Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Yes! It is Thursday!! :)

I have finally gotten my laptop working again online…at least momentarily. Definitely must replace the laptop asap. A friend of mine purchased an HP for just $200. I intend to check that out. At this point, with no more than I use a computer (not for gaming, just streaming a movie once in a while, and creating Word documents) that may suit my purposes just fine! It is now saying “no battery detected.” At least it is working while plugged in!

I haven’t been reading as much as I intend to every day but am getting into more of a regular routine similar to the recent past when we still had 4 felines! :( I truly hope to lose no more furbabies for a while. I am having a real struggle getting over our loss. When I think of Tigger now I can heave a sigh and toss my “I miss you!” out into the Universe to her, and then proceed. So there is improvement. It just takes time. (Seemingly forever…) And I am very proud of myself for resisting temptation since one of my friends at the gym has a friend with a litter of kitties to be adopted out and she asked if I wanted one. I said, “Of course I do! But I am going to restrain myself and say, ‘No thank you!’’ Whew!

ADMIN STUFF:
The November Monthly Group Read will be The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern! (The IRL book club I facilitate LOVED this book so much!) Thanks to the 29 members who voted in this poll! This book could be used to fulfill prompt #41 A book written during NaNoWriMo! We are now searching for a “marvelous manager” to lead this discussion! Please message either myself or Nadine to volunteer!

The December Monthly Group Read will be a book that could be used to fulfill prompt #32 A book published in the last half of 2023. HERE is the nomination poll. No need to consult the listing of books NOT eligible, the only qualification is that the book has a release date of July 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023. However, it probably makes sense to go for a book being released as early as possible, to give a better chance of members being able to obtain a copy. Though I guess it doesn’t matter with ebooks! (Yes, I’m old and still prefer a real book in my hand! LOL) There is a Goodreads listing of Reader’s Most Anticipated Books of 2023 HERE, but there are only a few listed with a July release date. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, there are other listings available as well. Happy nominating!

The September Monthly Group Read has begun! HERE is the discussion of Longbourn by Jo Baker. This book can be used to fulfill prompt #14 A modern retelling of a classic. Since September is typically a time for returning to school and reading "classics"! This is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen from the servants' point of view. I just started my reread of P&P before launching into Longbourn! I first read P&P over 50 years ago! (I am OLD!) And HERE is the thread to list any books you’ve read to satisfy prompt #14!

Just a reminder that the comprehensive listing of 2023 Monthly Group Reads can be found HERE

Question of the Week:
What book are you really excited to read before the end of 2023? Why are you so excited for it?
The Raging Storm (Two Rivers #3) by Ann Cleeves
I am so anxious to delve back into Matthew Venn's world! He has a very thoughtful husband and is kept busy with murder investigations in Greystone, Devon. Excellent writing, IMO! I love Cleeves!


FINISHED:
I’m making it a priority to at least get these documented this weekend! Fingers crossed! ;) Update: One down and many more to go! :)
*Target: Alex Cross (Alex Cross #26) by James Patterson ✶✶✶✶ was an okay entry into this series. Not exceptionally enjoyable, but didn’t have me rolling my eyes every few pages either!
POPSUGAR:
ATY:
RHC:

*No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai ✶✶ was bizarre. That is the most diplomatic evaluation I can give…Not impressed. It was confusing and did not, in my opinion, hang together well to create a story arc.
POPSUGAR:
ATY:
RHC:

*7th Heaven (Women's Murder Club #7) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro ✶✶was not very enjoyable at all. Too much grisly detail and two teens binding and gagging adults in their own homes and then setting the houses on fire was just too much evil for me! Ugh.
POPSUGAR:
ATY:
RHC:

*Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro ✶✶✶✶✶ was quite thought-provoking and a little scary, considering current technology is definitely capable of this. I do believe Ishiguro is fast becoming a favorite writer for me!
POPSUGAR:
ATY:
RHC:

*Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartnerss by Gretchen Anthony ✶✶✶✶✶ was, IMO, an excellent debut novel! I laughed and laughed. This main character reminded me somewhat of Olive in Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge. Though I much prefer Anthony’s writing. Anxious to read her other books.
POPSUGAR:
ATY:
RHC:

*The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah ✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶Any Kristin Hannah book I read is awesome! I doubt she would ever disappoint. However, unbeknownst to the other four members of the book club I facilitate, our newest member has suffered domestic abuse from a stepfather and then her first/now-ex husband. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize this book contains so much domestic abuse! Hence, we didn’t include any warning about that. Fortunately, she ended up feeling as if she had further processed and improved her mindset regarding her own personal experiences as a result of our discussion. But it could have turned out very differently for her and I felt terrible that we hadn’t been warned and hadn’t in turn warned her! She and I talked it over for an hour that evening. We are now going to be more thorough in our research of each possible book we consider in the future to hopefully at least warn others of possible triggers… Whew! This was such an INTENSE read! For all of us. It was very interesting to note our varied responses to this book. It was a favorite read for all of us, but also quite emotional… Book hangover to be expected! Excellent for prompting discussion!
POPSUGAR: #1, #2, #6, #17, #19-2018: prompt #34 A book published in 2018, #29, #31, #34, #36, #39
ATY: #1-Alaska, #3- A cultural book that depicts a place or time and its culture, #5, #6, #10-Scary, #11-Ernt-PTSD/Addiction, #12-Leni’s pregnancy and hunting rabbits for food, #14-Cora and Leni’s fake identities, #20-Cover-winding road. #28, #37, #43, #45, #52
RHC: #24-2015: A book someone else has recommended to you

CONTINUING:
*Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

PLANNED:
*Longbourn by Jo Baker
*While Justice Sleeps (Avery Keene #1) by Stacey Abrams
*The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo for an IRL book club
*An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten for an IRL book club
*The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton for an IRL book club

Yae, Happy Thursday everyone!

Ugh, will this heat ever end? Here we are in September and temps are still 100 degrees or over. I want fresh/cold weather now. The heat is literally suffocating at this point. I seriously feel like I'm going crazy (and I hate that word).

*****

In terms of reading, while I didn't finish any books over the week I have been buying some and doing some light reading.

