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Hi all,

I know I only posted last week's post on Monday, but i figured I'd try to get us back on track. Not a lot of new to report, aside from trying to get our half bath redone and it's a typical home improvement project. Meaning stuff is going wrong, it'll take much longer than expected, probably cost more too.

This week I finished:

Dread Nation - This was pretty good, I liked the characters and it had a lot of action.

Currently reading:

The Stonewall Reader - a collection of essays and excerpts from a diverse array of lgbtqia+ people just before, during, and after Stonewall, trying to explore why THAT particular riot was seen as the start of the pride movement. I'm still in the pre-stonewall section, but it's really interesting so far.

Fourth Wing - my library actually had the audiobook available for this, so i decided to see what the hype was all abut. especially once I saw dragonriders, i was sold. I'm actually really loving it. Fair warning: it is MUCH steamier than your average fantasy book. I don't personally mind that, but I know others prefer things to be closed door or fade to black type things.

QOTW:
A counter to last week's question:

Are there any books that are considered terrible but you love?

I actually really liked the Twilight books, and The Host when they came out. I know the writing wasn't great, but it was enjoyable and I read them several times. I recognize the various problems with them, but i still had fun with them.

I'm sure there are others, but that's the one that springs to mind as being widely panned for being terrible.

Happy Friday! I've got some vacation coming up next week, and then in two weeks, we've got our trip down to Oregon. I'm starting to get excited!

Finished:
Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule - 3.5 stars - for Popsugar's book based on a popular movie. This was mostly setup for the Star Wars: The High Republic series, which I've been meaning to get into. Most of this book focused on a tragedy and the ramifications of it across the galaxy and was not my favorite type of book, but it does seem to be a good introduction to the major players of the series. I will probably continue the series later, since I've heard good things about some of the latter books and I like the other authors in this writing group.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher - 5 stars - not for a prompt. I just loved this, short and sweet, gentle retelling of Sleeping Beauty with a twist.

Currently reading:
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire - for Popsugar's book I read more than 10 years ago. Hoping to reread this series up to where I stopped and get caught up on the rest after I'm done with challenges for the year.

Upcoming/Planned:
I just have two Popsugar prompts left after my current book.

I'm thinking of reading The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling for a book with a pet character, since the cat was my favorite part of book 1, but the first book was not my favorite romance ever.

I think for the "bought secondhand" prompt, I'm going to twist it to "borrowed from the library," and pick something off my TBR that I can get from the library - that's in the spirit of the prompt (reading a not-new book), if not the letter, and I don't have room for more books while we're sharing a house.

QOTW:
Not that I can think of. I did an experiment and sorted my shelves by average rating but nothing really jumped out as being unpopular or universally disliked - at least, not that I rated highly.

Our local Pride festival is this weekend. This year there was a kind of nerd-themed side street with a vendor tent that had a table selling sci-fi novels and one with comics, neither of which is my personal jam, but fun to see.

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us - This is 100% my thing and I loved it. I knew a few of the facts from previous reading (including Bird Sense: What It's Like to Be a Bird, which was actually quoted at one point), but there was a lot of new stuff. Excellent use of footnotes as well.

QOTW: I am having trouble thinking of books that are considered terrible. I guess there are books that are widely considered terrible but also widely considered great (Moby Dick, say, or even Twilight; obviously enough people liked it that they made a movie series). If people who seem to share my tastes largely agree that a book is bad, I'm probably not going to read it.

I'm visiting my parents in Michigan this week and have lots of time to relax! Vacation reads so far:

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid ("show time" prompt): This was a lot of fun. It didn't move me quite as much as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which had me sobbing at the end, but it was a unique way to tell a story and had me completely immersed in 70s music culture.

Translation State by Ann Leckie ("bureaucracy" prompt): This is a stand-alone novel in her Imperial Radch universe. It could probably be read on its own but you'd miss some nuance if you haven't read the trilogy first. Loved it!

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill ("birth" prompt): We listened to this as an audiobook on our drive from Massachusetts to Michigan. It was really lovely! It takes the trope of an evil witch living in the forest and turns it upside-down. I've had my eye on this one for a while - I actually have it downloaded to my kindle already - and my library had it available when I was looking to check out something to listen to on the drive. The narrator was excellent.

QotW: Hmm. I'm not sure! I can think of some old favorites that are VERY dated and that I probably would not like if I read them for the first time today, like David Eddings' Belgariad series (I adore them for the nostalgia factor and re-read them often, but I can see a lot of flaws too).

:Waving from Michigan: You picked a warm week to visit at least, last week was cold and rainy! Even got to the 50's. (temperature is relative. 50 in February is balmy, 50 in August is "no, i demand a refund on summer")

Our weather in Massachusetts is pretty much the same as in Michigan (the Southern bits, anyway) but about 24 hours later! Except in eastern MA we also get the storms that come in off the ocean.