Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Happy Thursday! I feel as if I’m late in posting since I got my laptop out at 7:30AM yesterday morning thinking, “Oh, I’ve got to post for the Weekly Check-In!” Then realized, “Oh, I don’t have to do that today, this is Wednesday!” *sigh* Old age… And now I am a bit late in posting this morning! But that's only because I finished another book that I wanted to document! So it's all good! 👍😊

I am trying to be purposeful about rotating more nonfiction books into my reading schedule. I think I feel as if they require much more reading time, but I’m not sure that’s true! I just feel as if I read more slowly since I’m always wanting to remember everything! Almost like studying a textbook!

I came across a NY Times story written by Marcus Samuelsson (whom I adore) regarding the pandemic and how he and his family have been coping…
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/st.... Just in case you’re interested! I had no idea he now has 36 restaurants around the world in his empire! Good for him! Not bad for an orphaned African child…

Admin Stuff:
The January 2022 Monthly Group Read discussion of People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry is here. This can be used to satisfy the 2022 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge prompt #11 A #BookTok recommendation! Erica is leading the discussion! I enjoyed this much more than I expected!

You can post the book you read to satisfy this prompt here.

Please help us start the process to select the April Monthly Group Read by voting in the nomination poll here. This book will fulfill prompt #26 A book with a misleading title! Happy April Fools’ Day! 😉 If you plan to nominate a different book, please do so early on so other members have the opportunity to consider supporting your nomination! **BE SURE TO CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW IT IN MORE DETAIL!** LOL

Question of the Week:
(from Lauren) Is there a genre that you've always avoided but have recently started getting into because of this (or another) reading challenge?
This was appropriate because I just read People We Meet on Vacation for our January monthly group read discussion and realized that as long as I research well enough to feel assured I’m not selecting a typical “bodice-ripping” “open door” “romance” novel, I am much more open to reading “romance” now than ever before. I prefer novels with more character development and complexity of plot and character interactions than is typical in what I consider to be “run-of-the-mill” romance novels. I am glad for that expansion in my reading repertoire! Because I refused to even consider reading any book classified as “romance” in the past!
Others I’ve read and enjoyed in recent years:
Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli
Love Story (Love Story #1) by Erich Segal (reread 50 years later)
Oliver's Story (Love Story #2) by Erich Segal
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
Cocktails for Three by Madeleine Wickham
The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe by Mary Simses

POPSUGAR: 11/50
ATY: 27/52
RHC: 4/24

FINISHED:
Day of Infamy by Walter Lord ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ was amazing! I didn’t know much of anything about the attack at Pearl Harbor. One fact that was mentioned is that this attack was one of the few times war was begun without a declaration of war being announced first. I had never considered that…
POPSUGAR: #25-The Japanese worked hard to keep all the preparations, plans, and training a secret from the World!, #29-I read A Night to Remember in 2021, NEW #31-war, NEW #33-War is a social horror, IMO!
ATY: #2-read A Night to Remember in 2021, #4-A book related to Shelley's poem Ozymandias (Nadine’s proposal): Round the decay/of that colossal Wreck-Pearl Harbor was left a “colossal Wreck” in the wake of Japan’s attack, #7-the psychology of a surprise attack, #14-4,229 ratings, #15, NEW #20, #21-battleship, NEW #29, #31, #40-Death, Judgment, The World, #49, NEW #52
RHC: NEW #22

I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for his author visit later this month. This proved to be quite absurd, “absurdly” so in the beginning 30 pages! LOL However, it did improve a bit and then I read the analysis and learned that without the knowledge of Poitier’s movies I was missing much in this book. Though I did recognize the “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” parody!
POPSUGAR: #9, #36
ATY: #1-Ted Turner, #14-1,492 ratings, #15-Just a hand, #39-2009, #34-Pericval is Not’s Professor for “Nonsense,” #40- The Lovers, Strength, Justice, Temperance, Judgment, The World, The Fool, NEW #43, #49
RHC: #24-2021: Read a book you’ve been intimidated to read

The House Without a Key (Charlie Chan #1) by Earl Derr Biggers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ is the first in the Charlie Chan mystery series. I’m so glad for Marilyn Stasio’s introduction warning a reader to forget anything they may know or remember of the Charlie Chan movie adaptations. I’ve had this book for probably 4 months and was dying to try it out, so I did! I liked the way it started out with just a hint of a scandalous family member’s criminal activities and one rather minor attack, then simply continued the story of the various characters’ interactions…until clues finally started to become known. Stasio was correct. This was nothing like the film adaptations and that was a good thing, IMO! While Chan’s English was a bit out of sync, he was a quiet person who observed much and put everything together way before anyone else. This was a delightful read and I especially appreciated the characters’ development along the way. There are 6 of these and I definitely plan to read the other 5. 😊
POPSUGAR: #25, #40-2017 prompt #39 The first book in a series I haven’t read yet
ATY: #4- A book related to Shelley's poem Ozymandias (Nadine’s proposal): John Quincy is a traveler who is just realizing his passions in this land of sands!, NEW #5, #14-1,729 ratings, #20-Set in the 1920s, #29, #31-1925, #35-The lush tropical setting of Honolulu, #37 (title), #40-Justice, Death, Temperance, Judgement, The World, #49
RHC: NEW #14, #24-2017: Read a book published between 1900-1950

CONTINUING:
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson for a January Buddy Read. This is such an interesting and timely read! It is my first Isaacson book and probably will not be my last. I appreciate the fact that he provided so much historical information to lead into discussing Doudna’s research. That was so helpful to put later developments into context. I liked pictures of the scientists as Isaacson presented their findings. It just felt more personal somehow!
*Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson to complete two 2021 challenges!
*Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. On hold for our February monthly group read.
*Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
*Paradise by Toni Morrison to fulfill the 2020 Reading Women prompt #25 A book written by Toni Morrison

PLANNED:
To complete some 2021 year-long challenges:
1) *Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk
2) *The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
To complete the 2021 Read Harder Challenge:
*Get a Life, Chloe Brown (Brown Sisters #1) by Talia Hibbert (our February Group Read! How convenient! LOL)
*Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Díaz
*Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
*Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
*The Right Attitude to Rain (Isabel Dalhousie #3) by Alexander McCall Smith
* The Careful Use of Compliments (Isabel Dalhousie #4) by Alexander McCall Smith
*The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday (Isabel Dalhousie #5) by Alexander McCall Smith
*The Lost Art of Gratitude (Isabel Dalhousie #6) by Alexander McCall Smith

Lynn wrote: "I prefer novels with more character development and complexity of plot and character interactions than is typical in what I consider to be “run-of-the-mill” romance novels. ..."


