Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2019 Weekly Checkins
>
Week 40: 9/27 – 10/3
Happy Thursday!I've had a pretty good reading week overall. My husband went out of town for the weekend and I put away 7 books. Two of those were graphic novels and one was a very odd, very short book. I spent more time reading this week than I have in a long time and it felt nice to get back into it so thoroughly. Onto books!
First up, for a book with an item of clothing on the cover I went with Cinder which has, of course, the very prominent red shoe on the front. Normally, I'm a little stricter with my prompts and I probably would have gone with something that only showed the item by itself (rather than being worn) but as I'm reaching the end of the year I'm weirdly starting to loosen up about prompts. I liked this book and thought the overall plot line -- a retelling of Cinderella with a cyborg in a somewhat dystopian setting -- was clever and the whole thing was pretty fun. I'm glad I read it but will probably wait and only read more of the series if it works into some of next years prompts.
I followed that up with A Discovery of Witches which I enjoyed but did think that there was a lot of extra detail which I think could have been cut to make it a more enjoyable read (which makes me think the tv show would actually be perfect at doing so). I was surprised because my copy came in at just under 600 pages but man did it feel like a 900+ page read. I did enjoy it overall. I actually remembered only halfway through the book that it was last month's monthly read pick and literally just remembered that now so I might pop into that thread later with more of my thoughts. I had just picked it up more on a whim when I saw it at the library. Also probably going to wait on reading the rest of the series with this one.
A lighter read (in my mind) next was Permanent Record. I really enjoyed Choi's Emergency Contact earlier this year and while I didn't enjoy this one overall quite as much I did Emergency Contact, I did enjoy it more in other ways. I really like how Choi writes characters who clearly are not the best people ever. They can be quite neglectful and selfish but also just lovely and real. I feel like her characters at least are evolving and learning how to be better people.
Fox 8 by George Saunders was one that I stumbled upon at the library. I was wooed by it's cute little fox graphic and equally cute little size. This book is tiny! I think my copy was 42 pages in total. I honestly had no idea what it was but figured with a book that size it would be worth checking out. Let's just say that I was not expecting it to be a story written by the main character...who is a fox that has learned english. The writing used phonetic spelling and I spent the entire book just wondering what in the heck it was that I was reading. It even has cute little illustrations on each page.
Pumpkinheads was my book to cover the read in the season it was set prompt although I'm also considering it for favorite past prompt and would fit it into last year's 'A book set on Halloween'. This was cute! A short read like most graphic novels but very cute and fluffy. Made me want to visit a pumpkin patch.
The audiobook that I listened to during work this week was A Rule Against Murder which felt a bit different from the previous Inspector Gamache books. I liked the slight change of the setting being away from Three Pines but still connected with that community. I did wish that Ruth had more than a cameo though as she is my favorite character so far (especially now that the duck is a recurring character). This series still hasn't quite caught me in the way that I was hoping it would but I'm at least enjoying them enough to keep going.
And finally, I read Let's Make Ramen!: A Comic Book Cookbook which is a cookbook - in comic book format! I mean it's big enough that it can really be called a graphic novel. I thought this was such a clever way to do a cookbook! There were times when I thought it was a little hard to know which step followed next but it would only take a moment longer to figure that out than when using a regular cookbook. I was a little weirded out at first when I got into the first section reading about Ramen and the Japanese culture surrounding it from what I initially thought was the perspective of two americans but was pleased to discover the main authors half Japanese heritage. Then I felt weird about feeling weird in the first place. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes as we cook ramen at home but have always just kind of winged it.
Currently Reading: Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals
QOTW:
Yes! I adored Diana Wynne Jones and all of her Chrestomanci books. I did have other favorite authors but it was usually just for a single book that they had written, not so much their entire body of work. Those would be S.E. Hinton (for The Outsiders), Jean Craighead George for My Side of the Mountain (oddly just that first book, not so much the rest of the trilogy) and Richard and Florence Atwater for Mr. Popper's Penguins.
Finished: Vicious for A book about someone with a superpower. This was pretty good, but I'm not sure I'm in any huge rush to run out an read the second book.Started and finished: Shadow and Bone for A book written by a musician. This is the prompt I had to twist the most, as I didn't fancy anything written by someone who was primarily a musician (not sufficiently interested in any musicians to want to read their autobiographies, for example). But I did enjoy the book, and will go on to read the rest of the series.
And with that, I'VE FINISHED THE CHALLENGE!. Can't quite believe it, especially that I managed to finish nearly three months before the end of the year. It's been so much fun!
QOTW:
I was a real Enid Blyton nut as a kid, and am always kind of sad that nowadays people are often critical of her books. Also loved the Arthur Ransome books (and am planning a re-read of my collection of those soon, having read Swallows and Amazons for the re-read prompt.
Gemma wrote: "And with that, I'VE FINISHED THE CHALLENGE!. Can't quite believe it, especially that I managed to finish nearly three months before the end of the year. It's been so much fun!"Congrats, Gemma!!
Greetings all,It is mid-semester break here so theoretically no school but I have been in 2 out of the 4 days so far since the Chemistry kids wanted help. Yeah I'm a soft touch but I've known them since y8 and they finish in 7 weeks, all grown up. It is an honour to watch them turn into young adults.
The extra 2 days off have meant a fair bit more reading:
Redemption which was picked by one of my psych kids for his assignment so I had to read it. Possibly the worst book I have ever read. But it's over now so all OK.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I was warned it took a while to get going but I did enjoy it in the end and will read the next one.
The Dinner my favourite of the week as I haven't read anything quite like it before and it did leave me thinking after it was finished.
Brave New World Revisited fascinating how closely the world was predicted.
Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You not really my thing but saw it on here and saw that some people found the quotes (if that's what you'd call them) a positive way to start the day. Needed some positivity so thought I'd try. Nothing ventured nothing gained and all that.
QOTW
when I was really little I did read Dr Seuss. In early primary I moved to liking adventure stuff so Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden that type of thing (didn't take much notice of who wrote stuff though). By upper primary I'd read everything available in English for kids in the area so I started reading Sidney Sheldon and Jackie Collins which all the mums were reading. Eye opening for a 9/10 year old but not sure they were favourites.
