EPBOT Readers discussion

Hello everyone from the PNW. We've been very busy and tired everyday but tonight is a chill evening. My update this week will be pretty short because I have not been reading too much.

On the flight across I reread All Systems Red because we had just finished watching the Murderbot TV series. It was still delightful.

The only book I'm reading on my kindle, when I can stay awake at night is Woman on the Verge. I'm about 25% through it. It is a book about motherhood through three women. So far most of the first 25% has focused on one woman and just barely introduced the second. I haven't met the 3rd yet. I'm past the maternal place these characters are so I'll see how I feel about it.

QOTW:
How much of a book do you read before deciding to DNF? Or what other criteria do you use to decide that?

I try to give it at least 50-100 pages (depending on the length of the book) but if I'm really not getting into a book I will just stop. I would DNF non-fiction sooner. Sometimes non-fiction is not quite "as advertised" and if it isn't what I expect then I'll put it down.

Thanks to all who post more regularly than me! I have been lurking and appreciate your recommendations.I finally have a few completed books that I'm excited to share with everyone.
First is Royal Gambit, the fourth in the Chequuy series. Loved it. Daniel O'Malley writes great women protagonists. He's one of the few authors I now pre-order from my local bookstore because I'm 98% sure I will enjoy and want to reread. Relevant to the QOTW, I was hooked after 6 pages.
I also really enjoyed Murder by Memory, which fits its description of Becky Chambers meeting Miss Marple with its murder mystery set on a spaceship. It's a novella, and I really admire authors who can create a great story, including a fictional world, in less than 200 pages. Sometimes you want to knock off a book in a day.
Like most everyone else, I read some of John Grisham when his early stuff came out, but haven't read everything of his. However, I have liked two books in the Camino Island series, which are mysteries featuring a bookstore owner.

For QOTW, I like the advice my friend gave me. Until you're 50, give it 50 pages. After that, subtract your age from 100, because life is too short to read books you don't like. So I stop at 42 pages, and my 83YO mom should give up after 17. As noted above, I find my favorite authors tend to hook me in on the first chapter.

Hope you're enjoying yourself, Susan! It's been getting warm here again, but it supposed to be a bit cooler this weekend.

Finished:
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley - 3.75 stars - for a Popsugar prompt that might be a spoiler (view spoiler)[a book that features a married couple who don't live together (hide spoiler)]. This was really interesting, and not at all what I was expecting.

The Apothecary Diaries (Light Novel): Volume 14 by Natsu Hyuuga - 4 stars - not for a prompt. More adventures of Maomao. Still having fun with this series.

Currently reading:
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins - not currently for a prompt. I just started this, so not too far in yet. Expecting to cry.

Upcoming/Planned:
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg - for Popsugar's book that features a character going through menopause

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston - not currently for a prompt.

QOTW:
I will give a book until about 100 pages, or about 25%. Less for nonfiction.

That said, I haven't actually DNFed a book in several years. I did consider scrapping one earlier this year, but it was a very easy read, so I just finished it for a prompt.

It is not supposed to be cooler here this weekend; the forecast is for three straight 100-degree days. If I'm not here next week, you'll know I evaporated.

Never: The Autobiography - I was mostly curious about Rick Astley's thoughts on the Rickrolling phenomenon, but it turns out that may not be the weirdest thing to have happened in his life. This book was very interesting and written in a distinctive voice that is presumably Rick Astley's (it was ghostwritten by a music journalist and I am assuming competence) and he comes across as very likeable.

Kill Your Darlings - The schtick here is that this book is written backwards: each chapter takes place prior to the one before, often by several years but once by less than an hour. It starts with a woman who has decided to kill her husband, and alternates in perspective between the two of them as we go back into the secrets of their past. It was OK but it only works because of the conceit; told chronologically, it would be an annoying sort of lit-fic descent-into-crime situation.

Monster Hands - Picture book in which two kids in neighboring houses discuss via ASL what to do about a monster under the bed. It's a good concept, but I found the illustrations a bit confusing; it wasn't clear whether the monster was supposed to be real or the kid's imagination, and at some points it's cute but then menacing again? It might just be me.

QOTW: As a lifelong completionist, I don't have a lot of DNF experience. It's easier with nonfiction, and the couple of times I've decided I wasn't going to vibe with something didn't take very long. With fiction I still find I generally want to see the story through.

There's been once or twice that there was a book that was too gruesome for me to finish, but I wanted to know what happened. So I was able to post at FoE to ask someone.

@kathy I like your friend's advice about DNF as someone now over 60. Time is not to be wasted. And although I haven't asked on FoE I have skimmed or skipped past parts that turned gruesome.

A friend of mine describes her reading style (and mine, but I never put a name to it) as avoiding the 4Ds: depressing, dark, dysfunctional or despairing.

Susan wrote: "@kathy I like your friend's advice about DNF as someone now over 60. Time is not to be wasted. And although I haven't asked on FoE I have skimmed or skipped past parts that turned gruesome.

A frie..."That reading style is pretty close to mine! I can handle books (and movies) with sadness and death, but just don't enjoy books where everyone is miserable.