The year is nearly finished! You may recall that quite a few of us set ourselves some goals for the year with our 2018 Resolution Project. How did we do? Let’s talk to a few of our contributors and find out!
Merrin: In 2018, I made a resolution to read the entire works of NK Jemisin. I haven’t failed yet, as it is still 2018 as I write this, but I’m behind by two books and I don’t know if it’s going to happen this week.
Jemisin is a writer that’s been on my radar for so long, I can’t remember when I first heard about her. She’s been impossible to ignore the last three years as she made history by winning three Hugos in a row. I’ve been keeping track of my reading via goodreads for almost a decade now, and looking back on the demographics of my reading habits, I was kind of horrified by how white it skewed. Part of the goal in reading Jemisin’s work was to be more intentional about readings authors of color in general. Part of my resolution for this year outside of the Resolution Project was to not read any books by white men at all, and I was actually pretty successful in that.
I love her work. I love her tendency to start books in media res, like she just throws the reader into the deep end of the pool for them to either sink or swim. I like that I have to just go with it for a while before the picture really becomes clear. I love that I spend the last 50 pages or so of every single one of her books crying my eyes out.
I understand that I haven’t finished the Broken Earth trilogy, but the Inheritance trilogy is still my favorite for now. The way she writes the god characters is so interesting, and books about the intersection of science fiction and religion are a particular weakness of mine.
If you haven’t checked her out yet, I can’t recommend her enough. She’s a beautiful, magical writer.
Sherry Peters: My 2018 resolution project was to read all of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, and watch the entire series of Game of Thrones. I alternated between the television series and the books each month. It was an ambitious project, one I am, quite frankly, surprised I finished. At first I wasn’t entirely convinced I wanted to care about the books or the show. I had been fine with not being an obsessed fan like so many of my friends. I dove into it more out of curiosity than anything.
Alternating between book and television series was not the best idea. It made sense to do it that way given the massive size of the books and how much time it would take me to get through each one. If I could do it over again, I would read the books first, then watch the show. I think the books are so detailed and long and paced so slowly that if I watched the show first, I don’t think I’d get through the books. More importantly, though, is that because it took me two months to read each book, there was a lot of overlapping time with watching the show, and sometimes I got confused as to what was happening. This confusion was actually made worse as the show diverged from the books.
It has been an interesting venture, and I am glad I did it. In fact, I’ve become a bit of a fan. Granted, I stand by what I said in my post for book five, A Dance With Dragons:
Women are chattle, nothing more. Some may have a lot of spirit and fight and desire for power, but in the end, they are at the mercy of the men….and I’m tired of it.
And therein lies the great hypocrisy of my life. I love what I hate.
One of the perks of being a nerd and working at a university, is that one of the professors where I work will be teaching Game of Thrones in his class on Medieval Literature starting in January, so I’m going to audit the class. He and I have had some enjoyable conversations about the series and I think it is going to be a fun class. Especially because I don’t have to write any papers! (Insert wicked laugh here).
There have been a couple of other enjoyable “Thrones” related things I wanted to share with you but I decided to wait until this wrap-up. The first is the “Game of Thrones” musical. That’s right. Musical. It’s only 15 minutes, and it was done to raise money for charity for Red Nose day. It is a must watch.
And then, of course, there was the Kit Harrington and Toothless the dragon audition tape.
I am definitely glad I did this Year of Thrones. While I have no need to read the books again, I am kind of tempted to binge-watch the series from start to finish. Perhaps I’ll wait until season 8 comes out.
Thank you so much for going on this journey with me. If you find any other spoofy type videos, please, share the links with us!
Kelly McCarty: After I failed hard at my 2017 resolution to read J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, I am pleased that my 2018 to read more diverse books has been successful. I’ve always wanted to be one of those people who read only books by women or people of color for a year. However, I know myself well enough to realize that I am powerless over literary temptation. My scaled-down resolution was simply to read at least 25 books by people of color and books featuring disabled characters or characters who are gay, bisexual, or transgender.
