EPBOT Readers discussion

Hi everyone, sorry for the late post. With the holiday weekend I got busy and distracted!

Hope those in the US have a good, safe holiday. I know my area has big parties tonight, which I’m staying inside and avoiding going anywhere near. The official fireworks are cancelled, but even before the official ones started, it was a huge party night with 1000 person parties spreading across multiple houses. Judging by my general area, I’m guessing no one cancelled their parties, pandemic or no.

This week I finished:

Akata Warrior - Read harder YA book set somewhere other than US or UK. I really enjoyed this, probably more than the first one even. I like Sunny, and I liked learning more about some African based mythology. I love mythology in general, nice to see something other than euro-centric.

The Burning Maze - got behind on my Rick Riordan, nice fun read. I don’t love Apollo as a lead, but at least several old favorites pop up. Still enjoyable overall.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - my books and brew is reading this for July, so I did an audio re-read. Probably liked it even less the second time around, audio didn’t help. Didn’t like the reader, made all the women very shrill and annoying. I feel guilty that I don’t like so many books they read, haha. I swear I have diverse tastes.

The Girl with the Louding Voice - Just finished this this evening, I liked it quite a bit. Kind of a sad story, but I liked the main character a lot. Got kind of annoyed because I was excited that one of the characters was introduced as child free by choice, and I feel like that’s still kind of rare. But then she has an epiphany that she actually does want kids, she just was afraid she’d be a bad mom. As a child free woman, I just get so tired of the narrative that I’ll change my mind eventually, or regret it in the long run.

Currently reading:

Gold Boy, Emerald Girl - popsugar book with gold, silver, bronze in the title.
I only read a few paragraphs, so no opinions yet.

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America - popsugar book you know nothing about. Doing this one audio, maybe should have read it but not available in ebook and I don’t want to deal with the physical library yet. Learning a lot, most of it pretty upsetting.

QOTW:

Does your reading change with the season?

I know goodreads has been pushing summer reading, and people keep talking about beach reads and such. I never really feel compelled to change what I read based on season, I just read it when it’s available on hold or I feel like it. I don’t tend to read tons of romances or cozy mysteries or the sorts of things that are considered beach reads in general. Nothing against them, just not my style. If I’m going on vacation, if anything, I might use it as an excuse to catch up on my comic backlog, because it’s easier to read single issues when I might be easily distracted or need to get up and board a plane soon etc.

Happy reading all!

Took advantage of the day off today to go for a little hike in a nearby nature preserve. It wasn't very busy, so that was nice, and now I'm ready to hunker down tomorrow.

I appreciate your thoughts on Evelyn Hardcastle. I kept hearing so much about it that I put it on my TBR, but then started hearing not so great things (like fat-shaming), and now I think I'll just take it off.

My first book this week was a quick reread of Bunnicula. I read the series in elementary school with a friend who was also a fan. As tame as it is, I think this was basically my introduction to the macabre. It held up pretty well, if a bit outdated (especially some of the "you idiot" type stuff). I did realize that some of what I thought I remembered from this one must be from The Celery Stalks at Midnight. I will probably eventually buy the t-shirt.

Next up was Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us, which I think I found on a list of best science books of 2019. This is one of those books in which the author travels around visiting relevant people, factories, labs, and other sites (like Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle or Color: A Natural History of the Palette). It was entertaining, although very broad; I would probably have preferred slightly more depth. It did make me want to eat some seaweed, so there may have to be delivery sushi soon. (There are recipes in the back, but I don't think this is the time I want to try to source Irish moss or whatever.)

Last this week was a quick mystery, Aunty Lee's Delights. I have read a book from this author's later, historical series, but this is the first book in her earlier contemporary one. I enjoyed the Singaporean setting and felt the book did a good job of bringing it to life. The mystery wasn't great (it's more of a cozy than a classic), but the depictions of food made up for it. I think I might return to her historical series next, though.

