ŷ������

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the early dark times, at least here, where it now gets dark at 4:30pm. I have to work hard to get outside and walk at lunchtime so that I can be out in daylight for a reasonable amount of time.

This week I finished listening to The Bullet That Missed. Very much enjoyed this book and all of this series. The audiobook has a 30+ minute interview with the author that was also really interesting. This remains a favorite series of mine.

I then started The Sunbearer Trials on audiobook. For the first time, it felt a little slow so I'm running it at 1.25x speed. I'm not sure why I felt that. I'm not yet that far into it so I don't have any opinions yet.

I am also reading Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty. This is for a town non-fiction book club. I'm not a fan so far. I didn't know Anderson Cooper was a Vanderbilt. But the writing is kind of dry and the story is slow. I'm also just not all that interested in the topic or family. I find myself skim reading and calling that good enough for now when they start going into detail about clothing and who attended what ball. My goal is to finish this ASAP.

QOTW:
What is the most beautiful place you've ever been?

We've traveled to a number of national parks both in the US and a couple other countries. In all countries, they're national parks for a reason and they're all special places. There are several wonderful ones we haven't seen yet (Grand Canyon, Yosemite). The place that bowled me over and sticks with me is Zion NP in Utah. Specifically the view from the Canyon Overlook Trail that overlooked the entire valley was just overwhelming to me.

Picking one is hard though as so many places are beautiful in very different ways.

It's been a quiet week this week for me. I did go see a show in Seattle last night, the musical Jagged Little Pill. I like Alanis Morissette's music, but I was surprised how powerful the story they created out of it was. I had tears in my eyes at one point.

Finished:
The World We Make - I just finished this last night and loved it. It made me super-nostalgic for my hometown.

Comics and manga:
Natsume's Book of Friends, Vol. 27
Romantic Killer, Vol. 1.

Currently reading:
I'm just starting Ocean's Echo, but not far enough in to have an opinion yet.

Planned:
Even Though I Knew the End
Cursed

QotW:
That's a difficult question to answer. I haven't really travelled a lot, but there are some things that stick with me.

Just last week, we drove up into the WA mountains and we saw breathtaking hillsides covered in snow-capped evergreen trees. I made the joke that it felt like we were in a Seanan McGuire story, because we somehow drove from autumn into winter.

In September, we visited the Oregon coast and I saw the most gorgeous sunsets of my life on that trip, with the sun going down over the water and turning everything to shades of purple, pink, and orange.

A few years ago, we visited the redwood forest in northern California, and I was just awed walking among the ancient trees.

I grew up in New York City, specifically on Staten Island, and as I said, the Jemisin books have gotten me nostalgic. There are places I love on SI like High Rock Park, a nature conservation area. I went there as part of a school trip in grade school, and it has stuck with me all these years. There's also a gorgeous Tibetan museum hidden away on the island that even most natives don't know about. I have fond memories of how lovely it was.

A Lady for a Duke - This was cute. I have liked Alexis Hall in the past, and I liked the idea of a historical romance featuring a trans woman. It has the author's typical central couple with baggage surrounded by a sometimes farcically comedic supporting cast. The main story was fine, but then at the end there was an absurd plot thread that was not really necessary. If you like humorous historical romance, you would probably like this.

QOTW: This did seem like a difficult question, so I started thinking about my requirements. Forest, surely, but then what about a Gothic castle? Then I realized that's where I went to school, so I'm going to say the campus of Duke University.

Two quick finishes for me this week, both picked up at a recent book fair:

How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator: I follow the author on Twitter, and I figured that just because I *am* a successful freelance translator doesn't mean I can't pick up a useful tip or discover a new perspective, even though the book is as old as my freelance career :) I used it for the Book Nerds Who/what/when/where/why/how prompt.

Le Niveau Baisse is a look at the eternal fear that the French language is threatened in Quebec versus the inevitable evolution of languages in general. I used it for the Book Nerds Blue prompt.

QOTW: The Austrian Alps are breathtaking and occasionally provide the ability to throw the odd snowball in July. At the opposite end of the spectrum, sunsets over a Jamaican beach are also stunning.

Not much to report here. I had another lazy reading week and went back to David Eddings - spent the week re-reading the Malloreon books. I also finished reading Hogfather to my 11-year-old and we're starting in on The Demigod Diaries.

I'm about to start a re-read of The Tombs of Atuan, which I've been saying for four weeks but now I'm actually going to start it :)

QOTW: It's hard to pick just one. Alaska is spectacular, particularly Kenai Fjords Nat'l Park. We did a 3-day kayaking trip there and got to see some vistas that you wouldn't get to see on a one-day fjord cruise. The glaciers are so gorgeous.

