Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Welcome to Thursday!!  I feel like I can't say "happy Thursday" today on this solemn day of remembrance in the US.

The weather has been lovely here, super chilly at night, warm and pleasant during the day.  I've got even more raspberries than I had last week, I need to go out there and eat handfuls every day.  Such a chore LOL but somebody's got to do it!

There is no need to be jealous of my raspberries - if you have a yard, you can have raspberries, too.  They are SUPER easy to grow.  If you know someone who grows them, ask for a cutting.  Otherwise, go to a nearby garden store and buy a plant.  It WILL spread, by underground runners, and you will soon have a huge patch of raspberries.  I bought my plant at the farmer's market years ago, I have no idea what variety they are, the farmer told me they are "good ones" LOL that's all he knew.  Mine are "ever-bearing" which means I get two crops a year, an early summer crop and a bigger late summer crop.  I do NOTHING to care for these plants, and they are so vigorous they are even out-competing my most vigorous weeds that have suffocated everything else.


I don't talk about my TV viewing as much, but I have been absolutely OBSESSED with K-dramas lately. (And I think "lately" has been a long time now.)    I just finished Bad & Crazy and decided I need more Lee Dong Wook in my life (SO MUCH MORE) so I am currently watching The Tale of the Nine-Tailed.  I will admit the first two episodes were not so great, but I'm on episode 12 now and it is SO GOOD.  




***** Admin stuff *****
September's group read, which could fulfill "A Book About an Overlooked Woman in History," is:  Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail.   You can join the discussion here:  https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The October group read, which could fill "A book containing magical creatures that aren't dragons" will be: The Fellowship of the Ring.  

The November group read  (which could fill "book about a food truck") will be A Psalm for the Wild-Built.  That's a popular author in our group - let us know if you would like to lead the discussion!!

The nomination poll for December is here!
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...
December's group read will be for Prompt #25, A book where the main character is an immigrant or refugee, so think now about what you'd like to nominate.  This will, of course, be our last series of polls until the new list comes out (which usually happens in early December).






This week I finished 2 books, one for this Challenge, so I am now 47/50.

The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works by Helen Czerski - I had started this back in July, but then my audiobook loan expired, and I had to wait a month to get it back.  I enjoyed this a lot, and I know I learned plenty, but then I forgot all of it.  Does it count as learning if you forget? I think so. I bet it will all come right back to me if I am reminded in some way.

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay- the book blurb led me to believe that most of this book would be set in 1999 in Linden NJ dealing with murder at the Linden Blockbuster Video.  As it happens, I grew up in a town bordering Linden, and I rented a lot of videotapes from the Linden Blockbuster!!  So I decided to read this for "reminds you of your childhood."   Unfortunately, this turned out to be a pretty lousy mystery, with a trite conclusion and boring, flat characters. This is a guy who can NOT write believable women, and he clearly knows nothing about Linden NJ.  Why did he even set it there??  My review ended up being mostly a list of all the things that are wrong about the setting.   Since I chose this with the best of intentions, I still checked off the category.



Popsugar 94% 47 /50
Must Reads 50% 5 /10
AtY 88% 46 /52
AtY bonus 100% 10 /10
2025 pub 84% 42 /50
NetGalley ratio  90%




Question of the Week

What are your bookish pet peeves?


A book that gets the details wrong will make me crazy!  If you're going to set your story in a real location, make sure you're accurate.

Also, I hate when humans "pad" across the floor.  If you are a creature with pads on your feet, like a cat or dog, then you can pad across the floor.  If you are a human, no.  You can walk, step, march, tiptoe, plod, sneak, shuffle, slide, skip, trot, leap, stride, stomp, saunter, sashay (hmmm why do so many of these words start with S??) but please do not pad.

And if an author uses "smirk" more than once in a book, I start getting agitated. I think it was Red Queen that made me go off the rails, she used "smirk" on every other page!   Actually, any slightly less common word will annoy me if used more than once, like romance novels that have to tell you four or five times that the character smells like vanilla or pine trees or whatever.  

It’s Thursday, y’all.

My life is finally settling down. Today I will get my new dishwasher installed, and the old one gone! I am so very excited to have my kitchen back again. The first thing I will do is clean!

Speaking of clean, I have been trying to get up my nerve to wash my dog…fully. Today is the day, I am sure.

Fall is here…at least temperature wise. And, I love it! I like the coolness at night and warmth during the day.

I’m feeling good about myself also. I like the changes that I have made in my life, including Darla.

And, I am feeling quiet…a friend died yesterday. Not a close friend, but a woman I admired and met. She had an impact on my life; I am grateful. She had been ill for a long time. I did not know her well, but her words and actions will continue to have an impact.

Now on to my reading…

Finished:
The Practice of the Presence of God – Devotional reading. 3*

Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail– PS #32 (overlooked woman). An amazing woman, but I am not sure that I get how she alone saved the Appalachian trail. Seems to me it was through the hard work of many people. Still she made a definite impact on hiking, trails, and getting out in nature. 4*

Night Shift Witch – Kindle. No prompt. 4* I liked the unusual setting, the way Star sees the good in her human boss as well as the scary wizard, and the outcome. Fun read.

Shaman – PS #38/#39 (same title). Finished! It is a shame that books I own take me so very long to read due to library due dates on others. This was a book I read for same title, which also had the exact same number of pages, and it turns out was set in the same place with the same Native American tribe/history events. This book was from the white man perspective, although one very connected with the Native Americans. Loved it. 4*

The Guncle - PS #35 (LGTBQ not coming out). For most of this book, I was a solid 3* due to its silliness. However, by the end it had made it to 4*. A bit too much of the gayness felt put-on rather than true for me.

The Thing About Home: A Lowcountry Novel– no prompt. 4*. Another book that should have been 3.5* or 3.75* rather than a true 4*. I did not relate to the internet influencer lifestyle, nor to her total blindness to her own life. However, I did find myself becoming more accepting of Casey as she started to mature into her own true self.

Currently Reading:
The Kept Woman – PAS. 51%

Spiritual Reading:
Navigating the Bible: The 5-Minute Guide to Understanding God's Word – I am using this book as a brief overview of whatever Bible book I am reading. Currently it is Proverbs.

Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart: Parables of the Spiritual Path from Around the World – Devotional bedtime reading. 58%

The Imitation of Christ – Devotional reading. 3%

Just Starting:
A Resistance of Witches: A Novel – 6%

The Henna Artist – Book Club choice for Sept. 4%

The Scarlet Letter: Complete Text and Study Guide – Library book/movie discussion. Reread. Due Sept. 16

On Deck: (library)
The Anatomist's Wife - PS #15 (bot recommended)
Maniac Magee - PAS
The Tombs of Atuan – PAS
Nettle & Bone - PAS, PS #34 (neurodivergent author)

PS 38/50
ATY 39/52
GR 153/200

QotW: What are your bookish pet peeves?

Poor grammar. Long run-on sentences. No chapters. To name a few!

Hey all!

Life continues to be life. Work, school, reading, writing, and replaying Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for the fifth time. It's my comfort game, what can I say...

Books read this week:

Summers End -- another fun entry in the Shady Hollow series. Now I have to wait until October for the next one, dangit…

Hemlock & Silver -- a loose adaptation of Snow White by one of my favorite authors. At this point I'd read a cookbook if T Kingfisher wrote it…

The Last Bear -- I wanted to like this so bad… but maybe I’m too old to suspend my disbelief enough to believe a little girl can befriend a polar bear

Spy x Family, Vol. 7
Spy x Family, Vol. 8

DNF:

This Is Not a Werewolf Story -- not really in the mood to read about an abusive teacher, thanks…

The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with our Wild Neighbors -- wasn’t holding my interest, and kept wandering between topics

Currently reading:

The Best of Catherynne M. Valente, Volume One -- this is a BIG collection of short stories, so having to read it in chunks
The Peppercorn Tree
The Writing Retreat
Bird Box
Wicked Wonders

QOTW:

Man, I've got a lot of these, but let's stick with a few:

* Ending the first book in a series on a cliffhanger/incomplete ending just to force readers into buying the next book in the series.

* Not using quotation marks on dialogue. I don't care how "artsy" it is.

* Mishandled/gratuitous scenes of r*pe, especially when used solely for shock value or to add "depth" to a female character's backstory

* Glaring research errors. I can let a few of these slip by in the name of artistic license, but readers NOTICE these kinds of things, people...

Morning all! We're getting frequent visits from the neighbor's adorable tuxedo kitty. Our cats are indoor only, and one has befriended her, while the other hides whenever she turns up. He's afraid of pretty much everything.

I'm at 80 books for the year, 42/50 for the Popsugar, 46/52 for the Booklist Queen.

Finished:

Keanu Reeves is Not in Love With You: The Murky World of Online Romance Fraud for a redo of a 2024 Popsugar category (title is a complete sentence). While it included a lot of practical information about online romance scams (red flags, common scripts, where to get help if you're in the UK), the book was also hysterically funny. The author would string scammers along, always juuust about to send them money but there was some minor complication. When it was obvious they were not fully fluent in English, she would say things like "Can I bring my sister when I meet you? I'll have to release her from the tumble dryer, but she should be dry by then." The scammers never questioned these comments, nor why she always claimed to live in towns with vaguely obscene names.

