Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

I somehow totally spaced that this is Thursday this morning!

Today is my husband's birthday! He's made it through yet another year!!

Range delivered, installed, and working well! I had overlooked the fact that our stovetop had only 3 burners working, so now I have 4 burners again! Plus it’s much nicer looking! Black and stainless steel. Anything but white…which the old one was. (I didn’t buy it, my husband purchased when he first moved here over 25 years ago, so he lacked my “valuable input” at that time! LOL)

Tuesday proved to be very enjoyable overall! My book club met and we had a great discussion! Then I attended the author event in Indianapolis that evening. This event was scheduled into a different venue than has typically been used in the past 4-5 years. It is located in the heart of the Butler University campus, directly beside their largest venue, Clowes Memorial Hall. Unfortunately, I neglected to check the Clowes schedule and ended up creepy-crawling through bumper-to-bumper traffic for over 30 MINUTES to cover the last 5 blocks prior to entering the parking garage!! It was opening night for Les Miz at Clowes! A big event! Fortunately, I had allowed 35-40 minutes extra time due to the change of venue, but even so I barely had time to be seated by the start of the event. I was joking about this to one of the parking attendants directing traffic and she stopped cars still incoming to the parking garage and personally walked me across the street to the venue! She was laughing so hard about the fact that I was there to attend an author event and not the big performance of Les Miz! :) If I’d had time to spare I would have stayed and watched/listened to her for a while. She was talking to each car/driver as she directed them, although I doubt any of us heard her at the time since it was 35 degrees so all windows were basically rolled up! “No, no! Over here, Baby! Yes, that’s right! Over here!” “Oh, honey, this way, this way, please! Yes, that’s right! Good!” "Oh, Baby! Yes! You go there! Mmmmmhmmmm! Go right on ahead!” It was so much fun! She was so much fun! I want her for a friend! ;) Her light was never still! She was always moving it to stop people or redirect them or simply encourage them to “GO! Go now, Baby! Yes! Uh-huh! That’s it!”

At least I felt as if all that effort paid off as I really enjoyed Irving's presentation and our discussion about her books. I have found that in the aftermath of the pandemic, I am also typically the first person to ask a question now. Don't know why. I guess I am simply tired of no one being the first to start a discussion! :)

ADMIN STUFF
The March Monthly Group Read is The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh! You can find both February discussions in the Current Monthly Group Read folder HERE! This book can be used to fulfill prompt #7 A book with “Girl” in the title in honor of Women’s History Month in Australia, UK, and the U.S. Although no one person volunteered to lead the discussion this month, LeahS has posted some questions and I have a few resources and questions to post. I encourage anyone currently reading this or who has read it to stop by and post any comments/questions you may have. Or even if you just want to know more about the book. It is there for your pleasure and enjoyment! I found this book to be enjoyable overall, but not as compelling as other mythical retellings I've read. I think I just wasn't in the mood. The last 100 pages or so definitely picked up for me, so that was a good thing!

Speaking of which... We are currently searching for two monthly group read discussion leaders:
2) A “reading wrangler” to facilitate April’s Monthly Group Read discussion of Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes #1) by Travis Baldree! This book can be used to fulfill prompt #27 A #BookTok recommendation. In honor of April Fools! You might have thought this was still the 2022 Popsugar Challenge, but it is actually a prompt repeated from 2022 for the 2023 Challenge!! I honestly can’t wait to reread this!!
3) A "literary luminar" to lead the discussion of the May Monthly Group Read! Hmmmm...would this happen to be YOU?!? ;) Bunny by Mona Awad that can be used to fulfill prompt #24 A book with a rabbit on the cover, in honor of springtime in the Northern Hemisphere when rabbits are aplenty!
Please message either Nadine or myself to volunteer! :)

Just a reminder that the comprehensive listing of 2023 Monthly Group Reads can be found HERE

Question of the Week
Let’s talk about editing! Do you find misspellings and/or misuse of standard English grammar distracting when you read? Or do such things not bother you?

I am so very distracted by these things! Quint was an example where I had to stop and reread and make sure I read the words as printed...and then figure out what was wrong about the passage, then continue. Misspellings aren't quite as distracting to me, but grammar errors are killers for me!

One of the worst books I've ever read for this would be Purrfect Murder. It was so bad that on one page a character's vehicle would be described as a delapidated pickup truck and on the next it was a car, etc. What I would consider very obvious errors any editor should have caught...

I once had an author contact me to read and review his book and it was so bad that I refused to review it at all until he had a professional editor help him with it. While I admire people for their ambition and efforts to write, I feel as if editing a manuscript is almost as important as the creation of it.

Popsugar: 35/50
Nadine’s Q1 Mini-Challenge: 7/10
AtY: 46/52
RHC: 11/24

FINISHED:
*Quint by Dionne Irving ✶✶✶✶✶ was an intriguing and compelling read. It was interesting to hear Irving’s comments about this book. I hadn’t realized this was the first known “natural”/vaginal birth of quintuplets in the WORLD at the time AND since this was during the depression, this ‘theme park’ proved to be a major moneymaker thereby almost single-handedly salvaging the Canadian economy at the time. Wow. I will admit that I didn’t broach the subject of needed editing on this book to Irving when I spoke with her. I just couldn’t imagine a diplomatic, respectful way to speak of it since I don’t know what might have been involved in the decision to use this publisher, or who was available to edit, etc. But I will forewarn you to be prepared for some misspellings but even more than that, misuse of English grammar. It was a bit distracting for me, but fortunately, not enough to spoil my enjoyment of the story. Also, this is mostly fiction, so I would refer you to the Wikipedia article if you are interested in factual details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionne_...
POPSUGAR: #4, #6, #19-2020: prompt #33 A book with at least a 4-star rating on Goodreads-4.44, #31, #34, #48-French and English
ATY: #1- Témiscaming, #3-A book among the top 23-rated book on your Goodreads TBR shelf, #5, #8, #10, #11-epilepsy, #13, #14-Anthony Rhys Osborne, #19-they are taught to sing, dance, and entertain, #22-5 of them, #28, #37
RHC: #14-50 ratings, #24-2015: A book published by an indie press

*A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶ was a phenomenal read! Harrow is one of my favorite authors and this was so very much more than simply a “retelling,” IMO! I adore her use of fantasy to extend the boundaries so much further than my imagination would be able to do on its own!
POPSUGAR: #5-Fairy, Prince “Charming,” varied/diverse “sleeping beauties”, #6-sapphic, NEW #14, #19-2020: prompt #1 A book published in 2021, #28, #29, #50
ATY: #2, #3-A book not set on (our) earth, #5, #18- Alternate realities/many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics/multiverses/parallel universes, #19- Storytelling—similarities across cultures/times/universes, #22, #24, #34-128 pages, #37, #45, #52
RHC: #24-2015: A book that is a retelling of a classic story-“Sleeping Beauty”

*The Islands: Stories by Dionne Irving ✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶ was my second favorite short story collection overall! (My first being Kim Edwards’ The Secrets of a Fire King). Though comparing these two books is probably unfair, since Edwards’ stories were more fantastical while each of Irving’s stories were ‘realistic fiction’ which pulled me in immediately and left no ‘dangling threads’ at the end. In contrast, I’ve found many realistic fiction stories leave me with many unanswered questions, etc. Not so with this collection. The overall theme of this collection deals with characters straddling multiple liminal worlds such as: varied geographic origins, race/skin color, socioeconomic status, varied childhood experiences, familial roles, etc. As she stated, “People fascinate me. Each of us is so complex!”
POPSUGAR: #19-2022: prompt #1 A book published in 2022, #31
ATY: #3- A book about a “fish out of water”, #5, #14
RHC: #14-116 ratings, #21, #24-2015: A collection of short stories

*Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo ✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶ was a reread from almost two years ago and still held up as one of my favorite books! Great fodder for discussion at book club! And now I’ve ordered A Scatter of Light which includes a follow-up of these two main characters, Lily and Kath, some 10 years later.
POPSUGAR: #2, #4, #6, #19-2022: prompt #5 A Sapphic book, #21, NEW #22, #29, #31, #34, #47-Chinese New Year, #48-Chinese and English
ATY: #3- A cultural book that depicts a place and time in that culture, #4, #5, #9-Walter Dean Myers Award Nominee for Teen (2022), #10-scary, #13-cars, #14-Deception with fake IDs, #24-Lily’s father had been a soldier and was asked to spy on friends, #26, #37, #45, #50-Stonewall: Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award (2022)
RHC: #22- The Ember Award to Malinda Lo (2022), #24-2015: A book by or about someone who identifies as LGBTQ+-both!

CONTINUING:
IRL book club March 19:
*The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
I am enjoying this one so much! (I assumed I would…)
March Buddy Read:
*Emma by Jane Austen
Others:
*Like Family: Growing Up in Other People's Houses by Paula McLain
*The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones
*The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed
*Festival Days by Jo Ann Beard
*Mrs. 'Arris Goes to New York (Mrs. ‘Arris #2) by Paul Gallico
*Beloved by Toni Morrison

PLANNED:
For March Buddy Reads:
*The Rising Tide (Vera Stanhope #10) by Ann Cleeves
*Hope to Die (Alex Cross #22) by James Patterson
March-April Buddy Read:
*Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (March and April)
This will be my first Wallace book. I assume I will either love it or hate it.
*Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #2) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
This is now the April selection for one of my IRL book club meetings! Huzzah!

I finished The Black House as my book with a color in it. I liked it. It kind of sort of reminded me of In the Woods.

I read The Talented Mr. Ripley as my book with only words on the cover. I loved it, but now am a bit concerned about myself since I found myself rooting for the psychotic murderer.

I have started This Rough Magic as my book about a vacation. I just started, but I love the way Mary Stewart writes.

QOTW: If it's just once in a book, it doesn't bother me. Everyone's human after all. But, when a book is peppered with typos, misspellings, wrong word usage, then yes, it drives me absolutely bonkers.

Happy Thursday! Auditions have been held for my next project, Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, with an excellent turnout. I’m excited to see who the director casts (I’m stage managing again). We won’t start rehearsals til mid-April but I’m already delighted with the few people I’ve seen, and he has some good ideas. This script is hilarious and should be a good show!

This week marked two weeks since my surgery! All three incisions are doing well, even the one that was a slight problem (always the left side), and the bruising is completely healed. I’m already looking forward to getting some coverup tattoos, although probably not til autumn. I’ll make it a birthday gift to myself. I haven’t had new ink since The Before Times.

Not a lot finished this week, but not for lack of trying:
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man - 3.5 stars, reread. Jonathan is a total douche in this book, and the white saviorism/white feminism is strong. Definitely the weakest of the set, but I’m still very excited for the final book (partly because I vaguely remember what happens, and partly because Tammy’s writing is A+ when it comes to ramping up the fantasy drama).

A Long Stretch of Bad Days - 4.5 stars, brand new. I really enjoyed this book! It felt like the logical next step after her previous books - I could see flashes of past characters in the two leads, and I loved it. A solid murder mystery (complete with a podcast). And it was lovely meeting Mindy again last weekend. She looked at me and went “Have we interacted online?” Yes ma’am we have. I hope I wasn’t too weird, I get overly chattery when I’m excited. I was up til 2am finishing this last night and I’m running on 4hrs of sleep + coffee. At 34, I can’t pull all-nighters like I used to!

PS 17/50
ATY 15/52
Mount TBR 13/60

Currently:
The Count of Monte Cristo - past halfway!

Starting tonight:
My Dear Henry

QOTW: Let’s talk about editing! Do you find misspellings and/or misuse of standard English grammar distracting when you read? Or do such things not bother you?
Agh, this always takes me out! I remember one of Rick Riordan's books used "spectre" when he definitely meant to use "sceptre" probably 3-4 times over the span of two pages.
And in A Long Stretch of Bad Days, which I just finished, I caught the word "marionette" when I'm fairly certain the intended word was "majorette". I was iffy about it because it was part of dialogue and the characters had been drinking, but it was never addressed so I'm guessing typo, hahaha!

Hey everyone, well not much to report on my end, I don't think. I finished school so that's a relief. In one class I was expected to fail. My instructor even stated several times that if we didn't do a particular assignment then it was an automatic fail. Instead, he passed me which threw me completely off guard.

Aside from school, I've been dealing with a lot of my mental health/mental illness situations. Things haven't been easy on that front. I have a hard time sleeping (I don't like the way melatonin feels and my doc won't prescribe sleep aides) so I look terrible more than half the time. Circles under the eyes looks like I have bruises which is terrible. And I don't wear makeup so that makes it worse.

Other than that though, I'm doing okay.

My only highlight is the return of my favorite tv show, "Superman and Lois".

*****

Let's see, what to talk about when it comes to my books. I haven't been reading as much as I'd like this week. I have just been so exhausted to the point where I can't focus.

My paperback copy of The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture is arriving so I'll be starting that. So much for my 'women's only' books for Women's History Month. I've read some of TMoN from my hardback, but I've really been wanting to get into the paperback because it's so much easier.

*****

QOTW: Let’s talk about editing! Do you find misspellings and/or misuse of standard English grammar distracting when you read? Or do such things not bother you?

Honestly, it does not bother me. I'm bad at grammar and punctuation so I hardly notice and if I do then it's no big deal.

You'd think that as someone with an English degree in creative writing, I would know some sense of grammar and punctuation stuff. That's the thing though, with creative writing I was basically taught that all rules went out the window so I didn't have to worry so much about such things.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

This has been a busy week, but it has been a productive one. In addition to some service calls (one for my dryer, and one to get an estimate on fixing some gutter and other household issues), I’ve finally been able to get back into unpacking mode in my new house. I still have a lot left to do before all of the boxes are unpacked and recycled, but it felt really good to make some progress this week.

Even though this week started out really busy, I was able to do a tremendous amount of reading during my free time.

This week I continued to participate in March Mystery Madness, and I’m currently on track to finish the Hamish Macbeth series before the end of the month. As of this morning, I have a total of 10 books left in the series.

In addition to March Mystery Madness, I am also going to be to participating in a second readathon next week. The Mini-Manga Readathon starts on March 20th and goes through the 26th. It’s been a while since I took part in a manga-focused readathon, so I’m really looking forward to it. I’m planning to read the Demon Slayer series. I will probably be picking up a couple of new manga releases next week as well, since Spy x Family and Alice in Borderland both have new volumes coming out on the 21st.

