Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

I’ll not comment on today’s events in the US—trying to be aware of differing political viewpoints, etc. But I will tell you that I am again driving a rental car. Yep! *sigh* Looks as if we’ll be replacing the engine in my VW since that can be done for a bit less than a replacement head gasket which is $3200!! (And there may be a bunch of other parts needed to rebuild the engine…) Oh, my! Life is not always fun. But these are ‘first-world’ challenges so I should count myself lucky. We have reliable shelter, heat and A/C, a reliable food supply, wonderfully loving feline furbabies… It could always be worse, so I am trying to concentrate on gratitude!

The January 2021 Monthly Group Read discussion for Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano has begun! I just received my copy and will read it this weekend. Thank you so very much to Teri for leading this discussion! For those of you who read a different book to complete the 2021 POPSUGAR Prompt #27 A book about do-overs or fresh starts can post that information here!

Popsugar: 4/50
ATY: 2/52
RHC: 0/24
Reading Women: 0/28
Still can't believe we're in a new year!

FINISHED:
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell to fulfill 2020 Reading Challenge Color Challenge prompt #16 Read a book with two or more color words in the title. I had no idea what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised!
POPSUGAR: #18-bullying, #27, #37, #46
ATY: #8, #38-COMPLICATION: You could call it a complication when a husband has mortgaged his family's home to the hilt for his mistress!, #52-the end of the Taylors’ marriage

CONTINUING:
The Night Masquerade (Binti #3) by Nnedi Okorafor. Pretty slow moving through the fist 50-60 pages, but then it picked up. I’m almost done but couldn’t quite finish it! Though I’ll try to do so before going to sleep!

Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson to complete the 2020 Reading Challenge Genre Bingo Challenge. This is much more than I expected!

Eva Luna by Isabel Allende to fulfill the 2020 Reading Women prompt #26 A book written by Isabel Allende. Wow. I’m interested to see where this ends up!

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi for the campus White Racial Literacy Project book club on campus. Next meeting is next Tuesday.

The Wall of Storms (Dandelion Dynasty #2) by Ken Liu. I am enjoying this one much more than the first installment, The Grace of Kings!

Paradise by Toni Morrison to fulfill the 2020 Reading Women prompt #25 A book written by Toni Morrison. I know this is going to be tough read for me just from the first 15 pages! But I eventually want to read all Morrison’s books.

I hope to finish Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence in January. It is a very nice novel, rather representative of the times. I am curious to see how it ends!

PLANNED:
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano for the POPSUGAR January Monthly Group Read! Picked it up today and it is tops of my priority reading list for this weekend!

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven for a January Buddy Read. I have owned this book forever and really want to read it!

A Cat of a Different Color (Alice Nestleton Mystery #2) by Lydia Adamson to fulfill 2020 Reading Challenge Color Challenge prompt #17 Read a book with the word “Color” in the title.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates for my favorite bookstore’s Zoom book club meeting

And still continuing these in January to whenever, until finished!
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

Learning Race, Learning Place: Shaping Racial Identities and Ideas in African American Childhoods by Erin Winkler

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois

Question of the Week:
From Heather (and edited a bit by me…): What was the most recent book that you really really disliked? What made you dislike it? What book in that genre or about that topic do you recommend instead?

My favorite example is not a book I absolutely hated, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, but rather a book that I didn’t feel I could connect with very well regarding the Islamic lifestyle in Afghanistan. What I often recommend to readers is Born Under a Million Shadows by Andrea Busfield, which includes expats sharing a house in Afghanistan with an Islamic housekeeper/cook and her young son. I just felt I gained much more concise insights into the Islamic religion and how it effects believers with Busfield’s book.

Though I haven’t read very far into it, Paradise by Toni Morrison begins with men hunting down residents of a convent and killing them. I typically despise books about killing just for the sake of killing, so I may be judging this one a bit too harshly since I’ve only read through page 15. I do plan to read all of Morrison’s books eventually, so I will persist to finish this one…regardless.

The next-to-the-last book I DNF’d was Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. I found nothing to like about it after reading 73 pages and decided not to waste any more time…my review probably states it as well as I am capable of doing…

I am awarding not one star to this book. I will give Marquez one more try with Love in the Time of Cholera, but other than that, I am done with him. I do not consider several things he writes about to be entertaining. And although perhaps he means for them to strictly be read as "absurd," I would disagree. Not funny. Not entertaining. At least not to me. I guess I can handle humorous 'out there' absurdity much better than certain traumatic/abusive 'real-life' situations to be interpreted as ‘humorous absurdity’. His writing definitely hasn't worked for me in the first two books of his I have read.

And, finally, this past weekend I impulsively picked up my copy of Curva Peligrosa and read the first 3 pages and immediately DNF’d it. Definitely not for me! So that’s another donation to my favorite used bookstore!

Well what a weird start to the year, jeez.

A new reading list always gets me excited so I think I’m off to a good start.
Down Among the Sticks and Bones for the magical realism prompt. This is a prequel of sorts to Every Heart a Doorway, and it’s about the life of Jack and Jill before they ended up at the school. Interesting and macabre, I very much enjoyed it.

Beneath the Sugar Sky not for a prompt, but the next book in the series. This one was less interesting to me but it did visit the character I liked the most from the first book. I absolutely plan on continuing with the series.

Rosewater for the afrofuturism prompt. This was not a book I enjoyed, mainly because I didn’t really understand what was going on lol. Sci-fi has never been a category I did well with so a lot of this book was pretty boring to me. 3 stars because I liked the characters and general plot enough to *want* to get it but I just didn’t.

The Deceivers for a book with a heart on the cover. This was the sequel to a book I read last year, The Strangers. Very middle grade, kids on a rescue mission, alternate dimensions, plot twists and lots of other fun stuff.

The Only Good Indians for the read harder challenge. I’m not 100% done with this but enough that it’s just wrapping up. This was pretty heavy, and uncomfortable, with some psychological and supernatural elements. And enough gore that I had to occasionally put the book down and focus on something else for a while. But otherwise a very well written book and a compelling story.

Popsugar: 3/40; 0/10
Read Harder: 1/24
Back to the Classics: 0/12

Qotw: recently? I don’t know if I can say that I really disliked much of anything, especially not lately. I am very easy to please and I am not overly critical so I can usually find enjoyable elements to any book/show/movie. I do distinctly remember hating As I Lay Dying for being boring, having entirely unlikeable characters, and having an absurd story line. I also didn’t like Their Eyes Were Watching God, for similar reasons.