Just for clarity....we did not have TV, video, phone etc till was 11 and didn't have electricity till I was 8 so lots of books.
Gemma wrote: "Finished: Vicious for A book about someone with a superpower. This was pretty good, but I'm not sure I'm in any huge rush to run out an read the second book.Started and finished: ..."
OOOH forgot Swallows and Amazons loved that book!
I had to wear a jumper to work today! It's like as soon as the calendar clicked over to October, the night temperature dropped suddenly. The tomato plants all keeled over yesterday so we've got a pile of green tomatoes. We tried making chutney with them last year but it didn't really work so any recipes for what to do with them greatly appreciated!I finished Pet by Akwaeke Emezi for African author and I loved it. It's a tale of what happens when you become complacent and forget the lessons of the past.
Also read The Survival of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson which is a sequel novella. I liked seeing what happened to the remaining molly. Not for any challenges.
Currently reading Sweet Fruit, Sour Land for sweet/bitter/salty/spicy in title. Basically my worst nightmare, a future Britain where we're running out of food!
Still listening to Command and Control (it's a long one) for ATY (second of two connected books). It's terrifying, I don't know how we're all still here.
PS: 47/52 | ATY: 47/52 | GR: 104/100
QOTW:
I'm not sure about specific authors but I loved pony books! I specifically remember Patricia Leitch's Jinny series being a favourite and there were other series I liked but I'm fuzzy on who they were by.
I'm quite fond of The Very Hungry Caterpillar as in primary school our teacher got all the foods from the book for us to try. Oh and I liked Meg and Mog books and The Worst Witch. It's all coming back to me now...
Brittany wrote: "Gemma wrote: "And with that, I'VE FINISHED THE CHALLENGE!. Can't quite believe it, especially that I managed to finish nearly three months before the end of the year. It's been so much fun!"Congr..."
Thanks Brittany :)
Jen wrote: "Gemma wrote: "Finished: Vicious for A book about someone with a superpower. This was pretty good, but I'm not sure I'm in any huge rush to run out an read the second book.Started ..."
I loved vicariously sharing the childhood adventures - I was never the kind of child who would actually want to go camping during the holidays, but I loved reading about other children doing it (hence Enid Blyton as well)!
Mod
Wowza I only finished one book this week! I’ve been reading and reading, but sometimes it just works out that nothing gets finished. And the books I’m reading have been kind of slow. I am currently reading my LAST Challenge book, so I am 49/50 right now.
Finished:
The Target by David Baldacci - this was okay. I like to listen to these assassin/thriller books sometimes, and this fit the bill, but it was not as good as the first two books in this series. I had the impression that Baldacci had a great story involving North Korean spies, but his publishers said it was too short so he padded it with multiple plot lines that had nothing to do with the main story. He threw in an attempted mugging, a training/torture montage and then a neo-Nazi kidnapping that involved child abuse, rape, and the witness protection program. This book had all the things. I would have liked it a lot more if it was just the North Korean story.
QoTW
Yes I did, but in most cases I had a favorite series. Once I found a book I liked, I read every other book the library had next to it on the shelf.
L. Frank Baum - I read every Wizard of Oz book they had. I dressed as Ozma for Halloween one year.
Andre Norton - I started with her kids' book series Lavender-Green Magic and then read every other Norton book shelved in the childrens' section. I remember Forerunner Foray with particular fondness.
Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators Series - this wasn't just one author, and as a child I thought Alfred Hitchcock actually wrote the books hahaha!
Madeleine L'Engle - I started with A Wrinkle in Time and then moved on to her Austins series, starting with The Moon by Night (that's where *I* started - not where the series started - back then I often started series in the middle because I just didn't know any better)
Walter Farley! This was a rare instance where I actually OWNED the books (my parents did not buy me books very often). The Black Stallion and every other book I could find in this series.
I finished The High Mountains of Portugal as a fave previous category, book that takes place in Europe. It was very bizarre. I think I liked it, though.I read The Secret of Crickley Hall as my ghost story. It was so good. I couldn't put it down. Except I had to because of work and stuff.
And now I have started Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters as my book with a two word title. I'm not counting the subtitle.
QOTW:
That's a good question. I liked Beverly Cleary. (I liked Ramona, but Emily's Runaway Imagination was one of my fave books and I read it several times). I also really liked the Paddington and Black Stallion series, so those authors. Otherwise, I guess not. If there was a horse book, or a cat book, I was reading it and I didn't care who wrote it.
Can't believe it's October! I still need to finish four more prompts and I'm kind of struggling with them. Which is probably why they are the last four remaining. I have books selected and we'll see how it goes.This week I finished two books. First, The Chestnut Man, which was my book set in Scandinavia. It was pretty enjoyable. I didn't guess who the murderer was until pretty late, so I liked that. I don't usually try too hard, because the suspense is the best part of these books, but sometimes the author makes it too obvious what's going on. So, this worked well for me. And I finally got to tick off that prompt, which had also been a bit of a struggle.
The other book I finished was The Matchmaker's List, which I had picked up from the library as a light read. Meh. I prefer my romance stories to have a little more actual romance in them. Also, the writing and the format were clunky.
I am currently reading the new Stephen King book, The Institute. It's fine. I'm not sure if I'll finish or not, but that's more of a timing issue because I have a bunch of books out from the library and only so much time to finish and return them. I'm planning on starting The Priory of the Orange Tree later today and if I like that better, I may read that instead.
QOTW:
I've only ever had one favorite author, John Irving. I started reading his books when I was 12, so I was a child, just reading age-inappropriate books. I devoured his books between the ages of 12 and 16 and I wrote my senior paper in high school on A Prayer for Owen Meany, which was my favorite at the time. It's interesting to think about it, because I loved his books so much, it's definitely a big part of why I love reading so much today. And he certainly inspired me to become a writer. I don't write fiction for a living, but I write it as a hobby. Plus my job does require a lot of writing, just a different kind.
I finished the challenge this week!! Of course, now I'm playing the game where I wonder if every book I read will fit one of next year's prompts. Finished
The Two Towers (a reread of a favorite book) and The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien. That concludes my Lord of the Rings reread. I enjoyed reading the series again after a long break.
Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen (a book about a family). I wasn't happy with my first selection for this prompt, so I'm glad I found something else that would work. A time traveler is stranded in the 1990's and starts a family. He's "rescued" when his daughter is a teenager, but going back to his own time puts her life in danger. He breaks all kinds of laws to watch over her from the future. I really liked it. The sci-fi is background. The heart of the story is the relationship between father and daughter.
Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen (a book with pop, sugar, or challenge in the title). I never did find a book I was excited about for this prompt. I didn't particularly like this book, but I've never really cared about popularity.
Reading
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation by Colin G. Calloway
My library hold came in, so I'm starting The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow tonight.
QOTW
Beverly Clearly and Ann M. Martin. I read Dear Mr. Henshaw more times than I can remember. I saved up my allowance to buy Babysitter Club books from the Scholastic catalog every month.
G'mornin'!Went to Waterstones yesterday for the bookclub and signing I mentioned last week - was fun. Had a right good natter and laugh at the club. The signing was a launch event for Things We Say in the Dark by Kirsty Logan. Sounds like it will be a pretty unsettling book, and Kirsty was lovely - did a personalized dedication and drew a little candle next to her signature.
Only read 3 books this week, 2 of them pretty short. None for Popsugar, need to get on that. I do have books lined up for several prompts but I'm waiting for specific times to read them.
Salt and Saffron - Enjoyed this but it was a little hit-and-miss. Didn't buy into the romance - they only had like three conversations! - but I found the family history subplot interesting, though a bit confusing as not only was it a very extended family with multiple branches, but there was a love triangle... love square... something, involving triplet brothers and I was all in a tizzy trying to remember who was who.
(I also liked how a bunch of the family members had sarcastic nicknames for each other, my favourite being "Great-Aunt One-Liner". Definitely have relatives like that myself.)
The Bone Ships - Slightly underwhelming for me, considering I bought it on the strength of Robin Hobb's effusive praise. Liked the worldbuilding but felt the plot was somewhat lacking. Probably won't continue the series but would say it's at least worth a try for those who like Hobb's "Liveship Traders" series.
This is How You Lose the Time War - What can possibly be said about this? It's deeply, deeply weird and deeply, deeply gorgeous. Enemies-to-penpals-to-lovers romance with letters written in the flow of lava, broken teacups and poison berries. There are also madcap puns. It's a trip and it poked me in my soul bits.
Currently reading Dark Tales. Only a couple of stories in, but it seems quite good.
QOTW: I didn't pay very much attention to authors when I was little, but I still had lots of favourites. In no particular order:
Beatrix Potter, Terry Pratchett, Eoin Colfer, Michael Morpurgo, David Almond, Lynne Reid Banks, Ursula K. Le Guin, Cornelia Funke, Michelle Magorian
Oh, and Rick Riordan - I loved Percy Jackson - and J.K. Rowling, because Harry Potter has the collective millennial childhood by the private-and-personals.
Edit: Oh, and Jacqueline Wilson, Beverly Cleary and Darren Shan (although HOW was the Demonata series allowed to be sold to kids?!?!)
Edit 2: Michael Lawrence's Jiggy McCue series, too.
Edit 3: Anne Fine!
Hi everyone! This is a 2-week check-in for me. I was at a regional meeting for work all last week, which meant 15-hour workdays. But then traveled to Kansas City last weekend to celebrate my grandmother’s 97th birthday! She is still feisty and won’t let anyone bother her when her team is playing on TV, and I love every minute I get to spend with her. Now I won’t see her again until Christmas, but I’m sure the time will fly by.I’m heading to a global meeting/conference at our corporate HQ in Denmark on Saturday, which will mean more 15-hour workdays and little reading time, but I know I will learn a lot. I just wish there was more time between the two weeklong meetings! Especially because the week after next is a trade show, which will again be 15-hour workdays for 3-4 days. Thankfully after that I should have a “normal” schedule until the end of the year. My current mantra is “You can make it to the 20th!”
44/50 for Popsugar
49/52 for Around the Year
Books I finished this week:
Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer (Popsugar #5: A book with over 1 million ratings) Bella is still awful. And after reading this I’m a bit confused by all of the #TeamJacob people. I mean, I still don’t understand what is so great about Bella that has 2 supernatural creatures fighting over her, but in this book Edward was the better one. Jacob played games, manipulated Bella, and even threatened to commit suicide if she didn’t kiss him. These things are not okay!!
The Alienist by Caleb Carr (Popsugar #7: A reread of a favorite book) I liked this just as much as a reread as I did the first time around. This is a great historical mystery that takes place in New York City at the end of the 19th century.
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal (Popsugar #15: A retelling of a classic) A modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice with a Muslim Pakistani family. The mother was just as awful in this version as in the original, but I did like the modern update overall.
And Then She Was Gone by Christopher Greyson (Popsugar #47: Two books with the same title) Not a bad mystery. This is a prequel to the Jack Stratton series, with Jack being a teenager in this one.
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. This was okay. Parts were hilarious and other parts were tedious. I think part of my meh feeling is simply because my library copy was a mmpb, and I really dislike those editions. But really, it could have been a bit shorter, I think.
99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne (Mannegren: A book published by HarperCollins) I did not like this sophomore novel by Thorne. I remember liking (not loving) her debut, The Hating Game, but this was almost cringeworthy. I don’t mind unlikeable characters if they have depth to them, but the main character and her twin brother were flat, immature and way too self-absorbed.
I am currently reading:
Before I Met You by Lisa Jewell.
The Winters by Lisa Gabriele (Around the Year: Wedding rhyme book 3 – something borrowed)
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane (Reading Women: A multi-generational saga)
QOTW: In grade school I read (and reread) all books by Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. I also enjoyed the Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald J. Sobol. I eventually got into the Sweet Valley High series by Francine Pascal, and in junior high I started reading some of Agatha Christie's mysteries.
Happy Friday, y'all!First off, I want to apologize for being such a bad discussion leader. I was supposed to lead the A Discovery of Witches discussion last month but had a really rough month and dropped the ball entirely. I'm sorry. :(
Things are getting better at work, at least, so hopefully life smooths out here soon...
