Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Welcome to Thursday! 😊 The weekend is almost here! YAY! I commented to a fellow staff member just the other day that in my opinion weekends should be longer than workweeks! I think that would be much better! 😉

A reminder that our monthly group discussion of Fahrenheit 451 is ongoing! Feel free to stop by, even if you're just a little curious...

Please message either Nadine or myself if you are interested in leading discussion for either (or both!) of our upcoming monthly book discussions:
October � Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
November � Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
These are two of my favorite books! I really hope someone volunteers to lead the discussion for them.

Just wanted to share a personal accomplishment with you-all. I teach an Aqua Tabata class (HIIT in the heated therapy pool) on Wednesday nights. I have been doing this for a year and struggling to establish a reliable cohort of students participating each week. But I think that has finally occurred and I am so grateful! It makes it so much more fun to have a group of students of 6 or more rather than just 2-3. Several of my good friends from the gym have yet to return, however, so I will be thrilled when that happens as well!

I actually feel as if my life is returning to some semblance of normality socially and I’m grateful for that. However, I am ever more impatient with people only half wearing their masks below their nose and NOT following physical distancing guidelines. It seems to be more and more frequent in our campus buildings and even at the gym, among employees! I reminded the lifeguard last night that it didn’t count if your mask wasn’t covering your nose! I don’t think he liked it, but tough! We all must comply to keep everyone, including ourselves safe. Period! It really makes me nervous.

Physical Distancing and Mask Wearing for Social Solidarity and Security!
That is my mantra! 😊

I have not finished reading any books since my last check-in on Sunday, but I did make significant progress on the book club read for Sunday’s meeting. And further good news, IMO, is that we will be meeting face-to-face (at least 6 feet apart) out on the patio of my favorite used bookstore’s new location! Whoo! Whoo!

Popsugar: 48/50
ATY: 49/52
RHC: 20/24
Reading Women: 17/26
Yep. Been stuck here for a couple of months. Really want to finish a couple in September, but uncertain if that will happen or not. I keep reminding myself there are three whole months left of 2020, so I shouldn’t panic! 😉 And I am so far ahead of where I was last year, the first year I tackled all these challenges, so it’s all good!

FINISHED: None

CONTINUING: All!
Song of Blood & Stone (Earthsinger Chronicles #1) by L. Penelope for the book club at my favorite used bookstore this Sunday. I am halfway through this one and loving it. Already have the second installment waiting for me to pick up on Sunday! I am reminded a bit of Children of Blood and Bone, but this is also different. Anxious to see how I feel about it once I finish.

Long Walk Out of the Woods: A Physician's Story of Addiction, Depression, Hope, and Recovery by Adam Hill. This is for an all-IU read this year which I just discovered last week. Our first Zoom discussion is scheduled for 5PM this evening. Anxious to meet those in the group and begin!

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez—not much progress, but I like what I’ve read so far�

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi for the campus White Racial Literacy Project book club on campus. Won’t be picking this back up until October.

Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto, translated by Russell Wasden. I’ve only read one other book translated from Japanese and it was short, but depressing. I think this will be a bit more uplifting. At least that is my hope! I like the writing thus far.

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, Learning Race, Learning Place: Shaping Racial Identities and Ideas in African American Childhoods by Erin Winkler, and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, are all on hold for now. I miss them!

PLANNED:
I do have Ken Liu’s first installment in the Dandelion Dynasty series, The Grace of Kings, scheduled as a Buddy Read for October. It is a chunkster!

And We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib for an IRL book club for October.

I’m pretty sure these are the only two books I have scheduled for October since I am purposefully devoting these last three months of 2020 mainly to challenge reads.

Question of the Week:
What is the title of the most recent book you read which won or was a finalist for a well-known literary award that you truly did not enjoy? You know, you kept thinking to yourself, “Who thought this was an award-winner?� Tell us the book, the award, and why you would not have selected it.

The first time this happened to me was 7 years ago when I read Empire Falls by Richard Russo. While I enjoyed his in-depth characterization, the last 50 pages just didn’t do it for me. I felt the ending was an anti-climax. I awarded it 4 of 5 stars, but did not feel as if I would have selected it for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for 2002. It was not ground-breaking or earth-shattering, IMO. But that year’s Pulitzer Prize committee obviously felt quite differently! 😊

For whatever reason, I feel like it's not my place to call people out for wearing their mask improperly, even if I walk past them on the sidewalk - the whole "don't talk to strangers" thing must've really stuck when I was a kid. I just make sure I wear mine the right way and carry on about my day -- it is frustrating though when my bosses barely wear theirs.

I skipped the check-in last week because I hadn't finished anything, but I don't feel too bad about it because I've gotten back to writing :)

This week I finished The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. 5 stars. A TON of information and difficult to handle, but an excellent work nonetheless. I listened to the 10th anniversary edition on audiobook and kept up with my older paperback copy.

Currently reading:
Rebecca - A reread after four years away. du Maurier's writing is so atmospheric.
The Dark Enquiry - The final book in the Lady Julia Grey series! I'm looking forward to the Veronica Speedwell books after this.
A Blade So Black - Just started the audio this morning, I've been meaning to read LL McKinney for ages now.

QOTW: What is the title of the most recent book you read which won or was a finalist for a well-known literary award that you truly did not enjoy?
This is a good one, I'm not really sure -- I don't tend to keep up with a ton of award-winners. Maybe Wolf Hall? I read it earlier this year and found the story rather bland.

If we were talking about movies, easily The Crying Game. Watched it a few weeks ago and I know it was a 90s movie, but how in the hell did it get 6 Oscar nominations??

Ashley Marie wrote: "This is a good one, I'm not really sure -- I don't tend to keep up with a ton of award-winners. Maybe Wolf Hall? I read it earlier this year and found the story rather bland."

I have yet to read any of her books. I just haven't felt compelled to read them...

"If we were talking about movies, easily The Crying Game. Watched it a few weeks ago and I know it was a 90s movie, but how in the hell did it get 6 Oscar nominations??"

You made me laugh! I think it was that one "reveal" scene? ;)

Happy Thursday!!

