Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2023 Weekly Check-Ins
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Week 20: 5/11 - 5/18
Happy Thursday!I'm keeping exhaustion at bay with copious amounts of coffee. I'm feeling good about how things are progressing with Baskerville though, so I can't ask for much more than that. We've got 95% of our props and probably 90-95% of our costumes; now I'm waiting for the set to be finished, then painted. Hopefully it'll all be ready by Sunday for our first full tech run.
Finished a book? *takes cigarette drag* I haven't done that in weeks...
PS 22/50
ATY 25/52
Mount TBR 21/60
But I am still enjoying all of my current reads!
The Three Musketeers - caught up on where I need to be yesterday and deeply enjoying this
Jane Eyre - Back to this one today!
What Moves the Dead - I *might* have time to get back to this tomorrow after the cats' vet appointment (just booster shots, nothing scary!)
Upcoming (hopefully!):
The Downstairs Girl
The Crystal Cave
Detonation Boulevard
Can you enjoy a book if the cast of characters is exclusively men? Or exclusively women?
Exclusively men and/or one woman is very difficult for me too. All women or more often, majority women, is usually quite enjoyable.
Happy Thursday. I have a big day in court today that I am very much ready to be done with, and my library is having a book sale tomorrow, so hopefully my stress is about to decrease significantly.This week, I finished:
Girl Without a Chance: I think I need to be done with Rylie Dark. Her books just don't seem to be for me.
Behind the Scenes: This book should have been shortened to about half the length.
Murder at the Spring Ball: A 1920s Mystery: I don't read much historical fiction, but I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. It had some charm and the normal mystery stuff that I gravitate towards. I do think it lost a lot of momentum as it went on and didn't keep me an engaged towards the end.
Currently reading:
Nothing. I have been too preoccupied to read the last two or three days. I'm retuning my library book and will try again another time.
I might take a week off from reading and just watch Netflix. I teach a dangers of social media/technology class to my probation kids and they bet me that I couldn't give up Netflix for 3 months. I did it successfully and my Netflix privileges were restored yesterday.
QOTW:
I've never thought about this before, but I certainly don't think I would consciously choose a book that only has men in it. I think I could probably enjoy a book with all women.
Happy Thursday, everyone.I stressed a ton over my science final... and I ended up getting a B. Phew. All I wanted was to not bomb the final, hehe...
Now it's officially summer break, and it's time to decide what I'm going to do with my time now that I'm not taking classes. Books and Legend of Zelda, it looks like.
Books read this week:
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating -- for the Extreme Book Nerd prompt “nonfiction in the 500s of the Dewey Decimal System.” I never realized snails could be such fascinating creatures! A lovely little read.
The Only One Left (ARC) -- for the Extreme Book Nerd prompt “set in the past.” Not Riley Sager’s best, and relies a bit too much on contrived coincidences, but I still enjoy Sager’s twisty thrillers. And this one kept me guessing until the very end.
Leaving Mundania: Inside the Transformative World of Live Action Role-Playing Games -- for the Extreme Book Nerd prompt “about a skill.” Yes, I’d consider LARPing (live-action role-playing) a skill. This was a fascinating look at one of the nerdiest hobbies of all, and it makes me want to seek out a LARP group locally.
Cryptid Club -- comic collection. Sara Anderson gives us the adventures of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Mothman, Slenderman, aliens, ghosts, and other mysterious creatures… and it turns out they have some of the same problems as the rest of us. Very cute.
DNF:
Adventures of a Continental Drifter -- this is supposed to be a travelog, but all the guy can seem to focus on is potty humor and lusting after every woman he meets. Pass.
The Elephant Whisperer -- not DNFing this one for good, just going to return the audiobook and find a physical copy. Turns out the audio is an abridged version…
Currently Reading:
The Invisible Man
Make Me No Grave
Gemina
Small Things Like These
QOTW:
I honestly don't mind reading a book with a cast that's all one gender, provided the book itself is good and that it isn't misogynist/misandrist in its writing. If a book is obnoxious in making the only female character a weak love interest or the only male character a violent brute, then I have issues.
I finished A Tale of Two Cities as a book i read more than 10 years ago (about 30). theoretically, I know I read it, but I didn't remember it at all. Which is good.I'm sort of cheating I think and am reading Heat Storm as my fanfic book. It is not particularly good.
Qotw: Absolutely. I care about the story, not the gender, race or other physical attributes of the characters.
Ashley Marie wrote: "Happy Thursday!Upcoming (hopefully!):
The Downstairs Girl
The Crystal Cave
Detonation Boulevard.."
I loved the Arthur trilogy. Hope you enjoy it.
Happy Thursday!! I love Thursday's so much lol.. It's almost Friday and I get paid. I finished one book this week. The Nation Must Awake: My Witness to the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 This is my review:
A few things come to mind after I finished this book. I was excited to read eye witness accounts of Tulsa because I'd only heard bits and pieces from one of the lone survivors a few years ago. But reading it from several different people and the perspectives of what truly happened make me angrier and angrier. Reading this made me think constantly, "They better be happy that we want equality, and not revenge. I'm pretty sure everyone that took part in Tulsa is dead but that doesn't change the fact that what the white people did really affected thousands of black people's lives-possibly for generations.
There was a tremendous loss of wealth and property from the black citizens, and WHY? Mostly because of jealousy, a lie and pure hatred!! The lie that started it all was that a black young man assaulted a young white woman in an elevator when in fact he tripped and touched her arm. How they got assaulted is beyond me but that actually landed him in jail. And while in jail an angry mob of 100 white men decided to lynch him, but Black men from Tulsa decided to protect him and that's when everything started.
I'm angry today because I could feel how living back then would make me feel helpless. A white person could just lie and it would get me killed.
The majority of the eye witness testimonies explained how cruel these people were and how they rounded all the men up , were shooting at women and children with machine guns etc. All of this just makes me sad and angry to be honest. Just knowing that we are still being treated badly doesn't make me feel any better.
READING:
I've started stuff and stopped a few of my books but nothing is really holding my attention. I'm listening to The City We Became and it's just not fully holding my attention, despite me being a N.K. Jemisen fan.
QOTW:
I prefer reading books if it's an all women cast. Anytime I read books that have all men in it, there's always some misogynistic b.s or racist stuff that manages to creep up. I haven't had a chance to read anything that really features all women unless it was a nonfiction book specifically talking about doula work or reproductive justice work, which is one of my interests/side jobs.
Hello fellow goodreaders.We're hitting the mid-90s (F) as far as temperatures go. We've had some dark clouds, but not enough for rain which is a complete and total bummer.
As for me, massive stress headaches because of some personal issues with my friends. I've finally closed the chapter in my life with them so that's been hard to deal with. I was the type of friend to reach out, but they never did, especially after a traumatic event in my life that I thought they'd be there for me, but weren't.
Then to top it off I have a serious skin condition, a form of dermatitis so that is not fun to deal with. Basically my face peels, turns, red, and swells. I don't like it because it looks like I don't wash my face or put lotion on it. It's gross. It's often caused by stress, depression, and heat/sunlight, and other environmental factors.
