EPBOT Readers discussion

Hi everyone!

Week 10 already! Time is weird, every single week seems to drag, and it feels like spring will never get here, but I'm still surprised we're in week 10!

This week I finished:

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books - book about a book club - This still left me with such mixed feelings. It was an absolutely eye opening look into what it would feel like as a woman to go from "regular citizen" to "second class citezen" in a matter of a year or two. And how women DID protest, and were met with violence or death until the remainder were forced to capitulate. Also in regard to her younger students who didn't even have time to develop real personalities and identities before they were forced into hiding everything about themselves. However style-wise it just didn't suit me. Her timeline meandered all over the place, I had such a hard time figuring out when anything was happening, in relation to history. One minute she'd be talking about her book group, then going back to her teaching days, then back to her days as a student in America. Also there was SO much discussion about the literature mentioned, it felt like I was missing half of what she was saying because I hadn't read the 15 or so books mentioned immediately before reading.

Harleen - I bought the hardcover for this a few weeks ago, finally sat down to read it as a break from the last. I loved it! I'm a big Stejepan fan in general, and in fact the idle sketch-comics he did years ago about Ivy and Harley post-joker are how I found him in the first place,a dn those formed the jumping off point to him eventually writing this. It's a story about Harleen Quinzell getting a job at Arkham to find a criminal to use in her study about violence and empathy. It's told from her perspective and goes into how she found herself falling for Joker, in spite of knowing what he was. I really enjoyed it because she's very human. Meaning you don't come out of it saying "oh Harley was a totally innocent victim who was so perfect". You see all the mistakes and wrong turns she made that led her down the path, while still understanding why and how she made them.

Once & Future #1 - this is a fun take on arthurian mythos. Not my favorite subject usually, but I love the author and will generally at least give anything he writes a shot, and this is interesting enough to keep going.

Magnificent Ms. Marvel, Vol. 2: Stormranger - finished up vol 2 of this, liking the new author for her pretty well.

Currently reading:

The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep - This is my book with a book on the cover. My cover has an entire bookshelf of books. Liking it so far, although yet again feeling like I needed to read some other books first. SO MUCH Dickens in this, and I've only ever gotten through A Christmas Carol. I just...can't with him. I tried Oliver Twist and Great Expectations (admittedly, both were when i was a teenager) and just couln't. However in spite of the vast amounts of Dickens, still enjoying this one, it's just not the fast read I thought it'd be. My library books are piling up, I really need to buckle down haha.

The Count of Monte Cristo - still poking at this. some day i'll finish!

Sideways Stories from Wayside School - picked this up on a whim, i loved it as a kid! Might use is as a previous year prompt, "re-read of a childhood favorite".

QOTW:

I'll borrow from popsugar again: Do you read younger books like YA or Middle grade or children's, or do you stick mostly to adult books? I know that there's plenty of people with kids here, so i'll clarify with "for pleasure" rather than specifically reading to them/with them. Nothing wrong with that! Just wondering more about what you CHOOSE to read, in your own reading time.

I'll read most anything if it catches my eye. I won't go out of my way to LOOK for children's or middle grade or YA, but it won't deter me if I think it looks good. Rick Riordan is great, I read anything by him, and i've been poking at some of his "Rick Riordan Presents" authors. YA i try to research a bit before diving in, just because i get bored to death of certain YA tropes. If i never have to see another love triangle, that'd be rad. Especially a love triangle where you KNOW where the protagonist is going to end up, the other part is ONLY there to create drama.

At last check-in, I had just started Nobody Walks - unfortunately, my digital loan ran out before I could finish, but I made it about 2/3 of the way through, and now I'm waiting to get it back. It's pretty much a Liam Neeson movie in book form, but I'm actually not 100% sure how it's going to end, so it's been interesting having this break.

While I was waiting, I decided to pick up Ophelia, since I'm planning to go to an author event for it in a couple weeks. I really enjoyed it - it's more straightforward than most of the more recent "reimaginings" of old stories, so it tells its story without contradicting anything in Hamlet. It's really well-written and well-researched, so I'm very much looking forward to hearing the author talk about it (the occasion of the talk is that there is a recent movie of it, lest you wonder why the author is doing an event for a 14 year old book).

Once I finished that, it was time to start on the next one for IRL book club #3, Half of a Yellow Sun. I'm already about 1/3 of the way in, and I just started last night - I can't put it down! I've loved all of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's other books, but somehow never read this one. Her characters are always so fully drawn that you forget it's a novel and feel like a real person is telling you a story about something that happened to them. In this case, a really awful story, but one that many Americans seem to be unaware of - so I'm looking forward to the discussion.

On a lighter note, I'm also about 3/4 of the way through listening to Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving. There is definitely some repetition from the podcast, but enough new material that it is definitely worth reading/listening to (Mo reads it!) even if you've heard all the episodes. There's also more personal stories and comments from Mo in the book than the podcast, so it's pretty much my perfect book.