I read a lot of romance, I have for years, but it's "chick lit" and "women's fiction" that I used to avoid, because I thought all of it always discussed fashion and brands and the exact types of lipstick and shoes everyone is wearing ... and some of it does do that! but not all of it.

Some other authors I've found who straddle the lines between romance & chick lit & women's literature, and have a lot of character development in their stories:
Lauren Willig
Beatriz Williams
Jenny Colgan
Mhairi McFarlane

I read George Washington's Final Battle: The Epic Struggle to Build a Capital City and a Nation as my favorite from a past list: a book you pick off the shelf w/o looking. I had to go pick up a book at the library and I'm afraid they're going to go to curbside only and knowing this was a category I wanted to do I just went to the new acquisitions. And this is the book you get when you do that. The beginning was more interesting than I thought it would be, but I lost interest by halfway. I finished the book, but I have a feeling it's a good thing I don't have to take a test on it because I don't think I really absorbed most of it.

I just started The Witches of Eastwick as my book about witches or with witches or whatver. I have a feeling I'm not going to really like this one either but I'm only 20 pages in, so I should give it more of a chance before I decide one way or the other.

QOTW: Not really. There have been books that I have liked more than I thought I would because the genre just didn't seem like anything I would like. But, I haven't gone forward and sought more out.
For instance I read REady Player One for a LitRPG book. I didn't even know wht the catgory meant, was kind of dreading it and loved the book. But, I haven't read any more. Although I may eventually read Ready Player Two.

Good morning, everyone!

It has been a pretty busy week so far! I’ve been focusing a lot of attention on cleaning out the junk that has accumulated in my home over the years. I’m planning to move either later this year or early next year, and I’d really like to have my pre-move garage sale sometime this summer. I’m currently in the beginning stages of my clean out, but I feel like I made some decent progress this week.

One of the other tasks I decided to tackle this week was typing up a TBR checklist. I decided to focus only on books I have physical copies of, so I’m going to be ignoring my ebook backlog for the time being. However, I did include the books I’ve read since the beginning of the year so I could get an accurate TBR count for 2022 as a whole.

I knew the final number would be high, but I had no idea that as of January 1st, I had 962 unread books on my shelves!

Since it’s clear that my book buying has been out of control for way too long, I am now on a self-imposed book buying ban until I get at least 150 of my TBR titles read.

Goodreads: 32/200
TBR checklist: 20/962

Finished Reading:
~A Lesson in Vengeance
~The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels
~Never Sleep with Strangers
~Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings
~Small Spaces
~Six of Crows
~Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor, Vol 1: Weapons of Past Destruction
~Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor, Vol. 2: Doctormania
~Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor, Vol. 3: Official Secrets
~Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor, Vol. 4: Sin Eaters

DNFed:
~The Love Hypothesis — I stopped reading this one partway through the prologue. I just couldn’t get into it.

Currently Reading:
~The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
~The World of the Witcher
~Crooked Kingdom
~Books of Adam: The Blunder Years

QOTW:
The only genre I really don’t read is westerns, and participating in reading challenges really hasn’t changed that.

Hi everyone, from the bitter, snowy frontiers of . . . central North Carolina?!

We had snow/ice last week, and then yesterday I had to run out to do a grocery fill-in to cover us for the coming weekend, since it’s supposed to start snowing overnight and go all day Friday into Saturday. This isn’t completely unprecedented in this area, but it is pretty unusual for us to get two snow events within two weeks.

I’m so over my skin being itchy and my sinuses being irritated by the dry air and constantly-running heat. Might need to look into a more southerly place to retire to!

Lynn wrote: "Happy Thursday! I feel as if I’m late in posting since I got my laptop out at 7:30AM yesterday morning thinking, “Oh, I’ve got to post for the Weekly Check-In!” Then realized, “Oh, I don’t have to ..."

I feel like this week is really timey-wimey too. And it won't stop anytime soon - next week I'm taking Monday off yet again because I've learned that the day my 13yo goes back to school after a break needs to be a Mental Health Day for me!

Finished

Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff - A book with the name of a board game in the title - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - This book is changing my life! That sounds so corny, but she introduces a few key concepts for people who are not naturally good at reducing clutter. The best thing is, I’m now confident I can declutter my whole house without ever pulling all the contents of a drawer/closet/garage out and having to sort/organize it as a big, draining, time-eating project. And my house has already improved noticeably, just in a week! The audio book was great, too - let me DO some stuff with her walking me through it!

The More or Less Definitive Guide to Self-Care: From A to Z - A book by a Latinx author - So I thought maybe self-help books on audio could be a good way to check off some prompts, and this was free with my Audible subscription. Sadly, I didn’t really like this one. It had a completely incoherent structure, with things listed alphabetically, rather than by categories. It also contains a weird mishmash of fun activities, serious therapy techniques, and paranormal fortune-telling activities. Add in that it’s clearly aimed at late Millennial/Gen Z readers, and this added up to Not My Cup of Tea!

Currently Reading

Good Omens: A Full Cast Production - A book with a character on the ace spectrum - I put this on a 20 minute sleep timer every night, then the next night have to back up to where I fell asleep - so I’m averaging, like, 5 minutes of actual progress per day. :D But I kind of like that - I get to savor this.

Also, I didn’t really register this when watching the show, because Michael Sheen as Aziraphale looks like such a sweet cinnamon bun nerd, but Sheen actually has a very sexy voice! 😆 The benefits we get from trying different editions of favorites! (It goes without saying I already knew David Tennant has a sexy voice.)

The Consuming Fire - A book about or set in a nonpatriarchal society - I’m having so much trouble getting through the setup and gaining momentum on this one! I know I will. It’s just it literally starts with religious bureaucracy and a committee meeting. I need Kiva Lagos being rude and manipulating people, stat!

Anyway, I tried a little more last night, since I was reminded how much I generally love Scalzi when I preordered The Kaiju Preservation Society and submitted my receipt to Tor to get a laptop decal and “officially” adopt a Kaiju. ❤

QOTW
I wouldn’t say I’ve actively avoided mysteries, but I was never too keen on the genre - more like I’d read a specific one if it crossed my path. But I’ve read several mysteries for this challenge in the past few years, and I find I want to add the genre to my regular rotation. There’s just something about being drawn on to find out the solution! And as I think I said last week, I’m now actively searching for some good YA mystery, since I liked One of Us Is Lying so much!

Good morning!

I agree - I think reading nonfiction tends to be a little slower going. I enjoy it, but I notice it takes longer to finish the same number of pages.