I think I'm off to a good start, especially considering that last year I was so distracted/ anxious/ could not concentrate for a while during the spring that I only finished 31 books. This year I've already finished one, The Book of Longings which I listened to while doing housework and cooking dinner. Although it's long, I do a lot of cooking and housework lol! I really liked it and will use it for an author who shares my zodiac sign (Leo) , prompt #4. I also am about 1/3 of the way through Dear Edward and give thanks I'm not reading it while at an airport about to embark on a trip. I like it despite the bit on unease which rises in me. I look forward to participating in the Monthly Read for January conversation. I also have a couple of other books for the challenge already on my Kindle, ready to go...so all in all, a good start to a new year book-wise.

Good morning from cloudy Germany!

I had a good start on reading this year:

03 - A book that has a heart, diamond, club, or spade on the cover
I re-read Wie erobert man einen Duke? by Julia Quinn german translation of The Duke and I. I watch the "Bridgerton" Series over the holidays. Nice escape from the corona-pandemic-situation.

23 - A book with something broken on the cover
I read Beste Feindinnen: Roman by Katherine St. John german translation of The Lion's Den. Keep me awake all night :-) Soap, Suspence and sunny locations. Make me missed traveling all over again..

Currently reading Sweet Disorder by Rose Lerner for 19 - A book that discusses body positivity ..

Happy New Year everyone! We're back in another lockdown so I hope everyone is staying safe.

This week I finished Mars Evacuees. It was the book I closed my eyes and pointed to for last year's prompt but I didn't finish it until this year.

Currently reading: A Hippo Banquet. My plan to start with my shortest book has quickly unravelled because I left it at work for five days. Oops!

Also reading: The Moonstone which I am really enjoying so far but it is slow going.

QOTW: I really, really hated Ivanhoe. I can give classics a bit of leeway for out of date opinions but this book was just relentless in it's racism and sexism from start to finish. I'd recommend pretty much anything else instead!

I don't think 2021 got the memo about being a better year. Anyway, I got off to a good start with my challenges before returning to work (Monday morning was so difficult getting up in the dark and cold to walk the dog).

Finished:
Truly Devious for ATY "in the beginning". I think I'll read the rest of the books, I enjoyed the boarding school setting and the mysteries have my attention now.

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories for an author who shares my zodiac sign (Holly Black is a Scorpio). I think I liked these stories better than the main books which I always felt had pacing issues. I got a FairyLoot edition and the whole book is gorgeous, with gold edges and fully illustrated.

Mrs Death Misses Death for ATY monochromatic cover. A blend of poetry and prose, a bit different to what I usually read but glad I gave it a go.

Currently reading A Sky Beyond the Storm and listening to The Year of the Witching.

PS: 1/50 | ATY: 2/52 | GR: 3/100 | BR: 0/24

QOTW:
I can't really think of anything I hated recently. I thought The Andromeda Strain was very dated and inaccurate. The The Passengers was OK but it was so heavy handed that I thought it came across as racist rather than trying to make a point about prejudice, and then it went on and on and got a bit silly. But if I really dislike a book a lot I won't continue with it, I don't see the point even if it's a classic.

Reading is going to take on a whole new significance for me as this point. They say that children become readers in the laps of their parents, or in my case, my grandmother, who passed away yesterday. Lots of people read to me, but she showed me what it means to love it. She had already given me all of her books, including all my favorites that she used to read to me in childhood, mostly ghost stories, and gosh she was amazing at it. So good in fact that even now, in my 30s when I read my two favorites, I hear her voice in my mind instead of my own, and that feels like an incredible gift right now.

On a more direct note, it was a productive reading week for me. I am 5/50 for the challenge.

Finished:
The Cousins: A book with a family tree; not my favorite by this author, but still an easy quick read.

Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear: A book your best friend would love. I enjoyed this one and then had the pleasure of telling her some of the spookier stories from the book (she scares really easily).

The Book of Two Ways: A gene hybrid: Definitely not my favorite by this author, but she still, in my opinion, writes in a special way that you don't find too often.

The Christmas Mystery: A book that takes place in multiple countries. This novella should have been two separate novels, or maybe not at all.

The Half Sister: A DNF book from your TBR. There was a reason I didn't finish it the first time and I wish I hadn't wasted valuable reading time on it again.

Currently reading:
The Hunting Party: A locked room mystery. I enjoy locked room mysteries in general and Lucy Foley is pretty great at them. So far, I liked A Guest List better, but I'm only about halfway through, so that could definitely change.

QOTW:
I really did not enjoy The Half Sister. My review was, " Did you ever read a book and wonder if the author has ever met actual human people and observed how they talk and behave? That's how I felt for most of this book. The characters acted so nonsensically that I just could not enjoy it. I found the book almost intolerable for the first 300 pages and then I found myself wanting to know what happened, which turned out to be exactly what I assumed happened early on in the book. I would not recommend this book." There are so many good books in that genre. I would recommend The Night Before or Pieces of Her instead.

Well...here we are. I would have gotten more reading in yesterday, but then terrorists attacked the Capitol and I got distracted. I know a lot of us are feeling fear and rage at the absolute injustice of all this, especially when comparing how these literal terrorists are being treated so much better than the BLM protestors this summer. It's disgusting to watch, and America needs to do better. If you're terrified and angry, I'm so sorry, and I feel you. I'm right there as well.

I do want to express gratitude for my two new senators, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff! Some good news amidst the bad.

Finished

Broken by Jenny Lawson for my book published in 2021. I won an arc from Goodreads and I'm so glad because this was fantastic! She's so funny, but at the same time really deep and profound. I hardly ever laugh out loud--I'm more of a polite chuckler--but this made me snort and cry and howl. Absolutely perfect.

Currently Reading

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay for a book about body positivity. This is so good, but also a very difficult read emotionally. I have to read it in bits because it brings up a lot of feelings.

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth for my dark academia. This is weird? But awesome? I'll have more when I'm farther into it, but I think I'm really going to like this one.

QotW

All of the books I've recently hated have had the same thing in common: sheer boredom and bad characters. So many books have great jacket copy summaries, but the actual content is nothing like what was described and I start nodding off. And the characters end up being flat. And the romance is predictable. And I know who the bad guy is as soon as he swoops onto the page. I won't name specifics because there's several, but a lot of them are overhyped YA books.

Happy New Year!

Not fun news about the car.. or the terrible things that happened at the Capitol. Here’s hoping for better days ahead!

Popsugar: 4/50
ATY: 4/52
goodreads: 4/100

I admit that my New Years Day did not go as planned to read all the things. Thanks to a hangover.. so much for a fresh start ha, but I’ve found my reading stride and feeling excited about the new books releasing this year as well as the backlist books I hope to read.