So that's how things have been for me. Now onto more pressing matters. Books!
*****
Currently reading:
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel - I have loved this book so far and I'm barely on chapter 5. There are a lot of great family dynamics between Leia's adoptive parents, her new relationship with Luke, and her coming to terms with her biological family. So far those are the things I'm enjoying most, more so than the Han/Leia relationship stuff.
*****
I still need to do some book challenge reads and I'm hoping to do so. Mainly for my nonfiction stuff. For the family prompt I already have Skywalker: A Family at War in mind, even though I've got some other good Star Wars books that would fit that prompt just as easily.
LOL I've been on a Star Wars kick lately for some reason. I love it!
*****
QOTW: Can you enjoy a book if the cast of characters is exclusively men? Or exclusively women?
Exclusively men. No. No disrespect since this is for general discussion, but I can't trust things that are centered around men.
It's like Jai said, most things are usually misogynistic or racist.
When it comes to exclusively women. Yes, well sometimes. It depends on the book. Sometimes women can be just as cruel. I have an overall distrust of anyone so that's what makes it difficult. But between the true I trust men less than I do women, though barely.
Hi all, Turns out we didn't get the scan results in time so my cat is starting radiation Monday, not this week. Which is both frustrating and a relief. I am glad he had another week of peace to chill and not go through scary stuff. But I also just want to get all this over with and get him through it.
This week I finished:
Clytemnestra - this was a bit of a tough read but really good. Her story is so brutal but I think the author did the retelling really well from her perspective, handling with care and focusing on Clytemnestra's rage, and strength, and power rather than on the things done TO her. It's a good one to look into if anyone else has been enjoying the surge of "retellings of Greek stories from the women's perspectives" like I have.
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - read this for an online book club i'm running. I liked it pretty well, fast read. Nothing absolutely amazing but I'll probably read the next one.
currently reading:
A Dead Djinn in Cairo - this will be my shortest book on my tbr (48 pages) so will probably finish during lunch.
Cat's Cradle - audio re-read, this will be my book I haven't read in at least 10 years. I admit that I'm eyeing the 5 star rating I gave it the first time around and wondering why I rated it so high. It's not that it's BAD, but i'm not that impressed on second read. I guess I've just read that much more stuff since then. Also more aware of some of the more problematic content. (like every woman character throwing her hands up every time science is mentioned being all "oh no, this is all over my head! I can't understand a word!")
QOTW:
I don't know if i've ever read anything that was 100% female cast with not a single male anywhere. But I definitely prefer women dominant casts to male dominant casts, mainly due to growing up and watching/reading so much of the other way around. I've had my fill. I'm not saying i've never enjoyed those, but I've had enough. And often in those even when there ARE women characters they're the Token Female, or only there to be a love interest or die and motivate a male character etc.
Vacation!! This week we had a gorgeous weekend at home weatherwise. My body had to recover from a massage so I was ‘forced’ to sit in our garden with a book. Now we are in Austria, Tyrol. We started with heavy rains. So we enjoyed our comfortable lodge (and I finished a couple of books). Now it’s dried up and we went to see the mountain city of Füssen, walked in the castle gardens of Linderhof (lots of Americans over there btw) and drove past the Neuschwanstein castle (“Disney’s castle”). We went there a couple of years ago and imho you’d better visit Schloss Schönbrunn in Vienna (the Sissi castle) if you had to pick one castle in Europe. More history and more people actually lived in that castle. King Ludwig never lived in his castle, he died before it was finished and after that it was immediately opened for visitors. Anyways, we drove a lot around, nature is so beautiful over here! It’s just starting to get green, leafs are coming out now. And there are lots of dandelions in the meadows.
PS: 24/50
Total 2023: 26
Finished
The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason⭐⭐⭐⭐
PS #19, A book that fulfills your favorite prompt from a past challenge (I use this one as a joker)
I loved the end. Perfect fit for this story. And I learned a lot about the eastern front in WW1. This book is set in the border region of now Poland, Ukrain and Hungary.
De eigenzinnige erfdochter van Middachten: Ursula Philippota van Raesfelt by Hermine Manschot-Tijdink⭐⭐⭐⭐
PS #2, A book you bought from an independent bookstore
This one took me a while, but only because I wanted to read big parts of it at a time. It’s the story of a countess of the castle in the little village I was born. She lived in a defining time in our nation’s history and she and her husband played a big role in it. You know the ‘Orange marches’ in Ireland? Her husband, Godard, was part of the ‘battle of the Boyne’, the battle remembered by those marches. The Irish later surrendered to her husband at Limerick. Her son brought the peace treaty to King William, who was in the Netherlands. Godard got the title ‘count of Athlone’ because of it and that is why this lady was a countess.
Nepnieuws by Han van der Horst ⭐⭐
PS #40, A book by an author with the same initials as you
On the history of fake news which goes back to the ancient Egypts.
Currently reading
De Zwijger: Het leven van Willem van Oranje by René van Stipriaan
Die Wintergarten-Frauen. Der Traum beginnt
QOTW
I never thought about this. I enjoy a book when the characters are realistic. And I know: in real life, it’s not realistic when there are no men or women around. But I really never thought about it.
Kenya wrote: "Happy Thursday, everyone.I stressed a ton over my science final... and I ended up getting a B. Phew. All I wanted was to not bomb the final, hehe...
Now it's officially summer break, and it's ti..."
Congrats on your final, Kenya! I hope Zelda is wonderful - it looks gorgeous, and a ton of my IRL friends have already pounced on it. I have no game console, so I must live vicariously through all of you lol
A bunch of my Thursday meetings were cancelled so sneaking in a check-in! It's starting to be warm enough to go out without a coat, though this being Britain there's still the risk of being rained on. It'll just be slightly less cold rain now.Watched Eurovision at the weekend and drank a lot of Pimms so Sunday was just lying around feeling tired. None of the acts I liked did very well but it's always fun to watch.
Finished:
The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw for ATY (faceless person). This was beautifully written, yet gory, the kind of writing that works well in a novella but might grow tiresome at double the length. It's very loosely inspired by the Little Mermaid but is more of its own dark fairytale.
My Week with Him by Joya Goffney for ATY (returning home). This was a bit of a disappointment, her other books were so good. But this is about an 18 year old supposedly living under the constant threat of homelessness and she doesn't seem all that worried about it and it doesn't really address anything. It assumes she has these safety nets which are eye-rollingly unrealistic. I guess it was trying to be a nice story rather than a realistic one, but it just didn't hit the right notes for me.
PS: 23/40 | ATY: 28/52 | GR: 44/100
QOTW:
I think it's fine if there's some sort of justification, eg. it's set in a single sex school, those exist! Or all the men died for some reason and its exploring gender norms. But when it just feels like an author has forgotten the opposite sex exists, it's a bit annoying, and let's face it is usually accompanied by a bunch of sexism too. I wouldn't stop reading because of it alone, but I might not pick that author up again if I were getting certain vibes.
