Week 28: 7/9 - 7/16 > Likes and Comments

Happy Thursday!  

Sunday was really nice weather.  Lily and I went wine tasting in the Finger Lakes.  I've been wanting to do this with her all summer but she's been busy every weekend!   It was a good time.  

Now we are having another heat wave.  They said it was going to stay over the center of the country and not reach us in NY, but ... it was 100F on Tuesday.  My lawn is dry and crispy.  Wednesday cooled down, probably because all the smoke blocked the heat of the sun.  It was yellow and weird all day, like an all-day solar eclipse. Not sure yet what today holds! It seemed okay out there earlier when I took the dogs out.



***** Admin stuff *****
The July group read (granny hobby) is:  A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking   (Kingfisher has been popular this year in group reads!)  You can join the discussion here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The August group read (Afrofuturism) will be:  Death of the Author

The September group read (a book told in letters) will be:   The Correspondent

The October group read (overweight character) will be: The House in the Cerulean Sea

The November group read (debt) will be:   Spinning Silver  

The December group read (horses) will be:  Horse




Let us know if you'd like to lead any discussions!  







This week I finished 4 books, 1 for this Challenge,  so I am now 43/50:


Winner Takes All by Emily Martin- this was fine, a little "whoops we drunkenly got married in Las Vegas but when we're sober we thought we hated each other" romance.  This could fill the "pop star" category.

Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die by Mallory Arnold- I expected this to be a female rage thriller, and it started out that way,  but it was really more of a slasher homage.  And I don't watch slashers, so perhaps I didn't "get it."  I couldn't think of any categories this could fill.

Somebody Worth Killing by Jessica Payne - this is a sort of Mr & Mrs Smith tale, she's secretly an assassin and her newest assignment is ... her husband.  It was good, and fast-paced, BUT it was very repetitive.  If all of that chaff had been edited out, this would have been fire.  I couldn't think of any categories this could fill.

Marathon by Doug Dandridge - I had NO IDEA what to read for the "marathon" category, so I actually paid $1 to download this novella titled "Marathon."  Good enough!  I checked that box!



Popsugar 86% 43 /50
Must Reads 0% 0 /1
2026 pub 92% 46 /50
NetGalley ratio 89%

 I've been working my way through my NetGalley backlist, but then I downloaded FOUR more books from them, so apparently I don't actually want to dig my way out of this hole. Will I ever get myself to 100%???



My daughters and I have been watching cheesy romcoms this summer.  First we watched the three seasons of The Summer I Turned Pretty.  Then we watched Every Year After (this was such a dull and obvious retread of TSITP that I can't believe I never saw anyone calling it out), and now we are watching Emily in Paris.  EiP is moving quickly because the episodes are so short.  Sometimes Emily is a complete idiot and it's annoying, but most of the time this is really fun.





Question of the Week

This week's question was suggested by Theresa:

  What makes a book a classic?  

Are the books assigned in schools the right books? (what was required reading in school for you?)  

Do you think what is viewed as a classic is changing today? 

Imagine you had to choose one book from our time to send 200 years into the future to represent us. What would you choose and why?



Tough question to answer!  I think a classic is a book that was a best seller in its day, that is more than just fluff, it has some lasting impact on the reader and it continues to resonate with readers for decades after it's published ... until finally it's old enough to be called a "classic."  In my definition, a "modern classic" is a book published between 20 and 50 years ago, and a "classic" is older than that.

My kids' school had very little assigned reading, I was shocked (and disappointed tbh). So, no, the books assigned today are NOT the right books, because there aren't enough of them!! I was impressed that they assigned a few modern books, like The Help. I was disappointed that they never read the classics like Nineteen Eighty-Four or My Ántonia. They did read some Shakespeare, and some Steinbeck. And they read A Raisin in the Sun, which I had never read, and so I read their copy, and it was great!

In comparison, I had a lot more assigned reading! I can't remember ALL of it, big chunks of the years are a blank for some reason, but what I remember (approximately in the order that we read them):
Romeo and Juliet
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Hamlet
Great Expectations
A Tale of Two Cities
The Symposium
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass
Of Mice and Men
Lord of the Flies
Animal Farm
The Red Badge of Courage
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Crucible
The Scarlet Letter
The Glass Menagerie
A Doll's House
Billy Budd, Sailor
The Cherry Orchard
Ethan Frome
The Great Gatsby
The Grapes of Wrath
Crime and Punishment
Cat’s Cradle
Native Son

I know for sure the only assigned book written by a woman was Ethan Frome, and the only one written by a BIPOC author was Native Son, I mean, they tried, I guess? But they could have tried harder.


I don't think what's viewed as a classic has changed, but I think readers might now be more intentional about what they read.  Modern readers are no longer satisfied reading books only by white men, the best seller lists have shifted to include A LOT of women, literary prizes are now routinely handed out to BIPOC authors, and these same readers are intentionally seeking out classics that are also diversified.  The "dead white men" will always be considered classics, but now they have to share the shelf a bit more than they used to.

LOL - none of us can ever choose ONE book!!  I'll say Station Eleven.  It was popular, it continues to be popular, it is a story that stays with you and gives you something to think about, and it's a reflection of today's culture.

I browsed my "all time favorites" shelf, and found a few other contenders (I'm obviously pretty US-centric in my choices) - all of these books would give a classroom a lot to talk about:
The Garden of Evening Mists
The Vanishing Half
Nothing to See Here
The Plague of Doves
Disappearing Earth
Homegoing
The Trees
On Such a Full Sea
Mongrels

Happy Thursday all.

It's HOT in Idaho. I know, it's hot everywhere, but still feeling the heat here. And still trying to power through the summer library programs. Just two more weeks of them...

Still powering through writing a book. This isn't the first manuscript I've ever written, but this time I'm writing with the intention to get published, whether it's via traditional means or the self-publication route. Wish me luck, folks...

Books read this week:

Stay for a Spell -- the worldbuilding is a little thin, but this book is an adorably cozy fantasy and I absolutely love the heroine.

People from My Neighborhood -- short, surreal snapshots of the narrator’s neighborhood. Feels almost Murakami-esque in a way.

The Clackity -- probably a better Halloween read than a summer read, but still nicely spooky

Rooster Fighter, Vol. 5
Assassination Classroom, Vol. 11

DNF:

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances -- thought it would be cute, but ended up feeling too melancholy for me right now. The writing style is rather meh too.

Ember and Stone -- it’s trying to set up a fantasy dystopia, but isn’t quite working. I get that a dystopia is going to be naturally oppressive, but there’s very little hope in this setting.

Homebound -- just couldn't get into it. Too much bouncing back and forth between time periods, I guess.