QOTW: Funny you should ask that today, as I am just starting my "beach read" for this year! I actually don't like the beach much, but a few years ago my husband's family did a big beach trip, so I picked up some beach-themed mysteries to console myself. (And then his parents moved there permanently! It's actually kind of better visiting that way: I don't feel compelled to spend a bunch of time on the beach when I'm there, because they can do that any time.) I do enjoy theming my reading around vacations and other activities; sometimes that results in seasonal variation, but other times it's more around a place I'm visiting, or my Halloween costume theme for that year, or a movie that's coming out.... Since I'm not going anywhere this summer, I arbitrarily declared it summer reading time this weekend. Gotta create some artificial anticipation and excitement!

I haven't checked in for a few weeks. We were away last week, and two weeks ago was preparing to leave. Sheri, it is shocking to hear of these large parties. I live in MA where things are definitely looking better now, but April and May in the northeast were scary terrible. We went from March 31 to June 8 without setting foot in a store.

Anyway, in the last 3 weeks, I finished the Expanse novella Gods of Risk which is labeled as "2.5" and started book 3 of the Expanse series, Abaddon's Gate. All of these are audiobooks. That is an 18 hour book and I'm only about 2 hours into it. I have enjoyed the Expanse both as a TV series and the books. I like that the authors use realistic science for how things work.

As an Expanse palate cleanser, in between those two, I listened to a John Scalzi novella The Dispatcher. This had a very interesting premise about death and how people use and adapt to this new premise. I found the story, narrated by Zachary Quinto, held my attention. The audiobook was only about 2.5 hours long.

Since our library opened up for curbside, I'm finishing one of the books I had during quarantine that got put aside, The Couple's Retirement Puzzle: 10 Must-Have Conversations for Creating an Amazing New Life Together. My husband and I had started talking about an early retirement and then pandemic hit so those conversations were put on hold. Now we're dabbling in those thoughts again.

I'm still slogging through The Brothers K. I don't dislike the book, characters and story, but I am not getting pulled in either. Still trying since my daughter recommended it so highly.

Rebecca, yes, there’s a lot of really fat-phobic language. And in general the whole thing had a feel of the author trying to be so very clever, but I didn’t find it particularly clever or exciting.

Susan, I’m in Michigan, we’re doing pretty well overall and people seem to be taking that to mean “ok it’s over, reverting to previous behavior ”. I didn’t leave the house in the pm, but I certainly heard tons of fireworks. My parents live across from the lake, I’ll ask them later if the parties did happen.

Two finishes this week, both memoirs:

The Three Count: My Life in Stripes as a WWE Referee. About middle of the pack as far as wrestling memoirs go. I just think it would have benefited greatly from tighter editing. It's as if he wrote chapters as he felt inspired, and no one stood back to see whether that was the order the book flowed best in once he was done. I used it for the Gryffindor/flying class/about a sport prompt. Yes, I'm calling pro wrestling a sport :)

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?, an audiobook that would have been greatly improved had Steven Tyler read it himself. Another self-indulgent, decadent rock star life, which I found slightly more bearable than Motley Crue's The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band. Maybe it was the ghostwriter. Maybe Tyler is minimally more self-aware. I'll admit I'm now tempted to read both the official bio of Aerosmith, Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith and Joe Perry's Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith, to see just where the truth may lie. I used it for the Ravenclaw/Flitwick/about a musician prompt.

I am back in isolation after a two-day road trip to attend a funeral. Blessed be the funeral home workers trying to keep mourners masked and distancing, but a socially distanced funeral constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, if you ask me. I had basically not been out of the house since March 15, so I filled up on human contact, and now I'm back in my cave. I regret nothing.

QOTW:
I don't read much of the genres that most people view as beach reads either. Rereads, really short reads with little investment, or wrestler memoirs are what I enjoy as "light" reading. I don't think seasons have all that much of an influence, although the holidays often afford me a bit more time to read.

