Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Good morning / good evening! Just seven weeks left in 2018 - time flies! I hope everyone is where they want to be with their reading goals for the year. I've got nine books left that I committed to read, two ONE in process. I COULD read all of them by year's end if I worked at it, but there are so many other books I want to read instead! Next year I'm not committing to as much!

Admin stuff
Yes we are ALL on tenterhooks for the 2019 list, but we haven't heard anything from Popsugar yet about exactly when it will be released. Soon!

In case you didn't see, Popsugar DID post the article about Our Favorite Challenge Reads. We all sound so professional!




This week I finished 5 books plus 5 picture books.

"regular" books
Once Upon a Marquess by Courtney Milan - disappointing. I thought I loved Milan, but the last few books I've read from her have been only so-so.

Lethal White by "Robert Galbraith" - yay! New Cormoran Strike! I loved this!

Not for Nothing by Stephen Graham Jones - the was a phenomrnal, confusing, and quirky gritty hard-boiled small town Texas crime story and murder mystery, featuring a down-on-his-luck alcoholic former cop. This was part of my Native American Heritage Month reading.

Anyone from Texas? What is a "water station"? This was one of the things that confused me in this book.

The City of Gold and Lead by John Christopher - just finished last night! - this is an old dystopian written in the 60s, one of the books I had committed to myself to read this year. This is part 2 in a trilogy (later expanded to four books, but it was originally a trilogy), and I had read THIS book when I was a kid, but back then we didn't have the internet and I had no idea it was part 2 in a series, so I never read the rest of it! A year or two ago I hunted down the boxed set and bought it (because my library doesn't have it) and this year I decided I'm finally going to read books 2 & 3. One down, one to go ...

She Had Some Horses: Poems by Joy Harjo - (JUST finished it this morning!) this was okay. Not really my kind of poetry. This was part of my Native American Heritage Month reading.

picture books
I can't remember the impetus, but a few weeks ago I decided to get caught up on some new picture books, so I started putting a bunch on hold at the library.

Zen Socks by Jon J. Muth - I love all things Muth, and this was no exception.

Baby Monkey, Private Eye by Brian Selznick- meh. This would be great for beginning readers, but it wasn't great for me. I'm not really a Selznick fan.

Hattie and Hudson by Chris Van Dusen - adorable! This is exactly like the stories I used to make up for my kids! (Except mine always seemed to involve snowflake fairies, I guess because it snows so much here.). The illustrations look just like NY to me, but I think it's supposed to be Maine.

The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers - phenomenal and wonderful and SO much fun to read aloud, because the crayons are all irritable and annoyed. Five stars!

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen - simple, cute, charming, perfect for the youngest kids.


Question of the Week
This week's question is from Milena: What books have you abandoned this year, and why? Do you plan to finish them in 2019?

I used to always power through and finish what I started, probably because my mother drilled that into my head as a child. But as I got older, I got into a reading rut, and I discovered the joy of trying something different. Taking chances means sometimes the book sucks, or it's just not the book for you. I can be an adventurous reader now, because (a) I read library books, and (b) I allow myself to DNF!!

Sometimes, if I'm just bored with the book, I'll set it aside with the plan that I'll get back to it someday. If it takes a long time to work up any interest, I just give up and declare it a DNF. I think about a third of the "just not feeling it" books become eventual DNFs. Why torment myself when there are so many other books to read?!

I will DNF if I'm hating the book, if im bored, if I don't like the style, if the writing is just plain bad, or if the writer is terribly bigoted. I don't ALWAYS DNF books that fit these categories, if I hope for some redeeming value I'll still power through it (and take notes for my inevitable negative review on Goodreads!)

I guess I had a lot to say about DNFing so I'll try to wrap this up!! In 2018 so far, I've abandoned ten books. One of them I still haven't given up on, so that's nine DNFs and one maybe.

Four were DNFed out of boredom:
Tower of Dawn - ugh this series has just gotten worse and worse; I'm officially done reading Maas. Someone please spoil me for how the last book ends because I am not reading it.
Deathless - Valente is so hit or miss for me (more "miss" than "hit" tbh); I loved this when I started it, but after a while I just didn't care.
Blackbringer - I usually LOVE Laini Taylor!!! But this book was just not doing it for me.
Battle Royale - I just did not care.

One was abandoned because my library loan ran out, and I just never feel like checking it out again:
Infidel (I haven't completely given up on reading this one!)

One was DNFed because I don't like the writing style:
The Leavers - this was so relentlessly negative and depressing, I knew it was not for me

Two were DNFed for bad writing:
Red Sparrow - boring, sexist, and just plain bad.
Tainted Moonlight - just bad writing.

One was DNFed because I didn't like the writing AND I'd already seen the movie (both versions) so why bother continuing:
Let the Right One In

And one was DNFed because it was just too confusing, and I wasn't in the mood to expend that much mental energy to figure it out:
Ninefox Gambit

Not much reading for me this week. It was my birthday at the weekend and then I've been sucked into playing Two Point Hospital (basically a reboot of Theme Hospital).

So I am still reading Empire of Sand.

I finished listening to Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: A Brief History of Capitalism and In Miniature: How Small Things Illuminate the World (I'd have preferred a nice illustrated book version of this tbh).

I'm now listening to the English translation of Vita Nostra and I'm loving it. It's so sinister and am desperate to know what they are being taught at the mysterious university they've been forced to attend.

QOTW:
I think there have been a few things I would have DNF'ed if it weren't for them being audiobooks. I am more inclined to carry on listening because it's something to do on my commute and it's effort to find something else whilst walking (and then I forget when I get home). The Hunger and Sawkill Girls were like this and they were both 2 star listens for me. I originally put aside Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness but the library had it on audiobook so I finished it off that way.

Once I was feeling a bit meh about a review book and my puppy ate it. It's like she knew I needed help DNFing.

Nadine I also DNF'ed Let the Right One In (though not this year) and I left it in a hotel room for some other poor soul to DNF!

So I have the snots and am avoiding marking because my brain is not working due to drowning in mucus. Yesterday was the 8 year anniversary of dad's death and tomorrow is 1 month since Zeli died so it has not been the best week even though it started out nicely. The y11s gave me cupcakes for breakfast on Monday and the year 12s gave me flowers on Monday. Monday was nice.

I did finish 2 of the homework books the school library sent home with me to check before they bin them. Yes they will be binned.
Cuckoo Song: This was OK and was a totally new angle for a story compared to anything I have ever read before. Trista and Pen got to me. It won't be binned because it is a bad book because it is not it just took a fair while to get going and our kids want it now.....
Happy as Larry; One of the most disturbing things I have ever read (I read mostly horror and crime usually so that's saying something). How the hell it is young adult I don't know. How it won awards I am flummoxed. Boys being bashed, girls raped, baby birds deliberately squished underfoot, a rabbit thrown at things by its ears till it dies, a dog getting its head blown up and a kid setting himself on fire. I am still traumatised from reading this and certainly don't want it near the kids.
Also finished 3 Chemistry text books because year 12s have finished and gone on exam leave. (just the last bit of marking now)

QOTW.
Have never DNFd anything. I do put things to one side if they are not clicking but always go back. One of my 5* reads this year came from a book I had attempted multiple times and not managed to get into so I don't give up just take a break. I also don't feel I have the right to judge anything unless I have finished it.

Happy Thursday! Today is my birthday and there's nothing I love more than talking books so I love that check-in day falls on my birthday this year!