Hi all! I'm exhausted. The kiddo had a half day yesterday, so I decided we would go to my dad's house because we haven't seen him in over a month (he's been in Idaho visiting my step brother). Dad lives an hour and half away, and I am not cut out for all that driving and socializing anymore (stupid fatigue). So today my big goals are to do dishes and sleep. Yay me. We had frost on our porch this morning. Aforementioned step brother is in the 80s in Idaho...
Didn't finish anything. I wanted to do more reading this week than I did. I'm close to finishing several books, so I'm trying to get something new going so that I'm not in book hangover/drought when I get through these books. I'm closest to being done with The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism. Those poor people. I read a little more in When Christ and His Saints Slept and The End of the Affair. I listened to a little bit in Stay Gold, which was a free audiobook last year/year before? Ooh! new books today! :D
I read a couple of poems in The Open Boat: Poems from Asian America and started Riders of the Purple Sage. I'm actually really liking the writing style. I also picked up Flamer at the library on a whim. I was aware of this book as one that's been banned, I didn't realize it was a graphic novel.
QOTW: I can't think of any books I've read where all the characters are only either male or female. Does anyone have some titles?? I don't think I'd have a problem with it either way.
Mod
LOL Yes! These check-ins, plus knowing the weekend is right around the corner, make Thursdays like little rays of sunshine in my week.
I'm listening to The City We Became and it's just not fully holding my attention, despite me being a N.K. Jemisen fan.
I usually love her books, but that one did not work for me, either. It's got its fans, but I'm not one of them. I LOVED her short story that this novel was based on, so it really surprised me that the novel was so "meh" for me.
Happy Thursday, everyone!This has been a great week for reading! I’ve been able to make a lot of progress on both my TBR and “New Books” lists, and I’ve officially reached my Goodreads Challenge goal for the year!
Here are my current challenge and TBR totals…
Goodreads Challenge: 400/400 (Challenge Complete!)
Mount TBR Challenge: 150/150 (Challenge Complete!)
📚Physical TBR: 187/634
📱Ebook TBR: 7/236
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/13
TBR Checklist Total: 205/883 (23.2% complete)
This is the second week in a row that I have not bought any new books!
“New” Books Bought in 2023: 277
“New” Books Read in 2023: 188/277 (67.8% complete)
Here are the books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~The Ripper Affair — This is the third book in the Bannon and Clare series. I thought this was an interesting story. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Damnation Affair — This is the fourth and final book in the Bannon and Clare series. I thought this was an interesting story, but was surprised by the fact that Bannon and Clare are not actually in it. I would also call it a horror story, rather than fantasy. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Castle in the Air — This was such a wonderful, magical read! If you love Howl’s Moving Castle, then I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book! 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~House of Many Ways — I absolutely loved this book! What a great sequel to Howl’s Moving Castle and Castle in the Air! 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~A Curious Beginning — I decided to re-read the first book in the Veronica Speedwell series before diving into the remaining books, and I’m so glad I did. There was a lot that I just did not remember, and I really enjoyed the story. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
None
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
This week I continued reading the Bleach manga series. I am having a lot of fun reading this series, and I’m looking forward to continuing it next week. The volumes I read this week include…
~Bleach, Vol. 16: Night of Wijnruit — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 17: Rosa Rubicundior, Lilio Candidior — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 18: The Deathberry Returns — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 19: The Black Moon Rising — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 20: End of Hypnosis — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 21: Be My Family or Not — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 22: Conquistadores — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 23: iMala Suerte! — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Volume 24 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 25: No Shaking Throne — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Volume 26 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 27: Goodbye, Halcyon Days — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 28: Baron's Lecture Full-Course — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Volume 29 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 30: There Is No Heart Without You — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 31: Don't Kill My Volupture — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 32: Howling — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 33: The Bad Joke — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 34: King of the Kill — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bleach, Vol. 35: Higher Than the Moon — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I also got back into reading the Pokémon Adventures manga series this week! I am still waiting for one last volume to be delivered (which is taking forever), but it’s late enough in the series that I felt like I could go ahead and continue reading. I am continuing to enjoy this series very much, and I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes from here. The volumes I read this week include…
~Pokémon Adventures: HeartGold & SoulSilver, Vol. 1 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: HeartGold & SoulSilver, Vol. 2 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black & White, Vol. 1 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black & White, Vol. 2 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black & White, Vol. 3 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black & White, Vol. 4 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black & White, Vol. 5 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black & White, Vol. 6 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black & White, Vol. 7 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black & White, Vol. 8 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black & White, Vol. 9 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black 2 & White 2, Vol. 1 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black 2 & White 2, Vol. 2 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black 2 & White 2, Vol. 3 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Pokémon Adventures: Black 2 & White 2, Vol. 4 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I also finished reading my remaining Suicide Squad comic books. I did enjoy most of the stories in these books, but they are definitely reflective of the time period in which they were written, and they do contain some problematic content. The volumes I read this week include…
~Suicide Squad, Volume 5: Apokolips Now — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Suicide Squad, Volume 6: The Phoenix Gambit — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Suicide Squad Vol. 7: The Dragon's Hoard — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
In addition to these series, I read the following comic books…
~Suicide Squad Vol. 1: The Black Vault — I really enjoyed the artwork in this book, but I felt like the narrative jumped around a little too much. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Spider-Man/Deadpool, Vol. 0: Don't Call It A Team-Up — While I did enjoy some of the stories in this collection more than others, this was a fun read. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Black Widow: The Itsy-Bitsy Spider — This was a great collection of Black Widow stories! 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Black Widow: Web of Intrigue — This was a good collection of older Black Widow stories. I found the different art styles really interesting. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Black Widow: The Sting of the Widow — This was another good collection of older Black Widow stories. It was cool to see how her costume evolved over time. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Black Widow: Welcome To The Game — This was a great comic book collection! I especially enjoyed the art in this book. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~The Three Musketeers — I am thoroughly enjoying this book! I just finished chapter 29 this morning. 📚
~A Perilous Undertaking — This is the second book in the Veronica Speedwell series. I’m only a few chapters in, but I’m enjoying it so far. 📚
~Hawkeye: Avenging Archer — I haven’t had a chance to read very much of this comic book yet, so I haven’t formed any opinions about it. 📚
QOTW:
I’ve enjoyed books with exclusively male characters, as well as books with exclusively female characters. As long as the book is well-written and the story is engaging, I don’t really have a preference.
Mod
LOL that book was assigned reading in my senior year of high school. I'd never heard of Vonnegut before then, and I loved the book, I'd never read anything like it before. Vonnegut was a contemporary author at that time, still actively writing. I read a few more Vonnegut books after that. But a few years back I read one I'd never read before (Breakfast of Champions) and holy wow it was not good! it was dated! it was sexist! I was shocked at how much I did not like it!
So, based on your review, now I know: I will never go back and re-read Cat's Cradle. I don't want to ruin my happy memory of it!
