Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2018 Weekly Checkins
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Week 9: 2/22 - 3/1
Another check-in already? Wow, apparently that week went by fast.Britain is currently experiencing a severe storm called "The Beast from the East" and Scotland's getting the worst of it just now, particularly the area I'm in. Red weather warnings everywhere - the news is telling everyone not to leave their house. Good few feet of snow on the ground and more falling, whiteout conditions.
The dog can't even get out because it's up to well over his head, we're having to dig out a little square of ground by the doorstep for him to use.
Plus there's another storm, Storm Emma, due to come in from the southwest at some point today, so the weather is only going to get worse.
I've also had a really horrible cold, so, good news all round. :s
Finished this week:
A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas (used for prompt #15, "a book about feminism") and A Book for Her
Loved Room of One's Own, it's the first Virginia Woolf book I've read and she is so good. I have a bunch more of her books on the TBR shelf and need to read them ASAP now.
A Book for Her however, I was really underwhelmed with. So much so that I remember very little about it despite only finishing it a couple of days ago. Described as a funny book about feminism, unfortunately wasn't very amused and don't think it said anything new about the topic. Will probably donate it to somewhere, hopefully another reader can get more out of it.
(Temporary) DNF: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China - Fully intend to go back to this but it wasn't working for me at this time, too weighty, confusing and tragic.
Currently reading: Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. Great so far.
QOTW: I don't remember getting assigned reading in school... weird. The only book I distinctly remember studying in English class is The Merchant of Venice. I don't think I actually finished it but I liked it.
Mod
Britain is currently experiencing a severe storm called "The Beast from the East" and Scotland's getting the worst of it just now,..."
wow! I didn't realize that Scotland ever got THAT much snow!! we get a lot of snow here in northern NY state, and that would be a doozy even for us! That's Canada-level snow ;-) !!!
Another snowy update from Britain! I'm in Oxford where the snow isn't nearly as bad as further up north or in Scotland, but it's still some of the most snow I've ever seen. This is the third day of snow I think. I'm meant to be flying to New York on Saturday to see my long distance partner who i haven't seen for months so nervous about that... Lots of calming reading to distract me. For the challenge I read The North Water, my book set at sea. I quite liked it. I think it was very well written but there was a lot in there that just wasn't very me. I had to skip paragraphs where the animal cruelty was too much for me, I don't tend to enjoy very dark books that seem to want to disturb me more than entertain me or show me anything (not saying this was one, just that that isn't the type of book I enjoy). I also struggle with books with not a single female character even though I understand there weren't many on Victorian whaling ships. Probably overall this was a good book just not a book I should have picked up myself.
Lots of non challenge reading too!
I'm currently halfway through Snow Falling on Cedars, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and Winesburg, Ohio, all of which I'm absolutely adoring. So so great, all three of them.
I also finished The Shining as part of Mission Give Stephen King A Second Chance. Well he's had his second chance and he's not getting another one.
QOTW:
My most positive memories from school are probably To Kill a Mockingbird, King Lear and Ariel. Those were the books that made me sure studying literature was what I wanted to do with my life. I think I enjoyed Mockingbird more because the other book we studied that year was Lord of the Flies, which I continue to think might be the worst novel ever written, so I was always so happy and relieved to come into class and see something to do with Mockingbird on the wall! I came back to it last year when I read Go Set a Watchman, which I also adored.
Nadine wrote: "wow! I didn't realize that Scotland ever got THAT much snow!! we get a lot of snow here in northern NY state, and that would be a doozy even for us! That's Canada-level snow ;-) !!! "That's just the thing - we don't ever get this much! I've never seen this kind of weather in my life. It's nuts!
Hiya guys! *waves from a freezing cold Netherlands*I have been dreading this check in, because I still haven't finished anything. I was at a convention all weekend and am still recovering from it at the moment. I've been awake for like 14 hours since coming home last Tuesday morning. It's now Thursday afternoon ha. Woops.
I did manage to make progress during the bus rides and time in London on Monday, so I'm now halfway through The Shadow of the Wind. I plan to not watch any episodes of the series that have started again until I've finished this book.
I knew I wouldn't read as much in February as in January, but this book has just been taking too long, and it's frustrating as hell haha!
I might read The Handmaid's Tale this month, but it all depends on how fast I go through this book and how I am feeling, as it's an ebook that I have on my iPad.
QOTW
I have never had any assigned reading. We read two books with the entire class, in class, but neither made a huge impression on me. Of one I can't even remember the title, though I did enjoy it. I never graduated high school though (still working on it; sort of) so perhaps it would have been part of the last two years, but I doubt it. I'm quite glad for it, too, because I don't like to be told what to read!
Happy Thursday check-in from rainy (thankfully not snowy) Virginia! I am ready to kiss winter goodbye so I'm hoping we stay in the 50's and 60's for the foreseeable future!Books finished:
Skin Cleanse: The Simple, All-Natural Program for Clear, Calm, Happy Skin - by Adina Grigore. This was a great read for me. I am working on improving my skin, but I want to focus on natural treatments instead of manufactured chemicals (I work in the chemical, though not cosmetic, industry and know full well some of the stuff that goes into products). I've been very pleased with the results of some of my recent changes. Coconut oil and apple cider vinegar are my new best friends!
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. Highly recommend this one! This is a memoir. The author was raised in a survivalist family in Idaho. Her dad stockpiled food, money and weapons for the end of days. She was never formally educated, but she decided she wanted to break from the future her family wanted for her. She enrolled in college -completely unaware of her ignorance of history and world events. She eventually went on to Cambridge and earned a PhD. Really well written.
Currently reading:
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah. I'm about halfway through this audiobook. I don't usually love celebrity (and especially not comedian) memoirs, but this one seems to be the exception. Really enjoying this one too!
A Little Life - still working on this one. I'm ready a little bit at a time until life gives me a big window to really dig in. This will be my book about mental illness.
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis. Only just starting this one. It's my book with my favorite color in the title.
QOTW
Three books stand out for assigned reading in school:
The Princess Bride - I read this as an assignment in 10th grade. Fantastic and so much more fun to read that the typical school assignments!
Jane Eyre - I read this my senior year when my teacher let us each pick a British novel from her shelf for a paper. I'm not sure why I chose Jane. At that time I was convinced that I couldn't read classics. This book changed all that! It was several more years before I really opted to dive in and read classics voluntarily, but I will always give credit to Mrs. Mullins and Jane Eyre for starting me on that path.
