Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2021 Weekly Check-Ins
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Week 18: 4/29 - 5/6
Local election voting day today here in the UK! I've heard that some polling stations aren't providing pencils, so if anyone is voting later today, remember to take a pen or pencil with you. My polling card just said I could take my own, not that I had to, but hearing differing messages on social media. It would be nice this country could manage to do just one thing in a competent manner!I've been gravitating to fun books lately, fortunately still finding prompts to fit them. I seem to have a lot of finishes this week, I guess my partner has been busy working beyond his usual hours, so I've had more time by myself.
Finished:
For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten for review and ATY (set in a made up place). This was so slow to get going, I nearly DNFed it, but I did like the whole sentient wood that is neither evil nor good, just trying to save itself thing, so I kept going and I ended up enjoying the second half, but it really has pacing issues. Lots of descriptive writing and not much happening at the start when you need to be drawn in. I liked that it was essentially a story about consent.
The Library of the Dead by T.L Huchu for ATY (elements of magic). I adored this and the audiobook narrator was perfect, and really took me back to my childhood when I was surrounded by that accent. I liked Ropa, whose job is to pass messages on from ghosts but she kinda finds the undead annoying, and the mystery and the setting of Edinburgh, and not just the nice bits. Looking forward to more in this series.
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Sutanto for genre hybrid. This was ridiculous and hilarious, made me LOL on several occasions which is rare for books to do. Meddy accidentally kills her date and ends up trying to get rid of the body with the help of her meddling aunties (and mum), all the while trying to work at a wedding.
Love Is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann for a place I'd like to visit this year, either London as we might go on a day trip if things carry on improving, or much less ambitiously, a charity shop! I've seen a lot of reviews that hate the main character, she's cynical beyond her years but I think she's relatable, especially to a UK reader, and her attitude just makes everything else all the sweeter when it happens.
The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary for a book about second chances. I liked this more than The Switch but not as much as The Flatshare. Funny with a serious side like her other books, it got yet another LOL out of me, it's been the week for laughing at books it seems. Audiobook had some volume issues, male narrator could be very quiet at times and then there would be shouty dialogue, so be aware if that bothers you.
QOTW:
I don't re-read much, and I do worry that old favourites will suddenly become terrible. I did re-read Kelley Armstrong's Bitten and I still liked it but I was more aware of Clay's terrible behaviour and not sure I would like it so much if I were reading for the first time now.
A few years ago I re-read His Dark Materials and I totally didn't get any of the subtext when I first read it, so that was really interesting to read it seeing the physics and religion bits more clearly.
I re-read Discworld now and then and still love it. Terry was a gem.
My challenge is done, but I thought I would still check in. This week, I finished:
Jane Anonymous: I'm glad I stuck this one, because the character development was really incredible without being exploitative. There was one problematic element for me, but I still gave it 5 stars, because of the character development.
The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep: This was a sequel of sorts with different characters, and was certainly not as well executed and felt really repetitive.
Five Total Strangers: I flew through this suspenseful read. I thought it did a good job of misdirecting, even though I had figured it out.
Currently reading:
The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life: WHY IS KEN JENNINGS NARRATING THIS?!?!?!
The Cabin: One of my probation kids recommended I try Natasha Preston, and so far this is just okay for me. Has anyone read her? Did I choose the wrong one?
QOTW:
I reread all the time. The only one that I remember taking the time to reread that I already hated was The Great Gatsby. I reread the Alex Cross series as well and didn't find it to be as good in context of the whole series. Mostly I reread books for a reason and that is because I love them and I usually continue to love them.
I finished the Mermaid Chair as my book about fresh starts. this was one of those books I had to finish to decide whether I liked it or not. I did like it.I'm now a little over halfway through Great Expectations as my DNF book. I think this is probably cheating a wee bit because in 9th grade we read the condensed version, so I figure I didn't finish the full version, but by that logic I could just read any book I haven't read. But if I quit a book (which I don't do that often), it means I don't want to read it.
QOtW: I don't reread that often. I've read Lonesome Dove 3 times. I've loved it every time. I reread to Kill a Mockingbird so i could read the sequel. I remembered liking it in HS and I still liked it, but mainly just realized I didn't remember jack squat of it.
On the flip side, I'm thinking about rereading some of the books from school that I didn't like, and seeing if I like them now, but it's daunting to start a book thinking you're not going to like it.
I haven't checked in for a good month and a half because work became overwhelming and I didn't read anything new because my brain couldn't cope with it. But! I finished something this week, so I'm very excited.
Read: 14/50
Finished:
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, which I picked up for last month's magical realism prompt. I found parts of it hard to push through, so ended up stuck for days at a time, not willing to pick it up. Other parts really grabbed me and I was reading when I should have been working. I'm glad I finished it, because I wasn't sure I would.
Currently Reading:
Recognize Fascism: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthology I'm enjoying this, and reading one of the short stories when I get time. An interesting mix so far.
Sophies Patch by Sophie Thomson. I'm planning a garden, and this is helping!
QOTW
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is the first one that comes to mind of a book I liked then hated. We read it in year 12 and it was one of my favorites that year (much better than Educating Rita). But when I tried to read it a decade or so later, I hated it. I'd grown enough (and broke up with my Heathcliff-esque high school boyfriend) to see how horrible the characters are. I'm more than happy to never read it again.
I re-read Traci Harding's Ancient Future series every few years. I can see the problems with it now more than when I first read them, but still enjoy the story. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is another book I enjoy every time I read it.
I can't remember anything I've hated then tried to read a second time. I'm not generally willing to give second chances to books like that.
Happy Thursday!I gave myself a four-day weekend (3-1/2, if I count going in to work for a few hours on Saturday) and it was amazing to just stay home and hang out with the hubby and cats and not do a whole lot of anything besides read. It's been pretty wet here the past few days but it's sunny this morning, so we might get some yard work done today! Had to take one of the cats to the vet yesterday; he's had some pretty rough diarrhea lately, but we're hopeful that changing his food will help.
I've gotten sucked into one of my old standby computer games again lately, but I did manage to finish three books this week!
The City of Brass - 2 stars. I really liked this at first and then it sort of petered out, and by the end I was rather indifferent, even with the cliffhanger at the end. Book with a family tree
The Hooligans of Kandahar: Not All War Stories are Heroic - 4 stars. Picked this one up on a whim from KU and appreciated Kassabian's down-to-earth look at the war in Afghanistan. Not always an easy read. Book set mostly or entirely outdoors
The Instruments of Control - 5 stars. In love with this series after two books. The way the characters are all interconnected, the intrigue, even the religious aspect is handled well. Deeply underrated fantasy.
PS 33/50
Currently reading:
Shadows Linger - a carryover from April, but I'm determined to finish and things are moving along nicely. I don't think Glen Cook can write a boring book tbh, and this is only my second one of his!
Havah: The Story of Eve - it's still early but the lush prose fits the setting and I like it so far.
The English Patient - another one I picked up on a bit of a whim, and it's a surprise; I was expecting to be bored to tears but the writing is lovely.
These Violent Delights - a new R&J retelling set in 1926 Shanghai! I love this setting but I admit to zoning out a bit while listening yesterday. Hopefully that lull's over and done with. Oxymoron in the title
QOTW: Have you re-read a book you previously loved and found you hated it? Conversely, have you re-read a book you previously loved and found it stood up to the test of time and you still love it? Have you re-read a book you once disliked to find that you still dislike it?
I loved The Sight when I first read it and on a reread a few years later DNF'd it.
I wasn't a huge fan of Pride & Prejudice when I first read it (my high school BFF ADORED Austen) but I reread it last year and loved it so much!
I can't say I hated Lord of the Rings when I first read it in high school, but I wasn't accustomed to fantasy writing and ended up putting Return of the King down halfway through, then coming back to it a month or so later and it was like pulling teeth to finish, plus I'm pretty sure I ignored the appendices. I reread LOTR last year and deeply loved it.
Call of the Wild has been one of my favorites since childhood and it mostly holds up. The recent film adaptation with Harrison Ford made my eight-year-old heart so happy. As someone who began applying the "read critically" mindset once I was out of school, I appreciate being able to recognize the flaws in books I adored as a kid.
Is it weird if it took me 2 years to read Les Miserables and I say I'm already looking forward to reading it again eventually? Haha!
I looked at my list and was like, "I didn't read this week." I did but apparently I didn't log. Now it is like, "wait, what did I read?" Complete:
Impossible Music by Sean Williams Teen musician loses ability to hear must cope with changes. This was good. It wasn't great. But it brought up some interesting concepts. The description of the auslan (Australian Sign Language) interested me and made me curious to see what it was like as opposed to ASL. Lots of John Cage love and I love John Cage so all in all a positive experience.
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane This book felt longer than it was which isn't usually a recommendation. It took a long look of a family over a couple of generations and it was interesting to see how the choices and foibles of one generation plays out for the next. But it also switches characters POV which is something I usually don't mind at all and didn't always in this case but sometimes it very, very, very much left out a perspective that I was curious about which I found frustrating. If a character wasn't the POV character you might never know what happened to them or how they felt about the most important event in their life. I found it frustrating. It was a solid book. I liked it. I didn't love it.
QOTW:
Hated and still hate. The Giving Tree. I have been mad at that boy since I was 4 years old and sometimes I revisit it when people list it among their favorite books thinking maybe my anger will have dissipated. It has not. I will be in an old age home unable to remember my name but still mad at that little stupid isn't even sorry at the end jerk kid from The Giving Tree.
Loved, reread with absolute trepidation because LOVED, still really, really, really liked. The Outsiders I read this book going into sixth grade and LOVED it. I was obsessed. I know I'm not the only one. I reread it a couple of years ago for a prompt and was worried it just wouldn't live up to my memory of it. And it doesn't hold up 100% but it held up more than enough, more than enough. No disrespect at all to my tween taste.
Reread and appreciated more: It took me a long, long, long time to get throughPride and Prejudice the first time. I tend to prefer retellings of P&P even now, but I eventually quite liked Pride and Prejudice once I got over my prejudice against it.