📚Reading Goals: mood read, read 100 books, read diverse

✔️Week 1 Finished: (1/1-1/7)
Float Plan ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#1 Popsugar (A book published in 2021) +
# 1 ATY (new beginning)
I absolutely loved this book and it was everything I hoped for and more.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Cactus ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#37 Popsugar (a friend would enjoy) +
#15 ATY (siblings)

Raybearer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#2 Popsugar (afrofuturist) +
#14 ATY (made up place)
I had so many options for the Popsugar prompt afrofuturist but loved this one so much!
Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Ugly Love ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#26 Popsugar (oxymoron title)
#2 ATY (author has no ATY in name)

📖Currently Reading:
The Prophets
The Wife Upstairs

📚Further Reading Plans: (Week 2)
Shipped
The Last Garden in England
Shadow and Bone
Life's Too Short

❓Question of the Week:
What was the most recent book that you really really disliked? What made you dislike it? What book in that genre or about that topic do you recommend instead?

💬AOTW:
Normal People I HATED this book. It just made me feel sad and depressed after reading and I was in such a funk afterwards. So many people loved it though 🤷🏼‍♀️ I would recommend any other feel-good Romance or Fiction.

I'm reading War and Peace as a fave from a prior year (somehing you see someone reading on tv). I'm about 2/3 done. Much better than I thought it would be.

QOTW: I DNF'd the Color Purple last year. Just too icky for my tastes, plus hard to read with the dialect.

Happy Thursday, PS friends!

I haven't managed to finish anything yet (although I'm on track to wrap one up today) and my first "read" of the year turned out to be a DNF. 2021 is clearly off to a banger of a start, in more ways than one.

DNF: In the Beginning There Was Fury...
A few of my friends roped me into reading this comic, and the synopsis sounded interesting. I ended up hating the art (it felt like MAD Magazine on steroids) and the story was confusing as heck to the point where I couldn't follow what was happening and why. Hard pass. I think I made it 15 pages?

Currently reading: A reread of City of Stairs, one of my favorite books.

Upcoming January plans:
When We Were Gods: A Novel of Cleopatra
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening
Dracula (reread)
Little Chapel on the River: A Pub, a Town and the Search for What Matters Most
The Tudor Secret

My new copy of Jade City came in the mail yesterday too! But with so much planned it may have to wait. We shall see.

QOTW: What was the most recent book that you really really disliked? What made you dislike it? What book in that genre or about that topic do you recommend instead?
Going back to the summer of 2019, I tried to read Dune and only made it halfway before I gave up. Part of it was the story; Paul was clearly Extra Super Special and the Baron was way too over-the-top. The whole thing rankled me to the point I rooted for the sandworms to eat everyone. The audiobook really threw it for me though; how in this world did this audiobook win the Audie Award? It's very choppily done and not well-produced at all. If we're talking space opera sci-fi, I'd sooner recommend Saga, Vol. 1.

Lynn wrote: "I’ll not comment on today’s events in the US—trying to be aware of differing political viewpoints, etc. But I will tell you that I am again driving a rental car. Yep! *sigh* Looks as if we’ll be re..."



Ugh, after all that, you needed a new head gasket?! Phew. I hope the new engine is zippy and you happily zoom around town when you get it back.

The events of yesterday have me seriously thinking about changing my party affiliation to Independent because I don't want to be associated with that angry mob.

That is the only political thing I will say. Period.

Now, about my 2021 Reading Goals...40 books this year. I already have one wrapped up. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (5⭐). I am currently reading Jane Eyre, and really enjoying it!

This is my first year really trying to follow the challenge and my ultimate, realistic goal is to read more than I did last year (which was sadly only 15 books). So this year my realistic (and slightly cliche) goal is only 21 books. I do hope to fit those 21 into the Popsugar challenge. Though, I'd be thrilled to finish the regular challenge completely.

I'm currently reading my first book of the year, Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano for the January read along to fulfil the do-over/fresh start prompt. I'm currently 55% finished, and hope to finish by next week or sooner.

Up next is The Blackhouse by Peter May for the black and white cover prompt as well as Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens for the everyone seems to have read prompt.

For the QOTW:
The most recent book I read, The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness was quite frustrating to me. I'd loved the other two books in the trilogy and am invested in these characters and the story lines she'd begun, but I felt this book was extremely rushed. I listened to parts via audiobook and I even went back to make sure I didn't miss a track several times because I felt like I'd missed so much. Overall, I was disappointed and felt the book should have been made into two with more details.

Katy wrote: "I'm reading War and Peace as a fave from a prior year (somehing you see someone reading on tv). I'm about 2/3 done. Much better than I thought it would be.

QOTW: I DNF'd the Color Purpl..."

Oh, your reply reminds me of my terrible attempt to read Sense and Sensibility. I just, couldn't follow :(

Happy Thursday, y’all.

Avoiding FB for a bit -- if I hear more commentary about yesterday I'll probably scream. Need to focus on something that doesn't upset me so I can keep my sanity.

Also I fell out of the reading habit over a VERY stressful Christmas season, so hoping to get back into the habit this year. I feel like I'm behind already...

Books read this week:

The Great Lab Escape -- for “shortest book on your TBR list.” Short but cute story for cat lovers, and a nice intro to what looks like an adorable mystery series.

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen -- graphic novel, not for the challenge. Fantastic culinary graphic-novel memoir with recipes! I really enjoyed this one, though I suggest NOT reading it if you’re hungry!

Currently Reading:

The Book of Lost Things -- for “book that’s been on your TBR list the longest”
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer -- for “book with a rock, gemstone, or mineral in the title”
Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales -- for “longest book on your TBR list”

QOTW:

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk. I'm sorry, but David Sedaris isn't nearly as funny as he thinks he is, and this book was just nasty for nastiness' sake. Aesop knew how to use animals to comment on human behavior without being quite so nihilistic and disgusting.

Dani wrote: "Qotw: recently? I don’t know if I can say that I really disliked much of anything, especially not lately. I am very easy to please and I am not overly critical so I can usually find enjoyable elements to any book/show/movie. I do distinctly remember hating As I Lay Dying for being boring, having entirely unlikeable characters, and having an absurd story line. I also didn’t like Their Eyes Were Watching God, for similar reasons."

That is so interesting. I have yet to read either of these...