In a totally different vein, the rolling hills of Tuscany are gorgeous - I'm thinking of a specific view from the top of the Torre Grosso in San Gimignano. Olive groves and vineyards and centuries-old villas everywhere you look.

I also need to mention my favorite place in the whole world, which may not be as spectacular as the two above but will always hold a special place in my heart, which is Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, along the southern coast of Lake Superior.

Hi all,

It's been busy busy again, more migraines with the time change and weather fluctuations and The Darkness. Sorry I haven't been around! Seems like the week keeps ramping up for Thursday and Friday and I just don't have time to post. Then I keep thinking oh I'll just wait for next week, and then i get busy again.

I finally got my copy of the Sunbearer's Trial, so I'll get to it when I finish my current read. There's the post for finishing already, but when I finish I can see if I can find some specific discussion questions.

Over the past few weeks I finished:

The Bone Orchard - I really loved this! Such a fascinating story, not sure I'd read anything like it. Kind of a cross between fantasy, science fiction, with a smidge of horror. Mostly in that there was some necromancy that was sort of a mix of science and psychic/magic. I really liked it!

The Yellow House - this just did not work for me. It's an important story, involving New Orleans post flood, and how little was done to help the poorer Blacker neighborhoods that weren't considered the "important" areas of the city. But the writing style was just so dry and impersonal. It was listed as a memoir, and it nominally dealt with the author's family history, but I felt like I learned very little about her. None of her personality came through, it was all just dry and flat. It took me ages to get through and reading it felt like a chore. If it hadn't been a book club pick i'd probably have abandoned it. I've read plenty of books about difficult subjects that have made me angry, made me cry, etc that i still loved, or at least rated highly because of how well they were done. This was not one of those.

A Mirror Mended - wanted a nice quick light read after that slog, so read this. I liked it. I feel like there's a lot of books following this sort of mixed up fairy tale trend, but i don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Books don't have to be totally original to be fun. I liked it, even if it didn't blow my mind.

Reserved for the Cat - been struggling with migraines this month, so this was my migraine read since i've read it a ton of times and it's a comfort read.

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches - One of my book club friends told me I had to read this, because it was a warm hug of a book. So I did, and she was right, and I was sad when it was over because it was that good. It reminds me of The House on the Cerulean Sea, although maybe slightly more adult. There's a little swearing, some innuendo, the romance is a little more forward, and there's a little steaminess. I wouldn't say it's an outright romance book, but it's not as background as Cerulean Sea. But it has the magic house vibes, the found family, precocious magic children, protective adults, the stranger who comes in to see to the children who has to win everyone's trust etc. I loved it <3

The Slow Regard of Silent Things - over in discord I mentioned this and it made me want to read it again, so I did. I love Auri so much.

The Winter of the Witch - finished audio re-read, such a good series.

Currently reading:

The Kingdom of Gods - my library must have just got this, i think i requested it years ago. it's pretty good, although not really what i'm in the mood to read right now so kind of struggling with attention span. I like her later works more than this series, I think she's tightened up her writing style or something.

A Snake Falls to Earth - this is the big library read on libby right now, so doing the audio book. It's pretty good so far, i''m just under half way. One of the book club ladies recommended it, so I grabbed it. I think it's still available for another day or two without wait, if anyone else is interested.

QOTW:

Hard question!

For man-made places, I would probably say Italy. I felt like everywhere I went, but especially the Vatican I was feeling like my eyes were being bombarded with gorgeous art, carvings architecture and that I was almost having an eye hangover from just looking at so much gorgeous detail.

For natural beauty, that's hard because there's so much variety and it's all different and beautiful in different ways. Like I have a favorite little spot in the canal on my lake that is just lovely in the summer when it's fully green, and the water is glassy smooth and it's a sunny day and it just forms this perfect green little pocket. But it's not a traditionally gorgeous spot like....seeing the northern lights in iceland or something. Or just the occasional gorgeous sunset that makes you gasp when you happen to look out the window.

Daniele wrote: "Two quick finishes for me this week, both picked up at a recent book fair:

How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator: I follow the author on Twitter, and I figured that just because I..."
Hi Daniele-
Can't find the post where you requested prompt ideas so posting here. How about Name, Street, City, State, Country? And, But, Or? I have really enjoyed doing the BN challenges even though I'm not in the facebook group, so appreciate you leading them.

Kathy wrote: "Daniele wrote: "Two quick finishes for me this week, both picked up at a recent book fair:

How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator: I follow the author on Twitter, and I figured tha..."

Thank you for the kind words and suggestions Kathy!