Reread and Ugh... that's not how I remember it
I know they are perenial favorites but Narnia just doesn't hold up for me and I never, ever say anything when people recommend them as there was a time when I loved those books but that time is not now. They just feel so clunky and overdone in the parable department.
A Wrinkle in Time- This book was so special to me because it is probably the last book my mom and I read together when I was a kid as I very much felt ready to take on the reading world after it. But it was so good reading it with my mom. Reread it a few years ago for a prompt and it just felt it was hitting me over the head with the message which was a little preachy.
A very good Thursday to you all. I woke up feeling pretty good about life this morning, which is nice - lately it's been a real roulette wheel of emotions day by day!I'm waiting with bated breath for the FDA approval of Pfizer-BioNTech for 12-15 year olds so my poor depressed 13yo can start hanging out with friends like she used to. And last night one of her old friends who had drifted away a bit showed up at our front door - her dad had something to give me, and we all socialized for a little while and it was lovely. Really made me feel like more normality is truly around the corner.
I've been having a good spell of reading lately too!
Finished
Fugitive Telemetry - really liked it, of course. I just wanted MORE!
Piranesi - what a delightful, strange book! I'm counting this as my Women's Prize book even though it was only nominated. I've stopped kidding myself that I'll get through any of the actual winners.
The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex - Despite the amazing name, this was not good. It's incredibly opaque and confusing, and should probably only be read as a supplement immediately after one reads Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth. (And "Sex" refers to the six-based naming system of the Sixth House, not anything fun :( )
Currently Reading
The A.B.C. Murders - might use this for "dream job" - who wouldn't want to stay at posh country houses being fed cream teas while demonstrating how smart they are?
Six of Crows - because Netflix's Shadow and Bone made me miss Kaz and the crew. Maybe I can fit this into some prompt?
QOTW
I suspect a lot of the books I loved as a Catholic teenager who hadn't learned much about sexism would fall flat for me now. Everything from the religious belief baked into A Wrinkle in Time to the complete devotion to the straight male gaze that Nadine referred to. These things would have been part of the wallpaper of a good story back in the day, but now would jump out at me and make me cringe.
Two that hold up really well in my eyes are Sherlock Holmes and most of Jane Austen's work. Not only are the stories and characters great, the writing is pretty accessible even all these years later.
Brandy wrote: "I know they are perenial favorites but Narnia just doesn't hold up for me and I never, ever say anything when people recommend them as there was a time when I loved those books but that time is not now. They just feel so clunky and overdone in the parable department."I didn't actually read the whole Narnia series until I was an adult, a few years ago; I'd read LWW and Prince Caspian when I was younger, and I liked some of the stories quite a bit (The Magician's Nephew might be my favorite) but I agree this series is very heavy-handed. And the ending was awful!!
Mornin' all! It's just dawn here but I can already feel a nap coming on. I swear I spend most of my days off sleeping, even if it's not the plan. I had a good reading week! Woohoo!Finished:
Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory - Murderbot re-read
Network Effect - Murderbot re-read
Fugitive Telemetry - New Murderbot! The re-read bit me in the ass because I was looking to find out what happened after the end of Network Effect, but this book is before that, which I didn't know. ppfftt! But I loved it.
Klara and the Sun - I liked it
The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country - I missed reading this for poetry month
Before the Coffee Gets Cold - I also enjoyed this. I think this would be a nice little sci-fi for people who don't think they like sci-fi.
The Wanderer - I did get through this, but it's it's a silent book and the pictures were certainly not done justice by my tiny little Fire screen. The print book is now in my wishlist.
Currently Reading:
The Best We Could Do
The Magic Fish
I need a new audiobook. Probably one of these:
Run Me to Earth
Days of Distraction
The Salvage Crew
Ugh I think I'm going back to bed! Zzzzzzzz...
I’ve started my pre-moving purge. First to go was my books. I sold them on Decluttr for a little money, and what they wouldn’t take I sent to my library who will send them to Better World Books and make a little money. I’m down to one (very full) bookcase now. I’m also trying my hand at selling some things on Facebook Marketplace. If I keep up this pace, I’ll have lots of audiobook time. Finished
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (a book that won the women’s prize for fiction). I stretched this category a little bit and read a book nominated for the award. I liked but didn’t love this. I prefer a single narrative with one or a few main characters. This felt more like vignettes.
Reading
Watership Down by Richard Adams (a book set mostly or entirely outdoors)
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor (a book about a subject you are passionate about)
QOTW
A couple years ago there was a challenge prompt to re-read a favorite book from your childhood. I read Island of the Blue Dolphins. Wow, I did not understand what that book was about as a child! I thought it was a fantasy story about a girl who survived with the help of her wolf friend. It’s actually a true story about the sole survivor of a Native American tribe. My fourth grade teacher had us read this as a class during our Native American history unit, but somehow my child brain could not connect the dots. It felt like reading a completely different book than the one I remembered.
The Lord of the Rings always holds up to rereadings. It’s so layered with details that I forget something and get excited about a detail or storyline all over again.
I can’t think of anything I’ve reread and hated, but I don’t really do a lot of rereading so maybe that’s why.
Happy Thursday, y’all.In the middle of a massive shifting project at the library this week. We've deleted some of our older/outdated non-fiction books and are moving things around to best utilize that shelf space. I'm so sore, ouch...
Books read this week:
The Rook -- for “book about forgetting.” Fun concept (a woman loses her memory and learns that in her previous life she was an operative for an agency that fought against supernatural threats), but it was full of info-dumping that made it tiring at times. Also, it’s a stark reminder that an author needs to be careful writing the opposite sex, because it can get cringeworthy FAST if you get sloppy. (Newsflash -- not every woman compares her boob size to every other woman she meets, guys…)
Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales -- for “longest book on your TBR list.” Phenomenal collection by one of my favorite authors of all time! A few of my favorite stories by him (such as “There Will Come Soft Rains,” “Hail and Farewell,” and “The Sound of Thunder”) didn’t make it in, but then again, this collection was personally compiled by Bradbury, so his favorites of his stories and my favorites probably don’t mesh well, hehe…
Nothing to See Here -- for “magical realism.” I… didn’t get the hype. I found all the characters obnoxious, and the story was pretty predictable. I DID start enjoying it more towards the end, and the book actually works as symbolism for raising an extra-needs child if you look at it right…
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry -- for “book about three generations.” Absolutely delightful! Elsa and her grandmother were both hilarious and fantastic characters, and their story and the stories of the lives they touched were both heartbreaking and wonderful.
DNF:
Spinning Silver -- not for the challenge. I made it two-thirds of the way through then just realized that I didn’t particularly care what happened to everyone and wasn’t invested in the story, so I finally gave up. I had such high hopes for this one, but I just could not. It didn’t help that the POV kept switching and throwing in new characters, and I was often confused as to who was talking when.
Challenge stats:
Regular challenge books -- 36/45
Advanced challenge books -- 10/10
Not for the challenge -- 30
Currently Reading:
Moon of the Crusted Snow -- for “book by an Indigenous author”
The Line Between -- not for the challenge
Killer Show -- not for the challenge
Broken -- not for the challenge
QOTW:
I loved The Giving Tree as a child and teen, but looking back on it now I'm kind of appalled at the toxic love it seems to promote. Also, the Dragon's Pawn series was a favorite of mine growing up, but I re-read the first book recently and cringed at the awful writing. I must have had lower standards as a kid...
Brandy wrote: "I looked at my list and was like, "I didn't read this week." I did but apparently I didn't log. Now it is like, "wait, what did I read?" Complete:
Impossible Music by [author:Sea..."
I agree about the Giving Tree, and with that Rainbow Fish (he needs to physically maim himself to have friends?) and I love you forever (just the part with the ladder...the ending is quite touching.)
Pride and Prejudice was going to be my answer as well. That book just holds up and Elizabeth was so much more mature than I was at "one and twenty".
I reread Wrinkle in Time to my daughter and it had lost all of its magic. I haven't tried rereading Narnia, but my favorite was "The Horse and HIs Boy"
Kenya wrote: "Happy Thursday, y’all.In the middle of a massive shifting project at the library this week. We've deleted some of our older/outdated non-fiction books and are moving things around to best utilize..."
Yes on writing on opposite genders! I often find this with cheesy novels when authors write how they wish men thought not how they actually think. I can't get through them!
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry has a real Shawshank redemption of a name, but is just lovely.
So, I finished! (The Regular Prompts - not tackling the Advanced until I get home to my bookshelf.). But YAY! Books Finished:
Bunny. Dark Academia. My Donna Tartt was taking too long to come, so I went for this, and it was awful. Just so so so boring, It would have been better as a Novella.
The Map of Salt and Stars Gem or Mineral in the title. I had such a hard time getting into this book, but in the end I really liked it. Glad I stuck with it. Would also work for multiple countries, places you'd like to visit (Sicily, Libya, Syria, Spain, Algeria, Morocco).
When the Stars Go Dark Not for a prompt, but I loved the author's other book, The Paris Wife. This one is very different, but well written, and I really enjoyed it. Could work for the career prompt: detective. takes place in California.
Truly Madly Guilty The title makes you think that someone is going to do something horrible to someone else. But, it's really about how we all take on guilt for things that we may or may not have had a hand in, and how that guilt consumes us in different ways. I didn't love this as much as her other stuff, and I think the title is misleading and that could bother some readers, but it wasn't bad. Side note, I listened to this one as an audiobook, and the narrator doing the Slovenian accent just sounded so much like Steve Carrel doing Gru to me. Ha! Also, I used this for the prompt "A place you'd like to Visit in 2021." This prompt bothered me because I couldn't decide if it meant a place you really want to go, or a place you'll realistically visit. So, I decided to use two books. This was my place I'd love to go (Australia) and I used Libertie for a place that I'd realistically like to visit (my friends' in Brooklyn who I haven't seen since before the pandemic)
Queens of Fennbirn just a little novella prequel to the Three Dark Crowns. I literally read this while waiting for my cat at the vet.
