EPBOT Readers discussion

Hello Everyone,

It is the start of a holiday weekend here in the US. For me it is the first weekend in May that we're home and not traveling or hosting guests so finally I can do something in my yard and garden. I've also had a possible covid exposure so we're staying close to home. Hopefully the tests will continue to be negative.

This week I finished A Psalm for the Wild-Built. This is about the length of the Murderbot books, 150 pages or so. This book felt a bit unfinished to me. I enjoyed the journey and I'll have to look to see if it continues but the ending seemed abrupt.

I am continuing to listen to The Ghost Brigades. I think I'm about 1/3 of the way through. Enjoyable so far but not knocking me out (like Kaiju Preservation Society did).

I have barely started Sea of Rust. No opinion on it at all. It was on my TBR list and was available on the shelf at the library right before a trip.

QOTW:
Are there books where you race to the end, or others where you want more of a slow burn? Which books and why?

Long ago I very much remember reading The Mirror of Her Dreams (and its sequel) slowly because I didn't want it to end. I should reread it sometime as I wonder if it aged well. It may not.

I have found Project Hail Mary and The Martian a little bit of both. I loved them and was definitely wanting to race to the end but enjoying them so much I didn't want to go too fast.

I suspect some John Scalzi would fit in that as well except I listen on audiobook (on normal 1x speed) so there is less race/slow burn there.

Sometimes romance novels are a race to the end especially if they're irritating lack of communication types. Some non-fiction I'll start skimming if the chapters start feeling repetitive.

finished the Hutt Gambit and started Rebel Dawn. but then one of my library books came in, so now I'm reading River, the latest in the Warriors series.

QotW: hadn't really thought about it. there are those rare times where I'll just skim pages to see if the book actually isn't has plodding as it feels. there was one book i just kept turning the pages to see if something interesting would happen. i gave up about halfway through. but generally, i just read at my regular pace, whatever that is. XD

Hope you're still symptom-free, Susan!

A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future - I absolutely read this in David Attenborough's voice, which was entertaining. I agree with his message, and the book avoided being too doom-and-gloomy, buuut much of the optimism sounded like, "All we need to do is six impossible things before breakfast!" and I'm not sure how helpful that is?

QOTW: I tend to read everything at the same (fairly breakneck) pace unless I am very tired. I will sneak more reading time if the book is particularly compelling. For mystery novels where it's sort of a game to try to solve the puzzle, I sometimes try to stop and take stock before the big reveal, but I am not good at savoring.

Last week I started Brightness Reef, but then I had a rough few days and needed some brain candy so I decided to re-read the entire Parasol Protectorate series and just finished that last one earlier today. I'll get back to Brightness Reef tonight, most likely.

QOTW: I'm like Rebecca - I tend to swallow books whole. Very rarely I will make myself slow down to appreciate a lovely bit of language, but that takes incredible willpower on my part. I think that's part of the reason I like re-reading, because I tend to miss things the first time around that I catch on second reading.

We just got back last night, so late check-in for me. Not surprising, I didn't get a lot of reading done this week - and worse, my partner may or may not have Covid. At-home test came back positive for him and negative for me, so he's going to have a lab test done to be sure. I have a little bit of a sore throat, but otherwise don't feel sick, so I hopefully mine is "con crud" rather than the virus. *fingers crossed*

No new finishes for me this week, but I'm still working on The City We Became. It was slow to get started, and I'm only halfway through, but I like it a lot so far. I just wish the chapters were smaller, or the breaks more frequent. (view spoiler)[(As someone who grew up on Staten Island, her incarnation is, unfortunately, accurate to the types of kids I went to school with, thus far.) (hide spoiler)]

QOTW: I think for me it depends on the book. The average romance novel or middle grade book, I can read in a few hours if I'm really into it. I tend to slow down with books that have really dense or complex language or worldbuilding.

@jen good luck to you. My friend that exposed me last week started with a bit of a sore throat too. Consider getting a PCR test also. After 6 days of no symptoms and all negative home tests a PCR test yesterday also came back negative. I am clear! Hurray, no more wearing a mask in the house and I can sleep in my bed with my husband again and leave the guest room.