No finishes this week. I got distracted by Christmas movie marathons over the weekend because I wanted to finish everything in my queue before putting away Christmas decorations. And then it was back to work on Monday which totally threw off my vacation reading schedule. I read some before bed last night because I thought it would be the only thing that could quiet my mind enough to let me sleep after watching a domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol yesterday.

Reading
The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

QOTW
It’s my question!! I recently read The Crane Wife and didn’t care for it at all. I thought it was a horrible folklore retelling, and then in the afterword, the author admitted he deviated a great deal from the original. Ugh! I recommend The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller instead.

Diane wrote: "I also am about 1/3 of the way through Dear Edward and give thanks I'm not reading it while at an airport about to embark on a trip. I like it despite the bit on unease which rises in me. I look forward to participating in the Monthly Read for January conversation. I also have a couple of other books for the challenge already on my Kindle, ready to go...so all in all, a good start to a new year book-wise.."

You are very organized and hopefully this year's reading will progress at a steadier pace. :)

I read the first 5 pages of Dear Edward last night and was immediately intrigued so am looking forward to hopefully finish it this weekend. And it's always fun to participate in the discussion!

Mary wrote: "Reading is going to take on a whole new significance for me as this point. They say that children become readers in the laps of their parents, or in my case, my grandmother, who passed away yesterd..."

Condolences on the loss of your grandmother. Your memories with her sound wonderful. I'm glad you have some of her books.

Such an ugly scene at the US Capitol yesterday! My stomach was in knots all day and I just couldn't concentrate on anything. Here's to better days!

A new online book club just started here in Santa Fe that focuses on Pulitzer Prize winners. We've chosen our first book (Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout), and our first Zoom discussion is on February 7. I'm so looking forward to this - I've missed my book clubs!

Challenge Progress: 2/50

Completed:
In a Holidaze: What a fun holiday read! Sure, the premise is kind of silly (a time loop to get the holiday right...), but Maelyn and Andrew's romance was hot and sweet. This is my second Christina Lauren book, and I'll be reading more. (P40: A previous prompt - 2015 A book that takes place during Christmas) ★★★★

The Shadows: Creepy and dark. Unlike most thrillers, I was surprised by the ending, and that on it's own gives this one 5 stars. North does a great job keeping up the suspense and throwing in twists just when you think you've got it all figured out. (I haven't read The Whisper Man, but I'll be sure to soon! I've heard it's even better.) ★★★★★

We Met in December: I really enjoyed this slow-burn romance. The friendship (and yearning) between Jess and Alex was sweet; it wasn't ridiculously over the top... It felt real. And I wasn't distracted by the minor characters. They were fully fledged characters, but Curtis doesn't get bogged down by their stories and yet there's enough there to develop new stories. I'm especially intrigued by Becky and Rob. I'd love to read their story. (P30: A book set somewhere you'd like to visit in 2021 - London) ★★★★

Seth (my 28 year old son with autism) and I read 4 books this week. We're trying to finish up all the Christmas books we checked out from the library... Three more to go!
Merry Christmas, Mr. Mouse ★★★
Samurai Santa: A Very Ninja Christmas ★★★
'Twas the Fright Before Christmas ★★★
The Christmas Humbugs ★★★★



Currently Reading:
A Curious Beginning
The City We Became (P2: An afrofuturism book)
The Duke and I (P9: A book with a family tree)
An Unkindness of Magicians
A Sting in the Tale: My Adventures with Bumblebees
Dear Edward (P27: A book about do-overs or fresh starts)

QOTW: I read two books last year that I absolutely hated. And yes, I actually read them. I was using them for a challenge and felt compelled to keep going. I DNF'd four other books, but not necessarily because I disliked them so much but because I wasn't in the mood or I wanted to try a different format.

Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina (Audiobook): This was the most disappointing celebrity memoir I've ever listened to. I love Talking Heads, but this was just awful. Besides lacking any personal insight or growth, Frantz reads his book to us like we're small children listening to a bedtime story. ★

Ill Will: Rambling, nonsensical prose. Often sentences didn't end; they simply trailed off. Yes, I know it was supposed to represent unfinished thoughts (and the fragility of the minds of the central characters), but honestly I thought there was something wrong with the text in my copy of the book! Occasionally I stumbled across an interesting phrase, but it was too mired down in the choppy, unappetizing writing that I just can't in any way recommend this book. ★

VanesGirl wrote: "Good morning from cloudy Germany!

I had a good start on reading this year"

That's excellent! :)

Sarah wrote: "Also reading: The Moonstone which I am really enjoying so far but it is slow going."
I'm so anxious to finally read this one this year!

"QOTW: I really, really hated Ivanhoe. I can give classics a bit of leeway for out of date opinions but this book was just relentless in it's racism and sexism from start to finish. I'd recommend pretty much anything else instead!"
This is one classic I haven't seriously considered reading. Good to know your thoughts/reactions.

Ellie wrote: "I don't think 2021 got the memo about being a better year. Anyway, I got off to a good start with my challenges before returning to work (Monday morning was so difficult getting up in the dark and ..."
Ugh. That is so true. I still have high hopes for 2021, however!!

Yes, adulting can be no fun... ;)

"Finished:
Truly Devious for ATY "in the beginning". I think I'll read the rest of the books, I enjoyed the boarding school setting and the mysteries have my attention now."
This book just turned me off just after 5-10 pages and I have never picked it back up. Maybe I'll give it another go this year...

Hi everyone,

I'm already over this year, doesn't bode well for the rest. sigh.

Library holds went haywire and threw off all my early year reading plans. So while I've finished two books, neither work for the challenge. Alas!

I finished:

A Conjuring of Light - I started this at the tail end of last year, but it was over 600 pages and over 400 of those were read this year so figure it counts. Doesn't work for popsugar, but I'm doing a challenge for a spinoff facebook group I'm in. Using it for author with a single syllable last name. Also ATY for female villain or criminal, since Lilah was a thief, plus a couple other women encountered within it.

Battle Ground - counting it for the spinoff challenge, two word title. ATY book involving ice (Harry is the Winter Knight and the Winter Court were heavily involved with various ice powers) This was pretty meh for me. I don't generally like big epic battles whether they're historical, fantasy, or in space. this was just exhausting to read with the constant action, violence, injuries, casualties etc. I'm also incredibly angry at a particular thing that happened. Honestly kinda dubious about continuing the series, although I'm guessing it'll be a few more years before another comes out. So maybe I'll be more forgiving by then.