QOTW As previously discussed, Pride and Prejudice. This one holds up, unlike Sense and Sensibility which is not good. I remember it being - to quote Darcy - tolerable - but I just reread it and I disliked really all the characters, couldn't figure out what any of them saw in each other (except Marianne and Willoughby, in an inappropriate first love kind of way.). I was also so annoyed at now little regard anybody really gave the Willoughby's ward who was just cast aside. Ugh.
Also, the first few times I read Harry Potter, it really sucked me into the world. Like everytime i stopped reading it felt like Harry being pulled from the Pensieve. Those days are gone.
Hi All, another beautiful day in the neighborhood. I finished two books for the week.The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. Not for this challenge 3 stars. It was a slog. Nothing good came out of it.
The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood. A book by a Muslim American/Muslim British author. 5 stars. The story was good. It dealt a lot with religion & what it means to be Muslim. All the characters except one were Muslim. I have no idea if the author is American or British. He has been a citizen in three countries. He currently lives in Sacramento,California where he practices law.
QOTW Question of the Week
Have you re-read a book you previously loved and found you hated it? Conversely, have you re-read a book you previously loved and found it stood up to the test of time and you still love it? Have you re-read a book you once disliked to find that you still dislike it?
This question made me stop & think. Have you re-read a book you previously loved & found you hated it? I love Pat Conroy books. I could never re-read Prince of Tides because of the trauma. I re-watched the beginning of the movie a few years ago to hear the opening narration then turned it off. I still love the book but will never re-read or re-watch Prince of Tides. I love Beach Music & use to read it once a year but haven't picked it up for years. I have read South of Broad twice. Both of those I still love but I like remembering rather than revisiting. This brings me to John Irving & Annie Proulx. I loved A Prayer For Owen Meany which totally took me by surprise. John Irving is hit or miss with me. My worst book ever was The World According to Garp which I won't try again. I thought about re-reading Owen Meany but I'm afraid I will come away wondering what I saw in it. I loved The Shipping News. Again I won't re-read it because I'm afraid I won't like it. If I really dislike a book or DNF it that's a closed book to me.
Another week done! I can't believe it is May already...where did April go? I get my second vaccine shot today so I took a half day today and the day off tomorrow - looking forward to a long weekend of reading!
Finished:
Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch (A book from your TBR list you associate with a favorite person, place, or thing). I know very little about computers but I liked this book because it combines technology with linguistics. The author is a linguist and discusses how language and communication have evolved since the internet became mainstream (Apps, emoji's, memes, etc). It was interesting.
Still Reading:
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd. Yes, I am STILL reading this - I don't know why it is taking me so long to get through - it is a good book, but I haven't been reading as much as I usually do. Hopefully this long weekend I can finish it.
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. I started this one on my Kindle - it is only 136 pages so it is a short one. I like it so far.
QOTW:
I generally avoid re-reading books that I love (sounds backwards right?) usually due to the fact that I will never read any of the books that I loved the first time ever again. You only get the first read once. I re-read Circe recently and loved it as much as I did the first time. I have a few books that I just loved so much that I will keep (hopefully forever) but I am not sure if I will read them again. Maybe in a few years when I forget the little details of the book and can re-live those.
We are having a wet, cool, stint in Chicago right now, it has been very gloomy, good reading weather though! Finished:
So This is Love
Started:
The Last Thing He Told Me
QOTW:
I have books that I reread. I do not think that I have reread one yet that I did not like the second time around.
I reread To Kill a Mockingbird every couple of years. I find that I still love it every time I read it.
I tend not to reread books that I disliked. I do though go back to books that I did not finish because I couldn't stand it. I started Wuthering Heights like five times, I finally finished it and really did not care for it. I may go back some time in the future and try it again.
Mod
I am so excited to read this!!!
The British weather really needs to wake up and realise it's now MAY, and therefore it needs to start warming up. We finally bit the bullet and turned off our heating a week or two ago, and we've been freezing ever since (I actually put bedsocks on last night!).On the upside, my husband has just been able to book his Covid jabs, so we're getting somewhere with that...
Finished:
The Devil and the Dark Water for A genre hybrid. First 5-star book of the year/challenge! I've also come to the conclusion I really like books set on old-timey ships...!
Silver in the Wood for A book with a gem, mineral, or rock in the title. Really like the folklore vibe of this one, have put the follow-up on my TBR list.
Jurassic Park for A bestseller from the 1990s. This was a re-read, but I haven't read it for ages, and it was on the shelf, so saved myself a bit of money!
In progress:
Ayesha at Last for A book by a Muslim American author. Not very far through yet...
QOTW:
I do re-read quite a lot, but tend to only re-read books I loved, and therefore know I'll love again. I did re-read a bunch of the 'Swallows and Amazons' books at the end of last year, to indulge in some nostalgia, and did love them just as much as when I was a kid!
However, I don't really see the point in using valuable reading time to re-read a book I previously disliked! Don't really see the point in that!
Hello! It's been an odd week. My mother-in-law was hospitalized on Monday, then transferred to a bigger hospital two hours away because her local hospital couldn't handle whatever was wrong. She lives in Utah, and none of the rest of my husband's family is anywhere close, so we didn't know anything until his sister could get there late Monday night. They think she'll be discharged today, and my husband was able to have a good chat with her last night, so things are definitely looking up. Glad we didn't have to make our own frantic flight to Utah.Finished This Week:
Joe Rochefort's War: The Odyssey of the Codebreaker Who Outwitted Yamamoto at Midway by Elliot Carlson. Finished it! Loved it, like I hoped I would. There are so many things about this book that were great, and a lot of things that were new. I'm glad Rochefort finally got a biography that shows his whole life, rather than just pulling him into the story for the Battle of Midway and then discarding him once he's out of the main narrative of the war. Also very glad to get the reasons why he drops out of the narrative, since there was quite a lot of war left after Midway. Using for prompt #18, Subject You Are Passionate About, as I love the battles of Pearl Harbor and Midway.
Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot. This was one of the recommended books for Read Harder's prompt about demystifying a common mental illness, and it also fit the Reading Women prompt for memoir by an Indigenous woman, plus the PS prompt for Indigenous author. Very odd book. The author has bipolar II disorder, and PTSD, and part of the book is about when she committed herself to get treatment. That part I liked. The rest of the book was hard to follow. It's written to someone, but I could never tell if it was to one of her kids, to her mom, or to her husband. (I think it's the husband, but the dedication and last chapter are about her mom?) At least it was short.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Someone in my book club suggested this for our May book, and I was able to get it from the library. I knew it was about two sisters with vastly different lives because of the slave trade, but I wasn't expecting the structure. I thought we'd get more from each person, rather than one chapter and move on. I'm glad I read it. Using for #20, on a Black Lives Matter reading list.
PS: 26/50, RH: 5/24, RW: 9/28, ATY: 31/52, GR: 57/100
Currently Reading:
The Last Draft: A Novelist's Guide to Revision I've had this checked out since November, and it's due in two weeks, and I'm not in a place to do any revision right now, but I also feel like I can't just return it to the library without reading it when I've had it since Thanksgiving.
Red, White & Royal Blue - the other book my book club wanted to read. It took longer to get from the library, but I got my copy on Tuesday, so should have plenty of time to read it by next week. Haven't started yet.
QOTW: Have you re-read a book you previously loved and found you hated it? Conversely, have you re-read a book you previously loved and found it stood up to the test of time and you still love it? Have you re-read a book you once disliked to find that you still dislike it?
Similar to your story, Nadine, I read The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison in high school, and I adored it. It's Golden Age Science Fiction from the 60s too. I devoured the entire series (he wrote from the 60s to the 00s) and talked up Harry Harrison's comedic science fiction to anyone I could make listen. And then I reread the first one recently, and realized just how terrible it really is. I'm terrified to reread the rest of the series because of just how misogynist the first one is. I keep hoping the rest of the series won't be as bad as the first, since many things about the first book aren't true of the rest of the series.
As for loved and still love, I still adore Mossflower by Brian Jacques. I first read it in seventh grade, and read it again last summer (with many times in between), and I still love it. The hares fishing the baddies out of the lake at the end doesn't make me double over in laughter like it used to (hey, rancid doesn't mean wet!), but I remember when it did, and still chuckle. It's still my number 2 book on all time favorites.
I'll have to think more on books I disliked and reread, because in general, if I didn't like it, I don't see a need to read it again. If there are any, they'd likely be books I had to read for school.
No prompts again so just from favorite to lease favoriteKingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalo. YA fantasy with witches and demons and it was just a fun read and I'm looking forward to book 2.
Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Olou. I think I wanted this to be more history because I really enjoyed those parts but a good read overall.
The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White. YA fantasy. Re-imagining of the King Arthur myth. I really couldn't get into to it and I think it's because we really didn't get a lot of background on the main character, she was just kind of thrown in there in the court and I didn't care why.
QOTW:
For sure, Moby Dick the only assigned reading I did not do. Hated then, hated it a couple of years ago when I tried a re-read.
Brandy wrote: "Loved, reread with absolute trepidation because LOVED, still really, really, really liked. The Outsiders I read this book going into sixth grade and LOVED it. I was obsessed. I know I'm not the only one. I reread it a couple of years ago for a prompt and was worried it just wouldn't live up to my memory of it. And it doesn't hold up 100% but it held up more than enough, more than enough. No disrespect at all to my tween taste."Every few years, I have the 8th graders and this is what I read with them because I loved it then and I like it now and it's usually a hit with that crowd.
Blessed Bright Week! Kristos Anesti! Christ is Risen! Orthodox Easter was last Sunday so it's a big party week for the Eastern side of the faith (Western Christians be like "how y'all a month late? what gives??" XD Calendars are weird things). And happy Cinco de Mayo yesterday too (to add to all the celebrations going on this week)!
The weather has been weird. 85 on Sunday. Low 60s today. Rain then sun then rain then sun. Guess it's spring!