As You Like It by Shakespeare. I remember this being the Shakespeare play that really caught my attention. I think I read this in college. I tried to read it a couple years ago and just couldn't manage though. BUT there's a Shakespeare theater about an hour from me and they are putting this on later this year! I'm hoping to get tickets. Shakespeare is definitely best experienced on stage :)
Hello from somewhat damp Oregon.I took a detour in my Black History Month reading to touch on another current events topic, school shootings. Only Child came out one week before Parkland. It's narrated by a first grader, which was usually fine but once in a while I wanted to roll my eyes so hard. (I have no respect for a person who says "criss-cross applesauce," I don't care how old you are.) It's a good book for a problem facing society if you are in the States, or death or grief. The audiobook is narrated by a child, and he does a very good job.
I finally read The Fire Next Time, which was so good. I must read more James Baldwin.
I didn't get much read in the physical book department, mostly because I forgot my book on the days I had extra time to read.
Currently reading:
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
The Fifth Season
Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult
QOTW:
I didn't have much of required reading in school. All I remember is The Scarlet Letter, which we read while in class, then left the books for the next period. At some point the teacher just had to stop us, tell us how it ended and then tell us what it meant. There was at least one other book that semester, which I don't remember at all, so I guess this one was my favorite? I didn't really care for it, honestly. It pissed me off.
I'm going to be a typically British person and comment on the snow. There's no where near as much in London as there is in other areas but the fact that there is some snow and that it has settled is a big deal in London as we seem to have our own micro climate!I have just in the last few hours finished my one book for this week Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder. I really don't know what to make of this book. I hated all of the characters and big stretches of it were a bore but I've still come away with a positive impression. I think I have a fascination with the upper classes that I am slightly ashamed of.
My confusion with this book extends to where it fits in this challenge. There are so many categories where it almost fits but it seems a bit of a cheat (under spoiler tags due to plot details)
(view spoiler)
I think for the moment I'm going to put it under the stage play category but I may move it to another category later in the year.
This takes me to 9/40
I am currently reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories.
QOTW
Two books from school really stick with me Hamlet and Of Mice and Men I adored both of these. The ones I disliked were Frankenstein and the poems of Philip Larkin (Urrggh I hated his depressing musings so much!!)
Happy Thursday!! It’s been cold but sunny here in eastern Canada, this probably means we’ll get at least one more big dump of snow before spring really hits, but that could be as late as early April. I finished The Stranger Beside Me this month and I’m actually kind of relieved that the monthly read and my library book club are both doing books I’ve already read because I’ve been feeling overwhelmed doing books I feel obligated to do when I have a stack of books I’m really wanting to read.
I’m currently reading BearTown and will likely start one of the books I received for my last couple litsy exchanges, I haven’t read ANY of them and it’s driving me nuts!!! Maybe I’ll try to plow through the phantom tollbooth for the childhood classic prompt and get my count up a bit. It’s been a nasty month for colds and flus so reading has been at a premium!
QOTW
Actually the book that impacted me most is from my senior year; the handmaids tale. It prompted my love of Atwood and also dystopian/speculative fiction. Love that book! I hope a lot of the readers enjoy it this month; I know that it’s pretty hit or miss.
Anna wrote: " To be honest, I'm a little bit sad to be missing so much snow back in the UK (just a little bit though)! "don't be
it is not fun snow
not even a lil' bit
I haven't been able to check in for a couple weeks, so I'm glad to I get to today!The only book I've finished recently is The Heir. I read all of the other Selection books last year and liked them but when I started this one I wasn't crazy about it. After talking to a student at school she said that she liked the other books but hated Eadlyn (the main character). So I gave it another try and loved it! And even though everyone hates her I LOVE Eadlyn!
Currently reading:
The Crown and Beartown. Hoping to finish Beartown soon as February is now done and it's due in a couple days! I really like it I just haven't had time to sit down and read much lately.
QOTW:
I LOVED my senior year World Lit class. We read a lot of great books. Two that always stick out for me are Darkness at Noon and Dante's Inferno. In my other classes throughout high school we always read super boring and depressing books so it was nice to have a change!
Cendaquenta wrote: "Britain is currently experiencing a severe storm called "The Beast from the East" and Scotland's getting the worst of it just now,..."Ohh, we call it the "Moscow-Paris" in France, I think I like the English name better, it's a bit more fun. The reality is obviously the same... SO COLD.
This week, I finished:
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I used it for the "a book with a weather element in the title prompt".
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. I've wanted to read it for so long! I watched the movie before and I love them both. So I used it for "a book made into a movie you've already seen" prompt.
Currently reading:
Preacher, Volume 1: Gone to Texas. I'm using it for a book about a villain or antihero. It's... interesting to say the least!
And I still need to decide on what's going to be my next novel.
QOTW:
I've got a bad memory so this isn't easy on me but I remember falling in love with La vida es sueño by Calderon in Spanish class.
Hello from a rainy Columbus! I’m so ready to be outside, please hurry up with the consistent warm weather. But I had another good reading week, I feel like I could be done with this challenge in a few weeks if I was reading one book per prompt and stuck to only this challenge. This Is Where It Ends was my second pick for a book about death or grief. It was just okay. A book about a school shooting, especially right now, should stir up a lot of feelings but I felt absolutely nothing. I didn’t really feel attached to any character and I wasn’t anxious for them. Idk, I’ve read books about similar topics and they’ve messed me up but this was just meh. I also feel like it was intended for a younger audience so maybe I’d have felt more if I were closer to the age of the kids in the book.
The Woman in the Window was a botm pick that I’m sticking in the mental health prompt. I really enjoyed it! Even though I guessed from the beginning what the major twists where, it was still a wild ride. I had to take a lot of breaks from the book because it was causing a lot of anxiety. Very good book if you’re into the whole The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl kind of thriller.
Welcome to Night Vale was a reread from last year that I’m sticking in the two author prompt along with the fourth book I read this week. This book and the next book are what I picked for February’s book club read (specifically because I knew one girl in the book club really likes the podcast but she never even acknowledged the pick or responded to the event invite 😒). I love the pod cast so I enjoyed this book both times I read it. Creepy, weird, kinda sad, but very endearing.
It Devours! was my second two author pick and second book club pick. I didn’t like this nearly as much as the first book, much like I don’t listen to the podcast anymore. It’s most definitely taken a more political turn which is fine I guess but it’s like they ran out of weird and creepy and kind of sad and have a bigger platform so now it’s something else. It was a fine book, but it just didn’t have that same vibe I loved from before.
So I’m at 16/40; 0/10 with 31 books read this year.
QOTW: I can’t really think of a novel I read in school but Hills Like White Elephants really impacted me my junior year, and really got me into Hemingway who is still one of my favorite authors.
