Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2022 Weekly Check-Ins
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Week 2: 1/6 - 1/13
On today's episode of Retail in the Time of Covid... my boss tested positive. The other assistant was on duty when it all hit the fan, but being the wonderful co-worker that they are, left most of the crap for me. Of course this happened days after the company revised their procedures, which I am not happy about. Bonus is since I had to work one of my days off I now get to take it Saturday, which means I start my vacation time a day early! 5/50 (6 when I finish my current book soon)
Finished:
Bluecrowne - This would have been more fun if it hadn't been so long since I read Greenglass House. Has a bit of Chinese.
The Ladies of the Secret Circus - This was OK, but probably suffered from my stressful work situation.
Picture Books
Itzhak: A Boy Who Loved the Violin - In which I learned Itzhak Perlman has synesthesia. Protagonist uses a mobility aid.
My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World - A reluctant reader needs to bring his favorite book to school. Written by a NFL player.
Currently Reading:
Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century - Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner
Bibliophile: Diverse Spines
On Deck:
New books! Vacation is coming, and I have some fun new books to read! Sneak Peek:
Heartstopper: Volume Four - It just came out here! Ugh! Becoming a show this year!
Stuntboy, in the Meantime by Jason Reynolds - I have both the book and the audio. I'm not sure how to describe it... It looks like an illustrated chapter book and a full color graphic novel had a baby. I can't wait!
Discovering Architecture: How the World's Great Buildings Were Designed and Built - I like buildings. *shrug*
QOTW;
I'm falling asleep so I'll have to think about this later
Mod
Glad you survived that! 😊
"I am 10/50."
Great!
"I finished:
Death on the Nile: A book set on a plane, train, or cruise ship: I love Agatha Christie, especially the audiobook versions, because it helps me to just enjoy the story rather than thinking about it too hard. I found this one really enjoyable, especially this idea that every character is suspicious, because everyone is hiding something, but not necessarily murder. This is the first Agatha Christie that I've read that I pretty much figured out early on, so I took one star off for that, but still a great story. Highly recommend the audiobooks."
Good to know!
"Seven Dirty Secrets: A book about a secret: This book was entertaining and I finished it quickly, but it was a pretty repetitive and all over the place."
Sounds like on I could skip!
"The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A sapphic book: WOAH! I don't really have words. This book came with realizations to me. I don't think I rate books fairly sometimes, because when a book is as spectacular and special as this one, I want so much from it. I want it to be perfect and that's just not fair. There were things about this book that I did not like, but it is so much better than anything I normally read that it would be ridiculous not to give it 5 stars. I cried. I laughed. I thought a lot. I listened to the whole thing on a lazy Sunday. The audiobook is stellar and I find myself very glad that this was my first Taylor Jenkins Reid book, so I quite possibly have a lot more good books ahead of me. Also, one of the best last lines of a book ever."
Oohhh...now I need to go home and reread that last line! This was my first Reid book. Then I read Daisy Jones & The Six and recently Malibu Rising and I have loved all 3 of them! I want to read her backlist now!
"Currently reading:
The Bone Collector: A book with a protagonist who uses a mobility aid: I love this movie, and I'm not normally one to read a book AFTER I've seen the movie, but this is great so far, except that as soon as I started to read it, I felt compelled to watch the movie again (which I did)."
I always assumed this series would be a bit too gory for me...especially considering scenes from the movie.
"DNF:
This is my first time keeping track of DNF books, but I think it is going to be helpful long term. This week two books I had planned for the challenge didn't work out for me, so I'm hunting for new ones."
Sorry those didn't work out! I find it helpful because typically once I DNF an author's book I can be relatively assured I wouldn't appreciate any other books they write either... (Looking at you, Gabriel García Márquez!)
"QOTW:
I'm sure there are, but I can only think of times when a sequel was necessary but poorly executed, like the Divergent series."
Have never tried reading that one!
Mod
Isn't that fun when you know you will super-enjoy a book...again...and again...etc!
"QOTW: What a timely question. I hate hate hate Streets of Laredo, the sequel to Lonesome Dove."
LOL That's a whole lot of hate(s)!! 😄
"And I don't think Kingdom Come: The Final Victory the last book in the Left Behind series was at all necessary, and it kind of sucked."
I remember you didn't enjoy that one!
A lot of my holds came in to the library this week, so I had to rearrange my reading schedule. This is an ongoing problem when I put all the books on hold so they can get delivered to my small, rural library from around the state, expecting they'll take some time. Then they all turn up and I have to get through them before they're due again. PopSugar 2/50
Finished:
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. This was a #BookTok recommendation and I really enjoyed it. I didn't know much about either the Iranian Revolution of the Iran-Iraq War, and this book gave an interesting perspective on both, as it's looked at through a child's eyes. It's based on the author's on experiences, both in Iran as a child and in France as a teen.
Did Not Finish
What a Time to Be Alone: The Slumflower's Guide to Why You Are Already Enough. I put this on hold for one of last year's prompts and it only turned up this week. I was going to use it for my favorite past prompt, but I gave up a third of the way through. It's a self-help book that might feel useful to people 25 years younger than me, but all the advice felt like I'd read it at least 50 times before and was very Insta-ready/surface advice.
Currently Reading
I've had to put up Dreadnougth for now and turn to library books. I'm reading Doomsday Book for the Hugo Award Winner prompt. I'm loving it. It centers around two pandemics - the Black Death in 1348 and an emerging new virus in Oxford 2054 - which makes it especially interesting to read two years into COVID. I'll be moving on to the sequel after I finish, which is set in Victorian times.
QOTW
I haven't read The Testaments even though I own it, partially because I feel like The Handmaid's Tale finished at the perfect point. I may read it this year and change my mind completely, but I feel like there was no need for a sequel.
Another one is The Uglies Trilogy. I loved the originally trilogy, but Westerfeld added a fourth book, Extras, that just didn't fit the original universe at all. It felt shoehorned in to the original series just to take advantage of the original books' popularity.
Happy Thursday! It is finally winter. Snow last weekend, snow coming this weekend. I'm loving it! Bring on the cold!Currently Reading
The Eye of the World for "book set in your favourite season [winter]". I'm about halfway. WOW do you get so much out of it when you reread. A ton of foreshadowing and references to things that happen way later in the series. I'm also appreciating how many details the show included based off the book (and appreciating more some of the changes the show made because some of this book really drags).
QotW
There are only 7 Harry Potter books. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two is dreadful, and I don't consider it canon. I'm also not interested in reading Ready Player Two. The first book was totally fine on its own. I don't see how you could improve on that! Also, the book after Ender's Game was sooo different from the first book, I was turned off from reading the rest of the series.
