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Hi Everyone!

Posting a little later than usual this week, because I was cheating and trying to finish the book I was reading. This is because I HAVE FINISHED THE CHALLENGE! Woo!

So, this week I finished:

Tricked - Another Iron Druid book, it's a good series.

Saga, Vol. 1 - I'd started this a while ago, got distracted. Just now got back to it. Now I need to go find vol 2, it was so good.

Their Eyes Were Watching God - for Read Harder's classic by a person of color.
This was good, but started a bit slow for me. It also was a banned book at one point, which is pretty ridiculous.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - This was it, the final book! Counts for my book with a family member in the title. It was SO GOOD. Great way to wrap up the challenge, glad I patiently waited for the library loan and not just going out and and reading whatever I could get fast. It was such a sweet story, and told really interestingly. It was hard to tell if it was a fantasy novel, at times. but I think that was part of the discovery.

So yay! now i'm done! I still have read harder to work through, but that's shorter and I care less about it.

Currently I am reading Shadow Magic which is just for fun, i like Patricia Wrede.

How's everyone else doing?

Congratulations, Sheri!!! Amazing--and it's only just over half way through the year. Colour Mjølnir and I impressed. :-) You did the extended list as well, right? What was your book over 800 pages and what did you end up reading for a book about sports? Did you push on through the ballet book? And (last question!) which two books would you most recommend from your list?

I have my own personal reading triumph to announce: I finished Independent People! Yes, it took me almost two years, but I finally got through it. And then I read what others had said about it on Good Reads and was, well "happy" isn't the right word so maybe "consoled?" to find that many other readers felt the same heartbreak when working through this novel, and, also like me, felt like this was one of the greatest books we will ever read in our lives. The word "profound" comes to mind. If anyone is ever in the mood for a read that is somehow utterly depressing and heartbreaking but at the same time a true masterpiece of insight into human struggles and conditions underpinned with dark humour throughout (b/c don't we all wake up in the morning thinking that's exactly what we want to read???) then this is the book for you!

I almost held off posting for a bit, too, because I plan on finishing another book today, but I was afraid I wouldn't have time to post. I'm about an hour's worth of reading away from finishing Imperial Woman, so let's just call it done, shall we? ;-) This is my book written by an author from a country I've never visited: China. It's by Pearl S. Buck, and technically, she's American, but moved to China when she was 5 months old and lived there until she was 31. Then she went back to China 3 years later ended up writing The Good Earth about peasant life in China and won the Pulitzer Prize for it in 1938, so I'm satisfied that she meets the prompt! Anyway, Imperial Woman is a fictionalized biography about the last Empress of China whose reign ended 1908 (with the Boxer rebellion, I suspect). It's...okay. I appreciate that the author has not tried to tell this story from a Western perspective and overlay Western morals, values, and behaviours on the characters, but at the same time, since she was writing for Western readers, I feel she could have done a better job of helping readers understand the lead character's motivations because my cultural references are so different. I am learning a lot about Imperial China, however, that is helping me put what I know of modern China in a different perspective. Plus, my mother-in-law is Chinese, so I'm getting a better appreciation of a few things from her perspective!

These last two reads have both been by a Pulitzer Prize winner and a Noble Prize in Literature winner, so I think I'll be giving my brain a break for the next read!

Sheri--I forgot to add that someone gave meSaga, Vol. 1 for my birthday a few years ago and I loved it! I've been meaning to get the rest of the series ever since. Thanks for reminding me! Also, I added My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry to my "Want to Read" list. :-)

Hi Stephanie,

Yep, I did the extended list as well. My book over 800 pages was Kushiel's Dart, it's very good. I'd warn that there's some racier stuff in there. The main character is an anguisette which is basically a person born to take pain and love it, and she was bought and raised to be a high end courtesan and spy because of this. I love all of her books, but I know reading about that sort of thing isn't for everyone.