Books read this week:
Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle -- cute and cozy mystery about a bombastic chef trying to find out who killed his mushroom supplier. Though I have to admit I was amused by the inclusion of an Author’s Note reminding the reader that “this book uses UK spellings for words.” I wonder how many complaints the author got along the lines of “you misspelled ‘checkbook!’” or something similar…
Ratha's Creature -- xenofiction book about prehistoric cats discovering fire. If you enjoy Watership Down or the Warriors books, you might like this one. A little melancholy in parts but REALLY good.
A Tale Dark & Grimm -- retelling of Hansel and Gretel that weaves in some of the Brothers Grimm’s darker and lesser-known tales. Not bad, but definitely written with a mind for entertaining kids with bloodier, more violent takes on a classic fairy tale.
Cretaceous -- graphic novel. Reads like a dinosaur documentary, which is NOT a bad thing -- it provides an exciting glimpse into the brutal but fascinating world of dinosaurs, almost like a graphic-novel version of “Walking With Dinosaurs.”
Currently Reading:
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
The Best of Planet Stories 1
Auraria
The Infinite Future
QOTW:
When I was a kid I just read absolutely anything I could get my hands on that looked interesting, so I didn't really have a favorite author. When I was about ten I hit a "dragon" phase when I read anything with the word "dragon" in the title... and stumbled upon both Anne McCaffrey and Jane Yolen via their "Dragonriders of Pern" and "Pit Dragons" books respectively. Still have a soft spot for both authors.
Hello and Happy October!!! Time for me to (hopefully) binge read for the rest of the year. I am starting to get balance in my college-full time job adult life so I am hoping to fit in more good stuff. My struggle now will be reading books that fit the remaining challenges and not just reading what I want. lol. #thestruggle.29/40 Regular
5/10 Advanced
Fiinished
NADA
Currently Reading
Question of the week:
Did you have a favorite author when you were a child?
Who wrote the boxcar children?! I liked those as a kid.
JK Rowling is about it though. I died for years waiting for the next installation. I was a library wanderer most of my life and just hunted for titles that sounded intriguing. I still do that mostly but in recent years I will gravitate towards authors I enjoy.
October is absolutely my favorite month, even though I don't love Halloween. I think it's because I spent my early years in a country that didn't have it, so I never really got the excitement.I was debating about whether to check in now, or wait to see if I can finish my last Popsugar book later tonight.
Finished:
Brideshead Revisited
The Overstory for cli-fi.
Currently reading:
Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players This is my last Popsugar book, for book revolving around a puzzle or game. It's longer and going a lot slower than I thought a book about Scrabble would. I love Scrabble.
Middlemarch
When We Left Cuba
QOTW:
The only ones I can think of are Agatha Christie and V.C. Andrews. Maybe Laura Ingalls Wilder. Like Jen, as I got older I started taking my mom's Sidney Sheldon and Jackie Collins and even Danielle Steel books. We did not have as many good choices in the 80s.
October is my favorite month, and this year, I'm trying to only read thrillers/horror/mystery books. I haven't done something like this before so we'll see how it goes. Sometimes I need a break from a genre so I might mix it up if needed. Finished:
The Nanny at Number 43 - I had an ARC of this through BookSirens. It wasn't what I expected when I requested it. It was okay - 3 stars.
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me - this was not for the challenge. I got this through BOTM last month. I don't normally read memoirs, but felt this read more like fiction. It was hard to believe how selfish her mother was. 3.5 stars.
The Turn of the Key - I listened to this on audible. I thought the narrator did a really good job and felt the story was very creepy. I didn't like the ending though. It felt rushed and I was left confused about what happened. 4 stars.
Challenge Progress:
Regular Challenge - 39/40
Advanced Challenge - 10/10
Total - 49/50 - I probably won't read my last book until next month.
Currently Reading:
Next Year in Havana - I was hoping to finish this last month, but didn't get to so I've put it on hold for now while I read the books I've picked for October.
The Night Olivia Fell - I've been wanting to read this for a while so I'm excited to get into it.
A Simple Favor - I'm listening to this, and I'm about halfway done. I've seen the movie, but for some reason I can't remember it.
This weekend I plan on starting The Chain as well.
QOTW: Did you have a favorite author when you were a child?
I don't know that when I was a child that I would have said so-and-so is my favorite author, but I liked books by Dr Seuss and Shel Silverstein - Hop on Pop and The Giving Tree are still two of my favorite books!
Happy October Everybody! I'm so excited it's finally here. This month is my 30th anniversary and vacation!I only finished two books this week, I'm reading too many at one time!
Finished:
I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel – PS#8- A book about a hobby. This was a book I could relate to! I found myself nodding in agreement.
The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary – BOTM pick – I enjoyed this book because it was about real people. The girl wasn’t the model type, but of course the guy thought she was beautiful! The story line was good also. From the cover, so no spoiler…Two people who lived in the same flat but at different times, so they never met. This reminded me of the movie, The Lake House, which is one of my all-time favorites.
POP -45/50; ATY- 52/52, GR -93/100
Currently Reading:
75% - I Heart London – BOTM for the I Heart series
57% - Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea
45% - Timbuktu by Paul Auster
22% -Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng – PS #43 – Own Voice Book
I made good progress on the Bear in the Nightingale audio!
Slow Reads:
5% - Emma by Jane Austen – classic for personal challenge. I have both the e-book and audio that I will switch up. Audio is 18 hours.
50% - The bear in the Nightingale – PS #12 – A book inspired by myth/legend.
QOTW:
Nancy Drew, The Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High, V.C. Andrews – Flowers in the Attic set are series that I read. I would read anything and everything, especially about animals. High school was probably when I read my only Steven King novel, whereas now I don’t read “extreme” horror.
They're predicting temps in the 70s and 80s in the next few days here in North Texas, so I'm getting very excited! I went and got a couple of fall candles yesterday, so my apartment's all ready for coziness (just need some apple cider!).I read maybe two pages of a book in the last week. No clue how the time gets away from me like that! I think I'm going to have to accept that there's no way I'll finish the challenge, which really bums me out. :(
Finished:
None
Currently Reading:
Under Wildwood
Aesop's Fables
QOTW:
I LOVE this question. I loved so many: Marguerite Henry, Beverly Cleary, Ann M. Martin, Sandra Boynton, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Jean Craighead George, and John R. Erickson (any other Hank the Cowdog fans out there??) are just a few who come to mind.