Sorry you're still in waiting mode with your cat!
Nadine in NY wrote: "Sheri wrote: "... Cat's Cradle - audio re-read, this will be my book I haven't read in at least 10 years. I admit that I'm eyeing the 5 star rating I gave it the first time around and wondering why..."I recall being deeply unimpressed with Cat's Cradle the first time I read it, and I think that was enough to put me off Vonnegut as a whole.
Jennifer W wrote: "Hi all! I'm exhausted. The kiddo had a half day yesterday, so I decided we would go to my dad's house because we haven't seen him in over a month (he's been in Idaho visiting my step brother). Dad ..."Lord of the Flies comes to mind for exclusively male. I hated this book so much when I was assigned to read it in school.
Hello all! I missed last week's post and kept meaning to do a late one, and then all of a sudden, there was a new weekly post. Not that I read that much the past two weeks, so I can catch all the way up.
Finished
The Remains of the Day Wow. This book was not at all what I expected. I had an image in mind that it might be a recollection of a forbidden love story between two staff at a country house, I think based on the movie trailer. And I thought the man would be wistful about that. Nope! Instead it's a stubborn, naive, and pompous dude making no apologies as he looks back at his life in service - and he's also an unreliable narrator about it. And the romance (view spoiler)
You would think from my description that I didn't enjoy the book at all, but somehow I still loved it. I thought it was achingly beautiful in places, even though the insight or wistfulness wasn't coming from the narrator. Definitely deserving of all the literary awards it won.
Machines like Me By contrast, in this one an unlikeable narrator killed the book for me. The central story of Charlie, his girlfriend, and the "synthetic human" he purchases didn't engage me at all. What I did like was the little glimpses of an alternate 1980s, and trying to puzzle out how small timeline changes led to this version of history (i.e. Alan Turing did not allow himself to be chemically castrated, lived, and that helped the scientific progress leading to the development of the synthetic humans). I had thought from the description this might also be an option for forbidden romance, but again, nope.
The Guest List For Nadine's mini-challenge, set on an island. A light enough funner read after the prior two, but everything ended up just way too neatly put together.
Currently Reading
Really Good, Actually, my book about divorce. I was enjoying this about, both the writing style and the character of Maggie, despite her cringey moments. Then we got to a fairly big reveal, and it's really thrown me off. I almost feel betrayed? It's weird, but I'm going to have to sort through my feelings before continuing.
True Reconciliation: How to Be a Force for Change for one of my book clubs. Not that far into it yet.
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast for a light, non-challenge option. On this one I'm really waiting for the story to get going - it's not that long and I'm about a third in, and I just got to the point that leads to Beauty going to the Beast's castle. I feel like there's not that much room left to develop the story between them!
QotW
As Ellie said above, it depends if there's justification or not. If it's in a mixed gender society and it just happens to be all men (or women) who are focused on, it gets a side eye. But if it makes sense in the narrative, then I can totally go with it, and enjoy it.
For all women, Women Talking and Persephone Station come to mind. For all men, I loved the Horatio Hornblower books.
Hi Everyone, I read one book for the week. Billy Summers. 5 stars. Not for this challenge. QOTW: I have never thought about having predominately male or female characters in a book. Everyone does have a point. Billy Summers is predominantly male characters for a good portion of the book. There are a few female characters drifting in & out in the first portion of the book. The book is basically about bad men doing horrible things to mainly females & each other. When I break it down like this the book sounds terrible. I think what saved it for me was Steven Kings writing. He does all genres well.
Mod
I stepped outside to take out the trash after I first posted here, and yes we had frost on the lawn too! I just got a few plants mailed to me, but they were still in their box, right next to my house, so they're fine (and a little frost wouldn't harm them much anyway, they are perennials).
Jennifer W wrote: "QOTW: I can't think of any books I've read where all the characters are only either male or female. Does anyone have some titles?? I don't think I'd have a problem with it either way..."I read a novelized version of the battle of Thermopylae that I can't remember the name of. Pretty sure there weren't any women in that. A mighty afternoon which was about the battle of the Little Big Horn. There were men around, but Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons was focused on the women.
But, yeah, life consists of both, so I don't feel like there are a plethora of books out there with just one sex or the other unless it's just about a day or short period of something specific happening.
First of all, how are we in Week 20 already???Secondly, happy Thursday!
We've been having lovely weather the past few days and should be getting some more! Disney looks good on Monday & Tuesday as well so fingers crossed!
Speaking of Disney: We officially booked Walt Disney World! We now have 1,5 year to save, wish us luck! If we have to we'll postpone but we'd rather not, haha!
Mickey is doing well, given the circumstances. He was very rapidly losing a lot of weight so we are doing our best to help him gain again, but PostNL failed us (again) so he's been without forcefeed (which he luckily laps up himself!) for two days now. Fingers crossed it'll arrive tomorrow.
I am of course absolutely cranked up to 1000 when it comes to anxiety so I am now unsure whether I'm worrying about Lucy for nothing or not. I have a plan of approach in mind that won't harm her (except for her being angry at me) and I'll call the vet tomorrow to confirm. Today's a holiday so I couldn't; as of yet this is nowhere near an emergency.
So yeah. I've been exhausted. Stress, worry, physically- we tore down the old and set up a new catio, and I've been going on 20 minute walks (thinking of upping them to 25 soon)... everything combined I have been so tired I didn't want to do anything. Even Disney on Monday I'm like 'eh'.
BUT, I managed to read some fics and since yesterday I've been reading books again! I am currently writing this during a break because I started to lose focus. A shame, I'd hoped to read the whole thing today (640 pages), but 200 in 2 sessions of 1 hour isn't bad. Finishing tomorrow is good too :D
Read
Thunderhead for bookclub
Is this on a celeb book list? Unlikely. Do I have interest in celeb book clubs? Definitely not. So am I counting this book because surely somewhere someone read it for a book club? Hell yeah.
I finally did it! It took 4 years and a reread of Scythe in September last year (I know kjhdjs) but I DID IT. And I really enjoyed it! Not on the same adoration level as Scythe, but still wow.
Currently Reading
The Toll
203 pages in, baffled at the amount of mistakes so far (worst might have been 'week' instead of 'weak') and wondering at the random switches in writing style. Also really struggling with some of the interludes, but hopefully that'll get explained at some point. Stupid brain of mine just doesn't do well with the way those interludes are set up and written, haha! We'll see how it goes!
QOTW
For me it depends as well. It's hard to pin down, but as a kid I wouldn't even have noticed a lack of female characters (because let's face it, that happened more often than the other way around). Now I do. And I notice when there's just a token female one. Or when they're plot devices to further the male character's story. I'd rather have no women than that! It also depends on when a book was written.
I prefer a nice balance, though, unless the story has a reason for it to be only one or the other.