There's already been some fireworks going off in our neighborhood at night, so I have a bad feeling at least one of the neighbors is going to have a party this weekend. We're staying home and maybe watching fireworks on TV if there are any. I'm not feeling especially patriotic lately, to be honest, with everything going on.

Still reading Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II. It's interesting but slow-going for me, since I don't normally read a lot of non-fiction. I've been reading it in small chunks, maybe a chapter at a time.

QOTW: I don't usually change my reading habits either based on the time of year, with the exception of maybe reading a holiday story or two around Christmas or a horror-adjacent story near Halloween. I've never much understood the "beach read" thing, but then I almost never go to the beach, and if I do, I don't go swimming or sunbathing.

I guess the closest I get to "beach reads" are "plane reads" - whenever I'm flying, I like to get a romance out from the library, and usually wind up reading it in a single sitting on the plane. When I go on vacation, I'll usually bring either some comics or an old familiar favorite which I know I can put down and pick up again easily.

The holiday was pretty tame around here (also in MA) - I heard a few muted fireworks last night but all of the official ones were cancelled, as were the usual parades and gatherings (July 4 in Boston is usually a lot of fun, although I haven't made it downtown for the celebrations since my kids were born).

Let's see, I think last week I posted about finishing up the second story arc of the Wings of Fire series. After a week of immersing in middle grade fiction I was ready to tackle something more adult, so I read The Snow Child, which was a gift, and it was really lovely. It's set in 1920s Alaska and is magic realism inspired by a Russian folktale. The setting is gorgeously drawn (I have been to Alaska in the summer twice, but now I'm dying to visit in the winter) and the relationships between the characters are quite beautiful.

My other read was Gideon the Ninth, for my other goodreads group, and it was one of the weirdest books I've read - but weird in a good way! I had no idea what was going on for a good portion of the book, but Gideon was so engaging as a character (she made me LOL often) that she kept me reading through my confusion. I mean, lesbian necromancers in space? Yes please!!

9-year-old and I are about 2/3 of the way through The Lightning Thief and having great fun with it!

QOTW: I don't really do "beach reads", and in fact sometimes it's the opposite - since I am a teacher, I'm off during the summers, so often I take the opportunity in the summer to read bigger, more meaty books that I don't have the mental energy for during the school year. I think this year might be an exception to that rule though, since all my kids' summer programs were cancelled so I'm busy running "camp mom"...

I am forever having to check where I left off in my last update!

I finished Early Riser which I really enjoyed. I could kind of see some of the bits of the plot coming, but others surprised me completely. A nice satisfactory conclusion, and thankfully (unlike so many Fforde books) it's a stand alone so no long wait for a new part!

Still listening to Dune. I'm finding listening to a book with so much new terminology trickier than previous audiobooks. Still enjoying it though.

Started reading The Making of a Saint: The Life, Times and Sanctification of Neophytos the Recluse. This is an academic book I picked up for one of my dissertations at Uni and never read more than a selection of. I'm reading it cover to cover now, well, not the bibliography. The intro dragged a fair bit, but the main body of the argument is interesting so far. And the bonus is that all the footnotes for citations drop the amount of actual reading I need to do!

QOTW: My reading really doesn't change with the season. With my mood? Sure. Relative to what I've just read? Absolutely.

If I had something I knew was themed around a particular time of year might try and read it at the right time, but mostly I don't pay that close of attention. I can get my time-of-year reading from fanfiction (although I'm not fussy about that either, I'll read old winter fic in the middle of summer if I feel like it).

It's the same down here in Ohio, Sheri - people having parties, going to public pools, bowling alleys, etc. - I went out to a few stores with my mom while she was here last week, and now I'm isolating just from the crazy people we encountered in those few trips, so I can't imagine what people are thinking who are just carrying on like the pandemic is over. And don't get me started on the neighbors who were setting off fireworks in our densely populated area of wooden houses and tall trees on the 4th (and 3rd, and 2nd...)