I know there are more, but I feel like I should get back to work before I spend all day thinking about childhood favorites...
Edit: Oh my gosh, how could I have forgotten Shel Silverstein and Roald Dahl???
Shannon wrote: "They're predicting temps in the 70s and 80s in the next few days here in North Texas, so I'm getting very excited! I went and got a couple of fall candles yesterday, so my apartment's all ready for..."It's 48 right now. It's supposed to get up to the low 50s today. Yesterday was almost definitely my last swim of the season:(
Happy October All!!This is my favorite month of the year and after the high temps of the last week, it started finally cooling down yesterday. I am ready for Fall.
Finished:
The Time Traveler's Wife for a book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads. It took me a while to get through this one. I didn't hate it, there were parts of it that I really enjoyed. There were also parts that I really didn't like (i.e. Henry's relationship with teenage Claire and the character of Gomez). This will be one that I will probably never re-read but I'm glad I finally did read it.
Fix Her Up - not for the challenge but I needed something to read Sunday and Monday before I started my October creepy reads. I liked this, it just didn't grab me as much as a few other romances I've read this year.
Currently Reading:
The Night Circus for a reread of a favorite book. I'm actually doing this on audio. I saw that is was available through Overdrive and needed something new to listen to on my work commute. I still love this book but I think I would be enjoying it more if I just read it. I'm about half way through the audio version and while I love Jim Dale reading the narration parts of the books but when he's doing the voices...they all just sound like old men. Also, some of the accents come and go. A full cast recording of this with Jim Dale reading everything but the character lines would have been great.
The Haunting of Hill House for a ghost story. This is also my first creepy read for October. I'm enjoying it. I hadn't read it before but I did watch the Netflix show. I know they are not the same but it's interesting to see how the show writers were inspired by the book. I'm only 60 pages in, I can't wait for it to start picking up and getting creepy.
QOTW:
Louisa May Alcott hands down was my favorite author growing up. I read Little Women for the first time in the fourth grade and then promptly read it like 5 more times that year. It's still one of my all time favorite books.
Good morning from an infuriatingly hot Columbus! This month I’ve decided will be Spooktober themed, and I’ve saved mostly all of my creepy books for this month.Burial Rites for a book with two words in the title. Beautifully written! Like honestly, just wonderful to read despite the rather bleak subject. This was about the last person to be executed in Iceland, so not an overall happy story. But overall such a great read.
Small Spaces for the Marisha Pessl challenge. This is a middle grade book, kinda horror kinda mystery all around fun and spooky read.
See What I Have Done for a novel based on a true story. This is a fictionalized take on the Lizzie Borden murders. I’ve seen a lot of people not like this, and I guess I can see why. I did enjoy it, but it was a lot less sinister than I had hoped and more a really dysfunctional family and some severely untreated mental illness.
Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders whoops this was for the summer reading challenge I’m just now finishing it up. Can I just take a second to complain about weirdly specific prompts in reading challenges? A book that takes place on ALL continents?? What book takes place on ALL continents? Why don’t you just tell me what book you had in mind when you added that prompt to the challenge instead of making me scour the internet trying to find something that fits. Atlas Obscura was the only thing that I could find that’d work. It’s a tour guide of sorts, if you’ve never read it. It features weird and obscure places all over the world to visit. Give them a follow on social media, they post great content! (And look up their Bug Whisperer video, that’s my friend Aaron and he’s amazing).
The Haunting of Hill House for the Back to the Classics challenge. Shun me if you must, this was very boring for me. I guess seeing the movies and show first had me thinking this would be a bit more focused on a haunting and less on someone going out of their mind. I get the use of “did it really happen or was it insanity all along” in plots but I find it frustrating because I like clarity (I’m looking at you, The Babadook).
126 books read this year 35/40; 5/10 for popsugar, 15/24 for book riot, 4/12 for back to the classics, and 12/37 for Marisha Pessl
Qotw: I can’t really say if I noticed authors as a kid. I was really into Maud Hart Lovelace’s books growing up.
I FINISHED POP SUGAR CHALLENGE! It was this morning in the wee hours. I finally buckled down and read the last 2 books which had been lingering for months.Finished:
A Natural Woman: A Memoir - book by a musician. Enjoyed this a lot, and it serves as an excellent mini-history of mid- to late-20th century pop music and the rise of the singer/songwriter.
Memoirs of a Geisha - book with over $1M ratings on GR. I have owned the print copy of this book for 20 years, kept intending to read it. Getting around finally to reading books like this is one of the reasons I like PS. Enjoyed it with reservations.
The Clothing of Books - English translation of a spech Lahiri gaave about book jackets. It is a lovely little short book and has a great jacket!
Crocodile on the Sandbank - a quick reread of a favorite mystery...the introduction of Amelia Peabody and her adventures. My reading last week of Grand Hotels of Egypt: In the Golden Age of Travel inspired this reread as I believe I first learned about the famous Shepheard's in Cairo from this series.
Currently reading:
The Cottage on Pumpkin and Vine - seasonal romance
That Month in Tuscany - Oct. Trim read for PBT.
Home to Stay - I should just finish this.
We Should All Be Feminists
Troilus and Cressida - my last prompt for ATY...and inspired to read by The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer who quotes it frequently in conbection with her hero. As I understand it, Shakespeare has a different view of Ajax than we typically see. It made me curious, especially as I also read The Song of Achilles this year.
On the nightstand:
Swann in Love - time to read for next discussion group session.
The Master and Margarita
QOTW:
It wasn't an author per se, but series:
Nancy Drew
Happy Hollisters
Hardy Boys
Those then led me in my early teens to authors: Agatha Christie, Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, and Helen MacInnes.
Mod
It’s hard to believe that there are only 3 months left in ..."
That is amazing to have blown your reading goal out of the water so soon! Congratulations!
Mod
Started and finished: ..."
Congratulations on finishing the Popsugar Challenge!