I think our Y has reopened, but it's appointment-only, so I haven't been back yet.  I miss yoga nights.  BUT our  high school Marching Band is starting up again!  And that will be on yoga night, so no yoga anyway ... 

This Monday was the official first day of school IN school for my kids, because they only go in on Mondays.  Now that we are all getting out and about more, I'm shopping for some comfortable cloth masks for all of us.  People have recommended VistaPrint, Kohl's Bespoke, and Athleta ...  

This week I finished 4 books, most of these were part of my Hispanic Heritage Month reading, and they were all disappointing!  Maybe I was too excited about the books I chose this month, because they are all letting me down!

Looking for the Gulf Motel poems by Richard Blanco- Blanco was chosen by President Obama to read at his Inauguration.  The poems in this book are about searching for his identity as a Cuban born in Spain and living in America, and as a gay man in a family that historically expects everyone to be straight.  

The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez - this really disappointed me, but I'm sure a lot of readers loved it.  It was similar to Kristin Hannah's The Great Alone, except set in Delaware, and the main characters were Mexican and Panamanian immigrants. So if you liked that book, give this one a try! 

The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa- I loved this cover and the title sounded so clever, so I decided to give Sosa another try.  Too much telling, not enough showing. I probably won't read more books by her. 

Killing and Dying: Stories graphic novel by Adrian Tomine - I saw this author/artist recommended in a reddit discussion, so I decided to give him a try, and WOW NO not for me.  This was relentlessly depressing.  I think R. Crumb fans would really like this guy's work (not for the art style, but for the content).


QoTW

Haha about half of the Pulitzer and Booker winners make me think "what? THAT book???" (Although the last five years of Pulitzers were mostly books I liked a lot, so I guess things have changed.) The last book that I really hated, that won the Pulitzer, was All the Light We Cannot See. I know that book is beloved, but I found it tedious, overwrought, and excessively mawkish.

I finished The Name of the Rose as a previous favorite, a book that takes place in Europe. It was kind of weird, but I liked it.

I red R is for Ricochet as my book from a series with at least 20 books. It was OK, I guess.

I have started The Starless Sea as my book with a character with a vision impairment. Also kind of weird.

QOTW: I don't pay attention to awards, so I have no idea.

I wish I felt things were getting back to normal the UK side of the Pond, but we seem to be blundering from mistake to mistake as far as COVID is concerned at the moment.

I admit it, it's been ages since I last checked in - week 28 I suspect :(. But I've made some progress at least.

Specifically for PS i've managed four basic prompts

11. An anthology - Tales from the Folly, Ben Aaronovitch
10. Recommended by your favorite online book club - An Appetite for Murder, Lucy Burdett
25. Only words on the cover - Exhalation, Ted Chiang
31. A book "silver," in the title - Silver in the Wood, Emily Tesh 13/07/20

And one for Advanced - just about

2. A book with "20" or "twenty" in the title - On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder. Okay, its in the subtitle, but there just aren't that many Twenty books about, and the first two words need the qualifier!

Current status:
Basic - 37/44
Advanced - 8/10
Total - 45/54

On the other hand, I do now have choices for all the remaining prompts, which I didn't have before.

I'm currently reading The Colour of Magic for 18. Made-up language, as I'd forgotten that Rincewind and Twoflower communicate in "Trob", and Pratchett includes some very silly translations (e.g. Remarkable: "a thing which may happen but once in the usable lifetime of a canoe hollowed diligently by axe and fire from the tallest diamondwood tree that grows in the noted diamondwood forests on the lower slopes of Mount Awayawa, home of the firegods or so it is said.")

Elsewhere, I'm keeping up with ATY, and have got to 37/52, with a readathon currently ongoing. And again, I've now got books for all the remaining prompts.

So at this point, I'm hopeful of finishing both PS and ATY (plus the current Seasonal Reading Challenge) - but I guess we'll see.

Question of the Week:
What is the title of the most recent book you read which won or was a finalist for a well-known literary award that you truly did not enjoy?

I find that about a surprisingly large number of Man Booker Winners! Maybe I just don't get on with "literary fiction", whatever that really is.

In other genres, the most recent is City of Lies by Sam Hawke, which has won three SF/Fantasy awards was a bit like that. It started okay, but then it dragged, and dragged and didn't get anywhere - I'm just not one of those people who thinks a book - and especially "Epic Fantasy", like CoL - is good just because its more than 500pg long.

Then, before that, it was The City in the Middle of the Night, which won this year's Locus award, but in my mind just didn't finish properly. It just stopped.

Lynn wrote: "Ashley Marie wrote: "This is a good one, I'm not really sure -- I don't tend to keep up with a ton of award-winners. Maybe Wolf Hall? I read it earlier this year and found the story rather bland."
..."

Yeah, I think that was my one shot with Hillary Mantel and I'm good now, I don't need any more. I know people *love* that trilogy but I just can't.

Happy Thursday! I'm loving the fall weather we've been having in New England. It's the perfect weather for cozying up and reading some books! I had a slow start with my reading this month, but have finally got into a groove!

Finished:
Three Perfect Liars - I had an ARC of this that I started in August, but put on hold because it just wasn't holding my interest. The weird thing was that I really wanted to know how it ended though. It just moved too slowly for my liking. 3 stars

Caraval - I was reading this as a readalong in a Facebook group, but loved it so much that I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to start the next book in the series. 5 stars

Ella Enchanted - I used this for prompt #18 - a book with a made-up language. I've seen the movie many times, but never read the book. It was very cute! 4 stars

The Selection - we're doing a fantasy challenge this month in one of my Facebook groups so I've been reading way more fantasy than I normally would, but I'm learning that I really like YA fantasy. I finished this book and started the next one immediately. I'm definitely enjoying this series. 4 stars

Challenge Progress:
I decided to change up some books on the challenge so that I could get further ahead. I added One to Watch as my book published in 2020.

Regular Challenge - 31/40
Advanced Challenge - 8/10
Total - 39/50

Currently Reading:
Luster - For a short book, it's taking me a long time to get through this one. I'm not loving the writing style, but have heard the ending is so good that I don't want to DNF. Hopefully, I'll finish it tonight.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars - I've decided to use this for prompt #24 - a book on a subject you know nothing about.