Here are my current challenge and TBR totals…

Goodreads Challenge: 151/400
Mount TBR Challenge: 115/150 (Climbing Mount Olympus)

📚Physical TBR: 101/634
📱Ebook TBR: 6/236
🎧Audiobook TBR: 8/13
TBR Checklist Total: 115/883

I did end up buying one new book this week, Yakuza Lover, Vol. 8, which I read the day it came out. I was also able to finish several of the titles on my “New Books” list.

I’m currently just over halfway to completing all of the books I’ve purchased since the first of the year. I feel pretty good about my progress, but after March Mystery Madness has ended, I will probably focus on reading titles from my “New Books” list for a couple of weeks…just to give myself a chance to get caught up.

“New” Books Bought in 2023: 53
“New” Books Read in 2023: 31/53

Here are the books I finished this week…

Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Beyond the Kingdoms — This is the fourth book in The Land of Stories series, which I have been taking a break from over the past couple of weeks. When I decided to get back into this book, I found that I had a really hard time putting it down. I will definitely be starting the next book in the series very soon. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Doctor Who: Winner Takes All — This was a really good audiobook. Camille Coduri is a great narrator. 🎧: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Ten Things I Love About You — This is the third novel in the Bevelstoke series (which concludes with the graphic novel, Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron). This ended up being my favorite book in the series, because there was so much drama! I do recommend checking the trigger warnings for this one before reading though.📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Most of this week’s reading time was spent continuing the Hamish Macbeth series. I’m enjoying this series so much! The titles I read this week (books 16-25) include…
~Death of a Dustman — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Death of a Celebrity — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Death of a Village — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Death of a Poison Pen — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Death of a Bore — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Death of a Dreamer — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Death of a Maid — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Death of a Gentle Lady — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Death of a Witch — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Death of a Valentine — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
None

Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
~Scales & Scoundrels #1 — This was a series that I picked up completely on impulse, and I am so glad I did. I enjoyed this book so much! If you like fantasy stories with plenty of adventure, dragons, and treasure hunting, then I highly recommend checking it out. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Scales & Scoundrels #2 — I really enjoyed the second book in this series! I loved the characters, and it was a lot of fun to see what happened to them after the events of book one. Unfortunately, the third book in the series is currently unavailable. I don’t know if it is out of print (or just hasn’t been released yet), but fingers crossed that I’ll be able to find a copy, because I really want to keep reading this series. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Yakuza Lover, Vol. 8 — This was a great continuation of the Yakuza Lover series. It’s going to be really difficult to wait until June to find out what happens next. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
~Classic Love Poems — This was a good collection of poems. I loved that the poems were read by Richard Armitage. I would happily listen to him read the phonebook. 🎧: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

DNFed:
None

Currently Reading:
~H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil — I managed to make a significant amount of progress on this book during the past week. I did consider trying to power through and finish it before today’s update, but decided to focus on other titles instead. I will probably finish this book over the weekend. 📚
~Pride and Prejudice — This is one of my favorite novels, and I am really enjoying listening to the audiobook, which is narrated by Flo Gibson. I do wish the chapters were separated into individual tracks though. 🎧
~Death of a Chimney Sweep — This is the 26th book of the Hamish Macbeth series. It's been really good so far, so I will probably finish it later today. 📚

QOTW:
I used to be an English teacher, so I find misspellings and grammatical errors very distracting. I can usually put up with a few, but frequent errors will make me stop reading the book. It's also very unlikely that I will take the time to read anything else by the author.

Happy Thursday!!

I have HEAT again!! After ten days of a non-automatic furnace, it sure felt weird to wake up to the heat running again. Weird in a good way. Getting dressed in the bitter cold and going downstairs to light the furnace got old fast. Now I can start tie-dyeing again. And now I have SNOW! (I should snow dye!!!) Winter came very late this year. I'm hoping it does not decide to stay. My crocuses are late to bloom, because they are napping under a foot of snow now.

On the other hand, I am SO TIRED. This time change knocks me over every year. This morning when I woke up I felt like I hadn't slept at all, and right now I'm practically falling asleep at my desk.




This week I finished one book, for this Challenge, so I am now 16/50.

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter- I listened to the audiobook for this one, and it was fantastic. It flew by, and absolutely did not feel like a nearly 700 page book. Now THAT is my kind of long book!! And I checked off "longest book on TBR" with this one. My only complaint (and maybe someone that's read it can explain): why is the woman on the cover holding a lit match??




QotW

YES!!

Typos are annoying, but they don't bother me too much; it's continuity errors and vocabulary errors that really get my goat.

A common vocabulary error that I've seen in several books is "torturous" when they clearly mean "tortuous." An author's first and best tool is words, and when they use the wrong words, it really makes the entire thing seem amateurish.

I also really dislike it when a word is used too often. Even three or four times can start to seem like a lot for some words. Red Queen uses the word "smirk" THIRTY EIGHT TIMES. (No, I don't remember this - but I put it in my review so I just looked it up.)

Beach Read had a continuity error that really bugged me (but no one else mentioned, so maybe they fixed it in other editions): when they left a party, she was driving and he was in the passenger seat, but a few paragraphs later and he's driving. I stopped and reread the page to make sure I hadn't missed anything!

K.L. wrote: QOTW:
I used to be an English teacher, so I find misspellings and grammatical errors very distracting. I can usually put up with a few, but frequent errors will make me stop reading the book. It's also very unlikely that I will take the time to read anything else by the author

This is my thing. I'm currently going to school to become an English teacher. I already have a degree in English-Creative Writing though. The hardest part for me is that I have to relearn grammar and punctuation because I am planning to become an English teacher.

With my creative writing classes, I was taught that the rules are basically thrown out. Sure some of it mattered, but not always because of the intent and message the author was trying to convey.

As a result, I've never had the best grammar or punctuation skills so relearning all of those things is a bit tricky.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Well, I don’t believe it, but my thermostat which operates the central air system for heat and a/c died early Monday morning. Since then the temps have been down to or below freezing, and I have had no way to turn on heat! My house has been staying in the 50s and 60s inside, and I have been dressing in layers including a knit hat. Not bad for sleeping but horrible the rest of the time! Heating guy is finally supposed to be coming this morning…at least that is what they tell me.

UPDATE: Now they tell me the window is 10-2, not 8-12. As it is past noon, I hope it means soon, although we are now to be in a warming spell.

Oh, and the forensics class? It started at 10:30 rather than 11:30 as my calendar stated! Missed the first class.

And, of course, this morning, no internet or wi-fi. Had to restart the router.

Other than that, it has been a good but challenging week. Got a lot of books read while bundled before the fireplace.

Finished:
The Kitchen House – ATY, old challenges. This is a side of slavery that I have never explored before ~ the indentured servant. It is also a story of identity and family as well as the aristocrat vs the slave. 5*, a rare rating from me…but, one that reflects the impact of the book on my own life.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo – ATY, old challenge. I did not expect this story. I thought I would be reading about a person who kept bees in Aleppo, Syria…and I was and wasn’t. It was the story of escape from the wars in Syria of a man and his wife as well as a look not only at his journey during the escape but of his life and hopes. Yes, he was a beekeeper…but the story was only incidentally concerned with that. It was about loss and hope. 4*

Linger – PAS, PS #15 (song lyric), RwS. At first, I thought that I had read this book before, but no. It took me a bit of getting through the first chapters before the book felt new, and the story took off. I enjoyed this book. A nice retreat from my daily struggle with heat! 4*

Flight Behavior – ATY, old challenges. 3*. It was a bit of a slow start for me…and took me about half the book before I began to care about the characters. Still, I did like the depth of the story and the questions it raised for me. The bonus for me was to learn that this author does not live far from where I grew up. Just wished I had liked the book more.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea – PS Monthly. 4*. I ended up liking this myth story more than I expected I would. In fact, I had not intended to read it at all. So definitely a surprise. A good book to escape the fact that I had no heat.

