Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Hi all, sorry I didn't get a post up sooner.
I've been so distracted this week, and still having a hard time with the time change.

This week I finished:

Where the Crawdads Sing - my boosk & brew book. I liked it, but didn't love it like some people did. I think I might have liked it more if I read it in spring or summer, parts of it were kinda sad and it took me a while to get intoAru Shah and the End of Time it.

Every Which Way But Dead - hallows read along

A Fistful of Charms - hallows read along

Currently reading:

Aru Shah and the End of Time - this is a Rick Riordan presents, where he's found other authors who write mythology-in-modern-world type books of their own heritages and uses his popularity to give a signal boost. I'm enjoying it a lot and it really does remind me of his books, in terms of being a romp of modern mythology.

QOTW: With the goodreads choice awards going on, how do you feel about them? Do you pay attention, vote? Are you more likely to read or not read based on them?

I do a lot of reading challenges, a pretty common prompt is usually a book that was nominated or won in a category so I do tend to follow and I often vote if I read and liked something nominated. I generally look through at least the genres I like to see what's coming up as getting attention.

I admit I'm a little miffed that The Starless Sea made it to the list when it came out the same day as the list. I don't really feel like a book should get voted on because you THINK it'll be good, it should be one you read and really thought it was the best. I don't really see how many people will be able to actually finish it in time to make a legitimate vote. Seems like the cut off for being included should be at least a couple weeks before the list is published so there's SOME chance that people actually read it.


Additionally: The top two choices for the book club read are 1 vote between each other. Opinions on whether I should just go with which one is top, or should I go ahead and do a second poll with just those two to try to get a clearer winner?

I've read both of them already this year, so I could get some reading questions up pretty shortly for either.

This week I finished:

Steel Crow Saga - I loved this book. I get some people's complaints about it being a slow build-up, but I was so interested in the characters that I didn't mind. When there is action, it's fantastic. I saw a review that said this book was very anime, and I definitely agree with that.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine - I was surprised how fast this book read. I was also impressed that the author made the main character both sympathetic and also somewhat unlikable, especially in the beginning.

Manga: Natsume's Book of Friends, Vol. 23 - This volume wasn't as strong, but I just really love this series, and I think it's vastly underrated.

Currently reading: I picked up Rebel Girls for a change of pace from the epic fantasy, but I haven't really gotten too far in it yet. I might still switch it up.

QOTW: I don't often read a lot of current books in the year they're released, so, while I vote for things I've actually read, I don't always vote in every category. I do like to look it over and add things to my TBR though.

Happy Monday everyone! It was the increasingly rare week where I could get a ton of reading in. I suspect it will be the last of these periods until after vacation though. This week...

Deep sixed The Ruin of Kings after about 100 pages. This is rare move for me, but I was just not connecting with this one, and there is too much else on my list.

Read the first two books in the sci-fi Evagardian series - Admiral and Free Space. So much fun! They remind me a goodly bit of both The Martian and The Murderbot Chronicles: that lighthearted snarky first-person commentary in the middle of a hostile-planet-survival crisis. Character development is what typically makes or breaks a book for me, and this series has fascinated me as the main character, known only as "The Admiral" is intentionally kept in an almost total characterization vacuum, with everything circling around the question of "who in the heck is this guy???" The reader gets a few odd little nuggets (most of which are misleading) and it has made for a delightfully different and interesting read. Two more in the series to go, and we STILL don't know who The Admiral actually is!

Currently working on The Toll, which is the highly anticipated third and final book in Neal Schusterman's Scythe YA trilogy. As much as I've looked forward to this, I've unfortunately been really underwhelmed so far. The story itself is making for a solid conclusion, but the details added to make it seem fresh and relevant to today's culture are just not working. Sci-fi has traditionally been a medium for commentary on progress and the human condition, but Schusterman is overplaying his hand in this area, and as a result the book feels like it's sinking under the weight of an agenda instead. It doesn't help that my least-favorite character naming trope (influential figures!!!) is back: when your bad-guy henchmen are named Ayn Rand and Aretha Franklin, it's already an uphill battle to connect.

QOTW - The Starless Sea was actually one of a large handful of books that were released the same week as the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ choice awards (The Toll was as well), yet were still nominated. I noticed this as a reoccurring trend a few years back and have since lost faith in many of these similar platform-based "reader's choice" awards as a result. I'll vote if I have a strong favorite in a given category, but I tend to rely more on actual reviews and ratings when it comes to taking recommendations. It just feels too much like marketing.

I finished A Curse So Dark and Lonely shortly after the last update, since I wanted to leave time to loan it to my mom, who's going to be in town for IRL Book Club #3 this month. I enjoyed it, and I will definitely check out the sequel when it comes out next year.

