EPBOT Readers discussion

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to autumn to those in the northern hemisphere. I hope anyone affected by Hurricane Helene is doing okay and you have power and an easy recovery.

This week I finished a few books. I DNF'ed Sisters One, Two, Three. It was a free Amazon Prime book and it just wasn't engaging me. I could not relate well to any of the characters and so I just put it aside.

I'm working on Bad Reputation. This was another free Amazon kindle book. I'm enjoying this one although it could have used a bit more editing as in it feels like it is dragging a bit and is too slow/long. But I'm liking it enough to continue and finish.

I also finished The Last Empty Places: A Journey Through Blank Spots on the American Map. As a non-fiction, I read all the parts that were interesting and relevant to me and then returned it to the library.

I also "finished" a book that has been on my "current" list a long time. Patrick Berry's variety puzzle book Adventures in Puzzling: Multi-Puzzle Extravaganzas for the Brave, Bold & Bright. It is a set of puzzles to complete and my husband and I love these. Patrick Berry is a master. We always do his variety puzzles in the Saturday WSJ. But it took us a long time to periodically work on the puzzles in this book.

On audiobook I started North Woods. This book is highly rated and talked about. I'm only near the beginning so I'm not yet entirely sure how it will all connect together.

QOTW:
What's the last YA book you read and loved?

I don't usually read young adult, or if something is YA I may not be aware of it. I think the most recent YA books I read were Hank Green's "The Carls" books. #1 An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and #2 A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor. I did enjoy them.

Possibly Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow could be considered YA in my mind. The characters start quite young and even though they age they often act younger.

Happy Friday!

I am back from vacation and starting to get back into the swing of things.

Finished:
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune - 4 stars - no prompt. I really liked getting to see these characters again.

Currently reading:
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi - for Robot Librarian's book set in Africa

Upcoming/Planned:
The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning - no prompt.

QOTW:
I read quite a bit of YA. The last one I read was Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas.

As far as my most loved YA, it's definitely Little Thieves by Margaret Owen. I am anxiously awaiting book 3 next year.

We got a lot of rain but were east of the worst of the storm.

And Tango Makes Three - I have to confess that this book lost me pretty early when it refered to "red panda bears". Red pandas are not bears and there is no reason to refer to them as such. Also, while I respect the groundbreaking nature of this book, I think there are better options available twenty years later. It's utterly ridiculous that it's "controversial" though. It's penguins what the heck is wrong with people.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers - I did not think this was really a mystery novel. It's more of a found-family story in which the precipitating event is a murder. It also contained my pet peeve of characters thinking about their hidden secrets without ever quite thinking directly about what the secrets are. I am willing to give the author credit for including one clue, and I think if it had been presented to me as just a found-family thing I would have enjoyed it more.

Mars Rover Curiosity: An Inside Account from Curiosity's Chief Engineer - This was more about the bureaucratic difficulties of the Mars rover project than I would have liked. There was some stuff about the technical difficulties, but not in great depth, which is to some degree understandable in a book for general audiences, but I think there could have been a bit more. Needed another hundred pages or so.

QOTW: I have discovered that I do not enjoy YA as an actual adult, so the last one I loved would have to have been when I was a YA myself. I guess it might have been The Blue Sword.

I haven't checked in in a while! Been a little crazy lately with school starting.

I can't remember when I last updated, but here are my recent reads:

The Scarab Path and The Sea Watch by Adrian Tchaikovsky, books 5 and 6 of his Shadows of the Apt series. Four more to go! I'm really enjoying this one, it's been a while since I read a monster series and I just love the worldbuilding and character development an author can do over multiple books.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio, which was good fun. The main character - who is single at the start of the book - comes home one day to find that she has a husband who she has apparently been married to for several years. She then discovers that if she sends him up to the attic, a different husband comes down and her life changes again. It's a bizarre little piece of magic realism that is a lot of fun, and I absolutely loved the way it ended.

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang - romantasy following two souls in three different incarnations at different times. I really enjoyed the book, despite finding the romance itself a bit toxic.

I've also been re-reading The Renegades of Pern with my 13 year old and The Long Winter with my 9 year old.

QOTW: I generally enjoy YA, except that I get tired of the ubiquitous love triangles. Obviously it's there because the intended audience tends to be in the throes of adolescent infatuations so they can relate to it, but I find the tropes a bit tired. That said, I've read some really lovely YA and even middle grade books. According to my YA shelf, the last one I read was A Conjuring of Light by Victoria Schwab, the third book of her Shades of Magic series. Loved the trilogy.

I joined this group a little while back and have been reading but never posting. But I read a lot of YA books, so I felt like this was a good week for me to join in posting. I'm just a sucker for a coming-of-age story, so I think that's why I tend to be drawn to them. The one I read most recently that I especially enjoyed is Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O'Neal. I really liked how it handled chronic illness, especially dealing with my own stuff as well as having a number of friends who have gone through some of the things that the characters do. I'm not sure what it was exactly, but I also got the vibe that the author was just the kind of person that I would like to hang out with.

Another of my favorite YA novels that I don't hear people talk about too often is In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner. It's very simple in a lot of ways, but I feel like it's written lyrically as well so is able to both deal with that black and white thinking that is often how adolescents are while still feeling interesting to read.

Currently I am reading Demon Copperhead, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, and Somewhere Beyond the Sea. I keep finding myself reading just a little bit of Somewhere byeyond the Sea and then stopping, because I loved the first one so much and want to make this one last rather than speed through it.

Slowly rereading the Amelia Peabody books (#6) and enjoyed the latest in the Rivers of London.

I tend to like books better if the sex/violence is rated PG-13 rather than R, so I often choose YA fantasy to end up with this. Lunar Chronicles, Leviathan trilogy, Percy Jackson, Sabriel, Throne of Glass, Swords and Fire, and Shadow and Bone series have been favorites.