Finished 13/50
A Long Walk with Mary: A Personal Search for the Mother of God for "book published in 2021". This was not what I was expecting. It's more autobiographal than theological, but I appreciated how open and honest the author was about her life. It was refreshing. :)
The Emperor's Soul for "book you saw on someone's bookshelf". Oh this was so good. Such a nice little snack of a fantasy. Thanks Dad for letting me take it! XD
Currently Reading
White Oleander for "book with a b&w cover". This is so good but so, so sad.
Darkness Is As Light for "DNF on TBR". Almost there! Today's reading was just so beautiful. I love this book.
QotW
Loved but then hated: Left Behind. I was obsessed with this series as a kid. Watched those awful movies, obsessed over the characters, the whole 9 yards. Then, as I got older and read more of the books, it really rubbed me the wrong way. In fact, the older I get and the more I learn about my faith and about good literature, the more I find to hate about the series. So, technically I guess this wasn't strictly a reread, just a gradual turn from fan to anti-fan as I read more of the series.
Loved and still love: Oh there's a bunch of these. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (the entire series, really), The Chronicles of Narnia, Search for Senna (the entire Everworld series is fantastic), Crime and Punishment, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, Vol. 1 and xxxHolic, Vol. 1 (the two series' go together). All of these I just keeping coming back to again and again!
Hate and still hate: The Old Man and the Sea and Wide Sargasso Sea. I tried these twice, years in between readings, and I truly just cannot. The first is so boring and dumb and the second I just couldn't understand what it was trying to say. Both are classics, I know, but omg I really tried to like them, and I just don't.
And...
The Lord of the Rings. Yes, yes, I know, I'm a terrible heathen for saying this. I picked it up in high school, DNF. Tried again in college, finished the entire thing and....I just don't like it. I don't like the way Tolkien writes. My best friend gives me crap about this all the time ("You love Dostoyevsky and yet you think Tolkien is too verbose?!"). I'm sorry! Different strokes for different folks. I'm big on character development, and let's be honest, Tolkien is not. So. There you have it. At least I tried??
Finished: The Spiritual Activist: Practices to Transform Your Life, Your Work, and Your World, How to Make a House a Home: Creating a Purposeful, Personal Space Pretty, but not transforming.Started: I've been doing this thing lately where I read whatever I fancy on a particular day, which means I've started six books and only gotten a couple of pages into each of them. So I don't think any of them count as of yet.
Qotw: I read Pride and Prejudice on my own in jr. high and enjoyed it pretty well. Then I had to read again in school, and I hated it.
Sometimes it's just not the right time for a book, which can make winnowing down my collection particularly challenging. I started The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones, but it didn't particularly grab be, so I set it aside. The next time I tried it, I loved it so much, that I ended up reading everything by her!
I've been re-reading all of the Percy Jackson chronicles. They are still enjoyable, but what I notice most when reading a series back-to-back, is that the quality is constant, but varies from book to book. When I was reading them as they came out with a year or two in between, it was harder to make direct comparisons on quality.
Nadine wrote: "I've been slowly reading my way through past Poet Laureates, generally with good success, but this time it was a miss for me. ..."I applaud your project to read the poet laureates. If you haven't heard of it, I recommend The Poets Laureate Anthology edited by Elizabeth Hun Schmidt which gives a taste of all the laureates up to 2010, It is one of my favorite books. As for more recent laureates, Joy Harjo's pretty cool, huh?!
Mod
I've got a 15 yo, and same! She's not super excited about it, she's always been afraid of shots. But it's non-negotiable.
You might be pleasantly surprised by A Wrinkle in Time - I loved it as a child, and then I read it to my girls and it holds up. (I was not raised with religion, and I didn't think any religious aspects of this story were too in-your-face. )
Mod
I applaud your project to read the poet laureates. If you haven't heard of it, I recommend The Poets Laureate Anthology edited by Elizabeth Hun Schmidt which gives a taste of all the laureates up to 2010, It is one of my favorite books. As for more recent laureates, Joy Harjo's pretty cool, huh?!..."
I look forward to reading Harjo's anthology of Native poets! I've only read one of her own books of poetry, and found it to be just okay. So I guess I don't always love the laureates!
I don't have a degree in Literature, so I'm reading these just as a lay person, and I think some times that means I miss a lot.
Not much to share personally this week. I can add some special May Days from the Netherlands to the list. May 4th is National Remembrance Day. We remember the victims of World War II and the victims of wars and military operations in which the Netherlands were involved since WW2. All public life is silent for 2 minutes at 20:00. May 5th is Liberation Day, we celebrate the freedom we regained with the surrender of the nazi’s in the Netherlands on May 5th, 1945. We have parades with veterans from Canada, the US, UK, Poland. And our own veterans who fought since WW2 for freedom all over the world. Sadly, this wasn't possible this year. Instead, there was something special. German chancellor Angela Merkel held the May 5th lecture, the first time a German chancellor had a public role on this day in the Netherlands. Things truly have changed over the past 76 years. I live near the German border and I can't imagine a closed border (well, actually it is kind of closed now because you need a negative PCR-test in Germany). 15/40
Finished
Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie ⭐⭐1/2
Prompt: #3, a book that has a heart, diamond, club or spade on the cover
Almost timeless. Nice read, not very special.
Currently reading
Where the Crawdads Sing
QOTW
I don’t re-read that much. I have re-read The Shadow of the Wind, it was as great as it was the first time. I should re-read it again!
I’ve als re-read Daughter of Fortune last year. I liked it, but was not as dazzled as I was the first time. I read this book when I re-discovered reading again, so maybe I’ve just read too much since then.
I had to start my cats on a bit of a diet because one of them just clocked in at 18 pounds at the vet (good news because it means his hyperthyroid treatment worked! bad news cause he's super chonky, haha) and boooy are they not having it. You'd think I'd replaced all their food with lettuce instead of just started giving them a 1/4 cup less. Finished:
Malice by Heather Walter: I'm so mad I didn't love this. It's a sapphic fairytale retelling from the villain's perspective! I wanted to love this!! But the pacing felt so slow and every decision the characters made felt nonsensical and very "I did this because the plot needs me to do this" to me and it was a bummer. When I started this book two weeks ago for the "less than 1000 ratings" prompt it had 400 ratings on Goodreads but was a little over 1000 when I finished, so I'm still counting it for this prompt but might shift it somewhere else if I read a different book under 1000.
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty: this was fine? I don't know if you could really call a single character in this likable to be honest. I'm not mad I read it but I also don't feel compelled to read any more of the series. This was for the Muslim American author prompt.
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino: oh man I STRUGGLED through this book. It is not a bad book. I found parts of it very enjoyable. But this was a labyrinth of a book I do not think I am intellectual or smart enough for, and there were several parts that were deeply male gaze-y and I'm just at a point where I have zero patience for writers who think the default viewer is a cis straight man and every female character is an object. This was for the genre hybrid prompt.
Currently Reading:
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
The Gilda Stories
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
The Queen of the Tearling
Hamletmachine and Other Texts for the Stage
QotW:
I don't reread a ton because I get anxious thinking about how many books are out there that I haven't read yet, but I do reread sometimes!
Loved then hated: I read a lot of pulpy vampire stuff in high school that (shockingly) do not stand the test of time. I remember thinking the Undead and Unwed books by Mary Janice Davidson were light and fun, but I tried rereading the first one and it was hella problematic in ways I did not recognize at fifteen.
I also read the first few Narnia books with my mom as a kid and remember thinking they were magical, then reread them and the rest of the series as a teen and being deeply underwhelmed, and by the last book incensed. One day I will make a t-shirt that says "SUSAN PEVENSIE DESERVED BETTER"
Loved and still love: I reread Ella Enchanted every few years, and the first two quartets in Tamora Pierce's Tortall series. They were very formative reads for me as a kid and every reread just feels like drinking hot chocolate nestled in a warm blanket.
Disliked and still disliked: I probably have one of these that I can't think of? But I generally don't make myself revisit things I don't like unless someone I love cajoles me into it.
Hey all! Gonna be visiting my parents for Mother's Day weekend now that we're all fully vaccinated. I'm excited :DFinished reading: (9/50)
The Silvered Serpents (rock/gem/mineral in the title, set in multiple countries) - A good fast read. The "acquisition" crew gets back together for one last job in Russia, trying to recover a supposedly divine artifact. I thought the first book in the series was better but would still recommend this one.
Phoenix Extravagant (prettiest cover on my TBR, about art or an artist) - I'm kinda surprised I didn't like this book better than I did. It has a lot of good things going for it: Chinese-inspired fantasy; a unique art-based magic system; a plot that revolves around resisting an oppressive regime; a mecha-dragon (best character in the book!).
But the main character was so meh that it soured the whole book for me. Didn't like being in their head, didn't like the central romance, didn't care about the tension between them and their sister.
QotW: This one's tough! I don't often re-read books (there's just so much new stuff I want to read), and I tend to avoid old favorites that I don't think would stand up to my changed tastes, and I also naturally avoid books I hated. I'll see if I think of anything later.
Alex wrote: "I had to start my cats on a bit of a diet because one of them just clocked in at 18 pounds at the vet (good news because it means his hyperthyroid treatment worked! bad news cause he's super chonky..."I would buy that T-Shirt!
Hi everyone! I did my last check-in super late, so I haven't finished anything new. Here's what I'm reading:World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil It's fine. I wanted more nature, and this has a lot of memoir-type content.
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers. Okay, so I'm not totally enthralled with it. I adored The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, and thought the sequels were really good. But this one isn't quite as engaging. There's definitely been a drop in enjoyment for me as the series goes on. I'm still looking forward to Chambers' new novellas, though.
Think Like a Feminist: The Philosophy Behind the Revolution by Carol Hay. I love this. It's so refreshing. Unfortunately, I'm basically the only feminist in my family besides my mom, so I have to read feminist theory every once in a while to dislodge the whiny men's right's BS I hear from the men in my family.
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving by Celeste Headlee on audiobook. It's good so far. I wouldn't say I really have an overworking problem anymore, but I used to, so I like to remind myself why it's good to live a slower life so I never fall back into it.