I am reading Wuthering Heights and it took me days to get into as I honestly had to google it to understand the first couple chapters. I now know that it is being narrated by a housemaid years after the story. Has anyone had to do that? Now I am 150 pages into and while there are only a couple likeable charters, I'm finding it intriguing. Hoping to finish it this weekend and then I am going to start The Handmaid's Tale for the group read and A Wrinkle in Time for one of the prompts and for a book club I just started a week ago.
For QOTW I don't specifically remember a required read just the books at school but my niece had to read The Scarlet Letter for middle school. I had to ask my classmates on facebook if we had required reads and the response was Great Expectations . My mind is going...
I second all the calls for spring to come and STAY already! But the rain is getting miserable (more coming today, of course).Finished: Bollywood and the Beast, which was WAY ANGSTY and not my cup of tea, but a quick read.
Currently reading: The Great Train Robbery (audiobook) which I may use for a book involving a heist. Almost done!
Beartown, which I am flying through when I get the chance to actually sit down with it.
The Sound and the Fury (still.... I will get back to this, I swear).
Grant -- finally got the audiobook from the library too! Pray for my stamina.
QOTW: I remember loving To Kill a Mockingbird so much in high school. I have a lovely collector's edition a favorite college professor gave me as I graduated and headed for law school, too.
I finished two and started two.Finished (finally) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. As with the other two books in the series the last 20% gets really interesting.
Finished Moonshot for involving a sport. I enjoyed this one.
Started Everything I Never Told You on audio. This is an interesting read. I'm curious to see where this leads. I'm going to use it for different ethnicity than me.
Started Surprise Me. I had it down for published in 2018 but there's twin characters in it so I might swap it for that instead. Its not my favorite Sophie Kinsella book sadly. I usually love her stuff.
3/42, 1/10, and 4 books not for the challenge.
Good Morning from Indiana!It's raining...again. We've been dealing with flooding for the last week. So, the rain is not really welcome right now. I live in an apartment, so no flooding for me but others have not been so lucky.
Finished:
The Chalk Man for a book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym. I really enjoyed this book. Mystery/thriller is my favorite genre, so it's really no surprise that I like it. It really is a great debut book.
Currently Reading:
The Grapes of Wrath for a book with a fruit or vegetable in the title. I'm still listening to this on audio. I'm enjoying it. The narrator was a bit slow so I've been able to speed it up bit.
Red Clocks for a book with your favorite color in the title. I haven't actually started reading it yet but I'm excited to dig in.
QOTW:
My favorite assigned book is/was To Kill a Mockingbird. I loved it when I read it in high school and I still love it now. It is one of my favorite books.
I feel like I should report on the weather, but with snow in the forecast I don't even want to think about it.I had a decent reading week. Most of what I read was for the youth committee I am on, but some of the books were double duty. This week I've read:
Unearthed- which is by two authors and takes place on another planet, but is weird. The longer I read the stranger the story got, and I am still unclear on several things- like why the protagonists were required to be there at all, besides the obvious- you need them to have a book. I wouldn't recommend this book.
Monster- which is a really quick read, and a sad story.
Winterhouse- another book for children that was meh. All the plot twists were pretty obvious (I believe even for kiddos) and the main character was really bossy.
Lies That Comfort and Betray- a mystery just for me. I liked it and will continue with this series when the next book comes out (this is the second and I enjoyed the first one too).
The Last Bookaneer- a book about a heist. It took me a minute to get into the story, but once I was invested I really enjoyed the book.
Pretty- this was for my committee and it was meh. I felt for the girl, but there was a lot of middle school conversation that didn't really move the story forward.
Saving Marty- This, too, was for my committee. I felt like this was a reread because I'd already read one about a pet pig for my committee. There were differences, but it was the same basic idea. I can't say I was overfond of either of the pet pig books.
QOTW: I enjoyed many of the books I was assigned to read in school, but my favorite was The Outsiders which was assigned in sixth grade. I still reread that book about every other year. I remember I even liked the movie- which is an awful low budget film. It is really hysterical to watch all these leading men in their first roles. I do not watch the film over and over again.
Happy Reading this week!
Mod
Our Amazon Echo keeps telling us there's a flood warning in effect for this area when we ask for the temperature, but no evidence of flooding so far. We're enjoying the springy weather again though!I took a sick day yesterday--I'm a full time homemaker without children, so unless I'm very sick taking a sick day means I spend most of the day resting but still get up to fix meals--so I got in a good bit of reading, and even watched a few episodes of Star Trek TNG, which means I got that out of my system without really slowing down my reading at all.
Currently Reading:
The Hawk and the Dove Trilogy Still enjoying this as a Sunday afternoon re-read. I'll probably finish it next week or the week after.
Shortcuts to Gourmet Cooking Encore I need to finish this one up since it's been over a week since I started it. I also need to try out a recipe or two so I can properly review it for NetGalley...
Not Pregnant: A Companion for the Emotional Journey of Infertility I realized I can use this for my book with two authors, so I guess it's bumping Illuminae from my official list. I think I might have appreciated this book more if I'd read it earlier in my infertility journey, before I figured out some of these things on my own, but I still am appreciating having someone else's words put to emotions I have.
Followed by Frost This is my current audiobook. I loved The Paper Magician series by the same author, and so far the writing seems as good on this one. I dislike the main character, but I think I'm supposed to at this part of the book. I guess I'll use this for weather term in the title.
Curiouser and Curiouser Technically the first book in a series that I already read the second one, but it's more a set of stories set in the same universe than a normal series. This one is darker than the first one I read, and I may not like the way the magic is handled as well, so we'll see how it goes.
Enchanters' End Game The last book in the Belegariad, and the only print book I have going except for my Sunday afternoon book. (I needed a book to read in the bathtub, and I try not to take my e-reader in...)
Finished Reading:
Warfare I didn't like this one as much as the first book in the series. There were some really good parts, but it suffered from the YA problem where the plot only works if the main character acts like an idiot. Sigh. I'll probably still read the third book when it comes out because I want to know what happens next, and the main source of dumbness seems to have been sorted out.
Food Wars!, Vol. 3 & 食戟のソーマ 4 Shokugeki no Souma 4 Still enjoying my first manga series and put the next two on hold at the library. The one after that is only available as a new book from another library in the system, and they won't let me put it on hold until it's not classified as a new book anymore. First world problems. :-)
Castle of Wizardry Next to last book in the Belegariad. A fun series with great characters.
You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood's Golden Age Checked off my song lyric prompt with this audiobook but didn't care enough about the golf and gambling habits of early celebrities to enjoy it much.
The Art of War Listened to this on audio through Audible streaming for Prime members. As I said in my review, if I'm ever transported into the alternate reality where I'm an important general I'm going to have spend a lot more time studying it, but for now I'm happy that I finished it and picked up a few basics.
