The County Library discussion

Reader's Choice starts again this Thursday, July 1st! Here are the nominees for this round:

Almond

Before I Called You Mine

The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne

The Finders

Follow Me to Ground

Hold On, But Don't Hold Still

The Holdout

The House in the Cerulean Sea

Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors

Long Bright River

Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes

The Silence

Simon the Fiddler

The Space Between Worlds

Start by Believing: Larry Nassar's Crimes, the Institutions that Enabled Him, and the Brave Women Who Stopped a Monster

Three Hours In Paris

The Tourist Attraction

The Wife and the Widow

The Yellow Bird Sings

You Had Me at Hola

Online voting will open after July 1st. Look for displays up in your branch at the end of this week!

Oh no, even more books to read.

I was so excited to snag some of these titles at the library today! It was like Christmas morning for this book nerd.

My branch hadn't gotten their Reader's Choice books yet when I went on Saturday, so I went to a different branch today to check some out.

Hold On, But Don't Hold Still was great.

1 down, 19 to go

Online voting doesn't seem to be open yet, though..... It says voting is closed for this session.

Thanks for the heads up, Britt. I've emailed someone about it. I'll pass on any info they share.

You Had Me at Hola made me want to beat my head against a wall. They are both so stupid. Sigh.
It does have some good points and really, I don't like romances and stayed up way too late last night, so I'm not a very unbiased reviewer today, lol.

Wow, you're booking through these already.

Audrey wrote: "Wow, you're booking through these already."

Those were the 2 that were immediately available on audio, lol. Now I have to wait for more to come in....so that I can put more on hold....

I have already read and loved The House in the Cerulean Sea and also enjoyed Simon the Fiddler last year. Can I count them if I read them before the challenge started?

I own Long Bright River, so I will have to move it up my TBR stack.

For Reader's Choice, you can absolutely turn in a vote on a book that you previously read. You don't need to re-read it. As long as you remember how you felt about it.

Britt, Book Habitue wrote: "You Had Me at Hola made me want to beat my head against a wall. They are both so stupid. Sigh.
It does have some good points and really, I don't like romances and stayed up way too late last night,..."

I've had this book since the day it came out, (purchased ebook) I just can't seem to get into it. sigh. I really want to like it. But it just isn't working for me.

Mary wrote: "I have already read and loved The House in the Cerulean Sea and also enjoyed Simon the Fiddler last year. Can I count them if I read them before the challenge started?

I own Long Bright River, so ..."

Also, really love The House in the Cerulean Sea

Elizabeth wrote: "For Reader's Choice, you can absolutely turn in a vote on a book that you previously read. You don't need to re-read it. As long as you remember how you felt about it."

Thanks. I am glad to hear that. I didn't want to have to reread a couple I have already read.

What if you hate a book and quit it? Can you still vote?

I'm pretty sure I have done that. I figure if I gave it a reasonable try then why not.
Of course I'm a glutton for punishment and usually make myself finish things even when I hate them....I have issues.

It's hard to quit a book, but I'm getting better at it.

Audrey wrote: "It's hard to quit a book, but I'm getting better at it."

It was a lesson hard for me to learn, too. I'm getting better, too. Sometimes it's just to painful keep going when there are so many other books that call out "I'm better!"

Sometimes I finish just to enjoy writing a scathing review.

Audrey wrote: "What if you hate a book and quit it? Can you still vote?"

Yup, just give it 1 star. That lets us know you hated it.

I have started Humble Pi, and I am loving it. Hard to put down.

Audrey wrote: "I have started Humble Pi, and I am loving it. Hard to put down."

Ooh, interesting. I'll have to look into that one?

Audrey wrote: "Sometimes I finish just to enjoy writing a scathing review."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
YES. This. So much this.

Oh and I noticed today that online voting is up!

Audrey wrote: "I have started Humble Pi, and I am loving it. Hard to put down."

That one looks so fun.

Finished Almond. *shrug* It was fine? I don't know, there were things about it that were really interesting but overall it didn't do a lot for me.... Three stars because it seems mean to only give it two.

3 down, 17 to go.

Finished Humble Pi -- absolutely loved it -- and started Hold On But Don't Hold Still, which is pretty good so far.

You guys are amazing. I have only read one. I really need to read the Humble Pi book.

I can't believe how many are on audiobook this time.

Audrey wrote: "I can't believe how many are on audiobook this time."

It looked like they're ALL available on audio. It's amazing!

I finished Before I Called You Mine. All the feels, I tell you.
4 down, 16 to go

Finished The Tourist Attraction. It was fine. Not really my thing and some of the relationship drama got old. Cleaner than expected though, which is always a plus.

5 down, 15 to go.....

The Yellow Bird Sings was beautiful, but definitely adult. Heart-wrenching but ultimately hopeful.

6 down.... I need the audio books to come in faster, lol.

Has anyone read "Start By Believing" yet? I thought reading it during the Olympics would give it a little extra oomph, not that it needs ANY help.