QOTW: I read quite a bit of YA and some middle-grade - the quality is just SO much better now than it was when I was that age! The classification of middle-grade, YA, and adult seems to vary widely by publisher, and often seems to reflect more the identity of the author (women, minority, and LGBTQ+ authors are far more likely to be published as YA than nearly identical books by straight white men) - so I'm not too hung up on what section things are shelved in. I'm not a fan of forced love triangles, either, but I've run across more of them in the "adult" "chick-lit" books that have appeared in some of my book clubs than I have in YA. I'm also not a fan of the need for every LGBTQ+ character to die, be crazy, be depressed, be oppressed, and/or be the villain as tends to be the case in "adult" books, whereas YA characters today can have a variety of gender identities, romantic preferences, etc. while still possessing other character traits and participating in plot elements unrelated to their sexual orientation! I would LOVE to read books with older LGBTQ+ characters that aren't tragedies, so I fervently hope that the young people who are now growing up with the expectation of that being a thing will write and demand these kinds of stories as they grow up.

That is true, a lot of the lgbtq+ I read is younger authors. I feel like the sci-fi/fantasy has some stuff that is aimed more adult that is still fairly positive, but it's not percolated over into more general fiction genres as much.

I finished a book again! Don't get used to it. I'm not a super fast reader of books because fanfic keeps happening. I read all of Lies Sleeping which is Rivers of London #7. I have missed the dry narrative voice and mildly black humour. The storylines are always compelling and twisty and Aaronovitch does a good job of end of chapter cliffhangers. Not always, but particularly towards the end of a book.

For World Book Day I'm reading All's Well that Ends Well (Shakespeare), and that'll take me a few more days depending on how much time I manage to squeeze in. And I'm picking The Galaxy Game back up to re-start. I stalled early enough that I need to start over. Less than 15 pages in and I can't remember what seem to be essential plot points so not too much to re-read.

QOTW: I read some YA, although generally on rec-only these days. Although I do have enough friends who read YA that recs do come in from time to time. A fair amount of those have lgbtq+ themes though, and I always appreciate that in a book.
If I'm book hunting in a shop or library I'll head for the adult section. Often I'll head for sf/f though, depending on where it is. Representation and diversity seems to have leaked into that quicker than some other places.
Generally I don't read younger than YA for pleasure unless it's a rare fit of nostalgia (and I have few books still around from that era so it's unlikely).

I'll answer the QOTW first this week (you'll see why):
I mentioned this last week, but I have decided that I just can't with YA. I don't even have a clear idea of why. I've tried some titles that seem popular with adults, and it's not that I get zero enjoyment from them, but there's just something that annoys me in inarticulable ways. I will probably make another foray eventually, when a good enough recommendation comes my way.
I do, however, read middle grade. I don't know if the difference is lowered expectations, or the fact that they're faster to read and don't make me feel I've wasted my time, or the absence of some of the YA tropes, but I don't get the same feeling from younger books. I don't read a whole lot of them, but if I come across one that seems to fit my interests, I am willing to check it out.

So, with that said, this week I read The Case of the Missing Marquess. I had seen the news about an upcoming Enola Holmes movie, but reviews of the books seemed to refer to them as YA. Official sources had this listed as middle grade, so I took a chance. It did not ping my YA sense, possibly because there is no romance angle, and the protagonist is a younger teen. It did retread the very familiar "modern, liberated girl/woman must escape strictures of historical patriarchy" path, much like Sherry Thomas's Lady Sherlock series but for kids. I liked the characterization of Sherlock Holmes in this, though. I would consider reading the next book, and I will probably see the movie eventually.

I also read Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. I didn't love this one; I think magical-realism-adjacent is just not my style. The narrator's voice was fun, but the characters and story didn't really grab me. Unfortunately I don't think this bodes well for my eventually getting around to Erin Morgenstern.

The last couple weeks I finished:
The Woman in the Window: Solid meh. It was interesting, but the ending was fairly predictable and the whole thing could have been about 100 pages shorter.

The Hate U Give: I really enjoyed this book even though the subject matter was graver than what I tend to read. I was nervous at first with it being YA (see response to QOTW), but I thought the author did a great job of balancing Starr's feelings/internal narrative with events happening.

I'm currently reading The Starless Sea and loving it! I'm still in Book 1 and looking forward to having some time to binge read it this weekend.

I'm also listening to Twisted Twenty-Six. These Stephanie Plum novels all follow the same plot points, but they're so fun and easy to listen to that I don't care.

QOTW: At the moment, I'm on more of an adult streak, but will read YA and middle readers if they look interesting. There were a few years where most of what I read was YA. The stories were fun, filled with fantasy/whimsy and diverse characters, just easy to read and a fun distraction. However, I think I burned myself out on YA. I'm just done with some of the YA tropes and being stuck in mind of a teenager, especially the "I-know-everything-and-am-the-only-one-that-can-do-anything-about-it" perspective (looking at you, Catniss). Now I'm more of a YA in moderation - I'll sprinkle it into my reading, but it's not the majority of what i read.

Last week I finished Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher. This was my Popsugar book that has a book on the cover, even though it's a tiny little book in one corner. I could probably find another category for this one - it has a 4+ star rating right now, too, and it was published in 2020. Anyway, I absolutely loved this, but then I love everything I've read from her so far. This was a fantasy romance, and very engaging.