Currently Reading:

Portable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers - I'm halfway done with this book and I gotta say I am really having fun with it. Certainly a lot of fascinating history. Some of it is a bit dry, but nothing I can't get through.

Digital Madness: How Social Media Is Driving Our Mental Health Crisis--and How to Restore Our Sanity - Started this one yesterday on 'National Read A Book Day'. While I've only started the introduction I get the feeling I'm going to end up liking it.

I have always had a hard time with what I call digital/technological babysitters. I just don't like that we're all so connected to our technology, either for infants, kids, or even adults to the point it becomes all consuming. I'm guilty of it sure. I even try to break away from it, but our social media and ways of communication are so vital in these forms so it's kind of hard to go a day without it. I really want to give myself that challenge though.

*****

Planned:

The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill: Alien Encounters, Civil Rights, and the New Age in America

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars

(There's also another UFO book I saw yesterday that caught my eye but I didn't get it so I might today).

*****

So today is 'Buy A Book Day' which means I'm happily going back to the bookstore. There are a couple of books that caught my attention that I did not get yesterday so I'm excited for them.

*****

Question of the Week:
What book are you really excited to read before the end of 2023? Why are you so excited for it?

One of the ones I'm looking forward to is Grimoire Girl: Creating an Inheritance of Magic and Mischief . I loved Hil's first book so I'm curious as to what she has written about in her second.

Other than that though I'm a play it by ear/see type of reader. If I see a book that captures my attention then I usually end up going for it and I have a lot on my TBR, but I'm not sure if I would put one over the other.

Happy Thursday!
I'm trying to get this pounded out in the next few minutes because I'm leaving work early today - technically a half-day but I worked an hour over yesterday, so only 3 hours needed before our annual venture up to Lake Erie for the Thunder on the Strip motorcycle rally!

The OCTA theatre competition in Cincinnati last weekend went as well as could be expected. It would have been lovely if the people running the thing could've mentioned needed to reblock our scene for a different sort of stage, because that was the main complaint from the judges. They actually singled me out for unexpected praise because my character has so few lines and mostly lurks in the background, reacting with facial expressions (which they liked). And another of our cast received an award for his skills, which was nice. Wish they could've bothered to spell either of our names correctly.

I did manage to finish a book this week!
The Locust Job - 5 stars. This was fantastic and I'm so looking forward to seeing how the next one goes (and being caught up!), but there was so much new information and some lovely character development happening here.

I did finally set aside Soccer in Sun and Shadow, with every intention of coming back one day!

Currently:
Longbourn
The Lies of Locke Lamora
The Children of Gods and Fighting Men

PS 39/50
ATY 47/52
Mount TBR 40/60
Summer reading challenge 19/50 +2

QOTW: What book are you really excited to read before the end of 2023? Why are you so excited for it?
I'm positively dying for Alix E Harrow's 2023 release to get here - Starling House releases in October, just in time for Halloween! A Gothic fairytale in an old house? Yes PLEASE. I enjoyed Ten Thousand Doors of January but I LOVED Once and Future Witches and her novellas have been fantastic too. I very rarely preorder anymore (the most I usually do is pounce on new releases at the library so I can read them before anyone else muwahahaha) but this one feels special. I mean, that cover is STUNNING.

Some others I have planned that I'm excited to read before the year's out:
If We Were Villains
The Sword of Kaigen
Rust in the Root

L Y N N wrote: "*Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro ✶✶✶✶✶ was quite thought-provoking and a little scary, considering current technology is definitely capable of this. I do believe Ishiguro is fast becoming a favorite writer for me!"

I'm so glad to see Ishiguro works for you, Lynn!

Lynn, you've surprised us with a super early post! now I have to come up with a different qotw reply ;-P

Happy Thursday! Welcome to September.  I hope those of you in the US enjoyed your three day weekend for Labor Day!  Here in NY, Labor Day means the end of summer and the start of the school year.  TODAY is my younger daughter's first day of school.  She's a senior, so this is it, this is the LAST FIRST DAY.

September means deep blue skies, insanely loud tree frogs and cicadas, brilliant yellow goldenrod and purple asters, the end of peach season and the start of apple and grape season.  I love the rich smell of grapes at the farmers markets!  I don't so much love having to swat away all the yellowjackets at this time of year.   September also means the start of our two-month long Spooktember & Spooktober movie viewing!  We have gotten a start on that by continuing to watch True Blood on Hulu (we are on season 4 now) and starting the anime series Ghost Stories on Prime.




This week I finished 2 books and DNFed 1 book.

finished
My Ántonia by Willa Cather - I chose this as my book I should have read in high school, and it was fantastic!  I really do wish they had assigned this to us in high school - why don't they?  It's an American classic, it's engaging and has appeal for school age kids, and I learned so much about that period in US history. Coincidentally, I just got the syllabus for my daughter's senior year English class, and sure enough, it's all white men. I don't have any quarrel with any of the selections, but geez it's so one note when taken as a whole.

Only Enchanting by Mary Balogh - this was my book with a disabled character for AtY - it started out slow, but the second half was a delight.

DNF
The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami- there was nothing wrong with this book, I just wasn't interested and never wanted to pick it up again.  I can find another book for "award starting with W" for AtY.


Popsugar 90% 45 /50
Must Reads 75% 9 /12
Nay's Winter 70% 7 /10
AtY 81% 42 /52





QotW
There are a lot of 2023 pubs that I'm still hoping to get to this year, I can't pick just one.
Happy Place
Warrior Girl Unearthed
Camp Zero
Chain-Gang All-Stars
All the Sinners Bleed
Crook Manifesto
The Librarianist
Prom Mom
Witness: Stories
Bridge
Happiness Falls
Rouge
The House of Doors

and, of course, the seventh MurderBot book
System Collapse

Happy Thursday!

The world was an interesting place last week. There were 70k people stuck out on the playa because of the flooding during Burning Man. They were told to conserve food and water until the ground dried out. One couple, that had 4-wheel drive, said it took 8 - 8 1/2 hours to get out. It was a real mess. It's strange to see someplace close to me on international news.

Sadly a man died out there and the sheriff's office couldn't determine cause. They sent his body to Reno for autopsy to see if his death was natural or malicious or self-induced, which wouldn't be the first time someone had gone there to go over the bridge on their own terms.