Currently reading:

What the Jaguar Told Her
Eternal Night
The Berry Pickers
Ghost Fish

QOTW:

The problem with the term "classic" is that it's so subjective. What one person considers a classic, someone else might consider forgettable or overrated. And classics can be genre-specific too -- I would consider Lord of the Rings and The Martian Chronicles to be classics every bit as much as Pride and Prejudice or East of Eden. (Granted, they're newer books, but still classics in my mind.)

A lot of literature critics also dismiss popular fiction out of hand in favor of "literary" works... not realizing that many of the books we consider "classics" today WERE popular back in their day. Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare were the popular writers of the day and wrote for money every bit as much as Stephen King and James Patterson do today...

If I could send one book forward in time 200 years, I think it would be The Last Unicorn. THAT one deserves to be remembered as a classic, in my mind.

Nadine in NY wrote: "My daughters and I have been watching cheesy romcoms this summer. First we watched the three seasons of The Summer I Turned Pretty. Then we watched Every Year After (this was such a dull and obvious retread of TSITP that I can't believe I never saw anyone calling it out)"

I've read The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy when I was a teenager, and the last book ruined the whole series for me, so I've been avoiding the tv adaptation. Based on your comments, I'm inclined to do the same for Every Year After.

I've seen a lot of positive feedback about Off Campus and even though the books never seemed like my cup of tea, I kind of want to watch this and see what all the buzz is about. Amazon Prime Video is putting out a lot of rom-coms lately, and I'm actually pumped to see the upcoming The Love Hypothesis movie.

Morning all! The kittens are now 9 months old, and bigger than their mama. They still think attacking the big cats' tails is the most fun they can have.

82 books so far, and I finished my first challenge for the year!
Popsugar 47/50
52 Book Club 52/52 - DONE!
Booklist Queen 50/52
This Challenge Killed the Bookworm 23/25

Finished:

Moscow to the End of the Line by Venedikt Erofeev. Was going to use this for "book from the 1001 books to read before you die list" for the Around the Year challenge, but I review all my challenge books on my website, and I have nothing to say about this one. Maybe I don't understand enough Russian cultural references to get the jokes. To me, it was just 150 pages of a guy on a train going, "Woohoo, I'm so drunk!"

That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones. I had to read this one in small doses, because it was INFURIATING. She's a smalltown school librarian in Louisiana, who made a commonsense anti-censorship speech at a town council meeting. Two right-wing zealots started a smear campaign against her, claiming she "wants to teach anal sex to 11-year-olds," among other things. Used this book for "provokes strong emotion" for the 52 Book Club.

Paw and Order, from Spencer Quinn's "Chet and Bernie" comedy-mystery series. Bernie is a private investigator. Chet, his dog, is the narrator. Used for "starts with P" (52BC) and "animal narrator or MC" (BLQ).

An American Sunrise, poems by Joy Harjo. No prompt.

Next:

Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You by Ray Bradbury.

QOTW: To me, a classic is a book that's still meaningful beyond the era when it was written. Used book sales are full of books that were popular at the time, but have nothing to say to the next generation.

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin will still speak to people 200 years from now. So will Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy.

I participated in the Dewey Reverse Readathon last weekend, so I have a lot of books for my update!

PS: 40/40 COMPLETE!
52 Connections: 21/21 COMPLETE!
52: 45/52
Dewey Pre-readathon: 10/12
Ravenous Bonus: 11/22

I am trying not to to buy or check out any more books for 6 months (!) so I can get caught up on some of my backlog. However, I have already failed because my book club selected a book last night that I don't currently own.

Finished: Slow Spatial Reader: Chronicles of Radical Affection I found this at an architectural design store (very niche) and it was intriguing. I'm interested in reading others in the series.
Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche I've read a couple of others by the same author. I really enjoyed the first one, but each one after that, I have liked less because they overlap so much. Probably time to stop reading him!
Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself This used myths and writing prompts to explore the Jungian archetype of motherhood. What I enjoyed most about it is that many of the myths were ones I had never heard of before.
Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence—and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process At first I was annoyed at how focused this book was on the scientist's own experience rather than the bird's, but ultimately, I found it fascinating. It would be so fun to be able to have a conversation with an animal so different from ourselves!
Best Friends: The True Story of the World's Most Beloved Animal Sanctuary We went to this sanctuary two weekends ago and it was magical! I was eager to learn more about it and want to go back. This book traces some of the development of the sanctuary. I was surprised there weren't more disputes, so it's probably pretty glossed-over. Still, inspiring!
The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life This book just came out and I loved it! Will have to process it more.
Voices for Animal Liberation: Inspirational Accounts by Animal Rights Activists This book was all right. I don't feel like it would persuade anyone who isn't vegan to change their habits.
Going on Faith: Writing As a Spiritual Quest I read this book mostly because Diane Ackerman has a chapter in it. It was just all right. Will donate it.
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World Loved this book! Included a personal introduction and an easily accessible chapter on phenomenology. It argued that our written language has distanced us from perceiving the world more directly.
We Burned So Bright TJ Klune varies a lot. I found this book disturbing and not that well written. It was mostly dialogue between characters randomly interacting with each other. I would have preferred more development between the two main characters.
Mysticism and Democracy in the English Commonwealth I read this to finish the 52 connections prompt tying the first prompt and the penultimate prompt together. It was mildly interesting. Mostly about the Seekers before many of them became Quakers.
Skating on Mars Used to finish PS challenge. Could be used for favorite Olympic sport, set in Michigan, or NB character!

Started: Circe used for 52 prompt has a character list and Ravenous prompt retelling. It's all right. It's well-written but I hate how detestable the characters are. At least Circe changes quite a bit over eternity!

QotW:
What makes a book a classic?

This is an interesting question because my book club was just discussing banned books last night. A lot of the books that were assigned reading when we were in public school could be considered offensive. Such as Lord of the Flies or Of Mice and Men. Why is some disturbing content flagged as unacceptable and other disturbing content considered edifying?

Are the books assigned in schools the right books? (what was required reading in school for you?)

No, I don't think they are the right books. I used to read a lot of classics when I was a kid and now I hardly ever do. I'm just not all that interested in books that everyone has read. That includes currently popular books too.
It depends mostly on how it is taught though. I read Pride and Prejudice on my own and enjoyed it. Then I had to read it for school and it killed it! We also read The Scarlet Letter and the teacher explained the symbolism for us. Yes, the symbolism is pretty heavy-handed and we probably could have figured it out for ourselves. But we weren't given the opportunity to try! Another teacher had us write reader responses and I LOVED his class! It was world literature, so he selected more interesting titles: Toni Morrison's Beloved, Graham Greene's something-or-other, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. I loved almost everything we read.

Do you think what is viewed as a classic is changing today? Not enough. I think we need to move onto more contemporary titles and not get stuck on stories just because they have been vaunted as classics.

Imagine you had to choose one book from our time to send 200 years into the future to represent us. What would you choose and why? I would pick the Amber Spyglass because God is just a parenthesis in that story and I think that represents our current age well.