Beauty and Beastly A fun steampunk fairy tale retelling. I liked how it referenced some of the classic moments from the Disney movie without feeling the need to actually follow that version of story.
DNF
The Nazi Olympics There was some interesting information here, but I just wasn't enjoying the writing at all, and decided it wasn't worth my time.
A Quiet Life in the Country I loved mystery stories as a teenager, and though I wasn't aware of the term 'cozy mysteries' at the time (honestly, the term may not have existed back then), I think a lot of the ones I read fell in that category. At this stage of my life, however, I just don't seem to like cozy mysteries at all. (I always love Agatha Christie though!)
Cinders, Stars, and Glass Slippers Started it and the writing was too mediocre to keep my interest.
QOTW:
I was homeschooled, and my parents were more interested in fostering a general love of reading than in assigning specific books. I thought I was going to be the odd one out in that, so it's interesting how many other people (especially the non-Americans) also had few assigned books.
In high school I read some assigned economics and class study books that I enjoyed, but not in a 'that was an amazing book' kind of way.
Anne wrote: "Unearthed- which is by two authors and takes place on another planet, but is weird. The longer I read the stranger the story got, and I am still unclear on several things- like why the protagonists were required to be there at all, besides the obvious- you need them to have a book. I wouldn't recommend this book."
I really enjoyed Unearthed! I thought it was like a sci-fi Indiana Jones that was a lot of fun. Have you read other books by the authors? Because I've liked everything I've read by them, but maybe it's a distinct style that you either love or hate.
It's a gloomy Thursday in D.C. The perfect day to curl up with a mug of tea and read -- unless you have to be at work like me! Finished
The Heart's Invisible Furies - your favorite prompt from a past challenge -- 2015: book that takes place in a country that fascinates you (Ireland). Dare I say: This is one of the best - if not THE best - book I have ever read. I cried, I laughed, and I went on such an emotional journey with Cyril Avery. Such a heart-pulling and heart-warming story with a character you just want to hug and let know that everything will be okay.
White Fur - book that was being read by a stranger in public. In complete contrast to the book above, I did not love this book at all. It was alright -- there is some beautiful, lovely prose and writing in the book, but I couldn't get invested in the characters and it was a story we've seen time and time again (boy and girl from opposite sides of society fall in love, blah, blah blah).
This puts me at 12/52 for the challenge so far.
Currently Reading
I just finished White Fur this morning on the bus ride to work, so I haven't picked something up yet. I did receive an advanced reader's copy of Gun Love from Penguin Book's First to Read program that I'll probably start next. I don't know where to slate it, but the easiest category would be "book that is published in 2018."
QotW
I loved The Great Gatsby, which we read in high school. I also really loved The Outsiders, which we read in middle school. Stay gold, Ponyboy -- still pulls at all my emotions.
Hello all! It's warming up here in Wyoming, which is lovely except the 73 inches of snow we have is melting, then freezing, then melting, etc. It's really hard to drive on streets where they haven't plowed. But there's another blizzard due Sunday. I'm fine with it staying snowy for as long as it wants. I hate yardwork.I only finished two books this week:
The Carnivorous Carnival aloud to my son. Not for the challenge.
End of the World Blues, which I read for the TBR Randomizer challenge, but it fits with time travel. I did not really care for this book so it's been kind of a sad reading week.
Working on:
The Cuckoo's Calling on audio (Male Pseudonym)
The Sea of Monsters on audio with my kid (not for a challenge)
Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (Country that fascinates me)
Six of Crows for involving a heist. Side note: I cannot say or type the word "heist" without hearing Benjamin Bratt from Despicable Me 3 say "Heist music!" My son watched that movie on repeat for about month.
Heir of Fire not for the challenge, that I know of yet.
A Wrinkle in Time for childhood classic I've never read. Reading this with my kid.
QOTW:
Well, I reread The Lord of the Rings for a report in senior year, so probably that. Otherwise I really enjoyed Fahrenheit 451 or As I Lay Dying
It's been a pretty slow reading week for me. I think it'll keep being slow until I finish or decide to DNF my current read ...Finished
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (past goodreads choice award winner) - I picked this up on a whim. I'm really glad I did! I finished it in just two days and my knowledge of astrophysics has been refreshed and expanded.
Reading
The House of Velvet and Glass - I'm still reading this. Why am I still reading this!? It's so boring. It takes me half an hour to read 20 pages and nothing exciting ever happens. My patience is wearing thin with this book.
The Handmaid's Tale - I'm glad I watched the TV series before I started this book or I would have been lost at the beginning. I can see why a friend said she hated this book when she read it 10 years ago. There is surprisingly little detail.
QOTW
I had to think really hard about our assigned readings. I remember a few that I didn't like and a few that I didn't read (the guilt still gnaws at me), but not many that I liked. None of them are favorites. Where I went to school, reading was a mostly thing you did in your spare time or in study hall after you'd finished your homework.
It's not a specific book, but a professor in library school made me read and give a presentation about a nonfiction book of my choosing. I'd told her I didn't read nonfiction, and she said "librarians aren't allowed to avoid a genre their patrons like." With some help from her, I figured out how to find well-written, interesting, narrative nonfiction. I read Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization. I loved it. I've read nonfiction ever since.
Luckily for us in Pittsburgh, we're getting rain instead of snow. I'm hoping we stay that way, but the weather here is SO unpredictable, I'm sure we'll get another round of snow at some point.This week I finished Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, which is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year! It's the tale of lineage of two sisters, and it's styled as a series of vignettes or short stories throughout time. It was really fascinating and allowed there to be such a rich dearth of characters and relationships. I counted this as a book recommended by someone else in the challenge, since it was mentioned in the recommendation thread for this topic. I wanted to only read books by black authors in February, so I was hunting through that thread for what to find next. This was my first advanced prompt of the year!
I'm currently reading The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, which I started as an audiobook but I couldn't connect to, so I picked up the ebook instead. It won't count as any challenge for me though.
I'm also going to finish Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng now that Black History Month is over. I hadn't got very far into it when I first started reading, so I think I'm going to start over from the beginning.
QOTW: I was an English major so I read A LOT for school. Two of my favorite classes were my Junior and Senior seminars. My Junior Sem was a class on utopian and dystopian literature and my Senior Sem was a class on Toni Morrison. They were both excellent classes with professors I adored. We read like crazy, but it was a great experience. In fact, I definitely want to reread some Toni Morrison soon!
Finished:21. A book with your favorite color in the title Anne of Green Gables
I had not read it before and enjoyed it very much. I want to read the rest of the series some day.
Currently Reading:
4. A book involving a heist The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.
Almost half way through. Loving it so far and finding it hard to put down. It has everything I like in a book--time travel, feisty female characters, and great humor.