Floating Hotel for a book set in a luxury resort. The Abeona is a spaceship that functions as a posh hotel. Humanity now occupies many planets, and it's forbidden to suggest that aliens exist (even in fiction), or to question the Emperor in any way. There's a notorious figure called the Lamplighter who publishes anti-Empire missives, and the Emperor thinks it's someone aboard the Abeona. Everyone on staff has a secret, a guest is missing, and someone is a spy for the Empire.

Currently reading:

Funny Story for the Booklist Queen category of 2024 Goodreads award winner. Classic fake-dating setup: Daphne's fiance dumps her for Petra, so Daphne needs a place to move, and Miles (the guy Petra dumped) now has a spare room. When the exes have the nerve to send them wedding invitations, Daphne & Miles decide to pretend they're dating. Really enjoying it so far.

Evelina for a debut author (Booklist Queen) and a 2015 Popsugar category (first book by a famous author). Considering it's from 1778, this is much lighter reading than I expected. I'd pictured those London balls to be very proper affairs, but Evelina's being followed around by a guy making an absolute ass of himself, and I'm thinking, "Wow, some things haven't changed in 250 years!"

QOTW: I'm pretty forgiving of minor editing or research errors, but I read one recently with no page numbers! How?

I can't stand books where a woman falls in love with a guy despite/because of him treating her really badly. Or in general, books that make me question whether the author has ever met a woman. Similarly, can't stand when the only character of color appears to have no life outside of the white main character.

Good morning, everyone! Happy Thursday!

I’ve pretty much spent this week ignoring (and in some cases outright avoiding) most of my responsibilities. I’m just having a lot of trouble with motivation right now.

The only area where I’m not having trouble with motivation is reading. I did a tremendous amount of reading this week! I actually split my time pretty evenly between fiction and nonfiction, and I really enjoyed the majority of the books I read.

Here are my current challenge and TBR totals…

Goodreads Challenge: 306/250 (122% — Challenge Complete!)
Mount TBR Challenge: 154/150 (102% — Challenge Complete!)

📚Physical TBR: 108/731
📱Ebook TBR: 35/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 154/961 (16% complete)

TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 3

I did pick up a few new releases this week, including Howl’s Moving Castle Deluxe Limited Edition, by Diana Wynne Jones; You Can't Live All on Your Own!, Volume 2, by Mizoko Tsuno; and Too Old for This, by Samantha Downing.

“New” Books Bought in 2025: 146
“New” Books Read in 2025: 140
“New” Books DNFed in 2025: 1
“New” Books Checklist Total: 96% complete

Here are the books I finished this week…

Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Buried Deep and Other Stories — I really enjoyed reading this collection of short stories. It was a lot of fun to return to the worlds Novik created for her other books, but I also loved having a chance to read stories set in the worlds of Greek mythology, Sherlock Holmes, and Jane Austen. In fact, my favorite story in this collection was a fantasy retelling of Pride and Prejudice. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Bone Raiders — It took me a while to get into this book, and I have to confess that there were a couple of times early on when I thought about DNFing. I’m very glad I decided to stick with it though, because as I got to know the characters better, I really got invested in their story…to the point where I basically read the second half of the book in a single evening. While it’s pretty fast-paced and there is a lot of action, the characters are what make this book worth reading, and I’m already looking forward to finding out what will happen to them all in the next book. Content Alert: (view spoiler)[ This book includes a violent animal death, and scenes involving torture (of both animals and humans). (hide spoiler)] 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Of Curses & Beauty — While it did take me a little while to get fully invested in this story, it turned out to be a sweet romance with great characters. Content Alert: (view spoiler)[ This book does include references to unwanted sexual attention, including unwanted touching, manhandling, and veiled threats of rape. (hide spoiler)] 📱: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
~Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff — I thought this was a really good book. The author included practical advice for how to approach the clutter in your home while acknowledging that it can be a difficult task to complete…one which is never truly done. There was a significant amount of repetition once she started talking about decluttering specific areas of the home, but that was because the process really doesn’t change from room to room, which makes things easier. 🎧: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~From Chaos to Chill: A Gen X Guide to Decluttering Your Life — This decluttering book was very different than the previous one, and not only because it was only 42 pages in length. Rather than recommending a one-size-fits-all plan for decluttering, this book guides Gen-Xers through the process of decluttering using a variety of methods, and actually provides an order in which to tackle the clutter in your home. It’s short and to the point, which I thought was awesome. However, I do wish there’d been a little more discussion about how to deal with the guilt of letting things go (such as gifts, things you spent a lot of money on, etc.). The topic is touched on briefly, but apart from adopting a practical “if you’re not using it and won’t miss it, get rid of it” attitude, there’s not much instruction on how to not feel guilty. 📱: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age — I thought this was a very interesting book, especially because I had no idea that so many women were involved in the fields of archaeology and Egyptology during this time period. You usually only hear about the discoveries made by men. If you’re looking for a book to fulfill the “overlooked woman in history” prompt for this year’s POPSUGAR Reading Challenge, this would be a really good one to read. While this book was on my physical TBR, my library had a copy of the audiobook available, so I ended up listening to most of it on Libby. I thought the audiobook narration was really good, and enjoyed listening to it while I worked in my office and before bed. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~My Hygge Home: How to Make Home Your Happy Place — This book was written by the same author as The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well, and it focuses on using Hygge to create a happier home. I thought this was a good read, and I was able to get ideas for transforming several spaces in my own house that I just haven’t been happy with since moving into it nearly 3 years ago. 📱: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None

Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None

DNFed:
None

Currently Reading:
~Tree and Leaf: Includes Mythopoeia and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth — I haven’t made very much progress on this book during the past week. I’m currently about halfway through Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy Stories.” 📚
~NIV Audio Bible — This audiobook edition of The Bible is read by David Suchet. This is a reread for me, but it will be my first time listening to the entire Bible from cover-to-cover on audio. My goal is to finish listening before the end of the year, so I am listening for about 45 minutes each day. I currently have 81 hours left to listen to. 🎧
~The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2 — After an extended break and a soft DNF, I have officially returned to reading this book. I am aiming to read around 20 pages per day, with the goal of finishing before the end of the year. Content Alert: (view spoiler)[ This book includes, but is not limited to: references to bestiality, size shaming, and insults toward people of various skin colors. (hide spoiler)] 📚
~On Wings of Blood — This is the first book in the Bloodwing Academy series. I have to admit that I picked up this book purely because it was pretty, without really knowing anything about it. I’m really enjoying it though. I’m currently a little less than halfway through, and will probably finish later today. 📚
~Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy — I was actually able to borrow a copy of the audiobook edition of this book from my local library, so I am listening to it on Libby. The narrator is really good, and I’m enjoying listening to it before bed and while I work on my office. I’m currently 63% of the way through. 📚

QOTW:
As far as bookish pet peeves are concerned, I would have to say that grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and poor word choice top the list. They make me feel like I should be making corrections while I’m reading, which pulls me out of the story entirely.

Factual errors also really annoy me when I’m reading nonfiction. I’m still mad at the author who contributed an essay to Jurassic Park and Philosophy: The Truth Is Terrifying and described the tour vehicles in the first Jurassic Park movie using the wrong make and model.

Hello! It's September 11th, and I've got a lot of complicated feelings today.

2025 Reading Challenges:

52 Book Club: 47/52 (Connections Challenge: 14/21, September Mini-Challenge: 0/1)
ATY: 41/52 (ATY Anniversary Challenge: 8/10, ATY Fall Challenge: 14/36)
The Book Girls’ Guide: 53/74
Booklist Queen: 46/52
Popsugar: 47/50
Goodreads Summer Challenge (Bookmarks): 9/9 – New bookmarks start on September 15!

My Ever-Growing TBR: 113/311 – 36.3% (My goal is 33.3%. Still in good shape!)