Good afternoon, everyone! Happy Thursday!

This week has been a bit of a struggle for me mentally and emotionally, and I’ve found myself doing a lot of napping as a way to just “check out” for a while. In fact, I just woke up from a 4-hour-long nap, which is why this is going up later than normal.

As far as this week’s reading is concerned, however, it was a great week. I had a chance to participate in the Dewey’s 24-Hour Reverse Readathon on the 10th and 11th, and I had a great time! I ended up reading for around 15-16 hours, and managed to read two books from cover-to-cover, three-quarters of a third, and about 30 pages of a fourth. All of the books I read were from my TBR list, which was fantastic.

Here are my current challenge and TBR totals…

Goodreads Challenge: 145/250
Mount TBR Challenge: 88/150

📚Physical TBR: 82/462
📱Ebook TBR: 5/161
🎧Audiobook TBR: 1/1
TBR Checklist Total: 88/624 (14% complete)

TBR Books DNFed in 2026: 5
TBR Books Soft DNFed in 2026: 3

I did not purchase any new books this week, and don’t plan to until I’ve read the new books I bought last month.

“New” Books Bought in 2026: 62
“New” Books Read in 2026: 56
“New” Books DNFed in 2026: 0
“New” Books Checklist Total: 56/62 (90% complete)

Here are the books I finished this week…

Finished Reading (Fiction):
~How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive — This was the last book I read for Summerween. Despite disliking almost every character in this book, I thought this was a pretty good read because of its clever plot. Content Alert: (view spoiler)[ This book does include graphic, bloody violence, as well as an animal death (specifically the death of a pet). Suicidal ideation is also mentioned. (hide spoiler)] 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~A Dream of Death — This is the first book in the Kate Hamilton mystery series. I thought this was a very good story, and liked the main character. I’m definitely interested in continuing this series, but currently do not have any of the other books. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I decided to spend most of my time during the readathon (and the rest of the week) reading The Legend of Drizzt series. I was able to finish books 2-4, which includes the following books…
~Exile — This is the second book in the Dungeons & Dragons: Legend of Drizzt series. I thought this was a really good story, and finished the entire book in a single sitting because I did not want to put it down. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Sojourn — This is the third book in the Dungeons & Dragons: Legend of Drizzt series. While this book was probably my least favorite of the Drizzt books that I’ve read so far, that’s not really saying much as there were still a lot of parts that I enjoyed, and some newly-introduced characters that I’m hoping to see again in future books. Content Alert: (view spoiler)[ This book does include animal harm and deaths. (hide spoiler)] 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Crystal Shard — This is the fourth book in the Dungeons & Dragons: Legend of Drizzt series. I really enjoyed this story, and thought it was interesting to see how Drizzt has managed to find something of a place for himself in Icewind Dale. Content Alert: (view spoiler)[ This book does include animal injuries/deaths, which occur during battle. (hide spoiler)] 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
None

Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None

Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None

DNFed:
None

Currently Reading:
~Streams of Silver — This is the fifth book in the Dungeons & Dragons: Legend of Drizzt series. I've read two-thirds of this book so far, and hope to finish it this evening. 📚
~In a Sunburned Country — I’m currently about 20% of the way through this book, and I’m finding it pretty interesting so far. It’s kind of a cross between a history book and a travel memoir. 📚

QOTW:
I tend to agree with Nadine’s definition of a classic. I would also say that in addition to the “modern classic,” we do have a wide range of “children’s classics,” which would include those picture and chapter books that have impacted generations of young readers.

It’s been 8 years since I was last in the classroom, but when I taught high school, I did teach a lot of the same classic literature that I read in those grades. Some of those books include… To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Othello, The Scarlet Letter, The Odyssey, The Great Gatsby, and Hiroshima.

I also don’t think that the books viewed as classics have changed, but based on what I’ve seen here on Goodreads, it seems that reading the classics often takes a back seat to current bestsellers and BookTok recommendations.

If I were going to choose a book from our time to send 200 years into the future to represent us, I would actually choose All Systems Red or another popular SciFi book. I think it would be interesting for people from the future to see what we thought the future might look like.

Happy Thursday! Those heat waves are a boost for the progress on my reading challenge: I finished 2 books last weekend when temperatures were 'sticky hot' and reading was the only possible thing to do.

Today is the last day of the heat. Now we hope and pray for rain, because also today there's a officially announced water shortage. I drilled my plants the last couple of years: except for the lawn (yellow and crisp) and some hydrangea (hanging fluffy and turning a bit yellow) everything is still looking fine. I refuse to spill tap water on my garden (a very common thing to do over here) and I also refuse to use groundwater. The only thing we had to adapt a couple of years ago is the beech hedge. Now we have an ivy hedge. Still going strong.

Read this year: 34
PS: 16/40
Finished this week: The Forgotten Names by Mario Escobar⭐⭐Unknown and true story about the rescue of 108 kids from deportation in Vichy France. The book itself is more like a fictional re-telling of the research of Valérie. Writing is melodramatic.
My Name Is Selma: The Remarkable Memoir of a Jewish Resistance Fighter and Ravensbrück Survivor by Selma van de Perre⭐⭐⭐⭐Story of a 21-year old Dutch Jewish woman surviving the Holocaust by joining the Dutch resistance as a non-Jew.

QOTW
A classic is a book that survived time. So it must have been published at least 50 years ago (half a lifetime). And it still has readers that love it. Like Pride and Prejudice. Or The Buddenbrooks. Or Little House on The Prairie.
I don't think that what is viewed as a classic changes. We do have more literate people and more books, so the chances a book turns into a classic are much less than 150 years ago.
 
We didn't have assigned books at school. We were assigned to read 20 books of Dutch writers from specific periods. Like, 2 books written before 1900, 2 books between 1900 and WW2, 2 books after WW2.

I still have to read that book that I want to sent into to the future to represent our lifetime.

I'm home again and exhausted. Still in the middle of changing all my passwords and trying to get my new phone to be useful. I had three wonderful days in Duluth, where I went to college, and then stayed at what has to be the worst hotel near the Minneapolis airport. It's time to stop reserving by brand and actually read the reviews. My go-to, LaQuinta, has become so iffy. Too bad, because when I travel with dogs, I've always been able to rely on LQ.

PopSugar 43/50
AtY 37/52
Curiosity Killed the Bookworm: 18/25
Rocky Horror Challenge 9/12

Finished:

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston For AtY, but I don’t remember which prompt! I’m also using it for the Rocky Horror Challenge. Mona inherits an enchanted apartment in NYC. She seems to be sharing it with a man whose timeline is 7 years previous. 5 stars, the whole time thing, you know? I love time anomalies.

Currently Reading

Gerry Rafferty: Renegade Heart for #37 a book about a pop star. I will probably never finish this book, but I paid for it (choke) so I have to.