I finished two books this week. I'm still trying to decide whether to count one of them for the challenge - there was a description of a recipe in In This Mountain, but I'm not sure if it was enough to count for the prompt "a book with a recipe."

Both books that I read this week have sat on my TBR forever, so yay for clearing shelves.

The Freeholder by Joe David Brown - historical fiction, the Goodreads description of this book is not even close to being accurate - it was portrayed as a love triangle but thankfully it's not at all like that, though there is a love story involved (a nice one). Set during the 1800s. 5 stars.

In This Mountain by Jan Karon - Christian fiction, 7th in a series about a pastor in a small town. 4 stars (I've never read any of the other books in the series but I didn't feel at all lost).

QOTW: I would say there are some genres I've been more exposed to because of the reading challenges, like scifi and comics, and I've been encouraged to go back to reading genres that I used to read more of like romance.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Lynn wrote: "I prefer novels with more character development and complexity of plot and character interactions than is typical in what I consider to be “run-of-the-mill” romance novels. ..."

I read a lot of romance, I have for years, but it's "chick lit" and "women's fiction" that I used to avoid, because I thought all of it always discussed fashion and brands and the exact types of lipstick and shoes everyone is wearing ... and some of it does do that! but not all of it.

Some other authors I've found who straddle the lines between romance & chick lit & women's literature, and have a lot of character development in their stories:
Lauren Willig"
I have yet to read one of her books. I own a couple of hers though...
"Beatriz Williams"
I've read two of hers and plan to read Cocoa Beach this year! Really liked those two!
"Jenny Colgan"
I started reading one of hers and wasn't terribly impressed, but I intend to give her a try again...
"Mhairi McFarlane"
That is a new one on me. I'll have to research... 😀

K.L. wrote: "One of the other tasks I decided to tackle this week was typing up a TBR checklist. I decided to focus only on books I have physical copies of, so I’m going to be ignoring my ebook backlog for the time being. However, I did include the books I’ve read since the beginning of the year so I could get an accurate TBR count for 2022 as a whole.

I knew the final number would be high, but I had no idea that as of January 1st, I had 962 unread books on my shelves!

Since it’s clear that my book buying has been out of control for way too long, I am now on a self-imposed book buying ban until I get at least 150 of my TBR titles read. ..."

Great goal! Good luck!

Happy Thursday! It's still snowing here, and there's ice under the snow so that's fun. I'm going to have to be very very careful when I bring the trash can down to the curb tonight. My driveway has a slope that I don't even notice in the summer, but in the winter it feels deadly hahah! (and yes I've gotten stuck in my driveway many a time ... back before I started paying someone to plow my driveway, and it would be full of snow when I got home from work - George takes care of me now, and he's worth every penny).


This week I finished 5 books, 4 for this Challenge, so I am now 8/50.

The Confession of Copeland Cane by Keenan Norris - I read this because it's on the Tournament of Books list, and I'm trying to read all the books on the short list this year (and I'm wondering if maybe that wasn't the best idea after all). I decided to check off the first "sister cities" with this book set in Oakland. It was memorable and powerful but not at all engaging. I ended up speed reading through much of it just to finish. (I'm on my third ToB book right now, and also not loving it, so I might end up deciding this whole ToB thing is not for me.)

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave - this was a book I really wanted to read last year, and my hold finally came in now. I checked off "about a secret." It was entertaining but the ending was just stupid.

Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey - another book I really wanted to read last year, and I finally got to it this month. It fills several categories, including about a secret & two languages, but I decided to check off "misleading title" with this one, because I'm really not sure how to interpret that category and I'm glad to just have it out of the way. This book was not about gods, or wives of gods, and it was not SFF (which the title could indicate) so I figured: good enough. I enjoyed this mystery and I look forward to reading more in the series. (Book 3 in this series will be my second "sister city" book, so for sure I'll be reading at least the first three books in this series this year.)

Bubble written by Jordan Morris- this is my book that I could read in one sitting, although I will confess that I did NOT finish it in one sitting. But I COULD have. It started off great! It's Buffy in a sci-fi world fighting alien creatures while quipping! But it didn't develop into anything more than that, and I was a little disappointed. This book is somehow "based on a podcast" (and I admit I'm unclear on how a graphic novel is based on a podcast) - I am not a podcast fan and this book did nothing to change my mind. (Speaking of podcasts though! I'm currently watching Only Murders in the Building on Hulu and it's great!!)

Chew, Vol. 8: Family Recipes written by John Layman - this was completely ridiculous and a lot of fun. I'm reading volume 9 right now! I aim to have all 12 volumes completed by the end of February. There is actually a recipe in this volume! But it's not specific, it's not doable (it involves aliens), it's not safe (it's hallucinogenic), and I already checked off that category anyway.





QotW

Not really "recently." Back in 2015 when I first started this challenge, I read Big Little Lies (for antonyms in the title) and Station Eleven (for number in the title) and I loved both of them, so I discovered that I do sometimes like what I considered "chick lit" and "literary fiction" and I started seeking out more of those.

In a later challenge, we had to read a Western, and I read The Sisters Brothers and enjoyed it (and I later read True Grit for some other challenge category that I can't remember now) so I discovered that sometimes I do like Westerns, but I haven't been seeking them out to read more.

I pretty much have always read an equal number of: mystery, romance, & SFF; some years one or the other genre will pull ahead, but that varies. In the last few years I've started to intentionally seek out more "literary fiction" but it's not really because the Challenge pointed me in that direction, it's just sort of a gradual progression of my reading habits as I age.

Happy Thursday! Gray and depressing day here. Good working weather.

Finished:
I only finished audiobooks this week. The two books I am reading are long, so those will take a while.
Lethal White for character that uses a mobility aid
The Unhoneymooners for BookTok recommendation
I enjoyed both.

Currently reading:
Stalingrad
The Life of Charlotte Brontë
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal on audio. Mental note: do not listen while eating.

QOTW:
I didn't avoid them before, but I read a lot more narrative non-fiction and true crime since I started doing challenges. I particularly enjoy them as audiobooks. The more bizarre, the better. Some of my recent favorites:

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
The Feather Thief
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts
The Library Book

And memoirs. Recent favorites:
Know My Name
Crying in H Mart

And classics. I've been reading way more classics. Purposely joined a classics group on Goodreads for just that purpose.

Aaahhhh... vacation! And by vacation I mean finally using the last of the time off I had before the fiscal year resets but not leaving my room except to go upstairs to get my grocery delivery. Since my boss tested positive and then was allowed to come back FIVE DAYS later, I am now paranoid that every time I feel the teeniest bit off that I am going to die, which is of course frequent. Oh how I hate having a job that is impossible to do from home.

