EPBOT Readers discussion

Hello all,

I hope you're all having a good week. It has been fairly quiet for me this week.

I actually do not have any finishes this week. I am still listening to Rock Paper Scissors for neighborhood book club. The meeting is next Wednesday so I need to get on finishing it. I think I'm about 2/3 of the way through based on chapter number. But the chapters are anywhere from 4-32 minutes long so I don't really know.

I'm reading Coming Home. It is one of the free Amazon books from just after the holidays. This one is okay so far so I'm keeping at it.

QOTW:
Have you ever read a book that actually made you cry?

I think I have but not recently and I'm not entirely sure. One book that likely would fall into that category would be Randy Pauch's The Last Lecture. That came out not too long after my husband finished his cancer treatment. So it definitely hit raw emotions.

Happy Friday! And a long weekend for me, since I have next Monday and Tuesday off from work. :)

Finished:
Whiteout by Dhonielle Clayton et al. - 3 stars - for PopSugar's book set in the snow. It was cute and fun. I think I preferred the NYC blackout setting of the first book, though.

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher - 4 stars - for PopSugar's book from a genre you typically avoid. Kingfisher can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. It's only 4 stars because I don't care much for horror, but I do love Easton's wit and voice.

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei - 4 stars - for PopSugar's book written by an incarcerated or formerly incarcerated person. A powerful memoir of actor George Takei's childhood experience in the Japanese internment camps. Because he was still a child and didn't fully understand what was happening, he frames a lot of the story through his adult experiences and POV, including his later discussions with his father about what happened and his current-day activism.

Comics & manga:
Akane-banashi, Vol. 3
Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 28
The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Currently reading:
This Day Changes Everything by Edward Underhill for PopSugar's fiction book by a trans or nonbinary author. This is right up my alley, as it's basically a love letter to NYC.

Upcoming/Planned:
Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson - for PopSugar's unreliable narrator prompt

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama - for PopSugar's magical realism prompt

QOTW:
Oh, all the time, but I cry at the drop of a hat anyway. I tend to get really connected to characters and stories. Lots of stories across all media make me cry.

I also tear up a lot when reading, even if I don't actually cry.

The last time I remember really crying at a book, it was a really spoiler-y thing about one of Leigh Bardugo's, so putting it behind a spoiler tag: (view spoiler)[when she suddenly killed my favorite side character, David, in Rule of Wolves, I was so upset. I skimmed the next chapters through tears (it was bouncing around POVs and story lines) because I couldn't believe it and just wanted to get back to that story line so she could explain how of course he survived somehow (he didn't and I cried even harder at the funeral scene) (hide spoiler)].

One finish for me, despite the efforts of ProQuest Ebook Central, the worst way to try to read a book!

The City of Refuge: The Collected Stories of Rudolph Fisher - This is the author of a mystery novel I read last year, and contains a story featuring the doctor and police detective characters from that book. That story was pretty good, although I thought it should have been shorter. I wish the author had lived long enough to write a series about the characters. The other stories, all set in Harlem, were variable but mostly fine; I thought the best ones were in the "unpublished stories" section. (I am also very angry at the editor for referring in the introduction to "the fictional Waxhaw, North Carolina"; I could personally be in Waxhaw, North Carolina in about 45 minutes.)

QOTW: Not often, but sometimes something will catch me. It's usually more sappy stuff than sad (I am also occasionally unexpectedly affected by romantic comedies re-aired on network television). I think the last book that got me was the ending of A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

This past week was supposed to be my school vacation week, but our vacation got cancelled since we missed so much school when we were on strike. Sigh.

I did get some good reading in though.

Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist's Journey into Seeing in Three Dimensions was a fascinating memoir. The author was born with strabismus (crossed eyes) and grew up without depth perception, then learned to see in 3-D by a combination of surgeries as a child and vision therapy as an adult. I've always been interested in neuroscience - if you've enjoyed any books by Oliver Sacks you would like this. In fact, Sacks wrote the introduction.

In a totally different vein, I finished off the Interdependency trilogy with The Last Emperox, which was a satisfying ending.

I've also started Dragonsdawn with my kiddo to continue our journey through the Pern books.

QOTW:
I'll cry if a book engages my emotions, at both happy or sad extremes! Guy Gavriel Kay makes me cry on a regular basis, even upon re-reading books I know by heart. I definitely cried at the end of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Where the Red Fern Grows is a favorite tear-jerker, and a certain point in Rilla of Ingleside, fans of the book will know exactly what I am talking about.

Finished this week:

I came down with Influenza A at the end of last week, so this week was spent recovering, and being pretty wiped out after getting home from work.

I did finish Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne and was excited by the fact the sequel is out, but is currently only in ebook format (Print is pre-order for October of 2024). So boo.

Also finished The Girl From the Other Side vol. 5 by Nagabe - The artwork continues to be hauntingly beautiful and the story is still pulling me in. I've requested the rest of the series from the library. so I have that to look forward to.

Still working on:

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini - Husband is down with the flu now, and doesn't have the attention span to listen to it currently, so we are on hold atm

Just started Camelot: a Collection of Original Arthurian Stories edited by Jane Yolen. This is an ex-library book that came with a random science fiction/fantasy bundle I bought from The book bundler and so far I am loving it.

QotW: I often tear up with books. I am an emotional basket who tends to cry to express emotions be they happy or sad. The last one that left me weepy that I can remember was recently. Maybe the Bird Will Rise by Susan Helen Gottfried