EPBOT Readers discussion

Hello everyone,

I have returned from my last planned trip. I hope everyone has gotten some good reading done! We were in Ireland for 13 days and only had rain for 1 afternoon (and night when we were sleeping so it didn't matter). That is a huge weather win for there.

I finished Remarkably Bright Creatures on the flight home today. I was listening on audiobook. I very much enjoyed this book. It was engaging and the different characters, including Marcellus the octopus, were all interesting. Listening to it all come together was a delight.

I also listened to two Amazon Prime short stories on the flight from their "Currency" short story series. I finished Rewards which I gave 2 stars. It fell short for me as it jumped back and forth between two unrelated characters who had some privileged jerk brothers in common. Their interaction with those jerks are completely separate. Then it just ended very abruptly. I also finished Simplexity. It was about office politics and inclusion. I gave it 3 stars. It was okay.

QOTW:
What classic book were you surprised you enjoyed?

I remember reading Pride and Prejudice in high school and enjoying it. I have not read any classics lately. I also have enjoyed most of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Happy Thursday!

I am on vacation so haven't been reading quite as much as normal.

Finished:
Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas - 4 stars - no prompt. I enjoyed it. A good continuation from book 1.

The Apothecary Diaries (Light Novel): Volume 8 by Natsu Hyuuga - 4 stars - no prompt. More Maomao.

Comics & manga:
Daytime Shooting Star, Vol. 1

Currently reading:
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune - no prompt. I'm only a few chapters in but it is so nice to be back with these characters.

Upcoming/Planned:
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi - for Robot Librarian's book set in Africa

The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning - no prompt.

QOTW:
I also loved Pride and Prejudice in high school. I also loved reading Cyrano.

I don't get to vacation until next month, but we have an arts festival going on locally, so that's been fun.

Saving Snakes: Snakes and the Evolution of a Field Naturalist - Book 1 of 2 that I bought because the author teaches at my alma mater. I am a reasonably big snake fan (had one as a kid) and I thought this was OK. It was really more the second part of the subtitle, which is fine, but the prose got a bit much.

Last Seen Wearing - I read this because it was apparently an early exemplar of the police procedural. I... am not a huge fan of police procedurals. It was well done but written in a spare style that felt underdone sometimes, and I guessed the culprit really early. Fun fact: this is the second book I've read with this title (the other is in the Inspector Morse series).

On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice - Second alma mater author book, which I had to buy because the library inexplicably got one copy and designated it for in-library use in the "Carolina room" that is currently housed (during the main library reconstruction) in an undisclosed location and open by appointment only. Yes I am mad. Anyway this one was good but is mainly about the Lumbee and neighboring tribes in the NC Coastal Plain, so I'm not sure how it would hit in other states.

QOTW: I tend to like classic books, so I'm not generally surprised. I guess sometimes I'm surprised by things that are in some degree classics but that don't seem well known, like the recent Gentlemen Prefer Blondes or my perennial hobby horse Passing.

Haven't posted for awhile, but I read regularly and appreciate those who do. Needed a bunch of comfort reads in August and had a lot of things I started and abandoned.

Wanted to share one book I was excited about Full Speed to a Crash Landing. Scifi, snarky, romance, short. Just what I needed. And written out of spite, as indicated here: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2024/08/2...
Going to check out more by this author.

For awhile I was trying to read one classic a year. Reviewed the seven I tagged as classic and all were 1 to 3 stars, so none were any I plan to read again. I did like To Kill a Mockingbird and Fantastic Voyage.