Question of the Week:
Book assigned in school that I most enjoyed. Our Town
I read it in 11th grade English class and it's stayed with me all these years. It helped me realize that our ordinary lives are sacred and not to be taken for granted.
Finished:City of Bones - book with an ugly cover
Lost Light - bestseller from the year I graduated high school
Currently Reading:
Force of Nature - might use this for a book with twins? I'm about a quarter into the book and liking it so far. Particularly I like how the chapters alternate in point of view (one of the things I liked most about the first 2 Bill Hodges books).
Up Next:
I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer - will use this for true crime
Currently listening:
Little Monsters - not sure where this will fit...
Nadine wrote: "My 11 yo is reading Saving Marty right now! She seems to be enjoying it, but she also said it was a little sad."The youth reading committee I am on is for our state children's choice award. Basically, we narrow it to ten books that the kiddos pick from. My kids are mostly grown (I used to run books by them all the time). Is your 11yo in fifth or sixth grade (what list should Saving Marty be on). If she is in sixth and has read Midnight at the Electric I would love to get her take on it. I can't decide if it is a book kids would love or if it is a kids book written for adults. Basically any book she reads and loves that was published in 2017 or 2018 I would love to hear about.
Happy first day of March! My reading slowed down a bit this week due to some binge-listening of last week's recommended podcasts (OMG - LOVE "What Should I Read Next?"). But I'm at 11/52 which I'm pleased with.Finished
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts (4. Book involving a heist) I listened to this on audiobook. It was narrated by the author, and he was a pretty average narrator, but all of the characters were voiced by other actors which made it fun. I really enjoyed the book - it moved quickly, had very interesting and funny moments, and as a bonus I got to learn what is was like living in Eastern Europe after the fall of Communism, which I knew nothing about.
The Twits (13. A book that is also a stage play or musical) I read this with my seven year old daughter, and then decided to use it for a prompt. It's not my favorite Roald Dahl book, but it was a fun read.
Currently Reading
At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68 (3. Next book in a series) I'll likely be reading this over the next few weeks, but it started off with the very compelling account of the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, so we're off to a great start. And now I want to re-watch the movie "Selma."
QOTW
Absolutely The Great Gatsby. I was assigned this my Junior year of High School. Up until that point I had sometimes enjoyed assigned books, but never loved any required reading. And then along came The Great Gatsby to forever change my reading life. I couldn't believe how beautiful and perfect that book felt to me. I loved it and it made me want to read more classics. In fact, it was so meaningful to me I still have the paper I wrote about it for class (and it's been a LONG time since I've been in high school). Last year I decided to finally re-read it to see if it still holds up, and it definitely does.
How is it already March? Flowers are out, my allergies are horrible and it's raining again (we've been flooding badly here). I didn't read as much as I wanted as I'm deep in edits for my own publisher which sucks up free time.For the prompt : A book by two authors I read Cold Vengeance by Preston & Child. I highly recommend the Pendergast books for this prompt, just not this one. Most of the books in this series are stand alones but this one is the second in a trilogy and would be nearly incomprehensible plot wise without reading Fever Dream first
For the prompt A book that’s published in 2018 I read The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley. It's another mysteries series I love set in post war England in the 1950s and the lead is a tween girl consumed by the love of chemistry and forensics (the lead might be a teen but this is not YA).
For the prompt A book set in the decade you were born I went with My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1 by Emil Ferris. It's set in 1960s Chicago (starting the year I was born as it turns out) and the art in this 400+ page graphic novel is just amazing. It's done as an artistic child's school notebook and she being an outsider (a half Latino budding Lesbian) she sees herself (and draws herself) as a werewolf (though when I got to the end I learned this was only part one. I'm looking forward to part 2) With themes of racial intolerance it could also be read for problems we're facing today or for an LGBT protagonist.
And for the advance challenge prompt of A book that was being read by a stranger in a public place A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. Apparently students on campus are preparing for the movie.
QOTW Almost none of them. I truly dislike contemporary literature which most of the classics are (and even if it was a SFF classic we still weren't allowed to read them back then) The only ones I remember liking are To Kill a Mockingbird, Hamlet & Macbeth
I'm pretty excited to be leading this month's group challenge. :) Even if people don't like the book, I hope they can still take something away from it -- I think that even if you don't like a book, you can still take something positive away from the experience, even if it's "avoid this series/author/genre in the future." Books I finished this week:
With Strings Attached, or The Big Pink Job -- for the prompt "novel about a real person." In this case the novel was a fantasy where four of the most famous musicians ever -- John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, a.k.a. The Beatles -- are transported to a fantasy world and get tangled up in a quest while trying to find their way back home. It was a WEIRD read, but an exceptionally fun one as well, and I'm very tempted to nab the sequel now...
One Hundred Demons -- graphic novel, not for the challenge. I'm VERY mixed in feeling on this one. On the one hand, it tells a poignant and thought-provoking story about the author's life and childhood... but on the other hand, she admits up front that parts of this story are flat-out made up, and so I'm left not knowing what to believe about her life. The collage-style artwork was fascinating, at least...
Snow & Rose -- not for the challenge. An imaginative retelling of the lesser-known fairy tale "Snow White and Rose Red," though it left some loose ends I would have liked to see tied up.
Palimpsest -- not for the challenge. While not my favorite book by Catherynne M. Valente, it's still a fascinating read, and her imagination and lyrical prose always stuns me whenever I pick up a book of hers.
Currently reading:
Steelheart -- for the prompt "book you borrowed or was given to you as a gift"
The Time Traveler's Wife -- for the prompt "book about time travel" (a no-brainer, I think)
The Bear and the Nightingale -- for the prompt "book set in a country that fascinates you" (Russia)
Lirael -- not for the challenge (currently on hiatus while I finish "The Bear and the Nightingale")
QOTW:
Hands-down, it has to be Fahrenheit 451. I remember being handed my copy and thinking "oh, it's going to be a preachy read about censorship"... and I ended up loving the writing and the world it built so much that I ended up having the following conversation with the teacher after the weekend.
Teacher: So who did the assigned reading (the first 50 pages) over the weekend?
Me: Uh... I finished the whole book.
Teacher: ...seriously?
Me: What, I liked it.
Teacher: Read it again, this time slowly, WITH the rest of the class.
Being required to do that second read-through was the best thing the teacher could have done to me, though, because I was able to better appreciate the book and its messages the second time around. And it left me with a lifelong love of Ray Bradbury and classic sci-fi writers in the process.
Hi from Germany,where it is freezing cold like in so many other places. But we've had quite a few sunny days, so that makes the cold bearable.
