EPBOT Readers discussion

Hi Everyone,

Hope everyone's having a nice week! I had a four and a half day weekend which was nice, yet I'm still ready for the weekend. I think I'm just over working, in general haha.

This week I finished a lot, due to all that reading time:

The World We Make - good conclusion to the duology, I get why she struggled with this book and decided to wrap up after two instead of three. It was still solid.

Rolling in the Deep - audio read. I liked it, a good prequel to the main book.

Witch King - It's not murderbot, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. It reminded me a bit of City of Bones in vibe, her old fantasy from the 90s.

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea - cozy fantasy, reminded me a little of Legends and Lattes. Not as good, but similar vibes. I still did like it, and i'll probably read the second once I need another cozy.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory - Audio read, I liked it quite a bit. Kinda gross in parts, but it did really make me think.

Break Your Glass Slippers - audio book. Trying to hit some more genres for the library genre genius challenge. Amanda Lovelace is one that is generally at least solid for me.

Currently reading:
The Sisters Grimm - got back to this now that library books are caught up. Still not really feeling it, but since it's part of my tbr challenge I feel compelled to keep going. It's not the WORST, just really disjointed and all over the place. hard to get in a groove with how much it jumps around.

Wound from the Mouth of a Wound - more poetry audio. The genre genius requires three of each genre, plus read harder has a poetry prompt for a LGBTQIA+ author or BIPOC author.

QOTW:

What is your favorite scene in a book?

This is hard! I also have kinda a bad memory for specifics, i remember more how I feel and vibes I got etc. But probably up there is the description of the Midnight Dinner in the Night Circus, when it's all the circus performers wearing rainbow colors. It was such a lush scene and I could picture it so vividly, and wish I could go to one like it.

Happy Thursday!

We've got our half days on Fridays starting tomorrow. I'm so looking forward to getting a little bit of an extra break.

Finished:
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo - 4.5 stars - for Popsugar's book about a holiday that's not Christmas. This was a beautiful coming of age story about a Chinese girl coming to terms with her sexuality, and the fact that she can't be what her very traditional family wants her to be.

Comics & manga:
Honey and Clover, Vol. 4
Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 25
Rainbow Days, Vol. 4

Currently reading:
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert - for Popsugar's book about an athlete/sport. Having a lot of fun with this so far.

Upcoming/Planned:
Night: Memorial Edition by Elie Wiesel - for Popsugar's book I should have read in high school
A Deadly Education - for Popsugar's book I meant to read in 2022.
Act Your Age, Eve Brown - for Popsugar's romance with a fat lead

QOTW:
I can't think of any specific scenes off the top of my head. I'll come back and update if I think of anything.

Hello Everyone,

This has been an insane week for us. We decided to move and talked to a buyer agent Thursday night. Friday and Saturday we saw places. Tonight we've signed a contract. Whoosh. OMG things happen so fast. We've lived in our house over 30 years so there's a lot of "what have we done" at the moment. We don't close for a few months so at least we can take a breather for a bit.

I have a lot of finishes because I am listening to Amazon's Far Reaches Collection of short stories. I'm started the last one today. They're all 45-90 minutes long. They've been enjoyable enough. Telling a compelling story in that short of time is a specific skill for sure.

The ones I've finished are: Void, Falling Bodies,How It Unfolds,The Long Game,Slow Time Between the Stars. They've all been quite enjoyable and worth the small time investment. The one I have not completed yet is Just Out of Jupiter's Reach.

Otherwise I'm reading We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds. I'm almost done with it and it has been fascinating. I've learned a lot.

I soon go on a 3 week vacation to the PNW to visit my adult kids that live out there and see the Canadian Rockies so I'll need some kind of fluff book and audiobooks for that trip.

QOTW:
I don't seem to remember those kinds of details from any book. Certainly there are many memorable scenes in the Harry Potter books. I had great visuals in the cafe in Legends and Lattes.

Susan, how exciting and stressful at the same time! Are you staying in the area?

Last week I started The Mountain in the Sea for my other GR group and was having a hard time getting into it, 75 pages in. I decided to take a break and read something completely different, so got these from the library:

Homegoing, which I've been meaning to read for a long time and was just as incredible as everyone told me it was. Well-written, heartbreaking, educational, and also I'm a sucker for a multigenerational story. So, so good.

In contrast, Advika and the Hollywood Wives was pretty meh. It was one of those books that keeps you turning pages despite an unlikeable MC and significant plot holes because it seems to be building up to a big reveal, which turned out to be very anticlimactic. The premise intrigued me, but I wouldn't recommend.

QOTW:
The scenes that stick with me are the ones that break my heart. Guy Gavriel Kay is particularly good at those. (Kevin... IYKYK)

@shel, yes, we're moving to New Hampshire. So we'll still be in New England and not horribly far. It will be a transition for sure but still close enough to our current known things that we can gradually recenter our life.

Funny enough, I just saw Homegoing. I think it was today at the new house (today was the inspection). I didn't know about it otherwise but now recognize the cover.