The Elite - when I finished The Selection, I started this one right away. I'm enjoying this series.

QOTW - What is the title of the most recent book you read which won or was a finalist for a well-known literary award that you truly did not enjoy?

To be honest, I don't really follow literary awards so I'm not sure who has won. I do follow the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ awards though. Ninth House won last year for Best Fantasy. I really struggled with that book though. I wouldn't say I hated it, but I didn't love it.

We are well into the school year here. I think this is week 4? Two days of in school and three days at home. Other than the fact that my daughter is not as motivated to do her work at home as she is in school things are ok.

Finished:
I binge read two books over the weekend to catch up on a favorite series so I'm ready for the new book that came out last week.

An Act of Villainy by Ashley Weaver
A Dangerous Engagement by Ashley Weaver

Both books are part of the Amory Ames murder mystery series. I think of this as a light mystery series (my library shelves it as cozy, but I do not think that description fits). Amory and her husband Milo live in glamorous 1930's London. As the series starts their marriage is on the rocks, but over the 6 books (and now 7) they have become a favorite literary couple! The mysteries have an Agatha Christie vibe to me. I highly recommend this series! First book is Murder at the Brightwell.

Currently reading:

Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee. I just picked this up last night and am hoping to use it for my western prompt. It's YA. Samantha is a Chinese American girl and Annamae is a slave. After a tragedy they take their chance to escape Missouri and head out on the Oregon Trail. For protection they disguise themselves as boys. It's been interesting so far.

Dragonwyck by Anya Seton. I found this title on a list of gothic novels recently. I have read Seton's Katherine but nothing else by her. This one's slow to start but I'm hoping it will pick up soon. The characters will soon be arriving at Dragonwyck so the "gothic" part of the story should be kicking in soon. I hope.

PS - 45/50 - I have really stalled out on reading books that fit my last few prompts. I am researching books for what's left hoping I can books that fit but I also actively want to read.

QOTW

I don't seek out award winning books because I often find them to be books I don't enjoy. It's always a little shocking when I enjoy a book that's also an award winner :)

Ashley Marie wrote: "For whatever reason, I feel like it's not my place to call people out for wearing their mask improperly, even if I walk past them on the sidewalk - the whole "don't talk to strangers" thing must've..."



I have the same problem. I just shoot them death glares, do my best to avoid them, and then mutter to my daughter about these nose hammocks.

Lynn wrote: "The first time this happened to me was 7 years ago when I read Empire Falls by Richard Russo. ..."


Same, I bought that book when it first came out, and what a snoozefest, I couldn't even finish it.

Hi All, I finished 4 books for the week.
Parental Guidance (Ice Knights #1) by Avery /Flynn
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Friend by Sigrid Numez
How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
QOTW: This is easy.
The Topeka School by Ben Lerner. I read this for a face to face book club. It won Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2020,Orwell Prize for Political Fiction for Longlist 2020, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction 2019, National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction 2019, Rathbones Folio Prize 2020.
I didn't like it at all. I found it pointless. What is the point of this book? The story rambled without saying anything. The funny thing is without me saying a thing another book club member said "What is the point of this book." Needless to say I didn't appreciate this book. I didn't learn anything.

Morning!

I volunteer Saturday mornings at a local volunteer run shelter and kitten season is still in full force right now. We had two mama cats give birth this week and another ready to pop. We've also have two additional litters dropped off. This doesn't even count the litters already at the shelter and in foster. For whatever reason this year's kitten season has just kept going. They're all so cute but I'm worried about them all finding forever homes.

Finished:

Pride and Prejudice for a book with a great first line. This was a re-read for me and I listened to the audiobook this time around. I loved it just as much as past reads.

The Space Between Worlds for a book written by an author in their 20s. This one was just okay. The writing was good, I liked the concept but I felt like the author tried to put too much into one book. There was a lot going on and it felt like there could have been three really great books in one book.

Miracle Creek for a medical thriller. I finally finished this one up last night...I gave it 2.75/5 (rounded up to three stars) because I thought the writing was good. It didn't feel like a thriller to me (which it was labeled as on Book of the Month). There was a mystery to it but it really felt like a courtroom drama with a medical twist. I also thought the ending was predictable.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore for a book with "20" or "twenty" in the title. This was fine. I didn't love it, didn't hate it. I thought the lead character was the least interesting character in the book. But it was pretty light and fun.

The Book of Longings for a book with a map. I loved this one. I thought the concept was great, the writing was wonderful and I loved the characters. I need to read more Sue Monk Kidd.

Currently Reading:

Bird Box - My hold for this came up on audio, so I'm going to dive into it now. I don't think I'm using it for a prompt but I might try to fit it into one.

Piranesi - I don't think I'll be using this for the challenge either, it really was just calling my name.

QOTW:

I just checked and it seems that Miracle Creek has won some literary awards/been nominated. The award it one is a thriller award...yeah I don't feel this was a thriller or all that ground breaking.

Sherri wrote: "Hi All, I finished 4 books for the week.
Parental Guidance (Ice Knights #1) by Avery /Flynn
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Friend by Sigrid Numez
How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents..."


How did you like The Friend?

My dog decided to celebrate her being with us 4 years by squishing my hand on the gate. No real damage done but it's bruised and hurts when I hold things like big hardback books.

Finished:
The Empire of Gold for ATY (fantasy), what a great ending to this trilogy, I love these books. Sad she won't have anything new out next year, but will look forward to her new series in 2022!

Eight Detectives for ATY (added to TBR on a whim) which I felt was advertised as more clever than it was. I actually liked the individual stories, in a golden age of crime style, and some of them were quite eerie. But the framing device was a bit awkward and there was no way for the reader to connect the stories to the "real" murder case...and then it just went odd.

Big Hard Sex Criminals: Volume One for a "banned book" (I couldn't be bothered waiting for the right week as I kept forgetting when it was, and I'd probably just miss it anyway). This was silly and weird, I found it on one of the ALA lists and had a copy in my Humble Bundle archive so win win. It is basically this couple who can stop time when they have orgasm and so they decide to rob a bank in order to save a library. Lots of sex and nudity and swearing, so I can understand why it might have got pulled off library shelves.

