Category: book

Thanks to everyone who made it to our July bookclub, despite it being mere hours before Dublin Maker. The next meeting will be 7:30pm, Friday 29th August. (And as some of us will be at EMF camp, we’ll be having a satellite bookclub meeting there as well!)

The book for August is ‘Sarah Canary’ by Karen Joy Fowler.

“When black cloaked Sarah Canary wanders into a railway camp in the Washington territories in 1873, Chin Ah Kin is ordered by his uncle to escort “the ugliest woman he could imagine” away. Far away. But Chin soon becomes the follower. In the first of many such instances, they are separated, both resurfacing some days later at an insane asylum. Chin has run afoul of the law and Sarah has been committed for observation. Their escape from the asylum in the company of another inmate sets into motion a series of adventures and misadventures that are at once hilarious, deeply moving, and downright terrifying.”

And because many people are away on holidays around now, and to be mindful that our dead-tree reading members can sometimes need time to locate copies, we’ve set the book for September as well, as ‘Permutation City’ by Greg Egan. More details next month.

And remember; all are welcome to come and chat about the book (members & non-members). Whether you’re in Dublin, or at EMF camp! No charge, ever. But usually some tea and a few biscuits.

*edit* Just a reminder that we have a goodreads group as well to help keep track of suggestions. Come join us!

The next meeting of the TOG Book Club is 7:30pm, Friday 25th July 2014, and we’ll be reading two books this time.

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Lathe of Heaven is a 1971 science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. The plot revolves around a character whose dreams retroactively alter reality. The novel received nominations for the 1972 Hugo and the 1971 Nebula Award, and won the Locus Award for Best Novel in 1972

and Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Roadside Picnic (Russian: Пикник на обочине) is a short science fiction novel written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky in 1971. Roadside Picnic is a work of fiction based on the aftermath of an extraterrestrial event (called the Visitation) which simultaneously took place in half a dozen separate locations around Earth for a two-day period.

The TOG Book Club doesn’t read books over 400 pages (which is can limit the sci-fi books available!). Both of these books are quite short (184 and 145 pages), and combined they are under our 400 page limit.

Thanks to everyone who came to our June 2014 Book Club and read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

All are welcome to come and chat about the book (members & non-members). No charge.

The next meeting of the TOG Book Club is 7:30pm, Friday 27th June 2014, and we’ll be reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go is a 2005 dystopian science fiction novel by Japanese-born British author Kazuo Ishiguro. It was shortlisted for the 2005 Booker Prize, for the 2006 Arthur C. Clarke Award and for the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award

Big thanks to everyone who came to our May Book Club and read Embassytown by China Miéville.

All are welcome to come and chat about the book (members & non-members).

The next meeting of the TOG Book Club is 7:30pm, Friday 30th May 2014, and we’ll be reading Embassytown by China Miéville

The plot of the novel surrounds the town of Embassytown, the native alien residents known as Ariekei, their Language, and the human interaction with them. The novel was well reviewed and won the 2012 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

Big thanks to everyone who came to our April Book Club and read The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi.

All are welcome to come and chat about the book (members & non-members).

The next meeting of the TOG Book Club is Friday 28th February 2014, and we’ll be reading Rainbows End by Vernon Vinge.

Rainbows End is a 2006 science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge. It was awarded the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The book is set in San Diego, California, in 2025, in a variation of the fictional world Vinge explored in his 2002 Hugo-winning novella “Fast Times at Fairmont High” and 2004’s “Synthetic Serendipity”. Vinge has tentative plans for a sequel, picking up some of the loose threads left at the end of the novel.

The many technological advances depicted in the novel suggest that the world is undergoing ever-increasing change, perhaps destined for a technological singularity, a recurring subject in Vinge’s writing (both fiction and non-fiction).

Big thanks to everyone who came to our January Book Club and read Old Man’s War by John Scalzi.

All are welcome to come and chat about the book (members & non-members).