QotW
For a reread I still love every time: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. I first read it as a kid, and I've reread it several times in the intervening years, and every time I fall back in love with the story. It's so simple and beautiful and brings back floods of childhood feelings.
Also, always love A Series of Unfortunate Events. Those books will always be solid.
Now, I haven't reread this series in a while. But. When I was in high school, my favorite trilogy was The Mortal Instruments books by Cassandra Claire. Since then (2007-2009) the series has exploded, and I have no desire to keep up. But I've reread the series once, and, yeah, they weren't as good that time. It's been about another five years since, and I've seen stray quotes since then and I'm like, "Yikes...I thought this was good?!?!" So I don't want to reread it and discover my grumpy older self hates the style and characters and plot. I want to preserve the happy memories of reading those books with my cousins like we were racing to the final page.
Harry Potter has kinda been ruined for me, too, but that's JKR's fault, not the books themselves.
Hello, everyone! I hope your May the 4th, Cinco de Mayo, and any other celebrations were wonderful. Thanks to 5/4 discounts, I got lots of Star Wars ebooks, including the three sequel trilogy visual dictionaries, The Star Wars Book, and Skywalker: A Family at War.Finished:
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull (3/5)(PS: A DNF book from your TBR)
The concepts in this management book are well done, and I liked the bits of Pixar history that I learned along the way. If you are looking for a book to help you in a creative group environment, then you might give the book an extra star or two on top of my three-star rating.
The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane (4/5, reread)
This book celebrates the crew of the Enterprise like no other, tasking them with saving and creating universes. It is also very imaginative in its aliens and depictions of shipboard life.
Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter (5/5, just for enjoyment)
Besides wanting it to contain more (and that's what the podcast is for), this book completely satisfied me. There was great material about the creation and writing of the musical, the complete libretto, and stunning photography. If you like Hamilton enough to watch it more than once, then you will almost certainly enjoy this book.
Currently reading:
My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane
The Unifying Force by James Luceno (which I will finish this week; it has no business being this long)
Heartless by Marissa Meyer (PS: A book that has a heart, diamond, club, or spade on the cover)
DNF:
Five French Hens by Judy Leigh
Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
These were all very quick DNFs, just books that were not what I was looking for.
Don't Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life by Anne Bogel
I read at least 25% of this one, and I did not want to go on. I felt like the advice was repetitive and being targeted to someone else.
Question of the Week:
I reread a lot, especially Star Wars and Star Trek books. Some of my tastes do change over time, and once I update a rating, I do not keep any written record of the previous rating. I will say that Kenobi by John Jackson Miller and Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray held up very well to a recent reread.
Happy all the May holidays to those who celebrate them! And happy first week of May to everyone!Texas spring is here--I know because it'll be 50 when I wake up in the morning and by mid-day it's in the 90s. Summer hits when I wake up and it's in the 80s already! XD
I was finally able make some progress scheduling doctor appointments for things that doctors have always brushed off in the past (and I always end up feeling stupid for bringing them up, even though I KNOW there's something going on), so I'm really excited! I think my GI was a little weirded out when I said I was really happy to be scheduling an endoscopy lol.
Finished:
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart - For the dream job prompt. I maintain that I would love to be a remarkably clever child acting as a secret agent, particularly if I get to band together with other remarkable children as a little makeshift family!
Also, this is perfect for the QOTW because this definitely stayed a book I love upon rereading.
Currently Reading:
Nothing
Up Next:
Not sure
QOTW:
This one's hard because I'm a really big re-reader. So if I were to list all the books I've reread, it would go on forever and you'd all be mentally shaking me and asking me to stop already!
Anything Jane Austen, I always love. I've read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde so many times and always LOVE it. That's one I'd really love to have read without knowing the twist going in.
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier, East by Edith Pattou, and Feeling Sorry for Celia by Jaclyn Moriarty used to be in a yearly rotation, but this challenge has kept me from continuing that tradition (each one goes perfectly for one of the four seasons).
I'm not sure I'll ever stop loving Roald Dahl's books. Holes is still excellent. I agree with the other person who said A Series of Unfortunate Events. I could seriously go on forever!
OH. And James Herriot's books will always be favorites no matter how many times I read them!
**Edited to add The Secret Garden because I just saw that Lynn is reading it! I've loved it every time I've read it.
For a book I used to love, then didn't upon a reread, the main one I can think of is Just Ella. I LOVED it as a kid, then as an adult it just felt so much like I was being beaten over the head with...feminism? I'm a proud feminist and love a strong female character, but I felt like the book was so heavy-handed that I just wanted Ella to shut up already! And most of the time I thought she was more "annoying" than "strong."
The only book I didn't like but had a more positive opinion the second time around (that I can think of) is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I barely finished it the first time around and then reread it a couple of years later and, while I wouldn't say I loved it, I definitely enjoyed the experience more.
Mod
My best news is that my husband’s recovery has progressed very well thus far! I am so grateful!! I’m actually going back to work (and the gym!) next week! While I still need and want to work from home, right now I need to get back into the office and catch up! We have an event next Tuesday that I need to handle, so that’s good motivation. Plus, I still have done nothing regarding therapy since I cannot be guaranteed John won’t overhear me at home, so I’ll start searching for another therapist…again…once I’m in the office and can obtain some privacy to do Zoom therapy sessions! Trust me…I need that!! LOL My favorite therapist ever died about 5 years ago and I have yet to find someone else with whom I can connect well enough to be beneficial to me. But…I do have some interesting stories as a result of trying 5 different therapists over the past 5 years! LOL
May is one of my favorite months. Except for the allergic reactions, I feel very happy to see the green stuff green and everything growing! Plus the Farmers Market begins! I really need to move south! 😊 Not too far, but just enough. Or to Seattle. Seriously, I loved it out there… But if I had a lot of money—La Jolla, California! Ah, a girl can dream, right? 😉
Question of the Week
Have you re-read a book you previously loved and found you hated it? Conversely, have you re-read a book you previously loved and found it stood up to the test of time and you still love it? Have you re-read a book you once disliked to find that you still dislike it?
Oh, my. Such an interesting question to consider. As some of you might know, I have been rereading a few classics from 50+ years ago! (Yes, it is possible to live that long! LOL) But I also have been trying to read classics I’ve not yet read though that doesn’t apply to your question, Nadine…
Oliver's Story (Love Story #2) by Erich Segal. Interestingly, I have my copy from the ‘70s but my copy of Love Story is nowhere to be found. (I’m guessing I “loaned” it to someone and never saw it again! LOL) I definitely enjoyed this more the second time around and realized I had failed to remember the main point of the book! That’s what can happen after 50 years… I appreciated that much more this time around.
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak was a disappointment to me 50 years later and mainly due to the fact that I realized what I remembered most was the movie, not the book! I much prefer the movie’s ending, which quite naturally was much more melodramatic! This one just didn’t ‘touch me’ the same way it did as a teenager!
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley was even scarier to me this time around! Perhaps due to the technological “advances” I’ve witnessed in my lifetime alone. Then I always consider my grandmother’s memories. She was born in 1896 and witnessed so much change in the world. I’m glad I talked to her as much as I did because it provided foreshadowing that life IS change…
A Separate Peace by John Knowles was supposedly a reread until I realized (by page 2) that I had confused this book with Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther! And this was one depressing book! I still want to reread DBNP…
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee still holds up for me! I loved it then at age 13 and I love it still! I also enjoyed Go Set a Watchman which was a very different book. If she did indeed write GSaW first, then kudos to the publisher who got her to do the rewrite from a child-aged Scout’s perspective…
I first read Beloved by Toni Morrison over 20 years ago and felt I really didn’t “get it.” And I was correct, I had missed the main point(s) of the story the first time. Morrison is a writer I love to read but her themes and writing are so intense, it really requires immense concentration on my part… This is a beautiful and necessary book although the themes are drastically dark, IMO. Be aware!
Honestly, I now realize I had no business reading Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice at age 13, but…it did open my eyes to a whole new view of life at that time. (I’m sure that somehow I managed to hide it from my mother, ‘cause she would have definitely confiscated it! Think “major racist”! 😒) This time around I could relate ever so much more to his commentary and themes. Definitely worth a reread!
Interestingly, Animal Farm by George Orwell did not hold up as well for me 50+ years later. I think that was due to the fact that as a preteen this was earth-shattering commentary for me, and honestly, since I’m a farm girl, I think I could relate to the animals as symbolic representatives, if that makes sense! 😊 I found it to be an okay read now, but loved it at age 13!
Popsugar: 36/50
ATY: 46/52
RHC: 7/24
Reading Women: 9/28
FINISHED:
Ender's Game (Ender’s Saga #1) by Orson Scott Card ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Several of my Borders coworkers kept telling me I would really enjoy it, so now I’ll see if they were correct! Man, I began to wonder at the 170-page mark how this could end so that I would enjoy it. But to my amazement and intense relief—it did!! I loved it! And it definitely left me pondering many aspects of humans and humanity… I’ll plan to read the others in this series as well!