I've finished a few books this week
Matilda for childhood classic you've never read. Took me some time. Liked it, but thought the different parts weren't all so well-connected. The story towards the end with the teacher I thought was too sweet (a little too kitschy for my taste), but all in all worth a read.
More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops, quick read with funny quotes from customers in bookshops. Using it for the involving a bookstore prompt
Gone Missing yet another Kate Burkholder novel. Not as good as some, but still good mystery. Using it for the next book in a series
Meinen Hass bekommt ihr nicht (You Will Not Have My Hate) on Audio. A life-affirming book written by a man who lost his wife in a Terrorist attack in Paris. He describes his feelings and also how him and his son manage after his wife's death. Even though it is a solemn topic, it is heart-warming and gives hope. I am using it for the book about death or grief.
Currently reading:
Rendezvous mit einem Oktopus: Extrem schlau und unglaublich empfindsam: Das erstaunliche Seelenleben der Kraken (The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness in English), which seems to be so much better than I had thought.
Listening to A Walk in the Woods, which seems a little too much into details for me.
QOTW:
Including university in the term 'school', I would say, definitely Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood and the other books by her for that same class. My love for her work and also for Canada was created in that class. Without it, I would probably not have gone to Canada for a year of studying abroad which influenced my personality in so many ways..
This week I finished The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons because the latter was chosen for a book club I'm in. For some reason I thought Da Vinci Code was first, so I read that one to understand the background on the other. I had it backwards, but probably because Da Vinci Code is much better than Angels & Demons (and thus more popular). I didn't care for the tons-of-unrealistic-action writing style of either book, but the historical information was a nice touch. Angels & Demons made me angry throughout most of it, and I would not recommend it. The feminist suggestions and interesting facts in The Da Vinci Code make it somewhat worth reading, if you can handle that writing style. I'm almost done with Have a Little Faith: a True Story, Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, and Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard. I'll add comments to next week's check-in.
QOTW:
A few assigned books from high school stand out, like that great dialogue that gives the title to The Color Purple, which I'll never forget. I also remember enjoying The House of the Spirits which introduced me to one of my favorite authors as an adult. I went to Isabel Allende's book signing for The Japanese Lover a few years ago and it was wonderful (both her talk and the book!).
Books that tick off promptsBook that is also a stage play
The Color Purple by Alice Walker. It’s about two African-American sisters and their lives when they get separated.
Book that is set at sea
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Septys. Half the book is on land and half at sea but I’m counting it. It’s about the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff during WWII which killed 9,000 people. It was so good but so sad.
Books that don’t tick off prompts
Mosquitoland by David Arnold. YA about a young girl that goes on a road trip to reconnect with her mom. It wasn’t my favorite but I’ll probably try another book of his. I read this for the book club at school I sponsor and the kids liked it a lot. It could tick off the mental health prompt but I’ve already done that one.
QOTW:
My favorite was probably The Last of the Menu Girls by Denise Chavez
Hello from Sacramento, where it is raining, huzzah! Go, go Sierra Nevada snowpack!!I finished one book this week: At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails. Like most intellectual histories, I feel like it skimmed along the top of the ideas more than diving in and really grappling with them, so it wasn't 100% satisfying. However, it did provide useful context, and is one of the best overviews I've read of the interaction between philosophy and historical circumstances in 1930s to 1960s Europe. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the topic.
I also DNF'd Akata Witch, which I'm really sad about. I thought I would love it, but there were just too many YA tropes in the book for me, and I couldn't get into the plot. Oh well. Not every book is for every person.
Currently reading: Sing, Unburied, Sing [it's lovely so far but I'm not fully connected to it yet] and Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America [great so far; I'm looking forward to a righteous takedown of Thomas Jefferson].
I'm trying to get my Women's History Month reads lined up as well, but there are so very many books in this category I want to read.
March is here! Since it is the first I had to spend it working on the budget so after that was done I am rewarding myself with check-in!Finished:
Gods and Kings (novel based on a real person)- it was a good easy read based on the life of King Hezekiah
Progress: 9/40 & 0/10
Currently:
On the Road with Francis of Assisi: A Timeless Journey Through Umbria and Tuscany, and Beyond (a book set in a country that fascinates you- for me that is Italy)- I haven't gotten far but it is more educational then I expected but if I can get into it I think it will be good especially if I can look up some of the places online because this book doesn't have good quality pictures
Hero Tales: A Family Treasury of True Stories from the Lives of Christian Heroes (read aloud)- this has been a good discussion starter with my girls
Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God (Lent reading but could count as a book by two authors)- educational and short, I like it.
The Handmaid's Tale (feminism and March group read)- I am listening to this book while I run. It is sounding great! Much better then the last book already.
QotW:
Since I was homeschooled until 9th grade I was so excited for assigned reading- I know I am weird. I was never really told what to read and my mom wasn't always very helpful. So my first assigned book To Kill a Mockingbird was the most memorable and I feel like I need to reread it soon. I remember loving that book and listening intensely to what my teacher had to say about it. A couple of other favorite assigned readings were: Wuthering Heights (which really turned me on toward classic/Gothic literature), Brave New World (one of the first books that I am sure my mom would not have approved of if she even knew), Fahrenheit 451 (it really opened up literary genres for me), and The Joy Luck Club (I didn't know college reading could be this fun).
Muddy paw prints are a small price to pay for gorgeous Chicago spring-like weather this past week, but snow is in the forecast...Luna and I finished 2 challenge books:
1. Anne of Green Gables for the prompt a childhood classic I've never read: I felt guilty for not liking Anne or her book,. I did very much enjoy Matthew and Marilla but found Anne annoying--am I a grumpy ,*gasp*, old! woman? But then, almost at the end, I started to enjoy this book. The last few chapters were moving and I closed the book happy to have read it. So I suppose it says something for sticking with a book. Throughout, I loved the descriptions of Prince Edward Island and Anne's love of Green Gables.
2. Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers for the prompt a book based on a real person: Smashing. The author organizes each section like galleries in an art museum. She bases her book on letters saved by Vincent Van Gogh's brother and others. She includes lesser known sketches and familiar paintings. Some insights will be familiar, others fresh. This is YA but not simplistic.
I started this challenge hoping to move beyond my YA/children's book comfort zone. These 2 books, and many of my completed challenges, are firmly within this zone. However, I've so far been pulling from my and my daughter's unread home collection. My local library will reopen in a few days having undergone a major renovation and on Monday I gifted myself a trip to my favorite independent book store. So I will be dipping into the literary world of the adult more and more.