Hey all! The weather's been weird over here. Two days ago, it was 88 degrees out ("feels like 90"). Now it's 63 and foggy.Lots of reading this past week:
Finished reading (38/50):
The Collector (two-word title) - Sci-fi novella about a corporate bounty hunter/hitman who is given an assignment to find his boss's runaway son. Gritty, fast-paced, fun.
The Boneless Mercies (set in Scandanivia, imaginary creatures, superpowers, retelling of a classic, inspired by myth/legend/folklore) - Meh. This book sounded really good (genderbent retelling of Beowulf!) but I didn't care about any of the main characters and couldn't get invested in the storyline. Also, the final battle felt anticlimactic and unearned - (view spoiler). Not recommended.
tbh the best thing about the book is its cover, possibly my favorite cover of the year:
An Unexpected Honor - An actual acceptance speech by Ursula Vernon about whales. You can read it here. Good stuff. Reminds me of a passage in The Scar about sailors who fall overboard ("In the deepest places, where physical norms collapse under the crushing water, bodies still fall softly through the dark, days after their vessels have capsized. They decay on their long journey down. Nothing will hit the black sand at the bottom of the world but algae-covered bones.") - except, of course, whales are a lot bigger. And meatier.
On hold:
Mother of Learning - Time loop magic academy story. This just keeps getting wilder, in a good way. Airship heist! Imperial treasury heist! Fighting a soulstealing...flower?
"We have been outsmarted and nearly killed by a flower," Zach said, still keeping a wary distance from the chrysamthemum's remains. "We are never speaking about this again."
Unfortunately I'm now CAUGHT UP (it's a web serial) and have to wait for updates. But the end is close; we're at (presumably) the final battle and there's a big update scheduled for November.
QotW:
Two of my big favorites were C.S. Lewis and Roald Dahl (Matilda was my personal hero). Also a special shout-out to Lloyd Alexander, whose Prydain series is the first epic fantasy I remember reading.
As a somewhat older kid I also liked Tolkien (and messed up my dad's Lord of the Rings boxed set that he kept pristine from his college days. OOPS) as well as Stephen Lawhead (his Pendragon Cycle got me into the Arthurian legend; and his The Search for Fierra/The Siege of Dome duology was basically my favorite thing ever when I was around 12).
Mod
It is mid-semester break here so theoretically no school but I have been in 2 out of the 4 days so far since the Chemistry kids wanted help. Yeah I'm a soft touch but I've known them..."
Wow. Not to have electricity until you were 8 years old. That must have been quite a change to your life! Personally, my kids always loved it when the electricity was off (we always lived "in the country" and that happened pretty much any time it stormed...) 'cause we just sat around and talked, told stories, etc.
Happy October yinz!! It's my birthday month so I'm really excited. It's also my last month in Pittsburgh, where I've lived all my life. my mom and I move to Philadelphia on November 1st. It's so scary (I don't have a job yet ahh!) but exciting, as we'll be closer to her family. My mom and I have been doing so much to prep for moving and I've been busy getting things ready for my replacement that I've done no reading this past week. Just podcast listening when I have time at work and while we sift through all the things in our basement. It's been stressful (and will probably get more stressful!) but I'm ready for a change.Congrats to those who have finished the challenge!!!!!
QOTW: Definitely Ann M Martin, Carolyn Keene (I know it was a pen name so it covers a lot of authors, but Nancy Drew was my fave), Gertrude Chandler Warner (whose name I just had to look up!) were big faves because Babysitters, Nancy Drew, and Boxcar Children were such massive series that I would constantly be reading or rereading. I adored CS Lewis too! Otherwise, I didn't really have particular authors I followed or cared about until high school age?
I didn't read Harry Potter until a year before final book was released (hello strict Christian elementary school that banned it!!) but once a friend gave me her copy and forced me to read, I fell in love with JK Rowling's writing and storytelling!
Sarah Dessen was a high school. Still have a big fondness for her and how much her books meant to my adolescence.
Mod
Interestingly, as we discuss children's literature I realize just how limited my own local library's collection was as a young child. I sure wish they had owned a wider variety of children's books! Of course, that would have depended upon my mother's regulation as to what I could check out I suppose... And I don't see her allowing me any science fiction/fantasy. :(
Linda wrote: "Nancy Drew, The Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High, V.C. Andrews – Flowers in the Attic set are series that I read. I would read anything and everything, especially about animals.:..."Oh I forgot about Nancy Drew books! I owned every single book in the series, and then my mom sold them on a garage sale about 10 years ago without asking. It was a sad day for me.
Jessica wrote: "Hello and Happy October!!! Time for me to (hopefully) binge read for the rest of the year. I am starting to get balance in my college-full time job adult life so I am hoping to fit in more good stu..."Gertrude Chandler Warner wrote the Boxcar Children. :)
Dani wrote: "Good morning from an infuriatingly hot Columbus! This month I’ve decided will be Spooktober themed, and I’ve saved mostly all of my creepy books for this month.Burial Rites for a ..."
We can be shunned together, I didn't love The Haunting of Hill House either. I expected so much more.
Mod
I have yet to read A Prayer for Owen Meany. Hopefully I can fit it into a 2020 prompt!
Yayyyy it's October! This is my favorite month of the year partly because it starts to get cooler here in Ohio and also because of Halloween, which happens to be my favorite holiday.I finished: The Summoning for prompt #18 A book about someone with superpowers. I guess being a genetically altered necromancer is a super power right?
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein for prompt #15-A retelling of a classic. I was pleasantly surprised because I've never read Frankenstein, even though I've had the book for years. I'm happy that my sci-fi book club picked this out. We had a great discussion surrounding codependent relationships /enablers and how women in that era did certain things to survive.
Currently Reading:
America, Vol. 1: The Life and Times of America Chavez for prompt #17 A book set on a college or university campus. This is a graphic novel and I really love the LGBTQ representation.
scary stories audio collection I decided to reread this because it's October not knowing it was all 3 books in one. I really like the narrator because he has a weird funny voice. I've been laughing at parts because it's not really scary to me now as an adult.
