EPBOT Readers discussion

Hello everyone,

Welcome to almost May. We're at T-7 days to my daughter's wedding. They arrived from across the country on a red eye this morning so now it's getting real. Think all the good thoughts for good weather, or at least no rain. I will not be able to make a post at the end of next week. Hopefully someone else will be able to, otherwise I'll post in 2 weeks and see you "on the other side".

This week I finished I’m Glad My Mom Died. I enjoyed it and am still processing it. I feel sorry for that childhood she had and all the problems that she's working on (still, probably).

I'm *still* listening to European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman. I had a fake out. I didn't pay close attention and thought the book ended at Chapter 18. When that chapter didn't wrap up the story in any way, I realized there are 11 more chapters! This audiobook is over 24 hours long and I'm still listening at normal/1x speed.

I'm just starting The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race that is the next book for my neighborhood book club.

I'm also going to read A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. Some close friends have their two adult children through-hiking the AT right now. They just crossed into Virginia.

QOTW: What makes you love a book?
For me strong characters who act with some confidence, who communicate and who can solve problems make me love a book. Those traits in a female main character is a bonus for sure. I love realistic plots and stories, even if they're sci-fi and set in the future. The first is part of why I loved The Martian. And the second is part of my enjoyment of Scalzi's Interdependency series. The realism applies to The Expanse.

Best wishes for the wedding! Whatever happens, if they're married at the end, it was a success.

Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History - My Eastern US city has coyotes, although I haven't seen one yet, and I wanted to learn more about them and their range expansion. Unfortunately I didn't think this book was great; there was some weirdness in the organization of information, and a lot more page count given to historic and ongoing predator control measures than to the actual current ecology.

Oceanic - I read a book of essays by this author and didn't really like it, but she is primarily a poet, so I figured I should try that. I will say that I'm not really an ocean person and this wouldn't have been my pick of collections, but it was the one the library had. It was all right but not my personal jam. Many of the metaphors did not resonate with me (and in some cases I didn't really understand them at all).

QOTW: I mean, there are a lot of things, it really depends on the book. For mysteries, I like a strong puzzle with a plausible but clever explanation. Sometimes in fiction I like a cozy world I'd like to live in, but sometimes more challenging themes are good too. Nonfiction should be well laid out and informative, but also entertaining. In poetry I probably love cleverness with language the most.

It took me a while to get into The Bear and the Serpent, so that was my only finish last week, but it was a good one! The more of Adrian Tchaikovsky I read, the more I realize that I just love every single thing this man writes. I tagged it with the sequel prompt.

Next up I'm starting a book that's been sitting on my bed table for a while that I hadn't gotten around to picking up - Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality, which I purchased after seeing a review of it online, thinking I'd bring it to school and let my Pride Club kids look through it. But I want to read it first!

QOTW: Characters come first for me, always. Every once in a great while I find a book that grabs me even if the characters are a bit wooden, but typically I'll be bored if the characters aren't at least a little bit engaging. The other thing that can really make me swoon is when SF authors pay attention to actual science in creating their future worlds. It's common for SF to be grounded in accurate physics and astronomy, but sometimes other aspects of science get ignored. I majored in marine biology and earth science in undergrad before I detoured into education, so I love it when authors pay attention to that stuff and make an effort. I fell instantly in love with The Fifth Season when I opened it to the map and it showed tectonic plate boundaries - be still my geology-loving heart!

Hi, everyone!

Finished:
Veil of Lies by Jeri Westerson - 2 stars - for Popsugar's book with author with the same initials as me. Honestly, this is probably something I should have DNFed, but I wanted to finish the prompt and it was a quick, short read. The writing was fine, but the main character was very unlikable (sexist, classist, racist). I probably would not read anything else in this series.

In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune - 4.5 stars - for Popsugar's modern retelling of a classic. This is a sci-fi retelling of Pinocchio, and I loved it, although not as much as The House in the Cerulean Sea or Under the Whispering Door.

Comics & manga:
Knight of the Ice, Vol. 9
Knight of the Ice, Vol. 10
Knight of the Ice, Vol. 11
Something's Wrong With Us 14
Romantic Killer, Vol. 3
How Do We Relationship?, Vol. 7
Lovesick Ellie, Vol. 1
Komi Can't Communicate, Vol. 24

Currently reading:
Happy Place by Emily Henry - not for a prompt, currently

Upcoming/Planned:
Tsalmoth by Steven Brust
That Self-Same Metal by Brittany N. Williams

QOTW:
I have to have characters that I can empathize with, if not love. They don't even have to be likable characters, as long as I can understand them and have sympathy/empathy. There are certain tropes that I love, too, but even those can't carry a book without characters who come alive for me.