EPBOT Readers discussion

Hi everyone!

Was really busy cleaning house yesterday and then hosting some friends for 4th of July grilling. Fun but exhausting! I kept meaning to post today and kept being lazy.

This week I finished:

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters for read harder’s epistolary novel, and aty’s book with an unusual format. I liked it overall, but I have a kind of uncomfortable time with dystopian lit right now, for reasons.

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows - aty book with an unusual or intriguing title, reading women author from a south Asian country. Technically she was born in Singapore, but her family is from India so I’m counting it. I really enjoyed it! Great look at coming to terms with both your own and others sexuality’s and reconciling then with your culture.

Dark Jelly- read harder’s own voices from Oceania, and reading women author from new zeland. I wasn’t a fan. It said it explored themes of darkness. I expected spooky/creepy, not abuse and drugs and murder.

Currently reading:

Autonomous- reading women lambda award winner, aty book that won an award in a genre you enjoy. Almost done, liking it a lot!

QOTW:
Borrowing from PopSugar: how do you organize your books?

I don’t have enough non-sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal romance/comics to be worth doing genre. So all the comics are on one shelf, trades in order of series name. Everting else is sorted alphabetical by author. Then by series/chronological depending. My shelves are also overflowing but I try to stack new books on the shelf where they WOULD be if there were room. Once my addition is done, current bedroom will become a library. The. I can get kids shelves, woo!

Last week, I read:

Some manga: Noragami: Stray God, Vol. 6, Star Wars Lost Stars, Vol. 1 (manga) (Star Wars Lost Stars.

The Suffragette Scandal and the follow-up novella Talk Sweetly to Me by Courtney Milan. I really loved this series, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical romance. Milan writes smart, interesting heroines.

And Swordheart by T. Kingfisher, which I absolutely loved. The characters, the banter, everything. Kingfisher writes the kind of character-driven fantasy, serious but with a sense of humor, that I want to write myself.

I'm currently reading An Illusion of Thieves by Cate Glass, but I'm not very far in yet. So far it's interesting, but it's been mostly world-building setup.

QOTW: 90% of my books are still stored in boxes, so they're not organized at all right now. Normally, I would alphabetize by author, and then by title (except series, which I'd keep in series order).

I finished Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lensmy audiobook. I think I actually had about 15 minutes left after last week's update. So that was quickly finished. I have now started the final book in the series, also audiobook, The Dark Talent.

I also finished Station Eleven. This was a super fast read for me. I found a lot of the story very compelling. The ending was slightly unsatisfactory as multiple story lines didn't cleanly join together. But overall the story was very interesting and everyone in my family read this.

I have barely started The Amusement Park: 900 Years of Thrills and Spills, and the Dreamers and Schemers Who Built Them. This is a library book and I hope to finish it but it will not go on an upcoming flight/trip with me. This book is HEAVY! It is surprising how heavy it feels every time I pick it up. But the book is interesting so far. I love amusement parks and roller coasters so we'll see how engaging or dry this one is.

For my nighttime reading I'm just starting The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World. I have been looking forward to reading this.

Five finishes this week:

The Girl With All the Gifts for Dumbledore / book involving school or teacher.

Finding Gobi: The True Story of a Little Dog and an Incredible Journey for Quidditch / book involving a sport.

Charlotte's Web, which I stretched for Herbology / book involving nature.

Pawn of Prophecy for Divination / book involving prophecy or fortune-telling.

Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours: for Beauxbatons / book from a French author.

And now my reading has screeched to a halt this week because I am working on clearing my overgrown yard and earphone wires are just inconvenient. Nonetheless, I am at 45/52 for the year. I'd love to be done by my birthday on the 27th, but we'll see how that goes.

QOTW: Organization is not my forte is all I'll say ;)

Autonomous is on my tbr list and Station Eleven is one of my favorites!

I’m currently reading Pieces of Her. I got it via one of the giveaways. It’s not something I would normally choose to read, but it’s interesting so far.

What does one in a non air-conditioned house in a city that is setting all time heat records? Camp in front of the fan and read, of course.

Finished The Gathering Storm. 12 down, 2 to go. Most of my specific feedback on these last few Wheel of Time books are massive spoilers related to how various plot and character arcs wrap up, so my thoughts will be pretty vague. Towers of Midnight is just barely underway.

The Book on the Bookshelf is literally a just a history of the evolution of book storage and shelving. And a REALLY interesting history, too (not just because I'm obligated as a librarian to geek out about this kind of thing). My biggest takeaway is that the cringe-worthy home decorating trend of storing one's books with the raw edges facing outwards actually used to be standard and normal, as medieval book construction didn't provide for the ability to label or imprint spines. Also the famously chained libraries of that era had the chain attached to the cover, necessitating edge-out storage.

Was walking the dog earlier this week and poked my nose into a local roadside Free Little Library and was absolutely horrified to discover an active library book in there (no markings of it having been retired from library use). So I grabbed it with the intention of returning it after the holiday weekend (again, note my chosen career. eyeroll). It happened to be a biography, which I typically enjoy, so like a good little nerd, I gave it a quick read first. Crazy Is My Superpower: How I Triumphed by Breaking Bones, Breaking Hearts, and Breaking the Rules wound up being written by professional wrestler AJ Mendez. Pro wrestling is 100% NOT my thing, but it was a fascinating book! Mendez could absolutely be a FoE- she's geeky, snarky, and her book is very much about how she used her public platform to overcome mental illness and empower the place of women in her industry, as well as fought to be her own person, rather than over-sexed mold that was expected of her. I wound up really loving it! And it was safely placed back in the library book return this morning, just in time for opening after the weekend.

QOTW - despite the stereotype out there, no my home collection is not shelved via Dewey Decimal System. My non fiction stuff is grouped by subject in various locations around the house, and the fiction is by series and author, then in order of series or loosely chronologically. As long as I can find what I need, I don't stress over it being meticulously organized. We'll save that effort for work...