Hello everyone!I am cold and I am exhausted, so I'll try to catch up on the previous messages tomorrow (though the Game Weekender of my thon is happening so I might be reading instead - fingers crossed!) but at least I'll check in before passing out!
The reason I'm exhausted this early (for me; I've been exhausted since 9pm, normally I'm awake until like 4-5am no problem) is because I had a call at 9am (you see this is a problem when going to bed at 4-5am is My Thing) and didn't sleep too well AND woke up an hour and a half before my alarm, and of course dozed off right before my alarm actually went off. Now, this call is for the organization that pays for my help to check if I am content with the help I get, and what they do, so I was only needed for about 5 minutes (I just pulled on a hoodie over my PJs and called it Good Enough, it was a video call after all). Of course I hadn't finished my chocomel in those five minutes so I stayed downstairs to finish it before going back to bed, because my help was coming over that afternoon.
And then I got to talking to my dad when he was done with his part of the call (another 5 minutes ha). And I got sucked into the rabbit hole of hidden/secret things at Disney.
So I didn't actually go back to bed until I had less than 2 hours left before my alarm went off again. And of course I barely slept again. And then I was super cozy and warm and didn't want to leave my bed.
Luckily the appointment with my help was great, as we planned our upcoming Disney trip (with my sister and her help too). We decided on a hotel and booked it, made a reservation for a restaurant via the app for one night, and called for another restaurant for the second night. We also changed my bed and fed the bunnies.
By this point it's dinner time, but mom clocked into the fact that we might want to reserve dinner for our upcoming trip as well, given it's a passholder event (and wow what a shitshow that was yesterday, I'm glad I got our tickets before it all went to hell!) and lots of people will be having dinner beforehand. So I got tasked by figuring out what the buffet restaurant in our hotel is like (because god forbid she'd actually ever check things herself. don't get me wrong, I love this stuff, but at least dad offers to join in looking or to help in general. Even my help this afternoon was looking at hotels and restaurants herself. Come on, mom, please get better at this because I can't do this Every. Single. Time. once you've got your own year pass. (who am I kidding, I can and I will)). Anyways, the restaurant got the approval and we booked it. Super excited about it all! Across both trips we'll have three dinners, and two of them are at new places so fingers crossed!
During dinner I got the confirmation that Pam & Tommy will air on Disney+ here, so I am very happy I'll have easy access to it! Sebastian Stan looks amazing, and honestly, both him and Lily James are near unrecognizable as Pamela and Tommy, amazing!
By this point I'm ready to drop, BUT, my Game Weekender is starting tomorrow (because I am including All The Timezones) and I had my rainbow sprints schedule left to do.
It was hard enough spreading out the colors when it was just two days/cycles, but with 3??? I managed, even though I'm still not happy some colors are repeated in the same order at a different time on a different day. But I have to let it go before I'm stuck on this until 3am and crying kjsdhfl. I have to be awake at 11am already to kick off both the first sprint and the first word for the Word Search so I really need to not be awake at 5am xD And then sometime during the day I also need to copy over pages so I can give an update on the Seasonal Earth Edition of this month. Rip me.
ANYWAYS.
READING.
Read
(can you believe this header????? I sure can't!!!!)
Escape From Aurora for Features Two Languages. It works for several prompts of course, but I love the fact that Song Weavers can Sing and that anyone who is not a Song Weaver can't understand it. Close enough for me, and a creative interpretation of the prompt which I like. Read over half this book in one go before bed and was buzzing at the cliffhanger so...
Rise of The World Eater for About 'Found Family'. Is this a prompt I'll be able to fill easily? Yes. Did I pick it anyway over other prompts because I was crying over said found family? Also yes. I read the first 80 pages in the afternoon the day after finishing book 2. And the other 422 in one go before bed. It wasn't planned but I was unable to stop and here we are. MAN WHAT A TRILOGY. Absolute love it, one of my favorites. I heard the audios are really good, too, but the art in the actual book is to die for!! I love the style so much. And the characters (save for the one I hated so much ohmygod it was great to feel so much again haha!). And the story.
Just. Frostheart, you guys. 100/10 recommend if middle grade is your thing.
I also read a 65k fanfic called The Lost Art of Correspondence that I am counting for Hugo Award Winner because AO3 won said Hugo Award so I say it counts :D (I'll probably read a longer fic at some point that I might add instead, but for now it's a prompt filled!)
I'm frankly not a fan of prompts that require me to look at lists. I'm lazy, let me live. I don't wanna do work to see if my book would fit, haha!
Progress
2/50 Popsugar
2/52 ATY
2 for Beat the Backlist
2 for Cleaning out TBR Closet
Currently Reading
Technically still the Spider-Man bound up, hope to finish that up over the weekend!
Next up
onder voorbehoud
When We Got Lost in Dreamland
Ross Welford wrote one of my alltime favorite books Time Travelling with a Hamster and I really enjoyed the other books of his that I read, and this is his latest one! (I should be reading the one before that, really, given I was so excited to buy it and then ... nothing, damn slump!) This will definitely work for book I know nothing about, because I basically see the author and go YES PLEASE.
QOTW
Ohgod what was it again- OHRIGHT the sequels. That weren't necessary. I am not sure I can come up with anything from the top off my head. I am however sure, that once I read through comments I'll go OH YES that one and that one and that one.
I can also go on a rant on TV shows that have gone on entirely too long. And movie series. But that's a completely different topic altogether and it's already 11pm and I don't think I can muster the energy xD
(Gods this turned out way too long I'm so sorry)
Mod
I'm sure there are, but I can only think of times when a sequel was necessary but poorly executed, like the Divergent series. ..."
YES! In my mind, that third book in the Divergent series does not exist.
Good evening! Still nothing to report from my daily life, it's all incredibly dull over here. Just books and owls.Thinking of taking up piano - my aunt just mentioned she's getting rid of the one that used to belong to my cousin, and I've offered to take it just because, y'know, it's been around since I was a baby and all, I felt bad for it. So now I gotta learn to play, to justify it taking up space.
Hoarding tendencies, what hoarding tendencies...
Books!
Completed this week:
Things Fall Apart - This is one of those classics I just don't think I quite understood, and perhaps need to reread in a couple of years. I enjoyed the vast majority of it, the descriptions of African life and traditions circa the 19th century were really interesting. But then the last couple of chapters feature a lot of upheaval in a very short span of pages and I finished the book with a feeling of "what just happened?!" ... Which, admittedly, given the plot, was probably intentional on the author's part.
Beneath the Sugar Sky
Come Tumbling Down
Where the Drowned Girls Go
Hate to say it, but I think I'm starting to fall out of love with the Wayward Children series a bit? It's not bad, not at all, but the present-day plotline (in the odd-numbered books) isn't leaving much of an impression on me any more.