Good for you Nadine. I am reading too many books and it has affected my TV watching. I still haven't finished You. I still haven't finished season 3 of the Mandalorian. I am behind on Riverdale. So many of my friends say they don't have time to read, but then they watch the latest shows, and I'm the opposite.At least I finally finished a book so I'm down to reading 4 instead of 5. It's another long weekend, so I'm hoping to finish another 1 or 2 this weekend.
Penguin Island
ATY prompt: A book that has an object that is repeated on the cover (penguins)
Popsugar prompt: A historical-fiction book
Series - 5/15
Series Completed: - Lying Games, Bronwyn the Witch, Divergent
Nobel laureates - 2/7
Random books - 2/7
ATY - 17/40
PS - 16/30
Nadine's 23 challenge - 10/10 -Completed!
Around the year in 52 movies - 18/52
Currently reading:
The Silver Chalice - 30% done
Something Rotten - 35% done
The Arm of the Starfish - 70% done
Alice - 40% done
Buddy Reads:
God in My Everything: How an Ancient Rhythm Helps Busy People Enjoy God - 4/15 chapters
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - 10/37 chapters
A Light in the Window - 1/21 chapters
QOTW: Can you enjoy a book if the cast of characters is exclusively men? Or exclusively women?
Exclusively women - yes. I have read some great books where all the main characters are women. (Although most of the time they do have romantic relationships - but the chapters are never from their perspective). Lord of the Rings was one of the few books I loved where all of the main characters were male.
When it comes to movies, I'm more picky. Some people are DC and others are MCU. I'll watch both, but I don't watch superhero movies unless they have strong female characters. (And not just someone's girlfriend.)
I made so much progress on my Mount TBR challenge!Personal: 40/50
Nadine's: 10/10
Mount TBR: 34/36
Finished:
The Price of Two Sparrows
Reading to Learn: Lessons from Exemplary Fourth-Grade Classrooms This one was very good.
Schools for Growth: Radical Alternatives To Current Education Models
Scaffolding Reading Experiences: Designs for Student Success I decided to keep this one to use as a reference
Ground Zero Realized I could use this one for takes place in one day! Written as a thriller, difficult to read unless you have some distance from 9/11.
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
The Subtle Knife
Communication and Learning Revisited
Practical Intelligence in Everyday Life This one was disappointing. Paid for by the U.S. Army, it was definitely not what I was looking for!
DNF:
Beyond the Textbook: Teaching History Using Documents and Primary Sources
Language, the Learner, and the School
Alternative Schools: Ideologies, Realities, Guidelines
QotW: I don't care what the genders of the characters are as long as they're believably portrayed. Sometimes when it's a male author, the female characters fall flat and the other way around. And of course, let's not forget non-binary! ;)
Happy Thursday, everyone!Finished:
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen - 5 stars - for a book you wish you could read for the first time again. I loved it just as much the second time through. Honestly, my favorite part is the character voice, which just comes alive. Which leads me to...
Painted Devils by Margaret Owen - 5 stars - for a book bought from an independent bookstore. I marathoned this book, finished it by 4PM on its release day, and then went to an author event at the independent bookstore that night to get my copy signed. I think I still loved the first one a little more, but this was still great, sets up a book three, and I just loved getting to see my favorite horrible maid and her human civics primer again.
Comics & manga:
Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Vol. 1
Queen's Quality, Vol. 17
Natsume's Book of Friends, Vol. 28
WITCH WATCH, Vol. 3: Dogs and Raindrops
Persona 5, Vol. 6
Honey and Clover, Vol. 1
Honey and Clover, Vol. 2
Lovesick Ellie, Vol. 3
Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 24
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 1
I am currently at 27/50 for Popsugar (21/40 and 6/10).
Currently reading:
Mika in Real Life by Emiko Jean - for celebrity book club. It's a Good Morning America book club pick, so I'm going to count that as a celebrity pick. So far, I'm enjoying it. The main character is a likable mess, and I can just see this situation waiting to blow up in her face.
Upcoming/Planned:
Last Canto of the Dead by Daniel José Older (not currently for a prompt, but I may try to fit it in afterward)
QOTW:
I definitely prefer female-majority casts between the two. I tend to lose intertest in anything that is all or almost-all male characters, which is why I bounced off Tolkein, for example. If there's a reason for it, as some of you have said (i.e., an all-boys or all-girls school), I have an easier time with it.
Finished:Aircraft: The Definitive Visual History by DK (3/5, not for a prompt)
I mostly just looked at all of the images of aircraft through time. As it's a reference book, I did not feel the need to read it cover to cover. I got an idea of what it contains and can come back to it if necessary.
Cinder by Marissa Meyer (4/5, a book written during NaNoWriMo)
This was a very imaginative retelling of Cinderella, using the fairy tale as a jumping-off point instead of translating every story beat into a sci-fi world. I enjoyed reading about Cinder and Kai, and there was a much higher level of political intrigue than the 1950 movie had. I compare the ending to The Empire Strikes Back in that the immediate story is over, but there are still some major unresolved issues for the next story to deal with.
PS 2023 progress: 41/50
Currently reading:
An Anthology of Aquatic Life by Sam Hume
I am reading this one with my 7-year-old daughter at bedtime bit by bit.
Star Wars: Convergence by Zoraida Córdova
A Stitch in Time by Andrew J. Robinson (reread)
The Kiss Album Focus: Hell Or High Water, 1983 96 by Julian Gill
Question of the Week:
Yes and yes. Just give me interesting characters and stories, and I'm not as worried about the demographic breakdown of the characters. Stepping outside the confines of one story, I would encourage authors to be more inclusive and varied as a general rule.
Happy Thursday, y’all.Gee, but this week sailed by. Not much happened except for the usual yard stuff. The lawn guy came finally and cut some tree limbs that were shading my yard too much. Now more sunlight can reach that part of the yard and maybe save my grass from dying.
I am still working to get purchased plants into the ground and volunteer tomato plants out of the compost pile and into pots or ground. Currently I have 12 tomato plants in my garden (8 from the compost group) and 7 pots (one or two pots have more than one plant in it). I still have about 8-10 to move/pot.
Oh, but the nicest part of the week was last weekend. I turned 75! I have lived ¾ of a century! So impressive! Here’s hoping for another quarter.
Finished:
In Like Flynn – ALCM. 4* This is an ongoing series for me. ALCM is doing a challenge of reading a series with one book each month. I just finished book #4 for April. Now to get the May book.
You Can't Say That!: Writers for Young People Talk about Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have to Tell – Audiobook. No prompt. 3* This is part of the Sora series for young people during the summer. I got bored with the interview format and responses before the end. “How did you feel when your book was banned?” “What did you do?” Most of the interviewed authors felt the same and most had organizations who championed their books for them.
A Little Yellow Dog – PAS, RwS, old challenges, PS #9 (a color in the title). 4* I enjoy this series, although I have dipped into it at odd times. It is a reflection of a slice of life that I will never know.
The Trembling Hills – Ebook. RwS. 4* Wow! This was a fun book with well-drawn characters set at the time and in the place of San Francisco great fire!