I finished two books this week:

The Legend of Decimus Croome: A Halloween Carol by Kevin Purdy. I used this for my halloween book. The concept was cute, but I just found the writing to be almost childish?

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. This was a book published the year I graduated. I feel like I read through it too fast to really let some of the concepts sink in. I should probably read it again in the future and sit with the ideas a little more. Great little book.

Currently reading:

Vox - Just getting into this one. It is equal parts interesting and terrifying. Women practically silenced and limited to only 100 words ago? It's like a new Handmaid's Tale.

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. I've been meaning to read this book for several years and I finally decided to dive in. I have just a few hours left on the audio and am hoping I will finish it before it's due at the library later today. Worst case, I have the print copy at home and can just pick up where I left off :)

Snape: A Definitive Reading - really enjoying this one. I am about to dive into book 7 and am looking forward to evaluating the end of the series on this journey through Snape's world.

I have three books left for my challenge. One of them I'm nearly done with (Snape), and the other two I will be starting soon.

QOTW

I draw a line around 25% through a book. If I decide to put it down before that I don't consider it a DNF. Sometimes it's a book I still want to read someday or sometimes something I find wasn't a good fit. If I make it past 25% and then quit reading I call it a DNF. Those are pretty rare. Most of the time if I make it past the 25% mark I will push through and finish.

Sara wrote: "Happy Thursday! Today is my birthday and there's nothing I love more than talking books so I love that check-in day falls on my birthday this year!

I finished two books this week:

[book:The Legen..."


Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday Sara! I hope it is a wonderful day.

I finished my GR's challenge of 200 books this week, so that makes me happy. I read several picture books this week and was able to get a couple in for my youth committee and a couple for me.

Picture books:
The Rabbit Listened- a simple book that made it ok to have feelings.
Ocean Meets Sky- amazing illustrations
Islandborn- meh for me, but I can see why people would love it.
They Say Blue- a totally forgettable book.
I Am Enough - a fantastic book, great illustrations
Julián Is a Mermaid- the book did nothing for me, but the illustrations are very good
Drawn Together- again, amazing illustrations
Petra- meh
Hello Lighthouse- not bad, but not great
The Day You Begin- this book had a great message
Neck & Neck- a fun book for young kiddos
Rock What Ya Got- I would have liked this better but the chorus rhyme was off, which drove me crazy through the whole book.

Grade School Readers:
The Lost Books: The Scroll of Kings- This one was slow to start. I was disappointed- especially since I loved The Magic Thief.
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster- this book was good but not great.
City of Ghosts- I think middle grade readers who like ghost stories would like this book.

Books for me:
Death & the Redheaded Woman- a really light cozy mystery. Not bad but not great. I'm still undecided about reading the rest of the series.
Still Life- a great cozy mystery, I will absolutely continue this series. It took me a minute to warm up to the voice, but I really liked the book.
Peril at End House- Agatha Christie- in top form.

QOTW:
I don't keep track of the books I DNF. I used to push through if I started a book, but a few years ago decided it wasn't worth the time when there are so many great books. I know there are several I abandoned this year Spinning Silver being the most recent.

Happy Reading!

QOTW: I don't think I abandoned any books this year. I really like to start what I finish. I can probably count on two hands the books that I started but didn't finish over my whole life. Last year, I abandoned Blindness, but somehow managed to slog through Ulysses. Ugh.

I thought I was down to one my prompt. But I was actually down to a few.

Cyberpunk

Wanted and Wired by Vivien Jackson. Romance. There was an environmental disaster, Texas has seceded, there are cyborgs. It was an okay book. I feel like there was not enough world-building to explain the background and I couldn’t get into it fully.

A problem facing society today:

Dear Martin by Nic Stone. One of my students just finished this and recommended it. Really, really liked it. YA book about young black men and the police.

Now, I’m really down to one prompt-book about sports and one prompt about the childhood classics.

QOTW:

Moby Dick: I was reading it for the Read Harder challenge prompt (assigned reading you didn’t do). It is the only assigned reading I’ve didn’t do and I still can’t do it.

Master and the Margarita: I think I just wasn’t in the right headspace to read something like this, so I may actually pick this one back up.

Happy birthday, Sara! And a belated happy birthday to you, Ellie.

Hello from a chilly Columbus! What a week, y’all. And to top it off I just typed all this out and the page randomly refreshed causing it to all be lost 😑

Tony and Susan this could work for a few prompts but none I haven’t already finished. Did you know Tom Ford’s Nocutnal Animals was based on a book? I didn’t until recently! If you’re unfamiliar with the plot, the titular Susan is an average wife and mother, who ends up being mailed a copy of the novel her exhusband has written. The book he wrote is violent and disturbing and it causes her to reflect back on her life and what the book ultimately means. The movie and the book differ in a lot of minor details. This is one of those rare times I can enthusiastically say the movie was better, Ford knocked this out of the park (I LOVE Tom Ford). Just like this A Single Man, he took a decent book and turned into something hauntingly beautiful.

Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery for book riots true crime prompt. This book details the lives of the known victims of the Long Island serial killer. It was incredibly depressing to read about these women’s downward spirals after growing up in dysfunctional homes, and to see them fall into a life where they’d ultimately end up targeted by a serial killer. It makes you wish America had better support systems for impoverished families, mental illness, and addiction.

Skim another book riot pick. This is a graphic novel by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, the same duo that made This One Summer. Skim is about a teenage goth wiccan girl who attends a catholic school. It explores identity, love, and friendships. I must say I liked This One Summer a lot more, but this one was still very nice.

The Tombs of Atuan I ended up being able to fit this in book riots ugly cover prompt, thankfully. It’s the second book in the Earthsea series. It’s an enjoyable classic fantasy; magic, wizards, ancient religious orders. It was a fun, short read that not only works on its own but is a nice follow up to the first novel.

The Good Earth for book riots Oprah’s book club prompt. This was a beautifully written book about rural life in idk when China. Beautifully written, but freaking infuriating. If you’re in the mood to read a book that’ll make you hate men, this is the book for you. Ultimately I feel the book is about how poverty and wealth change a family, and (as the title suggests) staying connected to the Earth is the best way to live but man, the men in the book were awful and I wanted to travel to this fictional world and punch some dudes.

Lore Olympus another book riot pick. I’m not technically done as this is still an ongoing webcomic. But I was sick of it sitting in my currently reading shelf. Goodreads isn’t really set up for comics lol. But anyway, this is a stunningly drawn comic about mainly Persephone and Hades. Set in a modern setting, and not entirely accurate to the traditional lore. But it’s funny and sweet and I can’t emphasize how much I love her style. I was getting bombarded with webtoon app ads on fb and ig, I’m glad I caved and downloaded it because I really enjoy this series.

39/40; 8/10 for popsugar and 15/24 for book riot. 164 books read this year.

QOTW: the only book I abandoned *this* year was Naked Lunch and I really have no desire to get back to it. The first few chapters were disgusting and actually made my stomach turn. I was told it only got worse so I have no desire to get back to it.

Nadine wrote: "Anyone from Texas? What is a "water station"? This was one of the things that confused me in this book...."

Nadine, I have lived in Texas for 7 years but have been visiting here to see various family members & clients for 30+ years, and I'm not sure what a water station is. The only thing I can think of is a water tower? Or maybe a central well/fountain for drinking?

Hi everyone! So hard to believe it is getting close to the end of the year. I feel like I say it every week, but time really is going by too fast. I guess it feels more like the end of the year, though, because for at least the next 10 days north Texas will be 10-20 degrees below normal. Great for inspiring me to cook (something I absolutely love to do but haven’t done much of in the last year), but I don’t like running the heater at home.