On the other hand, I've been reading ALL THE BOOKS! Plenty are picture books so I can add to my spreadsheet, and I also just really like picture books. Hold on kids, it's quite a list

12/50

Finished:
Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century - Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner - This is good but has parts that made me angry/sad, as expected.

The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 6 - Cute and fun

Miss Eliza's English Kitchen: A Novel of Victorian Cookery and Friendship - I'm using this as my book with a recipe. I don't think it includes one you could make, at least not on audio, but it is about real ladies who wrote a real cookbook. The chapters titles are all dishes and they spend half the book talking about recipes.

The Fortune Men - Another novelization of a real event. Why people don't just write non-fiction instead I haven't a clue. Lots of languages and on audio, accents. High five to narrator Hugh Quarshie on this one. It must have been challenging.

Picture Books!
Lubaya's Quiet Roar - This was fine
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation - Took place very near where I grew up and affected my school districts, but we never learned about this.
Snow Birds - Very lovely and calm. Quite nice with a cup of tea on a wintry day. So relaxing.
Teacup - Beautiful visuals, reflected image on cover
Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth - Love! I was completely charmed by this one!
What We'll Build: Plans for Our Together Future - Meh
Once Upon an Alphabet: Short Stories for all the Letters - Quite amusing.

Gender Swapped Fairy Tales - This is currently my non-patriarchal book. I didn't get to see the illustrations, but it was made up for by narration from Adjoa Andoh and Roger Allam

More Picture Books!
Dragons Love Tacos 2: The Sequel - OK
I Am Enough - Good cover, weird inside.
My Rainy Day Rocket Ship - Nice
Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball - Very good book about basketball and civil rights

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy - Middle grade fantasy feminism. To me the message was so obvious, every time a girl would be confused about something I'd be all, it's the patriarchy. By the end I was literally talking to the audiobook, IT'S THE F*CKING PATRIARCHY hahaha. I would absolutely give this book to middle grade readers of any gender. I love that it tells you to ask yourself, "who does the story serve." I'd kinda love to read and discuss this with a classroom or something.

Burn - A book I own! woohoo! I didn't expect it but this crossed-off my parallel world prompt.

The Lost Spells - So pretty and I own this one too. Crossing off those physical TBR books!

More Oliver Jeffers before bed
How to Catch a Star
The Fate of Fausto
Here We Are: Book of Animals

Once Upon a Midnight Eerie - Book 2 in the cute little series about twins Edgar and Allan Poe


Currently Reading:
The Pet and the Pendulum
Discovering Architecture: How the World's Great Buildings Were Designed and Built
Bibliophile: Diverse Spines


QOTW:
Not really. I have been more generous with trying romances since I read so much more now, but I am far from being "into" them. I still assume the best I can hope for is that it won't annoy me very much and maybe there will be some cute bits.

How could I forget graphic novels? Had never opened one in my life until I started doing reading challenges. My first one was The Complete Maus. I think that's a good one to start with, especially for me being Jewish. I will say the actual reading of them took some getting used to. It's still not easy for my older eyes.

Good morning! We got probably 13-14" of snow overnight on Sunday, so hubby and I spent all day Monday digging out; our riding mower plow couldn't handle that much snow. I've resolved to invest in a snow blower in the near future, mainly because I woke up on Tuesday and took several tries to get out of bed. Oof. Then the sinus junk kicked it into high gear, so I've been sore and sniffly all week and going to bed EARLY, which means minimal reading.

Finished:
The Book of the Dead - 3.5 stars, and this ends the Diogenes trilogy. Taking a break for we'll-see-how-long. Book one of the Twin towns prompt (NYC).

PS 3/50

Also hoping to finish Catwoman, Volume 1: Trail of the Catwoman today; should've finished yesterday but I had no energy, even for a comic book.

Currently reading:
Women, Race & Class Different book by an author you read last year
King Leopold's Ghost - This one is rough going, as I knew it would be. A social horror book
The Silmarillion has stalled since I picked up Catwoman, but these stories are fantastic.

Upcoming:
Dawn
Catwoman, Volume 2: No Easy Way Down
Oh, and I've put library holds on a bunch of anticipated new releases! I was behind the jump on my new Kate Quinn The Diamond Eye more than normal so I probably won't get it til May or June (it releases end of March). Regardless, new surprises to look forward to! because I always forget about them until they come in :D

QOTW: (from Lauren) Is there a genre that you've always avoided but have recently started getting into because of this (or another) reading challenge?
Ehhh I tend to read pretty broadly anyway, but I'm definitely picky about romance/contemporary. I'm still looking forward to finishing the Brown sisters trilogy!

Good Morning Everyone!

Nothing super exciting happening here. It's been a pretty quiet/normal week. Work, eat, exercise, sleep, repeat. I cant seem to stick to an exercise routine unless I'm enjoying it so I follow "The Fitness Marshall" on Youtube and it is so much fun! Also been trying to get into Yoga because I think it would be good for me in a lot of ways so I'm doing this 30 day challenge on Youtube as well with "Yoga with Adriene".

Anyways, back to books. Still haven't started the 2022 challenge but I'm on my last book from the 2021 challenge and then I'll get to it.

Goodreads: 2/70
2021 Popsugar: 49/50
2022 Popsugar: 0/50

Finished: The Cuckoo's Calling 4 stars. I really enjoyed this. Which was quite refreshing especially after reading The Tiger's Wife last week which I really really disliked.

Currently Reading: The Lady of the Rivers Only about 50 pages in but I love it so far. It's my first Philippa Gregory book but I've always loved Historical Fiction so I'm sure it'll be great.

QOTW: I tend to avoid mystery/thrillers because they're usually slow and cumbersome and I just cant get into them. Every now and then I find one that's not so bad due to this challenge but nothing that's really made me change my mind.

I also don't usually like non-fiction, westerns, or memoirs. I read to escape the real world so non-fiction just doesn't appeal to me. Grandpa made me watch a lot of Western movies growing up and I didn't like those so I expect books wouldn't be much better. Memoirs seem to almost always be written by some actor/actress/politician/famous person and I really couldn't care less about their lives.

Milena wrote: "How could I forget graphic novels? ... I will say the actual reading of them took some getting used to. It's still not easy for my older eyes."

I started reading them as ebooks on my laptop so I can zoom in if the print is too small.

Tania wrote: "Great goal! Good luck!"

Thanks!

Milena wrote: "How could I forget graphic novels? Had never opened one in my life until I started doing reading challenges. My first one was The Complete Maus. I think that's a good one to start with..."



That is definitely a good one to start with!!!