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner Book 4 of the Queen’s Thief series. This is an audiobook, like the first 3 I listened to. This has a different reader however, and is not nearly as entertaining.

Better Than the Movies, German Edition by Lynn Painter (16%) I believe it’s a teenage romance, looks like enemies to lovers. Fun enough.

The Marsh King's Daughter by Elizabeth Chadwick Set in the 1200’s, I just started it so I’m not clear on what it’s about. This book is one of those things that happen when it's the middle of the night and my books are boring me.


QOTW
Oh, this is hard. First, I like Laura Ruth's definition: 'a classic is a book that's still meaningful beyond the era when it was written.'

I have no idea what's considered a classic in school today. I'm so old, I barely remember what I was assigned in school. Anything I was assigned, I'm pretty sure I didn't read, except The Scarlet Letter, which I read for a speed reading class. Romeo and Juliet, The Glass Menagerie, and The Tempest were assigned, but I know I didn't read them (oh, I was a bad kid 😯). I don't recall my kids talking about assigned reading, either.

I hope the classics are changing, there have been just too many white men putting forth their views.

So, how far back does 'our time' go? I'm going with 'my time' which goes back pretty far, and I'd have to say Love Medicine and The Handmaid's Tale. I seem to frequently change my mind about what I think are really good books, but these two have stuck with me.

😊 😯😉☹

Hi all! Muggy and smokey NY here. The smoke was supposed to improve last night, now they're saying tonight, I'll believe it when everything isn't a haze. I have a bit of a headache, not sure if it's smoke or a dozen other possible things....

Still trying to adjust to having a dog. She's pretty good, but it still takes a lot of energy that I don't always have.

Kiddo is having a good summer, as long as I don't make her do things... like get dressed. *eye roll* Descendants 5 comes out on Disney+ tomorrow, and she is so excited. They're not bad movies, so hopefully this one will be good, too.

I'm almost finished with Attack of the Theater People. It's an out of system ILL, so if you ask really nicely, they might renew it for you. I thought since they only gave me 2 weeks with it, they probably wouldn't, but I asked anyway. They gave me another 2 months! Why didn't they just do that in the first place?? I hope to finish it over the weekend anyway.

QOTW: To me, a classic is something that still speaks to people in the years beyond when it was written. It has to continue to evoke emotions and say something about what it means to be human.

Lol, don't get me started on the books I read in school! I'm still (in my 40s) trying to catch up on things they didn't offer us when I was learning. I don't even know if schools assign reading anymore. When I subbed in the middle school, the kids would be reading a book (the 2 I remember are The Lightning Thief and New Kid), but they read it in class all together. And rarely do the kids actually read it, it's either read by the teacher or an audiobook (the kids are supposed to follow along with the print book...). Anywhoo... I'll be interested to see what happens as my kiddo gets older when it comes to reading assignments.

I posted these thoughts in a weekly update a week or 2 ago:
I read an interesting article from The Atlantic asking if America is now "postliterate". It talks about the decline of people reading for pleasure, our shorter attention spans, the roll of politics and AI, how reading changes how we think, lowering test scores in kids and college students, and how thinkers through the ages have always worried about people not reading. I'll post the link, but it's probably behind a paywall. It's also the cover story in the August print issue of The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...

As for what book I would send to the future, I probably have a good answer for that, but my brain is a little mushy right now.

As for a book I think will still be around and being read, though it's probably not a popular pick among today's readers, I would guess the Harry Potter series will still be out there. I think it speaks to kids about friendship, courage, finding your place, good overcoming evil, the things that make a good story.

I'm stillworking on Fatal Majesty: A Novel of Mary, Queen of Scots as my curly hair book. I don't think I've been reading a lot this week.

Question of the Week

This week's question was suggested by Theresa:

What makes a book a classic? -Old, stands the test of time,

Are the books assigned in schools the right books? (what was required reading in school for you?) I definitely read good (and by that I don't mean I liked them, but that they were educationally good) books, but I don't know if they were the best books, or if there weren't betters ones? 3 Shakespeare plays over 4 years of HS (which I'm going to say maybe an unpopular opinion of maybe not the best, maybe he's a bit overhyped), some ancient Greek plays, a lot of your "typical" classics that you rea din school like Hawthorne, Twain, To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, etc. Then a couple of not so obvious choices like The Odessa File.

Do you think what is viewed as a classic is changing today? I'm not sure because I don't have kids in school, I don't really read literary commentary.

Imagine you had to choose one book from our time to send 200 years into the future to represent us. What would you choose and why? Go with me on this, but I'm goin gto say Jurassic Park. Because I think the lesson of not messing with things like that will be even more of an important lesson (if humans even still exist in 200 years).

Happy Thursday, everyone! I just got back from an Alaskan cruise trip two days ago. It was a blast! Got to see some seals, dolphins and deer, but sadly no whales. My sisters and I enjoy doing trivia, so we participated in a few games and were able to win on three separate occasions. Also caught a few World Cup games with fellow passengers from all around the world, and was sad to see all the underdog teams go home. I'll be rooting for Spain in the final, not because I'm necessarily a fan, but because I want to see Argentina lose xD

I didn't post last week because I was overseas without internet connection, but I read four books in these last two weeks, and they were all alright. HRCYED 3.0 started on the 7th, so I've added it to the many reading challenges I'm already doing, lol. I completed and had fun with the 2.0 version last year, and this year's challenge seems to have easier prompts. We'll see!

2025 Reading Challenges
PopSugar- 36/50
ATY- 52/52; Winter- 14/14; 24/24; Spring- 16/16; Summer- 4600/5000
52 Book Club- 45/52; Monthly Mini-Challenges- 12/12; Beach Reads- 7/24
HRCYED 3.0- 8/150; Side Qwests- 1/12
Asian Read-a-Thon- 5/5 COMPLETED
New York Times Summer Bucket List- 7/10
Read Good- 13/13 COMPLETED
Buzzword- 12/12; Cover- 12/12 COMPLETED
GR Bookmarks- Winter- 12/12; Spring- 12/12; Summer- 3/12
BOTM- 12/15; Omnivoreader- 6/6; Long Hauler- 3/4; Debut Darling- 4/5

1001 Books- 12/20
TBR- 25/50

Finished
Five Decembers- read this because I needed to read a 2021 mystery for the Beach Reads challenge. This reminded me a lot of the noir films from the 1940s. I did enjoy it overall. ☆☆☆ 1/2
ATY Summer #3E- abroad (where character travels to another country)
52BC Beach Reads #18- published in 2021 (Mystery)
HRCYED 3.0- numerical titles #1; pocket monsters #1
GR Bookmark- Speed Reader

The Grass Is Singing- was trying to find a book with personification in the title, so I just searched up "sing" in the libby app and browsed until I found this. It starts off with a murder, you know who did it, but the rest of the novel reveals the how and why leading up to it. It was a great read, just a lot of blatant racism by the white characters. ☆☆☆ 1/2
52BC #44- Literary Device: Personification
HRCYED 3.0- biomes #1; pocket monsters #2
NYT Summer #5- a classic you've been meaning to read
1001 books #12