Next, the library finally came through with a copy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with two days to spare before IRL Book Club #2...I'm not sure why it took so long to get it, since there are tons of copies and it's not exactly a new release, but my guess is that some school had assigned it to a large number of students last month. At any rate, I'm glad I read it, since it (much like The Shining that I read a couple weeks ago for IRL Book Club #1) is completely different from the movie. I'm hesitant to say that it's better, since the book is incredibly racist and misogynist, which is unfortunate, because it could be great without all of that mess. But I don't understand some of the changes the movie people made - in a lot of ways, the scenes in the book are more "cinematic" than some of what ended up in the movie. Apparently this is why my career as a film consultant hasn't taken off yet. :)

After having to blow through that one so quickly, I wanted to take my time with something that wasn't on a deadline, so I started Teeth in the Mist. I got a hardback copy in my book box a while back, but I also borrowed the ebook from the library so I could start it when I wasn't at home. I thought there was something wrong with the formatting of the ebook, so I switched to the physical copy - and I'm so glad I did! It is definitely one to read in print - the story is told through the formatting in a way that can't really be replicated electronically. It's not the world's most original story, but it's really engaging and well-written, so I'll definitely seek out more of Dawn Kurtagich's work.

After that interlude, I decided to start on IRL book club #2's next selection nice and early, so I wouldn't have another last-minute cram session next month. I really shouldn't have been worried, though - The Usual Santas: A Soho Crime Holiday Anthology was super quick read, and introduced me to several new mystery writers that I want to read more of later - plus stories from some that I already love. It's surprisingly diverse in terms of the types of mysteries included, from almost cozy to hardcore thriller, and not at all reminiscent of a Hallmark Channel holiday lineup, so I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys mysteries.

I just finished that one last night, so this morning I saw the notice that The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was going to be our next pick here, and I downloaded it from Hoopla so I could start reading at lunch. By started, I mean that I read six chapters and completely lost track of time - thank you, Samantha, for suggesting this one - I'd never heard of it, and it is 100% of everything I love in a book! I can't wait to start talking about it with the rest of you, since I have a feeling I will finish it very quickly!

QOTW: As the rest of you have also said, I don't tend to read too many brand new books, so the only time I vote in the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ awards is the rare occasion that an author I follow makes me aware that they are nominated, and it's for a book of theirs that I've read. So I did vote for A Curse So Dark and Lonely, since I just finished and enjoyed it - but it was the only one I had read in that category, so I don't know that it's really a fair comparison.

I would be much more interested in what books were most popular or rated highest by Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ users in the course of a year, regardless of the year that the book was released. I seem to recall that Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ does release something like that, so I'll have to watch for it in January. In general, I don't put a ton of stock in awards and rankings, but I do enjoy reading the lists of nominees because it sometimes makes me aware of books or authors that I had not previously heard of elsewhere.

In the last couple of weeks:

I finished Artemis. I was only 'eh' on it and rated it 3 stars. It took me 3 starts to finish this book. We own it so it kind of always worked its way to the back burner while I read library books with a deadline. This time I made sure to stick with it. There were some parts that were more compelling than others and kept me interested. Then other parts kind of dragged. I was not emotionally invested in the main character. I agree with some of the reviews that she came across like how a man writes about a female main character. The technical detail was interesting, as it was in The Martian. But Andy's 2nd book did not match his first.

I also finished my audiobook Head On. I enjoyed this 2nd book in the series as much as the first. There was less world building and more story details. It was enjoyable and quite different than the first book.

I started reading Milk!: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas from a review here. It is a fairly large and dense book. It was time to go back to some non-fiction and my family loves milk and dairy products so it is interesting so far. It is a library book so I am going to try to get through it.

I started listening to another Scalzi audiobook, also narrated by Wil Wheaton. This one is The Collapsing Empire. There are at least 2 books in this series. I have only just started this, so I have no opinions yet.

QOTW: I don't pay active attention to any awards or what is popular now. Most of my book recommendations come from this list, and other people whose opinions overlap with mine and often post interesting reviews or chatting with friends or co-workers. Sometimes I get ideas from news or magazine suggestions also.

Just finished The Red Notebook, this month's book for my IRL book club. It is not something I would usually read, but found it delightful. (And nice to read something short for a change.) It is a translation, in case anyone needs one to complete a reading challenge.

I finished the 5th book in the Bells of St. Mary's series, and continue to enjoy these books about time-traveling historians. They seem like they should be cozy mysteries at first, but are a little more harrowing than that. Found them through FoE.

The book I finished and didn't really enjoy this week was Murder on Capitol Hill by Margaret Truman. I read these as they came out and decided to do a reread in order; this was her second book set in DC, written and set in the early 80s when I was in high school. At the time, I think it was really progressive for her to have a single female lawyer as a protagonist with an active social life and no plans for marriage, but it seems horribly dated now. I guess the workplace has improved even though there are plenty of challenges remaining.

Just received notice that my request for our book club selection is here so will get to it this week.

For QOTW, I wouldn't usually use Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ awards to help pick books, because I mostly read mystery, science fiction, and fantasy, and FoE recommendations have kept me pretty busy. I have chosen some things based on Hugo or Nebula selections though.