The next one's an even-numbered book, thus it's going to be about one of the portal worlds - I always like those installments so I'll pick up that one, but after that... I'm not sure.
Currently reading Jade City for the third time, as I bought myself the Illumicrate editions of the whole trilogy for Christmas. But I've stalled halfway through and don't want to pick it up again, because there's a certain character death in the next chapter and I can't deal. 😭 As long as that bookmark stays precisely where it is, I can pretend like everything gets fixed and the whole cast skips merrily away into the sunset.
And now I can feel most of the Kaul family glaring at me for the insinuation that they'd "skip merrily" anywhere.
QotW: Errrm. Let me think.
My mind immediately goes to Philip Pullman, tbh, but I don't think that's necessarily fair... Northern Lights definitely did need a sequel, I'm just not keen on the subsequent books.
The recent spinoff books (La Belle Sauvage, The Secret Commonwealth) did not need to exist though. Think those were mostly milking the cash cow, especially seeing as they were released pretty close to the new TV series.
Cendaquenta wrote: "Hate to say it, but I think I'm starting to fall out of love with the Wayward Children series a bit? It's not bad, not at all, but the present-day plotline (in the odd-numbered books) isn't leaving much of an impression on me any more.."And for me, it's the opposite -> I love the present-day story and the portal set back stories leave me a little let down....
I managed to read two more books for the challenge so I'm off to a great start.I read The Counterfeit Clue by Lisa Karon Richardson for the prompt a book with the name of a board game in the title. It's a decent historical (late 50s early 60s) cozy
For the prompt Two books set in twin towns, aka "sister cities" (1) I decided to soft ball it in. London and NYC are sister cities and since SO MANY of my mysteries are set in either city this allowed me to clear my shelves without having to resort to library books for a more challenging set of sisters. This time I chose London Portrait of Peril by Laura Joh Rowland. I had gotten this one in a holiday sale without checking its series status. it's far along and spent more time with the protagonist's drama than the actual crime (this could also be used for a Victorian era novel)
QOTW Oh sure, plenty. I can't think of too many off the top of my head but many of them would be modern 'sequels' to classics like Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights was painful enough so why I ever bothered with a sequel is anyone's guess). I'm generally a series reader but you can almost always tell when a book was meant as a stand alone and then later something more is written
Happy Thursday. It's pretty looking outside, with large fluffy snow falling, but that just means I'm going to have to shovel tomorrow.😏 As long as he weather says warm (well, warm for winter) it's not bad. Besides, most things have been put on hold again with the surge in Omicron here. I do get my booster this week, so yay for that.Stats
PS: 2/50
ATY: 5/75
Books I finished:
Forbidden Wife: The Life and Trials of Lady Augusta Murray - ⭐⭐⭐ - I had a bunch of books picked out for prompts, but this was the one that caught my eye. I like a good nonfic pick about royalty, but this one spent too much time giving shopping lists, aka listing what Lady Augusta spent money on and how much, simply because those were the documents that had survived. I just don't care about things like that. I did end up using it for ATY : A book with a main character whose name starts with A, T, or Y.
Obit ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - So I have a bunch of library books sitting here, but I went onto Overdrive and borrowed his one and then read it instead. And this proves the point of why I do these challenges: I probably wouldn't have read this if it wasn't for the prompt. And I loved it! Well, I loved 3 quarters of it. The 3 sections of poems written like obits were fabulous, with imagery ha brought me o ears and was just so beautiful while dealing with very tough subject matter. The second section on the other hand was like those magnetic poetry sets where a bunch of words had been scattered and I jus didn't connect to hose poems at all! PS An Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner.
Mãn - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I read VI last year and I was underwhelmed so I wasn't sure if I was going to try this one, but then it worked so perfectly for the food themed book for ATY that I added it to my list. I'm so glad I did. I was short and just kind of beautiful. And I realized it worked for the 2 languages prompt and A book with cutlery on the cover. on PS so ha's where I ended up using it.
Born to Be Awkward: Celebrating Those Imperfect Moments of Babyhood & Awkward Family Holiday Photos ⭐⭐⭐ - These are funny, but mostly forgettable. I'd read a couple of them before when they first came out and probably would have left it at that, but my sister had these so I sped through them for fun.
Books I made progress on:
Here's to Us - I'm pushing myself because it's due soon, but I'm sill not really in the mood for it.
The Eye of the World - I'm enjoying he reread, but I'm going to have to pick up the pace if I want to get through all 15 books his year.
QOTW
If I think the first book works as a sand alone (or if I didn't like the book), I'm usually good skipping he sequels. But I have to agree about Dune & On a Pale Horse. I liked Bearing an Hourglass & With a Tangled Skein but books 4 & 5 were nowhere near as good, and I've yet to make it through the last 2 books, despite several attempts.
Carmen wrote: "I also read a 65k fanfic called The Lost Art of Correspondence that I am counting for Hugo Award Winner because AO3 won said Hugo Award so I say it counts :D ..."That is a FANTASTIC idea! It might finally be time for The North Remembers...
Mod
Oh, no! I sure hope you have a quick and complete recovery!
"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for a book set in the 80s. This was a book I added to my tbr ages ago and forgot why, but immediately realized it’s because it’s about Savannah. My favorite city, and where I ultimately was supposed to go to college. This was a fun book, court drama, mystery, magic, comedy, interesting characters. What more could you want?"
This is one I hope to FINALLY read this year!
"The Night Tiger for the tiger prompt. I’m glad I finally got to this book, I’ve had it since around the time it came out but never made time for it. This was a gripping story and I was desperate to figure out what was happening with all the fingers."
Runaway fingers? LOL
"Sing, Unburied, Sing for the anisfield-wolf book award prompt. This was not what I thought it was going to be, but I always appreciate an unanticipated twist on southern gothic writing. It was very well written, I’ll most definitely want to read more of her work."
Agreed!
"I’m still working my way through The Way We Live Now but I let my overdrive books pile up so I’m working through them before they run out of time."
That's a pretty long book!