Inching closer to the finish line – I am now at 49/52 for Popsugar and 46/52 for Around the Year. My goal is still to finish both by the end of this month, but since I’ll be reading a minimal amount the week of Thanksgiving, I might have a couple of prompts carry over into December.

Books I finished:
Misery by Stephen King for a book that is also a stage play or musical (13). I saw the movie years ago and only remember the general creepiness and how amazing Kathy Bates was as Annie. The book was very gruesome, and I actually gagged once. But, a little of that can be expected with a lot of King’s novels.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. I had high expectations for this one, and it didn't quite live up to it, although I definitely liked it. It was creepy and I can see why it is considered a (modern) classic. BTW, I've only seen 1 episode of the Netflix series based on this book and it doesn't show many similarities just yet.

Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape by Jenna Miscavige Hill. Wow, what a crazy story. I've heard a few stories about Scientology so I had a general idea about it, but hearing about the experience of David Miscavige's niece was almost unbelievable. For anyone who is curious about Scientology, I highly recommend her story. She has a unique perspective as a family member of the leader and also explains how differently celebrities and big money donors are treated vs the others in the organization. I haven't watched the HBO documentary Going Clear yet but plan to this month.

I am currently reading:
Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher
American War by Omar El Akkad

QOTW: I've been lucky and haven't DNF anything this year, but I did come close a couple of times. I only have 2 books I DNF since keeping track on Goodreads, and both were by authors I usually enjoy (Ann Rice and Steve Berry). Since I usually liked their stories, when I got halfway through a book and still couldn't get into it, I finally gave up.

Good afternoon from London. I finished one book this week taking me to 36/40 and 5/10. I might focus on the standard prompts once i finish the books I am currently reading because I've been a bit distracted by other challenges and buddy reads. I would be nice to at least complete the standard challenge by the end of the year.

Completed
Slade House - I really enjoyed this spooky haunted house book. It was more like a series of short stories connected by setting which meant I was able to take easy breaks after each story and not get too spooked out! This fulfils the Haloween prompt

Currently reading
War and Peace - I'm really pleased with the progress I made this week. I'm now 1/3rd through but taking a bit of a break
A Murder in Time - This is my current audiobook. It took me a while to get into it but now that the main plot has kicked in, I am enjoying it more
The Demon King - I decided a YA fantasy would be a nice palate cleanser from War and Peace and I am racing through this. Just right for me right now.

QOTW
I very rarely DNF books as my taste is quite eclectic and if I persevere I usually find something about the book that I enjoy. The closest to DNF'ing that I came to this year is actually with my current audiobook but it was just a slow start and I'm now glad that I stuck with it.

I also revisited a previous DNF this year The Night Circus because it was a group read. While I still didn't really enjoy this book, I am glad that I gave it another chance at it had some really beautiful imagery which will stay with me.

Happy Birthday Sara and congratulations on finishing your GR challenge Anne!

Had an interesting weekend last week as the Lone Star Rally (which is a huge motorcycle rally with previous attendance which is usually between 250,000-500,000) was in town. This year it felt much larger than the previous two years and my husband said that I guess a few other texas rallys had been canceled because of rain so more people were making an effort to get to ours. Whenever the rally is in town it's nearly impossible to read because of the constant hum from the engines in the distance and this year the bed and breakfast near our house was hosting at least 10 bikes and they all seemed to be coming and going very loudly. I did find a trick towards the end of having Alexa play brown noise at top volume and that actually worked quite well.

I ended up only finishing Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You and honestly I thought I'd enjoy it more than I did. I really didn't find it held my interest. I had a coworker rave about this book a few years ago. She even completely minimized her personal belongings around her cubical because she didn't want her stuff to say stuff about her which I found kind of funny since no one else had read it yet.

I'm currently in the process of Fast Food Genocide: How Processed Food is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It which I really thought would be a homerun for me since I actually like the Whole Foods diet lifestyle (though I don't actually do it fully) and I love non-fiction food books like this. This one though started out way too over the top and fear-mongering to me. The first 25% is basically about how terrible convenient food is like fast food and even food that is processed and made to just be microwaved/toasted. And I do believe that it's not good for you and can be doing your body harm but man this author's tone was just so off putting to me. Once I got past that part he started to actually talk about the benefits of good eating and the book totally turned around. But alas, I've just gotten back into the terrors of processed food again. Probably would be DNF'ing this if it wasn't on audio.

I'm also reading The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness and am finding it so eye-opening especially with all the parallels between historical tactics to maintain white 'superiority' when compared to what is going on now in American Politics, especially in regards to immigration. I'll leave my full review for next week however.

QOTW: What books have you abandoned this year, and why? Do you plan to finish them in 2019?
Just this year I created a DNF shelf on goodreads so now my main book reading options are: Want to Read, Currently Reading and DNF. This is the first year that I've really given myself permission to DNF something. Before, it was always a point of pride that I finished every book that I started regardless of if I am enjoying it or not. Looking at that, this year I have DNF'ed:

Dog Handling: which is your typical romance novel and I picked it up before a trip where i knew I would be spending a lot of time by the pool. I just wanted a nice easy read. I also brought along at least 3 other books that I was more interested in. It was the last book I read on the trip and I wasn't done by the time I got home and honestly I just didn't care enough about it to continue.

That's What She Said I actually really hesitated to put this on DNF because I'm pretty much 90% done with it and I loved it. My loan just ran out though and I was reading it on my browser and the formatting was SO terrible. I intend to pick it back up to finish the rest but I'm waiting to get a physical copy.

Blood Oranges I actually forgot about this one. Quite simply, I hated the main character. Like HATED. I got about 100 pages in and still had yet to find a single redeeming trait in that woman so I ditched it.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry embodies the type of book I don't like. Uninteresting plot-goal, slow moving, based around flashbacks to the past. I found myself also identifying with Harold's wife who I think we were supposed to initially dislike. I just couldn't do it. I'm sure if I finished it I'd probably have a better view of it but it was just so boring to me. I barely made it through A Man Called Ove and The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared for exactly the same reasons but at least the main characters were charming/cheeky in their own way.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity I started this one 2 years ago. I own both the physical book and an audio version and I just couldn't do it. I even like books about productivity but every time I started it I'd find myself daydreaming a few minutes later. Maybe one day I'll go back to it.

@Brooke - thanks! So it's not just me then! From context it sounded like the "water station" was some sort of sandwich shop. She had a drive-through window, a counter, and served iced tea and roast beef sandwiches a lot.

Finished three!!! woo!

Finished Lilac Girls. This was good. Little long.. but good. Using for favorite color in title.

Finished A Wrinkle in Time. *hangs head in shame* I didn't like it. But it fulfills my allegory.

Finished Save the Date. I can't use this for the challenge - doesn't fit in to any of my open slots. But I enjoyed this cute contemporary.

38 Regular, 8 Advanced, and 20 non challenge reads.

I hadn't finished any books in the last two weeks until I finished Passenger for the time travel prompt a couple minutes ago. It was slow going at first but I finally got into the story after about page 100 of 486. Wasn't a fan of the "ending" at all.

I'm at 29 of 40 on the challenge but have some tough prompts still remaining. I'm hoping that a few days off of school in the coming weeks will help me make up some of the ground I lost the last month preparing for a big event at one of my part-time jobs. Nordic noir and on a different planet are the toughest ones remaining for me I think.