POPSUGAR: #18-Bullying, War, #21-Classic, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, #27
ATY: #7-A book about an invention or discovery—ansible and Dr. Control, #14, #15, #23-Classic, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, #27-Strength, Death, Judgement, The World, #31, #34, #38-ACHIEVEMENT: Ender is an overachiever, #47-Uniform, #49, #52-Ender won in the end
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reminded me so much of Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. Both books utilize the perspective of children who really are the true victims of such financial inequality. For without money, it is virtually impossible to move beyond the cycle of generational poverty… Boo’s book more precisely depicts the total corruption of police and judicial officials in India. But it is the children who suffer most. Just trying to ever be “clean” is almost an insurmountable challenge, something we all take for granted…
POPSUGAR: #18-intergenerational poverty, inequality of financial resources, child endangerment, #21-Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, #22, #30-India, #34- intergenerational poverty, inequality of financial resources, child endangerment, #40-From 2015 POPSUGAR Challenge-prompt #37 A book with a color in the title, #46
ATY: #3- When the dog bites/When I'm feeling sad/Raindrops on roses/...warm woolen mittens, They believed all dogs had rabies, very sad for the missing children, children selling roses by the roadside to help feed their family, no such thing as "warm woolen mittens" only sweaters..., #7-A book related to money (or the lack thereof…), #8-India, #9-fall/winter, #10, #15, #17-Faiz and his family, Kabir and Khadifa’s family, the electronics repair shop owner, #20-What kind of future can these children ever have?, #22, #23-Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, #24-Hindu vs. Muslim, #27-Justice, Death, The Devil, Judgement, #34, #35-India, #36, #38-ALIVE: These children are no longer alive, #41, #42, #47-Runu’s Papa probably has the most guilt, #49, #51, #52-In the end these children are gone…
RHC: #1-I had no idea what to expect, #24
Reading Women: NEW #8
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (adapted by Devra Newberger Speregen, illustrated by Richard Lauter) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was enjoyable though not as much as the original version was at age 14! And…I had forgotten just what a snotty spoiled brat Mary was in the beginning! (Next week’s QoTW will refer to this reading experience…) 😉 Plus I have a newfound hatred for Colin’s father. You wife, mother to your disabled child, dies and your answer is to simply take off and travel…but then cry as you bemoan the fact you just can’t be a good father to your son. Yeah…right… He’s an asshole, IMO!
POPSUGAR: #18-Limitless hope and continued progress toward rehabilitation, #19, #21-Classic, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Juvenile, Young Adult, #22, #27, #29-England and Australia, #30-England, Australia, #37, #43, #47-Gardens and those who accept and help others help themselves,
ATY: #3-Raindrops on roses, #8-England, Australia, #9-Spring/Summer, #19-Having Mary in the present guarantees Colin a better future!, #23- Classic, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Juvenile, Young Adult, #29, #31, #40, #49, #52-In the end, Mary’s arrival was a blessing!
Reading Women: NEW #7, #18
CONTINUING:
Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Excellent writing! It really flows and I’m anxious to finally finish it!
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
PLANNED:
For May-the POPSUGAR Monthly Group Read:
Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin.
Huge thanks to Brandy for volunteering to lead this discussion!!👍😍 YAY!! (We evidently didn’t scare her off with the April group read discussion! That’s a good thing! LOL)
And that is the only group or buddy read to which I have committed for May! That means I will finally have time to devote to those lingering books listed below!! Better late than never!!
Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Excellent writing! It really flows and I’m anxious to finally finish it!
And I still keep looking anxiously at The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman. My very special gift that makes me smile every time I see it or think about it! 😊 I’m thinking May is the month to dig in!
And onward…
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende to fulfill the 2020 Reading Women prompt #26 A book written by Isabel Allende.
Paradise by Toni Morrison to fulfill the 2020 Reading Women prompt #25 A book written by Toni Morrison.
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. Excellent so far! I love Reynolds' humor!
Learning Race, Learning Place: Shaping Racial Identities and Ideas in African American Childhoods by Erin N. Winkler
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
Belated Cinco de Mayo! Usually I get a bird's eye view (from my 4th floor apartment window) of NYC's Cinco de Mayo parade as it starts on my street. Ever since I moved in here, I've been awakened on by parade cacophony on May 5th, rain or shine. Last year it was cancelled -- and again this year. Aggravating as the noise is (it's BAD) each year, I actually miss it this year. I actually did not even notice last year. I'm at 29/50 for PS.
Finished:
Before She Was Helen - an Edgar nominee this year. Set in a retirement home where a murder has just occured, the main character has been living under an assumed identify for years due to circumstances when she was young, and is terrified of the consequences should her real identity be disclosed. The secondary plot involving th emystery and events in her past are far better written and compelling than the contemporary murder in the retirement community. I had finished reading the book before I realized that duh! It has something broken on the cover -
! That prompt now handled. Bring on the Dusk - a re-read for Arbor Day as there are two fabulous sections involving climbing the redwood titans, in addition to the romantic thriller black ops. The whole Night Stalker Series is great. This one I realized as I read fit the prompt for visiting multiple countries - Yemen, Somalia, Kenya, Azerbaijan, US, Turkey, and Scotland. Maybe one more I am forgetting....
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line - 5 star read. This year's best novel Edgar - set in a major Indian City slums, children keep disappearing, including classmates, and Jai and his friends investigate using what Jai has learned from watching detective tv shows. The mystery you know where it is going practically before you start reading, as this is a mystery thinly disguising social commentary about the poor and most vulnerable and the government and adult indifference to their condition. Author captures the voice and viewpoint of a child to the last word. I didn't have a prompt for this but it would certainly fit book about a social justice issue.
Currently reading:
Mexican Gothic
Ten Women
Six of Crows
Provençal Cooking: Savoring the Simple Life in France
Three Lives
QOTW: I do some re-reading, mostly of comfort reads, but sometimes because the next in series finally comes out and I feel need to re-read prior in series to ready for the next -- I am looking at you Game of Thrones! You too, Patrick Rothfuss! Otherwise:
Have you re-read a book you previously loved and found you hated it? Initially, nothing leaps to mind. Then two: Sense and Sensibility - a recent re-read led me not to hate it but to downgrade my liking quite a bit in the Jane Austen Canon. Also, I re-read Green Mansions a couple of years ago, which I remember loving as a teen, and absolutey hating it.
have you re-read a book you previously loved and found it stood up to the test of time and you still love it?
Absolutely! Recently it was Rebecca. This week it was a romantic thriller that I never expected to reread, Bring on the Dusk and it led me to find that there is one more in the series I did not read, plus realize how much I like this author. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter series, and Game of Thrones all stand up and even improve upon re-read. Most other revisiting favorite books are mysterys, romances, Christmas themed and the occasional classic that I loved and still always love. Nancy Drew still holds up, plus all sorts of mysteries and such - Agatha Christie, Helen MacInnes, Mary Steward, etc. all stand up. My favorite Georgette Heyer - Frederica and Venetia - never disappoint. Nor does Jane Austen. Charles Dickens. The list goes on and on.
Have you re-read a book you once disliked to find that you still dislike it? Not that I can think of. I really don't re-read books I disliked, or at least not often. When I do, it is usually a book I think I read at too young an age to appreciate or sometimes even understand. When I do read them, I have such a greater appreciation and understanding that it goes into the appreciated and like list.
Mod
I don't have time right now to reply to others but when I saw this statement, I just had to reply...PLEASE...you do not have to still be working toward finishing this year's challenge to post here! Posting here is for all members! Period! 😁
"This week, I finished:
Jane Anonymous: I'm glad I stuck this one, because the character development was really incredible without being exploitative."
Oooohhhh...good character development! YES!
"Currently reading:
The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life: WHY IS KEN JENNINGS NARRATING THIS?!?!?!"
I can only assume because of his record setting performances on Jeopardy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Jen...
"The Cabin: One of my probation kids recommended I try Natasha Preston, and so far this is just okay for me. Has anyone read her? Did I choose the wrong one?"
I have not. But that one sounds a bit too creepy for me...
"QOTW:
I reread all the time. The only one that I remember taking the time to reread that I already hated was The Great Gatsby. I reread the Alex Cross series as well and didn't find it to be as good in context of the whole series. Mostly I reread books for a reason and that is because I love them and I usually continue to love them."
I am preparing to start the Alex Cross series in June for a buddy read!
First vaccine shot done, and spring is tentatively heading our way in Zurich. It seems to happen one day then disappear the next.Read:
Clothing Poverty: The Hidden World of Fast Fashion and Second-hand Clothes for prompt #34 - social justice issue. It shed light on the fast fashion industry and the issue with second hand clothes in LEDCs. Thoughtful and interesting.
The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant for prompt #36 - a book with less than 1000 reviews. It had a gorgeous cover and a promising storyline, but I found it not so well written. Every event was over-predicted with foreshadowing that was obvious. Too much description and really flat characters.
Homegoing for prompt #20 - a book on a BLM reading list. AMAZING book. The dual family tree, drawing on a history of experiences, culminating in the final chapter, was beautifully done. Highly recommend.
Reading
The Exiles for prompt #27 - a book about do-overs or fresh-starts. Interesting historical fiction about female convicts sent to Australia and the treatment of Aboriginal people. I already have had 'what the heck' moments reading it. Twists I didn't see coming!
The World That We Knew for prompt #4 - Alice Hoffman is a Pisces, my star sign.
QotW
Still loved: Any Jane Austen or Bronte book. This year, I'll be rereading Frankenstein and Rebecca, so I'll see what category those fall under.
I don't tend to reread or retry books I didn't care for. Too many books out there to do that. I suspect that if I picked up a lot of the books from high school or college, I'm not sure I'd like them any more now than I did before.
Hi, internet book friends! Work is crazy at the moment, so I gotta be quick. Hopefully over the weekend I'll have time to read all your comments like I usually do. I don't always respond, but I like seeing what you all have to say.Okay! Finished this week:
Spring Flowers, Spring Frost (Albania): super postmodern, not much of a plot, still loved it! If you want to get a directionless sense of post-Eastern-bloc Albanian thought processes, go for this. If this all sounds awful, stay away.
Love From A to Z (Qatar): Such a sweet, kind romance that let its teen characters learn, grow, and make mistakes that didn't just feel like plot devices.
Fugitive Telemetry: It's not like I put on my critical pants to listen to Murderbot, but still, LOVED it! Looking forward to reading all the Martha Wells as she publishes more.
Currently reading:
The Essex Serpent: I fully bought this for the cover, but I'm enthralled. I wish I didn't have to work so much so I could sit down and finish it.
Celestial Bodies (Oman): Another very experimental International Booker Prize novel; I'm loving these right now. So many characters, so much stream of consciousness!
QOTW: I don't reread much, so the only one that springs to mind is when I tried to continue reading the Outlander series. I really enjoyed the first book, enjoyed the first season of the TV show, and then tried to read the second book. I gave it 100 pages and then was like I literally don't care if they live or die. I was so disappointed. Maybe it was just my mood? I don't know.