Good morning my lovelies from hot Balranald, NSW, Australia. I think I'd rather be in snowy New York. Actually Hubby was thinking seriously of buying a house in Montour Falls and moving there for 6 months of the year at one point. There was a lovely old house that was just near the falls that was for sale. You could see them out of the front windows. The falls are actually part of the opening sequence in the Aurora Teagarden movies. The books are set in Georgia but the movies have Lawrenceton in Washington state and they're filmed in British Columbia with the falls in New York State. All over the place. Don't know if I could handle snow all the time though. One day a year up at the Farm is enough lol Darcy never quite knows what to do when it's snowing. He tries to keep to the bits around the plants that doesn't have snow on. Our snow isn't anything like your snow. It's an inch or two and then it's gone before lunchtime.Haven't done much this week. I went and had my Covid Booster shot on Wednesday but that was about it other than venturing out every now and then in the 35+C heat to get some bits and pieces at the supermarket. One day it was close to 40C (104F). It's a very dry heat out here in the Outback and it's like being in an oven. Better than being in a steamer like up at our beach house at this time of year. Darcy isn't a fan of the heat and lays somewhere the AC can hit him. He does have a very long coat. He also enjoys playing in the sprinkler. For a dog who hates having a bath he sure does love the sprinkler and the hose. And the beach. He runs into the waves and jumps them and has the time of his life. Try and get him to have a bath and he's not happy lol The last Border Collie we had always got a yucky hot spot on her back just near her tail. We lived in the sub tropics and nearly every summer we had to take her and get some cream for it.
Watched the first episode of the Book of Boba Fett and a few other bits and pieces on streaming services but nothing to write home about. So many non events I can't even remember what I watched other than the Christmas Great British Sewing Bee episode. I've had a headache and have been tired since the booster and couldn't be bothered reading. The heat contributed to the meh feeling as well which really was there well before the jab.
Don't know why they change book names. They usually change UK names for the US market along with making UK and Australian authors go through and change things so that US readers will understand them. Jumpers become sweaters and the like. Never works the other way though. Honestly....peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. WTF...why would you have jelly on sandwiches. Over here jelly is like your jello. Yeah back in the day jelly was a jam that had no bits in it but why couldn't it just say peanut butter and jam sandwiches? So yeahhhh..... Examples are books like Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone became Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle became the 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle in the US so people didn't get confused with the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. The first Outlander book was Cross Stitch over here in Australia but Outlander in other parts of the world. It's been changed to Outlander now. People We Meet on Vacation is You and Me on Vacation here in Australia too. We mostly get the stuff from the UK. I agree that People We Meet on Holiday would have been a more UK friendly name for it.
Finished this week
Absolutely nothing. Not even a short story. How slack is that?
Currently reading
488 Rules for Life by Kitty Flanagan. Kitty is an Australian comedian who did a Rules for Life thing on a local comedy show and it grew into a book. Some of them are funny. I'm about 60% of the way through the audiobook. She narrates it which does help as she adds things as she goes.
And 24 others that I'll get back to one day.
Sitting here still waiting to be picked up and read
The Girl and the Mountain by Mark Lawrence
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
Popsugar: 5/40, 2/10
ATY: 9/52
Both of these will be filled with as few books as possible as I fit one book into as many prompts as possible. Yeah that's the cheats way but it's how I'm doing it this year. If I read enough to fit one book per prompt then that's fine but last year I read 13 books and that's not going to fill them. I'm aiming for 52 at least this year so we'll see how I go.
QOTW
Probably are lots. I've found lately that with most series I don't bother going past book one no matter how much I loved the book. There are a few exceptions but mostly I move on and forget to go back. With you all on the Ready Player One/Two thing even though RPT got better in the second half of the book. My husband was thinking of not finishing it (he always finishes books except he didn't finish Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb and A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton both of which I enjoyed but he hated) but I told him to persist. He did but reckoned it wasn't great but yeah it did get better.
Mod
I'm so glad to hear that!!! YAY for good health!! 👍🤗
"Finished:
A Pho Love Story by Lean Lo. Sweet YA romance across rival families. I mean their families really hate each other and I was invested in knowing WTF happened to make them that way. This hit all my challenges, initially I was reading it for ATY's food/drink prompt, but the parents talk in Vietnamese enough that I'm also using it for Popsugar's two languages. Plus it fit Beat the Backlist and Pick Your Poison."
This does look enjoyable! Glad you could make it work for so many prompts!
"When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo for the tiger prompt. Nadine used a fancy word for it, but yeah it was great. I've enjoyed both the novellas that can be read as standalones and I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of story is woven in the next one."
Well, I may skip the first one and read this!
"Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside by Nick Offerman which I started listening to last year and put it on hold over the holidays. A bit meandering and I was hoping it would be more focused on the wandering round national parks side, and while I agree with him mostly, I also was not in the mood the listen to ways a country I don't live in is doing things wrong when I already hear about it more than enough. Plus lots of fanboying over James Rebanks that I felt I might have been better off just reading Rebanks' book (which I have). Using for ATY's long title prompt."
I assumed this was one I could leave for others who are more interested...
"Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt for ATY (three continents - Europe). Has the creepiest opening chapter ever, it really got under my skin, so full marks for being an actual scary horror story. "
Yeah. Definitely NOT for me! Horror...ugh!
"QOTW:
I have read some disappointing second books but usually they're part of a series. I don't think The Silence of the Girls needed a second book, she could have easily chosen someone else to write about as there wasn't much going on in The Women of Troy. I think she's even doing a third book..."
I have yet to read the first one! LOL
Mod
LOL
"I finished one book this week:
Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman, Jay Bonansinga - this has been on my TBR for several years now, it gives the backstory for The Governor based on the comics. I have only read a few of the comics, I'm mostly a fan of the TV show, but I felt this worked for me as well, it felt in line with the general tone of The Walking Dead (there was certainly enough blood and guts)."
Not my jam, but glad you enjoyed it! LOL
"QOTW: Yes! Even when I like the sequel, there are times when I think it was unnecessary to write it. For example, I did enjoy Scarlett but I absolutely do not think Gone with the Wind needed a second book, and I think it took away a bit from the characters."
I really disliked the way so many things were changed for that sequel. Unnecessary, IMO!
"The Black Stallion - I loved most of the books in the series but lets be honest, The Black Stallion Legend was strange."
I'm preparing to read the second book.
I read a lot this week, though the cruise ship series has pretty short books. For Popsugar, I read Dealing with Dragons for a nonpatriarchy society. The king is called the king, gender doesn't matter and you are chosen by a magic rock. The Queen is a different job.
For ATY, I read Trickster's Queen in connection to Trickster's Choice read in 2021.
I've read 7 of these cruise ship mysteries: The Murder Mystery Cruise: Book Three: The Cozy Cruise Mysteries, The Cruise To Nowhere: Book Five: The Cozy Cruise Mysteries, The Comeback Cruise: Book Four: The Cozy Cruise Mysteries, The Valentine Voyage: Book Six: The Cozy Cruise Mysteries, Troubles In Tahiti: Book Seven: The Cozy Cruise Mysteries, Wedding On The Windsong: Book Eight: The Cozy Cruise Mysteries, and The Honeymoon From Hell: Book Nine: The Cozy Cruise Mysteries. So far I haven't counted them for a challenge.
