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Hi all,

Hope everyone is doing well! Been having migraine roller coasters, probably related to the weather roller coasters we've been having. Doing ok this week at least! Hoping that lasts through the weekend. Rented a movie theatre sunday afternoon to see the new Dr Strange, hoping it's good!

This week I finished:

Book of Night - really ended up loving this. I like messy woman protagonists, urban fantasy, heists, this had them all. I hope there'll be another book, since the way it ended, I want to know what comes next.

Network Effect - more murderbot audio reread

The Kaiju Preservation Society - finally got to my hold for this, I really loved it! I continue to have mixed feelings about covid in my fiction, especially sci fi because it's my escapism. But I mind it less when it's not the focus, and serves more to set the time and place of the book. Otherwise it was absolutely delightful, and I enjoyed thoroughly. I kinda wish they'd make a movie of it, I think it'd be a fun change to have a Kaiju movie where the point wasn't just a big battle sequence.

Commanders in Crisis, Vol. 1: The Action - i've been poking at this on my ipad for months, finally finished. It was in a weird grey area of I didn't dislike it enough to totally abandon it, but it was too wordy and complicated to just skim through it to mark it read and move on. I'm not bothering with continuing the series.

Fugitive Telemetry - more murderbot audio re-read. I'm still confused as to why this book was released AFTER Network Effect. Timeline wise it takes place before the events in Network Effect, but nothing in the narrative really gives an explanation as to why Murderbot would be telling the story after the story from Network Effect. Nothing in the blurb or the cover indicates it's meant to be a prequel either. When i first read it I was really confused because I couldn't figure out why Murderbot was back on Preservation instead of continuing events from the previous book. Now I know at least chronologically why, but not really WHY why. I'm going to go google why now, but i don't feel like I should NEED to google why books are released in a certain order, it should be narratively obvious (murder bot giving explanations in text as to why it is telling the story in that order) or publisher-based obvious (like being marketed as a prequel or numbered as "oh this is actually Murderbot 4.5 not 6"). Just a little annoyance in an otherwise really good series.

Currently reading:

Seasonal Fears - i probably should have read middlegame again first, but my hold came up WAY faster than I expected. I'm having trouble remembering what all went down, so feeling vaguely confused. Eventually I'll have to just read them both again in order.

Stardust - audio reread

QOTW:

Going to borrow from popsugar's group this week: Does reading about food in books make you want to eat that food?

For me, not really. I might be interested in trying at some point if i've heard about it, but it's not like an instant craving.

A lot of it is also more of an atmosphere too. For example, in the Night Circus a lot of fantastical foods are described. But for me just eating a chocolate mouse, or some spiced cider wouldn't really be enough. I want to BE at a black and white circus, wearing all black and white with my red rose or red scarf, nibbling on chocolate mice and sipping spiced cider while wandering through the tents. Or going to a midnight dinner in an eccentric millionaire's mansion surrounded by circus folk while wearing an elaborate gown and eating the fantastical confections. Just eating the food would isn't quite enough, i want the whole experience.

Hi all! We're heading to CA tomorrow morning. We're going to Disneyland and then to Star Wars Celebration, which was rescheduled from 2020. I'm currently in that nervous state where I wish the flight was already happening/over so I can stop worrying about forgetting something.

Finished:
Ballad & Dagger - 4 stars - I fit this in to the book featuring two languages prompt for Popsugar. This was a very enjoyable YA urban fantasy.

Book Lovers - 4 stars - not for a prompt. Another enjoyable romance from Emily Henry.

Comics & manga:
The King's Beast, Vol. 5

I just started reading The City We Became. I'm not too far in yet. I may set it aside temporarily in favor of something simpler for the flight, depending on how much sleep I get tonight, lol.

QOTW: I actually have a shelf here on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ called "made me hungry" where I put books with good descriptions of food. Steven Brust's latter Vlad Taltos books always make me hungry with the way he describes food.

Thinking good no-migraine thoughts for you, Sheri!