My favorite of the books I actually wrote reviews for is African-American author Victor LaValle’s ambitious modern-day fairytale The Changeling . In spite of the book’s flaws, it speaks beautiful truths about fatherly love. The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison, about a bisexual midwife living in a world where successful childbirth has become impossible was both compelling and terrifying. Among the speculative books I didn’t review, I loved Tananarive Due’s My Soul to Keep. Jessica’s husband, David, is not who he seems to be and I found myself fearing for Jessica and her daughter. I appreciated how Due wove Jessica’s Christian faith into a supernatural story. I even shed a few tears towards the end of this book. I also enjoyed Into the Drowning Deep (which Casey reviewed) for the ease with which Mira Grant includes characters that are gay or who have disabilities. It was definitely more diversity than I expected from a book about killer mermaids.
Speculative Chic has dramatically expanded my reading horizons but I still primarily read books that aren’t speculative. My favorite for this category, The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang, was a big surprise for me because I’m not normally a fan of romance novels. Stella is a math genius on the autism spectrum who is wildly successful at work but an abysmal failure at love. In a reverse Pretty Woman scenario, she hires male escort Michael to teach her about romance. Even though romance is my least favorite genre, I genuinely cared about these characters. Be forewarned that this is an explicit romance novel that you probably don’t want to lend to your grandma. Depending on your grandma, I suppose. The novel was inspired by Hoang’s own experience with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
I am disappointed that there are so many great diverse books that I didn’t get to this year. I still intend to read Hugo Award winning author N.K. Jemisin and The Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse, which weaves Native American mythology into a post-apocalyptic story. The resolution may be over but I’m still committed to seeking out diverse works.
Erin S. Bales: So, back in May—that’s right, MAY—I made a resolution to read every book in Nora Robert/J.D. Robb’s In Death series. All forty-seven of them.
For a while, I was on a pretty good run. My library has all the books, and I was enjoying the heck out of Eve, Roarke, and the whole crew. Then, around book seven, I started noticing some repetition in the books—in both the myriad sex scenes, as well as the crimes and Eve’s procedures in dealing with them.
So, I picked up something a little different to cleanse my palate. Namely, The Outsider by Stephen King. Then I got The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen—a book that, as a native Chicagoan, I’ve been meaning to read for years—in an e-book sale, so I started reading that. By that time, both the hard and e-versions of the next book in the In Death series were checked out. To kill some time, I opened up a book I got a while back, Harmony Black by Craig Schaefer. I didn’t get too far in before I discovered that, according to a reading list on Schaefer’s website, that the book was actually the sixth book in a giant, crossover series of series, and the real first title was The Long Way Down.
That title proved fortuitous because, in addition to a novella and a short story in the collection Urban Enemies, I’m seven titles deep, and I can’t stop. Seriously, every time I try to pick something else up, I’m drawn back to Schaefer’s books. I’d say I’m like a junkie, but the books are so good (especially the characters, who are compelling AF) that I’m blaming them for my problem.
And that, dear readers, is why I didn’t finish my self-imposed homework for 2018. I’d ask myself for an extension, but if I’m perfectly honest, I don’t think I’ll finish the In Death books next year, either. As a friend of mine pointed out, Robb’s series isn’t really meant to be devoured in one continuous reading because, what feels like repetition when the reader is blistering through them, is actually what creates a sense of continuity and familiarity.
For the record, I do plan/hope to get caught up with Robb’s series eventually. I’m just planning to do it a few small steps at a time.
J.L. Gribble: I honestly tried to have a simple Resolution for 2018. Read a book. Watch a movie. Review both. The end.
But nothing is ever simple in my crazy brain, so reading one book turned into reading five books. I regret nothing.
I find it interesting that so many of the Resolution Projects here at Speculative Chic involve catching up on things that we feel like we “should have” already read or watched. Mine was no exception, though my focus was a bit narrower. Prior to watching the 2018 film adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time, I read the book by Madeleine L’Engle and then decided to read the rest of the Time Quintet, which meant three new books and revisiting an old favorite.