Djinn Patrol On The Purple Line- read this for the Beach Reads challenge. I liked the child perspective in this as its not a typical "detective" we see in mysteries. It was a little difficult to follow the plot through audio over the noises of the plane and cruise ship, but I did appreciate it overall. ☆☆☆ 1/2
ATY Summer #5C- Bug Bites (a book featuring a child protagonist)
52BC Beach Reads #23- retails new within $5 of your last read (Mystery)
HRCYED 3.0- a rainbow of words #1; titular counting #1
GR Bookmark- Book Boss

Small Scale Sinners: Stories- this book was on my radar ever since it won the PEN/Faulkner award. One of my prompts required reading an alliterative title, so I finally checked this one out. The stories are all pretty short and deal with young women breaking the cultural norms of their Pakistani society. The first story was a bit odd to me, but I enjoyed the rest of the stories in the collection. I loved the feminist themes and was surprised by how touching some of the stories' endings were. ☆☆☆☆
ATY Summer #1D- yellow on the cover
HRCYED 3.0- cover style #1; region traipsing #1; Side Qwests #1- alliterative title

Currently Reading
Bee Season


QOTW
I think what makes a book a classic is its themes and/or the literary techniques it deploys. I feel like all classics say something about the human spirit or reveal some other timely theme. Others I feel are more recognized over the years for how they revolutionized the written form, i.e. the first novels, use of unreliable narrators, experimenting with different formats, breaking conventions.

In Junior High, we read The Giver and The Lightning Thief, which seemed recent at the time I read them to be considered classics, but I did enjoy them. In high school, we had to read Pride and Prejudice, Forgotten Fire, Night, The Princess Bride, The Fountainhead, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet,The Scarlet Letter, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Animal Farm, The Grapes of Wrath, A Separate Peace, The Great Gatsby, The Things They Carried, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, some Shakespeare plays. While I did enjoy some of these, looking back they're all, with the exception of one, white authors, lol.

I feel like the gist of what makes a book a classic is the same, except now I am seeing more diverse voices in the mix. Some of them even challenge or reimagine the classic stories we know (i.e. James, Demon Copperhead). I work in the library, and I get high school students looking for assigned summer reading books, and they're all YA books that have been published within the past decade! I think teachers now are trying to reach students where they are and show them that you can critically engage and analyze any book.

I remember reading The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys and immediately thinking I can see these being taught in schools. However, if a had to choose a future classic to represent our current time period, I would choose Trust. I've been seeing a lot of books lately that play with distortion of truth (Universality, Transcription, maybe Audition, I haven't read it yet). I think they capture what it's like to live in this current age of "alternative facts" and the rise of AI.

Hello! We’re all in St. Louis for Todd’s Celebration of Life. It’s going to be an emotionally challenging weekend.

Reading Challenges:

52 Book Club: 50/52
52 Books Read It, Watch It: 7/12
ATY: 50/52 (Summer Challenge: 21/25)
Booklist Queen: 50/52
Popsugar: 46/50
Goodreads Summer Bookmarks: 5/11
52 Books Mystery Challenge: 28/50

My Ever-Growing TBR: 71/276 – 25.7% (My goal is 33.3%.)

Recently Completed:

🗽The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography (ATY Summer #4d – features picnicking/Booklist Queen #38 – a biography) ★★★★
🗽Summer Breeze (ATY Summer #4a – features swimming) ★★★
🗽John Grebble Is Gone: I know it’s a short story (free through Amazon First Reads), but it sure seemed to wrap up pretty quickly… without any repercussions. There was unrealized potential here. In the hands of another author it could have been a clever, nuanced story. This doesn’t make me want to read more by this author. (Mystery #9 – white-collar crime) ★★
🗽Homeschooled: A Memoir: Read with Jenna Selection. (GR Summer #4 – Chart Toppers) ★★★★
🗽The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: Books and Brews Book Club. (GR Summer #4 – Challenge Faves) ★★★★★
🗽Trad Wife: Rosemary’s Baby for the age of influencers. ★★★★
🗽 Fleishman Is in Trouble (RIWI #7 – book has a dust jacket/Popsugar #8 – a sexless marriage) ★★★★
🗽This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History: Page Turners Book Club. More hopeful than I expected. (ATY Summer #3d – a road trip) ★★★★



QOTW: My brain has been absolute mush lately, but here's my best 2-minute take on classics: Classics stand the test of time - they continue to resonate with readers years after their initial release. They not only reveal something about the time in which they were written but also about the contemporary world. I'm a little jealous of those of you who had rigorous reading requirements in school. I did not. I read classics because I wanted to... or they were "recommended" by my dad. We had some great discussions! I think Station Eleven and The Nickel Boys are destined to be classics.

Happy Thursday!

I didn't finish a book, in fact one of my requests came in last night, so now I'm reading 3. However, I'm taking a vacation week next week which will mean extra reading time.

We watched the Misfits last week (my pick - our family movie nights rotate for who picks). It was the last movie Marilyn made before her death and also Clark Gable's last movie.

Series - 5/12
Number 1s - 6/10
Nobel laureates - 2/5
Rocky Horror challenge: 7/12
Summer Reading challenge - 2100/5000 points

PS - 21/30
ATY - 27/45
PS movies - 21/50

Currently reading:
The Grapes of Wrath - 40%
Survivor by Tabitha King - 33%
Rouge - 5%

PopSugar movies
43 Two movies written or acted in by real-life partners or spouses - The Misfits (Marilyn Monroe)

QOTW: I think a classic is mostly time + quality. I would say the same for classic rock or classic TV. After a while, the so-so stuff gets forgotten.

Are the books assigned in schools the right books? (what was required reading in school for you?) One difference between my high school and high schools today is that our courses were full year and most schools now are semestered. What that means for an English class is that we read more books in class. There were more weekends in the year so that they could assign you reading.

We read a Shakespeare play per year. My kids didn't touch Shakespeare until Grade 12. I was reading The Merchant of Venice, Huckleberry Finn, poetry, and some other books I can't remember in Grade 9. My kids read short stories and no actual novels.

Our province also eliminated Grade 11 English to make room for an Indigenous course. I have zero problem with an Indigenous course being mandatory, but I think it should have been in addition to Grade 11 English. One of my kids had a hard time in Grade 12 English because it had been two years since Grade 10 English. And also, suddenly the books were harder in Grade 12.

The worst books or short stories we read were the Canadian content ones. I thought I didn't like Canadian books because the ones from school were boring. So, that part of the curriculum desperately needed improving - there is zero reason I should have thought that all the interesting writers were English, Irish, or American.