Now that I'm getting older I'm starting to complain about graphic novels with tiny frames on the page. I still slightly prefer paper to e-books when it comes to graphic novels, but ... when reading an e-book, you can zoom in on the page! voila, I can see it!!

Dual POVs

Rebel by Maris Lu. YA dystopia. Book 4 in the Legend series. Could have gotten rid of Day's POV and just made the book about his brother and made Day a secondary character but still a nice end to the series (or at least it should be the end)

no prompts

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz. Thriller. Decent read. Figured it out quickly though but I still enjoyed the ride up until the end which is why I only gave it 3 starts.

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins. Thriller. Liked it more than The Wife Upstairs. But this one was another one that kind of fell apart at the end.

You Have a Match by Emma Lord. YA contemporary. Girl does a DNA test and finds out she has a sister. I did not like this book. I loved Tweet Cute, I recommend it to my students, I'm not even wasting space on my shelf in my classroom on this. The main character is annoying and does things without reason really and I hate the miscommunication trope and everything in this book could be solved in 20 pages if the characters just have a conversation.



I read basically everything except westerns and high fantasy and while I've read some for the challenge, I don't really seek them out.

poshpenny wrote: "I started reading them as ebooks on my laptop so I can zoom in if the print is too small. ..."


hahah that's what i just said! jinx :-)

Kelsey wrote: "... I tend to avoid mystery/thrillers because they're usually slow and cumbersome and I just cant get into them. ..."


that's funny, because I feel the opposite. Sometimes I can enjoy historical fiction, but usually I find it slow and cumbersome. Mysteries and thrillers move at a quick (thrilling!) pace for me!

And, to bring this back to our week's discussion of genres ...

I really like to know where I'm going when I read a book, I guess. Mysteries, romances, and most SFF usually have a defined goal, so I don't' mind a few tangents since I know where we are headed.

For some reason, literary fiction sometimes likes to hide the goal. My big complaint about a book I just finished last week - The Confession of Copeland Cane - was that I never knew where it was going, it gave me no hint of it's end goal. I have the same complaint about a book I'm reading right now (Our Country Friends).

Hi everyone! I'm ashamed (but not really) to admit that I didn't do much reading this week. Work took out a number of our employees, so I've just been tired. I also started playing a video game again so it took some time away. I might do some manga reading (I don't read manga for my reading challenges though for various reasons. Not that I couldn't, it's just a personal restriction).

But I did find my book for a Book I Know Nothing About. The Library at the Edge of the World. I was looking up the sequel for someone and was like this looks good. But before then, I had never heard about it, so it seems perfect for me. I'm hoping that I can get through a few of my other picks before they head back to the library.

Is there a genre that you've always avoided but have recently started getting into because of this (or another) reading challenge?

So I will admit I am kind of stuck in my ways. I've tried numermous genres in the past and few have stuck with me. Even my first 7 books this year were all genres I have read before (Fantasy, Nonfiction, Contemporary) so I haven't branched out yet. But I do still have the romance waiting for me, so we'll see if I change my tune on that.

I would like to branch out and try a mystery again. The last one I tried, Two can keep a secret: Von der Spiegel Bestseller-Autorin von "One of us is lying", along with The Glass Room, was really not up my alley. I might pick up one of the paperback ones at my library because those are short and easy to read. But overall, I have a comfort zone and after these past few years, I really like my comfort zone.

Happy Thursday! I woke up to snow; it's a good morning!

Currently Reading

The Eye of the World for "book set in your favourite season [winter]". I'm ALMOST DONE. I should hopefully finish today! I need to get a move on, because I promised my Starbucks barista I'd read Rhythm of War with him, and he's ready to start it!

QotW

I'm usually open to reading most any genre, but this challenge has helped me become more aware of diverse books and alternative genres that I otherwise wouldn't have known about. It gives me the excuse to broaden my knowledge about a number of topics. I suppose I do read more YA thanks to this challenge, which isn't my favourite, but I've found a few gems regardless!

I completely forgot to check in last week, so I'm checking in now before I forget for a second week in a row 🤪 I finished two books since my last check in (one worked for a prompt), so I'm at 1/40 and 1/10 for this challenge and have read 5/75 for my overall Goodreads Reading Challenge.

Finished:
* They Can't Take Your Name by Robert Justice and narrated by JD Jackson, which I used for "a book about a secret." I really enjoyed this debut novel and was surprised by some of the twists. The author posted the "Author's Note" on his webpage since it wasn't included in the audiobook adaptation. I highly recommend seeking it out if you choose the audiobook option, which was terrific and I'd definitely recommend. Can't wait to read the author's next novel when it comes out; the narrator is officially on my "must listen" list now; and,
* The Sentence by Louise Erdrich, which is one of my book clubs' picks for January. I didn't think it fully fit any of the prompts, so I didn't use it for one. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the discussion on Saturday.

Currently Reading:
* The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, which is for the 2021 PS Reading Challenge (last advanced prompt);
* On Beauty by Zadie Smith, which is for the last regular prompt for the 2021 PS Reading Challenge; and,
* Something to Hide by Elizabeth George, which was a Giveaways win for me this week! Woo-hoo!! I'll likely use it for the "published in 2022" prompt.

Question of the Week:
(from Lauren) Is there a genre that you've always avoided but have recently started getting into because of this (or another) reading challenge? I'd say romance was that genre for me and I'd credit the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge for giving me an opportunity to give it a try. I was kind of dreading that prompt because of my preconceived notions of what a romance novel was and the book I chose ended up being one of my favorite reads for that year. While romance isn't necessarily in heavy rotation for me, I've found that I'm now making an effort to get more romance novels into my reading rotation and have really enjoyed many of the titles I've read. Sometimes it's nice to read something that you know is going to have a happy ending, especially since March 2020.

Haven't done much reading this week, alas - just got back to school, and am generally very tired. Have not finished any books for this challenge since the last check-in, though I did manage two other ones.

Currently reading:
The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family -An Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner
The Lost Lights of St Kilda - A book that features two languages

Is there a genre that you've always avoided but have recently started getting into because of this (or another) reading challenge?
I don't like sci-fi much, but reading challenges have nudged me toward them enough that I discovered Becky Chambers, whose books I love! I do read pretty broadly so I don't think there's any new genres I've unearthed, but there are certainly new writers.

Argh! My first Book of the Month box got lost before the postal service even got it into the system, and now the replacement box is marked as delivered, and I still don't have it! I'm so irritated.