My director is retiring soon-ish. So my colleague wants the job, but he might not get it because he doesn't have all the requirements. I'm hoping they at least consider him. I'd rather work under him than a rando. I have a feeling we'll have to have somebody 'more qualified'. sigh.

Story Hour begins next week. So the weekly picture book will show up on my list again.

OMFG! Ten Ways to Get Dumped by a Tyrant series was so horrible to me! Freaking cliffhangers at the end of each book! I was so angry at the first book left me hanging that I had to get the second then the third and fourth because wasn't about to be left dangling like the first time.

I wish there had been a fifth one that covered what happened in the interim between the second and third book. I wanted the full story and not some random highlights popping up in the third book. All and all, it was a good series.

Popsugar: 28/50
Finished:
Gabriel's Inferno ps 45 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is a Twilight fan fiction. I didn't know that going in, I just knew it was a fan fiction. It has the tropes of teacher/student, om/yw, best friend's older brother. It's about a professor and his sister's best friend that haven't seen each other in six years. He only met her once when she was 17 and he was stoned. She is now his student and he doesn't recognize her. He's even an a-hole to her at the beginning. I liked it because the main characters were flawed and had depths and regrets, fears and despair. There's a lot of Dante's The Divine Comedy in it since that is what he teaches. I kind of want to read it now.

Reading: Gabriel's Rapture ps 28 This is the continuation of Gabriel's Inferno.

Aty:31/52
Finished:None

Reading: None that I’m aware of

Goodreads Challenge 490/400
Finished:
Ten Ways to Get Dumped by a Tyrant: Volume I
Ten Ways to Get Dumped by a Tyrant: Volume II
Ten Ways to Get Dumped by a Tyrant: Volume III
Ten Ways to Get Dumped by a Tyrant: Volume IV
My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! Volume 1
Gabriel's Inferno
Fake Summer Husband

Reading:
Gabriel's Rapture
Fox Snare
The Scarlet Alchemist
Fourth Wing
Prince of Thorns & Nightmares


QOTW:

I'm hoping to get Tales of the Celestial Kingdom from NetGalley. I'm excited to read that, but I don't know if I'm really excited to read anything at the moment.

Happy Thursday!

So... I got a little overenthusiastic and started my own reading challenge -- the Robot Librarian's Reading Challenge. Just a for-fun thing, hehe...

If anyone's interested in the challenge, here's some links:

Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/groups/16634...
Storygraph -- https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading...
Google Doc -- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q...

Books read this week:

Swordheart -- I love me some T. Kingfisher, and I’ve fallen in love with her World of the White Rat books. This is supposed to be a trilogy, so I sure hope we see more of this world soon!

How Can I Help You -- a chilling psychological thriller, provided you don’t mind unlikable lead characters and (view spoiler)[a rather abrupt and unsatisfying ending. (hide spoiler)]

If Cats Disappeared from the World -- a thoughtful read about death, life, and what we consider the important things in our lives.

The Annihilation of Foreverland -- a bit confusing at first, but turned into a fairly decent (if a little ludicrous at times) sci-fi tech-thriller.

Currently Reading:

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words
The Crowfield Curse
Odder
My Rescue Dog Rescued Me: Amazing True Stories of Adopted Canine Heroes

QOTW:

Probably Bookshops & Bonedust. I was pleasantly surprised by the first one and want to see more cozy fantasies, please.

I finished Memoirs of Hadrian as my book with a queer lead. I did not like it.

I'm almost finished with Two Little Girls in Blue as my book with girl in the title. Sooo good.

QOTW: I've been in a reading slump this year. So many books I didn't like. So, I'm not really looking forward to anything. I have about 50 unread books, and I was glancing to see what to read next, since I only have about 25 pages left in the one I'm reading now, and nothing jumped out at me. Since, after Two Little Girls I'll be done with the challenge, I don't even have a guide to help me pick.

I'm meeeeelting! I know, I know, I've been moaning about the drab summer for months, but I usually love September weather. Not this year, it's weirdly humid and I can't move without sweating buckets.

Anyway, I've been up to visit my parents in the Scottish Borders and we stopped off loads along the way, visiting Oxford, Chatsworth, Bakewell (to eat puddings and tarts, of course), Durham and a random place in Leicestershire on the journeys north and south. I saw my nieces who all started the day terrified of dogs, and ended the day wanting their own dog and arguing over who got to hold Scully's lead. If only grown up fears were so easy to get over! The oldest was telling me all about a museum she wanted to visit that was full of body parts in jars. I'm so proud!

Finished over the last two weeks:

The River of Silver by S.A. Chakraborty for ATY (body of water in title). I loved revisiting these characters, made me want to re-read the trilogy and I hardly ever reread. I like that she put the stories in chronological order, so it almost felt like a novel.

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron for banned book. I had a feeling I wouldn't like this before I started but I didn't have many options for this prompt on my TBR. The main character was annoying, the story was rushed, and side characters flimsy. I liked This Poison Heart more, but I think all her books have been a bit on the disappointing side and I don't think I'll be reading any more.

A Demon's Guide to Wooing a Witch by Sarah Hawley for ATY (not completely horizontal text on cover). The first book was cute and fun, this is a less substantial rehash with different characters. The amnesia was inconsistent and there was zero will-they-won't-they tension. The small amount of plot was infodumped at the end, when it could have been an interesting story had it not been rushing to get to the sex.

Currently reading Nettle & Bone and listening to The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle.

PS: 36/40 | ATY: 43/52 | GR: 71/100

QOTW:
I feel like it's been a quiet year for most my favourite authors but I'm looking forward to reading The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab. I'm hoping the final Heartstopper volume comes out, although I know I could read it online as she writes it. I've also heard good things about The Reformatory by Tananarive Due.

Kenya wrote: "Happy Thursday!

So... I got a little overenthusiastic and started my own reading challenge -- the Robot Librarian's Reading Challenge. Just a for-fun thing, hehe...

If anyone's interested in the ..."

Kenya, your challenge looks fun!