I also read The Vanishing Stair, The Hand on the Wall, and The Box in the Woods.
QotW, I can't really think of any off hand. I was curious about The Box in the Woods, since the mystery wrapped up in book 3. I hope there are more, or it's just random. I kind of like the after, so it was kind of fun.
Hi all, It's been a really long, crummy week over here. Work stress, life stress. So tired of :gesturing at everything:, tired of winter.
This week I finished:
Gods of Jade and Shadow - This was my books & brew for january. Sadly we had to meet virtually again thanks to omicron. It was the right move, I just was really enjoying actually seeing people again and leaving the house. I liked the book, love mythology and this referenced myths I wasn't very familiar with so it was fun.
Afterparties - I tried to keep up with Roxanne Gay's book club last year, but i kind of got of track about halfway through the year. I did like this more than most short story collections. I think it might have been because several ended up referencing characters mentioned in previous stories, which made them feel more like they all went together, rather than being all over the place. I was sad to learn that the author died from an overdose at age 28, before his book was even published.
Miss Mabel's School for Girls - I got this for free a while back and finally got around to reading it. I liked it a lot, feeds into my need for new wizard school stories. This was a bit darker than I expected, but not as dark as say the Scholomance books. Going to need to get the rest of the series now!
currently reading:
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - audio re-read.
The Vanishing Half - getting started on next books & brew, since my library seems to have a priority copy while everyone else in the system has a huge wait. I want to finish up so i can release it back, in case anyone else in the group prefers digital as well. Not really far enough to have an opinion yet.
QOTW:
I think i maybe avoid sequels if the book feels like it didn't need one. I know there's a sequel to The Sparrow, but I heard it wasn't very good, so I didn't bother with it. I also agree with Ready Player One. I really enjoyed when i read it at first, but i think the more I thought about it, the less i enjoyed it. So I had no real desire to read the second. There's certainly been series that i felt like they were strong in book one and then just kind of fizzled.
Dubhease wrote: "I'm not sure if this counts as a QOTW, but years ago I read "On a Pale Horse" by Piers Anthony. I loved it. I loved Zane and Luna as characters.It was the first of his 7 "Incarnations" books. I t..."
I loved On a Pale Horse and I got stalled on book three. I've been meaning to go back and finish but now I'm worried. :(
Also been delaying because people mention Anthony isn't so great a person and it bleeds into his books. Purposely not finding out what it is so it won't ruin what I've already read.
poshpenny wrote: "On today's episode of Retail in the Time of Covid... my boss tested positive. The other assistant was on duty when it all hit the fan, but being the wonderful co-worker that they are, left most of ..."PBS had a documentary/show following Itzhak and I really enjoyed it. Added the picture book to my tbr so thanks!
Back to work this week, and so far staying healthy - but I have been extra fatigued, physically and mentally! Our student absences have been higher than normal but not ridiculous. Finished:
Termination Shock ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really like Stephenson, and though this isn’t his best I enjoyed it a lot. And I learned about the Line of Actual Control, which is wild. I used it for the man-made disaster prompt.
Darius the Great Is Not Okay ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was audio, and the narrator was good at making a believable teen boy. The book is straightforward, even simple, but effective at conveying its message and themes. I’ll be reading the sequel for sure, using it for the duology prompt.
Currently reading:
She Who Became the Sun, I’m about at the 1/3 point and enjoying it a lot. It is due back tomorrow but I’ll have to be late. Hopefully I can finish it by Sunday. It might end up fitting the Read Harder prompt for an adventure story by a POC, as well as the AtY prompt for a source of light on the cover.
Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain, which has been on my TBR since I heard the author speak at a professional meeting. I had down time at work early in the week, so thought a work-related book would be a good way to spend some time. It doesn’t fit any Popsugar prompts, but I’ll use it for the AtY prompt about the mind/neuroscience.
Good evening everybody! I am sooooo tired and burnt out this week. I'm really looking forward to a three day weekend with no specific plans - even if I will realistically spend a good portion of it doing housework instead of the nothing I dream of. Currently reading
The Maid: I'm still enjoying it but I haven't *maid* much progress. (thank you thank you I'll be here all week). I've had a couple migraines this week and it's just a lot harder for me to focus on fiction.
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883: *Almost* done. I've got about 50 pages left, which I will probably read tonight if I don't fall asleep first.
QOTW
I'm sure I have some, but generally I tend to avoid sequels to what were originally planned to be standalones. Like I have absolutely zero interest in the sequel to The Miniaturist. And I refuse to read Go Set a Watchman on principle because I think Lee got bullied by money-grabbers into releasing it.
Work is wildly busy right now so I'll make this quick... I finished these the past week: Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion This was good, although some essays went into more detail than I thought was needed. Plenty to think about though. 4 stars
Angel of Greenwood Great YA about the Greenwood Massacre. 4 stars
The Last Thing He Told Me This was highly entertaining, especially since most of it included details about Austin (my city). 4.5 stars
Currently listening to My Heart Is a Chainsaw and reading When We Cease to Understand the World in print.
QOTW: I remember loving Children of Blood and Bone but the sequel didn't wow me. I rarely read series so that's the only example I can think of.
Pooja wrote: "Current events - I dropped the lid of my moisturizer and it has vanished into the mess of my bedroom, possibly never to return. I am heart-broken.If you drop the moisturizer, will it run to its mate? Maybe they will start its own colony, growing tiny trial size moisturizers that you can harvest come next winter?
We have had one good snow, and then, rain. Lots of spots are still really icy, so you never know when one good turn will lead to ice dancing. QOTW: I read so many books, I can't really think of any that truly rankled me. I agree that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two was absolutely unnecessary. We wanted more Hogwarts, not sad adults. Go back and tell us about the other houses. I think all of the Pinkalious books are annoying. Petals on the Wind might have been the book that caused me to Just Say No Thank You. No more VC Andrews.
I finished 2 for this year and only have 51 more for last year.
PS: 2/50
RH: 0/24
GR: 11/365
HP: 0/52
ATY: 0/52
Currently Reading:
Out of Character- I still hate this cover and the two narrators, but I will finish this come hell or high water
Adnan's Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial- I didn't realize how very long this book is, or maybe it just feels like it
Brown Girl Dreaming- I seem to keep getting sidetracked
Tender Is the Flesh- eww
James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing- I have this downloaded onto my laptop, and I can only read this from my laptop
All the Young Dudes- I don't want this to end!