Recently Completed:

🍎 Where You're Planted (ATY Fall #7 – author’s initials in PUMPKIN SPICE: Melanie Sweeney/BGG Book Lovers #9 – about libraries and librarians) ★★★
🍎 The Impossible Fortress: Re-read - BOTM selection. (ATY Fall #17 – title starts with a letter in THANKSGIVING)/BGG Decades #9 – set in the 1980s) ★★★★★
🍎 Beach Vibes (ATY Fall #16 – title starts with a letter in BONFIRE NIGHT) ★★★
🍎 Give Her Credit: The Untold Account of a Women's Bank That Empowered a Generation: Kindle First Reads. (ATY Fall #15 – title starts with a letter in GHOST STORIES) ★★★
🍎 Wilde in Love, The Wildes of Lindow Castle #1 (ATY Fall #12 – title starts with a letter in HALLOWEEN) ★★★
🍎 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones: As with most self-help books I didn’t feel like I needed a whole book on the topic. (ATY Fall #3 – title starts with a letter in HARVEST) ★★★
🍎 Buried Deep and Other Stories (52 Books #46 – read in a -ber month/ATY Fall #4 – author’s initials in RED AND ORANGE) ★★★★
🍎 The Jane Austen Project: Jane Austen Book Club. (ATY #49 – time travel/alternate timeline) ★★★★
🍎 The Phoenix Pencil Company (ATY Fall #14 – author’s initials in TRICK OR TREAT) ★★★★
🍎 Our Souls at Night (ATY Fall #2 – title starts with a letter in CORN MAZE/BGG Lifetime of Reading #9 – 70-somethings) ★★★★



QOTW: My bookish pet peeves? Here's a few:

1. Improper punctuation. I want commas and quotation marks. We have grammatical conventions for a reason - clarity.
2. Book in a series that can't stand on their own. It's fine if it's left open enough to justify another book, but each book should have a distinct beginning, middle, and end.
3. Settings that don't make sense. If a book is set in a specific place, it should feel like that place.
4. Names I can't pronounce. I can't read a book if my brain short circuits every time the MC's name is mentioned. If an author has given their characters unusual (or made up) names, they should provide a pronunciation key.

K.L. wrote: "~Buried Deep and Other Stories — I really enjoyed reading this collection of short stories. It was a lot of fun to return to the worlds Novik created for her other books, but I also loved having a chance to read stories set in the worlds of Greek mythology, Sherlock Holmes, and Jane Austen. In fact, my favorite story in this collection was a fantasy retelling of Pride and Prejudice. "

I read the same book this week! And I agree that the Pride and Prejudice retelling was excellent. I'd love to see Novik expand that concept into novel form.

Hello everyone,
Work starting to wind down. Testing students this week and next. I will then start preparing for next quarter. I have about 4 days between quarters to prepare and relax! I've been with this company for over 10 years and I have mixed feelings. It's hard to work for a company that does not trust its employees but I love my students (I especially love seeing them grow).

Reading is and always has been my escape. This week I have read
- by Heather Marshall
- by Lauren Drain and
- by Benjamin Wallace.

I have started some new challenges
- The Bookworm Bitches Author Challenge - Taylor Jenkins Reid. I did not complete the last author challenge but I'm going to try to read at least 1 for this challenge. I'm planning to read
- Hooked on Books Just for Fun: Me Challenge: The challenge is to read a book that relates to you. It's a pretty laid back challenge

I am continuing with Hooked on Books September Listopia Madness Challenge and the Symbols of Luck and Fortune Challenge.

I don't watch much TV. I am a fan of the Dexter series and just watch the finale. I love a show that really gets you emotionally involved with the characters. The show is so well written that I actually find myself cheering for a serial killer!

Question of the Week

What are your bookish pet peeves?
Like a lot you, there are so many. I hate when paragraphs are too long. Especially when they could have been broken into smaller paragraphs that would make the story flow better.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Welcome to Thursday!!  I feel like I can't say "happy Thursday" today on this solemn day of remembrance in the US.

The weather has been lovely here, super chilly at night, warm and pleasant during..."

You and your aversion to the verb 'pad' crack me up. Since it is a primary meaning as a verb, and I am unaware of any other single word verb that quite provides the same precise unambiguous meaning so effectively, resign yourself to reading it whenever someone is walking barefoot:


verb
verb: pad; 3rd person present: pads; past tense: padded; past participle: padded; gerund or present participle: padding
walk with steady steps making a soft dull sound.
"she padded along the corridor"
Similar:
walk quietly
tread softly
walk barefoot
walk in stockinged feet
walk in slippers
shuffle
soft-shoe


BTW I agree that 'smirk' is overused in certain genres.. There was something I read recently - a romantic suspense probably - where the male main character's only facial reaction seemed to be a smirk.

💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖


🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰
Popsugar Challenge Completion: 31%, 8/26
📖=book 💻=ebook 🎧=audiobook 🌠=rating
🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰


📖🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠
📖🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠
📖 Currently Reading
I started reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman. I could hardly put the books down and I've now also read the second book Carl's Doomsday Scenario and have started on the third, The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook. This series is just so much fun, I'm having an absolute blast reading it. I've ended up switching out some of my Popsugar to-reads with the rest of this series.


📖 Reading Hiatus
I've ended up taking a break from reading Ladyparts by Deborah Copaken. So far I've enjoyed it well enough, but it definitely is a heavy read. Maybe I'll get back to it once I'm done with the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.



🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰🟰

Question of the Week

What are your bookish pet peeves?

📖 🌠🌠
‼️‼️ Warning! Inadvertent book criticism imminent! ‼️‼️

One of mine is when an author is overly repetitive with a particular phrase, even if they've manage to describe it in various ways. One example of this is in Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid. Almost every emotion seemed to stem from the stomach, with every chapter describing a roiling stomach and/or a rising gorge. I don't know if there was a reason for the repetitiveness, but it became fairly annoying and towards the end of the book I was rolling my eyes.

Another pet peeve of mine is when an author doesn't make clear where their characters are standing in relation to one another and their surroundings. And I mean when they make it so it seems a character is simultaneously standing in several different spots. It leads to the scene becoming rather jarring and, at times, completely nonsensical. If you want an example of this, it frequently happens in Fable for the End of the World.

A third would be when authors miss out on a chance to broaden their world building and decide to cop out via an overly used trope. If there are hints at a potentially rich, barely known society on the outskirts of civilization, follow through. Don't suddenly decide they're just another type of mutant zombie when they could be so much more. Or just leave the earlier snippets of world building out and make them full zombies. Fully commit one way or the other. Please. *cough*Fable for the End of the World*cough*

Finally, authors not giving their story a long enough timeline for events to proceed in a sensible manner. If you're going to include details like hunting and drying meat, or a character's world outlook completely changing, there needs to be enough time for these things to happen. Where can you find an example where this was poorly done? Off the top of my head, once again, is Fable for the End of the World (go figure).

The funny thing, though, is I enjoyed reading Fable for the End of the World well enough to finish it. I think, however, it was for the many possibilities the story could have taken, which sadly were not followed through on. The end result is a rather mediocre read that feels so much like an unpolished first draft (or a rough fanfic), I'm not sure how it ever got published in its present form.

💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖📖💖

Laura Ruth wrote: "Floating Hotel for a book set in a luxury resort. The Abeona is a spaceship that functions as a posh hotel. Humanity now occupies many planets, and it's forbidden to suggest that aliens exist ..."



You make that sound really good!! It's next on my list to try reading for "space tourism" if my current book (The Princess and the Scoundrel) doesn't pan out. And so far, it's not looking good for me with Hans & Leia. I read the first few pages and I'm having a SUPER hard time with these characters, that I know so well on screen, in a book. And this is a surprise to me, because I've read fanfiction, I'm good with fanfiction, but perhaps I'm not good with this particular Hans/Leia fanfiction.

Theresa wrote: "BTW I agree that 'smirk' is overused in certain genres.. There was something I read recently - a romantic suspense probably - where the male main character's only facial reaction seemed to be a smirk."

English doesn't really have enough synonyms for "smile". Characters can laugh, chuckle, giggle, chortle, cackle, snicker, guffaw, etc. - but when it comes to smiling, the only ones available are grin or smirk. (I guess there's also "beam," but that doesn't get used much.)

Nadine in NY wrote: "Welcome to Thursday!!  I feel like I can't say "happy Thursday" today on this solemn day of remembrance in the US.

The weather has been lovely here, super chilly at night, warm and pleasant during..."

I love eastern dramas and watch them whenever I feel like I have enough time and energy to commit. Here's some unsolicited recommendations!

The Untamed
Love Between Fairy and Devil
Sweet Home
My Demon
Daily Dose of Sunshine
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
Hotel del Luna
It's Okay to Not Be Okay

Happy Thursday from the Oregon coast. We're on vacation! I've been getting a bit of reading done, mostly because I have an eBook due back to the library on Friday.

Finished:
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed - 3.5 stars - not for a prompt. A dark fairy tale with an excellent main character that I thought needed a little more room to breathe and develop.

I am currently at 42/50 for Popsugar (35/40 and 7/10).

Currently reading:
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher - not currently for a prompt. Someone on Storygraph added this for the nonverbal character prompt, but so far, I don't see how it applies except maybe for the rooster. So I will probably need to find something else for that prompt.

Upcoming/Planned:
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna - not currently for a prompt

QOTW:
I think my big pet peeves are chapters that are too long/no chapters, the "miscommunication" trope in romance, overused phrases, and logistics that make no sense. (i.e. character was sitting in a chair, and suddenly they're standing and looking out a window without the writer having told us they moved. IDK why, I can fill in the blanks, but it bothers me.)

Hi all. I am feeling despondent about the state of the world. I read a lot of history, both fiction and non, and I often wonder, did the people at the time know they were watching tipping points? I can't imagine they did, at least not most of them. And since we can't know what event will lead to things getting fatally bad, I guess I have to decide what is my own personal tipping point? I remember while reading The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner, I was yelling in my mind for Lise to leave Nazi Germany (even though I knew she eventually would! lol). She thought she'd be safe because she wasn't a German citizen, or because she was a scientist, or because she worked for a prestigious lab with famous German men who could vouch for her. In the end, none of it mattered, she was still a Jew and had to flee. Sigh....