QOTW: What books have you abandoned this year, and why? Do you plan to finish them in 2019?
I haven't really abandoned any this year. I muddled through a couple toughies already and Passenger is also a tough one I'm going to finish because I'm stubborn.
That's not normal for me...typically if I get bored, I'll return a book to the library and pick out a different one.

Happy Thursday! I'm eager for next year's challenge, and have been checking pretty much daily for any updates. Hopefully soon...

Books finished this week:

The Enchanted -- this is one of the most conflicted books I've ever read -- both ugly and beautiful, both harrowing and hopeful, full of humanity at its absolute worst and surprisingly redemptive. A difficult read, but one that will haunt me for a long time to come.

City of Ghosts -- First read by Victoria Schwab. Not bad, and I appreciate a YA novel that has a guy and a girl being close without being romantic.

Kibble Talk -- cute kid's chapter book about a girl who gains the ability to talk to dogs.

Chainmail Bikini: The Anthology of Women Gamers -- graphic novel anthology. Tries to be inspiring but ends up pretty hit-or-miss.

All's Faire in Middle School -- graphic novel. Just like Roller Girl by the same author, it takes a niche interest (in this case Renaissance Faires) and uses it to explore the perils and trials of coming of age.

DNF:

Insanity -- tries to be a dark and horrific take on "Alice in Wonderland," but "American McGee's Alice" this is not. Not for me.

Currently Reading:

Titan
Stars Collide
The Next Person You Meet in Heaven
And a friend's fanfic, "Gravity Brings You Home"

QOTW:

I find myself DNFing more books now than I did in the past -- mostly because I'm reading more Kindle freebies, and sadly a lot of those aren't the best quality. I usually give a book 50 pages before giving up on it, and will drop it if the quality of the writing is bad, if I can't find a likable character, if the writing style is obnoxious, and/or if something detestable happens (such as the rape scene in Lord Foul's Bane). Yeesh, picky, aren't I?

The most notable example I can think of regarding this year is The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break. This book looked AMAZING, but when I found that absolutely nothing was happening and everyone in the book was a complete cad, I gave it up. It annoyed the library ILL clerk, as we'd had to ship it in from across the state, but still...

Ugh I regret reading "Minotaur" - there was nothing worthwhile in that book and you missed nothing by DNFing.

Nadine wrote: "Tower of Dawn - ugh this series has just gotten worse and worse; I'm officially done reading Maas. Someone please spoil me for how the last book ends because I am not reading it."

I'm still "powering through" pretty much every book I read, although I find I can enjoy most of the things I pick up. Even if that enjoyment comes from tearing it apart (verbally, not literally). I too, hated Tower of Dawn. Worst one by far. I'm almost done with Kingdom of Ash and it's actually pretty good. Maas is very up and down for me.

It has been ages since I checked in!

This week I finished For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards which was not for the challenge. ;)

I'm currently at 43/52.
I'm reading The Kitchen House, not for the challenge, The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric for author with same first or last name, The Children's Blizzard for book tied to my ancestry and Brave New World Revisited for ugly cover (really more disturbing than ugly). I'm more than 50% on all of those, so should finish at least 2 this week.

QOTW: This year I have only abandoned 1 book A Spool of Blue Thread which was totally not keeping my attention on audio. May try again later with the printed book. I do want to read some Anne Tyler, but think this may not have been the book for me.

Hello, everyone! I'll have new discussion questions up soon for our group read The Immortalists. If you've read it/are reading it, think about stopping by and sharing some thoughts.

Happy birthday, Sara and Ellie!

Finished
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. It was okay. Nothing to write home about, but still pretty good.

Ten Tiny Breaths by KA Tucker. Oh, man. This book wrecked me! I couldn't put it down, and I read the prequel as soon as I finished. Romantic angst isn't a new genre for me, but it's one I haven't visited in a long, long time. I forgot how much it sucks me in.

In Her Wake by KA Tucker. This was so, so, so sad. Watching a character I love spiral is so hard. I kept whispering, "Trent, no," while I was reading.

Reading
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Still really good. Still really long.

The Chemist by Stephanie Meyer. I can't believe I'm reading another Stephanie Meyer book after the way Breaking Dawn let me down. (Was that the last book in the Twilight series?) But I liked the way she wrote an alien invasion in The Host so I thought I'd try her espionage thriller. I'm pleasantly surprised! There are still her hallmarks here ("I'm a monster!" "But I love you anyway.") But it's okay. In this context, with a spy/torturer, I can take it more seriously.

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty. I've just started this one, so all the characters haven't met each other yet, but I can see where things are headed and I like it.

Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor. How did this book end up tagged as steampunk so many times? I don't think this book is steampunk. I was looking for a steampunk novel when I found this. Nevertheless, I'm really enjoying it! If the second half is as good, I've found another series to read.

QOTW
I've stopped tracking my DNFs on Goodreads. It's better for me just to forget I ever read such awful books. A few I can remember from this year are The Plastic Magician and Space Opera. The first was boring, the second was written in gobbledygook. There are a couple others I started, but put down after a few pages. I don't count those as DNFs.

I've only gone back to DNFs a handful of times. I really didn't like The Raven Boys the first time I tried reading it, but the second time I devoured it. I love that series! I convinced myself The Mists of Avalon had to be better than I remembered, so I tried reading it again. If anything, it was worse the second time around.

Heather wrote: "I've stopped tracking my DNFs on Goodreads. It's better for me just to forget I ever read such awful books."

It's funny you say that because I just recently started tracking them! I used to delete the book from my shelves, but what if I pick it up again (forgetting I DNF'd it) and waste my precious reading time trying again??? :)

I had a pretty good reading week. I decided to pick up Thirteen Rising for my book set on another planet. I started this series back in 2015 (the prompt was choose a book based on the cover alone and I was not disappointed). I'm sad it's over but I really enjoyed it. I also read Roller Girl but not for the challenge. It's a cute graphic novel for tween girls; I liked it. I also finally started Jurassic Park and am making headway again on Villette.

QOTW: I rarely DNF books but I really wish I could DNF Villette. I am so bored by it and it makes me sad because I love Jane Eyre. But I have it on audio now so I can let it drone on in the background. The only books I've DNFed this year are school books that I ran out of time on. I do have one book at home that I DNFed a long time ago (Wideacre by Philippa Gregory) and mean to pick up again but I just hate the main character. And it's the first in a trilogy that I own so I have to finish it before I can read the others. I love Gregory's works usually but this one hasn't been for me. Someday I'll power through.

Good morning! I am currently balancing my desire to finish the challenge with my anxiety coping mechanism which is just read all the cozy romances... we'll see how it goes.

Finished:
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI for true crime. I tore through this in two days and really, really loved it. Looking forward to the movie!

The Ugly Duchess on audio. Not my favorite from Eloisa James but not the worst. Perfectly acceptable when I needed a romance on audio.

Currently reading:
How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It, slowly but surely, for a book related to my ancestry. This is interesting but unexpectedly dense!

The Royal Runaway, which I picked up Tuesday while waiting for election returns. Maryland's came in late, so I made it through 100 pages already! It's cute and fluffy but a little far-fetched. AKA perfect for me right now.

QOTW: I recently DNF'd The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock because it wasn't grabbing me and I can foresee myself possibly revisiting it. I also DNF'd a Joanna Schupe because it infuriated me. That might be it for this year?