I finished the challenge this week - yay! I did books by BIPOC authors only this year and loved it. I plan to continue that for future years' challenges. I think I had more 4 and 5-star reads than previous years. I'm also enjoying going big on AAPI month reads right now. This week I finished:
On Beauty This was sometimes hard to follow on audio (my brain doesn't love British accent narrators, unfortunately), but it was pretty unique with the types of characters in the story and how it all played out. 3.5 stars
This Time Will Be Different This was a great YA. I can't help but cringe with pretty much all romance in books, but other than that it was a strong story. 4.5 stars
The Secret Talker This had a strong premise, but ended up being a little confusing. 3 stars
The Vietri Project I enjoyed this; pretty unique idea. 4 stars
Broken I didn't laugh quite as much as I did with her other books, but it was still enjoyable. 4 stars
I'm currently listening to Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter's Story and reading The Joy Luck Club in print.
QOTW: I don't reread too many books, but I'm in the middle of The Joy Luck Club right now, after having first read it many years ago and I'm enjoying it just as much as the first time. I also loved Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood a few weeks ago, just as much as I did four years ago.
I didn't love To Kill a Mockingbird as much a few years ago, after first having read it decades before. And A Wrinkle in Time wasn't quite as strong for me as an adult either.
Lynn wrote: "I can only assume because of his record setting performances on Jeopardy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Jen...I guess I was hoping that Alex was going to read it himself. He narrated the intro, but maybe he wasn't well enough to read the whole book? I was very excited to listen to his story in his voice, and frankly, I don't like Ken Jenning's voice.
I am preparing to start the Alex Cross series in June for a buddy read!
There are so many of them! That's a time commitment! I really loved the series at the beginning. Of course it is a bit dated to read the early books now, without cell phones and all that, but that doesn't bother me. More recently, like a lot of JP's books, they are starting to feel forced and formulaic, rather than about character development and genuine surprises. I look forward to seeing what you think.
I haven't been able to check in for a few weeks so this one includes the 3.5 books I read for Dewey's Readathon. It was my first time participating and I read for 15 hours- not too bad at all!Completed:
The Reading Circle- As Maura Beth Mayhew continues to grow the Cherico library patronage, Councilman Sparks remains equally determined to see it go, and replace it with an industrial park. The Cherry Cola Book Club held at the library remains an integral part of Maura Beth’s programming there and with more members comes more needs and opinions to balance. This second book of the series sees lots of character development which was likely done to prepare a pathway forward for more sequels. I only wish the author had not reduced the amount of time actually spent discussing the book choices to do so. I wanted more in this area as it contributed to my enjoyment of the first book and will likely not continue forward with this series for this reason.
Prompt: Book about a subject you are passionate about (Popsugar)
Number the Stars- This was such a compelling and memorable novel, even reading it for the first time as an adult! Through the eyes of 10-year-old Annemarie we experience the Danish Resistance working to combat Hitler’s plans to relocate all the Jews of Denmark by aiding them to escape to Sweden. I had read little about this piece of WWII and this was an excellent start. As I continue to read through the Newberry Medal Winners this one will always have a special place.
Prompt: Bestseller from the year you were born (Bookbeau Spring 2021)
Prompt: Bestseller from the 1990s (Popsugar)
Ella Minnow Pea- Told in an Epistolary format, this novel focuses on the lives of the citizens of the fictional island of Nollop. The island has been so named to honor Nevin Nollop, their founder, and inventor of the pangram “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” One day, a tile with the letter z falls from the statue honoring Mr. Nollop and island leadership decides it is a message from Nollop himself urging the letter to be banned from use. As the tiles continue to fall, its citizens have to get creative in their communication. When a group of citizens put forth to leadership finding another phrase containing all the letters of the alphabet and their proposal is accepted they hurry forward before all the letters disappear. Highly original, with humor and the distress of the citizens perfectly blended this novel was a treat for this logophile.
Prompt: Set in a made-up place (ATY)
The Housekeeper and the Professor- Days after finishing this gem of a novel I continue to be astounded at the beautiful and touching story Ogawa weaves in 180 pages using characters who are nameless. The Housekeeper is sent by her agency in response to a request from a family member of the Math Professor who needs the care because he was in an auto accident which left him with no long-term memories past 1975 and only 80 minutes of short-term memory. The Housekeeper soon learns the Professor loves baseball and makes connections to his everyday experiences using math, while the Professor learns her 10-year-old son is home alone after school, and insists the boy, who he nicknames Root, come to his house after school. The Professor introduces them to the wonders of math and how it can be used to make sense of the world around them. Each one of their lives is enriched by the connection they develop with each other and the world around them as the simple becomes beautiful with a shift in perspective.
Prompt: A book about forgetting (Popsugar)
The Egypt Game- When imaginative and intelligent April is sent to live with her grandma she is resentful at having to start somewhere new. She is worried she will not find any new friends who understand her need to create stories. All of this changes when she meets her upstairs neighbors and they begin acting out stories with characters cut out of magazines. While exploring the neighborhood, April and friends discover an abandoned backyard behind an antiques shop containing a replica of the statue of Nefertiti which inspires them to begin playacting as Egyptians. They soon begin to bring in other objects they find, and as the Egypt Game develops into creating ceremonies and their own secret alphabet more neighborhood kids join. When they start to ask questions of the Oracle of Thoth strange things begin to happen and they question if they should continue playing or not. Really enjoyed reading this book about kids using their imaginations and got brought back to my own childhood.
Prompt: To celebrate the Grand Egyptian Museum (ATY)
Currently Reading:
Cold Sassy Tree
Mansfield Park
The Great Alone
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
Thrush Green
Exile Music
The Vanishing Half
QOTW:
I rarely reread books and the only ones I have done so are Pride and Prejudice and The Secret Garden. The characters Austen creates in P & P are just so wonderfully flawed that I never tire of reading about them and The Secret Garden is my all-time favorite book!
This week my brain said "RETELLINGS".Not much happening IRL but good news on the owl stream I've been watching - Gylfie the mother owl finally laid her first egg of 2021! We've been expecting her to lay since March, so everyone is partying! She took a new mate last winter, this is his first time as a dad and so far he's doing great - his job is to supply food to the female as she incubates.
The same stream also features a kestrel pair, they currently have a clutch of 6 eggs due to hatch next week. All very exciting! 🐣
Completed 3 books this week:
Ariadne - I liked this, but it really felt like it was trying to be Circe. In part I suppose that was unavoidable due to similarities in setting and how connected the original myths already are (Ariadne is Circe's niece, I believe), but it did very slightly detract from my enjoyment of the book.
All the Murmuring Bones - Really enjoyed this. Not exactly what I was expecting, somehow I'd got it into my head that there were more selkies and mer-creatures taking an active role in the plot, when they're mostly backstory and a vague threatening presence up till the very end. The main plot has more of a gothic novel vibe, girl running away from an unwanted marriage, old family secrets, slightly spooky manor houses, that sort of thing, with dark fairytales interspersed. Shame most of Angela Slatter's story collections seem to be out of print, or otherwise impossible to obtain in the UK, as 2 of them take place in the same universe as Murmuring Bones and I definitely want more of that world.
Foxfire, Wolfskin and other stories of shapeshifting women - My favourite part of this was the range of retellings! I actually didn't realize it was all retellings at first, thought it was original stories with a shared theme. Most are Celtic myths, Scottish, Irish and Welsh, but also included are French tales, Scandinavian, Russian, and a twist on Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen.
I'd say my fave individual story was likely "Flowerface" - which admittedly may be predictable for me, because owl.
I really must pick up the Mabinogion - I've read The Mabinogion Tetralogy but that is itself a retelling.
I think I'll start The Unbroken next - I bought it on the spur of the moment the other night, during a livestream with a favourite Booktuber. I shouldn't have placed the order really, I tried to get someone to talk me out of it - the response, predictably, was along the lines of "you're asking a Booktuber to talk you out of impulse book purchases, boy are you in the wrong place!" 😅
QOTW: Most of my rereads are either "liked it then, like it now" (isn't that, after all, the point of rereads?) or "didn't love it the first time, gave it another chance, changed my mind".
In terms of "loved it originally, then disliked", all I can think of are The Chronicles of Narnia and His Dark Materials. Both for the same reason - whatever the authors' personal religious views, a book series directed at young children is an inappropriate soapbox from which to express them.
Alex Richmond wrote "One day I will make a t-shirt that says "SUSAN PEVENSIE DESERVED BETTER""And I will buy one from you!
While I've only finished one book as of me typing up this check-in, I'm finishing one more tonight so I'm counting both as "complete." :) One worked for one of my open prompts; one didn't (at least, not that I could figure out). So, I'll be at 14/40 and 2/10 for this challenge and 29/100 for my overall Goodreads Reading Challenge later this evening.The hackers continue to annoy me. I'm sure they're more annoying to the people whose profiles have been compromised, but still....annoyed! Grrr!! Another random "like" on a status update (same book as the last two "liker-s" liked), despite the changes I made to my profile settings (again). I ended up deleting the book from my "To Read" shelf since I was on the fence about it anyway. I'm going to try submitting a complaint to GR to see if that helps.
Finished:
* Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain (no prompt).
To-Be-Finished-Tonight:
* Becoming Duchess Goldblatt: A Memoir by Duchess Goldblatt (aka Anonymous), which I'm using for "a book that was published anonymously." I have to say, I'm impressed as to how the author who created Her Grace has been able to maintain anonymity all this time.
Currently Reading:
* Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and Their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight by Amy Shira Teitel, which is one of my book club's picks for May. I haven't gotten too far but am enjoying it quite a bit.