Looking beyond my malaise, things are pretty good here. It's been nice to have a quiet house during the day. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous. And this weekend, I'm going with my brother to Syracuse to see Hamilton!!! I'm SO excited. I think the last time I went to see a live professional performance of any kind was when I was pregnant, so almost 7 years ago!
Oh, and my daughter and I are playing Zelda Ocarina of Time on the Switch. I played it a hundred years ago on the N64, so I've forgotten a lot of things, but I remember some things so that I'm getting through it pretty quickly. I love that game, so it's been fun.

I've been using my freedom during the day, with the prodding of the ATY read-a-thon, to get some reading done. I've made progress in:

The Winter Garden, enjoyable. Although the chapter last night had this woman who is in chronic pain and fatigue apparently traipse around a whole town?? I dunno....

The Purple Violet of Oshaantu, I'm liking this story of African women, one of whom has an abusive husband and her friend who is trying to help her. I think there are threads that could come together in an interesting way, I shall have to see if they do.

See You When the Snow Falls I believe this is a light novel? I'm not entirely sure what that means. It seems like just a story to me.

Never Saw Me Coming Having a hard time putting this down! I want to know who the killer is, and who is telling the truth (I mean, really, no one is, but I guess who is lying the least??).

QOTW: Because I get most of my books in paper format from the library, my biggest pet peeve is deckled pages! They're hard for me to turn and flip through when reading. I also dislike it when characters have similar names; as I'm reading, I often skim past names so fast that I really only pay attention to the first letter. So if the FMC is Marie and the MMC is Morris.... you are really disrupting my flow as I try to read quickly!
I'm not a fan of scant punctuation or long paragraphs or chapters, but once I know that's how a book is set up, I can deal with it, I just have to be in the right headspace to read like that when I pick it up.

Goodreads Summer Challenge: 6/9
VPL: 12/24
Mar.-Aug. Purchased TBR: 24/54
June-Aug. Library TBR: 16/30

Finished: The Lilac People: A Novel This was very well-written and very disturbing. It's set right after the Allies liberate Nazi Germany. I didn't realize that they rearrested prisoners with pink triangles and black triangle! So disturbing.

Democracy and Its Critics This had a lot of good content. It also had a lot of Platonic dialogues, which got on my nerves a bit, but overall, very helpful for my project.

One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported
Oh man! I wish this weren't still relevant. I don't think I really got much of anything out of this. Mostly, it was a slog through things he did during his first presidency and then a feeble attempt to make suggestions on how to improve things. I have another book to read on the same topic and I'm not looking forward to it.

Started: Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI
The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy Michael Lewis is such a good author. This is a quick read to accompany a master class I'm taking with him.

QotW: This is something my friend pointed out in high school and now I can't un-see it. Whenever an author says, "it was as if she could read my mind," it seems so lazy. Sure, the AUTHOR knows what's going on in all the character's minds, but please, make it believable. Such as, she knew from my sharp intake of breath that I wasn't pleased. People don't read each other's minds!!!

September has been super-busy for me so far, so I am glad to have some time off from work to recharge 🥵 I finished one book and will be finishing a second today, so I'm counting it as complete for today's check-in. I'm at 15/40 and 0/10 for this challenge, and 53/85 for my overall Goodreads Reading Challenge.

Finished:
* Sing Her Down by Ivy Pochoda, which was a NetGalley backlist title. Now I just need to write up a review 🤓
* The Violin Conspiracy written by Brendan Slocumb and narrated by Brendan Slocumb (author's note) and JD Jackson, which I am using for "A book where music plays an integral part of the storyline." It's one of my book clubs' picks for September (my suggestion) 🎻

Currently Reading:
* The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries edited by Michael Sims;
* Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto; and,
* Expanding Your Power: A Woman’s Opportunity to Inspire Teams & Influence Organizations by Marsha L. Clark, which is my latest Goodreads Giveaways win.

QotW:
What are your bookish pet peeves? Here are a few that came to mind (some of which are similar to ones already mentioned):
* Short books with long chapters (or no chapters) without breaks that lend themselves to a natural place to pause your reading.
* Multiple characters with similar names, especially when they are for secondary characters who don't have distinguishing characteristics to help me keep everyone straight.
* Characters who are supposed to be a certain age but don't act/speak like someone that age actually would act/speak.
* Audiobook narrators who use weird accents that cause me to be distracted by their performance instead of being immersed in the book. Some of my favorite narrators do amazing accent work and I love how they bring the books to life with their performances, so I don't dislike the use of accents or different voices for characters in general. Just when it lands wrong on my ears and I can't get past it.

I thought I was done with my local book award reading, but it turns out there's one more list! Not as long as the past ones, so not that big a deal, but I'm mid-way through a couple of books that I'll have to put on hold for the time being.

Finished:
A Method for Magic and Misfortune - This was a netgalley read by an author I read earlier this year, and while I liked his previous book better, this was still an engaging read. The epilogue felt a touch unnecessary though.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - (GR Summer Challenge Poolside Puzzlers, BLQ Popular book you've never read) I thought this was pretty good, but it loses some points for the more overly clever bits. Might not read the second book, but I'll probably read the Christmas story in December.
Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 13 - It doesn't feel like a lot happened in this one. I hope we're almost done with the giant leech, but I won't be able to find out until next March.

Currently reading:
Songs for Other People's Weddings
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Pizza Witch
The Secret Language of Birds
Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon

QOTW: I definitely have some audiobook pet peeves: when a narrator treats a dialogue tag as a separate sentence, when a female narrator voices boys by giving them a gravelly voice (especially when they're described as being a good singer!), and conversely when male narrators voice girls by giving them a high-pitched, borderline obnoxious voice. In the same vein, when a narrator voices a character in a way that seems incongruous with how the character is characterized. For example, I reread the first two Witchlings books last year by listening to the audiobook, and the way Valley was voiced felt so off that I actually asked the author about it, and she agreed! Apparently she didn't have much say in the audiobook's direction.
My biggest audiobook peeve is when an audiobook starts off with a big anti-piracy message. If there's anything I can think of that would turn someone off of listening to the audiobook, it's being yelled at before even hearing word one of the story.

I read the lost bookshop as my book I got for free.

I read Called Out as my LGBT book not centered on coming out.

I started Red Queen by Christina Henry as my second of two books with the same title.

QOTW: Continuity errors. Historical and geographical errors. Writing that sounds like a 12 year old.

Theresa wrote: "resign yourself to reading it whenever someone is walking barefoot ..."



LOL noooooo it's my hill and I will die on it!!

Acidic Quagga wrote: "Here's some unsolicited recommendations!

The Untamed
Love Between Fairy and Devil
Sweet Home
My Demon
Daily Dose of Sunshine
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
Hotel del Luna
It's Okay to Not Be Okay..."


I need to make a list. I LOVED My Demon sooo much, and I watched all three seasons of Sweet Home, and I tried Fairy and Devil but couldn't get into it. Have not seen the others.

Right now my selection process is based on the actors, and I'm limited to shows available on the streaming services I have -I've seen every show on Netflix with Woo Do Hwan, and I've got only one left with Wookie in it, and several still to watch on Netflix with Song Kang.

We watch J-Dramas too. If you like sweet angsty romances with no fantasy elements, watch "A Girl and Three Sweethearts."

Jen W. wrote: "Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher - not currently for a prompt. Someone on Storygraph added this for the nonverbal character prompt, but so far, I don't see how it applies except maybe for the rooster. So I will probably need to find something else for that prompt. ..."



Maybe they were thinking of the cat? I think it only talks to Anja, to everyone else it's a non-verbal cat?

Jennifer W wrote: "I also dislike it when characters have similar names; as I'm reading, I often skim past names so fast that I really only pay attention to the first letter. So if the FMC is Marie and the MMC is Morris.... you are really disrupting my flow as I try to read quickly!..."




Yes that's a common complaint of mine, too! I think it was in A Discovery of Witches there were multiple characters whose names started with "M" and in the book I just finished there were women named Ella and Keller which sound just like each other when you're listening to an audiobook.

Greetings from NYC where the weather is spectacular. There's a quietness, a gravity, about the day, true every year on 9/11. Most of us work but the memories are all around us. It's a moment I use to bring up memories of those I lost that day and hug them close.

PS - 45/50
Aty - 61/62

My reading has been slow lately as I juggle the extreme amount of work in my legal practice these days (always the case in September as the upcoming Jewish holidays disrupt badly) and obligations on the estate I am settling in Santa Fe. By late evening I just want to sit and be entertained by something I've DVR'd - lately those are Colombo reruns.

Finished - I spent most of my weekend escaping into romantic and K-9 thrillers:
Targeted - Katie Reus - 1st in a series I'll continue
Safe In His Arms - Alexa Rivers - also 1st in a series but not one I will likely continue - too formulaic and flat
Danger Close - Fiona Quinn - love this author - 3rd in a sub-trilogy within her Iniquus series world.
The Holy Thief - William Ryan - historical detective story set in Moscow in Stalinist Russia in 1936. First in a series. EXCELLENT!