Currently reading:

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America - talk about timely reading. I honestly had to stop reading this around dinner because it's just...too relevant right now. I'll get back to it later today or tomorrow, but...yeah. I think I'm going to use it for BLM reading list. Technically i've not seen it on a list, but it came out late last year, after the big wave of reading lists came out. But I already read her How to Talk about Race and figure the themes are ones that would fit in with the content. I also will probably read other books later in the year, but this one I have out now and i've been wanting to red since I heard about it. Will also work for Read Harder's nonfiction book about racism or anti-racism.

This Is How You Lose the Time War - switched to this to have something less real world and a shorter read. I like it so far, interesting concept. Not super far in yet. It's another of the end of year library dumps, I think I requested it last year for the bird on cover prompt, or maybe upside down image. Could probably use it for my tbr list for book i meant to read last year, although I was trying to save those prompts for books I own. We'll see.


QOTW:
I really hated Dare Me, for a list of reasons I went into last week. Mostly that I don't particularly like really edgy teen dramas to begin with, most of them do NOT even remotely resemble my teenage experience. So I just don't find them relatable. Always wonder where their parents are, mine were hardly authoritarian, but I had to check in and let them know what I was doing and when and with whom. Add in bad writing, flat characters, just wasn't much to like there. I don't know if I have a book to recommend in the genre, like I said I don't really go for them to begin with. It's a book club read or I'd probably not have picked it up in the first place.

Hello! I'll keep with the not being political because that's the only way I can function today.

Finished this week:
Chalice by Robin McKinley. I meant to read this New Year's Eve, but ended up watching a movie instead, and finished it on the 1st. One of my all-time favorites.

A Plague of Giants by Kevin Hearne. I finally finished the audiobook. It took me six weeks, and I finished the last four hours just lying on the couch on Saturday afternoon as I struggled to not just pick up the physical book. It's a great story, and the voice actors really amplify it, but I just can't do audiobooks of any significant length right now.

A Blight of Blackwings by Kevin Hearne. The sequel. I read it in two days. I may listen to the audiobook eventually, but not anytime soon. Used it for #37, a book you think your best friend would like.

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline. Really disappointed in this book. As one reviewer put it, some of the sequences are written in such a way that they'll look amazing on film, but suck when it comes to storytelling. Only prompt it fits is #46, a book you meant to read last year but didn't.

PS: 1/50, ATY: 2/52

Currently Reading:
Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers. Second book in the trilogy. On the one hand, reading about 15th century Brittany as they try to remain independent of France and all of the duchess's advisors betray her is kinda too political and sucky given current events, but on the other, the protagonists are Handmaidens of Death who kill those sucky people.

Planned: All of these are checked out from the library as ebooks, and most have significant hold times after me. So they'll be the ones I start next. Some have prompts, others prompts will be found for.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
The Midnight Library
We Ride Upon Sticks
The Queen's Gambit

QOTW: What was the most recent book that you really really disliked? What made you dislike it? What book in that genre or about that topic do you recommend instead?
The last book I hated was Riptide by Catherine Coulter. It's romantic suspense where the main character is being stalked and she has to get a hunky federal agent to protect her. It's one of my favorite tropes, and done here so very badly. The MC is a speechwriter for the governor, and her stalker thinks she's sleeping with the governor. When the governor and his family are threatened, she flees, but the cops think she's the one trying to kill the governor. So she flees again, and that's when the hunky federal agent shows up to protect her. All of the characters are one-dimensional, the MC is magically competent at everything, and the federal agents protecting her make some mind-bogglingly stupid decisions.

My favorites of the trope are old Harlequins, like Hiding Jessica, Perfect Double and For Kaitlyn's Sake. For a more mainstream book, Bodyguard by Suzanne Brockmann or Something About You by Julie James.

Happy Thursday! Or at least, that's what I'm telling myself. Is it just me or has 2021 not gotten the memo that it's supposed to be a good year. When I got home from work yesterday and saw the news I was flabbergasted, to say the least, and I had to get off social media because all the ugly just made me sad. And work has been trying the last couple of days so I'm trying to stay positive.

I made progress on two books but I haven't finished anything yet. I'm hoping to not fall into a melancholy reading slump like most of last year.

QOTW: I really disliked The Merciless. I had hoped it would be right up my ally, YA horror, which I used to read a lot of when I was a YA myself. But it didn't really do much for me. The characters were flat and the middle was just gratuitous violence without reason. The characters had no real motivation to be the way they were so I was glad it was a quick read. I won't be reading any more from the series. Some YA horror that I've enjoyed are the Fear Street books, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and Sleepwalk (maybe not the most recent reads).

Hello everyone!

This is my second year doing the Popsugar challenge, but this year I am trying to be part of the community a bit more so I'll be posting here instead of lurking :) I've also made a bookstagram to help me discuss more (@carolines_windowseat). I look forward to chatting books with you all!

Popsugar: 1/50

Read: Black Sun
LOVED this book so much. Great world-building, pacing, and characters. I'm sad that there is no release date yet for the second book in the trilogy. (For the indigenous author prompt)

Currently Reading: The Prophets
I'm really like this one so far but don't quite have my thoughts together yet. I feel like I need more of the plot to unfold. (For the book published in 2021 prompt)

You Lucky Dog
I was excited about the meet-cute but now I'm slightly peeved with the insta-love. (For a book starting with "Q" "Y" or "Z")


Planned: Dear Edward
I am planning on reading this month to join the discussion but I'm sneaking it into another prompt: A book everyone seems to have read but you.

The Devil and the Dark Water
For a book on my TBR I meant to read last year but didn't.

QOTW: Hmmmm I really couldn't get into Things in Jars because although I love both historical fiction and fantasy, I don't like mixing them together. I'm also not a detective story fan so that didn't help either. So many people have loved this though, so I think I was just the wrong reader.

Yesterday was a super crazy day here in the DC area. We ended up with a curfew starting at 6pm where I live and the hotel right behind my house was full of people who were here for the Trump events. I will say that, whoever was staying there didn't cause any trouble around our house. Now the city is under a state of emergency until election day and a curfew can be called at any time. Hopefully it won't be necessary, since I think most of the rioters have left the area. We're planning to go in to Black Lives Matter Plaza this weekend, so we can see the fence one more time before it comes down, since it sounds like the new administration will finally be restoring access to the park. I hope the fence makes its way into the Smithsonian so that we can continue to feel inspired by it.

With all of that, I didn't get as much reading done yesterday as I had initially planned. I was hoping to finish my second book of the year, but there was just too much going on. So, I've only finished one. BUT, it was a great one! I read The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories by Danielle Evans for the under 1000 reviews prompt. It was wonderful. Certainly one of the better books of short stories I've read.