Waiting for the library to renew:
The Lincoln Highway- so close, but yet, so popular from the library
The Manningtree Witches
Finished:
Ugly Love- I thought there would be something scary. Meh
Runaways, Vol. 6: Come Away With Me- I can't believe they just end the series there
Heartstopper: Volume Four- they are so cute
Lore Olympus: Volume One- I can not love this book enough
Squad
The Tiger's Wife- this was surprisingly better than I thought
History Smashers: Plagues and Pandemics
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina
And Now I Spill the Family Secrets: An Illustrated Memoir
Ooh, I have another finish to report and it fits a prompt!I finished The Martian this evening, and belatedly realized it fits the man-made disaster prompt. Duh. A man being left behind alive on Mars? Plus all the 'small' ones that Mark had to overcome.
Loved, loved, loved the book. Now to stream the movie. Matt Damon better not disappoint.
Mary wrote: "I am super thankful for audiobooks this week. I had a pretty rough time with my booster shot last weekend, so I mostly stuck to laying in bed/on the couch listening to audiobooks....The Bone Collector: A book with a protagonist who uses a mobility aid: I love this movie, and I'm not normally one to read a book AFTER I've seen the movie, but this is great so far, except that as soon as I started to read it, I felt compelled to watch the movie again (which I did)...."
I LOVE the movie The Bone Collector. I don't know what it is about it, maybe just all the actors in it, but I just love it I don't know how many times I've seen it. I have never actually read the book however. Maybe some day but, sometimes reading a book after seeing it can also ruin the book for me. Especially if it is a movie you really like and then you find out the book was different.
Also, I came across a book last week on an Obama book list (which I didn't even know he had one until then) called Florida by Lauren Groff with a tiger on the cover. It looks interesting. It had some decent reviews and I thought I might give it a try later in the year but, probably not for the tiger prompt (unless I still need one) but for a 50 states challenge I'm working on.
Howdy all! Happy Thursday! This is my second try to post this, so I hope it works.
finished
The Secret Garden on 81st Street by Ivy Noelle Weir. This is a wonderful graphic novel about a girl who's parents are killed in an accident and must go and live with her uncle. On getting to New York City she finds out her uncle is away. There are two ladies to care for his household and they are to watch over her too. She finds out her uncle had a husband, but he had passed away. The husband had a roof top garden, but after the husband passed away the uncle locked the garden. The girl finds out about the garden and with a friend she restores the garden. She also finds out that she has a cousin. Her cousin has so much anxiety that he can't leave his room. I loved this retelling of The Secret Garden, though I've not read The Secret Garden.
Otto: A Palindrama by Jon Agree.This is a graphic novel about a boy named Otto and his adventures. This book is written in palindromes. I plan on using it for the palindrome title prompt.
The Times I Knew I was Gay by Eleanor Crewes. This is a graphic novel memoir which I didn't realize until I was about halfway through it. I really enjoyed it.
The Legend of the Sleeping Bear by Kathy-jo Wargin. It's a story about a mother bear and her two cubs. It's about fire, a long swim and a mother bear waiting for her cubs. I this a wonder yet sad story.
Frankenstein by Junji Ito. This graphic novel is a wonder collection of stories. It starts out with Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1831 version) which was a lot different then the graphic novel (Manga Classic series) I read last year. The one last year was based on the 1818 version. It seems like there was a lot of differences between the two writings of Frankenstein I was shocked and surprised by some of the changes. Most of the rest of the book is stories about Toru Oshikiri which is a range of horror stories. Toru Oshikiri a boy who lives alone in a big house because his parents are away over seas. He has a lot of weird and strange things happen to him. I loved the stories about Turo.
Books I'm reading or will be this coming week.
The Bad Beginning (a Series of Unfortunate Events) by Lemony Snicket. I've started this, but I've not got far in it yet.
Sleepless Volume 1 and 2 by Sarah Vaughn. I read volume 1 last year, but rereading it so I can read the second book. They are graphic novels.
Saiyuki Reload Volume 2 by Kazuya Minekura. I read the first series which called Saiyuki, This series continues the adventures of the Monkey King and his companions. This is based on the Journey to the West. Saiyuki starts the story and Saiyuki Reload continues it.
Hello everyone! It has been a very productive week for me. the kid had a three day weekend and was at the dad's so I got to get in a bit more reading than usual. We'll see how this 3 day weekend works out since he'll be home.The weather was sunny most of the week until some rain Wednesday, and even then it wasn't much. Even though it was sunny it was NOT enjoyable since we've been having very very thick Vog (Basically sulphur from the volcano). I live within ten miles of it so it was bad here. For those that don't know, it is what I think L.A. might look like on a heavy smog day.
Last weekend I went shopping and used my Target gift card (from Xmas) on books!! I almost bought People We Meet on Vacation just so I could read it for January since the library holds are all like 6 month waits! But, I can be really choosy about books I actually spend money on. I want to know that I WILL like it and that it is something I may want to keep. I just wasn't sure that it qualified. So, I bought some books from some of my favorite authors instead ...The Wish from Nicolas Sparks (I know I know I'm a Sparks reader) and Troubles in Paradise from Elin Hilderbrand, and a new one The Lincoln Highway which I keep hearing good things about so I hope it is worth it. Also, I had no idea it was that fat a book!
About Nadine's question...I've noticed other authors too that change their books names across the pond. I think it just makes it more confusing. I once added a book thinking I missed it but, it turned out I had read it already, well the American version, and that was just the UK edition. I can understand changing the name because of translation but, when it is English to English I don't see much of a need.
2022 Challenges:
Popsugar: 4/50
ATY: 4/52
A to Z: 7/26
50 States: 2021.....21/50 (Have until end of June)
2022.....1/50
I spent time finishing books before having to return them.
Finished: 7 finished this week, 4 for Popsugar
The Art of Fielding (reread)
No Popsugar; ATY #15 & Winter Challenge; A to Z; 2021 50 States (Wisconsin)
Winter in Paradise
Popsugar #29 Author you read in '21; ATY #1(Ayers) & Winter Challenge; A to Z; 2021 50 States bonus (US Virgin Islands)
Okay so I already like Elin's books but this was great! It was a whole new series she wrote as a trilogy set in a new place and has more of a mystery feeling to it than all her other books. I read this whole book in one day! I'm very eager to continue the series but, I haven't yet since I have borrowed books with close due dates to get thru first.
L.A. Weather
PS #11 A #Booktok, used this for my January read since I can't get the other book. ATY #22 & WC; AtoZ; 2022 50 States
I really liked this book. It reads quick and I agree with the other commenter that by the end of the book you are like 'Wow 5 stars!' It makes me want to look into her other novels.
Actually, with this book I had a due date of Friday (the 7th) and even though I was rushing, I couldn't get it done. I was like oh well I'll just finish it this weekend and pay the fine. But, the craziest thing happened...my library auto-renewed it!!! (WHAAATTT....Mind Blown) It was even my second renewal. I did finish it over the weekend and turned it in anyway.