Ashley Marie wrote: "Some others I have planned that I'm excited to read before the year's out:
If We Were Villains
The Sword of Kaigen
Rust in the Root..."



omg I have borrowed Rust in the Root from my library THREE TIMES now, and each time I can't get to it and have to return it. I guess I'm pumping up its circulation rate LOL

Kenya wrote: "Happy Thursday!

So... I got a little overenthusiastic and started my own reading challenge -- the Robot Librarian's Reading Challenge. Just a for-fun thing, hehe...

If anyone's interested in the ..."



That looks like a great reading challenge! There are some really tough categories on there!!

Back when we had "book mentioned in a movie or show" for Popsugar, it was incredibly difficult for me to find a book. But I guess you liked it since you are back for more haha! Which book do you have in mind for that one?

Nadine in NY wrote: "Kenya wrote: "Happy Thursday!

So... I got a little overenthusiastic and started my own reading challenge -- the Robot Librarian's Reading Challenge. Just a for-fun thing, hehe...

If anyone's inte..."

Interesting how different we are. I always loved that category.

I also love book you saw someone reading in public. A few weeks ago a man sitting next to me on the Long Island Rail Road was reading a Haruki Murakami book, and we talked about Murakami for a few minutes.

Ellie wrote: "Anyway, I've been up to visit my parents in the Scottish Borders and we stopped off loads along the way, visiting Oxford, Chatsworth, Bakewell (to eat puddings and tarts, of course) ..."



oh my goodness, TIL that a Bakewell tart is named for a PLACE!!! I always just assumed it was a British brand name for almond paste or something used in making the tart.

Happy Thursday, Lynn.

I finally finished my 700 page book. I felt accomplished. Plus I had a 5 day weekend and made great progress on two new books.

However, a group I'm in is having a read-a-thon and you are supposed to read 4 books in 9 days. I feel like a failure because I could read 1, maybe 2 books in that time - if I was off work. I know you shouldn't compare yourself to others, but this fall read-a-thon always comes just when life is getting busy again and every year I don't even attempt it.

Finished:

Eldest
ATY prompt: A book with an unusually large version of an animal in the story
Popsugar prompt: A book that was self-published (The first book in the series was)

Series - 12/15
Series Completed: - Lying Games, Bronwyn the Witch, Divergent, Millenium, Heather Wells

Nobel laureates - 5/7
Random books - 5/7

ATY - 35/40
PS - 31/30
Nadine's 23 challenge - 10/10 -Completed!
Summer challenge: 12/12 - Completed!
Around the year in 52 movies - 36/52

35. A movie with a school subject in the title - French Exit

Currently reading:

The Fall of the King - 40% done
Go Set a Watchman - 75% done

Buddy Reads:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - 24/37 chapters
A Light in the Window - 13/21 chapters

QOTW: This is so hard to answer. I have high hopes for every book I start. I don't think I'm reading any more books published in 2023 if that's what the question is asking.

Ron wrote: "Yae, Happy Thursday everyone!

Ugh, will this heat ever end? Here we are in September and temps are still 100 degrees or over. I want fresh/cold weather now. The heat is literally suffocating at th..."

We're having a heat wave too. Some parents are keeping their kids home because most schools aren't air conditioned.

Nadine in NY wrote: "oh my goodness, TIL that a Bakewell tart is named for a PLACE!!! I always just assumed it was a British brand name for almond paste or something used in making the tart...."

I never thought about it that way, but does sound like a brand name!

Kenya wrote: So... I got a little overenthusiastic and started my own reading challenge -- the Robot Librarian's Reading Challenge. Just a for-fun thing, hehe...

If anyone's interested in the challenge, here's some links:

Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/groups/16634...
Storygraph -- https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading...
Google Doc -- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q...

This is great, thank you! I've printed out the challenge so that I could use them as prompts for my tbr jar.

Ellie wrote: I'm meeeeelting! I know, I know, I've been moaning about the drab summer for months, but I usually love September weather. Not this year, it's weirdly humid and I can't move without sweating buckets.

I know what you mean. Normally I like September and we usually get cold by now, but we might as well be having an indefinite summer. *bawl*. We're still getting 100 degree temps here in TX.

Dubhease wrote: We're having a heat wave too. Some parents are keeping their kids home because most schools aren't air conditioned

Yeah, I've been seeing that on the news. It's crazy. Absolutely insane how temps. can cause so much damage when it comes to schools. They're either closed for the heat or they get closed on account of too much snow.

Hi Everyone, I finished Remarkably Bright Creatures for my IRL book club.
QOTW: Let Us Descend

Ron wrote: "I know what you mean. Normally I like September and we usually get cold by now, but we might as well be having an indefinite summer. *bawl*. We're still getting 100 degree temps here in TX...."

I imagine cold for Texas is a hot day for the UK. I'm rubbish with Fahrenheit but most our summer is somewhere in the 70s. We might be in the 80s at the moment. Last year's heatwave was over 100F in some places but that is rare. We're just not set up for that kind of heat.

This week I finished Bone & Bread, which I never really warmed to. Didn't use for a challenge. Also The Rook, for PS bought secondhand and ATY chess piece. I liked it and think I will definitely check out the sequel.

Finally, a hold came in for Love, Theoretically, and I just sat down and read it in one go. She really just does tell the same story over and over (view spoiler)[science setting, huge dude, tiny quirky girl, she thinks he dislikes her, but really he's awkward because he's into her, a person she initially thinks is helpful turns out to have betrayed her... (hide spoiler)]. I mean, I guess it works, because as I said I just sat down and read it straight through, but I'm still hopeful that she'll vary the elements a little more next time. Used for ATY's published in 2023.

Currently Reading
The Long Earth, which will be for meant to read in 2022 - I think I've brought this book on three different vacations and yet never started it, so finally started it this week. Enjoyable enough, but there's so many characters who get chapters, but then disappear, so I don't know who I am supposed to care about! It's a very interesting premise though.

Team Rodent : How Disney Devours the World Weirdly, found this scrolling through my TBR list after finishing Love, Theoretically because I wanted something else light, fluffy and feel good (I have a rule this year that any book I read has to be from one of my TBRs, with exceptions for prompt fills and continuing series). Didn't find that, but this one caught my eye and so I grabbed it. Light, fluffy and feel good it isn't! It's all about the power and shadiness of the Disney corp, but the issue is it was published in 1998, and all I can think reading it is how much worse things have become since then.