Manga/comic finishes: Komi Can't Communicate, Vol. 3, Komi Can't Communicate, Vol. 4, Noragami: Stray God, Vol. 12, Emma, Vol. 2, Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 1, and Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight 10

I'm currently reading A Conjuring of Assassins by Cate Glass, my Popsugar book published the month of your birthday (February). I'm really enjoying it so far.

QOTW: I will pretty much read anything that catches my eye. I've enjoyed plenty of YA and middle grade, and some of my favorite books are technically YA. YA gets a lot of flack for overused tropes, but all books and genres have their own tropes and genre-language. I think the overused feeling comes more from the sheer glut of YA that's become popular lately. That said, I agree about the love triangle thing. It's nice to come across a book where there's no "oh no, who will she/he choose?!" element. Recently, I've been reading a fair amount of YA, especially YA fantasy, that surprises me with how serious or dark it gets, which is a welcome change from the constant relationship drama ones.

Finished Detective Inspector Huss, which is a mystery translated from Swedish. I enjoyed a collection of short stories by the author, and have been to Gothenburg where it was set, so I thought I would give the series a try. I liked it well enough but probably won't continue the series. It tries to show the balance needed for a working police officer mom, but seems a little stilted 22 years later.
Also finished Exit the Milkman, finishing off my reread of the Peter Shandy cozy mystery series. Charlotte MacLeod sometimes has a convoluted writing style I enjoy.
And halfway through a reread of The Night Circus. This time through, I'm feeling like the "reveurs" who are fans of the Night Circus who meet and write and wear dashes of red and become friends over common interests from all over the place are what FoE would have been 100 some years ago.
For QOTW, I do read a lot of YA. For a long time, most of what I read were mysteries by women authors, because a mystery has to have a good plot, and that also seemed to be a way to screen for a level of sex and violence that works for me. (I generall prefer things PG-13 level to R). I have found that YA fantasy also serves as a good way to screen for this too. Looking through my library list of favorite fantasies, more than half are teen fiction. I have enjoyed all the Rick Riordans (started reading with kidbots when they came out and kept going myself), Leigh Bardugo, Marissa Meyer, Patricia Wrede,Scott Westerfield, Sherry Thomas, Rachel Hartman, Laini Taylor, Rysa Walker, Garth Nix, and Melissa Caruso. I am a big fan of musicals, so I think the suspension of disbelief I developed about people bursting into song helps me ignore some of the things people find annoying about YA.

I did not have as much reading time as I wanted last week, so I only had one finish, which was The Starless Sea, and I've posted my thoughts in the book club threads :)

I started The Calculating Stars for my other group, and am about a third of the way in. This is the first of Mary Robinette Kowal's novels I've read, though I've read some of her short stories in anthologies here and there and always enjoyed them. So far I'm loving it!

Currently reading to my third grader: good old Watership Down. I'm surprised how much he's enjoying it, actually - it's not exactly the fastest paced story. He has always loved rabbits though, and reading this has inspired him to get back out his old beloved Bunny that was his comfort object when he was tiny. It's adorable.

Sheri: I LOVE Sideways Stories from Wayside School! It was a favorite of mine growing up, and now I've read it and the two sequels to the kidbot and he adores them too!

QOTW: I teach 8th grade, so I like to occasionally read the books I see my kids reading, so I can talk books with them. It's a fun way to connect, and a great way to get good recommendations. I do get tired of the usual tropes, but it makes me appreciate it more when I find something more original (I found Unwind particularly chilling). I don't specifically seek out YA, but if I hear good things about a book the YA label doesn't stop me. I haven't read as much middle grade for the younger ones, but that's changing now that I'm raising an emerging reader and I want to read with him!

Rebecca, I am a huge Erin Morgenstern fan and love that style in general, but I was very meh on Mr. Penumbra - actually, so was my entire book club, which has representation from fans of all genres. We thought it had a very "men writing women" vibe with the female characters, and seemed like it was written by a focus group. So don't let that turn you off of a genre of which it's not a very good representative!

I will say that I thought Mr. Penumbra was ok, but I really, really enjoyed Sourdough by the same author. it had a female lead, I don't recall her being too poorly written, but it has been a year+ since i read it at the time. but I enjoyed it overall significantly more.

Sheri - at the end of my library copy of Mr. Penumbra there was an excerpt from Sourdough, and I remember thinking that it sounded like an EXTREMELY similar premise to Mr. Penumbra - so maybe he improved upon the formula with that one! I did enjoy the Mr. Penumbra novella, so I would be willing to give Sourdough a chance.

Thanks, Megan and Sheri! That's good to know. The jacket blurb wanted me to think they were similar.

I have jacket blurb trust issues for so many reasons.... I think now that there are so few publishers left, the marketing people don't even read the books most of the time - so you see good stuff go unnoticed because it's miscategorized all the time, and niche things have a hard time finding their audience because the companies want everything to fit into one of the bestseller categories. So don't let some intern's sales projection diagram dissuade you! :)