Pippi Longstocking
PS #24 read in one sitting; AtoZ
Two Amazon stories:
Take the Lead
Zikora AtoZ
Outlawed
PS #34 Victorian book; ATY #21 & WC; AtoZ
This was not quite what I was expecting...not in a bad way. I liked it. I'm not sure you would entirely get the whole 'Hole in the Wall' reference if you are not familiar with old American westerns and old west tales. But, I did enjoy this "retelling" with a twist. I do have a question though...do you all think this could count as a Sapphic book?
Currently reading:
Still slowly making my ways through Queen Bee
On the backburner:
Overdrive-
The Eighth Life
The Tiger's Wife
The Signature of All Things
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Picked up some library books today
Magic Lessons
The Last Thing He Told Me
Beach Read
One Hundred Years of Solitude to read along with the audiobook on Overdrive. Since last time I tried the audiobook I was getting confused so I gave up. Hoping this helps.
Get a Life, Chloe Brown for our February read.
QOTW:
I'm just gonna say it....Twilight. I read all the initial books but what is the purpose of the new one's she's written from Edwards perspective? Did we need the second series? I haven't even entertained the idea of reading them.
Jessica wrote: "I LOVE the movie The Bone Collector. I don't know what it is about it, maybe just all the actors in it, but I just love it I don't know how many times I've seen it. I have never actually read the book however. Maybe some day but, sometimes reading a book after seeing it can also ruin the book for me. Especially if it is a movie you really like and then you find out the book was different...."Absolutely! I've probably seen the movie a dozen times. There are so many great actors. So far, the plot of the book is very similar, but there is a major character difference for Amelia Sachs that I have not cared for so far, but I'm only 70 pages in right now. I find the dialogue of Lincoln to be very charming so far.
Nadine in NY wrote: "YES! In my mind, that third book in the Divergent series does not exist." Yes! There is no third book, and the second book was barely tolerable for me too. I've reread the first book twice, but I just make up my own story after that lol.
Lynn wrote: "Murder on Black Swan Lane (Wrexford & Sloane #1) by Andrea Penrose ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ was an amazing read! Penrose is perfect in her depiction of the gloomy sooty “stews” of London during the Regency period and her characters feel so real! Anxious to continue this series!!"OHH!!! This is available on Kindle Unlimited. I might have to check it out before my subscription expires.
Mod
Do it! LOL
I finished two more books for this challenge this week. Stiff by Mary Roach and The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson. Really enjoyed both of them. As for the question of the week, Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining by Stephen King definitely didn't need to exist.
Mod
So, I'd never heard of Montour Falls! I had to look it up to see where it is. (It's JUST south of Watkins Glen, for anyone else as clueless as I was.) Looks like a lovely place to visit, I should take that small detour next time I'm in Watkins Glen.
I also had no idea they made movies from the Aurora Teagarden series! I have actually read ALL of Charlaine Harris's series EXCEPT for her two recent series, and the Aurora Teagarden series. I loved her other series (Sookie, Lily Bard, and Harper Connolly) and I guess I was kind of saving Aurora Teagarden for a rainy day, but then I discovered reading challenges and my TBR exploded and I just never got back to Aurora Teagarden. I did read the first book in the series and it didn't wow me so I guess that made it easy to never go back for the rest.
I wonder why they chose to film in NY for a book set in Georgia? Does Georgia have areas that look like the Finger Lakes? I've only been to Atlanta, I have no idea what the rest of the state looks like, but I assumed it was pretty flat. I guess there are some mountains in the north of the state.
Honestly....peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. WTF...why would you have jelly on sandwiches. Over here jelly is like your jello. Yeah back in the day jelly was a jam that had no bits in it but why couldn't it just say peanut butter and jam sandwiches?
LOL yes I know they do that, and I don't know why. Any hardcore reader already knows what jumpers and crisps and car parks and lemon squash are, etc.
And I know that you all call "Jell-O" "jelly" - and I know Europeans & Australians love to make fun of "peanut butter and jelly" because it sounds gross (and yes it does sound gross to put jell-o on a sandwich!) but the thing is, in the USA, we have different kinds of fruit spreads, and I'm wondering what you call "jelly" there? Do you have jelly? Maybe you only have jam?
We have chutney, compote, fruit butters, marmalades, preserves, jam, and jelly. I assume the first four are the same thing everywhere. Preserves are made from the more-or-less whole fruit, jam is made from the pulverized fruit, and jelly is made from just the juice, so it's translucent and smooth. Some fruits are available in a variety of styles (it's common to find both strawberry jam and strawberry preserves in stores; similarly, you can find both raspberry preserves and raspberry jelly). Some fruits are only made into jelly, not jam or preserves. Grape jelly, black raspberry jelly, boysenberry jelly, apple jelly, currant jelly, cranberry jelly, mint jelly, even jalapeno jelly are all available (grape jelly being the most common), but only some of them would be used on a pb&j, others are more for serving with stuff like lamb or turkey; pb&j is not always made with jelly, it can also be made with jam or preserves, but it's still called "pb&j"
So, if jelly is Jell-O, what do you call jelly? If you call jelly "jam" then what do you call jam? Or is there no jelly? Or do you just not differentiate between jam & jelly? Are all sweet fruit spreads called "jam" or "marmalade"? What if you want raspberry jelly and not raspberry preserves, what do you do if they are called the same thing?
YES I have spent way too much time thinking about this over the years. I'd love to know the answer!
Mod
LOL as a child, this was my first favorite series, and I read every Black Stallion book I could get my hands on, either at the library or at the book store, but "Black Stallion Legend" did not ring any bells for me so I had go look it up. Of course I was reading this series long before Goodreads, so they aren't recorded here, but I am certain I read the first ten in the series (I distinctly remember not knowing how to pronounce "Satan" when I read The Black Stallion and Satan), and then a few others. (My favorite was The Black Stallion's Filly because, as a girl, it was nice to see a female take the lead for once!) But this was back in the early 70s. The Black Stallion Legend did not exist yet back then. I actually had no idea Walter Farley kept writing them! I guess when the movie came out in 1979 it rejuvenated interest in the series and he churned out a few more, and now it looks like his son is writing them? I had grown out of the series well before the movie came out, so I never discovered the newer titles. Just as well, I guess??
Mod
I'm curious why you don't use one of them for "set on a plane, train, or cruise ship" category?!