QotW
Probably Moon of the Turning Leaves. I absolutely loved Moon of the Crusted Snow, so have been eagerly anticipating the sequel. This is the one fall release that's already on hold at the library, though I also may just purchase it.
New Murderbot is a close runner up though!

Hi all,

I've been confused to day of week all week, and totally missed giving my cat gabapentin last night for her appointment today. So had to reschedule it for monday, and I made sure to set up reminders for the doses this time. Sigh.

This week I finished:

The Modern Girl's Guide to Magic - read for an online bookclub. It was fine. It was a nice easy read, kind of cute. But the world building was pretty much nonexistant, and everything just came way too easy. Also it felt like it was set up to be enemies to lovers, but there was very little enemy part.

Remarkably Bright Creatures - this was good, although I don't seem to love it as much as some people do. I kinda wished more of it was from Marcellus' perspective, his bits were my favorite. I think part of my issue was (view spoiler)[ that it kept pointing out how sad it was that Tova's child died when he was a 18, so she doesn't have anyone to take care of her now, and no grand kids etc. Rather than her coming to peace with this, and finding fulfillment anyhow, the resolution is "Oh her son had gotten a girl pregnant before he died, so unexpected adult grandson!". Having kids just to not be alone when you're old feels like a bad reason to me. And her son dying long before then seems like one of the many reasons why that doesn't necessarily guarantee anything anyhow. It does seem like she came to realize her friends were there for her too, but it still was frustrating for me. (hide spoiler)]

Currently reading:

The Archive Undying - saw a random suggested post for this, and it looked weird and fascinating. it is that, more or less, but I'm having trouble really getting absorbed into it. I don't necessarily need the "oh I'm new to this situation so i'll be the reader proxy to have everything explained to me" character, but I'm still having a really hard time figuring out how anything works in the world, or envisioning anything because it just seems to assume you know exactly what they're talking about.

Hell Bent - current audiobook, i liked the first one enough to continue.

The Tea Dragon Society - graphic novel read, I think i'll use the first two for read harder. I read all kinds of graphic novels so the "kind of comic you don't read much" is kinda tricky for me, but I'd say I have read far more action-y or general slice of life comics than cozy fantasy ones. And then I read that the second book has a Deaf character, so that can work for the comic with disability representation.

QOTW:

I'm sure there's several still, but the ones that stand out for me are the new Murderbot, Starter Villain, and I just got my library copy for Thornhenge.

26 / 40 books for the challenge

39 books for the year

I've been on a tear the last week. Thanks to a long holiday weekend and time spent at the lake, I've been able to finish 3 books since last check-in.

Really Good, Actually was brutal. It was so whiny and such a downer that had I not wanted to use it for the challenge, I would've DNF'd it. And I don't DNF anything. This one is "a book about divorce." Wow. It's a stream of consciousness type of novel but unfortunately, the protagonist never has anything nice to say about anyone or herself. What a slog.

After battling through that one, I decided I needed something lighter and was able to grab Jennifer Weiner's latest The Breakaway from my local library. In fact, this branch is on my lake so I literally got off my boat and walked over to the library to grab it. I read this one Friday-Sunday and really enjoyed it. While it starts as a typical Jennifer Weiner romance, it includes an important theme of women's rights and women's independence that I didn't expect. The author dropped this plot into her book with tertiary characters and did an impressive job with it. This one is "a book with a fat lead." As an overweight woman myself, I abhor this prompt. And I am not liking the fact that there seems to be a whole subgenre of books about big girls finding love. This book in particular spent a lot of time talking about the protagonist being fat, which I did not enjoy. Weiner pulls it together well at the end but I did get irritated a few times.

Next up was Joan Didion's Play It As It Lays, which I found on a Goodreads shelf for books published in 1970, the year I was born. In a previous challenge, I read Love Story by Erich Segal for this prompt. Must say it was somewhat slim pickings in what was appealing from that list. If it comes up in another year's challenge, I'll be forced to read Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I've read Didion's work before and believe The Year of Magical Thinking is superb. This was a novel (I've previously only read her nonfiction). The best thing this book had going for it was it was 200 pages. I already owned this one thanks to a Kindle Daily Deal years ago and it was on my TBR so two birds, one stone. (Poor birds.) I finished it in a single sitting including reading for an hour while floating in the lake. Do not recommend. (The book. Reading while floating in a lake is fab!)

On the trip to the library noted above, I picked up The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough, which I've been wanting to read. It's a new book. If your workplace is like mine and nothing moves until it is perfect, this is the book for you (or your bosses). Love the subhead: "Embracing the Power of Good Enough." Still working on this one but hope to finish soon.

QOTW: What book are you really excited to read before the end of 2023? Why are you so excited for it?
Right now, I'm probably most looking forward to Colson Whitehead's Crook Manifesto. He is a masterful writer and I really enjoy his characters. Not sure if he has ever done a sequel before so will be interesting where he takes this one. If you haven't read it, The Nickel Boys is Wow!

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Although this week was a little less busy than the previous ones, I didn’t manage to finish very many books. (I blame Netflix for this.) Fortunately, I haven't fallen too far behind on my reading goals for the month.

Here are my current challenge and TBR totals…

Goodreads Challenge: 693/400 (Challenge Complete!)
Mount TBR Challenge: 150/150 (Challenge Complete!)

📚Physical TBR: 291/634
📱Ebook TBR: 8/236
🎧Audiobook TBR: 12/13
TBR Checklist Total: 311/883 (35.2% complete)

I’ve been watching a tremendous number of home organizing programs this week, which has really inspired me to get serious about finishing my unpacking, and making sure that my home is organized in a way that makes sense for me. So I did pick up a few books about organizing, including The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals, by Clea Chester and Joanna Teplin; as well as Marie Kondo’s trilogy of books (The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up, and Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life).

I also picked up a couple of new releases this week, including Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose, by Nancy Springer; and Otaku Elf Vol. 6, by Akihiko Higuchi.