Currently Reading:
An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew – Old challenge. Kindle. Background history completed. Now up to the Allene's father's time. 5%.
Calling for a Blanket Dance – Ebook. RwS. 44%
Rock with Wings – Audiobook. No challenges. 47%
A New Lease of Death – ALCM. 22%
The Dogs of Riga – ALCM, PAS, old challenges. 23%
Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him – ATY. 19%
The Son – ALCM, PAS, ATY, old challenges. Will start today.
On a Street Called Easy, in a Cottage Called Joye – PS. 20%.

On deck:
Death of Riley
Song of the Lion
Holly Blues


PS 9/50 and 6/10 for Quarterly Challenge
ATY 11/52 and 8/12 for Q1 Challenge, 1/12 for Q2 Challenge
GR 58/200
RwS 2/30 (new seasonal challenge)

QotW: Let’s talk about editing! Do you find misspellings and/or misuse of standard English grammar distracting when you read? Or do such things not bother you?

Usually, I find grammar issues distracting but can overlook most misspellings since different cultures (American and British come immediately to mind) might use different spellings for the same word or different colloquialisms might cause the spelling to be different.

BUT, poor grammar notations are not excusable! That is an editing issue...and reflects poorly on the book as a whole. If I continue reading and the grammar is an issue, it will lower my rating of the book.

Bea wrote: "Linger – PAS, PS #15 (song lyric), RwS. At first, I thought that I had read this book before, but no. It took me a bit of getting through the first chapters before the book felt new, and the story took off. I enjoyed this book. A nice retreat from my daily struggle with heat! 4*"

Oh my gosh, I forgot how much I used to love this trilogy!

Hello, everybody! I had a great time on Saturday at the Carrie Underwood concert. She's got a terrific voice, and her shows also have high production values. The YouTuber AZ Dad2day put up a few of the songs that capture the feeling of the event pretty well.

Finished:

The Lives of Dax (4/5, reread)

Most of these stories about the experiences of the Dax symbiont in various hosts are very interesting.

A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series by David Kalat (4/5, could be used as a book based on a popular movie)

The book covers basically everything in Godzilla movies and other major kaiju stories from 1954-2004. The author did a commentary for the Criterion release of the 1954 Godzilla film, and the style in the book is consistent with that. I was happy to read about a lot of the movies that had little or no extras on the various home releases.

DNF:

I, Q (2/5 for what I read)

This is by far the weakest Q story in print. Peter David has done some great Q work, especially in Q-Squared, and the reader is much better off sticking with that one. I read this book when it came out and did not end up buying it at that time. I gave it another chance because it was on sale for $1, and I still feel like I overpaid. The elements are there for what could be an amazing story, but the execution is extremely lackluster. It also actively insults anyone with a faith in a higher power or spiritual life, which is bizarre.

Question of the Week:

I definitely notice spelling and grammar problems as I read, but I can usually get past them if the story is working for me.

Finished: Attack of the Black Rectangles The thing I most appreciated about this book was how age appropriate it was. The author also publishes young adult under A. S. King, but this book, for example, had two kids crushing on each other who decided not to kiss until they got older. It also had an Ace character even though the focuse of the book was on book censorship, not sexual identity. It was refreshing and comforting.

He Mele A Hilo Read because I enjoyed Light from Uncommon Stars so much. It had a similar quirky, uplifting feel. I didn't like it as much as Light, but it was still good. It was about a hula dancer who wanted to tell the story of Jesus Christ. It also had a character who had a white savior complex who seemed to be an amalgam of Bill Gates and Steve Job, who needed to learn the ways of the island before he could be of any real help.

Occupy!: Scenes from Occupied America Read for teaching purposes. It captured the movement well, but I would say most of the essays were only so-so. The one by Zizek stood out as better than most.

Started: Mindful of Race: Understanding and Transforming Habits of Harm I appreciate the project, but mostly I felt like this was the same-old, same-old when it came to the mindfulness part.

QotW: I'm going to take this in a slightly different direction and talk about non-standard English. Both The Stars and the Blackness Between Them and the afore-mentioned He Milo Helo used non-standard English (Black Vernacular and Hawaiian creole) and it took me a few attempts to settle into the books. Once I got used to it, I hardly noticed it, but it did take some adjustment.

Bea wrote: "Happy Thursday, everyone!

Well, I don’t believe it, but my thermostat which operates the central air system for heat and a/c died early Monday morning. Since then the temps have been down to or be..."




oh nooo!!! I know how bitter cold 50-60 can feel!! I used microwaveable heating pads to get by. I hope it's fixed today.

After having our internet out for about 28 hours, I'm thrilled to have it back. I didn't get far in my e-books because of this, but I got into my new print book. I'm currently reading one series, one Nobel laureate, and one random book - which works out because these were my priorities this year.

Someone on Goodreads had suggested the Jane Austen project to me and that's what came up as my random book. I'm liking it so far.

Do you ever wish you could use the same book for 2 prompts? I read the 23rd book on my TBR list for Nadine's prompt. But it's perfect for the Viking prompt. No matter which prompt I use it for, I won't find another for the other one.

Finished:

When We Were Vikings
ATY prompt: A book with ONE of the five "W" question words in the title
Popsugar prompt: A book about a family
Nadine's 23 challenge: The 23rd book on a list (your TBR list, for example)

Series - 4/15
Series Completed: - Lying Games, Bronwyn the Witch, Divergent

Nobel laureates - 1/7
Random books - 1/7

ATY - 11/40
PS - 11/30
Nadine's 23 challenge - 8/10
Around the year in 52 movies - 12/52

11. A movie about a person/character with a disability - The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Currently reading:

A Ballet of Lepers: A Novel and Stories - 75% done

Prentice Alvin - 40% done

Penguin Island - 10% done

The Jane Austen Project - 30%done

QOTW: I read a book by a friend of a friend. It had spelling mistakes, as well as a lack of plot, and had pacing problems. I gave it one star, which since it only had 6 reviews, actually lowered the rating by a star.

Another book used - as a dialogue tag instead of "" and honestly it made the whole book confusing to figure out who said what and where the dialogue ending. The book had other problems too.

I guess, if I like the book (I once found a typo in Harry Potter) I can overlook it. If the book has other problems such as badly developed characters, plot, pacing, then every typo irks me.

Hi all! Funky week this week. Kiddo had a snow day Tuesday and then a 2 hour delay yesterday morning. Tomorrow she's off, so I have no idea what day it is! I had a busy morning with an appointment and running errands. Then I came home and see March Madness has started. Crap. There goes my free time.

New Yorkers/ New Englanders, how much snow did you get? I saw that there were some massive totals... we got 3 inches. Whomp whomp. We didn't even bother shovel it. It's already melting. I haven't noticed flowers coming up at my house, but at the library this morning the flower bed has lots of green and some blooms.