Currently reading Afterland and listening to The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires.

PS: 37/50 | ATY: 37/52 | GR: 79/100

QOTW:
I don't think the big literary prizes generally attract the types of books I'm interested in. Even though I personally enjoyed it, I was surprised The Testaments won the Booker as it didn't seem quite the right fit, if that makes sense?

The only book that comes to mind is Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach which was nominated for quite a few SFF awards but I thought was a bit of a mess.

Hello, fellow masker here. :-) I also get supremely frustrated with incorrectly worn masks. If I know the person, I say something, if I don't then I have the massive eye roll down pat. I really really really really really really want this pandemic to be over, but until it is we'll try to do our part to reduce risks.

I have a few yearly challenges that I likely won't finish, but I'm on track for PopSugar at least:
Reading Challenge (books for the year): 96/150
PopSugar: 40/50
Book Riot: 12/24
ATW80: 15/80 it's unlikely that I'll get to 80, but I'm hoping to finish at least another 15
50 States: 21/50
Reporter Challenge: 25/30
A-Z Mythology: 26/26

Finished this week:
The Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman - set during the 1918 pandemic, I used it as my medical thriller. Riveting but incredibly stressful to read, its one of those books that leaves you exhausted.

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer - I have been waiting for this book for years! It was worth the wait, though - any fan of the Twilight series should love it. I used it for my prompt from a past year, 2016: more than 600 pages.

Junebat by John Elizabeth Stintzi - a book by a trans or nonbinary author, its an intensely personal collection of poems

Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich - it was really fun to be back in Stephanie Plum's world, still on the fence as to whether this qualifies for a book with only words on the cover

Born to Ride by Dr. Leslie Cummings - I was torn on rating this one, because I enjoyed the story and really connected to it, but the writing wasn't great and there were a lot of inconsistencies.

QOTW: I guess the last book I read like that was Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I know I'm not the target audience, but I've read other series similar to it that I've liked a lt more.

Good morning y'all! It's still pretty smokey in Fresno from the Creek Fire. It's at about 18% containment. The air quality today is unhealthy, a step up from yesterday's very unhealthy. So we're continuing to stay indoors as much as possible and trying to keep a positive outlook.

I didn't finish any books this week, but I'm nearly done with Ninth House and really enjoying it! I should definitely finish it this weekend.

I'm currently at 71/100 of my Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ challenge and at 37/50 for the Popsugar challenge.

QOTW:

I didn't really enjoy Wilder Girls. It was a Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction for 2019. I didn't hate it exactly. I thought the idea of the Pox and government cover-up was really interesting, but I couldn't STAND the characters.

Happy Thursday, y’all.

We are SMOTHERED in smoke here! All the smoke from the wildfires in Oregon, Washington, California, and elsewhere in the west is blanketing Idaho, and our air quality is so bad that it's gone past red a couple times (which I always thought was the top of the air-quality scale) and hit purple. Staying indoors whenever I can, which is really putting a cramp in my daily walks. Maybe it's time to invest in a treadmill...

Books read this week:

The White Mountains -- Sci-fi novel aimed at kids. A bit woodenly written but still entertaining� and the author’s note at the beginning (I read a reprinted edition) is also interesting reading.

Suicide Forest -- Horror novel set in Japan’s Aokigahara forest. If you’re a horror buff you may like this, but I found all the characters to be jerks and the narrative really insensitive regarding the topic of suicide. Don’t read this if suicide is a trigger for you.

The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain -- Sequel of sorts to Notes from a Small Island. Bill Bryson has gotten grouchier in his later years, but he makes me REALLY want to visit Great Britain sometime...

Heart and Brain: An Awkward Yeti Collection -- A collection of the “Awkward Yeti� comics. I’d seen these comics floating around on Facebook (the Heart and Brain comics you often see shared around), and it was nice reading a collection of them.

Currently Reading:

The Sea Beast Takes a Lover: Stories
Magic for Liars
A Diamond In My Pocket
Meddling Kids

QOTW:

There are a few award-winners I've felt lukewarm about recently, but still enjoyed them. The most recent one I honestly didn't enjoy? Oh man, I'm going to get blasted for this... The Fifth Season, which won a slew of awards including the Hugo award for Best Novel. I get that the author was trying to get across a message with it, but it was an awful chore to slog through.

It's Thursday again already, and it's really starting to feel like fall. It's really incredible how that happens. One day it's 90 degrees out, the next morning, you're looking for a jacket. The weird thing, though, is that it has started to get cooler, but the trees aren't changing color yet. I guess they're not ready.

This week I finished two books, in what is turning out to be a very slow September. It's definitely related to my vision and I have an appointment for next weekend for new glasses. This week I finished The Bone Clocks, which was okay. It had good moments and bad moments. I kind of feel like I would have liked it more if Cloud Atlas was not one of my all time favorites. I haven't been enjoying David Mitchell as much as I used to. I'm not sure if it's because my tastes have changed, or if these books just aren't as much for me. I think it's the former. I'm still going to give Slade House a try, but if I'm not into it, then that might be the end of it for me.

The second book I finished was Fathers and Sons. I didn't love it, but I understand why it's important. I just think Tolstoy came along and did it better.

QOTW: The book that I immediately thought of in response to this question is The Luminaries. I kind of understand why they chose it, because the format and style were unique and interesting. But the story was so boring and I just didn't care. That book was a big part of why I stopped paying attention to the Man Booker Prize. I don't think they choose good books, I think they are that group of English majors who sit around and say things like "I don't read Stephen King" simply because his books are so popular. (I was an English major and I knew a lot of those people. It was my junior year before a professor just came out and said that it was okay to read Stephen King and to get over themselves. Stephen King is actually a pretty great writer.)

Happy Thursday! Still smokey here in the Pacific Northwest but rain should be coming soon.

Finished:
Nothing. Still reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. I really like this book but haven't been much in the reading mood with it still being 80 degrees and keeping the windows closed due to the smoke. I just want to lay around and do nothing.

On Deck:
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix. Excited to start this one next. I figured it was a good book for October but I can't wait that long.

