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Sorry I didn't get this posted last week! Been really busy week/weekend with lots of house stuff and general life.

This week I finished:

Jane Eyre - this was popsugar book being read in a move or tv show, it was apparently featured in Definitely, Maybe which is a movie i have seen, even if I failed to notice the book. Was a weird prompt for me, I'm just not that observant unless it's a book I have already read and I notice because "hey, I read that". This was alright, went better than some classics anyhow. I still have a lot of problems with the whole relationship.

It Devours! - Wanted a break after the last couple books I read. Ended up realizing I missed a prompt on my spreadsheet, missed "favorite prompt from previous challenge". So I decided to go with book with punctuation in the title, so this counts.

The Wretched of Muirwood- I needed a book set in an abbey/convent/monastery/seminary so wanted to read the second in this series. But it'd been 3 years since I read the first one so I re-read it to remember what all went on.

I'm going to skip ahead to currently reading so I have something to post this week haha.

I'm currently re-reading The Martian for the July Books & Brew meeting. I like the book so it's fun to revisit. I'll probably re-watch the movie too.

QOTW:
I've kinda lost track of what I've asked or haven't asked so bear with me if I've asked this! Are you a re-reader?

I am 100% a re-reader. I grew up re-reading because I've always been a voracious reader and had a limited book budget. Don't ask me why I didn't use the library more, I always did in elementary school but stopped sometime in middle school. I guess my mom stopped taking me to the public library and I just never really considered using the school one for anything outside of school research/reading. That sort of extended through high school and college, I didn't get a new library card again until I was well into post-college adulthood and I got a kindle and learned about digital downloads. So basically until then re-reading became a way to extend my book collection to keep me busy.

I re-read less now, but I still like to go back and revisit old favorites. Especially if I'm having a bad day or don't feel well, I'll grab and old favorite off the shelf. Also sometimes my brain just feels full from so many new books, especially if I hit some hard topics. So I'll use re-reading as a sort of palate cleanser/brain break.

Let's see... this week I finished:

Horizon by Fran Wilde. I had read the rest of this series last year, but then I kind of bounced off this one for some reason I can't even remember anymore. I finally went back and restarted the final book. Once I got past the point where I got stuck last time, it went by pretty quickly. I enjoyed it, just not as much as the first two books.

I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn. This was just adorable. Completely, totally adorable. A sweet little YA coming-of-age/romance story about a Japanese-American girl who goes to Japan to learn more about herself and that part of her heritage. Not super-deep, but very enjoyable and fluffy.

Currently reading: Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria. I was intrigued by the description. I love found family stories, and there sounds like there might be a heist involved. I adore a good heist, especially in a non-contemporary-Earth setting/genre.

QOTW: My experience is a lot like yours, Sheri. I re-read all the time growing up. I went to a Catholic school and the school library was very limited, and I didn't have a lot of opportunities to go to the public library until high school. So I read and re-read the books in my own personal library.

Nowadays I re-read a lot less, but in the last few years, I've been going back and re-reading some older favorites, trying to see how my perspective may have changed over the years. I've recently re-read all of Megan Whelan Turner's Queen's Thief books, for example, and most of Robin McKinley's books. Next on my re-read list is a re-read of Tamora Pierce's Tortall, I think.

Finished this week: Wheel of Time #11: Knife of Dreams and have started in on The Gathering Storm, which is notable as this is the transition point between authors. Rest in peace, Robert Jordan, but thanks for leaving the means for this epic to be finished. And thank you to Brandon Sanderson for one of the most seamless and effective authorship hand-offs I've ever seen.

With two books in the series left to go after this one, I'm starting to organize my reading for the rest of the year, so we'll see what happens there. I've got 50ish books in my active TBR pile, but several more well-loved series that are overdue for a revisit. In particular, I'm tossing around a full re-read of Harry Potter before visiting WWHP in December. But Sword of Truth, Chronicles of the Shadow War, Dune, and the Camlud Chronicles are all on my radar, too.

QOTW- yep, I'm definitely, definitely a re-reader. A favorite well-trod book is like tossing on pajamas at the end of the day... so comforting! My re-read of Wheel of Time this year has been largely about this aspect: a long, familiar series started when I needed comfort and consistency for my frazzled emotions during a scary period of life.

And bigger books/series have so much going on that intentional details, foreshadowing, and symbolism pop out with every re-read. I've read Lord of the Rings more times than I can count, and I still manage to find and appreciate something new in it every time. I try to keep my reading balanced between new stuff and old favorites though, as there is tons of joy to be found in both.

This week I read Small Kingdoms & Other Stories, which is a collection of four short stories by Charlaine Harris, one of my favorites. It's a new character to me and I really enjoyed her. Many of this author's books are set in regular everyday settings, with a twist that adds something really interesting, and this set of stories is no exception.

I reread Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone for at least the 6th time this weekend. It is amazing to me that she created a world that changed literature and culture forever in less than 300 pages. (According to a trivia puzzle I did, she wrote 5 of the top 15 best selling books of all time and was the only author with more than one.)

So this answers the QOTW. I am an avid rereader, probably about half old and half new. Favorite characters are like old friends. I read a lot of series, and when a series is complete, I often like to reread from the beginning once I know where people end up.

Recent finishes include

The Gauguin Connection under Bathilda Bagshot/book written by a woman. A *very* cerebral procedural, like keeping Lisbeth Salander confined in front of her computer for 90% of the book.

You're Never Weird on the Internet under Rowena/book that represents Ravenclaw values. I love memoirs read by the author, and self-proclaimed Ravenclaw Felicia Day did not disappoint.

Debt Free For Life: The Finish Rich Plan for Financial Freedom under Hogwarts Library/book you borrowed. I thought I'd revisit the financial self-improvement genre after hearing people rave about this author. It remains as frustrating as I remembered it.

Thanks for the Money: How to Use My Life Story to Become the Best Joel McHale You Can Be under ilvermorny/book by an American author. Another memoir-adjacent audiobook read by the author, selected for the benefit of my Community-worshiping boyfriend. Worth a few giggles.

That puts me at 33/52 for the year. I'm behind schedule compared to last year, but I've selected some massive books (like catching up on books 3, 4 and 5 of Game of Thrones), so I can't be too hard on myself.

QOTW: Rereads are rarefied air for me, but I am fiercely faithful to the books that do make that shelf, revisiting them regularly. My next planned reread will be David Eddings' The Belgariad.