Challenge Progress: 7/50

Completed:

The Promise: The 2021 Booker Prize winner set in South Africa had a good story and great characterizations, but I felt let down by the style and pacing. I guess it's supposed to be groundbreaking or innovative to do away with quotation marks and to rapidly shift POV between characters, but it's just not for me. ★★★

The Jane Austen Project: Jane Austen + time travel? Sorry, but this interesting concept ended up falling flat. ★★★

Flipping the Circle: I had no trouble believing that state legislators could be so sleazy, but I had a hard time rooting for the protagonist Will O'Courtney... full-time lobbyist-for-hire and frat-y bro. The story also got a bit bogged down by the details of how the Indiana legislature works. (Goodreads Giveaway) ★★★

Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could: Riveting account of the impeachment(s) of Donald Trump. Schiff did a great job telling the story without too much self-aggrandizement. ★★★★★

Trick Mirror: Uneven collection of feminist essays. Sometimes I was reading along and nodding my head, and then... what??? Tolentino's off on another tangent, and I forgot what the point was. (PS41: A book with a reflected image on the cover or mirror in the title) ★★★



Eli, Seth, and I read four books this week: Leyla, Big Rig, Pete the Cat and the Perfect Pizza Party, and Little Elliot, Big City. (Eli loves Pete the Cat!)



Currently Reading:
The Collective
Femlandia
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
The Reckoning: Our Nation's Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal
The Duke's Detour
The Echo Wife
The Secret History of Wonder Woman

QOTW: I've always read widely, but I've appreciated the challenges that make me stretch even further. I've been trying to use more nonfiction to fulfill prompts, but I still avoid WWII historical fiction (it seems so overdone) and high fantasy.

I had my first 5-star read of the year!

Finished:

Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual History by Kristin Baver (and Pablo Hidalgo, Ryder Wyndham, and Daniel Wallace) (5/5!)

This is a great overview of all corners of Star Wars history, storytelling, and merchandise. Beyond just the Star Wars material, you also get some items of note in space exploration, world events, technology, and other media, things that inspired and were inspired by pieces of Star Wars. I've been deep into the Star Wars bubble since 1995, and I still learned some cool facts as I read through the book.

Fate of the Jedi: Omen by Christie Golden (reread, 3/5)

Not much of interest happens here. There are some nice character moments, and the Sith group's story works well.

The Machine Crusade by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson (reread, 3/5)

My feelings for this are very similar to The Butlerian Jihad. The setting, characters, and story are all good, but some of the violent moments are a bit over-the-top and gross.

Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (3/5)

This is technically a DNF, but I read 19/29 chapters (about 350 pages) and a couple of summaries of the rest, so I am still calling it complete. The first book is amazing, but this sequel had trouble hooking me despite the wondrous fantasy elements.

Question of the Week:

I have read more YA and middle grade books in the past few years since starting the challenges. At some point, my own kids will be into these areas, so I guess I'm getting a little head start on that.

Happy Thursday, y’all.

Not much to report this week, except finally catching up on my writing. Whoo.

Books read this week:

Winter Tide -- for “a book with a quote from your favorite author on the cover or Amazon page.” A slow burn but fascinating, though how much you like it will depend on your opinion of the author choosing to humanize, to some degree, the monsters and creatures of Lovecraftian mythology.

Ninefox Gambit -- for “an Own Voices sci-fi/fantasy book.” Man, I loved Dragon Pearl by this author, but this book was a CHORE to slog through. I would have DNFed it if I hadn’t paid for it (two bucks in a Kindle sale, but still…). I imagine reading this book is what reading sci-fi feels like to people who don’t like sci-fi, haha…

Surviving Minidoka: The Legacy of WWII Japanese American Incarceration -- not for the challenge. I picked this up because “Winter Tide” involved an internment camp, and I wanted to learn more about the camp that’s closest to me (within a day’s drive of where I live even!). It’s rather heartbreaking learning what was done to Japanese-Americans during WWII… but also fascinating to read how they survived, coped, and found some kind of restitution.

Cells at Work!, Vol. 1 -- manga, not for the challenge. A rather cute manga that depicts the human body as a city and the various cells within it as workers in that city. Kind of like Osmosis Jones but less body humor and without Bill Murray and Chris Tucker being obnoxious, haha…

Regular Challenge -- 8/46
Advanced Challenge -- 0/10
Not for the challenge -- 5

Currently Reading:

Carmen Miranda's Ghost is Haunting Space Station Three -- for “a book about the afterlife”
Children of Ruin -- for “a different book by an author you read in 2021”
Fire in the Grove: The Cocoanut Grove Tragedy and Its Aftermath -- for “a book about a manmade disaster”
Coraline -- for the advanced prompt “a book featuring a parallel reality”

QOTW:

I'm getting better about reading romance after starting this challenge... still not my favorite genre.

Nadine in NY wrote: "I really like to know where I'm going when I read a book, I guess. Mysteries, romances, and most SFF usually have a defined goal, so I don't' mind a few tangents since I know where we are headed.

For some reason, literary fiction sometimes likes to hide the goal."

Oh god, don't ever attempt to read The Starless Sea! Ever! 😄

I sometimes love not knowing where we are going in a story, probably because I normally do and it's less interesting. I am usually pretty into it when I'm wondering what the heck is going on! Ooo I wonder where this is going, I can't wait to find out.

I read quite a bit this week (re: avoiding the start up of the semester)

For A book set in the 1980s I read The Ghostway by Tony Hillerman which was contemporary-set when it was written in the mid 80s. Not a lot of grodies to the max or bodaciouses here but it was nice seeing a cop solving crimes in the pre-internet/pre- DNA days

For A book you can read in one sitting I read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson. This was one I thought I read in high school but hadn't.

I read Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix for a different book by an author you read in 2021. I'm enjoying this series though this one did have a pretty rough fatphobic chapter

Finally I read Bob by Wendy Mass & Rebecca Stead for a book with a palindromic title. It's a sweet folklore based Australia middle grade book (could also have been used for book you can read in a day or dual pov).

QOTW Honestly not so much. I already read multiple genres and I read diversely. So the genres I don't read there is usually a reason (generally they just bore me) so I do find myself almost resenting prompts that force me into them, like the ubiquitous contemporary fiction award ones. I do this challenge less to broaden my already broad reading interests and more to give myself focus to clear books off my shelves.

Kenya wrote: "Ninefox Gambit -- for “an Own Voices sci-fi/fantasy book.” Man, I loved Dragon Pearl by this author, but this book was a CHORE to slog through. I would have DNFed it if I hadn’t paid for it (two bucks in a Kindle sale, but still…). I imagine reading this book is what reading sci-fi feels like to people who don’t like sci-fi, haha… ..."



