S&L Podcast - #404 - A Page Turner in the Best Sense
/So many new reading list suggestions from Locus to the ALA to TheMarySue. Plus George RR Martin updates on his progress. And Rod Simmons from SMR Podcast is here to disucss this month's pick The Fold by Peter Clines.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: UCC Mango Cream Soda
Rod: S.Pellegrino Essenza Blood Orange & Black Raspberry
QUICK BURNS
Mark: Ty Franke and Wes Chatham will continue their discussions about the Expanse in a podcast
Mark: Star Trek: TNG's Commander Data, Brent Spiner, will write a fictional autobiography noir thriller titled Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir: Inspired by True Events for release Oct 2021.
Jan: The Mary Sue has posted their list of the 15 Most Anticipated Diverse Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novels of 2021
Mark: The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone, illustrated by Michael J. Smollin is 50 years old.
Jan Via Tor.com: Elan Mastai’s 2017 time travel novel "All Our Wrong Todays" is being adapted by himself as a TV series for the Peacock streaming service.
Aaron: Preserve JRR Tolkien’s Former Home as a Public Writing Haven
Silvana: 2020 Locus recommended reading list is out!
Jenny (Reading Envy): I thought you would find it interesting that after picking two post-apocalyptic reads, Mallory and Brea did an episode on hopeful reads for their own podcast.
Seth: The American Library Association reading recommendations for 2020 are out.
We will be doing our March madness tournament for the April book pick, so get your nominations in for what should be in the tournament!
BARE YOUR SWORD
Tassie Dave - I give many books I enjoyed 3 stars, including The Marrow Thieves. I save 4 and 5 Stars for above average or exceptional books. I wish Goodreads had ½ stars or an out of 10 system for more nuance.
I'm not a fan of rating systems like Uber, Yelp etc that treat anything lower than 5 Stars as a poor rating.
Some folks like Rick advocated for the Yes No ratng system similar to Netflix but Jan disagreed "I don't like the Rotten Tomatoes system (sorry, Tom) where you count the percentages of Yes vs No reviews. A fantastic movie with 90% raving reviews would reach the same score as a middle of the road flick that doesn't offend or excite anyone and has 90% "It's fine" reviews...
I wonder if Big Data wouldn't be better these days recommending media to you based on what you've read or clicked in the past. I mean Spotify had become over time really, really good at recommending me stuff - until I made a playlist for my dad that is..
To Which Trike responded "The folks who work at Rotten Tomatoes are aware of this, to the point that they now have a podcast called “Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong.” 😂"
Jenny: I have similar feelings to Mallory about The Sparrow. I had read it before S&L read it, didn't reread it then, still haven't been able to read the sequel. One of these years I might be ready.
And you know, I love The Handmaid's Tale but the show version gave me terrible nightmares. I had to take 2 weeks between episodes of the first season and almost stopped watching after episode 3? 4? And never returned to additional seasons. I thought it was funny that my husband, who has no investment in one of my favorite books, was able to soldier on through, whereas I couldn't take it. Then again, I do live in this state so maybe it's too close for comfort
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
The Fold by Peter Clines
AndrewP: Is this book 1 or book 2 of a series? Goodreads says it's #2, but Amazon says it's #1.
Richard: I've read all four of the series, and especially enjoyed 14 and The Fold--Dead Moon kind of faltered, and Terminus is OK. The Fold definitely works as a standalone with a couple Easter eggs if you read 14. I strongly recommend the audiobooks; Ray Porter knocks it out of the park.
ADDENDUMS
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