Bleach (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 1: Includes vols. 1, 2 & 3 - No prompt. 3* This is my dip into manga. Yep, finally getting around to that long list I was given. I must admit that the graphics did not help me with the story at all. It seemed like the protagonist was yelling all the time! However, by book #3, I had begun to get the hang of the story and what was going on. I will probably try another of this series in the future. This omnibus contained the first 3 books.
Lab Girl – ATY #18, PAS, old challenge. 3*. I learned a lot about plants during the chapters that described her actual research. Yet this book is as much a memoir as it is a book about science and, as a result, it was hard for me to pick it up and keep reading once I had put it down.
Scent to Her Grave – ALCM, PAS. 4*. I really enjoyed this cozy mystery set on an island off Washington state. The protagonist creates individual scents for people and the writer has included a few recipes for doing just that in the book.
Currently Reading:
Dreams and Shadows – No prompt. Kindle. 13%. Weird book. On hold.
The Beginner's Photography Guide: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Manual for Getting the Most from Your Digital Camera – PS #2. 8%. On hold.
The Night of Fear - No prompt. Ebook. Not yet started. I am reading the prologue.
Fruits Basket Collector's Edition, Vol. 1 – No prompt. 7%.
Freaky Green Eyes – ALCM. Not yet started. Due to library Saturday.
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra – RwS. Not yet started. Due to library Saturday.
Buddy Read:
The Three Musketeers – 34%.
On deck:
Every Note Played
On the Road
Confessions of a Bookseller
A Question of Belief
PS 16/50 and 6/10 for Nadine’s Challenge
ATY 18/52 and 11/12 for Q1 Challenge, 4/12 for Q2 Challenge
GR 100/200
RwS 12/30
QotW: Can you enjoy a book if the cast of characters is exclusively men? Or exclusively women?
Although I tend to prefer strong women protagonists, it is the story that draws me rather than the gender of the cast of characters. Like others I do not like books that are misogynist nor misandrist.
Happy check-in! It felt like summer a few days ago and I got the sunburn and mosquito bites, but today the furnace is close to turning on. The cool temps are nice though because it's been smoky here and you can't really spend time outside although today it's mostly gone. There are many fires in Northern Alberta, and some in Northern Sask and BC. Finished Reading:
Heart on Fire ⭐⭐⭐ (PS song lyrics)
So this seems to be the end for Cat pov and the series continues with a different character. Oh well, the Greek Mythology is fun.
The Wedding Girl ⭐⭐ (PS about a family)
So this has been on the tbr for a long time. An early book from Madeleine Wickham/Sophie Kinsella. This was published in 99 and it's a tad outdated, but probably good for 99. Not the author's best work. The main character was too stupid to live to make the plot work. This also followed many characters, some were really good so this ended better than it started.
The Mortal Instruments: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 6 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (ATY 4+ colours on the cover)
This volume concludes the amount of the series I've read. Hopefully I can read the 4th book before volume 7 is published.
PS 33/50
ATY 37/52
Nadine's 10/10
Goodreads 116/200
Currently Reading:
Daughter of the Moon Goddess
QOTW:
For fiction I want to feel like the characters/world are real so having only one gender makes it harder for the author to pull that off.
Younger me did enjoy All Quiet on the Western Front and that was following an army unit of all men. I'm not sure that today I would have the same enjoyment though, I've read so many amazing books since then and I look at how women are written and talked about.
My copy of Skywalker: A Family at War is coming in on Saturday. I already have one, but the annotating is all wrong this time around so I wanted to redo it.The same could be said for Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel . I got a copy and started annotating, but then my color themes were all wrong from the key I did so I went out and got a second copy.
*****
Today I picked up these:
Star Wars and Philosophy Strikes Back: This Is the Way - This one seemed pretty interesting. I have no idea what it's about.
Queen's Peril - Found this one in paperback. I already have the hardback, but since I have 'Queen's Shadow' in paperback, I'd been wanting to get this one in pb. The pb of 'Queen's Hope' (the third in the series), gets released in October.
It's funny because I normally don't have the patience for series. I'm reading all of the Star Wars novel adaptations, but those are slightly different because you can read them separately.
The only series I've ever been able to stick to are the Twilight and Hunger Games books. I lose interest if I try more series. I have the Wheel of Time books, but that's like 14 of them so I can't sit through them. I can't sit with LOTR either.
Happy Thursday!I have like 5 minutes to write this. More training for our switch from polaris to koha. This is on top of getting ready for SRP and all the other library stuff we have to do.
So I'm a mental mess right now.
Popsugar:9/50
Finished: None
Reading:None
Aty:10/52
Finished:None
Reading: None
Goodreads Challenge 296/400
Finished:
Busy Bugs: A Book About Patterns
Noblesse Volume One: A WEBTOON Unscrolled Graphic Novel
Need
Given to the Gladiator
Oversummoned, Overpowered, and Over It! Volume 1
Dungeon Busters: Volume 1
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer: Volume 7
My Special One, Vol. 1
My Special One, Vol. 2
Marrying the Protective Professor
The Man of the Mountain
Dirty Blow: A Curvy Girl Brother's Best Friend Boxing Instalove Romance
Protecting His Brat
The Killer's Payment
Sticky Sweet: Filthy Dirty Summer
Daddy’s Billionaire Boss
A Mountain Man for Christmas
Grump Gone Bad
Baby, It's Hot in Here
Taught by the Chef
Reading:
The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent (Light Novel) Vol. 2
Vampire Bait
Nadine's Mini Challenge 7/10
Finished:None
Reading: None
Mount TBR:
31/150 Ebook
22/150 Physical
QOTW:
I'm not sure. The closest book I can only think of would be The Martian. I liked that.
I don't know what else I've ever read that did not have both.
Well since I'm doing the PS Challenge twice, one for all nonfiction and the other for general, here are my numbers so far:Nonfiction: 28/50
General: 26/50
*****
Not bad so far. Still want to pick up the pace though just to challenge myself. I have a whole summer tbr so I'll see what I can work in with those.
Just a quick check in for me this week -- my schedule is all out of whack today, which means I have time to check in on Thursday instead of over the weekend. Yay! 😄 I finished one book, which worked for both this challenge and the BookRiot Read Harder Challenge, so I made progress on both of them! Double yay! 😄 With that completion, I'm officially at the halfway point for this challenge (currently at 21/40 and 4/10) and am at 52/75 for my overall Goodreads Reading Challenge. Finished:
* Above Ground written and narrated by Clint Smith, which I used for "a book published in spring 2023" (it was published in March). I really enjoyed this collection and the audiobook narration by the author was superb!
Currently Reading:
* Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by Bono, which I *should* finish up over the next couple of days;
* The Buenos Aires Quintet by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán and translated by Nick Caistor, which I haven't made much (read: any) progress on since the last check in; and,
* Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which I *should* also be able to finish up over the next couple of days.
