EPBOT Readers discussion

Hi everyone,

Apologies for the late post. Was a hectic week!

This week I did a lot of comic binging.

I finished :

The Winter of the Witch - Counted for popsugar book published this year, and ATY's something new for the wedding rhyme prompt since it's a new release. I enjoyed it, a good conclusion to the trilogy.

Jim Henson's The Power of the Dark Crystal, Vol. 1, Jim Henson's The Power of the Dark Crystal, Vol. 2, Jim Henson's The Power of the Dark Crystal, Vol. 3 - these took place after the movie by a few centuries I believe. I think it was maybe what the talked about sequel was going to be. Not sure if that's still in the works or not.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Vol. 7 - catching up on the sieries

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 7: Damage Per Second - catching up

a bunch of other issues, i don't mark them as read until I hit a trade.

will post more for check in this week, hopefully I'll find time!

Currently reading: A Study in Scarlet - this will be for popsugar's book that inspired a phrase/idiom.

I'll come up with a question for this week, sorry for my lack of preparedness!

Me and my slow reading! :D

Last week, I finished Phasma. I liked it well enough, but I was much more interested in the framing story around Phasma's backstory. I'm glad the author is bringing those new framing story characters back in a future Star Wars novel.

I just got Onyx and Ivory for Book Club from the library and finally started it. I'm only 4 chapters in, but I'm enjoying the world-building and getting to know the characters so far!

Oh i totally forgot to mention I'm still reading Onyx and Ivory, probably because I keep forgetting to listen to it. oops!

I definitely want to check out Phasma now - and I also have about a million comics that I'm behind on, but for some reason I just haven't been in a comic-y mood lately!

At the last check-in, I was reading Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, which I really liked - I will definitely read the rest of the series and other books by the author in the future, because she has a really fun, conversational style. If you like cozies with a bit of edge, this is a good one.

During the time I was reading Casa Dracula, a member of IRL book club #2, for which I admin the Facebook group, asked me if I could put together an album of all the books the group has read over the years. It was actually kind of fun to look back over all the past books, and as I dug into old messages, posts, and e-mails, I realized that the group had read several books before I joined, so I decided that now is as good a time as any to go back and read them, since I'm waiting for all of the current book club selections from the library.

I started with 1st to Die, because I was the last person in America who had never read a James Patterson novel. I actually enjoyed it much more than I expected - it took a little while to get used to the super short chapters, since that made it feel choppy, but I eventually got into the groove. It's got a little more "adult content" than a cozy mystery, but it's not full on gore and sex, so that was nice.

Next, I read The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. It seemed like this one was written specifically to be a book club selection, since it's set in a book store and every chapter starts with a book recommendation. It was fine, but just seemed too perfectly developed in a sales rep's lab to feel natural to me. But I could totally see it being a good conversation starter for a new book club where everyone is just getting into book clubs for the first time, so I'm probably just not the right audience.

I'm currently reading Reaching Dustin, which was quite an adventure to track down - it seems to be out of print, and none of the local libraries have it - but I did learn that archive.org has an online library with images of out of print books that are free to access (you just have to register), so I'm reading it there. I'm going to ask one of the original members if it was easier to find copies when they read it several years ago! I'm about 3/4 of the way through, and it seems to be a fairly typical late-20th-century tween book about a kid who fits in getting to know an outcast kid and learning all the usual life lessons, so I'm really interested to know how it made it into this book club for adults. It came out in 1998, so that seems way too recent for anyone in the club to have read it in their own childhood (I'm one of the youngest members, and even I was in college by then!) It's certainly one that I never would have found on my own, though, so I'm glad I'm going back and reading these early selections!

As a side note - I mentioned in a previous check-in about the Ohioana book festival, which I did end up going to (it was awesome if anyone is near Columbus and wants to go in a future year!) I got to meetMindee Arnett, who was very sweet and glad that we were reading Onyx & Ivory. She gave me a set of character cards and a Relay Rider sticker, and I bought one of her other books, so I'll let everyone know how that is when I finally get that far in my sprawling TBR pile.

Husbot had a big project at work past week, meaning late nights for him and lots of time to binge read for me:

Finished No Country for Old Gnomes. This was just fun, and actually managed to be a stronger book than the first in the series Kill the Farm Boy, having a better sense of plot and direction. If you enjoy a good sendup of fantasy cliches, I highly recommend it.

Also knocked off The Path of Daggers, book 8 of the Wheel of Time. In which a lot of stuff happens and Rand broods- so spoilers for basically the middle 6 books in the series. It really is like a fantasy soap opera, watching complex plotlines with a bunch of characters slowly play out over the course a long series. Life is frantic enough right now that this pace is actually really refreshing for me, a chance to slow down and savor the complexity and detail. But I know there are lots of varying opinions on that with regard to this series. Book 9, Winter's Heart is just barely underway.

Started Becoming Mrs. Lewis this week too, about Joy Lewis, the wife of C.S. Lewis. I adore C.S. Lewis's writings and it's been an interesting look at his life through the lens of their friendship (thus far in the story). This one is rather outside of what I typically read, but I've been curious about it. It's actually a birthday present for my Mom, and want to read it before I give it to her (which she will FULLY expect me to have done). I'm enjoying it, but it's something she'll absolutely love!

Whoever is in line ahead of me at the library for Onyx and Ivory is now overdue in returning it. I guess I'll get to it when I can- hopefully soon!

Got to go to my first con this past weekend: Arctic Comic Con! Needless to say my TBR list has grown significantly, although I'm proud of keeping actual weekend purchases minimal, in being responsible to my budget. Yay for adulting?

Nothing for me has changed. I'm still reading Onyx and Ivory and I'm still listening to Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia. I've been getting more alone walking in so I think I'm getting fairly close to the end. At least the book itself keeps alluding to that.