This week we are having the interior of our house painted. I thought I would have a ton of time to read while Henry (the painter) worked, but between trying to stay out of his way, keep the dogs out of his way, and keep the house somewhat tidy so all I will have to do is push the furniture back and hang things on walls, I have barely been able to read. At least I was able to finish another book. I read Punishment by Scott J. Holliday. I gave it 4 stars! I gave up reading "cop mystery" books because they all started to feel the same. (Sorry Mary Higgins Clark - You're still one of my all time favorites.) Punishment brought something new to the genre for me. An original idea that I haven't read before, having a machine that can capture the last moments of a person's death and then transfer them into a detective so he can work with that knowledge to solve the crime. I also liked how well thought out this machine was and the different uses it would have if it really existed. I recommend it and I used it for the cyberpunk prompt. I don't know too much about the cyberpunk genre but this had new technology as a main theme and both good and bad uses of it but not necessarily in a dystopian world. I don't know, I'm leaving it there unless someone says it is not even remotely cyberpunk.
This puts me at 8/15 GRC and 8/50 PSC (Last year I only read 18 books so I figured 15 was a good goal but now that I am not just reading a book a month and waiting for others to finish before getting another reading theme, I think I am going to need to raise that goal.)
QOTW
I can't recall an "assigned" book that I really enjoyed in school. I usually hated them because they were classics and I just don't read between the lines to comprehend the meanings of everything. Fun Fact: I failed every reading comprehension question on the SAT. Ugh. - I vividly remember reading White Lotus in the 9th grade for a book report where we got to choose the book. I haven't read it since then but I still claim it as my all time favorite to this day. (The teacher was so impressed with my selection that she gave me extra time due to its length and subject matter. )
Luna wrote: " Anne of Green Gables for the prompt a childhood classic I've never read: I felt guilty for not liking Anne or her book,."Anne of Green Gables was my least favorite book by L.M. Montgomery. Sadly, on an adult re-read of The Story Girl it didn't hold up to my childhood love of it, but I just recently read The Blue Castle for the first time and loved it.
I haven't read this one in a while, but at the time, I much preferred Emily of New Moon series to Anne of Green Gables.
March came in like a lion this morning in Nor Cal.Last week I checked off True Crime with Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History by Ben Mezrich.
I kind of hated it. I read this because I was unaware of the story, and I like quirky true-crime. The book is written more like an extended treatment for a movie, the story is told from a narrow perspective. I didn't find the anti-hero likeable, just an early-millennial being the worst of his generation. The heist was kind of stupid, and so is the criminal. Not recommended.
I will finish Altered Carbon today and so far it is a blast!
QOTW
The Stranger by Albert Camus
I got a little discouraged that I wasn't finishing books quickly enough so I stopped posting on the check-ins...but now I know that was silly and I'm back at it! This week I finished Beartown and He Said/She Said. They were oddly a very good pairing even though very different in style. If anyone reading this has read He Said/She Said, I'm wondering what prompt I can use it for. I've currently slotted it in "A problem facing society today," but I'm not completely sold on that.
I've finished 11/50 prompts so far.
Currently reading Call Me by Your Name which I'm hoping to breeze through, and still struggling to finish Jane Eyre. It's not that I'm not enjoying it, it's just sometimes picking it up feels a little like "homework."
QOTW:
I loved To Kill a Mockingbird and Atonement when I read them in high school. I actually read Atonement on my own before it was assigned! One of my fav book to movie translations of all time.
Raquel wrote: "Luna wrote: " Anne of Green Gables for the prompt a childhood classic I've never read: I felt guilty for not liking Anne or her book,."Anne of Green Gables was my least favorite book ..."
Thanks , will try that series instead
Forgot to answer the QOTW.I have no memory of required high school reading, only of poems memorized (loved "Jabberwocky").
Do recall college reading and my all-time favorite class at University of Michigan: Asia through Fiction. Nectar in a Sieve, Train to Pakistan, The Jewel in the Crown, etc...led me to my fascination with the Indian subcontinent and, eventually, to my year abroad there.
Horrid weather here, I left work early but it still took over 2 hours to get home in the snow. We don't even have that much compared to what some of you are used to, but everything stops working and no one knows how to drive in it! Planning on working from home tomorrow to avoid it all (I can hear the freezing rain right now, not a good combination with more snow forecast).For Popsugar I finished Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood for recommended by another Popsugar challengee (I was reading for Read Harder's celeb memoir and then sw loads of you had recommended it, so thanks!).
I also finished The City of Brass which I loved but it doesn't count for any prompts. And I read a graaphic novel for one of the Read Harder prompts, Lost at Sea.
Currently reading Sal but I'm not sure I'm liking it, seems to be reeling off big list of things the author has learned about survivalism, but I'll give it a few more chapters. It isn't for any challenge prompts that I can think of.
For the past Goodreads winner I'm reading Rebel of the Sands (also counts for Read Harder's new to me YA series).
QOTW:
I didn't like much of our assigned reading, although in Scotland in the 90s we were given a lot of free rein to choose books to read. I did enjoy Romeo and Juliet but that have been because it was around the time the Baz Luhrman adaptation came out!
Hello all. It seems like everyone I know has a cough that will not die. The weather here in Vegas keeps fluctuating back and forth between cold and nice so that certainly is not helping. 11/52
Completed Reading
#34. Book Published in 2018
Currently Reading
QotW:
What was your favorite assigned reading book in school?
I'm honestly not sure I had the warm and fuzzies for any assigned reading. I remember having to read To Kill a Mockingbird twice. I enjoyed that. I have always loved reading but have never really cared for being told what to read. Didn't like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and I absolutely HATED The Old Man and the SeaAlot of books on high school reading lists I read on my own. I think I was assigned Animal Farm freshman year of HS and I do love me some Orwell.
First I want to thank everyone for their condolences last week. It's appreciated, especially as the reality of losing such a good friend sinks in. Bless you all!I've read 15/50 - 14/40 and 1/10. Slow but steady progress!
Not a big reading week for me. Last weekend was the Athena Film Festival at my alma mater, Barnard College, and I spent as much time as possible seeing films there -- so good! And the audiences ... you could hear a pin drop! When was the last time you saw a movie in a theater that was that quiet?
I did finish - last night - one challenge book: Nine Coaches Waiting for the prompt book set in the decade I was born (1950s). This was actually a re-read for me as it is one of my absolute favorite Mary Stewart suspense novels, and I read it more than once in my youth. But, it's been at least 30 years since I last read it and most of the details had evaporated. Loved it -- very gothic, the suspense is excellent, keeps ebbing out of the pages. I don't think I previously appreciated all the wonderful literary references Stewart uses to enrich the plot and characters. I also expanded my vocabulary to include words like vennel and whin! This along with many other Stewart suspense novels were recently released in new ebook editions.