Currently reading - for upcoming Feminerdy Book Club meeting:
The Goblin Emperor

QOTW: I'm pretty tolerant or just dismissive in general in my reading. Things like long sentences and paragraphs don't bother me at all - I mean I read things like Proust! - but of course there are things that will literally cause me to reduce the rating.

Bad proofing - that's a publisher issue and is rampant in ebooks especially, though less so than in the early days. I love that Kindle has a way to report errors as your read though I have no idea of anyone ever addresses them. I wish Nook and other ebook platforms did the same.

Factual errors - it drives me bonkers when easily verified factual details are messed up, or items that can be readily ascertained and made accurate in the book without affecting the plot. 25 or 30 years ago I read Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres which won all kinds of literary accolades and prizes. I have forever hated it and not read further Smiley books because the entire ownership structure and trust set up for the farm that was the premise that led to the destruction of the family was impossible and completely not how those legal structures are set up -- and doing it correctly would not have changed the book AT ALL. I am still so angry about that. I get less upset by how legal thrillers portray the law, LOL.

Geography - if you are using real settings, not fantasy or sci fi ones, get it right. Of course I notice this most when it's someplace I have been - and I've traveled quite a lot. Dan Brown's The da Vinci Code has the geography of the streets of Paris wrong - especially in the car chase scenes. He's also got aspects of the Louvre itself wrong. Any writer who doesn't bother actually to look at a map or walk it themselves is just lazy. On the other hand, one of my favorite historical romance novelists is meticulous in her research into the geography of her settings - most of which are England and she lives in Melbourne, AU - I saw an interview where she was asked about her research where the characters need to travel from London to Scotland and back, which was a several day journey in the early 19th Century. Her answer was amazing - she has a collection of old maps she uses, and does deep researches to find documents detailing times for horse/carriage or the public coaches.. That kind of detail research really is felt behind the writing.

Too much repetition of the internal thoughts of a character. This happens far to much in genre fiction light reading - romances especially, but also cozy mysteries and fantasies. How many times do I have to read that the heroine or hero feels x or y or had a or b occur in their background. I often feel that the author just adds all these internal repetitive dialogues or conversations with best friend because they want to up the page count and they aren't ready to bring the plot to the next stage.

Bea wrote: "Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail– PS #32 (overlooked woman). An amazing woman, but I am not sure that I get how she alone saved the Appalachian trail. Seems to me it was through the hard work of many people. Still she made a definite impact on hiking, trails, and getting out in nature. 4*"
I think perhaps Gatewood captured people's attention since she was the first female to complete the trail in one hike-through, and also the fact she was 67 years old when she did it. I really kinda felt that Montgomery really wanted to advocate for her amazing ability to endure and keep going...in so many ways. Plus that subtitle (I think that's the correct term) maybe draws more attention to the book overall?

"The Guncle - PS #35 (LGTBQ not coming out). For most of this book, I was a solid 3* due to its silliness. However, by the end it had made it to 4*. A bit too much of the gayness felt put-on rather than true for me."
I was not nearly as enamored with that book as I thought I would be. I have a couple of 'gay' friends who mirror those same behaviors, etc., so that didn't throw me off, but I felt the book was much more serious than I expected, what with the sibling relationships, etc. But perhaps I was more impacted since I am an only child and unfamiliar with such relationships. I just love how one book evokes so many varied reactions within the reading community!!

I have a lot of thoughts and feelings today...mainly sadness that 24 years later we still have not learned that violence only breeds more violence. #wayoftheleaf

Anyway...

Finished 39/40

White Sand Omnibusfor "book with silver on the cover". It was ok. I'm not sure how much I like this medium for Sanderson.

Steelheart for "books with the same title #1". This was also just "ok" but better than most YA dystopians I've rea!

Currently Reading

The Spiritual Life and How to be Attuned to it for "book about activity on my bucket list". Surprisingly deep and personal all at once...

That Hideous Strength for "book by the oldest author on your TBR". I have a feeling this will be a timely read...

QotW

I *hate* love triangles. They're so dumb and usually written so unrealistically. Also sex for sex's sake. I'm not against a bit of steam IF IT MAKES SENSE. Like...build the relationship a bit! Or have the sex be part of the plot! So many books it's just like "bam! and then these two characters who were mildly annoyed at each other had sex and then went on with their lives as if nothing happened". It's obvious the author just put it in there because "sex sells". Also, overly graphic writing (about anything, sex or gore). It's lazy. The best sex/horror scenes are ones where you say just enough to let the readers' imagination fill in the blanks, and that'll always hit better than any detail you write, and it'll get their emotions more deeply involved.

Hey, look at me remembering to check in two weeks in a row!

Finished
The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba. This book was good, but I didn’t like it as much as Last Train to Key West. I’ll still continue with the series.

Reading
The Enchanted Greenhouse

Famous Last Words

Crime and Punishment

QOTW
Very long chapters. I like to find a good stopping point at the end of a chapter, and I don’t always have an hour plus to read at a time.

For audiobooks, when I can’t tell if I’m listening to internal thoughts or spoken words. I haven’t figured out if it’s the tone of narration or clunky dialogue to blame for this one. It’s really confusing to assume these are internal thoughts, only to have another character respond to them.

Hi all! Yet again, I wrote out a long post and then clicked off the tab. I'm so annoyed with myself. So here's a much shorter post- honestly, probably for the best

Finished:
Rustler Mountain- picked it up on the whim, was a fun time! Contemporary small town romance
-no prompt

Murder by Memory-this was fine, but pretty forgettable
-space tourism

Mending Bodies-about an oppressive society, that it pushing for people to become conjoined. Very odd, good for fans of Vanishing World or Saha
-no prompt

인소의 법칙 1- read the english version of this graphic novel, but it's not listed on goodreads yet. A fun time about a girl waking up and realizing she's been sucked into an internet novel, and has to deal with all the tropes
-no prompt


Currently reading:
My Beautiful Sisters: A Memoir of Courage, Hope, and the Afghan Women's Soccer Team- someone in this group recommended this memoir, and it's been very good so far

Midnight Timetable: A Novel in Ghost Stories- my first book from Bora Chung, and she's been on my list to read for a while.

QotW:
So many. In romances, when one character is horrible and then never really apologizes or makes amends. They just sweep it under the rug and forgive and forget. No. Apologize or I don't care if you wind up together.

When an author is holding back reveals and you can tell it's just to drag out the plot. Like, there's no reason for characters to keep a secret for as long as they do other than to keep the reader in the dark. Especially when they keep hinting at "that thing that happened" "that secret we can't tell"- too much

And deckled edges- hate them

Happy check-in! I've been steadily reading for the ATY read-a-thon. I managed to finish a book for the final remaining goodread bookmark with 5 days left in the challenge. whew

Finished Reading:

Chaos Reigning ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Re-read. I definitely liked books two and three in this series better in re-reading than the first time through.

Patina ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ghost was such a good book, which I read for the running prompt, that I had to continue the series.

Ballad for Sophie ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A good historical fiction memoir in graphic novel form. A young reporter goes and interviews a famous pianist about his life, living in France.

Chosen by a Horse ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The author's memoir about rescuing a horse from abuse and learning to heal from all the abuse she had endured. Some upsetting bits, but the author was a really funny writer.

Cat + Gamer Volume 5 ⭐⭐⭐

The Undefeated ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A poem with illustrations.

The Floating World ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A retelling of the Celestial Maidens myth.

Julie Chan Is Dead ⭐⭐⭐ (ATY published 2025) Goodreads bookmark Debut
I finally finished it and received the last bookmark. This is a rollercoaster of a book! I listened to an interview with the author on the CBC and I still was not prepared for where this book went. Julie Chan overtakes her twin sister's life stepping into her successful influencer lifestyle.

The Concierge At Hokkyoku Department Store, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐ (ATY anniversary periodic table)
A manga series in a department store with human employees that cater to animal clients only.

PS 45/50
ATY 50/52 Anniversary 8/10 Summer 25/25
Goodreads 213/250 Bookmark 9/9

QOTW:
I too want punctuation.
I dislike when it's first person and we get detailed thoughts until things need to be hidden to make the plot happen/take longer. (Sookie Stackhouse series)
Main characters that are strong because the other characters tell us so, despite the main characters whining and crying all the time and not doing anything.

Happy Thursday, everyone! I'm doing the ATY Fall Read-a-thon this week, so I was able to read more than usual. I crossed off some more challenge prompts and read another book from the Booker longlist. Can't wait for the National Book Award nominations for Fiction tomorrow!