On the reading front, I finished The Fifth Season pretty quickly after the last check-in, and I will reserve further discussion of it for the group discussion - but I will say here that I'm very glad it was chosen and got moved up my list.

After that, I picked up a random one from my TBR - Big Red Tequila - but my electronic loan ran out before I could finish it. I just got it back, and I will finish because I'm OCD like that, but I'm super glad that Rick Riordan found his groove with Percy Jackson later, because thrillers were not really his forte. Everything - characters, plot, setting - makes me think of other books, movies, or TV shows that did the same thing better.

While I was waiting to get that back, I started The Escape Artist for IRL Book Club #2. I'm only about 8 chapters in, and it hasn't really sucked me in yet. I can't put my finger on why, because the pacing is great and the plot and characters aren't terrible - but I really like Brad Meltzer, so I am hopeful that it will be more attention-grabbing soon.

I've also continued to listen to The End of My Heart when I have mindless tasks for work - it's taking a long time, since I don't have the drive time that I usually would use for audiobooks. I'm still not 100% sure where it's going, and it's definitely different from anything else I've read by Gayle Forman, so it's keeping me interested.

QOTW: Sometimes my book clubs will have seasonal selections, which is nice - I'm not good at aligning my book choices like that, but there's something about reading a book at the time of year when it's set that gives it extra relevance. We never seem to do that with summer, though - it's usually back to school, Halloween, Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, or a sport season. I'm not much of a beach person, either - I enjoy walking on beaches and looking at the shells, fish, etc. - but my family never did the kind of vacations where we sat and read, so that's not something I really know how to do as an adult. I'm getting a bit better at not following the family tradition of visiting ten points of interest a day, but I can't entirely shake the mindset that I could read for free at home, so if I'm paying to be someplace else I should be doing something I can only do there.

Been lurking without posting for awhile. I am excited to be able to retrieve real library books this week, and enjoyed Magic for Liars and Broken Homes, and starting on the next Chronicle of St. Mary's.

Wanted to make sure you all saw that Goodreads posted a list of the 100 most popular adult science fiction books on Goodreads. Only one per series, and doesn't include fantasy. I am fairly new to scifi, and prefer more modern authors so far; I have read 17, almost all of them suggested by FoE.
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1874

QOTW: I don't vary my reading seasonally, but I do geographically. Whenever I'm traveling, I like to try and find books set in the place I'm visiting to bring along with me. For some reason I really like finding a location I am reading about in a book.

Kathy wrote: "Whenever I'm traveling, I like to try and find books set in the place I'm visiting to bring along with me. For some reason I really like finding a location I am reading about in a book."

Ooh, I do this too! One of my favorite reading memories was from my honeymoon in Italy - my husband wanted to see a museum in Venice that I wasn't especially interested in, so I sent him on his own, found a cafe near the museum exit, and spent a glorious few hours lost in a historical fiction book set in Renaissance Venice while sitting canal-side and sipping at a big mug of tea. (it was one of the volumes from Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo series, but I can't remember which one - there are 8 books and the story weaves in and out of Venice)

I've read 56/100 on that list. Pretty good!

Cool! I have read 60 of them. Few aren’t on my goodreads because I read them pre good reads days

Thanks for sharing the list, Kathy - I hadn't see it yet! I've read a good number of them, probably more in the pre-Goodreads era - but looking at their methodology for compiling the list, I was not surprised that there were a lot of books near the top that are frequently assigned in schools. Some of them are really great books, but it really made me think about the things that influence these lists that I hadn't considered before.

A lot of them had overlap on the NPR 100 top science fiction and fantasy list put out a while back, at one point i was attempting to read through a lot of the list, that's why my number was so high.I eventually gave up on it, both due to library availably and the realization that the list was pretty white-male dominated and wanting to get more diverse.