Also made big progress in my book on feminism - DIY Rules for a WTF World: How to Speak Up, Get Creative, and Change the World while attending the film festival last weekend as the short chapter style suits spurt reading -- especially since you want to think about them after reading. Not so coincidentally, the author is a Barnard graduate, and all weekend I saw images of her knitting THE pink pussy hat in a promo video shown about Barnard College. Now there is a reason why I mention that here, you will see in a moment.
Currently reading Strangers on a Train - and really enjoying it! I'm about a quarter of the way through and quite intrigued by just how different it is from the movie. I'm trying to keep the movie out of my head while reading -- not easy. And when I looked at the author blurb on the back cover, it turns out that Patricia Highsmith graduated from Barnard College! I looked it up - in 1942 actually. How did I never know this???? Especially as a superfan of mysteries????
So my week has been immersed in my Alma Mater in more ways than one, LOL. That's actually a very good thing.
QOTW: The problem of course is that all assigned reading was back in the 1970s and I frankly don't remember much. So, let's talk about the assigned books I do happen to remember, for good or ill:
High School - Standout was definitely Out of the Silent Planet, which was an out-of-the-box literature assignment for that time. Definitely liked it. BTW, it's a possibility for anyone looking for something to read set on another planet. I also remember liking Johnny Tremain (I was really into books set during the American Revolution at the time), and J'Apprends a compter avec le petit prince which was assigned in French class.
College: Well, I took a lot of literature classes, mostly in French, so can't really say I 'liked' much because it was such work to read them. Interestingly the individual assigned book I really liked was from a philosophy of literature course: The Magic Mountain. I also liked Madame Bovary from one of the French classes. I remember I HATED Mort à crédit primarily because I found it nearly impossible to read - the French was way too colloquial. Still shudder when I remember that book and I think it is the one French language book from college that I did not keep, LOL.
Got through 4 books this week! 2 audio and 2 graphic novels. I'm now at 17/50Completed:
- Big Little Lies for 30. A book with characters who are twins. I great book. I read half of it last year and had to return it to the library finally I was able to finished it on audio book.
- Sherlock Holmes: Misteri Yang Tak Terpecahkan for 1. A book made into a movie you've already seen. The book is a lot sadder then the movie! It was a great read if you like Sherlock Holmes
- Adulthood Is a Myth - didn't apply to anything but was an amazing book!
- Big Mushy Happy Lump for 35. A past Goodreads Choice Awards winner. Fun read!
Currently reading:
- Wires and Nerve, Volume 2: Gone Rogue for 34. A book that's published in 2018. I WILL FINISH THIS!!!
- Gemina for 18. A book by two authors.
- Murder on the Orient Express for 31. A book mentioned in another book
QOTW:
Like a lot of people I don't remember or didn't like most of my required reading. I did like some of the Shakespeare but that is it.
I finished three books this week.I read The Prince for the "book mentioned in another book" prompt (was mentioned in a biography about Leonardo Da Vinci that I am reading). Thankfully this was short as I didn't particularly enjoy reading it. I can see why it was, and is, so influential though, and I'm glad to have read it.
I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing for the "book by an author of a different ethnicity than you" prompt. As a natural minimalist I am really excited to put this book to use on my own things. I would have rated the book more highly except I found how Kondo assigned anthropomorphic traits to objects to be a bit odd.
Lastly, I read Opening Belle for the "book from a celebrity book" (Reese Witherspoon) prompt. I get that it was supposed to a acerbic take on a women working on Wall Street and trying to juggle her career and family life while working in an extremely sexist environment. I thought it was super depressing though despite the slight glimmers of hope at the end and I hated everyone including the protagonist.
QOTW- I didn't have a whole lot of assigned reading in school but I do remember liking parts of the Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings that I read for a college class about epics and the hero's journey.
The weather is crazy in Europe while here (Canada) we are having above 32 F degree and sunny. Feels like spring, but it only means that we will have another great snowstorm until April.I finished Altered Carbon but I have no idea where to put it in the challenge. I really liked it, but at time it was hard to follow. I also tried to watch the first episode to help me understand but it didn't work. It was dark, twisted and full of action.
QOTW: I don't remember liking books that I had to read in school, but my husband had really great read:
Flowers for Algernon
Le grand cahier
The Postman
La Nuit des temps
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (other topics)Goodnight Mr Tom (other topics)
Wuthering Heights (other topics)
Lovecraft Country (other topics)
To Kill a Mockingbird (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Philippa Gregory (other topics)Morton Thompson (other topics)
Philip Pullman (other topics)
Ralph Bulger (other topics)
Chloe Benjamin (other topics)
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*** New month brings a new monthly read! ***
For the month of March, the topic is "a book about feminism," the poll-winning book is The Handmaid's Tale, and Kenya has volunteered to lead the discussion.
Monthly reads are just for fun, you can join in or not, it's all up to you!
New nomination posts will be coming soon, so start thinking about which book you might want to nominate for future monthly reads! June will be "LGBTQ+" and July will be "set at sea." All of the chosen monthly topics are posted in our 2018 Monthly Challenge folder.
************************
This week I finished four books, none of them for this Challenge, so I remain 20/50.
Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff - this was the first "celebrity tell-all" book I've ever read, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I thought it might be gossipy and boring. It IS gossipy, but also surprisingly entertaining.
The Long Fall by Walter Mosley - book #1 in the Leonid McGill series - not one of my favorite Mosley mysteries. I probably won't continue this series.
Home by Nnedi Okorafor - book #2 in the "Binti" series - I'm very "meh" on this whole series, but it's got some good stuff going for it so I'll definitely be reading the third book.
The Unmaking of the President 2016: How FBI Director James Comey Cost Hillary Clinton the Presidency by Lanny J. Davis - I just finished listening to this audiobook. It's powerful and extremely detailed, and well-written, never boring (which is kind of amazing, given the amount of legalese and details he includes). I'm more depressed than ever about the state of my country.
Question of the Week:
What was your favorite assigned reading book in school?
It's been a long time since I was in school, so I'll answer this in terms of "most memorable" (figuring I must've liked it if I still remember it!!) In high school, the book I remember best is Crime and Punishment, read for senior year AP English. I was traveling to visit colleges while I read this, and I used a hotel soap wrapper for a bookmark, and to this day that particular soapy scent reminds me of that thick green book filled with murder, guilt, and anguish. I'd never read a book like that before, it was quite mind-blowing. In the next few years, I sought out every Dostoyevsky book I could find in my library (The Idiot was my favorite). For some reason, it didn't occur to Young Me to read any other Russian authors, so ol' Fyodor remains the only Russian author I've read (excluding a Chekhov play I was assigned in Junior year of high school).