Sara wrote: "Heather wrote: "It's funny you say that because I just recently started tracking them! I used to delete the book from my shelves, but what if I pick it up again (forgetting I DNF'd it) and waste my precious reading time trying again??? :)"

Now I have a vision of myself, a few years in the future, getting really excited about a book, turning to the first page, and shouting in disgust, "Not you again!" :D

I finally finished Cinder for my cyberpunk book this week which fits in great with the weekly question because almost all of my DNFs have been books that I’ve quit reading trying to finish this prompt. I know everyone enjoyed it, but I couldn’t get into Ready Player One. I also started both Snow Crash and Neuromancer and gave up on both of them. I guess it’s just not my genre.

Heather wrote: "Now I have a vision of myself, a few years in the future, getting really excited about a book, turning to the first page, and shouting in disgust, "Not you again!" :D"

Well hopefully you won't be as forgetful as I am! You'd think if it was bad enough to DNF I would remember it! Blame it on the mom brain :)

Brittany wrote: "I finally finished Cinder for my cyberpunk book this week which fits in great with the weekly question because almost all of my DNFs have been books that I’ve quit reading trying to..."

Cyberpunk isn't my genre either. I did love the Lunar Chronicles. And for this prompt I read Warcross which was fantastic. If you feel like trying another in the genre (recommended by someone who doesn't read that genre) that's a good book to try :)

Happy Birthday Sara and Ellie :-)

AND Happy Thursday! and my first vacation day. Have a whole week to just relax, read books and plan my ATY list and hopefully my Popsugar reading list as well. I got a good feeling and am hoping for either friday or Saturday for the release ;-)


I finished my Popsugar reading challenge today with my final book:
Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

I haven't updated in quite a few weeks as I have been working non-stop or so it feels like so will skip updating for those.

Great article on Popsugar about our favourite reads.

QOTW: I used to keep reading even if I didn't like the book but instead I would end up not reading at all. I would rather spend my precious reading time on books I like than waste it on books I don't. Some I DNF because I can't get in to it at the time but I have one on the list I definitely will be reading at some point later on. I just couldn't get in to it while I was reading it this year.
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

Others I DNF:
All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation
Beautiful Disaster
A Hunger Like No Other
Redeeming the Night

Hi everyone!

Happy birthday Sara! And the other birthday that was mentioned that I'm not finding the name for!

Weather's taking a turn for winter this week, and with the time change i've been kinda bumming this week. So I've been reading mostly comic books, still.

I've worked through all the current Infinity War nonsense, liking it even less than the infinity war movie, which I wasn't aware was possible.

Also caught up on the Edge of Spidergeddon and all the side books, plus all the stray other marvel titles I was behind on. Also been reading the more current single issues still sitting around. And the various halloween specials I hadn't gotten to yet.

Currently reading book wise : Caraval - I like it so far, just been more in a comic groove.

QOTW:

DNFed a few this year, I've been trying to get better about not forcing myself to read stuff I just am not liking.

Middlemarch - I checked this out twice, trying to get through it because I've heard some people love it. I couldn't even get through the first section of it.

The Mysteries of Udolpho - This one looked interesting but I just couldn't get into it, and it was just too long to flail through if I wasn't feeling it.

there was also a book of gothic stories I tried, that I DNFed at least for now because every single story had something like 20 pages of introduction before it. I wouldn't mind if there were all those pages of discussion at the very end of the book, as further reading, but I just got annoyed trying to page through to the actual stories on my kindle.

I'm sitting on Girl on a Wire that I haven't touched in a week or two, but haven't officially DNFed. the main character got a note that said "...a smart person would burn this" and her immediate response was "so I put it under my pillow". It was one of those so drastically dumb "this is going to bite you in the behind" moments I just couldn't deal. Maybe i'll go back to it when i've gotten over that.

I dont' know if it counts as a DNF if you dont' start, but I got the hold for Red Sparrow at my library, saw some of the reviews and immediately decided that I didn't think it would be to my liking so returned it.

I feel like a celebrity this week. My QOTW, and I am quoted in the Popsugar best books from the 2018 reading challenge article. As others have said, if I knew it would be published I would have been more eloquent.

Finished:
Sunburn I liked this book more than I expected to. It was a pretty straightforward mystery/thriller, with none of that annoying unreliable narrator stuff.
Children of Blood and Bone Pertinent to the QOTW, I had read about 40% of the book earlier in the year and then my loan ended. I wasn't loving it anyway. The rest of the book went faster, but I still didn't love it. Probably won't continue the series, there are so many others out there.
The Witch Elm I know reviews for this book have been divisive, but I liked it a lot. The writing was good, great sense of place (in case anyone wants to use it for next year's ATY challenge), and I liked the family drama aspect. I haven't missed a Tana French book yet. She may be the only author whose books I have been able to read as they came out.

Currently Reading:
It for book that was a bestseller the year I graduated high school. I finally reached the 25% mark. I switch between the Kindle version and audiobook, depending on what's available from the library. I do really like Steven Weber's narration, so I am on hold for it again.
Listening to The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House for microhistory.
Persuasion for Book Riot Read Harder.

QOTW:
I have abandoned a few books this year. It's not something I do a lot, and I usually go back to them eventually.
The Lido because other things that I wanted to read came up and loan ended. I will finish it, though maybe not this year. I was enjoying it.
Milkman because it was so unenjoyable. The writing style is very offputting, hardly any paragraphs or dialogue. I am at about 50% and absolutely nothing has happened. It's bleak and I don't see the point. It's a Man Booker Prize winner. Not sure what it is about that prize, as I also abandoned A Brief History of Seven Killings because I wasn't enjoying or understanding it. But me being me, I will probably finish Milkman just to make sure I didn't miss something amazing in the second half.
Two Clarice Lispector books, Near to the Wild Heart and The Hour of the Star. I really wanted to like them, I feel like she is a literary darling. It's just not for me, too stream of consciousness with no plot whatsoever.
An essay anthology. Should I even count that? No one reads every essay, do they?

Happy birthday Sara! Hope you have a wonderful day. I like everyone else am excited for the 2019 list, but I also only have 10 books left to knock out the whole challenge, so I don't mind waiting because I don't want it to distract me!

This week I finished 3 books, 2 of which counted for the challenge.

First was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams which was my book with an ugly cover - I honestly have not seen a cover of this book that I like. This was fine? I didn't super jive with the humor and it was just so much jargon. However, I didn't hate it, and I can appreciate the influence it's have. Now I'm ready to read Space Opera by Cat Valente, since I know Adams was a big influence on her, which i totally picked up on.

Next I finished The Lady in Red by Kelly Bowen. I like Bowen's writing, and she's becoming one of my new favorite HR authors. However, this novella was just hard to engage in, especially because I felt zero emotional connection to the hero. The rest of this series is great, this one is skippable.

Finally, I finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, for the prompt a book with a time of day in the title. I actually really liked this. I loved the perspective, and I'm glad how complicated it was? I mean nearly all of the adults in this novel are terrible, so it was really messy in a good way. I'm really curious to see the stage adaptation now.

Currently, I'm reading The Vegetarian, which will be my allegory (this was on a list of allegories), and the audiobook of Casual Vacancy, which will be a bestseller from when I graduated high school. I also have a few ebooks checked out that will let me check off more challenges. I'm so close to the end (40/50) and can't wait to finish!

QOTW: I don't think I've DNF'd anything this year? I honestly don't remember. I typically DNF around 20% and then I'll just delete it from my shelves, so it escapes my mind.

Finished 2 this week:
The Halloween Tree for the Halloween prompt, and
Unaccustomed Earth which was for ATY and I loved!

