Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Hope you're OK, Brittany. Take care!

@Laura I’m not positive but I think there’s a push to shift away from “Middle East/ern” because it’s inaccurate. I believe Eurocentrism/colonialism play a role in that.

Jennifer W wrote: "Hope you're OK, Brittany. Take care!"

Thanks Jennifer- I'm back home so that's a start and have an appointment with the specialist on Wednesday.

Theresa wrote: "Harmke - I have a book to recommend to you that fits with the road trip you just did and is an excellent read -"

Thanks Theresa! When we spot a bookstore, I might take a look at it.

Lot's to catch up on.

I haven't been focusing that much on my books this month like I had hoped. I've been trying to read my regular books, but to no avail.

Instead though this time around I've been focusing on my comic books and graphic novels.

Marie wrote:

Completed: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

What did you think of this one?

It's one of my absolute favorite books.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Happy Thursday!! How many of us were in the path of totality for the solar eclipse on Monday? I was, but the sky was REALLY cloudy. So I got to experience it getting suddenly very dark, and then light again, but I didn't get to actually SEE the sun that day."
I was, but I really wasn't enthused. I've seen them before. I guess twice is enough? LOL

Hello from a sunny but windy Columbus! I had a very busy string of days at work so I’m just now getting a little bit of time to sit down and type something up. I’m at my cousin’s daughter’s birthday party and found a nice sunny spot to watch the kids but also have a minute to myself lol.

Columbus was just barely in the path of totality and thankfully I was in it! So the whole fam drove over to the elementary school playground and watched there. It was so nuts how noticeably cooler it got as the eclipse happened. I loved seeing all the cool pictures my friends took, I feel like it’s usually cloudy here so it’s great that we had a nice clear view.

Finished:
Project Hail Mary for last years friends challenge. I had read The Martian several years back and remembered really enjoying it. So I wasn’t surprised to discover that I thoroughly enjoyed this one as well. I love his sense of humor and how it’s still nerdy without being too hard to understand. I can’t really talk about the most enjoyable parts of this book without spoiling it so I’ll just say that it was really fun and I want to read more of his work.

The Little Prince not for a challenge but the latest bedtime audiobook I finished with my son. I remember reading this as a kid, and then again in college French courses, and revisiting it again as a mom when I heard there was a movie being made. Each time this book hits in a different way. Such a bittersweet and beautiful story. I adored the movie and can’t wait to watch it with him when we have time.

The Great Alone also for the friends challenge. I really love her writing, and I loved how she told this story but this deals with the kinds of characters I find so, so frustrating. I was so upset over the choices Leni’s mom kept making that I thought I was going to throw my phone lol. This is a hard read if the topic of DV hits too close to home. But the imagery of life in Alaska is lovely and I found myself really rooting for these characters to be okay.

Currently Reading:
Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Great Adventure Catholic Bible
Mistress of Mellyn

QOTW:
That’d probably be the cormoran strike series I’ve been rereading. I’m a sucker for a good detective novel

Challenges:
Popsugar - 9/45; 1/5
Read Harder - 10/24
Classics - 2/12
European Tour - 4/10
12 Friends - 10/12
Yearly Goal - 60/150

Hello all!

I am pretty sure I was no where near the path, and it wouldn't have mattered anyway because it was pouring rain that day. April has been a VERY rainy month so far (it actually started back in March).

I have been suffering from book overload or more like just being overwhelmed with the piles and expectations I have. So my reading will actually suffer because I can't get into reading when I feel too overwhelmed. I need to just read these books I have sitting here, return them to the library, and focus on books I own. That also involves trusting that I can find books that will work for the challenges in my TBR shelves and if not, just being happy to have finally read them.

This is a two week check in but, like I said, I didn't get much read. One of these I actually finished today.

2024 Challenges:
Popsugar: 21/50
ATY: 34/52
Robot Librarian: 30/52
A to Z: 18/26
Physical TBR: 0/93
Kindle TBR: 1/111

Goodreads: 40/50

Book Clubs:
PS Monthly: 21/54
Reese: 29/94
Oprah: 11/101
Jenna: 7/65
OSS: 6/39

Finished:
3 finished, 1 Completed Popsugar

The Second Murderer: A Philip Marlowe Novel
ATY #52

Frozen 2: Forest of Shadows
PS#38
I am actually glad that my nephew decided that he was over this book because as I continued to read it myself I very quickly realized this might have been too scary for him and caused nightmares.

Tom Lake
ATY#18; RL#29 (on a farm/ranch)
I’m using this for farm b/c while it is a story about her life as an actress she is telling it from the family farm while they are picking their harvest.
I loved that this was narrated by Meryl Streep!
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Currently Reading
The Quarter Storm
Just My Type
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?

On the Backburner
Libby
Physical Library Rentals
The True Love Experiment
Back of Beyond
Shady Hollow
Sounder
The Luminous Dead
Zazen

Magazines: (4/153)
Read since last check-in: 1

Question of the Week:
I would have to say XOXO and Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Two totally different books but the best of what I read in March.

Picked up these two books yesterday.


The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

- I didn't get the cover that is shown. They released a 10th anniversary edition of the book (blue cover) so I picked that up which I'm looking forward to.

*****

Also picked up this one.


Native Nations: A Millennium in North America

I'm always looking for new Indigenous books at Barnes and they rarely have any because their Indigenous section only consists of one row of books (very sad). But I did manage to find this one, but got it on Amazon instead since it was way cheaper.

Don't know what this book is about, but I'm excited to get to it.