I did DNF that one. I got a few chapters in, and I was all "WTF IS GOING ON" - wayyyyy too much work for me. I've never read another book by this author because this one did me so wrong.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Milena wrote: "How could I forget graphic novels? Had never opened one in my life until I started doing reading challenges. My first one was The Complete Maus. I think that's a good on..."

Thank you and Poshpenny both for the ideas. I literally get out a magnifying glass sometimes for the printed graphic novels. But I also like having them in print, you can really appreciate the art.

poshpenny wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "For some reason, literary fiction sometimes likes to hide the goal."

Oh god, don't ever attempt to read The Starless Sea! Ever! 😄..."



LOL no danger of that!!! I DNFed Night Circus and crossed that author off my list forever. That type of writing is clearly not my thing.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Kelsey wrote: "... I tend to avoid mystery/thrillers because they're usually slow and cumbersome and I just cant get into them. ..."


that's funny, because I feel the opposite. Sometimes I can enj..."

I liked Our Country Friends, but then the central family are Russian Jews, so I can really relate. Are you going to use it for the Jewish character/author category?

Milena wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Milena wrote: "How could I forget graphic novels? Had never opened one in my life until I started doing reading challenges. My first one was The Complete Maus. I t..."

As a lifelong collector of graphic novels/comics I can say I do not care for them online. they never image right and then by the time I blow up the writing enough to see it the art is gone. I do what you do, put a magnifier on the physical graphic novel

Happy Thursday! The rain is letting up and we are in for a week of cloudy-sun in the PNW - hooray!

Finished:
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (A book featuring a party). I gave this one 3.5 stars but rounded to 4. The first 200 pages were just setting up the various characters and their backgrounds which dragged on longer than it needed to. I finished the last 100+ pages pretty fast and the ending kept me entertained.

Continuing:

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker (A favorite prompt from past PS challenge - a book with a subtitle). This book is so fascinating and I love the mix of family and research. Very well written so far. I am about half way through.

Started:

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (A book by a Latinx author). I grabbed this one because I am hoping to finish before February when I start Get a Life, Chloe Brown for the monthly read!

QOTW:

I am still not a huge fan of SFF - I read the appropriate books when prompted but tend to keep toward the YA side of SFF. I love mystery/thrillers but those can get old really fast so I need to break those up with other genres. I love audiobooks for nonfiction because it feels like I am back in college during lectures, which was were my favorite classes.
I devoured Romance, mainly Nicholas Sparks in high school so I backed off the romance genre, but thanks to authors like Casey McQuiston I am finding a new appreciation for them.

I'm also a fan of print, but I tried three different magnification devices and still couldn't read all of the type in the March books, for example. Digital has simply become the only way I can read some graphic novels. I do zoom in and out for the art/layout and the type. It's not ideal but I'm glad it's an option, or I wouldn't be able to read them at all.

poshpenny wrote: "I'm also a fan of print, but I tried three different magnification devices and still couldn't read all of the type in the March books, for example. Digital has simply become the only way I can read..."

March is one of the ones I had to pull out a magnifying glass for, and it was still hard to see. Maybe because it was black and white, so the text had less contrast?

Milena wrote: "... I liked Our Country Friends, but then the central family are Russian Jews, so I can really relate. Are you going to use it for the Jewish character/author category? ..."



Oh I hadn't thought of that! I've been sort of lackadaisical about filling out the AtY categories, so I forget to check them. If I do finish it, I could use it for that! BUT I also just started Weather Girl, and that also works for Jewish author & character, so if I DNF Country Friends (and there's a decent chance of this) then I still fill that category with my other current book.

Kelsey wrote: "Good Morning Everyone!

Nothing super exciting happening here. It's been a pretty quiet/normal week. Work, eat, exercise, sleep, repeat. I cant seem to stick to an exercise routine unless I'm enjoy..."

I'm doing that yoga challenge too! I love YWA--she's so down to earth and welcoming.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Milena wrote: "... I liked Our Country Friends, but then the central family are Russian Jews, so I can really relate. Are you going to use it for the Jewish character/author category? ..."



Oh I ..."

It can also work for 2 languages. They sneak some Russian in there. Maybe that will keep you going.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Milena wrote: "... I liked Our Country Friends, but then the central family are Russian Jews, so I can really relate. Are you going to use it for the Jewish character/author category? ..."



Oh I ..."

Oops, always getting Popsugar and AtY categories confused.

Milena wrote: "March is one of the ones I had to pull out a magnifying glass for, and it was still hard to see. Maybe because it was black and white, so the text had less contrast?"

I think the print is just small. It's fairly wordy so the text is just too tiny for my aging eyes.

Happy Thursday!

Since the last check-in, I've finished:
Into the Dying Light - currently I have this as my prompt from a past challenge, since it's a free book I got from the library. The ending of the series was pretty good. I was invested in some of the characters more than others, though.

People We Meet on Vacation- BookTok prompt. I liked this one a lot. I really like the outgoing woman/quiet man dynamic to begin with. The only thing I didn't like was the revelation of the 'big thing' that drove them apart prior to the start of the book felt anticlimactic after all that build up.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built - book with a quote from a favorite author (Martha Wells) on the cover. I loved this gentle, hopeful story about a monk and a robot.

I also read a bunch of manga from the library:
Sweat and Soap, Vol. 9
Sweat and Soap, Vol. 10
Sweat and Soap, Vol. 11
Boys Run the Riot, Vol. 3
Komi Can't Communicate, Vol. 15
Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 33

Currently reading:
Iron Widow - right now I've got this in for the protagonist that uses a mobility aid prompt. It could also work for the #OwnVoices SFF prompt. I'm really enjoying this so far. It's a fast-paced story set in a culture like ancient China, but with modern technology and giant anime-style robots.

Daisy Jones & The Six - book becoming a TV series or movie in 2022. Obviously, this would also work for the book about a band prompt. I am listening to this on audiobook, and wow, the full cast is a great method of telling this story. I'm not too far in, but enjoying it a lot so far.

QOTW: I used to avoid nonfiction completely, mostly because I was convinced it would all be dry like a school textbook. I've been reading a little more recently due to challenges and found some ones I enjoyed. For me, it really needs to have an engaging authorial voice for me to get into it.

I'm reading too many books. Ideally, I like to read 2 at a time and alternate. Three is possible. Four is a lot for me to juggle because I basically feel like I'm not progressing on any of them because my reading time is spread too thin.

ATY - 1/52
PS- 1/35
Series - 0/13
Clearing my TBR list: 1/40

Currently reading:

Eragon - about 2/3 done

Insurgent - about 2/3 done

City of Fallen Angels - about 95% done

A Slow Fire Burning - I had read about 60% before. I've actually got about 2 chapters past where I was. And I still have 2 weeks to finish the book.

