Book Club Options

It’s my turn to propose some books. Mwuahahaha!

#1: When the Moon Hits Your Eye, by John Scalzi

This book came out on March 24th. It’s a science fiction-y novel where one day, for reasons no-one understands, the moon is suddenly replaced by an equal mass of cheese. Each chapter is its own little vignette, ranging from astronauts learning that a planned lunar is landing is cancelled because the moon’s turned to cheese, to university students attending a “flip off the moon” party, to a disastrous SNL taping as people start to panic. It’s a fun and fast read.

On the flip side, there’s no traditional plot. Scalzi’s characters tend to have similar snarky voices. I could totally imagine someone bouncing off this book for either of those reasons.

Year of release: 2025
Availability: VPL: 13 copies on order, 41 holds; BPL: 12 holds on 5 copies on order; widely available in stores.
Length: 317 pages
Goodreads rating: 4.01/5

#2: A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursala K. Le Guin

It’s a coming-of-age fantasy novel about a boy with magical powers who goes to a wizarding school, gets into trouble, and spends the rest of the book trying to fix his mistakes. When I put it like that, it sounds incredibly generic, but this is one of the classics of the genre. Le Guin was an amazing writer, and the world she created is the opposite of a Lord of the Rings knock-off. And her writing is amazing.

I borrowed this from the library back in the 2000s, and then immediately bought my own copy because it’s that good.

Year of release: 1968
Availability: VPL: 10 copies, currently 3 available; BPL: 5 copies; currently 2 available; can be ordered online; likely available second-hand.
Length: 201 pages
Goodreads rating: 4.01/5¹

#3: 1632, by Eric Flint

A small town called Grantville, through a freak accident of space and time, is transported from West Virginia in the year 2000 to the Germanies in the year 1631 — right in the middle of the Thirty Years’ War. After getting over their shock and panic, they decide to kick off the American revolution 150 years early.

This book’s a wild ride. There are a million characters who are two dimensional at best, but the writer took the idea seriously and ran with it. It was intended to be a one-off book, but it spawned a massive series of sequels and spin-offs from various authors, ranging from terrible to amazing. I’ve read some thirty books in the series since 2021.

That said, I have no idea if this is good or not. There are obvious flaws, but … I love it. I really want to talk about it.

Year of release: 2000
Availability: VPL: n/a; BPL: one copy; you can download the e-book for free from the publisher or different storefronts; you can find the paperback online.
Length: 512 pages, according to Wikipedia. It’s a door stopper.
Goodreads rating: 4.05/5²

#4: War for the Oaks, by Emma Bull

After another bad gig, Eddi McCandry quits her boyfriend and his band … only to be drafted into a secret war between faerie courts over the city of Minneapolis. Can she trust the Phouka, who claims to be her guard but acts more like her captor? More importantly, how’s this going to interfere with her new band?

This is a fun book. Eddi’s a great protagonist. Even though it’s from the 80s, it doesn’t feel that dated … except when you realize no-one has cellphones.

Year of release: 1987
Availability: VPL: n/a; BPL: n/a; there’s an e-book, and Indigo has the paperback online.
Length: 319 pages
Goodreads rating: 4.01/5³

#5: Men at Arms, by Terry Pratchett

Captain Vimes of Ankh-Morpork’s City Guard (Night Watch) is about to marry a woman considerably above his station, and then he’s going to retire. It’s just as well: in the name of diversity, the city is forcing him to hire new guards from unrepresented communities, like Lance-constable Cuddy (a dwarf), Lance-constable Detritus (a troll), and, worse of all, Lance-constable Angua (a woman). But then a dwarf is murdered in an unusual way, and it’s up to the Night Watch to figure out what’s going on before everything goes terribly, terribly wrong.

This isn’t the first Discworld novel. It’s not even the first one about the City Watch. But at this point Terry Pratchett was on fire, and it’s a good entry point to the series.

Year of release: 1993
Availability: VPL: 3 copies, 1 on hold; BPL: 1 copy; should be easy to find.
Length: 381 pages
Goodreads rating: 4.41/5