QOTW:
Unpopular opinion but I really couldn't get into The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. I know it won a few different awards (Pulitzer maybe?) but I just didn't think it was anything special and had a hard time getting into it.

I have not finished any books this week. And Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ is telling me I need to finish 3 books a week if I want to get my challenges done by the end of the year. I really need to step it up.
I'm currently reading Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn and I'm going to try to get it finished today. I had also started The Shining by Stephen King and The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander before I had to return them. The Shining came back already so I'll work on finishing that next. The New Jim Crow has a long wait list though.

Ellie wrote: "Big Hard Sex Criminals: Volume One for a "banned book" (I couldn't be bothered waiting for the right week as I kept forgetting when it was, and I'd probably just miss it anyway). This was silly and weird..."


This gets SO much attention. Matt Fraction has a fervent fan base! I read the first collection of this (basically, the first half of this particular Volume) and ... I just didnt' see why it had so much hype. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing either. Does it get more interesting?


And, sorry about your hand! go ice it!

Nadine wrote: "This gets SO much attention. Matt Fraction has a fervent fan base! I read the first collection of this (basically, the first half of this particular Volume) and ... I just didnt' see why it had so much hype. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing either. Does it get more interesting?..."

I think it gets more ridiculous? I'm not sure why it's award winning but it was entertaining. It stops all the confusing jumping around in time after a few issues, which helped.

Hello All!

It's been a month since I last checked in and what a month it's been. In my immediate family, we have had two households evacuate (one for fire, and my own for Hurricane Laura), my baby learned to crawl, and my grandmother passed away. It's been a lot but I feel like I'm finally recovering mentally. I did binge The Home Edit's new organizing show on Netfix twice which was pure comfort to me.

I noticed the admin change and had to go back to last week's post to see the announcement - looking forward to having you moderate Lynn! Sara, you were an amazing moderator and I know that you were essential in making this little community what it is now.

I'll do a quick cap of the books I've read since I last checked in since I didn't read much.

I read Darling Rose Gold for a book with Gold, Silver or Bronze in the title, and honestly, its the first time in a while since I have read a book where I didn't like any of the characters. None of the people in this book were likable. I'm frankly surprised I made it through. There was also an important moment that happened early on which kind of killed the ending for me. I think the story itself was interesting but IMO it needed to be set up in a different way.

A Trick of the Light was next. Still plugging away through the Inspector Gamache series. The next book is a month+ away on my holds list via Overdrive. My library has the entire series so debating popping in quickly to pick up the next few so I don't have to wait. I do have other books to read in the meantime which actually fulfill challenge prompts so I haven't acted on that impulse.

I finished the 'first book you touch on a shelf with your eyes closed' by loading several pages of the Available Now section on Overdrive then blindly scrolling and stopping with my finger pointed at the screen. This landed me on the second book of a series and I hate to read out of order so I went ahead and read the first book which was Badd Motherf*cker. I might still read the second book out of principle. Somewhere I had read that the author was in her twenties but now I cannot for the life of me find where I might have seen that. I'd say that 25% of this book was sex scenes. The plot was actually much better than I assumed it would be based on the cover.

Playing with FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early): How Far Would You Go for Financial Freedom? was supposed to be for the prompt A book on a Topic You Know Nothing About but as I started it I realized I did actually know a majority of the premise of FIRE based on other books I've read and this book was more about this guys journey rather than a how-to/what is FIRE book. I had wanted to read a book on investing as I don't really know much about that. Decided instead to use this for a book with the same title of a movie but is unrelated. This book actually was intriguing and it prompted my husband and I to have some good financial conversations (he's already knowledgeable about FIRE). We've been discussing downsizing for a little while and this lit a fire (pun intended) under us to make that happen sooner rather than later.

Lastly, I finished Witchmark for a book with an upside-down image on it. This book was just alright. I'm not a huge fan of victorian settings. Even though this was based on a fictional, magical world and there were some bigger changes to the setting it was still not really my thing. Probably won't be seeking out the other books in the series.

QOTW: I don't really keep an eye on the serious book awards but I do vote in the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ end of year contest and there are usually some winners that make me wonder. Like best non-fiction for 2019 was Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals which I read and enjoyed but it was nowhere near the level of some of the other books on that list. The GR awards can bug me a little as they are more of a popularity award than anything.

Nadine wrote: "The last book that I really hated, that won the Pulitzer, was All the Light We Cannot See. I know that book is beloved, but I found it tedious, overwrought, and excessively mawkish."

Figures. One of my all-time favorite books! ;)

Happy Thursday!! It's been hazy here for 3 days because of the fires out West. I live on the East coast. That should tell you something. Seriously, what a mess. I'm so glad for books that help me escape the real world.

Finished 34/50

Gratitude in Life's Trenches: How to Experience the Good Life Even When Everything Is Going Wrong for "book with no images/pictures on the cover". This book was so good. Really well written, the absolute latest research in psychology and neuroscience, diverse Christian voices, and 100% applicable to today. I definitely learned a ton!

Lonesome Dove for "Western". This is literally the first Western I've ever read, and I was totally surprised by how much I enjoyed it!! The characters were really complex, the plot was gritty and raw, it was really good. Slow paced, but I don't mind that when the characters are good!

Currently Reading

In God's Hands: A mother's journey through her infant's critical illness for "prompt from past challenge (2016: first book you see in a book store)". I definitely would not have picked this up for myself otherwise. I don't like reading about kids being hurt. But we shall see how this goes!

The Wilderness Journal: 365 Days with the Philokalia for "book whose title caught your attention". I'm looking forward to finishing this tbh. I'm over it.

QotW

Oh this happened during this challenge!!! I read The Calculating Stars which won a Hugo last year and just thought it was sub-par. The first part was interesting, but then it got super predictable and boring and I just wanted to be done with it. It had a great message so maybe that's why it won, but the writing was just meh.

Lynn wrote: "Nadine wrote: "The last book that I really hated, that won the Pulitzer, was All the Light We Cannot See. I know that book is beloved, but I found it tedious, overwrought, and excessively mawkish."...


Figures. One of my all-time favorite books! ;) "



LOL but we agree about Empire Falls!!

