EPBOT Readers discussion

Hi all,

Good news, Teddy is done with radiation! Unfortunately it's been giving him some gut issues, so he's not feeling 100%, but we are giving him stuff to help, and hopefully now that more radiation isn't blasting him every day, things will settle back down soon. We'll still have to do some rechecks every few months to make sure things are staying ok, but he should be mostly out of the woods. The radiologist said he did great! He'll still have to wear the tube when we can't watch him until his skin heals up a bit more and some of his fur grows back for protection.

Book Club: Don't forget the threads are open for the discussion for The Left Handed Booksellers of London! Also start thinking of some books to suggest, I'll probably open a suggestion thread next week.

This week I finished:

What Moves the Dead - did the audio book for this, pretty short, I liked the narrator. It is the kind of horror I like which is more creepy and gothic than bloody and murdery. Still extremely unsettling! Based on Poe's Fall of the House of Usher, i'll have to read it now.

A Day of Fallen Night - finally finished this, it was nearly 900 pages! I liked it though, so it wasn't too bad reading that much. I was a little miffed at first because I really liked the Priory of the Orange Tree was a stand alone fantasy, not a series. However this takes place several centuries before Priory. There are things that get set up that become relevant in Priory, but it's more in a "oh so that's how that came about" sense. Not in a "these books don't work if you don't read them both" sense. So it's more like two standalone epics set in the same world, pulling from the same mythology.

Currently reading:

The Duke Who Didn't - some light romance as a break from horror and long epics. Works for a read harder prompt too, independently published book by a BIPOC author.

Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times - library's doing a summer reading challenge and a genre genius challenge that both have nonfiction activities. So trying to get some nonfiction read via audio book. It's really interesting, so much history in how we got from hide to woven cloth. And so much of it had to be really carefully teased out since cloth will rot, wood looms will rot, wood spindles will rot etc. So a lot of evidence had to be pieced together over painted pictures, carvings, things like bits of metal and shell found in a grave stuck to the forehead or wrists in a way that wouldn't have made sense without a cloth band and some kind of string to attach them, the occasional bog preserved body with clothing or other artifacts etc.

QOTW: Do you check out books from the library? How many do you check out at a time?

It tends to go in spurts. I mostly do digital library holds, so I'll have a bunch of stuff on hold, thinking it's all nicely spaced out and then suddenly get piled up with all of them at once. So I might have 5 or more checked out at once at times. Then I'll get them all cleared away and decide I'm going to focus on trying to read books I own, and probably manage that for a bit until there's inevitably either another hold or a new book i can't resist checking out. Plus I like to have an audio book on hand, and i don't like buying those because I don't necessarily want to re-listen to them, and they take up a lot of storage space. So I often have a library one checked out.

I'm glad Teddy's done with radiation, Sheri. Here's hoping he feels better soon. <3

I'm happy to have Monday off and a three-day weekend. Now that we're going to be back in the office twice a week, I need to go clothes shopping and get a few staples.

Finished:
Translation State by Ann Leckie - 4.25 stars - not for a prompt. I'm always surprised at just how weird and fascinating and engrossing Leckie's books are. She has a way of writing the alien in a relatable, familiar way.

The Grimoire of Grave Fates (anthology) - 3.5 stars - for Popsugar's book your best friend would like. I loved the concept of this but found the execution somewhat lacking. A much-disliked teacher is murdered at a magic school, very reminiscent of the world of he-who-will-not-be-named. Each chapter is written by a different YA author, from the POV of a student from the school who is somewhere on the periphery of events as we try to figure out whodunnit. I like a lot of these authors on their own, but I think I would have enjoyed the book more if there had been less authors in the anthology, and more time spent with some of them. Some of the chapters seemingly had nothing or very little to do with solving the mystery, most didn't have any kind of internal plot of their own, and with a few exceptions, I found the characters largely forgettable because there were just too many of them. I do hope the editors continue with this concept as a shared world, though; I think with focused stories and less POV switches, this has the potential to be a great setting.

Comics & manga:
WITCH WATCH, Vol. 5: Summer Demon
Honey and Clover, Vol. 3

Currently reading:
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - for Popsugar's book becoming a show or movie in 2023. I just started it and I'm only a chapter or so in, but so far, so good.

Upcoming/Planned:
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin - for Popsugar's book that takes place in the decade I was born.

QOTW:
I constantly have both digital and physical holds at the library. I mostly use the physical library for manga and comics, and digital ebooks for both manga and novels. I keep a lot of holds suspended, and then release the suspensions one at a time to keep from getting overwhelmed, or to give me time to read books I own.

I try not to have more than 2-3 novels checked out at once. I estimate most average (300-400 page) novels take me about a week to read, and the library gives us 3 weeks with the books, so that works out pretty well for me. With manga, I can read most volumes in under an hour, but I still try not to take out more than 5-6 volumes at once.

I decided (with a very small sample size) that I like Ursula Vernon when she's doing a story I already like, so I've got What Moves the Dead on my list (maybe for spooky season). I was quite the Poe enthusiast in middle school.

Interpreter of Maladies - I saw this on a list from someone who used college syllabi to try to determine the "turn-of-the-century" literary canon from the 80s to 2000s. There are nine short stories about Bengali people, mostly set in New England. Definitely the typical lit-fic topics of people in unhappy marriages and the like, well written but not particularly uplifting (one definitely happy ending, a second that I'd probably count that way, the rest not).

The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World - This is a history of the scientific ideas about life on Mars interwoven with some memoir of the author's journey to becoming a planetary scientist. I was somewhat surprised to learn how recently people thought there were forests and such. The book ends just pre-Perseverance.

QOTW: I usually have about four books out, which is roughly how many I can read before they're due. I like getting physical books but don't want to be running to the library all the time. There's some stuff that's only available on Hoopla, so I try to keep those for when I mistime my requests. I avoid holds as much possible because I really don't like the uncertainty.

I'm writing this from my car on my way to a lake family reunion vacation. So pardon any auto correct typos. We also don't have internet in the cabin other than expensive data through the phone

I have no finishes this week I was away on a business trip for 3 days and only got audiobook time during my flights. I am now about halfway through listening to Lessons in Chemistry. (I don't know how to link to the book on GR on my phone)

I am still reading The Maid also. Hopefully I'll get time on the trip to make progress but I'll be with a lot of family I don't see often.

QOTW:
Almost all of my physical books come from the library. I usually have 2 or 3 out at a time. I only put things on hold that I want to read soon which can be a disappointment when it is a popular book.

Two finishes for me this week:
A Psalm for the Wild-Built, which delighted me just as much as y'all said it would. I could REALLY use a few hours with a tea monk right now! I can't believe that it's taken me this long to read a Becky Chambers book.

MaddAddam, final book in the trilogy, and it was my favorite of the three. Some parts were laugh-out-loud funny, and others had me all choked up (especially the ending); I always appreciate a book that can do both of those things and do them well.

I haven't decided what to pick up next.

QotW: I almost exclusively use the library these days, because I don't have the budget to purchase books regularly. I'd say about half of the books I take out are physical books and half are e-books; e-books are more convenient, but my library does not give the option to renew them if I don't finish them before the loan is up, while I can usually renew print books several times (unless they're the current bestsellers that have long queues).