I am also almost finished (70%) with My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward which keeps showing up on my feed so I feel like there are quite a few people out there reading it right now.

QOTW: I never DNF'd a book in my LIFE until last year and then I only managed to DNF 2 ( Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, what was this?? and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao...the footnotes!!! I just did not have time at the end of the challenge season to try and deal with it so I picked something else. I may try it again at some point in my life though)
This year I haven't DNF'd anything, although I have made the following list of books I wish I hadn't wasted time on:
The Halloween Tree: How annoying was this? At least it was short, but I felt like Ray Bradbury tried to dress up as Neil Gaiman for Halloween and failed miserably. That could just have been me in a drug induced reading haze after my surgery but I don't think so.
The Fever Code: Actually this one I didn't mind, it did bring me some closure after reading the rest of the series. I should have stopped after the Maze Runner though. Not how I wanted to start my reading year and I was so glad to be done with it.
Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest: I was warned and I didn't listen, mainly because the story itself ( its true crime) is pretty fascinating so I needed to see what happened. Unfortunately I wasted about a month maybe more trying to get through it.
Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times: For book riots essay prompt. Yes, I read ALL of them :-( Not my thing, but I was able to recommend it to a friend who will love it. And I guess I did learn something. It was just *yawn*, and repetitive.
The Little Prince: My daughter saw the animated movie on Netflix and was so excited to check it out of the library. I was excited too because hey! children's classic I haven't read yet! No. I promptly returned it. Now I need to watch the movie and see what she liked about it.
Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West: Another one I wasted an entire month on. I don't even want to talk about it really. There was a lot of spit and dead mules and stuff. And desert scenery. Pages and pages of desert scenery. Dispersed between the violence.
and I DNF'd The Snow Queen on audio after listening to the first 4 or 6 chapters about 10 times. I just can't do audio. I would like to try this one in print though. Maybe. Someday.
And while I'm at it I probably should have DNF'd My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward at about 20% because honestly I think the writing is horrible, but It's quick so I'm going to finish.
Next year I'm planning on DNFing anything that takes too much time away because the writing is dry or boring or I don't really care enough. I will be throwing books at walls.

Well you answered my essay question, Tracy. Apparently some people do read every essay.

Happy birthday to Sara and Ellie!

I've had a strange day so far. The short version is that our doorknob on our main entrance fell apart (we didn't even get a key for the other entrance when we bought the house) while I was outside and I couldn't unlock the door to get back in. Thankfully my sister who lives with us was still inside, but she hasn't been feeling well and was still asleep, so I decided to go run my errands instead of waiting around for her to wake up. Do these kinds of things happen to other people?

Anyway, on reading news it's been a fairly light week and my currently reading list feels like a mess.

Finished Reading:
Beasts and Queens: A Fairy Tale Retold Books 1-4 Liked a couple of these stories, didn't enjoy the others a whole lot, but those were okay too.

Restore Me Read this because it's one of the Goodreads Choice Awards nominees that's also on my TBR. It was well written, and I liked the way she picked up threads from the first trilogy for the 'what happens next', but I'm still disturbed at the amount of content she includes, and that it's considered acceptable for YA.

Princess of Thorns Maybe it was just my sappy side kicking in, but I really loved this one. It was a good friends-to-romance story, despite the irritatingly bad choices that get made at various points in the story.

Currently Reading:
The Goose Girl Reading this for a buddy read and definitely enjoying it so far.

The Holy War Slowly working through this on Sunday afternoons (when I'm not napping).

Wildcard Reading this because it's one of the Goodreads Choice Awards nominees that's also on my TBR. Really enjoying it, but it probably won't beat out Obsidio for my most favorite in the category.

The Glass Mermaid Started this one just because I needed something to read on my phone and all my others are print books. It's fine--a good story, but despite the addition of the mermaid, it's a little too generic romance genre for me to really enjoy it.

The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery My current audiobook. It was kind of fun that the first historical event they talk about in the book was one I read about earlier this year in a YA historical fiction (Quest for a Queen: The Lark).

Eragon is basically on hold while I read through the award nominees, but I was enjoying it, so I definitely plan to get back to it.

And I moved Pirate Alley to my DNF shelf temporarily so it's not cluttering up my currently reading shelf while I wait for another road trip that needs a mediocre audio book to kill time.

QOTW:
I like to try books by obscure self-published authors, and it's worth it for the good ones I find, but it does mean I DNF quite a few along the way. It would appear that I have DNF'd 27 books so far this year. (I won't detail every single one, but if you're curious, the shelf is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...)

My most common reason for giving up on a book is being poorly written, and in that case I usually give it a chapter to see if I care enough about the story or characters to push through the bad writing. Occasionally, I'll also give up on one for really not caring about the characters, or disturbing content, or just being bored in general, or if I have good reason to think the author will unduly irritate me in some other way.

I'm willing to push through if I have a good reason, like if it's a nonfiction on an important topic (and I don't think I can find another one that's better written on the same topic), but if it's just meant for pleasure reading I see no point in forcing myself to waste time on it if I'm not enjoying it.

Oh, and especially when it comes to free kindle books, I was afraid of trying the same ones over and over and forgetting I didn't like them, which is why I created the DNF shelf. The joys of brain fog and chronic health issues...

Milena wrote: "Well you answered my essay question, Tracy. Apparently some people do read every essay."

I only did it for the prompt Milena, otherwise this is one I definitely wouldn't have second guessed returning to the library.

I didn’t get around to posting last week, so this is two weeks worth of reading. (Though I will probably go back & answer last week’s QotW because I love author events.)

FINISHED
The Eyre Affair - #23: time travel – This book was a lot of fun and a great audiobook choice for my walks. I am glad that re-read Jane Eyre earlier this year, so all the references to the book made more sense. Part of me thinks it would be fun to live in a world where literature was that important to so many people (not just to us geeky folks who hang out on GoodReads.) Plus, I want to visit Mycroft and his lab.

Cress - #105: vegetable in the title – Ok, so the cress of the book is about hair, but there is also a cress vegetable. I’m still enjoying this fairy tale inspired series. Very good audiobook for my walks.

The Best We Could Do – Reading Woman shortlist book – A re-read before I saw (part of) the talk at the San Francisco Public Library. I am so excited this was chosen for “one city, one book.” Hopefully it got more people to read this fascinating story of one family’s journey to immigrate to the US from Vietnam. The art is also fabulous.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – #5 nordic noir –It was ok. I am not sure the comic format added anything new to the story.

Toil and Trouble – Read Harder female protagonist over 60 – A fascinating take on the witches from Macbeth. What where they doing before Macbeth came along? And why were they so involved in one man’s story? The art was dreamy & lovely (if a little bloody, but that fits the story.)

Pretty Deadly, Vol. 1: The Shrike – Read Harder assigned book I never finished – Another prompt I stretched. This was actually a reading group prompt that I never finished because I missed the meeting. I thought the art was lovely & I generally like Kelly Sue De Connick’s writing, but it is another take on a western and westerns just don’t do it for me.

Miss Fury: Sensational Sundays - #11: female author using a male pseudonym – I was surprised by how much I like this. This was the only comic book author I found to fit the prompt and I was very hesitant after having a tough time with old Wonder Woman comics. I rolled my eyes at the very seductive cover art, but, while you see some of that in the book, it is not only that. The fact that it was written in the 40’s meant there was some cringe worthy moments, but it was actually an involved comic soap opera with a pretty capable female lead. The creator was a fashion artist before writing/drawing comics and you can see it in the hyper-feminine ideal of the women, but they also got to wear lots of glamorous clothes. It was also a lot less “superhero” than the cover or the description would lead you to believe.