QOTW: The last book I DNF'd was Winter Counts. I was looking forward to reading something from a native perspective but the writing was so-so and I'm tired of reading so many books by and about men. Particularly when they get all outraged about crimes against women/girls. That annoyed me and the story didn't get better, so I put it down. If anyone has some great recent fiction by and about native women, I'd love to read some.

Lynn wrote: "This book just turned me off just after 5-10 pages and I have never picked it back up. Maybe I'll give it another go this year..."

The sections about the old mystery are in a very different tone to the modern main story. I didn't think the opening pages were that great either.

I completed two books for Pop Sugar for the week
Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-Up,and Spectacular Downfall Of A Crook In The White House by Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz. I double dipped on this book. A book by a blogger,vlogger, YouTube video creator, or other online personality. The book is based on a hit pod cast.
A book that has fewer than 1,000 reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. At the time I read it there was 139 reviews.
The second box was Savage Run (Joe Pickett #2) by C.J. Box. A book set mostly or entirely outside.
The book I hated most in 2020 was Tidelands (Fairmile #1) by Philippa Gregory. I don’t like storylines where women are persecuted by their community. I didn’t like the time period. I don’t have a recommendation of a book set in the location or time period as this book. I recommend any other book involving women persecuted for being witches by a superstitious community.

Sara, I enjoyed Trail of Lightning and The Marrow Thieves pretty well, and they both have new books out too. Black Sun & Empire of Wild

Initially wasn't sure if I was going to join the challenge again this year, but then I looked at the prompt list and my brain started working to allocate books to prompts, and after that it was pretty much a foregone conclusion!

Have made a pretty good start, with a couple of books finished this week. But I go back to work on Monday, which will drastically cut into my reading time... *sulk*

Finished:

The Gameshouse for A free book from your TBR list (gifted, borrowed, library) - borrowed from my husband's book collection!

Lustrum for A book from your TBR list you associate with a favorite person, place, or thing - the favourite place being Rome, of course!

Haven't started anything new yet, but I'm planning Journeys in the Wild: The Secret Life of a Cameraman next, which I hope will work for the 'outdoors' prompt.

QOTW:
The last book I gave 1 star to was Every Missing Thing, which started out as a pretty average crime novel, and then descended into a wildly implausible, bady written, thriller towards the end. Luckily it was a freebie, so I didn't wast any money on it! I can't pinpoint a specific alternatiev to recommend instead, but I'm sure there are many crime and/or thriller novels out there that are way better!

Finished Final Girls

Working on: Animal Farm and A Swiftly Tilting Planet

The book I disliked was Hysteria. I like thrillers by Riley Sager and Ruth Ware. The Sun Down Motel and Someone We Know were both good as well.

Hysteria was needlessly confusing, had weird dialogue tags that made it hard to tell who was speaking, and the "solution" was so idiotic that I almost feel like spoiling it for people just so that no one else reads this book.

Hi all, Happy New Year! I have to say 2021 is looking an awful lot like 2020 for me.....


Finished
The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne - this is one of the best books I've read for a long long time. I totally loved it! I'm not counting it for a challenge as I started it in December and I'm a bit funny about that personally

Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie - locked room mystery - Christmas, Poirot = Yes!

Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi - genre hybrid

D: A Tale of Two Worlds by Michel Faber - ATY set in a made up place


Currently Reading
I'm reading The Count of Monte Cristo this year for my longest book. I'm trying to do a chapter a day so will be a few months on this but enjoying it so far!

Also have Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson on the go. As well as The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue which I'm pretty tempted to ditch.


QOTW
Hmmm I'm quite brutal with dropping books I'm not liking so I don't have many I've finished that I hated. What comes to mind is Lies She Told by Cate Holahan which is a book within a book thriller following an author when their husband is found murdered. Big disappointment as it was so good for like 75% of the book but the last section was horrific!! Like a mystery book within a book, try Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz!

Happy Thursday and Happy New Year. I decided to start back posting weekly after just lurking and slacking off last year. I finished 2 books this week even though I had at least 3 books going before the new year started. This week I completed:

The Silence of the Lambs for 40. Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge-2018 1. A book made into a movie you've already seen. I listened to the abridged audio version and was pleasantly surprised. Of course the movie was way scarier than the book. I wasn't expecting that at all.

The Silent Patient for prompt 39. A book everyone seems to have read but you. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending to the point where I gave it an extra star. I'd put the book down for a moment because towards the middle the book just became really meh but I started back reading it last night before bed and by the time I finished reading it this morning I was a fan.

QOTW: What was the most recent book that you really really disliked? What made you dislike it? What book in that genre or about that topic do you recommend instead?

The most recent book that I really really disliked was The Island of Doctor Moreau It was a selection for my book club and I read about 20 pages and I was like no thank you! The book was boring and I couldn't get into the causal racism and classism. I'd recommend To Kill a Mockingbird or The Diary of a Young Girl.

Planned
Listen to Me Good: The Story of an Alabama Midwife for 18. A book about a subject you are passionate about
7. A book where the main character works at your current or dream job The Doula Blueprint:: How to Become a Doula and Create a Successful Business
8. A book that has won the Women’s Prize for Fiction The Song of Achilles

In spite of everything I did manage to get some reading done this week, more than I have in months. I think taking some pressure off myself helped. I decided that this year for my challenge I will take the stance of 'close enough' isn't just for horseshoes. If I have something that is close enough to the prompt I'm counting it and I set the challenge at 40 books because I was feeling like this was a chore m ore than fun and who wants that? This helps me.


This week I read for the prompt A book about a social justice issue
Who Speaks for the Damned by C.S. Harris. Sadly not much has changed since the early 1800s in terms of how the poor and immigrants are treated and not much better in terms of misogyny and racism. Also it was an excellent mystery. I love this series.

For the prompt A book featuring three generations (grandparent, parent, child) Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb This was a 'close enough' book. Two murders, two sets of victims featuring three generations and that was the impetus for the murder so even though they weren't the main focus I feel it works. It was an okay mystery.

and lastly I read Murder at Hotel 1911 by Audrey Keown for the prompt A book set in a restaurant. Another 'close enough' It's a restaurant in a hotel. It was the site of the murder and the kitchen used to kill the person.


