EPBOT Readers discussion

Hello everyone,

Happy Summer (in the northern hemisphere). I'm a bit late getting this week's post out. I just returned from a family reunion vacation on a lake in northern NY. It is a bunch of cottages where we mostly fish, take boat rides and hang out. It is a only a bit beyond glamping. If you're in the (large) part of the US that will be in very high heat this week (I am) please keep cool and safe.

I finished books this week. I finally finished the paperback chick lit Welcome to Harmony. It was lightweight and perfect to finish on vacation. I happen to have another and will read it sometime.

I also finished Homemaker. That was a recent Amazon First reads and I enjoyed it. It was a modern cozy mystery sort of book. Also great for vacation.

I started listening to One Word Kill. I'm not sure how this ended up on my TBR list, but I have it and we'll see.

On my kindle I started reading an Amazon First reads short story Abscond. Even though it is short, I only started it last night.

QOTW:
Not book related but since it was summer yesterday and will be very hot for many: What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

I eat ice cream more rarely now that I'm older. But when out at an ice cream stand, I definitely gravitate to the chocolate & peanut butter ones. It is a favorite and my husband does not like peanut butter at all, so I never have it at home because otherwise I'd have to eat the entire thing myself.

But there are so many good flavors and a good vanilla also cannot be beat.

Happy summer! Luckily, it hasn't been too hot yet here. I got enough high temps last week on vacation! :D

Finished:
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto - 3.75 stars - for Popsugar's dystopian book with a happy ending. I liked this quite a bit. A fun cyberpunk heist story. Looking forward to the sequel next year.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - 3.75 stars - for Popsugar's book about an overlooked woman in history. This was sad and kind of depressing, but I'm glad I read it. I was interested in the science and the life of Henrietta Lacks, but less interested in the author's memoir of writing the book.

Currently reading:
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline - for Popsugar's book about a road trip.

Upcoming/Planned:
The Floating World by Axie Oh - not currently for a prompt.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust - for Popsugar's book with a snake on the cover or in the title.

QOTW:
I don't know if I have a favorite flavor right now, because I will eat many flavors. I probably gravitate to butter pecan or coffee. If I had to pick a favorite nostalgic flavor that's harder to find at the grocery store, it would probably be pistachio. I grew up getting pistachio all the time at Carvel when I was a kid.

I am in the heat dome. It's been OK so far - I've been trying to drink water like it's my job - but it looks like it's supposed to peak on Tuesday.

The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket - So this had a lot of interesting information in it, but I felt it lacked a strong organizing principle, and the author's tone was, well, annoying. There was a tendency to overblown prose as well as a fair amount of what was probably supposed to be journalistic objectivity toward people he interviewed but frankly came off as rudeness. The author clearly did a lot of very involved research but largely failed to make a good book out of it.

QOTW: Like Jen, I like to mix it up. I will often get cherry if I see it, because it's slightly less common, but chocolate is generally good, and I sometimes like ones with a lot of nonsense like candy pieces and fudge swirls. There was briefly a shop nearby that was excellent, every flavor I got was delicious, including the non-dairy ice cream, and that lady made a passionfruit sorbet that was absolutely fantastic and I lament the shop's closing. I just got a passionfruit sorbet from Trader Joe's that is good but not at that level.