Albany Public Library discussion

Hello again! This week’s theme is Strange Creatures, I have one of those living with me right now! It is a medium sized, fluffy, white creature that just so happens to love all things tuna flavored. That’s right, it’s my cat, Elroy! He is the sweetest boy and he takes great pleasure in sneaking up on his mousie toys.

Here are some strange creature themed books if you want some ideas:
A Deadly Education
Rosemary and Rue
Written in Red
Such Sharp Teeth
Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy
Sweet Tooth, Vol. 1: Out of the Deep Woods
Strange Planet
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
The Secret Lives of Bats: My Adventures with the World's Most Misunderstood Mammals
Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects

What strange creatures have you encountered lately? We would love to hear all about your pets! Let us know what you are reading- strange, full of creatures, or something else!

Happy reading ;)

This will give me the umph this week to finish an ARC of a book The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth and another that's on my Netgalley list Something in the Woods Loves You. I'll get on those!

I'm a big fan of books about creatures!

For this theme I read The Harpy by Megan Hunter.

And at home my favorite creature is my adorable lil' puggle, Rocky. He loves to fetch and has a fierce underbite <33

My favorite creatures are my cats Rumple and Jasmine! Favorite books I’ve read about this topic: The Traveling Cat Chronicles and The Art of Racing in the Rain
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Last week I finished the book Less and The Fury. Loved the fury! I am going to start The Many Daughters of Afong Moy this week :)

I always loved Mogget from Sabriel by Garth Nix. He's especially great in the audio version! Not.../quite/ a cat, but behaves like one.

There's a piece from the Doctor Who season 3 soundtrack called "All the Strange Strange Creatures," which led me to subtly thinking of this week as "okay which of the dozen or so Doctor Who comics collections I've accumulated through Humble Bundle should I read for this." Although I found myself back in Week 3 first, surprisingly, with Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City. I'd been meaning to get around to reading more of Guy Delisle's travelogues since encountering Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea back in college (a book I still need to get again and actually finish!)

Here is my list for the past few weeks:
1-The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier- Saga of the Murano glass and bead workers covering 8 centuries of artisans and a changing world. This made me vow to never go to Venice although it sounds amazing. It's just sinking into the water because of too much activity of the centuries.
2-The Last Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal-Maggie Hope solves her last case in the series.
3-Inside Bridgerton by Shonda Rhimes-because I am working my way through Queen Charlotte and the 3rd Season of Bridgerton. 4-A coffee book that I devoured
5-The Guest Cat/ Takahashi Hiraide. Because it had a pretty sumie painting on the cover and looked like my cat Daphne Moon.
6-Stranger things. Runaway Max / Brenna Yovanoff. Because Max is quite the sphinx.
7-The Cool Kitchen Cookbook: It did not inspire me.

8-I am currently listening to The Briar Club by Kat Quinn. 1950 Washington boarding house. I am a sucker for boarding houses and boarding school stories.

9-I am almost finished with Glorious exploits : by Ferdia Lennon. A modern Irish writer tells the story of 2 men of Syracuse on the island of Sicily who have put on Euripides' plays Medea and The Trojan Women with Athenian prisoners.
*I wish I could keep up each week because I really look forward to this challenge.

I’m just pages away from finally finishing The Overstory, which is a beautiful work of fiction that ties together many narratives about people and trees, but at the heart of it is the amazing truth that trees are social and intelligent creatures in so many ways.

I’m trying to put my son to sleep so I can finish the last 10 pages :)

Currently reading : in 5 years by Rebecca Serle .
I’m currently a quarter of the way through and it is getting good .
I have heard mixed reviews so I’m excited to read this !!

Just read: The Midnight Feast and The Personal Librarian which I enjoyed!!

I just finished Bunny by Mona Awad. Definitely creatures strange and small. I rarely read Horror and it was quite different for me. Very enjoyable and crazy. 9th book that I finished.

Courtney wrote: "My favorite creatures are my cats Rumple and Jasmine! Favorite books I’ve read about this topic: The Traveling Cat Chronicles and The Art of Racing in the Rain
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Last week I finished the book Less ..."

Congratulations Courtney! You have successfully completed the Summer Reading Challenge! Please send an email to albanyreads@albanypubliclibrary.org with your tshirt size and which branch you would like to pick it up from.

You can absolutely keep commenting in the thread with other books you read this summer too, if you like~

Elizabeth wrote: "For this theme I read The Harpy by Megan Hunter.

And at home my favorite creature is my adorable lil' puggle, Rocky. He loves to fetch and has a fierce underbite <33"

If you haven't been congratulated already, congratulations! You have completed the summer reading challenge! Please email albanyreads@albanypubliclibrary.org with your tshirt size and let them know which branch you would like to pick it up from- if you haven' already!