QOTW: Wow! I really love this question. Thank you to the person that suggested. I absolutely loved Judy Blume R.L. Stine Francine Pascal
PS: 22/40 GR: 55/70
Theresa wrote: "I FINISHED POP SUGAR CHALLENGE! It was this morning in the wee hours. I finally buckled down and read the last 2 books which had been lingering for months.Finished:
[book:A Natural Woman: A Memo..."
Congrats on crossing the finish line!
Oh wow, how could I have forgotten Judy Blume? She was my childhood.
And the slump continues.For the prompt - A book with a title that contains "salty", "sweet", "bitter" or "spicy" I read Bitter Roots by C.J. Carmichael. It was an entertaining mystery.
QOTW I did! J.R.R. Tolkein, Agatha Christie, Ngio Marsh, Carolyn Keene, Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey and David Eddings
Oh wow I need to add both authors for Nancy Drew and The Babysitters club. How could I have forgotten about them??
Mod
Gertrude Chandler Warner wrote the Boxcar series.
Greetings fellow readers! It has taken a turn for the chilly with highs in the upper 60s today but the 80s will be back this weekend. Unfortunately, it's also all with rain which is not great for my little's birthday on Saturday. I'm not looking forward to everyone being crammed inside for the party, especially since I'm still in the middle of my divorce and tensions are high. Oh well. That's life, I suppose.On the plus side, I've had a great reading week! I finally finished A Column of Fire on audio for a book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in the title. It was 30 hours long! I liked it but not as much as the previous two books in the series. I felt like Follett was trying to accomplish too much and I wanted to catch up on the town of Kingsbridge and its residence more than what was going on in the rest of Europe.
I also finished Stars Above for a book set in space. This is a little bit of a stretch but it's a collection of short stories with different settings so I'll still count it. I really enjoyed getting back into the world of Cinder and her friends, and learning more about their origins. I gave it 5 stars but I think that might have been more to do with sentimentality than anything else.
I also absolutely devoured The Hating Game for a debut novel. I was hesitant at first because the first few pages were a bit confusing and juvenile but by the end of the first chapter, I was hooked. I also gave this one 5 stars because it left me wanting more.
QOTW: The only author I can think of that I truly loved as a child is Laura Ingalls Wilder. I remember picking out Little House in the Big Woods for my very first plane ride. I was sucked in from there. I even dressed as her and gave a presentation in our school's "wax museum" when I was in eighth grade.
Mod
You know what?!? Whatever you have read this year is what you have read and is much better than having read nothing! This is a HUGE challenge with alot of prompts/tasks to complete. I don't know if I'll finish or not, but I promised myself to appreciate whatever I finished reading this year and call it a WIN! I have had so much fun just getting to know more Goodreads folks and increasing my TBR listing!
Ah! Finally some moderate weather! Highs in the 70s for the foreseeable future. (92 degrees in October is not fun. Yesterday was apparently July 71st.) And my walking program is going great - I've dropped 6 pounds in the last three weeks. Yay!I'm a little jealous (and admiring) of everyone who's finished the challenge already. Congratulations to all of you!
Challenge Progress: 45/50
Completed:
The Institute: Bloated. This is not a tautly crafted thriller. It plodded along. Only 400 pages in did it become exciting and compelling. Once I was there, it became a must-read... but it sure took a long time to get there. ★★
Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future: "[G]reat families, great cities, and even great nations are built through attention to the everyday." I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir/political treatise. One reviewer referred to Buttigieg's "authenticity, dorkiness, and optimism," and I wholeheartedly embrace that sentiment. I admire the values Pete expressed throughout the book, and I'm really looking to seeing what happens in his political future. (A book with pop, sugar, or challenge in the title) ★★★★
Currently Reading: Lab Girl (a book recommended by a celebrity you admire - Barack Obama), The Testaments, Whisper Network, and The Ten Thousand Doors of January
QOTW: Some of my favorites, like many other respondents, were Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. I also loved Marguerite Henry and Harold Keith. Harold Keith was from Norman, Oklahoma, where I lived from age 7 to 13. He was the first published author I ever met, and I still have my signed copy of Susy's Scoundrel.
Hi all! I finally finished the challenge!!! I'm over the moon about this because now I can stop feeling guilty about mood reading, lol. Can we still post in the updates thread if we're done? I've come to look forward to seeing what everyone else is reading and saying hi :) Read this week:Night Watch: second book for "two books with the same title" (other one was The Night Watch) and very last challenge book! I've read about half the Discworld books but not much of the Watch series, but that didn't matter much. Terry Pratchett's always a delight.
Till We Have Faces: one of CS Lewis's least popular works, I'm told, but wow was it good. A Cupid/Psyche retelling that you'll definitely enjoy if you liked Silence of the Girls or Circe.
Magic for Liars: Murder? At magic school? Count me in! I thought this was just really well done and sped through it in a day.
Heir Apparent: speaking of that QOTW, this was one of my favorite books as a kid! I'm happy to say it's still just as much fun as an adult.
Currently reading:
The Dragon Republic
Words of Radiance (audio)
Child Star
Hatchet
QOTW: I don't know that I had specific favorite authors. I read all the Beverly Cleary books because my dad liked them and we had them all, but I tended more toward fantasy for real favorites, particularly Eva Ibbotson, Tamora Pierce and Cliff McNish. And of course JK Rowling!
I missed last weeks chek in so two weeks and still hardly anything complete. I finished last year all three lists with no repeats but I'm not convinced I'll do it this year. We'll see. It isn't like the world ends if I don't. :). Also, I think I will be fine if I allow repeats. I've read lots but haven't been paying as much attention to the prompts.Completed
<Love and Death Among the Cheetahs by Rhys Bowen. My mom adores the lady Georgie books. I read this to her last weekend when she was in a funk. A good time was had by all. This book deals with difficult themes and I didn't love it (although less because of the difficult themes which contain an actual trigger warning at the front so I was prepared) but I just felt the book finished without satisfactorily wrapping up the various mysteries. But again. My mom was in a funk, she came to me and said, "I need you to read to me." And I read the book aloud in two days and she was happy and that's all anybody can ask for.