“New” Books Bought in 2023: 407
“New” Books Read in 2023: 375/407 (92.1% complete)

Here are the books I finished this week…

Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Highland Treasure — This is the ninth book in the Highland Brides series. I really enjoyed this book, and I would say that it’s my favorite book in the series so far. I really liked the fact that this story prioritized adventure and intrigue over romance. It was a nice change of pace. Content Alert: (view spoiler)[ This book does include references to (and a scene of) torture, as well as references to rape. (hide spoiler)] 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
~Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War — I’m really glad that I picked up a copy of this book, because I found it absolutely fascinating. I still have a couple of Mary Roach’s books left to read, but I think this may turn out to be my favorite that she has written. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex — This book was a re-read for me, but since it was the first time I’ve read my own physical copy, I am counting it toward my “New Books” list total. I found this book just as interesting as I did the first time I read it. Content Alert: (view spoiler)[ This book does include references to a few animal experiments that did not end well for their test subjects. (hide spoiler)] 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None

Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None

DNFed:
None

Currently Reading:
~The Man in the Iron Mask — This is the sequel to Louise de la Vallière, and the final book in the D’Artagnan series. I’ve still got a couple hundred pages left to read, but I think I’ll be able to finish it before the end of the month. 📚
~Jurassic Park and Philosophy: The Truth Is Terrifying — I just started this book last night, and I’m currently on the second essay. It’s been an interesting read so far. 📚
~The It Girl — I will be starting this book later today. 📚

QOTW:
I am really excited to read System Collapse, by Martha Wells. It won’t be released until November, but I’m really looking forward to reading it. I’ve loved all of the other Murderbot books, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Murderbot gets up to next.

I’m also looking forward to the following new releases:
~Murder in Williamstown, by Kerry Greenwood
~Bookshops & Bonedust, by Travis Baldree
~Alice in Borderland, Vol. 7 and vol. 8, by Haro Aso

Your challenge looks really fun and I may participate next year :)



Kenya wrote: "Happy Thursday!

So... I got a little overenthusiastic and started my own reading challenge -- the Robot Librarian's Reading Challenge. Just a for-fun thing, hehe...

If anyone's interested in the ..."

Argh! My laptop froze up just as I almost completed my post, so now I have to start over. @$#&$!

Anyway... Happy Thursday! Eli started kindergarten last week, and so far he loves it. He was disappointed on Labor Day that he couldn't go.

Challenge Progress: Kenya's challenge looks fun! I'll probably start it in January. Thanks, Kenya!
52 Book Club: 52/52 (September Mini-Challenge: 0/3)
ATY: 50/52 (Summer Challenge: 12/12)
Popsugar: 45/50 (Nadine's Mini-Challenge: 10/10)

Completed:
The Fashion Orphans (ATY 10 - a book related to one of the Spice Girls' "personalities") ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Babel: An Arcane History (Book Club Selection) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shark Heart (PS 4 - a book by a first-time author) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Love, Theoretically ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This Bird Has Flown ⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch ⭐️⭐️⭐️



Currently Reading:
Happiness Falls (PS 32 - a book that comes out in the last half of 2023)
The Light Pirate (ATY 50 - a second book that fits your favorite prompt)
The Bewitching Hour (A Tara Prequel)
Built from the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa's Greenwood District, America's Black Wall Street (ATY 1 - a book set in a location that begins with A, T, or Y)
Mister Magic
Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide
The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet

QOTW: I've been lucky getting new releases from my library, so I haven't had to wait too long. Happiness Falls was definitely on my "most anticipated" list, and I picked it up a few days ago. Loving it so far! Now I've shifted my focus to Alix Harrow's Starling House and Adrienne Young's The Unmaking of June Farrow.

Finished: Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters Pretty good, but pretty straight forward; didn't offer a lot of new ideas. I find it helpful to read about teaching reading though, even if it's just a refresher.

Started: The Librarian's Guide to Homelessness: An Empathy-Driven Approach to Solving Problems, Preventing Conflict, and Serving Everyone This is written by an ED of a homeless shelter. He makes a lot of broad generalizations about how homeless people are different from other people and we have to recognize our differences before we can be empathetic with them.

QotW: I interpret this question as meaning, what book are we excited about reading that is being published in 2023... So I guess I'll have to go with The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan. I'm a bit tired of the series, honestly, but this one is focusing on Percy Jackson again, which should be fun.

Juanita wrote: "26 / 40 books for the challenge

39 books for the year

I've been on a tear the last week. Thanks to a long holiday weekend and time spent at the lake, I've been able to finish 3 books since last c..."



So you just hop in your boat and motor on over to downtown to run errands and go to the library? That is so awesome. It's straight out of One Morning in Maine. I have never had a chance to sit on a boat and read for an hour, but I think I'd like it.

Is this your summer abode or are you on the lake year-round?

Happy Thursday once again! I finished Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells finally!!! I used it for Prompt #49 the longest book on your tbr.
I also finished Killadelphia, Vol. 2: Burn Baby Burn The second volume was way better with more back story. I just purchased volume 3.

READING:
The Merciless Ones and Dead Dead Girls

I went out of town for Labor Day and landed at a bookstore and bought The Davenports and my book from an independent bookstore Our History Has Always Been Contraband: In Defense of Black Studies came in the mail a few days ago.

Question of the Week:
What book are you really excited to read before the end of 2023? Why are you so excited for it?
I'm excited to read the rest of The Killadelphia series as well as Our History Has Always Been Contraband: In Defense of Black Studies

Doni wrote: "I guess I'll have to go with The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan. I'm a bit tired of the series, honestly, but this one is focusing on Percy Jackson again, which should be fun..."


I did not know there was going to be more Percy Jackson!! I still haven't read book 5, now I guess I have TWO more books to read in that series.

Kenya wrote: "Happy Thursday!

So... I got a little overenthusiastic and started my own reading challenge -- the Robot Librarian's Reading Challenge. Just a for-fun thing, hehe...

If anyone's interested in the ..."

How fun! Maybe if PopSugar's challenge sucks next year, we'll have to do this one!

After a summer with an unusually minimal number of above 90F days -- you could count them on one hand -- we have had a long streak IN SEPTEMBER, and it's not ready to give up its grip yet. The long forecast is that summer temp's grip on NYC will finally break over the weekend, but not leave quietly. There will be thunderstorms.