QotW:
Can you enjoy a book if the cast of characters is exclusively men? Or exclusively women? I can't think of a title off the top of my head that I've read that had an all-male or all-female cast of characters, but I'm sure I'd enjoy a book like that if the story was interesting. I think it'd be interesting to see how an author would handle that and how the dynamics of the relationships and stories might change in such an insular world.
Happy Thursday! A little chilly here today. I'm wishing for warmer weather. I ended up buying my mother a garden phlox 'laura' variety (her name is Laura) for mother's day. She was amused by it. I also got a callisia pink lady for myself. Hopefully, I can keep this houseplant alive for a bit. I'm definitely not the greatest at plant care. Finished:
Arsenic and Adobo (PS book about a family) 2 stars. I realize that a cozy mystery is not supposed to be that deep but the main character could have shown SOME emotion. Her first love/ex boyfriend is murdered and she didn't feel anything. I did end up liking the rest of her busybody family and her best friend.
Bunny (ATY birds, bees, or bunnies) 3 stars. Bit of a strange book. I liked that I didn't really know what was going on because it made me want to keep reading.
Currently reading:
The Relentless Moon (ATY author with first name popular in 1923)
The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier (PS book about divorce)
Coming up:
In the Lives of Puppets (PS published in spring 2023)
QOTW: I think it really depends on the book for me. If there is a actual reason for an there being a mainly male or mainly female cast, then I can get behind it. I read The Mercies last year which was pretty much all women but that was a big part of the plot. If there is no reason for the cast being all one gender then it comes across as pretty unrealistic and takes me out of the story.
Happy Thursday! Got together with the family this weekend for a joint mother's day/brother's bday lunch. First time I've seen my nieces since Thanksgiving. I think it's been too long between visits- the littlest one referred to me as "that girl over there." Finished:
Something Fabulous- a pure ridiculous fluffy romcom. A good silly time.
-6 A book about a forbidden romance
We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film- this looks at the history of trans rep in movies and TV, combined with a memoir of the author's own journet with gender expression. I thought this was really good- would def recommend the audiobook
-no prompt
Currently reading:
A Promised Land- still listening to this. Just got up to the 2008 election
Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man- detective mystery set in the 50s with some noir elements. Not what I normally go for, but it's starting out alright. Hard to find authors with EE initials, lol
QotW:
I think if there was a good reason for it, I wouldn't mind. But there'd have to be a pretty good reason- if they were just in the normal world and for some reason there were no women, that'd be weird.
The only book like this I can think of is The Caine Mutiny- but it's been so long since I read it there might have been a female character.
Getting this in at the last minutes of Thursday here in NYC.Finished:
Hedy Lamarr's Double Life: Hollywood Legend and Brilliant Inventor (Volume 4) by Katy Wu - wonderful children's picture book that was so well written and drawn I actually now understand the science of Lamarr's invention. I now want to read the whole series this author has written and will be a go-to gift when appropriate.
Miss Dignified
An Ivy Hill Christmas
Currently reading:
The Summer Before the War
Lulu in Hollywood
The Equivalents: A Story of Art, Female Friendship, and Liberation in the 1960s
Only a Viscount Will Do
QOTW:
I can't say it matters if it all works together. I have an issue if one or the other is portrayed like cardboard characters compared to the others. In The Lies of Locke Lamora for example, the 2 or 3 significant women were very weak and disappointing compared to the men, unnecessarily so. I am more forgiving in romance novels. On the other hand, I know some who criticize Little Women for its weak marginalized male characters. I say to them the title says it all - this is the story of the sisters and Marmee and everyone else is marginalized, especially the men. Moby-Dick or, the Whale is set in a male world and the lack of women makes sense.
If the book is well- crafted, -written and -balanced, it does not matter the gender make-up. What I hate is where it reads as a checklist met: token woman, gay, asian, transgender whatever.
Mod
I JUST finished this book yesterday evening!! (so, not in time for me to list it in my "check in") I felt the same way - I expected it to be goofy, but it exceeded my expectations in a bad way. I won't be reading the rest of this series.
It gets all sorts of points for ethnic diversity though! She seamlessly fit in: Filipina, Korean, Japanese, Mexican, Pakistani, and Black -American. (And there may have been a few more I missed.)
(I used it for "flames on the cover" in "my" winter challenge)
Happy Friday! It's a little warmer today. I actually had to pull my warm blanket back out the past few nights. I love it.I am at 38/50 for Popsugar. I have been prioritizing it over other challenges and it has helped.
Finished:
All the Women in My Brain: And Other Concerns
Собачье сердце which is Heart of a Dog in Russian
In the Lives of Puppets for book published in spring 2023
Currently reading:
Clouds of Witness My Kindle edition of this has tons of bookmarks, but I swear I have never read this before.
The Tale of Genji I am at 52%. Woohoo! It looks like I will be done by the end of the year.
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder on audio
QOTW:
An all male book immediately brings to mind Lord of the Flies. I hated it!
The current book I am listening to, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, has an all male cast. But it's non-fiction about a 1740 journey around Cape Horn, there were no females on the crew. In this kind of scenario I don't mind it.
I tend to stay away from strongly male themed books and books written by male authors with mostly male characters. I just find they are not for me. Yet I don't mind when it's a gay mostly male cast or by a gay author, if that makes sense.
I don't mind all female books, just don't encounter them that often. Even Women Talking had male characters, such as the man that was taking their notes. Plus what the men did to the women was kind of a character all its' own. So the presence of the men was definitely felt.
Mod
Nadine in NY wrote: "LOL sometimes I think I'm the only person who actually liked Lord of the Flies when it was assigned reading in high school. I've always been a sucker for the "castaways" trope."I guess I am too, considering what I am reading right now. Just not that one. Maybe it's because it was all children. I was a kid though, maybe I would feel differently now. Though that and The Scarlet Letter are the 2 books I am least likely to reread.
Nadine in NY wrote: "LOL sometimes I think I'm the only person who actually liked Lord of the Flies when it was assigned reading in high school. I've always been a sucker for the "castaways" trope."I didn't hate Lord of the Flies but I definitely thought it could have been told better; I remember something about the execution was lacking.
Nadine in NY wrote: "LOL sometimes I think I'm the only person who actually liked Lord of the Flies when it was assigned reading in high school. I've always been a sucker for the "castaways" trope."I didn't mind it. It was actually the only book that I think I voluntarily participated in a class discussion. The teacher may have called on me involuntarily, but I actually had a pretty strong opinion on the question.
Hi everyone! This week went well. We had our Mother's Day celebration on Saturday instead of Sunday due to work schedules. We had food from an Argentinian restaurant we eat at sometimes so they were my leftovers for this whole week. I also celebrated my birthday back on Wednesday. I am now 24 years old. My boyfriend and I went to a museum that the company I work for also works in so in the gift shop, I got a 25% discount. I got a rose pin, a book with paintings for every day, and a book about the underground pop culture scene in NYC. Throughout this whole week at my job, we have a raffle going on twice a day and if you win, you get to pick something off the cart with free stuff. I will say that I have good luck and I won twice! I picked a hoodie for both times. The first hoodie I got was because I liked the blue and I saw it had the name of the museum I work in so I can wear it while at work. And the second hoodie was not from my museum (it was sent to us by accident but they told my manager that you could donate it or keep it). It is a shark grey hoodie with a sunset in the back.