Alex wrote: "Oh this happened during this challenge!!! I read The Calculating Stars which won a Hugo last year and just thought it was sub-par. ..."



I was disappointed in that book, too! And I loved her short story that started it all SO much, so I had very high expectations.

Of course, I think it's one that Lynn loved :-)

Trish wrote: "Then, before that, it was The City in the Middle of the Night, which won this year's Locus award, but in my mind just didn't finish properly. It just stopped."

Sometimes I like it when a book just stops and other times I don't. I guess it just depends... I wonder if a sequel is planned?

I have owned All the Birds in the Sky for a couple of years and have yet to read it! This is a reminder...

Katelyn wrote: "Happy Thursday! Still smokey here in the Pacific Northwest but rain should be coming soon.

Finished:
Nothing. Still reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. I really like this ..."

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is perfect for October. Now I wish I would have held off on reading it!

Sara wrote: "I don't seek out award winning books because I often find them to be books I don't enjoy. It's always a little shocking when I enjoy a book that's also an award winner :)"

Ha! Ha! You made me laugh! The older I get the more I tend to find many award-winning books enjoyable, but certainly not a majority of the time. :)

Perhaps it was you who got me onto the Armory Ames series. I read the first book and enjoyed it. I do plan to continue with that series.

And Under a Painted Sky looks like a book I would definitely appreciate!

Nadine wrote: "Alex wrote: "Oh this happened during this challenge!!! I read The Calculating Stars which won a Hugo last year and just thought it was sub-par. ..."

I was disappointed in that book, too! And I loved her short story that started it all SO much, so I had very high expectations.

Of course, I think it's one that Lynn loved :-)"

Why, however did you guess, Nadine! Kowal's Lady Astronaut series is one of my all-time faves. I'm preparing to read the third and most recent installment, The Relentless Moon soon!

Hello All,

We just had the mask debate at work yesterday, so far we are not mandated to wear them in regular businesses (only municipal buildings)(lots of people wear them everywhere including me and my family) But when our count in town reaches 15 it will be mandatory in all businesses. ( It is now at 10 so it is coming soon) So the question was when a customer comes in without a mask what is procedure? Our boss has gone on the line they will not be served and asked to leave (acquainting it to someone walking in with a cigarette in their mouth). So this fall season should be fun. As we already have to deal with the complaints about extra time we have to take with their vehicles wiping down upon entry and exit cause this pandemic is nothing but a scam. (funny nobody and can tell me the means to the ends of the scam but okay) (Yes I like to stir the hornets nest)

Anywho, I am walking around with a sore throat and runny nose due to the smoke in the air (which is not even close to as bad some areas) but I have been had to convince lots of people it is not COVID.(as when I go home to my air purifier the symptoms clear right up) Now I know how all the people who suffered through allergy season felt.

No Finishes this week, I started The Lies They Tell Which my daughter highly recommended to me I am about half way through and it is okay, I can see how her teenage brain would like it. She says there is quite a twist at the end. So we will see.................

QOTW

There are a few books that I have read that I have finished and went "really this won an award". But I have to say my biggest disappointment was The Girl on the Train I just did not like it at all.

Happy Reading everyone.

I get SO annoyed by people not covering their noses! I make an effort to very pointedly look at them in the eye as I obviously move further away from them. I know they don't care, but it makes me feel like I'm shaming them a little lol.

My coworker mentioned something she'd read online and it was so true and so sad: that America decided to figure out how to live with COVID rather than trying to eradicate it.

Finished:
The Imaginary - This was my "book with an upside down image on the cover." I wanted to like this so much more than I did. The idea was fun--middle grade Shannon never would have been able to handle the creepy level, but adult Shannon enjoyed it. But it was like the author couldn't really decide if he wanted it to be a bare-bones story or one with a lot of description. Certain areas had beautiful prose and in-depth explanations for things, and then you'd hit several pages that were "and then this happened. And then this happened." It left me wanting more than it gave.

SHOUT: My "book that won an award in 2019." Amazing. That's all I can say. Absolutely amazing.

Up Next:
The Little Stranger - this will be my "book featuring one of the 7 deadly sins" (it's post-WWII Britain and deals with class structure, so I'm banking on there being some deadly sin in it lol).

QOTW:
I don't follow any awards other than Newberry, and I've loved every one of those that I've read. So I took a backward route and just went with a popular book I didn't like, figuring it had won some awards, and it has! I've mentioned it before, but I completely despised The Fault in Our Stars. It was just so pretentious.

Sherri wrote: "The Topeka School by Ben Lerner. I read this for a face to face book club. It won Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2020,Orwell Prize for Political Fiction for Longlist 2020, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction 2019, National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction 2019, Rathbones Folio Prize 2020.
I didn't like it at all. I found it pointless. What is the point of this book? The story rambled without saying anything. The funny thing is without me saying a thing another book club member said "What is the point of this book." Needless to say I didn't appreciate this book. I didn't learn anything."

Ha! I remember looking at that one and deciding it was one I could skip. That might have been a wise choice! :)

Well, bad news and good news this week.
Bad news is that the dog is definitely terminally ill.
Good news, he's responding fantastically to the palliative care measures the vet put him on. He's on a course of steroids, among other meds, and good lord he has more energy and appetite than... well, than he's ever had. My mother commented yesterday, "you're supposed to be dying, you could at least have the grace to look a bit sick!"

So yeah. We don't know how long he's got. Could be years. Could be weeks.
Personally, I just want to get him to the new year. 2020 is not getting one more thing.

Anyhoo, let's talk books.

Completed this week:

The Ghost Bride - This was fun. I tend to enjoy afterlife/underworld stories. It really kept me reading - not in a thriller-y, edge-of-my-seat way, but I'd sit down, open the book and suddenly it'd be 150 pages later.
It was a little difficult to keep straight who was who, though. It's set in historical Malaysia and many of the prominent characters come from the Lim family, which is very large and includes the patriarch's multiple wives, children, in-laws, cousins - and that's before you get to the afterlife and encounter some of the deceased Lims. I got pretty confused with who was related to who, and how, and their individual motivations.
Probably going to read The Night Tiger by the same author for a readathon later in the month, looking forward to it.