I hate hot weather. I'm miserable in it and high humidity, hallmarks of NYC summers (once upon a time diplomats stationed in NYC, as in Washington DC, got bonus compensation due to climate). Add to it that both my window AC units crapped out last week ... Since I was already intending to replace them before next season, I'm not having them fixed and there is no reason to install new now just to have to store them over the winter.

Thank goodness for good fans!

Now to books - I'm still at 40/50 for PS but that's changing soon.

Finished:
Career of Evil
Mastering the Art of French Eating: Lessons in Food and Love from a Year in Paris

Currently Reading:
The Guest List - for celebrity list prompt - on Reese's.

QOTW: I don't really have anything. I don't tend to read many books immediately after they are published, even if I'm excited about them.

K.L. wrote: " The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals, by Clea Chester and Joanna Teplin; as well as Marie Kondo’s trilogy of books (The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up, and Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life)...."

Isn't The Home Edit beautiful? Maybe not all that practical, but beautiful!

L Y N N wrote: "Yes! It is Thursday!! :)

I have finally gotten my laptop working again online…at least momentarily. Definitely must replace the laptop asap. A friend of mine purchased an HP for just $200. I inten..."

Lynn - don't dilly dally about replacing your computer at this point, and make very sure you have everything on it of importance backed up. I know from personal experience. I had a laptop a few years ago that suddenly stopped recognizing the battery but continued to work plugged in. Then suddenly the hard drive crashed and it was dead as a doornail. Fortunately I lost no work because that laptop was for work and only used when I had to be out of the office at meetings and conferences and court appearances and needed use of a computer. Fortunately I lost nothing of importance because since the laptop could easily be lost or stolen or even have to be left in a checkroom when entering some federal buildings, I never saved anything to it, but used flash drives. We used the demise of my laptop as a signal to replace all the firm's laptops which had all been purchased at the same time, same vendor, etc.

So take the current problem as a final warning....

Oh and don't waste money on buying a new battery thinking it's just a dud. We did that and it was a waste of money, especially as they are expensive.

I forgot to add that I read The Night Circus last year and gave it 5 stars. I'll definitely be reading the group page because I'll be curious what other think.

Late heat wave over here in the Netherlands too: temperatures are up to 30 Celsius. And it’s September, so it’s humid. Smog warnings for tomorrow and Saturday, so that means I have to keep calm (and in the a/c). I’m counting the days to Tuesday, when the heat is expected to break.

PS: 34/50 (goal: 40/50)
Total 2023: 46/52

Finished
Keep Saying Their Names by Simon Stranger⭐⭐⭐
Not for PS.
As all WW2-stories, this one is important. It’s about the Komissar family and Norways war criminal Henry Oliver Rinnan. Because the story of the Komissar’s is told from many perspectives, the story of Rinnan is the one that stays with you most. Which obviously wasn’t what the writer wanted. He wanted to keep the name of Hirsch Komissar being said. Like I just did.

Currently reading
The World: A Family History of Humanity by Simon Sebag Montefiore (longest on TBR).
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West

QOTW
The latest Isabel Allende - The Wind Knows My Name - is waiting for me on the ‘vacation stack’. Allende’s House of the Spirits showed me again how much fun reading is, so Allende has a special place in my bookish heart.

Jai wrote: I'm excited to read the rest of The Killadelphia series as well as Our History Has Always Been Contraband: In Defense of Black Studies

Oh nice. I have that book on my tbr cart right now. Want to get to it, just don't know when.

Today being National Buy A Book Day, it gave me an excuse to get a few:

Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality

Say Their Names: How Black Lives Came to Matter in America

Critical Race Theory, Fourth Edition: An Introduction - I tried reading the 3rd edition (2017), but I got confused. I want to try reading it again and now that a 4th edition was released (Mar. 2023) I'm hoping I'll be able to have a better understanding since it's got updated information.

Nadine in NY wrote: Back when we had "book mentioned in a movie or show" for Popsugar, it was incredibly difficult for me to find a book. But I guess you liked it since you are back for more haha! Which book do you have in mind for that one?

I thought it was a hard prompt too, but still fun. And the original prompt was "a book you see someone reading," but I decided to widen it a bit and include books people discuss. I remember "Murder on the Orient Express" being a topic of discussion in an episode of NCIS once...

Happy Thursday! I am checking in from vacation! :)

Kenya, your challenge looks like a lot of fun. I joined on StoryGraph to bookmark it for next year.

Finished:
Just a bunch of comics & manga:
Romantic Killer, Vol. 4
Persona 5, Vol. 9
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 12
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 13
Shortcake Cake, Vol. 1
Shortcake Cake, Vol. 2
Shortcake Cake, Vol. 3
Shortcake Cake, Vol. 4
Shortcake Cake, Vol. 5
Shortcake Cake, Vol. 6

I am currently at 49/50 for Popsugar (39/40 and 10/10).

Currently reading:
The Brass Queen - for the "bought secondhand" prompt. I am enjoying it, but something about it is hard for me to focus on right now. Maybe it's just my vacation vibes.

Upcoming/Planned:
Nothing at the moment...

QOTW:
I am most looking forward to:
Mammoths at the Gates
Starter Villain
Starling House
Bookshops & Bonedust
System Collapse

Mostly excited for them because they are new books from favorite authors/in favorite series.

Doni wrote: "Isn't The Home Edit beautiful? Maybe not all that practical, but beautiful!"

I've been watching the television series on Netflix, and I'm obsessed with the overall look they manage to achieve. I don't know that I would want/need the number of containers they use, but I've definitely gotten some cool ideas.

Hi all! Got some thunderstorms moving through at the moment, hoping it will cool things down and I can turn off the AC. I hate running them, but I hate being hot and sticky more.

Kiddo started kindergarten yesterday. A boy knocked her crayons over today and that upset her and she wouldn't answer any other questions about her day- "I don't want to talk about anything!" Sometimes I'm not sure if I have a 5 year old or a 15 year old...

Boyfriend's car bit the dust, so we got rid of it this week and are down to 1 car. Until I get my disability figured out, we're going to have to make do. Fortunately, I'm not working, but if I do need the car for appointments, he only works a mile away from home, so he can catch a ride or I can take him etc.