Two finishes for me this week - When the Sparrow Falls was not my usual fare but I enjoyed it. It was a little too political for my tastes, so I only rated it 3 stars, but it was well written. If you'd be into a mashup of science fiction with political thriller, you would enjoy this!

Greenglass House was the other, and I really loved it! I've always enjoyed YA fiction, but hadn't really ventured into the middle-grade books that skew younger until I had children myself. Now half of the books I read it's because my 11-year-old told me to. This one was wonderful!

I'm on All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown with my 7-year-old, and probably going to start Where the Red Fern Grows with the big guy next. For my own reading, I'm about to start Brightness Reef to continue the Uplift series with my other group. I also just picked up The Kaiju Preservation Society and Gallant from the library so those will be the next two.

QOTW: Vlad Taltos was my first thought too, Jen! Brust makes me hungry, especially in Dzur...I desperately want to have a meal at Valabar's :)

still actually reading "The Hutt Gambit." o_O

QotW: sometimes. it has a better chance if I'm reading something that takes place in this 'verse. I'm not sure i'd want to eat some of the things mentioned in the Star Wars'verse. although, nerf might taste like beef? XD

Happy to see others enjoying The Kaiju Preservation Society and the virtual discussion. Can't get anyone I know IRL to read and discuss it. Apparently it has been optioned for television.
A friend loaned my The Widows of Malabar Hill, which is a mystery set in 1920s India with a woman lawyer protagonist. Interesting setting, which I usually like, but it was a little depressing learning about lack of women's rights and wondering how many issues remain despite progress. The publisher seems to specialize in mystery series set in different countries and time periods.
A Spy in the House was the first in a historical mystery series (that I will probably continue) set in Victorian London of an orphan who is recruited to be a spy. The author is Asian-Canadian and the book includes Asian characters which made it a little different.
I've enjoyed the Samantha Jellicoe romantic suspense novels (reformed cat burglar+rich British businessman) and read Twice the Temptation which was fun. It was a two parter book-one set in Regency England with the ancestors of the Rick the British guy to set up the part two involving Sam and Rick.
Made it through A Natural History of Dragons, which I liked enough to get going but took a long time to get through. I seem to have too many books that don't live up to my high expectations this year. To break it up, I started a reread of Murderbot novellas.
QOTW
Usually don't have cravings associated with food from books. One exception was Donut Muffins, where the recipe was included in a Faith Fairchild mystery by Katherine Hall Page. It has become a favorite, but is one of the rare times when I've made a recipe included in a book.

Jen wrote: "Hi all! We're heading to CA tomorrow morning. We're going to Disneyland and then to Star Wars Celebration, which was rescheduled from 2020. I'm currently in that nervous state where I wish the flig..."
I almost stopped reading The City We Became because it was so weird but am really happy I stuck with it. I would love to hear what a person who lived in NYC thought of it.

The Frangipani Tree Mystery - This is a historical mystery set in Singapore in the 1930s. I had read the second book in the series randomly some years ago, so I finally picked up the first. They are fun and I might read another someday.

QOTW: I'm going to say no. I actually kind of hate extensive food description in books. I'm not reading fiction for recipes, and really detailed accounts of someone's experience of food can make me uncomfortable (too intimate, I guess).

Sheri I hope you have migraine relief for good soon.

This week I finished The Kaiju Preservation Society. I loved it. Having Wil Wheaton read it was excellent also. He is so expressive. Even the acknowledgements at the end where Scalzi talks about the book he was supposed to/going to write at the beginning of pandemic was well-read by Wil. The story was just so much fun and was great to read right now.

My next audiobook is The Ghost Brigades. I have just barely started listening to it. I am on vacation with my husband and 3 friends so I am not getting any alone walking time.

I am getting a lot of bedtime reading time at night though so I have started A Psalm for the Wild-Built. This is a short novel (like Murderbot in length) and it is okay so far.

QOTW:
I don't usually want the food in books. I did enjoy The School of Essential Ingredients when I read it which was a novel that was a sort of food oriented.

Non-fiction that is about food is a different story. All three of the Good Eats original books I read like a novel, cover to cover, and have made lots of the recipes.