this blog with more regularity.
Stay Tuned. Oh, check out the latest SF Book Review link.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Writing Our Own Sci FI
Today we decided to try our hands at writing our very own sf. This will be a joint writing. We each picked a concept word that will be used in the novel's theme. Mary agreed to undertake the dubious task of penning the first chapter. This chapter will set the story line, then each of us will write a following chapter. The four concept words that are to be incorporated into the story are: Womb, Genetics, Data, Secrecy. We shall have fun!
2007 Host and Reading List
Unless otherwise noted we meet on Sundays at 2:00 p.m.
February 11 @ Heather - Sheri S. Tepper The Family Tree
March 11 @ Jen - Karen Traviss Star Wars:Bloodlines
April 29 @ Mary and Helen’s - Anne McCaffery Freedom’s Challenge
May 13 @ Heather @ Nancy Kress Beggars in Spain
June 2 Saturday @ 11 am @ Manhattan Beach - C. J. Cherryh Downbelow Station
June 30 Saturday @ 11 am @ Manhattan Beach - Linda Nagata Memory
July's Meeting is at Silver Bay during the week of July 22 -28. We will discuss Joan Slonczewski‘s "A Door into the Ocean" - Joan is a Quaker.
While at Silver Bay we will decide the books for the rest of the year.
February 11 @ Heather - Sheri S. Tepper The Family Tree
March 11 @ Jen - Karen Traviss Star Wars:Bloodlines
April 29 @ Mary and Helen’s - Anne McCaffery Freedom’s Challenge
May 13 @ Heather @ Nancy Kress Beggars in Spain
June 2 Saturday @ 11 am @ Manhattan Beach - C. J. Cherryh Downbelow Station
June 30 Saturday @ 11 am @ Manhattan Beach - Linda Nagata Memory
July's Meeting is at Silver Bay during the week of July 22 -28. We will discuss Joan Slonczewski‘s "A Door into the Ocean" - Joan is a Quaker.
While at Silver Bay we will decide the books for the rest of the year.
Reading "The Dispossessed" @ Helen & Mary's
As we gathered today over cheesy baked ziti and truffles, we talked about hidden power and authority, freedom and prison, and famine and dust on Anarras. We compared it to the freedom of the properterians on Urras. We looked at Takver and Shevek's partnership and mused over its enduring nature. We questioned the sci-fi-ness of this book.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
What is in Our SF future
Our next book is The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin. The date is December 17. Mary and Helen are hosting. We are looking for titles and authors for the new year which will be our second year. We are thinking of Linda Nagata's Memory; Karen Traviss' Bloodlines (StarWars); and perhaps some cyberpunk SF. If you have some suggestions and are willing to host just let us know by group e-mail.
Today, Nov 19, we talked about Silent Waters and it did get a big thumbs down. But, we do agree that we do need to read a really bad book every now and then just so we can appreciae the really good books.
Today, Nov 19, we talked about Silent Waters and it did get a big thumbs down. But, we do agree that we do need to read a really bad book every now and then just so we can appreciae the really good books.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Where does time go
OK, its the end of October and no one has written anything for our blog. In August we gathered at Manhattan Beach and celebrated the birthdays of Jen and Sophie with a BBQ in the picnic area. We also discussed Octavia Butler's "Kindred" and Cecelia Holland's "Floating Worlds" - it was rather interesting.
Mary decided to send Cecelia Holland an e-mail - so, here is that e-mail:
Hi Cecelia,
My group is reading "Floating Worlds" tomorrow (Saturday Aug 4, at the Picnic area of Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn ) along with Octavia Butler's "Kindred" -- Both books were written in the 1970s and both have settings in 19th century America. Both address racism and sexism, misogyny and miscenation, fear of the "other" and of "self"- among other political issues: fascism, committee-ism, etc.
I have three simple questions for you, if you have time - if you were writing this book today, how might it have been different? was writing this in the sci-fi genre a safe way to enable you to address the tensions and inequalities of the times? whay have you not written other sci-fi?
Thanks so much for your time! I have also read and throughly enjoyed "The Angel and the Sword" -- and yes, I am a friend of your sister DK.
Thanks again!
And, here is Cecelia's reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: ceceliaholland@sbcglobal.net
To: mpagurel@netscape.net
Sent: Fri, 4 Aug 2006 12:19 PM
Subject: Re: Mary from Brooklyn Women's Sci Fi Readers Group
i'm glad to hear your group is reading floating worlds (also octavia butler's book--an amazing writer). let me answer your questions as much as i can.