I didn't finish anything this week. I really tried to complete Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, but I ran out of time and returned it. I put it on hold again, but I'm 6th in line, by the time I get it back, I'll probably have forgotten the first half. Sigh...
I'm making good progress with Our Missing Hearts and should be able to finish that one before it comes due next week. I was really liking it, but then the tone changed and I'm not sure if it's going to regain the magic of the first 100 pages.
Last night I listened to another half hour of Les Miserables, only another 45 hours to go!

QOTW: I sometimes notice grammar and spelling mistakes, but I usually let them slide. It actually drives me crazier in news' stories for some reason (my favorite was a headline that something one of the kids did brought Kim Kardashian to "rears"- the jokes wrote themselves... :). The continuity thing drives me crazier in a book.

Bea wrote: "Happy Thursday, everyone!

Well, I don’t believe it, but my thermostat which operates the central air system for heat and a/c died early Monday morning. Since then the temps have been down to or be..."

Wow. That sounds like 'go back to bed and wake me up in April' kind of a week!

Good morning everyone! I'm literally doing a webinar at the moment so I will keep this short.

We had one day that was almost 50 degrees! Heat wave of one day yesterday. I didn't have to wear my coat!
The wind has been hellacious for the last few days. The roof of the library groaning heavy. I could fly to Reno by kite heavy. Tree limbs, branches, and whole trees on the ground heavy. Today it's back to cold and windy, but it's sunny.

Other than that not much is happening life-wise. Same ol' same ol'.

We are changing over from Polaris to Koha as our library system. Not super thrilled. That was my webinar.

Popsugar:9/50
Finished:

Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation, Vol. 1 -- An interesting beginning for Jareth's origin story. I like his mother. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ps 26

Reading:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- Not this version, but it's al the same. ps 4

Aty:10/52
Finished:None

Reading: None

Goodreads Challenge 187/400
Finished:

The Apothecary Diaries 07
A Kiss with a Cat, Vol. 1
A Condition Called Love, Vol. 1
Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion, Vol. 1
Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion, Vol. 2
Usotoki Rhetoric Volume 1
Usotoki Rhetoric Volume 2
Maid-sama! (2-in-1 Edition), Vol. 3: Includes Vol. 5 & 6
Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation, Vol. 1
The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 4
My Happy Marriage, Vol. 1
My Happy Marriage, Vol. 2
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea
Say Hello to Zorro!
Hard Knocks
Desire In The Mountains
Caught by Cupid: An Instalove Age-Gap Romance
The Italian's Bride Worth Billions: An Uplifting International Romance
Teach Me, Mr. Devlin: An Age Gap Instalove Romance
Fake Stepdad
Abducted

Reading:
I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss, Vol. 3I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss, Vol. 3

Nadine's Mini Challenge 7/10
Finished:None

Reading: None

Mount TBR:
27/150 Ebook
21/150 Physical

QOTW:

A missing quotation marks or really bad punctuation drives me freaking up the wall batty. Grammar not so much. Misspelling not so much either. When spelunking into the world of fan fiction, there is quite a bit of it. So I've been desensitized to it. Except for then and than. Mixing those up drives me crazy as well.

The time change has really messed me up. I feel like I'm constantly behind... I wake up late, then force myself to stay up late. It's light outside at dinnertime, so it feels too early. But the weather's getting better and better, and I'm enjoying the sunshine.

Popsugar Challenge: 19/50
Nadine's Q1 Mini-Challenge: 9/10

Completed:
Mercury Pictures Presents: Unfocused. Too many storylines that I just didn't care about. I wish the author had concentrated on one or two main characters. ★★
A River Enchanted: Why has this been sitting on my bookshelf for more than six months??? I'm really looking forward to A Fire Endless! (PS36: a book you think your best friend would like) ★★★★★
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations ★★★★
The Faraway World: Stories ★★★
Within These Wicked Walls: Not a bad story, but advertising it as a retelling of Jane Eyre really misses the mark. ★★★
Spare: Audiobook. I enjoyed this so much more than expected. ★★★★
The Things We Do to Our Friends: Unlikable characters... and the twist wasn't very twisty. ★★



Currently Reading:
The God of Endings
The Kaiju Preservation Society
Memoirs of a Polar Bear
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century
Kept Animals
Snow Crash (Book Club)
My Heart Is a Chainsaw (Q1.3: a book with five words in the title)

QOTW: Misspellings and grammar errors drive me bonkers! If I'm reading on my Kindle, I regularly submit error reports. I'll use a pencil to correct hard copies unless it's a library book. I've been told I'm "analytical." It's not always a compliment.

UPDATE: I have heat! The heating system had blown a fuse in the attic unit. (Not something I would have known about.) When the heat came back on, the thermostat read 63°. And that is with the fireplace going and candles burning!

@Nadine: I dressed in outside clothing for three days! Layers and layers.

@Jennifer: LOL. Yes, this week turned out to be a "return to bed and wake me in April" kind of week. Thanks for the laugh.

I'm feeling more upbeat this week. The woods are all sticky mud at the moment but at least there are daffodils and blossom to look at. I think my thyroid medication is working, since I haven't wanted to cry at nothing all week. Woohoo!

Finished:
A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard for ATY (school subject in title) and Nadine's mini challenge (sheep!). This was full of delightful facts, it's very UK focused but I still learned loads of things about sheep and wool.

Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones for song lyric in the title and ATY (spice girl personality). This was a bit much gratuitous violence for me, and I didn't like it as much as My Heart Is a Chainsaw. Perhaps the killer not being supernatural made it harder to stomach? Maybe he's making a point about horror films, since it was a theme that Jade had missed out on some of the references over the last few years, and they've become more about shock value? I don't know, I really liked the whole final girls return trope though. I just want to read about the returning characters and a mildly scary baddie! 🤣

Currently reading The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi.

QOTW:
I used to mind more but years of reading uncorrected proofs have made me immune to the odd typo here and there.

A bigger problem with editing is the lack of structural edits being done, especially when an author gets successful. You know when books have awful pacing or there's just a big chunk of pointless plot left in? Or when there are really obvious continuity errors or inaccuracies that makes it feel like the writer didn't bother with their research.

Happy Thursday!

For whatever reason the time change has messed up my sleep schedule. I have issues falling asleep at night and waking up in the morning. Hopefully I get used to this soon...

Books read this week:

The Last Book on the Left: Stories of Murder and Mayhem from History’s Most Notorious Serial Killers -- for the PopSugar prompt “favorite prompt from the 2021 challenge (book by a blogger, vlogger, YouTuber, or other online content creator)” and the Extreme Book Nerd prompt “biography of someone you are NOT a fan of.” This is a pretty dark read, and you have to have a taste for black humor to appreciate the writers’ attempts to inject some levity into the stories of some of the worst serial killers in history. It’s a grimly fascinating read, however, and the authors aren’t afraid to point out the racism, homophobia, and stigma against mental illness that allowed these killers to do their awful work.

The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories: 75th-Anniversary Edition -- for the PopSugar prompt “book by an author with the same initials as you.” I heard such good things about Angela Carter, but this collection was just dull. The language is way too flowery, and I didn’t find any of these fairy tale retellings to be particularly interesting or groundbreaking. Also, if I read one more description of nipples, I will scream.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster -- for the PopSugar prompt “book about an athlete or sport” and the Extreme Book Nerd prompt “non-fiction book from the 700s section of the Dewey Decimal System.” I know this book has come under fire for containing inaccuracies and vilifying certain people, but it’s still a devastating account of how an Everest expedition went terribly wrong… and how one of the most famous peaks in the world has become sadly commercialized.