Do you think what is viewed as a classic is changing today? I think as time goes by we add new books to what we think of as classics and maybe a few iffy ones fall off.

I'm thrilled to see one of my QOTW suggestions! Of course, now I have to answer it, LOL.

I just returned from a trip to Santa Fe, where I've been working hard to clear the condo for sale as executor of a friend's estate, one with money to burn, a severe shopping addiction for high end clothes, jewelry, art and folk art --- and a hoarding problem. The good news: IT IS DONE! No more trips needed. Of course there are last minute problems but I can deal with them from NYC -- had to replace the hot water heater in the condo unit which died while I was there. Might also have to replace the HVAC which died right after the heater. Always something. But it's on the market and there is interest. AND I DON'T HAVE TO CRAM TRIPS IN TO WORK ON THE APARTMENT AROUND MY REAL JOB!

And maybe, just maybe, I'll find some time to read again.

PS 37/52 ATY 47/52

Finished:
Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy: Three Charming Christmas Cowboy Romance Stories

Currently Reading:
The Whiskey Rebels

QOTW: I love reading classics, always have. I voluntarily would read abridged Dickens at summer camp when I was very young. Graduated to the unabridged as soon as I started 7th grade and was in public school not Catholic school - better library. Our public library had no real options between children's beginner books and adult, and the saga of trying to borrow adult books before I was 16 is for another QOTW. Remember - this was the 1960s - no YA, no middle grade books, a very different world.

But even in Junior and Senior high school when English courses were all about the classics, I would make up my own reading lists of books and authors not touched on in the classes. I fell in love with Dickens, Shakespeare, plays of Eugene O'Neill, Learned I hated Thomas Hardy, Faulkner, and more. Lots of classics read by teens like The Catcher in the Rye I never read, only reading them in last 10 years - and hated it - very dated. I can't see today's youth finding anything in it to relate to.

What is a classic? For me there has to be a timelessness to it. Agatha Christie mysteries are classics as there is a timelessness to them even though they are set within specific time periods and locations. I also believe there are classics in every single genre - LOTR is definitely one. Edgar Allen Poe's stories are pure horror. They have to touch on core human traits, emotions, happenings that are not linked to specific events or times. Mortal fear is timeless regardless of the plot. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text was a recent re-read of mine and I really appreciated the timelessness of the philosophical underpinnings - scientific responsibility and integrity, otherness and racism, what is humanity. These are such timely matters in a world of AI and even before, cloning, fore example.

I don't have first hand knowledge of what is being read today though I hear plenty of complaints from reader friends of mine over what their kids are being told to read. But even in my day, some of the works being put to us to read --- Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson was offensive then and more so now, and what is with making everyone read The Old Man and the Sea as their introduction to Hemingway? Have them read A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition or even his Nick short stories -- if you want them to like his work. I personally think The Great Gatsby is too mature in subject for any highschooler - far better to give them This Side of Paradise which is likely more relatable with it's youthful protagonist.

I consider classics at this point anything published before 1960. I think Dickens can be read from a young age and should be, along with Alexander Dumas -- such swashbuckling tales!

Modern classics are to me those written between 1950 and 2000 with staying power. A few in the last 25 years might be sneaking into that line up but to call something published in this century seems ridiculous to me.

No question that more women, BIPOC, indigenous, and frankly global books need to be taught in US schools. And genre fiction - lord know Dickens et al were the potboiler serialized entertainment reads of their day.

That said, there are a couple of contemporary books I'd say will survive the test of time and fickleness of readers to become true classics, and in fact should be read in schools now:

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
James
The Handmaid's Tale
Margo's Got Money Troubles

Another quick check-in for me since it's late (for me). But if I don't post now, I likely won't get another chance over the weekend since I've got a lot lined up. I finished two books but couldn't find a prompt that fit either (but did find prompts in the other challenges I'm working on that did). So, I'm still at 15/40 and 1/10 for this challenge, and now at 37/75 for my overall Goodreads Reading Challenge.

Finished:
* Theo of Golden written by Allen Levi and narrated by David Morse. My book club that picked it for July will be discussing it on Saturday. It didn't live up to the hype for me, so we'll see if I'm the outlier; and,
* Fancy Dogs written by Tini Malina and translated by Tammi Reichel, which I chose as my #CampNetGalley pick. It was a delight! I need to post a review before 13 August to get this year's camp badge 🙃

Currently Reading:
* The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries edited by Michael Sims;
* Peking Duck and Cover by Vivien Chien;
* The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves, which is one of my NetGalley backlist titles; and,
* The Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home written and narrated by Stephen Starring Grant. This is my other book club's pick for August. I am thoroughly enjoying this one so far - doubly so because I visited the area near where this takes place in May! 📬

QotW:

This week's question was suggested by Theresa:

What makes a book a classic?

Are the books assigned in schools the right books? (what was required reading in school for you?)

Do you think what is viewed as a classic is changing today?

Imagine you had to choose one book from our time to send 200 years into the future to represent us. What would you choose and why? As others have said, I think a classic is a book that represents the time in which it was written and still resonates with the generations that follow (likely due to the language and themes). TBH, I didn't love a lot of the classics that I was assigned to read in middle school and high school. There ones I liked best were written by women, taught me something about the human experience, or were classics from other countries (less England). I'd like to think that books written by a broader swath of humanity are considered classics today compared to the past but know there's more work to be done on that front. If I had to pick a book written in my lifetime to represent us (or at least the American experience) 200 years in the future, I'd pick the novella Recitatif by Toni Morrison or There There by Tommy Orange. They have both stayed with me for different reasons and are brilliant.

Happy Thursday!

Finished:
All Hail Chaos by Sarah Rees Brennan - 4 stars -for "shadow daddy". The sequel to one of my favorites from a few years ago. Very fun, but not the place to start.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans - 4 stars - for a book told entirely through letters. I was surprised I enjoyed it; it's not my usual type of book at all, but it was a quick read and I wound up getting very invested.

Comics/manga:
Persona 5, Vol. 15
I Want to be a Wall, Vol. 1
BL Metamorphosis, Vol. 1

I am currently at 33/50 for the Popsugar reading challenge (25/40 and 8/10).

Currently reading:
The Feywild Job by C.L. Polk - not sure what prompt.

Upcoming/Planned:
Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper - for a book featuring birding.

Nemesis Mine by Amy Archer - for a book about a horse or with a horse on the cover.

QOTW:
I think I agree with the definition of a classic as a book that stands the test of time. I don't have kids, so I don't know what kinds of books are being assigned nowadays. I also think it depends on the teacher. When I was in AP English in high school, my teacher assigned a mix of traditional classics and modern classics, running the gamut from Shakespeare to Alice Walker. I think as time goes on, more books are viewed as classics, including more modern books.

I have no idea what book I'd send forward 200 years in the future. Maybe Murderbot, as someone else suggested.

