Each month, we try to give our books a theme. We produce a short list of related novels, and we vote for the winner! Themes are generally pretty witty and have literal or loosely related books. If you've read any, or have any titles that would fit nicely in a theme, post below!
FIRST MEETING
February 2016
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heilein
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
This was our club's literal first meeting, and we didn't yet have the concept of themed months, other than Sci-Fi and Fantasy. So bear with us until May until we got our stuff together.
SCI-FI + Fantasy
March 2016
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey
Books of the North: Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook
Legend: The Drenai Saga by David Gemmel
SCI-FI + FANTASY
April 2016
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Sabriel by Garth Nix
FANTASY
May 2016
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
Sabriel by Garth Nix
We themed this month "Fantasy Renaissance-ish" because we had read two heavy science fiction books in a row. Also, one of our members REALLY wanted to read Sabriel, which we have yet to read.
TIME TRAVEL
June 2016
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
The Anubis Gate by Tim Powers
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
Timeline by Michael Crichton
CANLIT
July 2016
Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Station Eleven by Emily St John Handel
The Untold Tale by J.M. Frey
Making a Canadian-Literature themed short list of July was a great idea... Until it came time to vote. Definitely our most heated vote to date. Tables were flipped. Shots were fired.
HOT TIME IN THE CITY
August 2016
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
The City and the City by China Mieville
Definitely a fitting theme for the month, because we had record high temps in Hamilton.
BACK TO THE BOOKS
September 2016
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller Jr
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Books about books.
SO SCARY
October 2016
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
Ghost Story by Peter Straub
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
A great selection of horror chosen by one of our founding members, who himself happens to be a horror fanatic, and indeed read all of these novels in one month.
NOT LOST IN TRANSLATION
November 2016
The Three Body Problem – Liu Cixin Chinese
Blood of Elves: The Witcher – Andrzej Sapowski Polish
We – Yevgeny Zamyatin Russian
Paprika – Yasutaka Tsutsi Japanese
Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafón Spanish
This genius selection of books have all been translated to English from another language.
THE LONG WINTER
December 2016 - January 2017
The Inheritance Trilogy - N.K. Jemisin
The Southern Reach Trilogy - Jeff Vandermeer
The Reality Dysfunction - Peter F Hamilton
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Novels clocking in at between 700-1,400 pages to tide us over for 2 months.