I dread starting each new chapter, but I can't stop reading. The story is so aggravating and appalling. I can't believe Larry Nassar abused so many girls over such a long period of time. I watched these gymnasts on television. I am heartbroken for them, and for the way that authority figures perpetuated the abuse by siding with Nassar. How did everyone fail them? It's mind-boggling.

I can't say I've enjoyed the book (that would be ghoulish), but it is well-written and informative, even though the subject matter is hard to read about. I'd give it 4 stars.

I'd also strongly suggest that anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse skip this one. :(

I've slowed down this month to do other challenges. I have The Holdout and The Space Between Worlds planned next.

So something weird is going on with the eaudio of Three Hours in Paris. If I find it in Libby there are like 68 holds on 0 copies with an undefined wait. If I find it on overdrive same problem.
If I find it in the library app there are 10 of 10 available. But I can't just check it out. I have to reserve it. But it says there are 0 holds.
If I look it up on the library website it says there are 10 available copies and 68 holds when I click "where is it" but under details says available: 0 (of 0).
I'm so confused!

Britt, Book Habitue wrote: "So something weird is going on with the eaudio of Three Hours in Paris. If I find it in Libby there are like 68 holds on 0 copies with an undefined wait. If I find it on overdrive same problem.
If ..."

Britt:
I'll have our eAudiobook librarian look at this. When we merged OverDrive with the RBDigital audiobook service, it created a few issues with items that had been in the collection prior but weren't able to move over. I'll let you know when I hear back from her!

Britt, Book Habitue wrote: "So something weird is going on with the eaudio of Three Hours in Paris. If I find it in Libby there are like 68 holds on 0 copies with an undefined wait. If I find it on overdrive same problem.
If ..."

Britt:

We just purchased Three Hours in Paris on OverDrive so if you haven't already checked it out, you should be able to do so now! We bought a special license that lets us check out 100 copies at once so for anyone interested in the digital audiobooks, head over to OverDrive/Libby now! Thanks!

I got an email since I'd put it on hold. Yay!!!! Thanks for getting someone on that quickly!

Finished a few more:
Long Bright River- 4 stars because well written but didn't really enjoy reading it
Follow Me to Ground- 2 stars ICK not actually scary... more a "now I need a shower" factor.... ugh
Three Hours in Paris- 5 stars great WWII story

9 down, 11 to go

I listened to The Wife and the Widow -- it was fine. It kind of rambled a lot.

Loved Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne. (Just wish I hadn't been sooooo tired while listening to it, lol.)
Hoping it'll be a series, but so far nothing to indicate that....

10 down-- halfway there

Simon the Fiddler was.... fine? I don't know, it felt like it took forever and I kept thinking of reasons to do other things instead of reading it. I mean, there wasn't anything wrong with it.... just not so much my thing.
(I feel like I've said that about a lot of them this time around... oof. Then again, a couple of the titles I'm most excited about haven't come in on audio yet, so maybe it's just that I started with books I was less interested in.)
11 down, 9 to go.

I am almost done with The Holdout -- not bad, but the MC kind of annoys me.

My audio loan for The Space Between Worlds expired around 80% in, but it was starting to get really good.

I am in the middle of The House in the Cerulean Sea, and it is so boring and predictable. I'm thinking 2 stars, but I may go lower by the end.

Audrey wrote: "My audio loan for The Space Between Worlds expired around 80% in, but it was starting to get really good...."

Ooh, I hate it when that happens.

I wasn't paying attention to the due date.

Audrey wrote: "
My audio loan for The Space Between Worlds expired around 80% in, but it was starting to get really good.

I am in the m..."

Accidentally did this when I was listening to The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe with my girls.... went to check out a physical copy to finish... realized we only had 10 pages left. You can bet we totally sat in the library and I just read the last pages aloud to them.

And dang it, I was looking for to House in the Cerulean Sea.... sigh.

I'm like 2/3 through Humble Pi and going to recommend it to literally everyone.

Britt, Book Habitue wrote: "Audrey wrote: "
My audio loan for The Space Between Worlds expired around 80% in, but it was starting to get really good.

I am in the m..."

Accidentally did this when I was listening to The Lion,..."

I loved The House in the Cerulean Sea and know of many who also loved it. I found it to be endearingly quirky and heartwarming. Maybe it will be for you.

I think it's great that everyone has different tastes in books. It would be so boring if everybody liked the same thing.

Although I don't participate in Readers Choice, I really enjoy reading what you all think of the different books. Every once in a while I add a book to my trsd list (to read some day) and occasionally one will go on my rrs list (read really soon). Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors is added to rss. Hold placed. Thanks!

Most people seem to like The House in the Cerulean Sea. For me, it's boring. I feel like I'm walking through a museum of inspirational posters. But it's a miles-long single hallway because putting them in different rooms would make it too interesting.

I finished The Holdout. All the exciting stuff happens in the last 15 pages.

Again, I totally loved Humble Pi. (I kept Googling those incidents mentioned in the book.)

Humble Pi might be my favorite this round. I ended up doing both the audio and a hardcopy and I highly recommend the combination.
12 down