Happy Thursday! Typed up my post, got distracted by a call from my parents, then dinner, then a walk, and all of a sudden it's way late. Been dealing with a twinge in my back again, so have been doing a lot of stretching and little walks trying to work out whatever's going on. Supposed to be going to an outdoor music show Saturday, so hopefully it's eased up a bit before then.

Finished:
Dekoboko Sugar Days- this was a cute enough manga that I probably won't remember much about in a few months
-"sugar" or "pop" in title prompt

In Stormy Weather- I really liked the female lead in this book and her work building her career, but didn't really like the male lead or the love story. So much smirking
-no prompt, netgalley book

How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women- I thought this was really good, very upsetting at times. I think the authors did a great job on the audiobook. This is a good jumping off point for learning more about the witch trials, especially the Scottish witch trials
-no prompt, goodreads book mark

Currently reading:
Stay True- wasn't sure which audiobook to pick up next, so this one is another one that works for the goodreads bookmarks.This has been on my radar since it won the pulitzer, and the author is local!

Shield of Sparrows- about halfway through, and I'm liking it so far, a solid romantasy read

QotW:
I think a classic is one that stands the test of time, or one that is referenced in other works so by reading it you can understand more of the literature that came after it. And it either gives insight into the time it was written, or maybe shows a new method or style of writing.

Some schools do a good job at teaching a wide range of books for their students, but it really depends on the school and what they are allowed to teach. I think proving students with the means to understand what they are reading, and then giving them a list of books to explore on their own time is sometimes the best you can do.

I think I would send Bel Canto- even though it's been years since I read it, I loved it so much. Maybe The Remains of the Day and An Artist of the Floating World as companion pieces. And then Only Stars Know the Meaning of Space: A Literary Mixtape- it doesn't have a ton of rating right now, but I think it's an amazing book that explores so much.

Life update: We've hit our first snag in our house sale - our buyer's survey report raised some issues that we don't agree with, so now we have to get specialist reports to challenge it. Our estate agent is vehemently on our side and is helping to organise that process, so hopefully it will all be all right in the end. We're willing to negotiate a reasonable reduction in price to cover the concerns, but not at the level that's currently being implied. Meanwhile, our survey for our own purchase should come back some time in the next week.

Reading update: I finished two books this week, but neither of them were for this challenge:

How to ADHD: An Insider's Guide to Working with Your Brain - Diversity Challenge: disability. This was more of a 101-level book than I'd anticipated, but if that's what you're after, it's a decent one. 3 stars.
The Sun Also Rises - audiobook, no prompt. There isn't much plot in this, but I did find it moving. 3 stars.

Stats:
Popsugar: 0 this week, 31/50 total
Diversity Challenge: 1 this week, 8/14 total
Touch the Rainbow, Read the Rainbow: 0 this week, 10/13 total
Queer Reads Bracket Challenge: 0 this week, 4/7 total
Flowers for Your Shelves: 0 this week, 4/22 total
r/Fantasy Bingo: 0 this week, 7/25 total
Spanish Titles ABC: 0 this week, 1/26 total
French TBR: 0 this week, 1/20 total
Great Big Jewish Literature Challenge: 0 this week, 6/21 total
Anti-Capitalist Inspiration: 0 this week, 17/30 total
Reading About Writing: 0 this week, 4/40 total

All books finished this year: 2 this week, 76 total
DNF or paused this year: 0 this week, 15 total

Challenges completed this year: 1
Challenges in progress (end date in 2026): 4
Challenges in progress (no end date or end date in 2027): 7

Currently reading:

I'm continuing to unpause some of the books I put on hold when I went to Germany, giving me:

The Thirty Names of Night - PS: birding; Diversity: Arab heritage. I am really enjoying this and will probably finish it this weekend.
Gilgamesh - Queer Reads Bracket: Older Queer Works. I read this in a different translation for a college course because of its apparent influence on Genesis. It's interesting to revisit it from a very different perspective.
The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI - research, no prompt. Coincidentally, this is also revisiting a topic I studied in college, this time as part of my metaphysics course!
Your Author Business Plan: Take Your Author Career To The Next Level - Reading About Writing: Business Planning
Your Author Business Plan Companion Workbook: Take Your Author Career To The Next Level - companion to the above, no separate prompt
What If?: Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers - Reading About Writing: bonus topic
The Complete Mahabharata Volume - 3 Vana Parva & Virat Parva - spiritual reading, no prompt.

QOTW: What makes a book a classic?

Off the top of my head, I would say a classic:
- stands out from the rest of its period
- had a lasting influence on its genre
- had something interesting to say about its period
- continues to be relatable to new audiences

what was required reading in school for you?

We moved around a lot, so this will be a bit of a hodgepodge. In elementary school in Germany (ages 6-10), I recall being required to read some German children's classics like Max und Moritz. Eine Bubengeschichte in sieben Streichen and Der Struwwelpeter. I didn't like them much; the children in them were not very relatable, and the adults were often cruel.

In grades 5 and 6 in Ireland (ages 10-12), I remember reading Watership Down, Animal Farm, and some WWI poetry. I liked these better. It felt like we were finally being trusted with more "grown-up" topics that related to the real world around us.

For grades 7-13 (ages 12-19), I was back in Germany. We read a lot of German and French classics:
Der Besuch der alten Dame
Der Richter und sein Henker
Maria Stuart
Wilhelm Tell
Die Räuber
Faust I und II - Eine Tragödie, erster und zweiter Teil: Ausgabe mit beiden Faustwerken - für die gymnasiale Oberstufe
Die Judenbuche - one of only two set texts by a woman that I can recall
Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder. Eine Chronik aus dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg
Leben des Galilei: Vita di Galileo
Sansibar oder der letzte Grund (Zanzibar or the Last Reason)
Rhinocéros
Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources
La peste
Le Petit Prince
Vol de nuit
Candide
Tartuffe
Les Trois Mousquetaires. Notably, this is the only set text by a non-white author from my entire schooling - and we were not even told that he wasn't white! I discovered that much later as an adult.

Because my father wanted me to have a good knowledge of English literature, I also took a UK A-level in that by correspondence at around age 17. As far as I remember, the set texts were:

Beowulf
Hamlet
The Tempest
Emma - the other text by a woman
An Inspector Calls
Death of a Salesman
The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
and another collection of WWI poetry

Are the books assigned in schools the right books? Do you think what is viewed as a classic is changing today?

I found a list online of all the set texts that are currently required by any of the English exam boards for English A-level: https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/secon.... It's still a list dominated by white men, but not quite to the same extent as in my school days. I would like to see it broadened further. At least it doesn't seem like we've succumbed to the trend of requiring only extracts rather than whole books.

Imagine you had to choose one book from our time to send 200 years into the future to represent us. What would you choose and why?

I think I would send Babel. It captures a lot of our current anxieties about navigating a postcolonial world, what constitutes violence and who gets to use it, and who has privilege and why. It's also a book that arouses strong opinions both for and against, which would probably be quite revealing for future researchers if we're allowed to send along some samples.