Numb to This: Memoir of a Mass Shooting -- graphic novel, not for the challenge. The author/artist quite frankly and honestly discusses having lived through a mass shooting (she attended UCC during the shooting there), and how she still struggles with PTSD and feelings of hopelessness years after the fact.

DNF:

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea -- for “book with a love triangle.” I am having THE hardest time finding a good book for this prompt! I wanted to like this one, but it was just so bland, and nobody has any personality. Maybe I should go back to The Selection…

Currently Reading:

Paladin's Grace -- for “book with a forbidden romance”
Let the Right One In -- for “book that takes place the decade you were born”
Changing Planes -- for “favorite prompt from the 2016 challenge (a science fiction novel)”
David and the Phoenix -- for “book you read more than 10 years ago”

QOTW:

I'll be honest, I'll usually overlook the occasional typo, but a book full of errors or with errors that are consistently overlooked (such as confusing reign with rein) bug me. Proofread, people...

Glad everyone's heat is back on!!

Not much to share. Pretty busy week, glad it’s weekend. I didn’t sleep well this week: so many weather changes, my body can’t handle that (snow, rain, sun and a storm).

PS: 13/50
Total 2023: 15

Finished
The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim⭐⭐⭐
PS #30, a book that’s on a celebrity book-club list
About the marginal position illegal immigrants are in.

Currently reading
De Effingers by Gabriele Tergit
Slow read, feels like the German Cazalets.

QOTW
I read in Dutch, so my answer is about misspellings and/ or misuse in general. It is distracting. And a bit of an insult to the reader.

OMG, I'm doing an update, and actually posting on Thursday! I feel like this is such an accomplishment for me, the way life has been lately!

I was already in quite a reading slump, and then my daughter's chronic illness flared up, requiring a few days in the hospital and scaring us all quite a bit. I'm happy to report that she's home and doing SO much better, and with that transition, my brain also sort of re-set and I'm feeling very into reading.

I don't even remember what I've reported so far, so here's my 2023 completions so far; several short stories helped me get my groove back and catch up to my target reading pace:

Murder on the Orient Express - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Invited - ⭐⭐
GET ME OUT OF THIS SHIMMERING OASIS - ⭐⭐⭐
The Element of Fire - ⭐⭐⭐
Happy Dark Year - ⭐⭐⭐
Evil Eye - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Troll Bridge - ⭐⭐⭐
The Sea and Little Fishes - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Roaches - ⭐⭐⭐
Legends & Lattes - ⭐⭐⭐
The World Record Book of Racist Stories - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Seriously, get the audio book - Amber Ruffin is a hilarious bubbly chaos pixie, and Lacey Lamar is the perfect deadpan, smart foil, and the book is also about Important Stuff while still being wildly entertaining.)
Project Hail Mary - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Currently reading Night Film, which definitely has me turning pages in suspense! I really like the "King in Yellow" vibe underlying the thriller story structure. But I find myself wondering if the author is amazing at writing a dumb, obnoxious man as the POV character, or the author has aborbed a lot of our culture's dumb, obnoxious sexism and she's writing what she thinks is a real cool guy. We shall see . . .

QOTW:
I have grown a lot more tolerant as I age, but repeated gaffes will start to set my teeth on edge.

Bea wrote: "UPDATE: I have heat! The heating system had blown a fuse in the attic unit. (Not something I would have known about.) When the heat came back on, the thermostat read 63°. And that is with the firep..."




Yay!! I'm glad it was so simple

Christine wrote: "Currently reading Night Film..."


All my friends loved that book, and I hated it SO MUCH!!

Just found out the release date for Jason David Frank's final film. He played the original Green Ranger in the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers series. I grew up with them/him. Power Rangers were my first superheroes before DC or Marvel or any of that.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jason three times in my life. The first time I can still remember what a joy it was (it was all the other time since), but that first time really blew my mind. Here I was, in my mid-twenties, having had the dream of meeting JDF at the age of 4!

Now I sit here, listening to a playlist I created shortly after his suicide. Man, how much I miss him! I've never cried so hard over a celebrities death in my entire life, and I've lost quite a few that I grew up with. JDF's has hit the hardest though. He died in November and sometimes it's still hard to process. I'm sure the feels will come even stronger come fall once his movie is released.

Ron wrote: "Hey everyone, well not much to report on my end, I don't think. I finished school so that's a relief. In one class I was expected to fail. My instructor even stated several times that if we didn't ..."

Congrats on finishing school. Sorry you're having sleep issues, I know (and I'm sure you do, too) that it's so important for bipolar to get good sleep. Time change? weather change? Hopefully it passes.

Hi, everyone. Been having kind of busy week at work, but carving out some time to post an update. :)

Finished:
Ariadne - 3.5 stars - for the main character's name in the title. It kept me reading, but I was a little annoyed at how passive the title character was, and how some things were changed from the myths I was familiar with.

Comics & manga:
Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 38
WITCH WATCH, Vol. 1
Persona 5, Vol. 1
Romantic Killer, Vol. 2

I am currently at 13/50 for Popsugar (7/40 and 6/10). I am also at 7/10 for Nadine's Mini-Challenge #1.

Currently reading:
The Mimicking of Known Successes - this is an interesting little novella, a sci-fi mystery set in a post-Earth society set on Jupiter. I'm enjoying it so far, but not sure if it will fit a prompt that I have open.

Planned:
The Unhoneymooners
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

QOTW:
I do get distracted by errors, but in general, if I'm enjoying the story and it's only one or two issues, it doesn't bother me enough to take me out of the narrative unless it's a continuity fail.

I'm on spring break. It's been taxing as I got home to visit the parents to find mom with a bad foot infection (I was a foot doc in my former career) so it's been a lot of doing for her and not us going out to do the fun things.

I at least got a few things read. For A book with "Girl" in the title I read Greensmith Girls by Raven Snow. It was a freebie paranormal mystery I've had on list for a long while. It was all right but nothing I'd want to read more of unfortunately.


Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree was such a lovely and fun read. If you'd have said I'd fall in love with an orc who wanted to open a coffee show and follow her every step of the way I'd have laughed but I did love it. I read it for the prompt: A book you think your best friend would like. ALL my friends would love this.

I also read Chainsaw Man, Vol. 5 by Tatsuki Fujimoto just because though I'm falling out of love with this series

QOTW It bothers me. In some ways I'm more forgiving of it in self pubbed works (unless it's rife) but in something from a major publisher? No that drives me nuts and it makes the review.

I wish I had better ways to contact publishers when I'm given arcs and I find misspellings or words that are spelled right but are the wrong words and the thing isn't published yet. They have time to catch it. I just found one in an arc today. Ah well

Since my normal Thursday cardio class was cancelled this afternoon, I decided to use my found hour to check in! I did think about delaying a bit because I should be finishing up one of my books-in-progress this evening. But! My extra hour wins out so I'm checking in now since I have the time to do so 😊 I finished one book that I am using for one of the advanced prompts. I'm now at 10/40 and 3/10 for this challenge and am at 24/75 for my overall Goodreads Reading Challenge.

