Pick-a-Shelf discussion

May Shelf is humor

What did you read? Did you actually find it funny? In a Laugh-Out-Loud way?

Broken by Jenny Lawson
3 stars

A collection of very funny anecdotes about being messed up. Good insights into mental ill health. Although these stories were enjoyable, they were very disconnected and I felt like I wanted more connection in a book.
I read Furiously Happy: A Funny Book about Horrible Things many years ago and rated it 5 stars. From memory it was a similar concept but either it was better or I have changed.

Read for moving mountains and 15/15
I nominate Around-the-world

Dashing Through the Snowbirds: A Meg Langslow Mystery by Donna Andrews, 8 May 2023

I don't really give stars to cozy mysteries, but if I did I would give this 4-1/2 stars. The Meg Langslow series is always humorous and enjoyable. It's #32 of the series of which I have read 32 so far -- I don't follow many series unless I do enjoy them. Meg is a blacksmith and has lots of family members to draw on for the stories. It's well-written and has a good plot. Yes, there are laugh-out-loud times. It's a series that I suggest is best started at #1 so that the characters are understood, but it's also one you could pick up and just enjoy.

Read for Fifteen for Fifteen (Prompt 13)

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
4 stars

Endearing if a little too predictable and slightly too cute. I was impressed by the author's ability to make an octopus a believable character and I basically liked all of the people in this book. Overall, this is a feel good book of the Olive Kitteridge and A Man Called Ove variety. There's a quirky older person, supporting characters with overall nice personalities, and some feel-good heart at the center. Nothing much really happens, but it still feels plotty enough as secrets and history are revealed.

The narrators for the audiobook were good with the exception of the voice used for Ethan. There was an effort at Scottish brogue, but it fell flat for this listener and was distracting from an otherwise smooth narration. The narrator for the octopus was especially good.

Read for Fifteen for Fifteen and By the Month.
I nominate microhistory.

I read Undead and Unreturnable by MaryJanice Davidson. ✭✭.5

I took a loooonnnngggg..... break from this series. The last one I read was back in 2016. After finishing this one, I remember why. The dialogue is super silly and the "romance" just induces a lot of eye-rolling (from me, at least). But, it's a U title! And those aren't all that easy to come by.... So, at some point, I'll likely pick up the next one in the series.

PAS Challenge(s) used for: By the Month... (2023); Seriously Serial (2023) and Fifteen for Fifteen (2023) Prompt #12

I nominate: Urban Fantasy

Kristina Simon wrote: "I read Undead and Unreturnable by MaryJanice Davidson. ✭✭.5

I took a loooonnnngggg..... break from this series. The last one I read was back in 2016. After finishing..."

HaHa. I have Undead and Unemployed on my desk right now!

Bea wrote: "HaHa. I have Undead and Unemployed on my desk right now!."

At least they’re short. And, honestly, good enough for a bit of fluffy fun and that all-important U!

The Last Colony by John Scalzi
4 stars

John Scalzi writes in a light an entertaining tone with just enough sarcasm to keep things feeling fun, but with enough heart to make me root for his characters and feel like the books are more than just a bunch of jokes strung together.

I remember the first book in this series pretty well for the general concept and some of the world building. I must admit that I've almost entirely forgotten the second book, though I know I read it.

Overall, the concept of a world in which all different alien races are fighting over habitable planets and struggling for political control of territory isn't a new one for science fiction. But Scalzi's take on it with older humans whose consciousness and/or DNA are transferred to new bodies is an interesting twist. Definitely go back and read the first in this series if you haven't already before jumping into this book.

Used for Seriously Serial, 15/15, and By the Month.

I nominate microhistory.

I read Get A Life, Chloe Brown. it's a simple, fun book with great bantering between the Hero and the heroine.

I read Get A Life, Chloe Brown. it's a simple, fun book with great bantering between the Hero and the heroine.

I read Set My Heart to Five. Humor is not really my cup of tea, but this was a really cute book about a bot exploring whether bots could have feelings, and it contained a lot of irony and sarcasm. I could tell from the first page that it was a book my teenage grandson would love. So I enjoyed reading it, even though the funny parts began to me to seem repetitive, because I got a kick out of hearing him get so much fun out of them when he read it.

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
5 stars

This is the story of Nimona, a girl who can shapeshift and who has decided to appoint herself the sidekick of supervillain Blackheart. Nimona is delightfully funny and bad and the dialogue in this graphic novel just zings. I want a sequel!
This was a reread and one of my favourite graphic novels ever.

Read for 15/15 prompt 8
Nominate Family-secrets

Bea wrote: "HaHa. I have Undead and Unemployed on my desk right now!"

Literally had just finished listening to this audiobook! Fits right with my current mood so I've rated it quite high :)
I really wanted fluff and I totally got it. I mean, I get that it's bordering on the ridic but it's what I needed rn.

btw, I'm sorry - I just posted for June. May has been a rather crazy month. Hopefully, it'll calm down a bit in June.

Just recently read Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller which was very amusing. I enjoyed it. It's non-fiction, set in London. I gave it 4 stars.

I read Three to Get Deadly this month. 4 stars

This is the 3rd book in the Stephanie Plum series and these books always make me laugh. Stephanie has the task of bringing in Mo Bedemier and as usual she is helped by a cast of characters. These books are just fun and the former hooker Lula adds to the laughs.

I nominate historical mystery

Oops! I forgot to post.

I read Undead and Unemployed and gave it 3.5*.
It was a fun premise...girl dies and comes back to life a couple of times and ends up being the Queen of the Vampires with a King she refuses to accept but is drawn to. So frustratingly impossible that I found myself drawn to it.

She has a job, loves shoes, talks with her mother, but is a vampire and must sleep during the day. She has all the frustrations of being alive yet dead. Oh, and the rest of the vampires do not accept her as queen and some want to kill her!

What an escape from the reality of the world!

I nominate Chick Lit.

I read The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove.
I gave it 4 stars.
The basic premise is that there is a dragon who comes to shore and causes everyone to be horny. Everyone is hooking up constantly. It is very funny and silly but just want I needed to read. Definitely not for the kiddos.

I nominate: Sleuths
I used this book: by the month, seriously serial and moving mountains