1. i don't know if it would be too much different if i were writing it today. (i wrote it originally in the year of the watergate hearings; it's a lot about that period of time, with the vietnam war, the upheavals in america society, the cold war, race and feminism). the essential story--how to preserve your autonomy in a culture of power struggles, dependence and violence--still stands up for me. the inner planets still look like western civilization to me, eating itself up from the inside. clearly the issue of violence is still with us. the anarchists' dilemma is the central american dilemma--how to live free and yet maintain some kind of order in the resultant chaos. how to respect other people's freedom. how this freedom requires first a commitment to non-violence. and i still believe very vehemently that personal freedom is the goal--that when everybody can run her own life, people will come up with better solutions to problems than those some central authority tries to dictate. .
the risks of this are still the same. the stakes are the same. that last struggle between paula and tanuojin still resonates with me--you can overcome anything if you know who you are and stay on that center.
i would change the first few scenes, which are too slow, but that's just technical stuff.
2. i wrote it in the future because i had this intense need to say this stuff but no historical period presented itself. i also had a mad crush on a very tall black man at the time and wanted to express my, hmm, devotion.
3. i've actually begun a couple of other sf books (you know the sf people loathe the phrase sci fi) but never gotten too far. it's an interesting genre but unfortunately it is in the grip of a rampant orthodoxy which tries to dictate themes, structures, etc. i have wonderful friends who write sf and they're all in blinders most of the time. octavia butler one of the few exceptions.
________________________________________________________________
Everyone has been super busy with life: Jen has been doing theatre while Sophie is off to Medical School. Helen is teaching a graduate course at NYU School of Social Work. We are meeting on Nov 19 at Jen's and discussing Jan Coffey's "Silent Waters" - which I think is a bit of a stretch for self defining woman authored sf, but it is the book. We will also eat some brthday cake while we celebrate Helen's b-day.
PLEASE COME WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR NEW BOOKS.
Mary decided to send Cecelia Holland an e-mail - so, here is that e-mail:
Hi Cecelia,
My group is reading "Floating Worlds" tomorrow (Saturday Aug 4, at the Picnic area of Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn ) along with Octavia Butler's "Kindred" -- Both books were written in the 1970s and both have settings in 19th century America. Both address racism and sexism, misogyny and miscenation, fear of the "other" and of "self"- among other political issues: fascism, committee-ism, etc.
I have three simple questions for you, if you have time - if you were writing this book today, how might it have been different? was writing this in the sci-fi genre a safe way to enable you to address the tensions and inequalities of the times? whay have you not written other sci-fi?
Thanks so much for your time! I have also read and throughly enjoyed "The Angel and the Sword" -- and yes, I am a friend of your sister DK.
Thanks again!
And, here is Cecelia's reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: ceceliaholland@sbcglobal.net
To: mpagurel@netscape.net
Sent: Fri, 4 Aug 2006 12:19 PM
Subject: Re: Mary from Brooklyn Women's Sci Fi Readers Group
i'm glad to hear your group is reading floating worlds (also octavia butler's book--an amazing writer). let me answer your questions as much as i can.
1. i don't know if it would be too much different if i were writing it today. (i wrote it originally in the year of the watergate hearings; it's a lot about that period of time, with the vietnam war, the upheavals in america society, the cold war, race and feminism). the essential story--how to preserve your autonomy in a culture of power struggles, dependence and violence--still stands up for me. the inner planets still look like western civilization to me, eating itself up from the inside. clearly the issue of violence is still with us. the anarchists' dilemma is the central american dilemma--how to live free and yet maintain some kind of order in the resultant chaos. how to respect other people's freedom. how this freedom requires first a commitment to non-violence. and i still believe very vehemently that personal freedom is the goal--that when everybody can run her own life, people will come up with better solutions to problems than those some central authority tries to dictate. .
the risks of this are still the same. the stakes are the same. that last struggle between paula and tanuojin still resonates with me--you can overcome anything if you know who you are and stay on that center.
i would change the first few scenes, which are too slow, but that's just technical stuff.
2. i wrote it in the future because i had this intense need to say this stuff but no historical period presented itself. i also had a mad crush on a very tall black man at the time and wanted to express my, hmm, devotion.
3. i've actually begun a couple of other sf books (you know the sf people loathe the phrase sci fi) but never gotten too far. it's an interesting genre but unfortunately it is in the grip of a rampant orthodoxy which tries to dictate themes, structures, etc. i have wonderful friends who write sf and they're all in blinders most of the time. octavia butler one of the few exceptions.
________________________________________________________________
Everyone has been super busy with life: Jen has been doing theatre while Sophie is off to Medical School. Helen is teaching a graduate course at NYU School of Social Work. We are meeting on Nov 19 at Jen's and discussing Jan Coffey's "Silent Waters" - which I think is a bit of a stretch for self defining woman authored sf, but it is the book. We will also eat some brthday cake while we celebrate Helen's b-day.
PLEASE COME WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR NEW BOOKS.
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