Hannah wrote: "There's a piece from the Doctor Who season 3 soundtrack called "All the Strange Strange Creatures," which led me to subtly thinking of this week as "okay which of the dozen or so Doctor Who comics ..."


All of these sound like great options! I am currently reading Red, White, and Royal Blue for my book club. No creatures in it so far, but you never know lol

Jody wrote: "Here is my list for the past few weeks:
1-The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier- Saga of the Murano glass and bead workers covering 8 centuries of artisans and a changing world. This made me vow to nev..."

This list is fantastic! and you are almost finished with the challenge! Only one more book to go! You got this~~

Theresa wrote: "I’m just pages away from finally finishing The Overstory, which is a beautiful work of fiction that ties together many narratives about people and trees, but at the heart of it is the amazing truth..."

I think we can all relate in some way or another to that feeling of "just one more chapter". You got this!

I’m not much of a sci-fi reader, so this week I picked up a sci-fi-ish book by an author I enjoy… Jonathan Letham’s ‘Amnesia Moon’. So far it’s like a Mad Max Yellow Brick Road with some post-apocalyptic hairy mutant people. I am enjoying it so far. I have my own hairy mutant at home too. A 14-year-old calico named Pancake.

In the meantime, I listened to the audiobook The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents which I highly recommend if you have kids or work with kids. Plus, another nonfiction- Math-ish: Finding Creativity, Diversity, and Meaning in Mathematics- while it was annoying that she continued to drop her work at an Ivy League, her focus on adjusting the way we talk, think about, and teach math makes me happy since my journey (like PLENTY of others') wasn't the best. Her approach makes so much sense.

And while it's only an issue, not a volume, of course I had to read issue #67 of Saga #67. Any Saga fans? Grabbed that at my local indie comic shop on the way home yesterday. They promise significant character and story arcs in the issues to come and this one didn't disappoint. These are animals of the science fiction kind! Staples' creativity as the artist in the Vaughan and Staples duo working on this series is unrivaled.

Alicia wrote: "In the meantime, I listened to the audiobook The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents which I highly recommend if you have kids or..."

Wow, those sound like 2 great books to dive into! And a comic book is definitely a good follow up!

Patrick wrote: "I’m not much of a sci-fi reader, so this week I picked up a sci-fi-ish book by an author I enjoy… Jonathan Letham’s ‘Amnesia Moon’. So far it’s like a Mad Max Yellow Brick Road with some post-apoca..."

That sounds really cool, I'll have to check it out...after I've caught up on my other books I've started!
And Pancake is an excellent name for a pet! My parents used to have the sweetest little dachshund- also named Pancake!

Someday when I have an actual couch, I look forward to hopefully being able to share book-cuddling space with my own resident Strange Creature (I have a small armchair which is nice, but Dusty hasn't expressed himself as a lap cat; just as a leg-lean cat). But as for SRC strange creatures, I finally started reading Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet series. It's been on my radar for years, but for some reason I'd thought that it had been running continuously since 2008 and covered a bunch of books. Turns out it's only 9 volumes long and just took forever (this year!!!) for the last one to come out, so now I'm going in comfortably knowing that I'll be able to read the complete story right away.

Finished All Sinners Bleed, The Woman in Me, and Until I’m Yours. That brings me up to 6 I believe with this challenge!

Finished Fourth Wing which was a good fit for this week’s theme!

Hello group. I also just finished The Women, a great historical fiction read. I had never read that author before, and am now interested in one of her other books that takes place in Alaska.

I’m also reading Bel Canto.

Today, I finished Baltimore Blues , my bonus book #12.

So many good book recommendations this week!

I’ve been in a slump this week and between that and the Olympics only read one book: The Same Bright Stars. It was heartwarming without being cheesy and had good characters.

I finished Glorious Exploits this week.

I just finished Circe by Madeline Miller. It's not exactly creature-based, but any Greek mythology has some interesting creatures and characters. I highly suggest the book!

Had a few days off this week and was able get 3 books finished up. So for my 6th, 7th and 8th books I read:

- The Silent Wife by Kerry Fisher

- The Lake by Natasha Preston

- The Twin by Natasha Preston


Question, do we wait til after summer reading ends to get our shirts or can we come in once finish our 10 books to get shirt? Thanks

I did end up finishing The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth which looked at plant intelligence as an unfolding branch of science and what we can learn about the adaptations and curiosities in the plant world. Would recommend!

Plus I also finished the audiobook (late to the game!) of A Gentleman in Moscow which I definitely think everyone should read. What an easy flow to the narrative about a gentleman on house arrest in a hotel in Russia in the 1920s though my favorite character was the girl, Nina.