2025 Reading Challenges
PopSugar- 50/50 COMPLETED
ATY- 52/52; Anniversary- 10/10; Summer- 7500/5000; Fall- 10/18 COMPLETED
52 Book Club- 52/52; Connections- 21/21 COMPLETED
Barnes & Noble- 50/52
Booklist Queen- 48/52
Read Good- 12/12 COMPLETED
Buzzword- 9/12; Cover- 9/12

1001 Books- 10/10 COMPLETED
TBR- 20/20 COMPLETED

Finished
The Listeners- I haven't read Maggie Stiefvater since I read Shiver as a teen. This is her adult debut and overall I thought it was okay. It was a solid historical fiction about an aspect of WWII that hasn't been explored a lot in literature. I just didn't see the reason for the magical realism component and felt like the romance kind of came out of nowhere. ☆☆☆
ATY Fall #13- title starts with a letter in JACK-O-LANTERN

What Will People Think?- there's two main plotlines in this book. The main one follows Mia, a Palestinian-American who pines for her boss and moonlights as a comedian. The second follows a series of journal entries from Mia's grandmother, which is supposed to reveal hidden truths about their family. At some point, I felt like Mia's story stalled, and I became much more invested in her grandmother's story. That said, I did like this and flew through it pretty quickly. ☆☆☆
ATY Fall #12- title starts with a letter in HALLOWEEN
Buzzword Cover: Foliage

Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir- a deeply reflective memoir about a women seeking to understand her family and herself through their generational trauma and immigrant experience. I loved seeing the parallels between China's history and that of the author's family, as well as the author's analysis and acknowledgment of unreliable narrators while uncovering her family's past. My only complaint is that at times some points became redundant, but overall a powerful graphic memoir. ☆☆☆☆
ATY Fall #18- title starts with a letter in FIREWORKS

The South- picked this up because it was longlisted for the Booker and was surprisingly available on Libby. I listened to it on audio and the switching from 1st to 3rd person kind of threw me off. Overall, I thought it was okay, but not very memorable. ☆☆☆
ATY Fall #3- title starts with a letter in HARVEST

Say You'll Remember Me- finally got around to reading the new Abby Jimenez and I finished it pretty quickly. It has her signature banter, overcoming trauma/family issues, and love of animals! It's not my favorite of hers that I have read so far, but still enjoyable! ☆☆☆☆
ATY Fall #8- title starts with a letter in SWEATER

The Wedding- this has been on my TBR for 8 years on Goodreads, and I finally read it to fulfill a reading challenge prompt. The book starts off slow as we get to know the bride's family, their past and how race deeply influenced their life choices, sometimes at the detriment of their own happiness. It picks up, however, when we return to the present wedding preparations, culminating in a dramatic final chapter. ☆☆☆
ATY Fall #6- title starts with a letter in COOLER WEATHER
Buzzword: event in title

Currently Reading
A Game of Noctis

QOTW
I agree with the unpronounceable names, especially in Fantasy novels. Why do a lot of these names feel like they come straight out of the r/tragedeigh subreddit?

Another pet peeve of mine is redundancy. Sometimes characters will have the same conversations, or the same inner monologue multiple times in a book. It starts to feel cyclical, like the character is not progressing, and it stalls the plot. Iron Flame was like 600 pages long, but 60% of it was just the main character admonishing the male lead for not being honest with her. I got bored by their relationship and although I finished the book, I decided not to continue the series.

Having a super bad...everything really but if nothing else all the doctor's appointments mean I'm getting reading done.

I used What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher for PS 34. A book written by an author who is neurodivergent. It was a very good, creepy retelling of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. I loved what she did with Easton.

I also finished my arc of The Secret of Orange Blossom Cake by Rachel Linden, I don't know why I asked for this, maybe the magic realism or the Italian setting but it was WAY too contemporary romance for me. Worse, I wanted to slap the protagonist into next week. It wasn't a bad book per se but Jules is exhausting.

QOTW

When you get to the author's note and they say three pages of things they changed to history and location to make it work for their story.

In true crime stories when they say 'some details were changed to make it more dramatic (I'm also looking at you ID DIscovery and your true crime stories and multiple podcasts. I can see changing names to keep people safe but it's not true crime if you're changing what happened to suit your dramatic narrative)

Or when characters do dumb things to make the story more dramatic. Like the above Orange Blossom cake thing, the main character crying poor for the whole book (I can't pay back my 10K in royalties on my cook book, oh no the family farm needs so much money to save it) who has TWO relatives who are millionaires without her ever asking or explaining why she wouldn't ask them for help.

Hello from Chicago where me, my kid, mom and brother are on a little road trip to visit a few things. Tonight was traditional Chicago deep dish pizza at my brothers request, tomorrow we drive to Minneapolis so my mom and kid can visit the mall of America. I had a long drive to be alone with my thoughts, it’s a somber day for many reasons. I missed last weeks check in so here two weeks of books

Finished:
Blue Light Hours


Currently Reading:
Blue Light Hours I think this was for one of the Goodreads bookmarks. This is a short book that’s about an international student from Brazil at a small college in Vermont. The story centers around the Skype calls between her and her mom, how they try to maintain their relationship while life is leading them in opposite directions. I love books that are small vignettes into the lives of ordinary people. This really scratched that itch for me and was beautifully written.

I Was a Teenage Slasher for a 2024 do over. I love his books, this one was no exception. It’s pretty gruesome at parts and also sad but also funny. Sometimes I think his writing is a little too dense for me on a casual day, I like to listen to audiobooks while I work but it means my full focus isn’t on the story. Which is usually fine. But I had to get the physical book of this one because if you stop paying attention for even a second you fully lose the plot lol.

The Penelopiad for the oldest author prompt. I’ve had this on my tbr for the longest time and I was very excited to get to this. I typically love Atwood’s work and I love love love Greek mythology from the women’s perspective but I left this book a little sore. I’ve visited Penelope, Helen, and Clytemnestra many times in many writings and I was kind of shocked with how nastily Penelope talked of her cousins. I liked the overall story but that attitude was kind of off putting. Thankfully it was short.

Meet Kaya now that I’m done with my Felicity books, I’m on to Kaya. Kaya came out a bit after I was past the phase in my life so this will be my first time getting to read her stories. Very cute book, excited to read the rest, no further notes.

Isola I think I put a hold on this book because I saw my friend reading it, so it wasn’t initially for a challenge but since it takes place partially in France it’ll work for my European tour challenge. I was interested to find out in the authors notes that the story was based on a real woman who had been marooned by her guardian on an island off of Canada. Nothing particularly wowed me about this book but it was perfectly fine and kept me entertained.

Currently Reading:
The Perfect Divorce
Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Great Adventure Catholic Bible

Recently Watched:
Started watching the new Snow White remake and barely made 20 minutes in before I got bored. I’ll probably revisit this one later when I’m in a better mood.

Challenges:
Popsugar - 25/40; 1/4; 1/3; 2/3
Read Harder - 15/24
Classics - 8/12
European Tour - 8/10
12 Friends - 6/12
Yearly Goal - 101/180

I should be working on my students' grades that are due next week so I'll be quick during this little break:

No books finished (see grades due above)

Still working on:
Atmosphere
Sandwich
Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World
War and Peace
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness

QOTW: the only real pet peeve I have is careless errors. But some of those rile me up badly. Last year I read The Echo of Old Books. I still have not forgiven the author for having her character find an "old copy" of The Remains of the Day in a stack of books. In 1984. Remains was published in 1989. It's really not that hard to look it up. In this case the author's book paralleled some of the events in Remains so i know she REALLY wanted that book mentioned...but too bad. Choose a different book or move the events to the 90's. Sorry

Life update: Our eldest has moved out after staying temporarily over the summer while he was househunting. I'm glad he's found somewhere that suits him, but I miss having him around. His new place is closer to us, so there's that, at least.

Reading update: I joined a few more challenges - some for my language skills and a horror challenge to broaden my reading in that genre. After this I really must stop until I complete at least the bulk of the ones I'm already doing! I also signed up for NetGalley - if I can get some ARCs it will help my stretched budget.

I finished 4 books this week, although one is really a short story:

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory - next in the series
The Shadow over Innsmouth - Horror Subgenre Challenge: Lovecraftian/Cosmic Horror
Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant - Star Trek Series Challenge: a book about Star Trek
Loba - research

Stats:
Disability Pride Challenge: 0 this week, 4/5 total
Star Trek Series Challenge: 1 this week, 17/18 total
Readers of the Wild Moor: 0 this week, 22/30 total
Queer Reads Bracket Challenge: 0 this week, 4/6 total
Horror Subgenre Challenge: 1 this week, 7/11 total
Politics & Philosophy: 0 this week, 4/15 total
Anti-Capitalist Inspiration: 0 this week, 7/30 total
All books finished this year: 4 this week, 120 total
DNF or paused: 0 this week, 20 total

Challenges completed this year:
PopSugar, Pride Season, GR Community Favorites, GR Seasonal, GR Summer

Currently reading:
The Optimistic Decade - research
Watching the Clock - Star Trek Series Challenge: not about a series
Fugitive Telemetry - next in series
The Valmiki Ramayana Vol. 3 - spiritual bedtime reading, although I might try moving it to the morning as an experiment
Journey to the West (Chinese Lore podcast) - for Discord book club

QOTW: One of the thing that frustrates me most is when authors set their novels in a place I know, but get the details wrong. Scottish settings are particularly prone to this, to the point that I view them with deep suspicion lol. Lazy, by-the-numbers use of tropes is also pretty unsatisfying for me; I need some sort of interesting twist, at least.