Hey everyone! I had another really great week (for reading. Everything else is touch and go but let's focus on what we're here for!). Finally, we've gotten a touch of warm weather, going from -35c to +1c! And that means I'm sliding all over the place. But at least it's nice enough I don't have to wear gloves, and we're going to call that a success. Plus I get to stop for coffee on my morning commute, so this is, once again, an absolute win. I'm hoping once it stops being slippery, I can go to a bit of bookshopping and Bath and Body Works shopping. Love gift cards.Finished
Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics - 5 stars - used for A Book with a Board Game in the Title. I love when the author narrates their nonfiction. I think it always adds a touch and Dolly's sweet southern voice really hit this for me. Loved every part of it. It's great because she also talks about the people she's worked with and it's so incredibly well done. Plus parts of her songs play too.
All the Young Men - 5 stars - used for a Book featuring a Man-made Disaster. I decided to learn more about the AIDS epidemic in the 80s for various purposes and I just loved this book. It was so powerful and soft at the same time. A time period where people were being left behind and someone cared enough to make sure they weren't. Very powerful and tearful.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune - 5 stars - used for a Hugo Award Winner. I did not expect to like this as much as I did. I listened to it as an audiobook and it was beautiful to be swept away in it. An absolute masterpiece and what felt like a fantasy epic in such a short period of time (a 2 hour audiobook but I felt like I laid there for hours in the best way possible).
To Be Read Next
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain - For a book with a Tiger on the Cover/In the Title. After Empress of Salt and Fortune, I have the HIGHEST hopes for this. I think Nghi Vo may be one of my new favorite authors. Maybe I can read something blurbed by her for that challenge.
The Jazz Palace - For An Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner. The award categories always trip me up the most, so I'd like to get them done while I can easily grab them. They're not my favorite, but I can make them work if I can find short books. The Jazz Palace also just sounds kind of interesting to read about.
QOTW
God I'm going to say Mockingjay. I did not like Mockingjay in the least and thought it was the weakest book. Also from what I understand, I'm confused as to why One of Us is Lying got a sequel. Like I can't say it shouldn't have gotten a sequel because I haven't read it (did not enjoy what I read of Two of Us Can Keep A Secret so I don't think I'd enjoy it), but... like... why?
Mod
omg I laughed far too much at this.
Mod
Uh-oh, is it bad? The audiobook is read by Will Patton, whom I love listening to, so I've got it on my list for someday when I just want to listen to an audiobook for no particular reason. I dislike Stephen King, so my expectations are just for "mindless entertainment."
It's not a book but I did just think of a sequel that 100% SHOULD NOT exist: Love Never Dies, the sequel to Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera.WHY?? Why go and undo everything from the first show? You're making Raul a villain and the phantom good? 100000% absolutely not.
Mod
I haven't read Empress of Salt & Fortune yet, but reviews seem to indicate that it's the stronger story of the two. I really enjoyed Tiger, but maybe if you expect it to be not quite as good, you'll enjoy it just as much.
Jessica wrote: "QOTW:I'm just gonna say it....Twilight. I read all the initial books but what is the purpose of the new one's she's written from Edwards perspective? Did we need the second series? I haven't even entertained the idea of reading them."
The problem with this one is that she had originally written it way back then, but it got leaked and she decided not to publish it anymore, to the disappointment of a lot of fans (me included at the time). Releasing it all these years later was a joy for people who were still fans (not me), but for most people it felt a bit ...weird, so to speak.
Allie wrote: "All the Young Dudes- I don't want this to end!."
ITS SO GOOD ISNT IT?? It's pretty much the One HP fic I ever read. I tried to read more wolfstar after but it just wasn't for me sadly. Couldn't vibe, so went back to Marvel xD
Kelly wrote: "Carmen wrote: "I also read a 65k fanfic called The Lost Art of Correspondence that I am counting for Hugo Award Winner because AO3 won said Hugo Award so I say it counts :D ..."
That is a FANTASTI..."
Glad to be of help, heheheh!
A note on PB&J from a Dutch person: I always thought it was gross, thinking of our jam and our peanut butter, but then I saw someone make it on a TV show or in a movie and I was like ... that looks nothing like the stuff we have??? What kind of gross pale super smooth peanut butter is THAT? And the jam/jelly???
So I concluded that it must be great with the US stuff, but would actually indeed be super gross if you use our own stuff, and since it's hard to imagine anything other than you're used to... your brain will go 'ew' whenever it's mentioned haha!
Harmke wrote: "@Christine: I’m kind of starting what you’ve been doing: we’re changing the software for our webforms next week. And after that we start with changing the software for our website. Enjoying my last easy days at work for the coming months."Godspeed! It isn't easy, but at least over here, it's totally paying off!
Shannon wrote: "It's not a book but I did just think of a sequel that 100% SHOULD NOT exist: Love Never Dies, the sequel to Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera.WHY?? Why go and undo everything from the fir..."
YES. I cannot second this enough.
Nadine in NY wrote: "So, if jelly is Jell-O, what do you call jelly? If you call jelly "jam" then what do you call jam? Or is there no jelly? Or do you just not differentiate between jam & jelly? Are all sweet fruit spreads called "jam" or "marmalade"?..."Redcurrant jelly and mint jelly are things in the UK...but you wouldn't put them on a peanut butter sandwich and I guess the average Brit is much more likely to associate jelly with a gelatine set product. Jam that is like US jelly is usually cheap jam rather than preserves which are posh jam and have more fruit in. Unless it's something you serve with meat and then it's jelly.
Carmen wrote: "A note on PB&J from a Dutch person: I always thought it was gross, thinking of our jam and our peanut butter, but then I saw someone make it on a TV show or in a movie and I was like ... that looks nothing like the stuff we have??? What kind of gross pale super smooth peanut butter is THAT? And the jam/jelly???..."LOL, we had our usual 100% nut peanut butter substituted with a palm oil mixed one a few months back and it was vile. We had to throw it out, especially as it wasn't suitable to give to the dog. Just a very weird texture that wouldn't mix with anything.
Mod
So I concluded that it must be great with the US stuff ..."
Hahaha there are different kinds of peanut butter. I use Smuckers, which is literally just roasted peanuts ground up with some salt. It's not super smooth or pale. You have to stir the peanut oil back into the paste when you open the jar, because they don't add any emulsifiers.
I think peanut butter is just an acquired taste, and if you don't acquire it as a kid, you always think it's gross. That's how I feel about boiled peanuts. Like, yeah, they sort of TASTE good, but oh god that texture, I just cannot with that. Ugh.
I am a peanut butter addict (I actually discovered one that's made with honey in it!) and now I just want to sit down and eat a jar of peanut butter...
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
At Risk (other topics)The Husband's Secret (other topics)
Along for the Ride (other topics)
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It was the first of his 7 "Incarnations" books. I talked to 4 people who'd read all the books. Two thought the series jumped the shark after book 3 and two thought it did after book 5. Everyone thought the series was a downward slide. Since I loved the first one so much, I stopped there.