QOTW I don't tend to read or finish books I hate nor keep records of them but Umbrella Man by Willow Rose came close. I think I might hate it more by well this author does with books this bad. The characters had zero depth, the main character seemed utterly unaffected by the betrayal (and death) of one of her few relatives whom she liked but mentions like once post death. The plot was ripped directly from Nightmare on Elm Street Dream Warriors and the big twist was the Freddy Kruegeresque villain was an albino African American. No lie, that was the big twist. There is so much better horror out there. Pick up a Stephen King or give The Only Good Indiansby Stephen Graham Jones or Hallelujahby Kim Fielding & F.E. Feely jr a try

New year, new challenge! I finished both ATY and Popsugar for 2020 (my first year for both) so I am excited to finish this year as well. And I already finished 1 book so far! I haven't read much this week (I got sucked into Bridgerton on Netflix and The Flight Attendant on HBO)

Finished:
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (PS: A locked-room mystery, ATY: A book with a building in the title). First off the store (Orsk) is a "cheaper version of Ikea" which I thought was hilarious. The book is designed like an Ikea catalog with furniture names and prices. Very creative I thought! This 250+ page book was a very fast read for me - about a day and a half. The story starts off pretty good but when supernatural elements take over it was harder to follow. Still good though, but I liked The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires better.

Currently Listening To:
A Promised Land by Barack Obama (PS: The longest book on your TBR list by pages, ATY: A book set in a state, province, or country you have never visited). I figured I would get the longest book out of the way and I really wanted to start this one. I enjoy listening to Obama tell his story much better than I would reading it. His experience during the campaign and being elected peppered with personal stories makes this book a definite read. I don't know much about politics but I am enjoying this 29+ hours of Obama's stories.

Currently Reading:

You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe (PS: A book set somewhere you would like to visit in 2021, ATY: A book related to "In the beginning..."). Somehow I ended up reading 2 books about US Presidents at the same time, but what better choice for "In the beginning..." than a book about the first US President? My travel plan for 2021 was to fly to Maine and drive down the East Coast to D.C. but COVID. I like the no-nonsense take Coe has put into this book. It is a very condensed version of George Washington's life but told in a way that doesn't feel boring.

On Deck:
The Guest List by Lucy Foley (PS: No prompt, ATY: A book whose title and author both contain the letter "U"). After two biographies of US Presidents this will be a nice of change of pace.

QOTW:
A recent book I really disliked was The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. I found it difficult to read and didn't make much sense to me. It could be an interesting film (or miniseries) but I just wasn't impressed with it. It fit some categories for last years challenges so I kept on with it, but I wouldn't recommend it. I also really disliked Whisper Network by Chandler Baker (again it fit prompts so I kept going). Lastly, I DNF'd Followers by Megan Angelo. I am really not big on Social Media (I only have Instagram which is just pictures of my dog) so I don't know why I thought I would like this book. No regrets.

We're having a real hard time in the US right now.  I am so disgusted, I don't even know what the right word is to describe how I'm feeling.

I ended 2020 with four books in progress, so those are the books I entered 2021 with.  

I finished two books this week.   I had started both of them in December, and neither was intended to be a Challenge read, but I decided one of them fit quite well, so now I am 1/50.  All four books are by white authors, so I'm not exactly starting my year with a bang when it comes to reading BIPOC authors, but I'll catch up.

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman- this was amazing.  It was fascinating, riveting, and depressing (but not quite as depressing as you'd think!).  I was so engaged, I ended up deciding to try to read a lot more science books this year, and I added a bunch more to my TBR list (as if I need any more books on my TBR list!!).  Last year I read three full length science books plus one graphic novel (plus three picture books!) and I DNFed one.  The year before, I read five full length science books.  This year I'll try to double last year's count and aim for six.  All of this goal-setting and TBR-increasing means that I felt pretty passionate about the book I just finished!  So, I checked off "a book about a subject you are passionate about" with this one!  (It's mostly about human's effect on the environment, so ... environmentalism.)   My original plan for "passionate" was The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, which I still plan to read this year.

Imperfect Women by Araminta Hall - I enjoyed this psychological thriller, but I solved the mystery early on and I felt it dragged in the third part, the ending was a bit of a fizzle, and I was rather annoyed that there were no chapters.  Four stars, it was very good, but I wished it had been even better.  I haven't decided yet if I'll do the AtY challenge this year; if I do, this checks off "ensemble cast."



QoTW
What a fun question!!  Haha what does it say about me that I enjoy talking about books I didn't like?

The last book that I didn't like was The Guest List.  I gave it two stars.  I like the psychological thriller subgenre and other books I'd recommend in this genre are  Into the Water (I know, not everyone loved this one), The Girl on the Train, Strangers on a Train, Dark Places, Sharp Objects, The Wolf Wants In, Sunburn, Conviction, The Kind Worth Killing, or Pieces of Her.

In 2020 I didn't really persist with any books I was actively detesting, so I didn't have any true hatereads.  The only full-length book that I finished in 2020 and gave one star was my medical thriller,  Host.  This is the only medical thriller I've ever read, so I don't have anything else I'd suggest.  I plan to just avoid that subgenre in future hahah

Sarah wrote: "QOTW: I really, really hated Ivanhoe. I can give classics a bit of leeway for out of date opinions but this book was just relentless in it's racism and sexism from start to finish. I'd recommend pretty much anything else instead! ..."


uh-oh! I was thinking about making this my classic to read this year. My mom (not exactly the most "woke" person) said she liked it. Maybe I'll give it a try but let myself DNF if it's too much.

Nadine wrote: "Sarah wrote: "QOTW: I really, really hated Ivanhoe. I can give classics a bit of leeway for out of date opinions but this book was just relentless in it's racism and sexism from start to finish. I'..."

Oh my yes, Ivanhoe is a whole lot. It's not even casual antisemitism, which still would be awful, it's super "So the thing about Jews is..." Bro, let's not. Please tell me about Robin Hood.

Mary wrote: "Reading is going to take on a whole new significance for me as this point. They say that children become readers in the laps of their parents, or in my case, my grandmother, who passed away yesterday ..."


I am so sorry for your loss.



This reminds me, my mom is getting ready to sell her house, and she's been boxing up old stuff and giving it to me - she found some old books that my grandmother (my father's mother) had for me at Grandma's house. So, I am now the owner of, among other things, a book by Ezra Jack Keats that I don't remember at all, Apt. 3, and The Egg Tree, and The Story of Little Black Sambo!!! I thought these books were lost long ago when my grandmother died! I guess they've been stashed in a box in my parents' basement all these years and I didn't know it. Since this book is out of print, I have to hang on to this copy.

My grandmother had two books of Japanese fairy tales for me, too - I guess I must have taken them long ago, which means they are lost in a box somewhere in my house right now. Too bad. I would have liked to read them again.

Oh it has been quite a week of ups and downs. I hope everyone is staying safe and managing stress.