Didn't finish anything this week. I've been watching old episodes of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives the last couple of weeks, and I can't read while watching those as easily as I can while watching baseball. And football season starts tonight...

I did listen to some more of The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner. I just got to the part where the Nazis have taken power and I don't think I realized how quickly they started removing Jews from jobs. Within a month or 2, Lise was the only Jew still working at her university and she only was able to do so because she wasn't German, so she had some protection from German laws. Still, there's a part of me that wants to shout at the book "Get out!! What are you doing??" lol

I also listened to another chapter of The Bonfire of the Vanities for a book set in the 80s. So far, there's very little overlap between all the characters that have been introduced. And none of the characters are likeable. But I kinda knew that was going to be the case. At least the narrator is good.

I've also been reading Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts OMG, there is something relatable on every page of this book! I'm a politics' junkie, so I'm absolutely loving being able to see why many public figures who KNOW better are selling their souls and getting into legal and moral trouble. It's so stinking fascinating. Beyond that, there are also moments where I'm able to recognize things I myself have thought or done and go "ohhh..."

QOTW: The book I just discovered and earmarked for my second half of 2023 prompt is Rachel Maddow's new book (see? politics' junkie), Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism. But as I rely on the library for books and am a major mood reader that might not come to pass, at least maybe not by the end of the year. I just requested my book from spring of this year, Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism, so I hope to start that one very soon. Light and fluffy reads they ain't. lol

Happy Thursday! It is so hot out it feels like summer just started. I made key lime pie over the weekend which turned out good but slightly too limey for my tastes. Live and learn.

Finished:

My Best Friend's Exorcism (PS set decade you were born) 2 stars. Not really a fan of horror books. I wish this was more camp than it turned out to be. I didn't really feel like I got to know the characters very well, either. I did enjoy all the eighties references.

When Life Gives You Vampires (PS romance with a fat lead) 1 star. Plus sized woman with body issues gets turned into a vampire and now has to deal with the fact that this is the body she will have for eternity. Interesting idea with an awful main character. Her personality is insufferable. She is so self pitying and self hating and super judgmental of everyone even remotely attractive (including her best friend). And the abbreviations! I hope to never hear obvi (short for obvious) ever again. Meanwhile, the love interest is a generic hot vampire who might as well be a non entity since you learn practically nothing about him. And it has my hated romantic trope of intsa-love. I rolled my eyes so many times reading this book.

Currently reading:

The Firekeeper’s Daughter (PS 2 languages)

Upcoming:

Black Leopard, Red Wolf (PS longest book on TBR)

QOTW: I'm excited to read Starter Villain. Also looking forward to whenever I get Fourth Wing off the wait list.

Jennifer W wrote: "I've been watching old episodes of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives the last couple of weeks, and I can't read while watching those as easily as I can while watching baseball."

That show is so much fun! It always makes me hungry though...

K.L. wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "I've been watching old episodes of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives the last couple of weeks."

That show is so much fun! It always makes me hungry though..."

No kidding! I like to cook, though, so I've incorporated some ideas into my recipes. And I like to look for places I could realistically visit someday!

Happy check-in! So since May I'm pretty sure we've had more smoke days than rainy days by a long shot. Today seemed pretty good but the air was still 5 on the index and it should be 1 or 2. All in all smoke days are better than being anywhere near the fires.

I'm looking forward to the ATY read-a-thon that starts on Saturday. I have lots of books I put down as a plan... watch how I read everything else. ;)

Finished Reading:

And Yet: Poems ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Now I've read all her published stuff. What kind of Woman is still the best.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (PS historical fiction)
I finally read something by Stephen King that I enjoyed.

Doll Bones ⭐⭐⭐
A backlist of Holly Black. Middle grade about a creepy doll.

PS 43/50
ATY 48/52
Nadine's 10/10
Goodreads 181/250

Currently Reading:

Little Women BOTM
Barely Functional Adult: It’ll All Make Sense Eventually
The Brothers Hawthorne


QOTW:

New SAGA in October!!!
Also Iron Flame, Lore Olympus: Volume Five, Monstress, Vol. 8: Inferno, The Night Eaters: Her Little Reapers, System Collapse, Heartstopper: Volume 5, Throne of the Fallen, Check & Mate

K.L. wrote: "Doni wrote: "Isn't The Home Edit beautiful? Maybe not all that practical, but beautiful!"

I've been watching the television series on Netflix, and I'm obsessed with the overall look they manage to..."

Yeah, but when they recommended organizing books by color, that's when I checked out. I mean, sure, organize books by color within a subject matter. But not totally. I would never find anything!

Happy Thursday! I was supposed to be cleaning before making dinner but then I got distracted looking for an audiobook to listen to while I was doing chores. I'm having bad luck finding audiobooks that grab me, so just found two more from Libby to try out. Anyways, I'm going to try to check in quickly before eating!

Finished:
Y/N- I heard this was going to be a fever dream about kpop, idol worship and fanfic. Which sounds great. But did not live up to my hopes. It's just very navel gazey, "what is reality and truth"- I feel like I've read this book a million times before. And the kpop angle was just added to grab people's attention, but it doesn't really have anything interesting to say about it. I gave it three-stars, but now that I'm writing about it, I think it might be more of a 2-star.
-no prompt

Un-Trumping America: A Plan to Make America a Democracy Again- this is a good book about politics, and it's well written. But it's very of the moment, and a lot has changed in 4 years. So it's interesting, but I would have liked it more if I'd read it when it first came out
-no prompt

Currently reading:
Yellowface- I've heard so many opinions about this book, both positive and negative, so I want to see how it works for me. The first chapter was pretty entertaining!

QotW:
I really want to read Penance- it sounds interesting, and I've heard good things about the author. I have it on hold from the library, so I'll at least get to try it out soonish.

I also really want to finish The Count of Monte Cristo. I haven't made an progress in about a month. I'd blame the new job, but it's really just me distracting myself with literally anything else. But I was enjoying it! I just need to pick it up again.

At the beginning of the year I made a list of 20 books I wanted to get to this year, and currently I've only read 4. So I'd like to get a few more of those read. But last year I only read 2 of the 20 I'd picked, so I"m not too pressed about it.