My experience through this journey is that the books in this series have vastly different appeals to each reader, depending on particular interests. It should come as no surprise that my favorites out of the bunch involved wacky time travel shenanigans (A Swiftly Tilting Planet and Many Waters), while another friend preferred A Wind at the Door due to her love to the character of Charles Wallace, and a more traditionally religious friend loved An Acceptable Time.
Here’s a handy roundup of my book reviews:
- Better Late Than Never: Reading A Wrinkle in Time in 2018
- Like You Thought I’d Stop at Just One: Reviewing A Wind in the Door
- I Never Knew What I Was Missing: Reviewing A Swiftly Tilting Planet
- Hello, Old Friend: Reviewing Many Waters
- A Wrinkle at the End: Reviewing An Acceptable Time
And you can find my review of the movie in the group post: Sound Off! A Wrinkle in Time
I encourage all lovers of the unique genre of “science fantasy” to experience each book in this series, regardless of their age. And despite it’s problems, director Ava Duvernay’s adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time is a fun movie filled with adventure and much-needed representation, perfect for the younger burgeoning speculative fiction fans in your life.
Nancy O’Toole Meservier: My contribution to the Resolution Project in 2018 was to read Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson. I did this for two very specific reasons: I am terrible when it comes to finishing series, and I am easily intimidated by long books. And Oathbringer the 1200+ page third book in the Stormlight Archive fit both of those weaknesses very well. I knew that if I wanted to continue this highly enjoyable series, I was going to need to make it a priority for 2018.
And well, it worked. Sure, it took my almost the entire month of January to finish it, during which I cycled back and forth between the audiobook and the ebook, but it was so worth it. Oathbringer, as I mentioned in my review, was an incredibly satisfying entry into the series, and ultimately one of the best things I read in 2018. Thanks to it’s cast of lovable characters, the high stakes epic fantasy plot, and the thoroughly engrossing worldbuilding, I don’t regret a single hour I spent on it. And trust me, I spent plenty of hours on it.
Long books can be intimidating. With only so many hours in a day, it’s difficult to dedicate so much time to one novel, when you theoretically could have read three or four normal sized ones in the same amount of time. And as a reader constantly surrounded by new and shiny things, I know that I can be easily distracted and forget about a series that I am otherwise enjoying. But reading Oathbringer is a prime example of why sometimes, that big book is worth the time commitment, and why it’s worth sticking with a series. I can only hope that the next book in the Stormlight Archive will be just as good.
Casey Price: My 2018 resolution was simple: include more space-opera in my reading this year. Precisely, read at least six specific novels. So did I succeed? Sort of.
I didn’t read the exact books that I originally thought I’d read. My final list only included Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente (because how could I not?), Artemis by Andy Weir, and A Big Ship at the End of the Universe by Alex West. I also started Revenger by Alastair Reynolds, A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, and Skyfarer by Joseph Brassey (which was on my “maybe” list).
I only managed to review Space Opera. So why didn’t I actually complete the six novels that I decided to read? Or even completely read six space-set novels in general? Several reasons. Primarily, my free time was drastically reduced this year. In addition to taking over a bulk of the editing here at Spec Chic, I returned to working full time at my day job, after several years of semi-full time. When I did have time to read, I prioritized things that I knew were going to be enjoyable. I had a tough year — 2018 ended up being very challenging on several levels — so I didn’t feel like stepping out of my comfort zone too often.
I enjoyed the books that I finished, and I intend to finish the three that I started. I’m just not sure when that might happen. I won’t be stressing over it.
Several of our other contributors completed their projects this year: Nicole Taft, Lane Robins, and Kendra Merritt were all successful! Ronya F. McCool also made progress on her goal! So, all in all, I’d say that as a group, we did well. Those of us who didn’t quite manage to meet our goals put in a good effort. Horizons were expanded, new territory was explored, and we got to experience something new. I’d say that’s a pretty satisfying conclusion to 2018.
[…] Resolution Wrap-Up 2018: How’d We Do? […]
This post reminds me that I still need to read Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente and something by N.K. Jemisin, which may be How Long ’til Black Future Month? because I don’t know if I can commit to yet another trilogy right now.