Americus - #39: involves a library – a very sweet, coming of age story when a nerdy boy has to decide if he will help take on the fight against the parents who want to ban his favorite book series from the library. (Clearly inspired by the attempts to ban Harry Potter.) Great for young book nerds (& us older ones too.)

Special Exits - #10: about death or grief – A moving story of an adult woman taking care of her aging parents. This hits really close to home and it was beautifully done.

Ellington Was Not a Street – no prompt – I was looking up Ntozake Shange after she died and learned that wrote a children’s book. Then I stumbled upon both an audiobook & a video of the book narrated by Phylicia Rashad. The art is beautiful and fits so well with lyrical memories of the influential black men that used to visit Shange’s childhood home. I loved for colored girls who have considered the suicide when I read it in college and this book was so wonderful. I really want to check out more of her work.

In Progress
The Obelisk Gate – new audiobook selection
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism – slow reading book club at work

By the numbers
48/52 for regular challenge, 42/52 for comic challenge

QotW
Being able to DNF a book as opened up a whole new world for me! I still resist it some & then I remember the incredible long list of books I want to read and move along. So freeing.
I decided to break my DNF/paused list up because there are some I think I might actually finish & others I just won’t pick up again. (For example, I happened to be reading Americanah last year when my brother died. I think I will get back to it, but just not for a while yet.)
This year’s paused:
In Other Lands – I will definitely finish this one (maybe even by the end of the year.) I was enjoying it, but realized it didn’t fit any prompts. (I was hoping the mermaid on the cover meant it was going to be underwater, but no.) Since I am close to the end of the challenge now, I will probably circle back.
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy – Since it is a collection of essays, it has been easy to pick up and put down. It didn’t quite fit a prompt either. I do intend to finish it…eventually. (Maybe it will fit a prompt for next year.)
The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales – I borrowed a digital copy of the book to read one particular award winning story and then ended up reading a few more. I don’t love reading digitally, so the hold kept expiring before I could finish. I enjoyed what I read, so I am likely to read more.
Mine!: A Comics Collection to Benefit Planned Parenthood – I actually kickstarted this project. I started to read it right after I finished another comic collection about feminism. Politically this year has been hard, and at that moment I was trying to read it I felt overwhelmed. I will definitely pick it up later. Some times collections stay on the shelf for a little while before I get around to reading them.

This year’s DNF:
The Map of Time – From the description it looked like it would be right in my wheel house, but I started it & UGH! Maybe it gets better, but the snotty men at the beginning of the book where too much for me. As time goes on I have less and less patience for misogyny. There is enough of it in the world, I don’t need it in my literature.
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps – This book suffered a bit from wrong place/ wrong time. I started reading it while waiting in a doctor’s office and two pages got stuck together, so I was very confused. I did start over and then I felt overwhelmed by crappy military life. I don’t like military books and, while I think this one goes to other places, the set-up just felt too overwhelming, so I returned it to the library without getting to much of the sorcery. (I like science fiction, so finding another book set on another planet was not hard.)

A very word-y post this week.

Tracy wrote: "Finished 2 this week:
The Halloween Tree for the Halloween prompt, and
Unaccustomed Earth which was for ATY and I loved!

I am also almost finished (70%) with [book:My ..."


LOL your reasons for DNFing are so similar to mine!!! I had exactly zero time for Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, because yeah, what WAS that.

I really enjoyed Oscar Wao and was blissfully ignorant about footnotes! I listened to the audiobook read by Lin Manuel Miranda - I highly recommend that format!! He does a great job. Because of course he does.

I forgot it was Thursday! Stressful week between election, being in a minor car accident and spraining my left foot (all were fine, my rental car totalled other car very minor damage), shooting in CA (my heart bleeds), news about RBG's fall, and it seems all my clients are in a state of triage...I ended up escaping mostly into frivolous reading, what reading I managed.

Finished:

Barbara Freethy - most recent 2 in her Callaway Cousins series - Can't Let Go which was pretty good, and Secrets We Keep which I thought was pretty weak. This is the end of the Callaway family stories set around San Francisco and LA. Next set of Callaway family ones move to Colorado. I always like reading books set in Colorado, a state I have visited a lot and where my youngest sister lives.

Also escaped into the final entry of a Military K-9 series, and other than the fact that the serial killer is finally, after 6 or more books, caught, it is pretty weak.

The City Baker's Guide to Country Living - the reading high point of my week! I really liked this a lot. Told with wit and gentleness, we first meet gifted pastry chef Olivia just as she sets fire accidentally to her place of employment. She runs away, as is her habit, and hides in Guthrie, VT, home of her best friend. There she gets a job in the kitchen of a local inn, slowly but steadily becoming part of the community. Over the next year, Olivia finds love, experiences loss, and ultimately finds family and a future. Highlights include wonderful descriptions of old style folk and country music jammin', food and baking, fall harvest festival, county fair, Christmas cookie exchange, a family Thanksgiving complete with laughter, fights, and love, a funeral, a wedding, babies, and a marvelous giant dog named Salty. I actually related quite a bit to this as I grew up in rural upstate NY, on a farm, and actually have ribbons and trophies from competing as a teenager in baking competitions in 4-H, and at county and state fairs. There was a lot that felt very familiar.

Currently Reading:

Circe - just started as part of a buddy read in another GR group. After so much mediocre reading this week, I'm really ready for something better!

Swing Time - starting this after Circe - it is the last book I need to complete ATY 2018.

QOTW: I really don't abandon books completely. However, I did with 2 this year, and I'm pretty sure I'll never read either.
New York Exposed: The Gilded Age Police Scandal That Launched the Progressive Era - I originally picked this up for True Crime prompt but OMG it was worse than reading someone's dissertation! How do you make this subject dry and boring? Well this author managed. After 35 pages, I actually skimmed some of the rest to see if it improved. It didn't.

Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain - this was going to be my book with an animal in the title, and the subject intrigued me which is why I borrowed it from the library. I did not dislike what I read, but I just did not want to read it. I don't really read non-fiction like this much - probably because as a lawyer, I read non-fiction all day. I might some day go back to it because it definitely was readable and interesting. But not any time soon.

I will often buy books or put books on hold at the library that interest me, but not read them for a very long time. And sometimes those books never get read and I give them away or release the hold because my interest in it has moved on. For example, I can read a really good mystery or two set in academia, and if I come across other mysteries set in academia, I'll get them. However, I am not really attracted to books set in academia in general, so my interest in those books wanes. They never get read.

I think there are a number of reasons I don't abandon books I've started reading. One reason is that I read pretty fast, and once I'm well into a book, I'm not going to give up on it. It may get tabled for a bit and take a while to finish. Wolf Hall is a perfect example. By the time I was 2/3's through it I really disliked it but I still finished it ... yet it took a bit. I also do like to see where the book ends up because I've been surprised more than once. Plus, even if I'm not overly enamored, there are almost always redeeming features - locale, a character, a story line - that I want to see through to the end. An example of this is that Military K-9 series I finished this week - they were stiltedly written, and the serial killer plot was stretched ridiculously thin and the failure to catch him for months on end given he was operating in a very restricted area was not believable. Yet I wanted to see him caught.