QotW:
Have you re-read a book you previously loved and found you hated it? Conversely, have you re-read a book you previously loved and found it stood up to the test of time and you still love it? Have you re-read a book you once disliked to find that you still dislike it? I am not normally a re-reader, but having done several reading challenges over the past several years, several have had a re-read prompt of some sort. I was fortunate that none of the books I previously loved ended up being books I now hated, so I must've chosen wisely with my re-read picks! :)
The book that springs to mind as a book I loved and STILL loved was one from my childhood -- Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary. I loved it so much that it made me want to re-read all of the Ramona books! I was so happy that it held up to me as an adult reader and that my inner 8-year-old was able to re-live so many happy childhood reading memories :)
I have to admit that I disliked an American classic when I first read it and my re-read of it (for one of my book clubs) did not change my opinion. I feel blasphemous admitting this, but it's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. I really thought I'd enjoy it more as an adult than I had as a middle schooler, but nope. I remember liking The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn better at that age. While I'm curious to see if I'd still feel the same, I don't plan to seek it out any time soon.
Jennifer W wrote: "Alex Richmond wrote "One day I will make a t-shirt that says "SUSAN PEVENSIE DESERVED BETTER""And I will buy one from you!"
TEAM SUSAN 4 LYFE!
I did things and saw people! It's starting to feel a bit like a real life again. I ate indoors at a restaurant and went to a bridal shower. The world is noisy, but it was fun to be out there. I'm still being careful and going slowly, but it is nice to have things written in my planner again, other than doctor appointments.Finished:
Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier - 4 stars; PS #6 (gem in title)
A German fantasy series that is pretty fun, but I wasn't happy that the book didn't even pretend to wrap anything up. I wasn't planning to read further in the series but apparently I'll have to now.
20 Minutes By The Thames
20 Minutes At Halloween
20 Minutes Around The Bonfire
20 Minutes Before Christmas
20 Minutes Of Valentine's Day all by Daniel Hurst - 4 stars; not for challenge
I was somewhere without a book and started reading the first one on my phone. I had started this series last year and enjoyed it immensely. Before I knew it, I had stayed up reading late for three nights in a row. He puts out new books faster than should be humanly possible, not only just this series. At least 20 since the beginning of 2020.
Currently reading
20 Minutes To Change A Life by Daniel Hurst
20 Minutes In Las Vegas by Daniel Hurst
Network Effect by Martha Wells
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
100 Things Jazz Fans Should Know/Do Before They Die by Jody Genessy
Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century by Alice Wong
Goodreads: 38/100
Popsugar: 29/55
QOTW:
This question sent me down a rabbit hole and made me review the past 20 years of reading to find re-reads. And now I have a new shelf so I don't ever have to do that again. I found only 29 books that I had read before, so obviously I don't do a lot of re-reading.
Books I loved and still love:
Johnny Tremain
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
The Diary of a Young Girl
The Secret Garden
The Outsiders
Fahrenheit 451
Rebecca
And Then There Were None
A Christmas Carol
David Copperfield
J.R.R. Tolkien 4-Book Boxed Set: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter Series Box Set
Books I used to love but not as much now:
Gone with the Wind
That Was Then, This Is Now
Sense and Sensibility
Books I used to love but really dislike now:
The Giving Tree
Books I disliked then and still do:
The Great Gatsby
Can't wait to read everyone else's (I post before I read)
Hi all! Posting from a hospital bed... I'm having complications from my kidney transplant, so in and out I go. Hoping to maybe go home tomorrow, but we'll see. But while I was home last week, I got a new phone so I can be more connected, so that's nice. So of course I haven't read anything this week, but I did get the Sora app on my phone and am getting free audiobook downloads from audio sync, so maybe I'll get to listening while I lay here. I also brought my copy of The Godfather and might start that.
QOTW: So my brain actually read a question that wasn't there first. I immediately thought of Fried Green Tomatoes, but that was a book I tried to read in college (for fun) and didn't like it, but years later I gave it another shot and loved it.
As for books I reread and still love, most of my childhood faves stand up for me, Wrinkle in Time, Bridge to Terabithia, To Kill a Mockingbird etc.
Last year I started to reread The Gargoyle. I originally read it over 10 years ago and it became an instant favorite. But I didn't get far on the reread because I actually remembered pretty much everything! I can't remember half a book I read a few months ago, but that 1 really stayed with me! And I didn't feel the need to keep reading!
Mary wrote: "The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life: WHY IS KEN JENNINGS NARRATING THIS?!?!?!"Alex was too sick to do it himself and asked Ken to narrate it. I haven't yet listened to it, but I wonder if it might have been better to have a voice that was not so well known to Jeopardy fans. It seems like it would be a bit confusing.
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Night Flight (other topics)Vol de nuit (other topics)
The Children's Bells: A Selection of Poems (other topics)
Tell Me Everything (other topics)
The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (other topics)Fatima Farheen Mirza (other topics)
Erica Bauermeister (other topics)
Susan Cain (other topics)
Jody Genessy (other topics)
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It's been rainy and cool and it feels a lot like March around here in northern NY. My maple tree does finally have tiny chartreuse leaves popping out, so we finished my daughter's Earth Science photo book. It is a thing of beauty!
Admin stuff
New month means new group read - head on over to the Monthly Reads folder to talk about Ayesha at Last.
If anyone would like to lead a future group read, let me or Lynn know. These books are future group reads:
July: The Guest List
August: Catherine House
September: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
This week I dnf'ed two books, finished 5 books (and I LOVED three of them, so that's a great reading week for me!), 3 for this Challenge, so I am now 26/50.
Notes on the Assemblage by Juan Felipe Herrera- another book of poetry that I did not "click" with! I've been slowly reading my way through past Poet Laureates, generally with good success, but this time it was a miss for me. (the poetry book I'm currently reading is not doing it for me, either - 2021 has not been a good poetry year for me!)
Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert - this contemporary romance was a delight! It hits lots of tropes: forced to live together (sort of), enemies to lovers, slow burn (although it is far from "clean" - there are definite "naughty bits" in here!), with a hero and heroine who are both on the Autism spectrum. The heroine is also quite "curvy" and while there was no actual mention of body positivity, and this wasn't what I had planned for "body positivity," I checked off "discusses body positivity" with this book. Because isn't the ultimate goal of body positivity to allow all bodies to exist without caveats or discussion? I also really loved that the cover art showed a fat woman. I feel seen, in a good way.
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells - loved it!!
The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong- this blew me away. I listened to the audiobook, read by one of my favorites, Johnathan MacLain. When I first started, I wasn't very impressed. I didn't really like Yu-Jin, I wasn't blown away by the writing, the actions seemed obvious, and I wasn't sure why they had American MacLain reading a Korean book. But it grew on me, and by the end, I was completely wrapped up, and I LOVED this book. And I feel very icky about loving it, because this is a sick and twisted story. Yu-Jin joins the other great literary sociopaths like Humbert Humbert, Charles Anthony Bruno, Thomas Ripley, and Joe Goldberg (I don't include Patrick Bateman since I hated that book).
Archangel by Sharon Shinn- I really hated this book. Blech. I guess I'm glad I read it, because it's been lingering on my TBR for a really long time,and ... now it's not. I read this for "book on your TBR with the ugliest cover." Now that I've finished it, the cover doesn't even make sense. Why is she holding a feather and a giant, glowing pearl? I guess the pearl is meant to be the "Kiss" which is some sort of gemstone embedded in their arms (which begs the question: why is she holding it???) and the feather represents angel wings (at no point in the book does she hold a feather). What is the lit-up slingshot in the background?
And I DNF'ed two books. There was nothing really WRONG with either book, they just didn't hold my attention:
The Forest of Stolen Girls (but what a gorgeous cover!!) by June Hur
Please Look After Mom by Shin Kyung-sook
Question of the Week
Have you re-read a book you previously loved and found you hated it? Conversely, have you re-read a book you previously loved and found it stood up to the test of time and you still love it? Have you re-read a book you once disliked to find that you still dislike it?
Yes! I don't re-read many books, but I've still managed to discover I hated a previous favorite, and that some old favorites stand up to the test of time. It's been enjoyable, and I think I will start re-reading more books.
hated an old favorite
I got this idea into my head a few years ago to re-read all of Asimov's Robot, Empire, and Foundation books, in order of the books' chronology. Awesome idea, right?! This idea completely stalled for me because by the time I got to The The Robots of Dawn (book#3 in the full series), I realized that Asimov was actually a sexist creep obsessed with boobs, and I didn't want to spend any more time with him. Prior to this sad realization, I had held him up as a favorite author from my youth. I'm now reluctant to continue reading his books for fear of tarnishing my memory of the fantastic Foundation series.
still hate
I had to read A Tale of Two Cities in high school, and I hated it. I gave it another try a few years ago, read the entire book, and ... nope. I still don't like Dickens.
still love
The Great Gatsby wasn't exactly an all-time favorite of mine, but I read it for high school and I remembered enjoying it, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I STILL really enjoyed it when I re-read it a few months ago!
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a book I remember enjoying in college, and I re-read it last year (listened to the fabulous audiobook) and it was still fantastic.
1984 - I first read this back when "1984" was still a future date, and I re-read it a few years ago. I was shocked at how well this held up! I was also startled by how gorgeous the writing is, I had not remembered that.
The Mark of the Horse Lord - a childhood favorite that I still loved when I re-read it a few years ago; only difference is that adult-me realized that this is historical fiction. Child-me, who didn't know much history yet, but had read a bunch of fantasy, assumed this was fantasy.
Nine Princes in Amber - I bought the giant omnibus a few years back, intending to re-read the entire series. I haven't gotten very far, but I have read the first two books, and enjoyed them just as much as I remembered! They feel dated, now, but that did not lessen my enjoyment.
It's so deeply satisfying to discover that an old favorite really is a great book, and I'm now inspired to start trying to re-read other old favorites, like Wuthering Heights, To the Lighthouse, and Wide Sargasso Sea. (I'm not sure if I'll bother with Jane Eyre, that was never a favorite, but I feel like I should read it before Sargasso Sea to get the full effect). I'm toying with the idea of reading/re-reading ALL of Virginia Woolf's books (there are several I've never read). (I'm also toying with the idea of re-reading Gene Wolfe's New Sun / Long Sun series - it could be like the Year of the Wolf for me. I don't think he was a sexist creep like Asimov, so I should be okay there.)