From the Wreck - Liked the alien segments, but didn't really feel like the book went much of anywhere. Wouldn't call it "mind-blowing" like one of the quotes on the cover, but... slightly mind-skewing, in just the sort of way I like. Haven't rated it yet, would probably say a very solid 3 stars.

The Glass Castle - A buck-wild memoir. Very much like Educated. Don't know how those kids survived.

Currently reading The Wrong Stars. Great so far, really reminds me of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, which I adore. Hopefully the rest of the book doesn't disappoint, I'm excited for this to be a potential new favourite series.

QOTW: Well, the only awards I really follow are the Hugos and the Women's Prize for Fiction. Not much to complain about with the Hugos, but the Women's Prize nominees always seem to include a few headscratchers. This year's longlist alone had Dominicana (which got shortlisted), Nightingale Point and Queenie. I'm not calling them bad books, but like... the prize claims to be looking for the best book by a woman written in the English language in a given year, and none of 'em can aspire that high. (Still, all of them were wayyy better than Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, which got longlisted in 2018 - yeah, I despised it, come at me.)

Tania wrote: "Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich - it was really fun to be back in Stephanie Plum's world, still on the fence as to whether this qualifies for a book with only words on the cover"

I think it does! I would use it for that prompt...

The air quality is GREEN in Sacramento, hooray! All the windows are open and I'm enjoying it so much. I know the smoke may come back but for now I'm breathing deeply. :-)

Finished this week:
The Inimitable Jeeves
A Court of Wings and Ruin

Currently reading:
Unnatural Death
Mexican Gothic
Love Medicine (this is the only one for a challenge)

QOTW:
Oh goodness, I could rant all day about books that have raised my hackles for one reason or another! I generally don't because it's not a great way to make friends, you know, but I COULD. Middlesex bothered me so much because I just couldn't see the continuity between the child and adult versions of the main character. How does this interesting child turn into an adult who is frankly The Worst? All the Light We Cannot See got a DNF from me even though I bought the book because the technique for teaching the blind child to navigate her neighborhood was possibly the most illogical pedagogical method I have ever heard about in my life. Ah yes, I know what this miniature bench feels like in my hand so I won't bark my shins on it in real life. WHAT?!? That's not how this works! That's not how any of this works!
Ahem. Calming down. I know many people loved both of those books so they must have had something great to offer, but I did not find it.

Hey all. It feels weird that September is more than halfway over - didn't the month just begin?

Finished reading: (32/50)

The Twenty Days of Turin (has "twenty" in the title, involves social media, published in the 20th century) - Horror novella about pre-Internet social media (a communal journaling project called the Library) and a series of mysterious events that followed, in an Italian town in the 1960s. Loved the concept, and there were some amazingly creepy/weird scenes and imagery, but...I never got what the Library had to do with it all. Maybe I missed something?

Yellow and the Perception of Reality - Short story. It was okay, but I wanted a little less slice of life and a little more MAD SCIENTISTS. (view spoiler)[Also I am disappointed it was apparently not an elaborate revenge plot by the octopus. (hide spoiler)]

If I decide to include short stories in the challenge, I'll use this one for the vision impairment prompt. The main character's sister has a unique issue where her eyes work perfectly fine, but her brain can't process/interpret the visual input (or any other kind of sensory input) so she can't tell things like this is my hand, this is my bed, this is my hand touching my bed.

Currently reading:

The 48 Laws of Power (banned book, published in 20th century) - Rare footage of me reading a nonfiction book. I heard this book is banned from many prisons, and I was curious to see what our government is not permitting incarcerated individuals to read.

So far, it's entertaining; the author knows how to tell a good story, though some of his conclusions about human behavior are tenuous/farfetched. It's entirely amoral (reads like a wannabe villain handbook) but I was expecting that from a book about "laws of power."


QotW: I only follow the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ awards, and from those, the only book to come to mind is Children of Blood and Bone. (Poor book, featuring in two QotWs in a row.) I didn't exactly hate it, but I thought it was aggressively mediocre - a cliched quest to find magical artifacts with characters I didn't like and a gratuitous no-chemistry romance.

Hi all, not a full update from me as my internet is down. We have a local lockdown here banning socialising with people you don't live with so I've flattened my phone battery in about 2 hours.... I have a FIVE DAY estimate on when it's likely to be fixed so... send help!!

I'm still on 47/50 for the challenge but have just received my hold in for banned book week where I'll be reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. My challenge to myself is to read my Western this month as well. I can't quite remember what other prompt I'm missing...

Currently Reading
Quite apt for this week's question, I read the Women's Prize shortlist this year and really loved A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes so decided to find some other books by her and am reading The Amber Fury.

QOTW
I love literary fiction so enjoying this question. The last time I remember thinking WHAT!?! was probably when The Testaments won the Booker. I love Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale was probably my favourite book for the longest time (I read it when I was 15 and just finding feminism and it so spoke to me....). The Testaments was just fine to me. Totally average.

I also tend to think Booker books normally have some interesting literary concept or device as part of them, and I'm still struggling to understand what there was in that book outside of the plot. I didn't hate the book but, having read it before the announcement, I was just so genuinely shocked....

All the best for you and your dog, Cendaquenta.

Ashley wrote: "Katelyn wrote: "Happy Thursday! Still smokey here in the Pacific Northwest but rain should be coming soon.

Finished:
Nothing. Still reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. I r..."

I love Halloween/Fall and from what I have read about the book it's definitely a thrill. I am also holding off on Mexican Gothic for October.

Good morning! The skies are very smoky today. Talk of our schools opening for in class learning in mid October. I hope they’re able to. This week we joined friends for dinner outdoors. It was so good for the soul.

Completed 2 books this week. Very different books, but I loved both.
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. I listened to the audio book. What a nice story. I really needed this.
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold. This book was so interesting. I knew nothing of the victims of this notorious killer. The book tells the tale of the lives of women born into poverty during the Victorian era. It’s Both well written and researched. Meets the prompt - won an award in 2019.

Currently reading:
Nothing to See Here
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

QOTW
This is an easy question for me. I recently finished The Goldfinch. I never connected with the story or the characters. It was so dark. My daughter and I typically enjoy the same books. She leant it to me, with high recommendations. I struggled through it and kept thinking, this will get better. For me, it never got better.

