I actually read something in July.  I know we SciFi guys aren't always up to date (I think that a lot of our finest books are  a few decades old)  BUT I read a new book in July  Philip K Dick's Galactic Pot Healer.  It is like most of his novels -rather strange but entertaining.  I'm taking a coursara course on science fiction and honestly I think we do just as good a job on analysis as my peer review people.  I like you guys comments on your books!  Since I'm here and typing The Science Fiction & Fantasy Forum is having a talk by Charles E Gannon on Wed. Jul 23 at library of congress if anyone lives nearby.  Im going to go to this one.  He has a lot of practical engineering behind him.

I was away for a while, and just found this thread.  Overall, I'm at 20 out of 40 for the year, so it's looking good for completion of my challenge.

I just finished Kiln People (2002) by David Brin, in the L10 Hugo Loser category.  The Hugo candidates that year were
   Hominids, by Robert J. Sawyer (winner)
   Kiln People, by David Brin
   Bones of the Earth, by Michael Swanwick
   The Scar, by China Miéville
   The Years of Rice and Salt, by Kim Stanley Robinson
I've read all but the Swanwick, and thought all of those were good.

-Tom Hl.

Glad your back!  I'm pretty sure I'm going to finish the challenge as well.  I need to update my list.  I read the Years of Rice and Salt for a a challenge a few years ago.  Although it took me a while to get into it, I really enjoyed it.  Kiln People -not so much.  I just started The Worm of Ouroboros and I'm struggling.

So I just finished Ursula LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness.  She's not a favorite of mine but it did win the Hugo & Nebula.  It was better than I thought it would be.  I am now reading Little Brother by Cory Doctorow.  It's for my online scifi lit course.  I'm not sure I can label it scifi though.  If Mr. Penebra's 24 hr bookstore is not scifi I'm not quite sure why this book is.  Does anyone have an idea?  It is sort of 1984 like.

I'm not reading as much as prior years, since I'm on my phone or napping on the bus and haven't been reading at lunch.

I finished Philip K. Dick's A Maze of Death.  Really enjoyed this one and it really keeps with PKD's usual topic of reality.  This probably would my third favorite book of PKDs, after Ubik and Do Androids Dream.

Ann - I like LeGuin's later Hainish novels, starting with The Left Hand of Darkness, but am bored silly with the early young adult fantasies for which she seems the most famous (A Wizard of Earthsea).  A few other Hainish works that I thought were good - The Telling, and Four Ways to Forgiveness, and numerous novellas.  And I feel her more recent fantasies have gotten better as well.  And by now, I'm guess you have gotten further into Little Brother where both the kids and the Department of Homeland Security move a little beyond current technological capabilities.  But I agree it is near-future dystopia, more than speculative science.

Brad - I've finally read Steel Beach for S2 The Moon, but only gave it ***.  I remember you liked it a lot.   I found it to be good entertainment, but not more than that.  See my full comments at the link.

Now reading The Day of the Triffids for F2  First novel of a male writer.  It isn't actually the first book John Wyndham ever wrote, but is the first one he published under his own name.

Yep Tom you correct that I loved it, and I'd say what you said as well:

"I found it to be good entertainment, but not particularly profound."

If I wanted to be hit in the head with a 2x4 I'd go hang out in the lumber section of Home Depot.  I would not have finished Little Brother.  He is even more heavy handed than Sherri Tepper in trying to force his ideals onto the reader.  I don't mind when the writer has strong ideas and introduces them.  I do mind when they bully you into their beliefs or the way they tell you is less story and more lecture.

Tom I did read LeGuin's young adult books which is why I wasn't expecting much from this one.  The more I think about it, the more I like it.  I may continue with that series. 

My class is now over so I can read anything and I think I'm going back to James White.

After a super strong start to the year, I finally managed to finish a sci fi novel after 4 months of nothing! Yay! Now lets see if I have a category slot for Cibola Burn...