And speaking of characters strange and small, how about the characters in books coming to life. This morning I finished the middle grade graphic novel The Night Librarian: A Graphic Novel about two siblings (Page and Turner) who are helping the Night Librarian tame the creatures erupting from the books at NYPL.

I have been quiet on here but busy reading!
I finished books 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the challenge over the past couple of weeks and have started #10!
Here's a list of very summery reads, any of which I'd recommend:
Happy Place by Emily Henry
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (I've never watched the show and then read the book, so this was fun)
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren (so cute!!)

And #10 is Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny. I'll always turn to a Chief Inspector Gamache book when I need something cozy.

Emily wrote: "Hello again! This week’s theme is Strange Creatures, I have one of those living with me right now! It is a medium sized, fluffy, white creature that just so happens to love all things tuna flavored..."

I have been too busy to post what I've been reading (and I haven't been following the themes), but I have been reading.

Since my last post, I finished:

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard
A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
The Exchange, by John Grisham
Sometimes I Lie, by Alice Feeney
Survive the Night, by Riley Sager
The Heiress, by Rachel Hawkins
The Troop, by Nick Cutter

I finished 2 books: The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington. It had creatures strange, small, and surreal throughout. Plus The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind. I'm well behind on the challenge but I'll keep reading when I can. I have also been reading How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7 by Joanna Faber and Julie King. I'm finding it helpful!

Jaybee wrote: "So many good book recommendations this week!

I’ve been in a slump this week and between that and the Olympics only read one book: The Same Bright Stars. It was heartwarming without being cheesy an..."

Oh, that sounds perfect for the summer. Adding it to my list.

I read Such a Good Mother this weekend. The idea was a good one - a bunch of mothers darkly plotting against each other to keep a place for their kid in a prestigious school - but the execution didn't live up to the plot.

I just finished Liane Moriarty’s latest book, Here One Moment. I got an ARC from the publisher. It wasn’t what I expected, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Jaybee wrote: "I just finished Liane Moriarty’s latest book, Here One Moment. I got an ARC from the publisher. It wasn’t what I expected, but I enjoyed it nonetheless."

I've been trying to get an ARC of that, but without success! [I have a bad habit of grabbing all the Netgalley "Read Now" books that sound good to me and then forgetting to read and review, so when I request a book that's not "Read Only," I tend not to be chosen. Sadface.]

Nothing new to report book-wise but just wondering when the Week 7 thread was going up? Thanks.

Hiya!!! Really enjoyed reading everyone’s posts! How fun! For this theme, I have read Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt Pelt. I thought it was very fun for the author to include an octopus’s perspective! Marcellus the Octopus was a really fun protagonist. I also listened to the audiobook Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West. I thought this book (read by the author) was hysterical to review movies of the 90’s and 00’s by today’s lens and perspective. Bring back the dvd! Does anyone else find it so much more enjoyable when the author reads their work?! Lindy West was hysterical and it was a real treat to have her record her own writing.

Many interesting creatures in The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

Hannah wrote: "Someday when I have an actual couch, I look forward to hopefully being able to share book-cuddling space with my own resident Strange Creature (I have a small armchair which is nice, but Dusty hasn..."

Amulet is a huge favorite of mine and other readers in my house...I hope you enjoy it!

Spencer wrote: "I finished 2 books: The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington. It had creatures strange, small, and surreal throughout. Plus The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind. I'm well behind on the challenge but I'l..."

I read another creature feature- Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls

Mirkat,
I have a backlog myself so I feel your pain! I’ve been having a hard time balancing my ARCs and library books lately and I thought I’d close the gap on vacation, but I haven’t read as much as I expected. Reading pressure—I guess it’s a good problem to have, LOL.

Jaybee, one of the ways they "get me" is the power of FOMO.... Like when they send an email with a compelling book description and "Read Now for 48 hours" or "Read Now for the first 500 people"! I have a hard time resisting!

In other news, today I finished Trust by Hernan Diaz.

Mirkat wrote: "Jaybee, one of the ways they "get me" is the power of FOMO.... Like when they send an email with a compelling book description and "Read Now for 48 hours" or "Read Now for the first 500 people"! I ..." I have Trust, but it is due back at the library! I was definitely intrigued by the little bit I read, so will look for it again when the wait list is shorter.

It's good, Susan! Definitely an unusual story structure....

Mirkat wrote: "It's good, Susan! Definitely an unusual story structure...." Thanks!

I read The Divide by Morgan Richter and Booked for Murder by PJ Nelson this weekend, two more ARCs. They were both enjoyable vacation reads, but nothing amazing.

For Week 6 I finished The Mabinogion, a collection of medieval Welsh folk tales by unknown/various voices of the time.