This week I finished:

Waiting to Exhale I probably wasn't the best audience for this, but it was my only BIPOC author option for the '90s bestseller prompt. Still decent though. 3 stars

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man I used this for the anonymous prompt, and I was intrigued for most of it, but I find it really difficult to give a rating to books that are older like this.

Untamed Shore The story kept me engaged, but it didn't wow me. (under 1,000 reviews prompt) 3 stars

Silver, Sword, and Stone: Three Crucibles in the Latin American Story This had a lot of intense history, but it's always good to brush up on that. (mineral/rock prompt) 4 stars

Dancing in the Mosque: An Afghan Mother's Letter to Her Son This was a good but sad story. I appreciated the messaging in how it was up to her son to take part in breaking the cycle of violence against women. (Muslim American prompt) 4 stars

The Scent Keeper This was pretty creative, although sometimes it was too heavy handed on the theme of everything being connected to smell.

Currently reading: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies in print and listening to Where We Come From

QOTW: Hmm good question. I also didn't like Normal People, but plots that revolve around romance are not for me. I'll say that the short story collection I'm reading now (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) has plenty of romance, but I've really enjoyed it so far. Such beautiful stories. Highly recommend!

Nadine wrote: "Sarah wrote: "QOTW: I really, really hated Ivanhoe. I can give classics a bit of leeway for out of date opinions but this book was just relentless in it's racism and sexism from start to finish. I'..."

I think the worst bit was how it described the Jewish characters. I would've DNF'ed if I hadn't needed it for a difficult challenge prompt.

Elaine wrote: "Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth for my dark academia. This is weird? But awesome? I'll have more when I'm farther into it, but I think I'm really going to like this one ..."


Oh, I didn't know that would work for dark academia!!! I meant to read this last year but never found time to fit it in, so I'm hoping to read it this year. I am also hoping to read Catherine House this year for dark academia, so ... too many boooks!!

Ashley Marie wrote: "Going back to the summer of 2019, I tried to read Dune and only made it halfway before I gave up. Part of it was the story; Paul was clearly Extra Super Special and the Baron was way too over-the-top. The whole thing rankled me to the point I rooted for the sandworms to eat everyone. ..."


Literal LOL at this!!! I just started a re-read of Dune!! I haven't gotten very far, just the first few pages, and I was surprised at how the tone feels like a kids' book. Is it possible we didn't have the "YA" category back then because the "adult" books were written at an elementary school level??

Hello everyone! America is a trash fire, but I had a good first reading week of the year, so.... that's something?

Finished:
The Last Mrs. Summers (book about a subject I'm passionate about--Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier): I enjoyed this! Unlike the more recent Her Royal Spyness books, I actually felt some suspense reading this book.
Strong Poison (a book about do-overs--a retrial): This is the first book in the series with Harriet Vane and I do love her.
The Quantum Thief (a book about forgetting): this is some very fun sci-fi, and it is particularly good at thinking through the ways people relate to technology in their daily lives.

Currently reading:
Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern Istanbul (fewer than 1000 reviews): I know very little of the history of Turkey/the Ottoman Empire, and I'm fascinated! It's not very focused as a history, but that actually suits me and my lack of knowledge. I need the background!
Hench (a genre hybrid--superheroes and workplace drama): I'm loving this book. Just loving it.
Moonflower Murders (set in multiple countries): Seems good, but I just got a bunch of library holds in, so this one might have to go on pause.

QOTW: For suresies A Town Like Alice! There is a great plot in there, and some interesting characters, but oh myyyy with the casual, persistent racism. It's not a meet-cute when the male lead calls the female lead a racial slur, y'all. Ughhh. Some people have claimed that it's reflecting the times rather than being racist itself, to which I say IT CAN BE BOTH. I'm sure there are better books about both Malaya and Australia.

Nadine wrote: "Sarah wrote: "QOTW: I really, really hated Ivanhoe. I can give classics a bit of leeway for out of date opinions but this book was just relentless in it's racism and sexism from start to finish. I'..."

If it helps, I LOVED Ivanhoe. It's sad to say, but for the time period, it's views on women and Jews are surprisingly progressive. To modern sensibilities, it's super not, so it's certainly going to come off problematic (and I'd never condemn someone for disliking the book because of that--it's completely legitimate to be upset by it), but if you're familiar with both the time it was written in and the time it takes place during (Sir Walter Scott was definitely into his historical research), it's actually pretty positive in its portrayals of women and Jews.

Again, I'm not saying that it's in any way "unproblematic," but if you like Robin Hood-type stories and early 19th century lit, it's one I highly recommend.

One more side note for Nadine specifically--we tend to have opposing tastes in books, so keep that in mind too. ;)

Finished: Amina's Voice for book by Muslim-American author. I was looking for a middle grade read about music. There wasn't as much about music as I would have liked. But it was still an enjoyable read.

The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music This one had a nice feel, but I didn't get a lot out of it. Maybe if I do the exercises at the end, that will change.

Sharing Nature with Children: The Classic Parents' & Teachers' Nature Awareness Guidebook For book that occurs outdoors. Didn't get a lot out of this one either.

No Longer Homeless: How the Ex-Homeless Get and Stay Off the Streets for book with fewer than 1,000 Goodreads reviews (try five.) Some patchy descriptions, not enough pro-active suggestions.

Started: The Cartoon Introduction to Statistics I'm using this for teaching. So far it has been reviewed as "funny"

Qotw: How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don't I think it was trying to be funny, but was too despondent to succeed.

The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr Norris/Goodbye to Berlin had some disturbing content. Fortunately, I don't remember what anymore.

Hello - one week into the New Year already, wow!

Unfortunately this year's first book was really terrible. But the second book more than made up for it, and I finished the first one because it worked for not only a PopSugar prompt, but prompts in several other challenges I'm doing this year as well. So I'm 2/50 already, yay!

Southern Comfort by Fern Michaels - used for 17, same title as a song; this was just not my cup of tea. I found the characterization of law enforcement, particularly DEA, as seriously lacking, quite a few plot holes, and the dialog - just no. The book had fairly good reviews, so I was really disappointed.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan - used for 40, favorite past prompt, and chose 12 from 2019, a book inspired by mythology. Last year I read The Last Kids on Earth series at the request of one nephew, so this year I am reading Percy Jackson at the request of his brother. Seriously good reco's from such young readers (9 and 11), lol. I loved it!

QOTW: The last book I really hated was listed above, Southern Comfort by Fern Michaels. I only finished it because it fit several challenges. Try an Evanovich romance instead, like The Rocky Road to Romance.