The book about sports is on Read Harder, I decided to shelve the ballet book for now. I've got that circus performer book on hold at the library that I'm going to read instead.

You already mentioned putting My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry on your reading list, I highly recommend that one. Then hmm...maybe The Dragon and the Unicorn. It was just such a rich book full of a mix of Arthurian legend, mythology, science, magic. if you wanted a third, since you'd already put the first on your list, I absolutely love The Night Circus which I'd counted for my book that always makes me smile. It is just such a dreamy book. Every time I read it, I just see the circus unfolding and I want to go to it. I've done a bunch of drawings inspired by it, and I dressed in black and white to be a performer from it for Halloween a few years ago.

Haha, I just was going through my list and realized I'd counted Blind Assassin for two things. Luckily, I over-read so I added Their Eyes Were Watching God as my story within a story, instead. So my finish still counts!

I've seen so many people recommend The Night Circus that I'm just going to have to add it to my Want to Read list! And I think I already have The Dragon and Unicorn on there based on your previous recommendation. Thanks!

I was just taking a look at the extended list, I and think I'll be able to do it...We'll see! I should be up to about 30/40 books by next week, so it's looking "doable."

Yeah, there's some good prompts on the advanced list, I'd say go for it! I posted my whole reading list in a new topic, if you wanted to check it out.

I would like to check it out. Can you send me the link?

My reading list

Popping in to add this - Kushiel's Dart is the Tor Book Club free ebook of the month for July. You have until the 19th (I think) to claim a copy. All you need to do is create an account at Tor. I'm amassing quite a collection of fantastic reads thanks to their club! I had a paper copy of Kushiel and got about 1/4 of the way into it, but set it aside because it was going to slowly for me at the time. I'm happy to have an ebook copy now so that I can read it when I'm really in the mood to appreciate it!




Sheri wrote: "Hi Stephanie,

Yep, I did the extended list as well. My book over 800 pages was Kushiel's Dart...

Sheri - Congratulations! I'm amazed at the volume of books you crank through! :-)

Stephanie - I would also highly recommend The Night Circus! It was the first book I've read in a long time that drew me into its world and held me there. Dreamy is a perfect description. Great read!

For me, I finished Water for Elephants. I liked the ending. Overall, I'm glad I read it, but probably won't be reading it again. Definitely will not be seeing the movie.

Next up is Fahrenheit 451 as my classic from the 20th century. I've also started reading Artemis Fowl for fun after seeing it pop up here and then finding it for free as part of my Amazon prime. Only a little bit into this story as well, but so far it's a fun read. It's unusual for me to have 2 books going at the same time, so we'll see if I continue reading both or if I gravitate towards one.

Sara,
Haha thanks! I'm kind of an obsessive reader, I can't NOT have a book going :)

I had been avoiding Water for Elephants, I have a hard time reading about bad things happening to animals. I'm sure it's well written, I just have a hard time sitting down and saying "now is when I feel like being really depressed while reading".

I liked Farenheit 451 a lot, I hope you enjoy it!

Kristi, thank you for the tip about Tor and Kusheil's Dart. I've created an account and will download the book later when I get home. I've only ever gotten epubs from the library before--is the process more or less the same for Tor?

Yes - it's very similar to getting a library book. I use the Kindle app, so I download the books in .mobi format (they offer .epub and .mobi). All I have to do is email it to my Kindle account, or transfer the file to my tablet and read :)
The nice thing about the TOR books is that they're DRM-free, so you aren't restricted when it comes to making backup copies, or loading them onto multiple devices. Super convenient!

Thank you, Kristi. I as able to download it to my Mac using the .epub format and then transfer it over to my Kobo. If I get to the extended reading challenge, I've got my 800+ page selection all taken care of!

Yay, I really loved Kusheil's Dart. Hope you like it, whenever you get to it! I need to get the other two. I've read all the books that come after it, haha, just my library for some reason fails to have this trilogy digitally OR hard copy. So I'll have to actually buy them.