EPBOT Readers discussion

Hi Everyone!

Teddy had his 1 month re-check post radiation this week. it went really well! They said his skin looks great and is healing well, no sign of any new bumps. We're able to take him off his pepcid and start weaning him off his anti-inflammatory which will make it easier to just...not have to schedule things around a medication schedule. Hopefully in a month, after the next re-check, he can basically be off meds except his anxiety ones.

Book Club: The Brass Queen won the poll. (There was a write in for The Brass Queen too, so I combined those. Not sure if it got accidentally written in or what, as far as I could tell there was only one book called The Brass Queen). But even without those extra votes it still won by 1.

This week I read:

Pageboy - this was a difficult listen. I had no idea Elliot got so much hate and abuse even before he came out as gay, much less trans. Lots of stark descriptions of the things people said, abuse he endured, eating disorders etc. It was good, just not really happy listening.

Snow Crash - re-read, was using it for popsugar's book I wish I could read again for the first time. I already re-read so many of my favorites, I didn't want to just read one of those. So instead I used it more like I wish I could read it as an adult in in the 90s when all the tech was hopeful and cool and amazing, instead of basically already met or surpassed. (although that doesn't erase some of the language that is pretty dated and kinda problematic).

Currently reading:

Raven Stratagem - sequel to the ninefox gambit. I like it so far, although I wish I read them closer together.

Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe - doing a genre genius challenge for my library, trying to get more nonfiction in.

Girl Made of Glass - more poetry, also for the genre genius. This should wrap up the poetry badge at least.

QOTW:

I'll borrow from popsugar this week. Do you like randomly selecting books, or does the thought fill you with dread?

I don't like to do pure random selection. Even if it's my own book collection, it seems like any time I've tried to do a random selection it inevitably brings up a book that makes me go "eh, i don't feel like reading that right now". Or else a book in the middle of a series, or a sequel that it's been too long since i read the first so I really should re-read it, etc. However I do like randomly browsing the library's new shelves, or wandering through the what's available now digitally and just clicking on whatever catches my eye and reading the description to see if it feels like something I want to read right then. I've grabbed a number of books I'd never heard of until i stumbled across them that way.

Happy Thursday!

I'm so glad to hear that Teddy's doing better, Sheri! <3

Finished:
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert - 4 stars - for Popsugar's book about an athlete/sport. This was a lot of fun, and I liked both the leads.

Night: Memorial Edition by Elie Wiesel - 5 stars - for Popsugar's book I should have read in high school. It's difficult to say I enjoyed this absolutely brutal read, but, wow, was this powerful. A reminder not to look away from what's happening in the world right now.

Comics & manga:
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 5
Run on Your New Legs, Vol. 3 (Volume 3)
Run on Your New Legs, Vol. 4
WITCH WATCH, Vol. 6: Black Darkness in the Abyss of the Universe
A Man & His Cat Vol. 8

Currently reading:
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green - for Popsugar's book with just text on the cover. I probably should have reread the first book, which I read for the 2021 challenge. I do remember enough that I was able to get into it again after a few chapters, though.

Upcoming/Planned:
Act Your Age, Eve Brown - for Popsugar's romance with a fat lead.
A Deadly Education - for Popsugar's book I meant to read in 2022.

QOTW:
A little bit of both, I guess. I usually plan everything out and line up library books, but then if I'm not in the mood for something, it can really kill my enjoyment and turn a book into a chore. If it's a random book off my TBR, I was at least interested enough to put it there in the first place, but picking something random from, say, the library or a bookstore... that I'm less keen on.

I'm back from the wedding! It was nice, but they did a lot more DIY stuff than I was willing to do for mine. The books I sideloaded to my Kindle didn't work, so I'll have to figure out what I messed up in Calibre, but fortunately I had enough other stuff.

Poached - The second in this middle-grade zoo mystery series, in which there is entirely too much of the kid trying to run from the police/park security but without the humorous set-pieces of the first book. It was still fun and I am absolutely going to read the rest of them.

Miss Pym Disposes - So Josephine Tey is sometimes included with the Golden Age "Queens of Crime" but my library doesn't have any of her stuff. Someone pointed out a free Kindle edition with like eight of her novels, and I picked this one since I'd heard praise for it and it's a standalone. What I didn't realize is that it's not actually a mystery novel. There is a crime, but it doesn't happen until the last quarter of the book, and there isn't really any actual detection. The writing started off very light, funny, and clever, and then it became increasingly...fatalistic? I liked the writing (although there were the usual of-their-time offensive references) and I'll try one of the books featuring her series detective next time.

Every Heart a Doorway - This didn't really sound like my thing, but many people seem to love it, and Tor gave it to me for free, so... I didn't realize it was actually kind of a murder mystery, so that was a fun twist, but yeah, urban fantasy is not really for me.

Hither, Page - This is a combination spy novel, English village mystery, and m/m romance. It wasn't an amazingly clever whodunit or anything, but it was better than many cozy mysteries, and I liked the main characters, so I think I'll read the sequel at some point.

QOTW: I try to mix it up so I don't read the same genre a whole lot in a row (this week notwithstanding), so I wouldn't really draw numbers from a hat or whatever. I guess most of my randomness is currently coming from "let's see what from my 'for later' list is available right now". I do like to browse the library like Sheri said, but since my usual branch is still closed and I have been using the children's library for holds, that's not really happening right now.

Yay for healthy Teddy!

It took me longer than usual (for me), but last week's one finish was The Mountain in the Sea for my other book club. I ended up really liking it, but it was NOT was I expected. The copy on the cover implies that it's a sort of first contact story between humans and intelligent octopuses, but the octopuses were off stage for most of the book and it was more of a philosophical book that explored the nature of consciousness and humanity. Once I figured that out, I enjoyed it a lot more, but I wanted more octopuses!

I've just started Tsalmoth, the latest Vlad Taltos book from Steven Brust. I just adore these books. Two more until the series is complete and then I'm going to have to re-read them all in order!

QotW: I am a complete mood reader. Choosing a book randomly wouldn't work for me, I don't think, because if it's a book that I'm not in the mood for I'll just put it down and grab something else anyway.