Attending theater, opera, concerts and movies, the same things come into play. I can count on one hand how many plays and operas I have walked out of at intermission. There is always something of merit to sustain me --- except a few times. And even the really bad ones have been so bad that they have merit for that alone. I remember years and years ago the Paris Opera Ballet was performing Le Martyr de St. Sebastian, and a friend gave me her ticket when she had to be out of town. It was 3 torturous acts long but had major stars in it. The theater (the Met which seats thousands) emptied out after each act until there were precious few left for the final curtain. I stayed because I kept trying to figure out what was supposed to be so magnificent about this awful ballet. When I left after the curtain calls, I swear I felt like they should have handed those of us who stuck it out a t-shirt that said 'I survived Le Martyr de St. Sebastien". But there was one glorious moment. As I walked up the aisle, a little boy in the audience was applauding madly and shouting 'Bravo, Papa!" Had I not stayed until the bitter end, I would have missed that absolutely precious moment.

Even those you don't like can end up being a great experience for some reason. I lump Wolf Hall in that - I did not like it for a lot of reasons, but I did think it was an intriguing idea.

Sara wrote: "It's funny you say that because I just recently started tracking them! I used to delete the book from my shelves, but what if I pick it up again (forgetting I DNF'd it) and waste my precious reading time trying again??? :)"

Exactly why I track them as well. My memory isn't what it used to be, so I need help remembering.

Tracy wrote: "Milena wrote: "Well you answered my essay question, Tracy. Apparently some people do read every essay."

I only did it for the prompt Milena, otherwise this is one I definitely wouldn't have second..."

I know. I ended up not counting the one I DNF'ed, I used a different anthology.

Nadine wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Finished 2 this week:
The Halloween Tree for the Halloween prompt, and
Unaccustomed Earth which was for ATY and I loved!

I am also almost finished (70%) ..."

I also listened to the audiobook of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, alas not by the great LMM. It was still really good and I was unbothered by foot notes. It meant I didn't know what any of the Spanish phrases meant, oh well.

Monkiecat wrote: "Happy Birthday, Sara!!

Finished:
A Graveyard for Lunatics: Another Tale of Two Cities - for a book that takes place at Halloween. Not sure if I'd recommend! It's an entertaining book,..."

I love book interrupted.

Theresa wrote: "I forgot it was Thursday! Stressful week between election, being in a minor car accident and spraining my left foot (all were fine, my rental car totalled other car very minor damage), shooting in ..."

I have only walked out on one play. Jekyll and Hyde (a musical to be exact). It was so bad. The fact that the tickets were free helped in the decision.

Nadine wrote: " I really enjoyed Oscar Wao and was blissfully ignorant about footnotes! I listened to the audiobook read by Lin Manuel Miranda - I highly recommend that format!! He does a great job. Because of course he does..."

I have heard this about the audio version, so I might give it a try. There are just so few audio books that keep my brain from wandering. I think so far maybe only 5 or 6 that I feel like I can say I've actually "read". Regarding the footnotes, do you think you lose out on a lot of the story if you skip them? They were just so distracting to me and I couldn't get a feel for whether they added to the plot or were just filler that I could live without. ( I mean, they weren't really footnotes, they were more like mini chapters interrupting every other paragraph)

See, now I learned to DNF books and I need to get over feeling like I have to read all the footnotes.

Reading problems.

Because so many of you have talked about doing the ATY challenge as well, I plugged in my books into the current year's challenge to see how many topics I could cover. To my surprise, I only have 3 categories left, so I'm going to finish that by the end of the year as well. It was nice to be able to use books I've read that I hadn't been able to use for PopSugar, although I used the same books when necessary.

Fun to see my name in the PopSugar article. I couldn't remember which book I had written about in that thread, so it was fun for me to discover it - and I approved of my choice.

I finished three books, two that I had wanted to read for Halloween but didn't quite make it.

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
This book has been on my TBR list for decades, and I cannot believe it took me this long to read it. I thought I knew the story, but I really didn't. The writing was really amazing, especially for how young she was when she wrote it. I loved and hated both characters, which only proves how good it was. Now I want to watch the movies.

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
This was a rather weird book that had some great ideas about Halloween and boys and life and what matters. Glad I read it.

You by Caroline Kepnes
I have been watching the TV series. What an interesting and creepy show! So I read the book, and the TV show is quite close to the book. I'm a little disturbed that I'm slightly attracted to this extremely troubled guy.

GoodReads: 85/90
Popsugar: Finished

QOTW: I created a shelf called Dropped (figured out how to make it a main category, although I now don't remember). It only contains four books, one of which was from this year - Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer. I only read a few pages before I knew this was not for me, so I should hardly consider it dropped - except I didn't want to forget that I do not want to read it. I've liked his other books.

There are several books I got from the library this year that I had to return before I had read them, but since I hadn't started any of them, they aren't really DNFs. I do have a shelf for them, though, so I will remember to get them again from the library. If only I didn't already have so many other books checked out. I blame you guys for making them all sound so good.

Theresa wrote: "When I left after the curtain calls, I swear I felt like they should have handed those of us who stuck it out a t-shirt that said 'I survived Le Martyr de St. Sebastien". But there was one glorious moment. As I walked up the aisle, a little boy in the audience was applauding madly and shouting 'Bravo, Papa!" Had I not stayed until the bitter end, I would have missed that absolutely precious moment. "

I love this story SO much.

I totally agree with you Theresa on reasons why NOT to DNF a book. I could never do it before because I always felt like maybe I was missing something. As a matter of fact, some books that I have initially hated ( Frankenstein) have turned out to be books that in the end, I absolutely loved.And some that I finished and hated I just love to bitch about ( Blood Meridian). So not reading until the end is super hard for me to do.

Except with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. That took me about 5 pages to be done with.

Good evening everyone and happy birthday to those with birthdays this week :)

I read:
Minecraft: The Crash by Tracey Baptiste. Related to QOTW I think I would have DNF´d it if it wasn´t a review book for work. I very rarely feel that I am not the target group for children´s books, but this one made me fall asleep all the time - so many repetitive Minecraft scenarios. It actually turned out alright, and by the end it made sense.
Tillid (Trust) by Cecilie Eken 2nd in great sci-fi series.
and Da julen kom til Mumidalen (When Christmas came to Moomin Valley) by Tove Jansson - A rewritten picture book version of the short story "The Christmas Tree" from Tales from Moominvalley. I read the short story for comparison - and it turns out it´s more or less the only one of the original Moomin books I haven´t read - so that works for childhood classic when I finish it. All three books for reviews.

Currently reading:
Tales from Moominvalley Danish edition called "The invisible child" (Det usynlige barn)
Forfædrenes talisman (Talisman of the Ancestors) for review.
A Son of the Circus (audio)

QOTW:
I can actually only think of a handful of times I have DNF´d a book. I do read a couple of pages maybe a chapter, the back cover text etc to decide whether I want to give it a try and then when I do actually start to read I usually finish. Not because I feel obliged, but out of curiosity I think. And often books turn out alright.
I have returned a LOT of unopened library books and I have many unopened owned books.
I remember DNF´ing:
Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg
Snow by Orhan Pamuk (is it a snow thing?)
Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie
All for similar reasons - they weren´t bad but I paused in them for some reason and it went on for too long, then when I returned I was lost.

I don´t always finish non-fiction, essay collections and poetry collections, but they are different kinds of reads that you don´t necessarily read cover to cover and can go back and forth.

I am always switching between several books, so I pause a lot in books and pick them up again, the trick is to not let too long time pass. Especially if there are many characters, plotlines etc.