Finished:
* I'll Show Myself Out: Essays On Midlife And Motherhood by Jessi Klein, which I decided to use for the advanced prompt "a book with alliteration in the title" (Myself, Midlife, Motherhood). I originally picked it up to check of the "Women's History Month" prompt for the New Year Kindle Challenge (and I'm scratching my head as to why seeing the other recommended titles that were on the Amazon Editor's Choice list), so it was a two-fer. I have to admit that I skimmed a lot because this just wasn't the right essay collection for me.

Currently Reading:
* Dead of Winter by Stephen Mack Jones, which I should finish tonight; and,
* While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams, which I should finish over the weekend.

Soon-To-Be Currently Reading:
* On Gold Mountain: The One Hundred Year Odyssey of a Chinese American Family by Lisa See, which is one of my book clubs' picks for April; and,
* Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala, which I scooped up at the library on my last visit when I spotted it on the shelf.

QotW:
Let’s talk about editing! Do you find misspellings and/or misuse of standard English grammar distracting when you read? Or do such things not bother you? This bothered me more before I started reading a lot of advanced reader copy/edition books (though, most of the ones I've read have had minimal misspellings and/or grammar errors). Unless it's something that takes me out of the story completely, I just auto-correct in my head and keep on reading. Formatting issues in ARC/AREs and story continuity issues are more distracting to me (i.e. a character's name changes two-thirds of the way into the story) than a misspelled word or grammar error. 🤓

I didn't read much this week. Work is really wearing me out, so I just want to shut my brain off when I get free time. I did finish Always the First to Die which was not for the challenge. I wasn't impressed by it.

I decided to do a reread to cheer myself up, so I chose the prompt..a book you wish you could read for the first time again and I am rereading Wind Chime Café. This is my third time reading it and I still absolutely love it. It makes me cry every time. I remember that after I finished it for the first time, I felt an overwhelming need to write a letter to the author. I have about 100 pages to go and I had a ridiculous day today, so I think I'm going to curl up with it now.

QOTW:
I mostly find it very distracting, especially if it is frequent.

Jennifer wrote: Congrats on finishing school. Sorry you're having sleep issues, I know (and I'm sure you do, too) that it's so important for bipolar to get good sleep. Time change? weather change? Hopefully it passes

The time change helped originally, but once my system adjusted it went back to the same time frame cycle. I wish it was a weather thing, but unfortunately, it's not. Hopefully, therapy will be able to help somehow.

@Ron have you tried a weighted blanket to help you stay asleep once you do manage to fall asleep?

I've had a really good work week! After weeks even months of effort, a 45 minute conference call with a cast of thousands (only slightly exaggerated), including banks and a federal mortgage agency, who think they don't have to come to the negotiation table on anything, hammered out a resolution on a 4 year long project that means we can wrap up the penultimate stage of a major case I have. Best of all, it ended up with a resolution structure exactly as I said it would at least 2 years ago (and many doubted). Yay me! Persistance all pays off always, especially when you are the only one involved who has any experience remotely applicable. This involves a catastrophic casualty loss in a condominium which requires complete liquidation of the condo - something that had never occured before though it has now thanks to Surfside collapse in FL. What I have now done is provided the road map for the banks and federal agency to follow on Surfside and any other condo destroyed by casualty. Again, yay me! It's not the first time I've been the first -- and it's part of what make my area of legal practice so interesting - there are lots of firsts to challenge.

Haven't had a lot of time to read but some.

PS - 22/50. ATY - 28/52

Finished:
Hamnet - oh did I love this book! PS rabbit on cover - in gold filigree and ATY -nominee for prize starts with W - Women's Prize 2020. Note it fits other prompts on ATY such as different century. I went with hardest to fill.
Miss Percy's Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons - no prompts but oh was a charmed! Found myself smiling slightly as I read.

Currently reading:
The Honjin Murders
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
The Moving Finger

QOTW: Obviously, if the bad grammar and spelling are deliberate as in fitting dialogue, I don't have a problem. I do have a problem with poor proofing and editing, which is especially egregious in ebooks although it has improved since we all first started getting them. If you read on Kindle, there's an option to report errors of all kinds and I use it liberally - it's the same window that let's you look up words, copy, highlight, etc. I wish Nook and other apps would provide such a link.

But poor editing is on the rise as well. I count as friends and clients many writers and those working in publishing. I have been repeatedly told that as the long-time editors - the old guard so to speak - retire, the new generation of editors have little influence or say and in fact many books get no editing before being published. Writers are complaining that the final draft they are submitting is the one being published with no editing guidance.

I had conversations about this in the last month in fact after I casually mentioned in general conversation a comment a friend made about a fantasy series she's reading the last few books in and she says they are very poorly edited compared to those his prior editor had a hand in overseeing -- that editor retired and my friend felt perhaps the new editor is intimidated by the author and isn't reigning author in and correcting adn even cutting as should be done and clearly was done by the prior editor.

Happy check-in! I finished Nadine's mini challenge this week. I thought for sure I would not be able to accomplish it in three months but ignoring all the books I planned worked for me. 😉 Literally, not a single book that I had planned. It was really fun, thanks Nadine.
All the furnace talk has reminded me to change our filter so thanks. We had a blizzard here to so joy of shoveling.

Finished Reading:

Trick of the Light ⭐⭐⭐ (ATY con, deception, or fake)
All the Norse mythology options that had been suggested to me were unavailable at the library. I went to my sister and she gave me this. A good urban fantasy set in Vegas.

Tear Down the Throne ⭐⭐⭐ (ATY tinker, tailor, soldier, spy)
Book two of a fantasy series.

iZombie, Vol. 1: Dead to the World ⭐⭐⭐
I loved this tv show. The comic is not as good, but the main character holds up.

Red River Resistance Northwest Resistance Road Allowance Era ⭐⭐⭐
A great comic series about Metis history. These would have been better had they been a bit longer. Each issue is 48 pages.

PS 20/50
ATY 22/52
Nadine's 10/10
Goodreads 61/200

Currently Reading:

Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts
Where the Crawdads Sing
Burn Bright

QOTW:

Typos bother me quite a bit. Although, one of my favourite books has the weirdest typo and it boggles that no one noticed it. The word responsibility has the pi symbol in the middle of it. 🤷‍♀️ I've grown quite fond of it.

A good week for challenge reads.

Did get through Wilding, which was very informative, and I'm glad I read it, despite the at times, slow going. If I ever own land, I would definitely look at natural growth / rewilding options. Used for Nadine's challenge, beginning with W.

Also finished Act Your Age, Eve Brown, which I did decide to count for romance with a fat lead, because there was a conversation in it about her size and how it affected her, and she referred to herself as fat, so my doubts about it counting went away. Fun and fluffy, which I didn't realize then was necessary as my next read was...

Tender is the Flesh Oof. I couldn't rate this because while I thought it was a striking and effective work, it was so off-putting and horrifying to read. It was great but unpleasant. Based on the description I had thought it might qualify for forbidden romance, but newp, no way am I describing that relationship as a romance. Used for ATY's book in translation though.

Then read All Dressed Up for author who shares my initials. Fun premise (guest at a 20's themed murder mystery party weekend starts to think a real crime may have occurred), but the execution and resolution fell a little flat.

Also read Lost in the Moment and Found. Achingly beautiful, as most of the Wayward Children series are. Hadn't planned on using it for the challenge, but it did have a great opening line, which is usually my favorite prompt from a past challenge, so I put it in there. ("The first thing Antoinette Ricci ever lost was her father, but she was so young when it happened that she never really felt responsible.")