I also really dislike incorrect or experimental spelling, grammar and punctuation, but I realise the errors at least aren't necessarily down to the author.

Laura Z wrote: "K.L. wrote: "I read the same book this week! And I agree that the Pride and Prejudice retelling was excellent. I'd love to see Novik expand that concept into novel form."

It would make a great novel!

Have you read Pride and Prejudice in Space, by Alexis Lampley? I really enjoyed it!

Denise wrote: "QOTW: the only real pet peeve I have is careless errors. But some of those rile me up badly. Last year I read The Echo of Old Books. I still have not forgiven the author for having her character find an "old copy" of The Remains of the Day in a stack of books. In 1984. Remains was published in 1989. "

Oh, those careless errors! Earlier this year I read With Love from London by Sarah Jio in which a character finds a signed copy of Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast at an estate sale. Yeah, no. It was published posthumously.

Happy Friday!

I think this is the first time I missed a Thursday check in.

In my defense, September has hit me harder this fall. I have to go to the office 3 days a week (which is stupid because I can work fine from home). My kids are both in university, which means that I'm carpooling with them. And our parking garage is under renovations which means I can never get a great spot as I'm late due to carpooling with the kids. And I swear since the pandemic everyone is angrier on the road and cutting each other off just to get one car ahead. (Like it's NASCAR and there is bonus prize money for being one car ahead.) I have been coming home exhausted, going to bed earlier ... and barely reading.

I finished one mystery/thriller which I enjoyed. I started new books, but other than the one print book I read at lunch at work, I'm not making much progress. I like reading print at the office as I think it gives my eyes a break from staring at screens.

Finished:
Home Is Where the Bodies Are
Popsugar prompt: A book that an AI chatbot recommends based on your favorite book
ATY prompt: A book related to hotels, haughtiness, hotheads, humour, or Fawlty Towers
Anniversary prompt:

Series - 7/10
Reading Across Canada - 7/10
Nobel laureates - 3/5

PS - 32/40
Regular ATY - 34/40
Anniversary ATY - 8/10
Summer Challenge - 5100/5000 - Completed!

Currently reading:
Interior Castle - 45%
Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral - 20%
An Audience of Chairs - 25%
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls - 50%

Buddy Reads:
Library of Souls - 20%

QOTW: Because I love mystery/thriller. My pet peeve is when the killer turns out to be the husband/boyfriend, especially if he's been consoling the heroine all book. I made my kids watch "Gaslight" with Ingrid Bergman. That was a great movie and gave us the term "gaslighting". After that, the trope seems like lazy writing.

Kenya wrote: "* Not using quotation marks on dialogue. I don't care how "artsy" it is.

* Glaring research errors. I can let a few of these slip by in the name of artistic license, but readers NOTICE these kinds of things, people...."

Yes!

I read a book where the author used "-" to tag dialog. You couldn't tell when a character finished speaking or who was speaking half the time. (And the book was terrible beyond that.)

Ray Bradbury had sloppy research in one of his books and I took off a star because of it. I was so disappointed because I think he was a great writer.

Hi all! Been a little under the weather this week with a head cold but I think I'm on the up-swing now.

Fun fact for you: the phrase "under the weather" meaning feeling ill comes from sailors. They normally did not receive any reprieve from working in the elements, unless they were sick, in which case they would be treated by the ship's doctor below deck and hence literally under the weather.

Finished
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer: 3 starts

QOTW
Probably my biggest pet peeve is too much character exposition. I do not need an author to give me a character's entire backstory and relationship to the protagonist the moment we meet them. If they're friends, they're friends. I can discover the rest later if and when the book reveals more. If the time Jimmy saved Billy's life at summer camp isn't relevant to the current mystery, we don't need to spend three paragraphs explaining that's how they met and became BFFs.

Jackie wrote: "Hi all! Been a little under the weather this week with a head cold but I think I'm on the up-swing now.

Fun fact for you: the phrase "under the weather" meaning feeling ill comes from sailors. They normally did not receive any reprieve from working in the elements, unless they were sick, in which case they would be treated by the ship's doctor below deck and hence literally under the weather...."


I did not know that!!

QOTW:

So I thought of another peeve that is actually a bigger one for me so IDK why I didn't remember yesterday other than the fact I'm so exhausted my brain is about to explode. This one is also featured in The Echo of Old Books which I blasted yesterday:

Anachronistic names. The MC was born in most likely the early 50's and was named "Ashton". No she's not. Unless it's a family name, which it wasn't, Ashton was not born in New Hampshire in the early 50's.

In The Women in about 1970 a girl of about 8 is introduced "This is my daughter Kaylee". Me: "No she's not"

It's refreshing now that I am reading a book whose characters are Barbara and Joan. They were born in 1950 give or take. You know what "girls" were actually being named in 1950? That's right, Barbara and Joan

Laura Z wrote: "Denise wrote: "QOTW: the only real pet peeve I have is careless errors. But some of those rile me up badly. Last year I read The Echo of Old Books. I still have not forgiven the author for having h..."

oh that one is really bad.

Jackie wrote: "Probably my biggest pet peeve is too much character exposition."

Yes! And excessive exposition in general. I dnf'd a book just yesterday because of that (a mixture of plot and character exposition).

(Wrote this Thursday, but just now getting around to posting it. My week has been crazy busy with work and school:

---- Solumn Thursday (for those here in the US). 24 years. Hard to believe that. And yet my memories are still just as sharp about this day as they were when I was 12 years old. In that sense it's kind of crazy at how there are whole new generations who, for them 9/11/2001 is an event they hear about from others or in their history books. We're this generations version of Pearl Harbor or the Vietnam War; some of us are the relics of the times.

*****

Now that my peace has been said about 9/11, I hope other than that you all are doing well. I am absolutely loving my job! Working at a bookstore is the best thing ever. I'm getting the hang of it. I get a lot of compliments at what a great job I've been doing so that's kind of cool.

*****

In terms of school I figured out why I can't stand my psychology class. It's too linear and structured. At least with my nature writing class, we have more freedom, less structure, and endless possibilities and interpretations. I don't like classes that literally put you in a box (when there are direct/precise answers). I'm more of an outside the box thinker so structure doesn't work for me. LOL!

That being said, I am loving my nature writing class! It's not only nature writing projects, but we are reading a lot too and I'm loving it. One author we currently read was Nathaniel Hawthorne. I had not read him in 20 years and I found myself enjoying the short story I had to read.

*****

In terms of book stuff, man September is off to a banging start. I've already read 12 books so far which is awesome. Many are for school so that's been helping (6 of them). The other 6 have been general pleasure books.

Finished 4 books this week:

Walden & Civil Disobedience

Nature and Selected Essays

- I've read Thoreau and Emerson before, but this is the first time I've really sat with it and annotated them fully and it was a great experience for both!

****

Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers' Rights - Wow, for a YA book about banned books, this was amazing. I gave it a 5-star.

*****

The Wild Dark: Finding the Night Sky in the Age of Light - What a very bittersweet book. Makes you long for those night skies.



******

Currently Reading:

Nowhere Girl: Life as a Member of ADHD's Lost Generation - Just started this one. It's about a generation of women who went undiagnosed (mainly girls who grew up in the 90s/00s). I certainly fit that bill. No one thought to look into it for me and this is about that women's experience as well as the experience of many others.



*****

About To Start:

I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries - While I never completed watching TVD, I'm curious about this book.

Green Screen: Environmentalism and Hollywood Cinema



*****


Question of the Week

What are your bookish pet peeves?

I definitely can't stand dog-eared pages. Which makes no sense since I basically annotate my books as if they're journals, so why should bent pages bother me?

I don't really have many bookish pet peeves. Since I don't read much fiction there's not much for me to comment on there. I don't read enough so I don't know what tropes I really enjoy or which tropes bother me.

I guess when it comes to nonfiction, one of my bookish pet peeves is when you have white authors writing history about Native Americans or Latinos. I know that's something that can't be helped, since a majority of history authors are white, but their perspective (regardless of how much research they do), is more from the sidelines. I try to look for authors whose racial dynamics are within those areas, but it's hard to find that kind of material.

Denise wrote: "QOTW:

So I thought of another peeve that is actually a bigger one for me so IDK why I didn't remember yesterday other than the fact I'm so exhausted my brain is about to explode. This one is also ..."

YES that drives me INSANE. It is so so easy to look up what names were popular in any given year in the US that there is just no excuse to be giving people anachronistic names.

Ron wrote: "Nowhere Girl: Life as a Member of ADHD's Lost Generation - Just started this one."

Oh, I need a disability memoir to finish my Disability Pride challenge, so I might switch to this. I'm not generally a big fan of memoirs and haven't been looking forward to it, but it would be interesting to compare her experience in the 90s/00s to mine in the 1970s/80s.

The world feels heavy and this week seemed particularly difficult. I've been unmotivated and exhausted - so set an appointment with a life coach (my work's free version of therapy) tomorrow and excited to hopefully get some clarity.