QOTW:
Probably not. The value to me of prompts is discovering new authors, rather than genres. I think I read widely across genres, although tend to avoid books that are purely romance or purely Sci-fi. I have given them both a chance in the past, but they need another hybrid genre to hook me.

It's winter in Texas (for now)! I'm happy about it--I actually really like when it's cold outside. Now cold and windy? That's less to my taste.

We're not allowed to ask people about their covid status on campus, but LOTS of people have been out. This is also the second time that someone's spouse has tested positive but because the coworker hasn't received results yet, they still have to come to campus. I've reached frustration saturation, so now I'm just waiting around to get sick since they're refusing to let us even try to avoid it.

Finished:
E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core! by William Joyce: Could be "found family" or "book read in one sitting." Still loving these!

I'm hoping to read the next one or two this weekend!

QOTW:
Not really. It has confirmed that I don't care much for sci fi. I like to think I've always been a pretty open-minded reader (although I reserve the right to skip any horror prompts--I'm willing to test my limits in some ways, but I'm also willing to protect myself from unnecessary stress).

11/50
Finished:
The World Between Blinks So good! used for parallel reality. Highly recommend it.

Started:
Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics, 1954-1981, With Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines, and Anecdotes Sondheim's wisdom and some of his musicals

Finding Your Way in a Wild New World: Reclaim Your True Nature to Create the Life You Want *might* use for book I knew nothing about. It was in the "Learnuary" display at the library, and when I got it, I knew nothing about it except for the title. I'll have to see how picky I want to be about this prompt. Ironically, if I say any more about it, then no one can use it for the same prompt!

A Kind of Spark neurodiverse character (not that that's a prompt this year!)

Qotw:
Romance. I can't remember now why I picked up this book, because memory. But I read Love Lettering and really enjoyed it even though I usually steer clear of romance. I put some other romance on my tbr shelf, but have yet to actually read anymore. But I'm open to the possibility.

Our main library has closed back down to curbside pickups due to staffing shortage, which I'm glad about, because at least they're being responsive to the current situation!

Katy wrote: "I read George Washington's Final Battle: The Epic Struggle to Build a Capital City and a Nation as my favorite from a past list: a book you pick off the shelf w/o looking. I had to go pick up a book at the library and I'm afraid they're going to go to curbside only and knowing this was a category I wanted to do I just went to the new acquisitions. And this is the book you get when you do that. The beginning was more interesting than I thought it would be, but I lost interest by halfway. I finished the book, but I have a feeling it's a good thing I don't have to take a test on it because I don't think I really absorbed most of it."
Sounds like finishing this a bit of a slog... Congrats!

"I just started The Witches of Eastwick as my book about witches or with witches or whatver. I have a feeling I'm not going to really like this one either but I'm only 20 pages in, so I should give it more of a chance before I decide one way or the other."
Sure hope this one improves for you!

"QOTW: Not really. There have been books that I have liked more than I thought I would because the genre just didn't seem like anything I would like. But, I haven't gone forward and sought more out.
For instance I read REady Player One for a LitRPG book. I didn't even know wht the catgory meant, was kind of dreading it and loved the book. But, I haven't read any more. Although I may eventually read Ready Player Two."
I really enjoyed the sequel as well. It was different from Ready Player One, but I didn't expect a repeat for the sequel! LOL 😊

I’m in the middle of testing week and this afternoon form after form crashed when I changed a tiny-tiny thing. So I considered it a good time to start the weekend and notify our supplier to fix it by Monday (sorry guys!). And another horrific notification: our cleaning lady decided to quit cleaning. Cleaning ladies are a rare species, so I guess we have to clean our house ourselves for the next couple of months. Despite all horror, I’m looking forward to the weekend: going to my beauticien, my hairdresser and going to do some shopping because shops are open again over here, whoohoo!

1/40
Finished
House of Gold by Natasha Solomons ⭐⭐⭐. Not for PS.
The story is based on the Rothschild family. An interesting idea and you learn a lot about European geopolitical relations just before the First World War. The book is at times very slow and boring. The characters don’t develop until the second half of the book. It ends heavily over the top. Nice read, interesting era, concept not quite successful.
Oh, and super annoying mistake: in the book the Jura seems to be the border mountains between Austria and Switzerland instead of between Switzerland and France. Aaargh!!

QOTW
I noticed I’m no longer afraid of trying other genres than my beloved ones. Does that count too??

Harmke wrote: "I’m in the middle of testing week and this afternoon form after form crashed when I changed a tiny-tiny thing. So I considered it a good time to start the weekend and notify our supplier to fix it ..."

I feel your pain, Harmke. I hate cleaning so much. I love our cleaner, and I hope she never quits.

K.L. wrote: "Good morning, everyone!

It has been a pretty busy week so far! I’ve been focusing a lot of attention on cleaning out the junk that has accumulated in my home over the years. I’m planning to move either later this year or early next year, and I’d really like to have my pre-move garage sale sometime this summer. I’m currently in the beginning stages of my clean out, but I feel like I made some decent progress this week."
That's great! You sound very organized! 👍

"One of the other tasks I decided to tackle this week was typing up a TBR checklist. I decided to focus only on books I have physical copies of, so I’m going to be ignoring my ebook backlog for the time being. However, I did include the books I’ve read since the beginning of the year so I could get an accurate TBR count for 2022 as a whole.

I knew the final number would be high, but I had no idea that as of January 1st, I had 962 unread books on my shelves!"
Wow. That is a lot! Sounds as if you have a good plan for dealing with it though!

"Since it’s clear that my book buying has been out of control for way too long, I am now on a self-imposed book buying ban until I get at least 150 of my TBR titles read."
Uh. I wouldn't know anything about out-of-control-book-buying... No. Nothing... Okay. I may be lying... 😊 I applaud your strategy. I refuse to emulate it, but I applaud your efforts! LOL

"Goodreads: 32/200
TBR checklist: 20/962"
Wow. You're even listing it here. Good for you. I am impressed!

"Finished Reading:
~The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels"
Okay, that title alone intrigues me! LOL

"~Never Sleep with Strangers"
Ha! Ha! Not a problem for me since I'm old! LOL

"~Small Spaces"
I'm kinda torn on this one. I loved The Bear and the Nightingale but I 'fear' it might be too scary for my wussy self!

"DNFed:
~The Love Hypothesis — I stopped reading this one partway through the prologue. I just couldn’t get into it."
At least you but your losses and didn't waste more time!

"QOTW:
The only genre I really don’t read is westerns, and participating in reading challenges really hasn’t changed that."
Cool!