Currently reading The Lottery and Other Stories; The Haunting of Hill House; We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

QotW
One or two I don't mind - I note them but can move on.

My bigger thing is idiom errors and my particular pet peeve is "If that's what you think, you've got another thing coming." Think, think! The second one is also think! So that one takes me right out if I see it.

Good morning! I've had some kangaroos move into the paddock next door and have been procrastinating by going out and watching them jump around. Finished one book this week.

PopSugar 10/50
ATY 10/50

Finished
The Kaiju Preservation Society Wow! I've never read John Scalzi before. I finished this in 24 hours - the only reason it wasn't in one sitting is because I didn't start until after dinner and I needed sleep. A very fun read. Prompt: #BookTok Rec

Currently Reading
Three Men In A Raft: An Improbable Journey Down The Amazon - I picked it up for ATY's body of water in title and will probably use for first-time author in PopSugar.

A Clockwork Orange This was going to be for color in the title, but Burgess did so much work creating a new language that I'm going to use it for the two languages prompt. The problem is, I need to sit down and concentrate on it and haven't had a chance to do that recently. Hopefully I'll get a day free to read it properly in the coming week.

Coming Up
The Animals in That Country

QOTW
Grammar and punctuation usually don't bother me, as long as it's not throughout the whole book. But a continuity error? I can't stand it. It makes me go back and read whole chapters again trying to figure out if I'm remembering wrong or the writer made a mistake.

Erica wrote: @Ron have you tried a weighted blanket to help you stay asleep once you do manage to fall asleep?

I haven't actually. I keep forgetting. I'll certainly add it to my list of things to get for sure though. I mean something's got to work. I don't like these 4 hr. sleep moments.

****

On another note, I discovered this book on FB.

Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World

From what the person said about it, and then from what the blurb said, it sounds like a book that I would be interested in. A person compared it to the book 'Quiet' by Susan Cain which is one of my all-time favorites so I figured I would give this book a shot and see what happens.

Joanna wrote: "My bigger thing is idiom errors and my particular pet peeve is "If that's what you think, you've got another thing coming." Think, think! The second one is also think! So that one takes me right out if I see it..."

This is hilarious because "another think coming" makes zero sense to me and I always think it's wrong. 🤣

I googled it, it seems a contentious issue and is also an American saying, which might explain why I never really came across the original "think" before it morphed into thing. https://www.theguardian.com/media/min...

Theresa wrote: "I've had a really good work week! After weeks even months of effort, a 45 minute conference call with a cast of thousands (only slightly exaggerated), including banks and a federal mortgage agency,..."

Congratulations, Theresa, on such an accomplishment...and for staying the course! Impressive!

@Theresa: I have just added three books to my TBR: Hamnet, Miss Percy's Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons and The Honjin Murders. Thanks.

@Kaia: Kangaroos next door? I would be distracted also! What fun!

Thanks for the recommend of The Kaiju Preservation Society. I don't often read sci-fi...just a toe dipper into that genre. So I appreciate excitement for a book as a way to find a book that I might enjoy as I expand my reading. This one looks like one I would like. Again thanks.

Theresa wrote: " I count as friends and clients many writers and those working in publishing. I have been repeatedly told that as the long-time editors - the old guard so to speak - retire, the new generation of editors have little influence or say and in fact many books get no editing before being published. Writers are complaining that the final draft they are submitting is the one being published with no editing guidance.,..."


And readers are noticing!!! It's not noticeable when a book is edited well, but it's glaringly obvious when an editor has not touched a book at all. Publishers are really letting their authors down.

Erica wrote: "Happy check-in! I finished Nadine's mini challenge this week. I thought for sure I would not be able to accomplish it in three months but ignoring all the books I planned worked for me. 😉 Literally..."



Huzzah!!!!


I, on the other hand, have made very little progress. I've now decided I will treat it as an addendum to my full-year challenge, because I'm obviously not getting it done before the end of the quarter.

Joanna wrote: "Tender is the Flesh Oof. I couldn't rate this because while I thought it was a striking and effective work, it was so off-putting and horrifying to read. It was great but unpleasant...."



I am so tempted to read this, but I'm also terrified, so it's not on my TBR. But I think about it a lot.




My bigger thing is idiom errors and my particular pet peeve is "If that's what you think, you've got another thing coming." Think, think! The second one is also think!

I'm usually such a stickler for these things, but I'm guilty on this one. I think (haha!) and say "another thing coming" and I can only blame Judas Priest for clearly warping my generation.

Also, "another think" just doesn't make grammatical sense to me. "Think" is (usually) a verb, not a noun, and the word that comes after "another" should be a noun.

In my defense, Merriam-Webster says that both "think" and "thing" are correct.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words....

Kaia wrote: "Good morning! I've had some kangaroos move into the paddock next door and have been procrastinating by going out and watching them jump around. Finished one book this week.

PopSugar 10/50
ATY 10/..."



"Kangaroos in the paddock" sounds like it should be some sort of phrase or adage!!! Kind of like "bats in the belfry."

So, what do kangaroos eat, and do they cause any harm to the paddock or other residents of said paddock?

Ellie wrote: "Joanna wrote: "My bigger thing is idiom errors and my particular pet peeve is "If that's what you think, you've got another thing coming." Think, think! The second one is also think! So that one ta..."




LOL I just got finished blaming Judas Priest and then I opened the Guardian article you linked, and their first sentence: "I blame Judas Priest." ... I see I'm in good company! 🤣🤣

Erica wrote: Happy check-in! I finished Nadine's mini challenge this week. I thought for sure I would not be able to accomplish it in three months but ignoring all the books I planned worked for me. 😉 Literally, not a single book that I had planned. It was really fun, thanks Nadine.

That's awesome, congrats on that one!

Unfortunately, it's one that I will not be able to finish this quarter. I've tried, but I have only gotten to two books for them. Oh well. Not much I can do at this point especially considering the books that I've got going on this month and then I've been planning my books for next month. I've tried to fit in some of them, but to no avail.

Theresa wrote: "I've had a really good work week! After weeks even months of effort, a 45 minute conference call with a cast of thousands (only slightly exaggerated), including banks and a federal mortgage agency,..."

That's so cool! Congrats!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to those celebrating! I'm wearing my Green Ajah shirt to be extra nerdy, lol. I totally forgot to do this yesterday, so here I am! Not much has changed.

Currently Reading

Gardens of the Moon for "book with a fat lead". THIS BOOK....is INSANE....what is going on?!?!

QotW

YES. Especially misspellings. I notice immediately. I mean one or two I can forgive, but when it's more than that, let's be honest: this is what your editing team is FOR. There's no excuse for these errors ESPECIALLY in books from big publishers. You have the money and clout to do a good job with someone's work. That's my opinion anyway, lol.

Alex wrote: "Happy St. Patrick's Day to those celebrating! I'm wearing my Green Ajah shirt to be extra nerdy, lol. I totally forgot to do this yesterday, so here I am! Not much has changed.

Currently Reading ..."



Yes Happy St Patrick's Day!!! I am wearing my green spiral shirt that I tie dyed specifically for today (except all the emerald green washed out because tie dye is full of surprises - so it's just lime green and dark green - green is green, I guess)