I completed three books this week!
1) This Book is Not Good for You by Pseudonymous Bosch. This is during my reread of The Secret Series so this is obviously 5/5. While rereading this series, there is some frightening stuff that I did not pick up when I was reading them at 12 years old. This book completed the Popsugar challenge of "A book you wish you could read for the first time again."
2) Icebreaker by A.L. Graziadei: I like this MLM romance more than the first book I read this year a lot more. 3/5. This book completed a 52 book challenge prompt "A book with a title that starts with 'I'."
3) Late to the Party by Kelly Quindlen: I related a bit to the main character but I do this this is a pretty good book. There is a character in the book named Rona and I just kept thinking of when people would call Coronavirus 'Rona (which imma be real, that was made cringe) so there was one part in the book where a character could not do something because of Rona and you could see where my mind went lol. 4/5. This book completed a 52 Book challenge prompt "A book published by Macmillan."
QOTW: Hmmm I never really thought about that. I do like when the main character is a woman though. I think I would have to see what my 5 star reads have been with the main cast.
Nadine in NY wrote: "LOL sometimes I think I'm the only person who actually liked Lord of the Flies when it was assigned reading in high school. I've always been a sucker for the "castaways" trope."I read "Lord of the Flies" this year for the challenge, and I'm thinking I might have liked it better had I actually read it in high school. (For whatever reason my sister had to read it for English class but I didn't -- different teachers, I guess.) As an adult it just feels too nihilistic. But I'm glad at least some people enjoyed it.
So far I only have one issue with The Princess and the Scoundrel, but I'm hoping it gets resolved somehow later.
Nadine in NY wrote: "I JUST finished this book yesterday evening!! (so, not in time for me to list it in my "check in") I felt the same way - I expected it to be goofy, but it exceeded my expectations in a bad way. I won't be reading the rest of..."It does get points for being very diverse. Honestly, the book just made me really hungry.
Nadine in NY wrote: "LOL sometimes I think I'm the only person who actually liked Lord of the Flies when it was assigned reading in high school. I've always been a sucker for the "castaways" trope."I never read it for school, but I remember loving it when I read it!
I finished Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens. If someone is looking for A book with a queer lead this would work and it was fun.I also read a few manga as well The World After the Fall, Vol. 1 by Undead Gamja it's a mix of post apocalyptic dystopia and role playing gamer tropes. I did like it. I reread the paranormal manga Ghost Hunt, Vol. 1 by Shiho Inada. I had forgotten just how much I love this series.
QOTW It depends really. Some stories it really works but on the whole I prefer diversity in my stories
Cornerofmadness wrote: "I finished Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens. If someone is looking for A book with a queer lead this would work and it was fun.I also read a few manga as well [book:The World After the ..."
Have you watched the ghost hunt anime? Favorite character?
Mine’s Lin.
I really want translations of the light novels. Along with Ono’s other series twelve kingdoms.
I got to catch up with a few friends this week, I usually don't do anything on weeknights - just a structure that gets me through the work weeks. This week was quite the exception and it was great to spend time with friends I haven't seen in a few months.32/75 GoodReads Challenge
29/50 PopSugar Challenge
Finished:
1.) Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica (No PS Prompt) ⭐⭐⭐: this was just ok, I sped it up a bit on audio to get to the end, which was a little predictable.
2.) All That Is Mine I Carry with Me by William Landay (No PS Prompt) ⭐⭐⭐⭐: This was more of a slow burn mystery than a thriller. Read more like a case of non-fiction, but I was invested and it left a lot of doubt in the reader.
Currently Reading:
1.) The Count of Monte Cristo - Ch38
2.) Legends & Lattes
QoTW: Can you enjoy a book if the cast of characters is exclusively men? Or exclusively women?
I don't think I've ever considered this before. I'm not sure it matters to me that significantly.
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Lore Olympus: Volume Three (other topics)The Good Luck Sister (other topics)
In the Lives of Puppets (other topics)
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea (other topics)
5th Horseman (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
James Patterson (other topics)Mona Awad (other topics)
Malinda Lo (other topics)
Bonnie Garmus (other topics)
Lucy Foley (other topics)
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Weather here has been classic spring: last weekend was gorgeous, blue sky and warm sun and cool breeze, then Tuesday we turned the a/c on, Wednesday we turned the heat on, and last night was a Freeze watch (I don't know if it got down to freezing because the battery in my outdoor max/min thermometer just died! argh! I'm without data!!).
Admin stuff:
The May group read of Bunny is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
The final poll for August is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...
We forgot to create this poll so I just set it up this morning, and GR has a weird thing about how you can set the dates, so I fussed with it a bit, and I THINK it's live now. let me know if you have trouble.
Group discussion of Bunny has been very quiet! I'm wondering if we have a disconnect between the people who vote and the people who join the discussions? Or maybe everyone is just busy.
In Popculture news, I finished watching fourth season of You this week on Netflix. Wow. I don't know how I feel about that! (view spoiler)[Never before has Joe shown any signs of a personality break, so it felt very out of left field for them to write that in. I absolutely did not see it coming, so I enjoyed that part of it. Lily, who JUST finished a "Drugs and Behavior" class in college, says they learned about this in class, and certain drugs can bring on a personality break like this. Joe, who normally does not take drugs, was accepting everything handed to him at that first party in Sundry House, so Lily says it's plausible that this caused his new mental illness to appear. (hide spoiler)] I liked the ending though! I haven't read the fourth book yet. I know the third season and the third book are very very different, and I know the fourth book is in a different setting. I hope I'm not too confused when I finally read the book! I need a recap of the third book to set me straight on what was in the book and what was in the show.
This week I finished 3 books, 1 for this Challenge, so I am now 25/50.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang - this was on my list of books to be sure to read in 2023, and I'm not sure if I'm glad I read this. It was powerful and disturbing and not at all what I expected based on reviews I'd read. I used it for "word found in a recipe" in AtY.
Vampire Weekend by Mike Chen - Chen is one of my favorite authors, but this book was a clunker! I used this for "mythological creatures" (vampires, of course!).
The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On poems by Franny Choi - yet another book of poetry from a new up-and-coming poet that failed to do it for me!
Pop: 25/50
Winter: 3/10
AtY: 20/52
2023 must-reads: 5/12
Question of the Week
Can you enjoy a book if the cast of characters is exclusively men? Or exclusively women?
For me, the answer is "it depends." Sometimes, lack of agency for any of the female characters, or a general lack of women characters other than one main, will kill a book for me - I remember being unhappy with Mistborn and Leviathan Wakes for these reasons. But for other boks (and tbh I can't think of any examples - Raymond Chandler, I guess) I won't mind an overwhelmingly male population. I've noticed my daughter can NEVER enjoy a book when all the characters are men.