40/75 GoodReads Challenge
36/50 PopSugar Challenge

Finished:
1.) Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (#46- Nature Antagonist) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: Absolutely loved this moody remote island novel about a seed vault, the animals stole my heart and the Salt family left to take care of the island.

2.) Persuasion by Jane Austen (#39-Classic TBR) ⭐⭐⭐⭐: Probably closer to 3.5; I did not enjoy the audiobook version of this narrated by Cynthia Erivo, but appreciate Anne Elliott. I only have a single Austen left to go...



Currently Reading:
1.) Mrs. Dalloway #11 - Mentioned in Another Book
2.) Deep Cuts #31 - Music



QoTW: What are your bookish pet peeves?
Certainly writing, words, phrases make me cringe as I read. I also have books with no quotations or weird style. I don't appreciate characters that are unlikeable, or plot points that are eye-rolly (meaning so far fetched it's absolutely unbelievable).

Bea wrote: " I am feeling quiet…a friend died yesterday. Not a close friend, but a woman I admired and met. She had an impact on my life; I am grateful. She had been ill for a long time. I did not know her well, but her words and actions will continue to have an impact.."

Bea, I'm so sorry for your loss, but glad to hear of the impact your friend had in your life.

It is now Sunday and since I never got a posting done last week, figured I'd catch up now!

Temps back in the 80s for us this week and I am ready to return to the 70s!

No lists this week, but lots of reading done and ongoing!

ADMIN STUFF:
THE DECEMBER MONTHLY GROUP READ NOMINATION POLL IS LIVE HERE! There are 10 titles to consider.
This book could be used to fulfill Prompt #25 A book where the main character is an immigrant or refugee
International Migrants Day is December 18, 2025
If you do not see the title you would like to nominate, please write it in. Please check the book's eligibility first! Only books that have NOT been discussed within the past two years (2023-present) are eligible. Remember to consult the listing of these books that are NOT eligible for this month HERE before nominating! :) There is an alphabetized listing by title as well as a chronological listing.
NOTE: This is the NOMINATION round, which is step one. We will select the top results from this round to create a new poll for a Final Vote to select ONE book for the November 2025 group read.
*** This poll will run through September 23rd. ***

THE NOVEMBER MONTHLY GROUP IS A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot #1) by Becky Chambers!
This book could be used to fulfill Prompt #29 A book about a food truck
National Fast Food Day is November 16, 2025
https://www.calendarr.com/united-stat...
Who among you is the “fearless foodie” willing to lead this discussion? Message either Nadine or me to volunteer!

THE OCTOBER MONTHLY GROUP READ IS The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien! This book could be used to fulfill prompt #18 A book containing magical creatures that aren't dragons!
National Black Cat Day is October 27, 2025
https://www.calendarr.com/united-stat...
Dubhease is the “magical manager” who has graciously volunteered to lead this discussion! Thank you ever so much! 👏👏👏👏👏👏

THE SEPTEMBER MONTHLY GROUP READ IS Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery!
This book could be used to fulfill prompt #32 A book about an overlooked woman in history
Emma M. Nutt Day is September 1, 2025
A fascinating story of the world’s very first woman/female telephone operator!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Nutt
Join the discussion HERE

THE LISTING OF 2025 MONTHLY GROUP READ TOPICS IS HERE!
***
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
What are your bookish pet peeves?
Misspellings, grammar errors. The need for a good editor!

2025 READING CHALLENGES:
Popsugar: 42/50
Around the Year (AtY): 51/52
AtY 2025 Anniversary List: 10/10 FINISHED
Read Harder: 16/24
52 Book Club: 45/52

2024 Popsugar: 47/50

FINISHED:
*Careless Whiskers (Cat in the Stacks #11) by Miranda James ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was an excellent example of intriguing plotting, IMO! So many red herrings with totally believable possible perpetrators of the crimes! And I admit to liking the ending which seemed very logical given the characters...
POPSUGAR: #2, #4, #6, #20, #28, #35, #40, #43
ATY: #2, #3. #5, #11, #13, #15, #16, #23, #24, #26, #32, #36, #37, #40, #41, #45, #48
RHC: #4, #11, #24
52 Book Club: #2, #6, #10, #22, #29, #43, #45

*Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was extremely enlightening!! What an amazing woman, life, and legacy! I’m just blown away by all of her accomplishments, but especially that first complete thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 1955!! So glad this was selected as the Monthly Group Read!
POPSUGAR: #6, #20, #24, #26, #32, #46
ATY: #1, #2, #3, #5, #16, #18, #24, #36, #41, #45, #46, #47, #48
RHC: #4, #13, #17, #24
52 Book Club: #7, #10, #21, #24, #32, #35, #38. #39, #42, NEW #46

*Record of a Night Too Brief by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Lucy North ⭐⭐ for an IRL book club meeting Tuesday (in the evening). I always thought I would read Strange Weather in Tokyo, but after reading this book, I’m no longer as certain about that! Though SWiT sounds like a different type of book... There were 11 people at the book club meeting and not a single one of us felt we had really "gotten" the overall point of these stories. Interestingly, that made most everyone extremely relieved that not one of us felt assured of what they had actually just read! (I, on the other hand, no longer worry about that. If I feel as if I "get it," that's fine. But likewise, if I don't feel as if I "get it," that is also fine! Gettin' independent in my old age! LOL) My only comments on the first story, "Record of a Night Too Brief" was that it reminded me of the way in which I often might recall dreams the next day-in bits and pieces-and that I was reminded of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass as characters would shrink or enlarge for no apparent reason... The idea of dreams resonated with most of the other members as well. The second story entitled "Missing" was quite absurd to me, as well as everyone else. Though I did note that some 'traditions' can seem totally meaningless and may even be very dangerous, as well as certain people may seem to be almost interchangeable...? The third story, "A Snake Stepped On" was rather scary for me since I am not at all fond of snakes, let alone imagining a ton of them crawling all over and even inside a character's body. (One time when my inclination to create images as I read was perhaps NOT to my advantage! 😯😬😒) Just more absurdity, IMO.
POPSUGAR: #6, #8, #18, #20, #43
ATY: #2, #5, #14, #16, #22, #24, #44, #45
RHC: #6, #8, #24
52 Book Club: #37, #42, #46

*Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for an IRL book club meeting that was also held on Tuesday (in the afternoon). Only one member didn’t enjoy (or even read beyond 40 pages) this book. She is in her 80s and just couldn’t connect with it at all… For one thing, she really dislikes reading a book if it uses the “F” word more than 3-5 times. I didn’t bother to count how often that word appeared in the first 30-40 pages, but I’m certain it was way more than 5 times! LOL I knew immediately she probably wouldn’t read it. I admit to feeling a bit put-off by the intensity of the first 20-30 pages, but in the aftermath of finishing the book, I think it might have been intentional, since I realized my feelings upon reading the beginning somewhat echoed Margo’s emotional state as well… This was an amazing catalyst for book club discussion as it depicted so many commonplace issues in today's society and world. I would recommend this one, especially for those who believe it is so very easy for a woman to simply be thrust into the world of single parenthood without financial resources. This is such an accurate (IMO) depiction of the complexity of human nature, humans in general, and especially human relationships. I do believe each of us contains both "good" and "bad" traits...it all depends upon who is doing the judging! As well as the context of the relationship.
POPSUGAR: #6, #14, #18, #20, #26, #40, #43
ATY: #2, #3, #5, #13, #15, #16, #23. #24, #35, #36, #37, #45
RHC: #21
52 Book Club: #3, #21, #22, #25, #33, #43, #46, #51

*The Tales of Beaufort Scales (Beaufort Scales #0) by Kim M. Watt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was a genuinely delightfully fun and rather silly collection of short stories that was free on the author’s website! Loved each and every one of these! Beaufort is the High Lord of the Cloverly dragons!
POPSUGAR: #6, #8, #10, #14, #18, #20, #24, #28, #47
ATY: #1, #2, #3, #5, #8, #11, #13, #14, #15, #16, #24, #26, #32, #36, #40
RHC: #24
52 Book Club: #2, #11, #18, #21, #38, #42, #45, #46

*The Cat Did It: 8 short tales of troublesome felines by Kim M. Watt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was another freebie on the author’s website. Not quite as laugh-out-loud funny as the Beaufort Scales stories, but definitely entertaining!
POPSUGAR: #6, #8, #10, #18, #20, #43
ATY: #2, #8, #15, #20, #26, #36
RHC: #24
52 Book Club: #42, #45, #46

CONTINUING:
*The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race by Jesmyn Ward
*East of Eden by John Steinbeck
*Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
*The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré is one I’m anxious to get back to and finish!
*The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley
*The Double Life of Benson Yu by Kevin Chong for an IRL book club meeting
*The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
*Hope in the Dark: The Untold History of People Power by RebeccaSolnit

PLANNED:
*Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict
*The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley
*The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
*The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict

New set of bookmarks started today for those wanting to try them out. Only 5/12 are open right now.