Drakeryn wrote: "QotW: I only follow the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ awards, and from those, the only book to come to mind is Children of Blood and Bone. (Poor book, featuring in two QotWs in a row.) I didn't exactly hate it, but I thought it was aggressively mediocre - a cliched quest to find magical artifacts with characters I didn't like and a gratuitous no-chemistry romance. ..."




yessssss "aggressively mediocre" is the perfect way to describe how I felt about that book. I was (and still am) very confused by all the hype.

Kenya wrote: "Heart and Brain: An Awkward Yeti Collection -- A collection of the “Awkward Yeti� comics. I’d seen these comics floating around on Facebook (the Heart and Brain comics you often see shared around), and it was nice reading a collection of them.."

Oh, my! I had never even heard of this before one our newest departmental employees mentioned it. She even has some shirts! :)

"Oh man, I'm going to get blasted for this... The Fifth Season, which won a slew of awards including the Hugo award for Best Novel. I get that the author was trying to get across a message with it, but it was an awful chore to slog through."

You will NOT get "blasted" for your reaction to a book! :)

We are all able to handle it when someone else doesn't enjoy a book we really liked or loved! Or vice versa. It's just part of reading and sharing our reactions and thoughts. :) Of course, it might be easy for me regarding this particular book since I have no real interest in reading it! lol

And I am so very sorry about the smoke. I would be dying...literally! My asthma is activated so intensely by smoke of any kind. I just hope all that clears up sooner rather than later. It is such a tragedy! 2020 has been a nightmare in so many ways. I don't know when I've been so happy to anticipate the end of one year and beginning of a new one.

Cendaquenta wrote: "Well, bad news and good news this week.
Bad news is that the dog is definitely terminally ill.
Good news, he's responding fantastically to the palliative care measures the vet put him on. He's on a..."

My dog is a generally picky eater, but she's been prescribed prednisone a few times for a hot spot that won't go away, and it's too funny how it changes her. She WANTS to eat. She's AGGRESSIVE about wanting to eat!!

I hope your dog remains a source of joy for as long as possible.

Donna wrote: "Good morning! The skies are very smoky today. Talk of our schools opening for in class learning in mid October. I hope they’re able to. This week we joined friends for dinner outdoors. It was so go..."

I also read The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper after I took the Jack the Ripper tour in London a couple years ago and I wish I done this in reverse. There is so much misinformation about the victims (mostly that they were all prostitutes which is untrue - I believe only one of them was) and this book did a great job telling the stories about the women. Highly recommend!

Sara wrote: "QOTW: The book that I immediately thought of in response to this question is The Luminaries. I kind of understand why they chose it, because the format and style were unique and interesting. But the story was so boring and I just didn't care. That book was a big part of why I stopped paying attention to the Man Booker Prize. I don't think they choose good books, I think they are that group of English majors who sit around and say things like "I don't read Stephen King" simply because his books are so popular. (I was an English major and I knew a lot of those people. It was my junior year before a professor just came out and said that it was okay to read Stephen King and to get over themselves. Stephen King is actually a pretty great writer.)"

Some of these prizes seem to award a certain type of book almost every time and others seem to jump around. It's interesting! I get the avoiding the popular books because they are not "literary" attitude, but I think it overlooks many books that are simply enjoyable. Interesting that the Book Prize awardees seem to not appeal to several different people. I haven't been that interested in reading many of them myself. But I never purposefully avoid a book just because it won (or wasn't nominated for) an award. I must be truly interested in it to actually read it.

Katelyn wrote: "Unpopular opinion but I really couldn't get into The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. I know it won a few different awards (Pulitzer maybe?) but I just didn't think it was anything special and had a hard time getting into it."

It was nominated for the 2019 Pulitzer but did not win. And uh-oh. I plan to read it yet this year. :)

Hello. Our new fridge arrived finally (after a week and a half and one cancelled-without-notice delivery), and then our marriage license came in yesterday's mail. Those were the two things I've been waiting for, so our kitchen is finally back to normal and I can get started on all the name change stuff that looks so very tedious.

Finished: The Unkindest Tide/ A Killing Frost /Ashes of Honor: The October Daye series had a new release, so I had to reread the one before it, then read the new one, and then reread one from earlier in the series that seemed relevant. Love the Toby books.

The Johnstown Flood: I read a Sunfire romance last year about this disaster, and saw that David McCullough had written a history of it. I always like to read the real history after reading historical fiction, so picked this up to learn what actually happened. It turns out this was his first book, which I find oddly interesting for someone who would get two Pulitizers for biographies of presidents. I'm using it for #7, first book you touch with your eyes closed. My bookshelves are too categorized to do this truly randomly, and the odds are too high I'd land on something I'd already read. So I did a random number thing for all the library books I have out, plus a bunch of ebooks I own, and this came out the winner.

The Ten Loves of Nishino: Using this for #45, Set in Japan. It was odd. There are ten chapters, each one told from the perspective of a different woman who had loved (or just made out with) this guy. The chapters are not chronological, leaving you to try to put together the guy's life.

Graceling: I had thought this would be for a different challenge, a book about an assassin, but the main character is very much not a killer. So I'm using it for ATY #22, major survival theme.

PS: 41/50* RHC: 16/24 RW: 22/26 ATY: 45/52

Currently Reading: Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger: I've had this from the library since March, and figured I should finally read and return it. It's more focused on the years 2016-2018 than I thought, but there's some women's suffrage and Second Wave feminism in here too. Will be using for #27, since there's a lot of wrath.

Cook Korean!: A Comic Book with Recipes: a graphic novel cookbook. Using it for Read Harder cuisine you haven't tried, and Reading Women's book about food.

QOTW: I struggled with this one, since I rarely read what's current or popular. But Sherry mentioned The Girl on the Train, and I have to agree. I tried to read it, but disliked the main character so much I couldn't finish. I think I still have it, and might hate-read it just to say I finished. Don't see how it won so many awards.

*I changed my prior PopSugar challenge from a book about twins to be a microhistory, so my total remained the same even though I read some challenge books.