The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar the love story in this book is pretty compelling and i got wrapped up in it. IT is predictable and I knew what was going to happen but I invested in this couple and that is rare for me. But I read the book because it was about the women aviators of WWII and that very much felt like the also ran part of this book... so I was disappointed. But for a love story set in WWII where sometimes you remember the female lead is a pilot? Yeah. It is good.
currently reading
The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson Am loving this despite the fact that it is based on Winter's Tale which I do not love.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller- which I am enjoying but not as much as I did Circe.
and
The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion which is what I'm currently reading out loud.
QOTW
I loved Madeleine L'Engle who does not hold up for me as an adult.
I loved the orphan train books by Joan Lowery Nixon. The Ramona books by Beverly Cleary. The Anne books by L.M. Montgomery
The Wayside School Series by Louis Sachar and loads and loads and loads more.
Mod
That is so sweet that you read to your mother! I have yet to begin that series. But it sounds good!
Well it sounds like I'm not the only one suffering through a hot start to the fall. Our "cold front" is supposed to bring us down to the high 80s starting next week... This week I finished Bloodchild and Other Stories which was really good. I didn't love the opening story as much, but the other ones were great and I really enjoyed the essays about her life.
I listened to Everything Here Is Beautiful which was very good. I liked the Ecuadorian setting and the variety of perspectives throughout the story.
I listened to The Library Book which was a strange mix of slightly boring, but then really interesting, haha. Overall I appreciated it and learned some things though.
I finished The Stationery Shop which I really enjoyed. Great story. :)
I'm currently listening to When We Left Cuba and reading The Giant's House in print.
QOTW: I think I mostly read series when I was younger, so the individual authors don't stand out as much in my memory. I think I read a lot of Goosebumps books - maybe all of them? Also some Nancy Drew, Babysitters Club, Boxcar Children, Sweet Valley High, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. Good times!
Hello!This week I finished the Advanced prompts with
Kleiner Mann, was nun? by Hans Fallada and
The Autumn Murders by Robert Gott. This last one had me baffled for a minute as it is set in March/April 1944 and it took a bit to remember it plays in Melbourne, Southern Hemisphere... I had a good laugh at myself.
I read Szechuan Chinese Cuisine: Spicy and Delicious Recipes of China by J.R. Stevens for prompt 22,
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman for prompt 36 and Star Of The Sea by Joseph O'Connor for prompt 9. I actually started this one last year for the "set at sea" prompt, but choose another book instead, so finally finished it just today.
QotW:
I devoured everything my library had by Enid Blyton and Berte Bratt and all of Erich Kästner my parents deemed apropriate for children.
Hi everyone! I’m on a train so posting on my phone. Always awkward!
This week I finished:
Legendary- I actually liked this more than caracal, usually second books are dicey. Looking forward to my Fibale hold to come up.
Beautiful Music- my book & brew for next week. It was just ok. I like that it was set in Detroit, and was written by someone who lives there. But there wasn’t as much actual race commentary as I expected, and I’m kinda sick up death of straight white male coming of age stories.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - just finished this on the train. Loved it! I really want SyFy to make a series of ur. With killjoys just ending and dark matter and the expanse give, they need a good crew on ship in space show. This one has aliens!
Not quite sure what I’m reading next, thought I had the second wayfarer book but it was the third. Maybe the 3rd Muirwood book.
QOTW
Not sure what most people define as childhood? Like the entire span, early years, independent reading years?
As a small kid I went through all the Barenstein Bear books, Ckiffird, Little People. Loved the oz series and Narnia books but never really went out and read more by the same author fir either. Bruce Coville was the first author I can remember going out if my way to read all his books, not just the series. Followed Madeline L’Engal. Also Anne McCaffery, Piers Anthony and Mercedes Lackey but those were mire middle school to high school.
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Happenstance: Two Novels in One About a Marriage in Transition (other topics)The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection (other topics)
Black Beauty (other topics)
The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon (other topics)
A High-End Finish (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Garth Stein (other topics)Vaseem Khan (other topics)
Lisa See (other topics)
Tara Westover (other topics)
Judy Blume (other topics)
More...
It’s hard to believe that there are only 3 months left in 2019, and hopefully next month we will get the 2020 list.
Admin notes:
First – I know there have been a few questions regarding the release of next year’s list. We are not in control of that. The list comes from Popsugar. Historically, the new lists have been released in mid-November so we can only assume that will be the case again this year. We will certainly let everyone know as soon as the new list drops, and we will be opening those discussion threads as quickly as we can.
Second – October’s group read is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Discussion is open here
On to the reading check-in!
I managed to tie my own personal record by reading 14 books in September! I am on pace to blow through my Goodreads goal of 100 books this year (I’m at 92 with 3 months to go).
Finished:
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig. I LOVED this book! It was an impromptu purchase for me last week, and I flew through it over the weekend. Dark, twisty fairy tale retelling of the twelve dancing princesses. Annaleigh lives in an isolated manor on an island with her 7 remaining sisters. Four of her sisters have recently died under mysterious circumstances. Annaleigh is suspicious that something sinister is afoot. She and her sisters get an invite to a secretive midnight ball which is a relief from their mourning. There are some ghostly visions, mysterious strangers, a bit of magic and just beautiful storytelling. I’m using this for a book with “salty” in the title. I know “salt” and “salty” are slightly different, but I’m ok with that. It could also work as a ghost story or retelling of a classic.
Emma by Jane Austen – This is one of two Austen novels that I haven’t read yet. I’ve been listening to the audiobook narrated by Emma Thompson and cast. It’s been delightful. I will probably read it in print soon because I find that I get Austen’s books better on a second read-through. Using this for a book I saw someone reading in a movie (The Jane Austen Book Club).
Currently reading:
Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory. This book (#4 in the series) just released this week. I have an ARC copy sent to me by a friend. It just arrived yesterday so I'm ready to dive in!
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving - rereading for a little spookiness for the season!
45/50
Question of the week:
Did you have a favorite author when you were a child?
A few of my favorites were:
Ann M. Martin (Babysitters Club and others)
C.S. Lewis (though I only read a couple of the Narnia books as a kid)
Francine Pascal (Sweet Valley High)
Louisa May Alcott
L.M. Montgomery
E.B. White
Dr. Suess