My "summer" vacation is going by too fast and I keep forgetting it's Thursday and haven't checked in for two weeks. "Summer" in quotes because it will be still clearly be summer when school starts the first week in August. Why do we still call it summer vacation?

That means I finished 6 books since I last checked in:
Good People (no prompt yet)
The Light Between Oceans (navigating infertility)
The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen(under 260 pages)
Theo of Golden (no prompt yet)
Great Expectations (no prompt yet)
Once Were Warriors (no prompt yet)

QOTW: A classic should still be relevant and address universal human conditions. Fiction with social commentary that helps you understand the time period they were written in are classic IMO. Jane Austen and Charles Dickens WERE popular when they were published because they were social commentary that reflected the experiences of many people, OR made the upper classes aware of what it was really like for the lower classes to plant the seeds of change.

I think some schools choose the "right" books and others don't. I was spoiled for the 10 years I taught English in addition to my regulate social studies at the alternative school I helped set up because we had kids purchase the books and keep them, which means I could choose books based on the reading ability and interests of each class, each year. The "right" books changed for each group.

I can't say what book I would send to the future because I don't know what will be relevant to people then, and also because different groups of people will have different ideas of what's relevant. Although one of the books mentioned above, There There, is one of my favorite books and if I ever teach English again and have the choice I'm going to have my classes read that book.

I think the favorite book I assigned among my kids was Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson so maybe I'd send that one. They absolutely loved that book

I'm struggling to breathe because you can't even see the house next door due to the smoke from the Canadian wild fires (and I'm some 260 miles away, anyone closer to this has all my sympathy).

It was a busy week, didn't read much. I did finish one prompt

Gemini Rising by Harley Christensen for PS49 A book with a mention of your zodiac sign.

It's a completely forgettable mystery, entertaining enough in the moment and I do mean forgettable because when I went to review it I found I had already done so in 2019. Had zero memory of it (or why I didn't remove it from my kindle)

I also read the historic horror book The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell. It was highly recommended by more than one book tuber I follow and while it was good, it didn't hit me as hard as it did them. I won't be thinking about this one again.

QOTW

Ok, this is several questions on a theme, I suppose what makes a book a classic is its popularity and that people think we should be reading it for generations. If I’m honest most of what was considered classic when I was in school baffled me as to why they thought anyone should read them. I’m probably not the one to ask about the old classics

I have no children and no idea what is assigned now. I do know it’s very regional and not equal but comparing my high school life in PA vs my friends in FL, what they read getting English degrees was all stuff I had tackled in h.s. and they never read anything in theirs. That’s not right either. When I was there it was dead white guys or nothing. There was zero diversity and the classics were strictly restricted to ‘literature’ so classics of mystery or science fiction were forbidden. I read nothing by women or people of color. Those books didn’t exist in my school. I do think what is a classic has changed a lot today vs my day.

I have no idea what books I’d do that to but what I would like to see is a representative of each genre getting the classics treatment. Mystery, SF/F, horror all deserve to be saved as well as ‘literature.’

Jennifer W wrote: "Hi all! Muggy and smokey NY here. The smoke was supposed to improve last night, now they're saying tonight, I'll believe it when everything isn't a haze. I have a bit of a headache, not sure if it'..."

Jennifer W wrote: "Kiddo is having a good summer, as long as I don't make her do things... like get dressed.'..."


Oh that made me laugh so much!!! I do not miss those days! It's so nice now having children who voluntarily shower and get dressed all by themselves LOL




article from The Atlantic asking if America is now "postliterate". It talks about the decline of people reading for pleasure, our shorter attention spans, the roll of politics and AI, how reading changes how we think, lowering test scores in kids and college students, and how thinkers through the ages have always worried about people not reading.

I fully intended to read that but I forgot! My shorter attention span no doubt LOL

I tend to see most of the "concern" about today's shorter attention spans as just more pearl clutching. Are attention spans shorter? Yes. Is that changing our brains? Probably. But this has been happening for thousands of years. Change is inevitable.

Look at all the other changes that human society has weathered: fire, metal tools, wheeled carts, woven cloth, printed books, antibiotics, cars, indoor heating and plumbing, the radio, the telephone, TV, air travel, the internet. Every one of those things radically changed society, how we interact with each other, and even how we process information. I'm SURE back in the day when people had to walk everywhere and memorize any story they wanted to know and carry their drinking and washing water in buckets, their brains worked differently than our modern brains. Is it better or worse? I don't know. It just is.

Laura Z wrote: "Hello! We’re all in St. Louis for Todd’s Celebration of Life. It’s going to be an emotionally challenging weekend.
..."



I hope you feel surrounded by love with your family

Theresa wrote: "But even in my day, some of the works being put to us to read --- Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson was offensive then and more so now, and what is with making everyone read The Old Man and the Sea as their introduction to Hemingway?..."


LOL my mother had to read both of those in school, and they made an impression on her, enough so that I heard about them many times!! She HATED Green Mansions. To this day, she will get worked up if someone mentions it. As a child, I confused it with Anne of Green Gables, so I never read either book. And she loved Old Man and the Sea! I'm pretty sure I had to read that one, too, in junior high - memory is fogggy, it didn't make much of an impression on me, it was short so that was good.

It's been my long-standing impression that A LOT of the "classics" we were assigned in school were chosen BECAUSE they were short. (Exception: Great Expectations & Tale of Two Cities, which we had to read back-to-back in 9th grade, and both of which I HATED. I tried reading ToTC again in my 40s, still hated it.) Ethan Frome, Billy Budd, Scarlett Letter, The Crucible, Red Badge of Courage, Animal Farm ... they were all quite short!

I know I'm a little younger than you, but I guess my public library was awesome, because while "YA" did not exist as a label, they did have a full section of YA books. I still remember the trepidation I felt when I ventured over to the ADULT section of the library LOL I remember seeing both The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany and Wifey on the shelves over there, and I was scandalized and quietly scuttled back to the YA section. Wifey was particularly scandalizing for me, since I was old enough to know what sex was but young enough to still feel uncomfortable about it, and she was a beloved children's author; it was newly published so it was featured front and center on their New Fiction display. How dare she write an adult book??!! With SEX???? gasp!

Hello!

It's been a while (like 5-6 years since I last regularly updated here). I am so glad to see that the message board and group is still active. Checking in on Thursdays was such a regular part of my life for several years before I slid into a big ol' reading slump and basically have read hardly any books since then. I've been feeling really depressed by the amount of time I spend on my phone and social media apps and so last Wednesday I uninstalled all of the big social apps off of my phone. Since then, I've read like 30+ manga and 7 novels. I guess that was one of the big reasons for my slump continuing on for so long (besides reading burn out). It's hard to walk away from those little endorphin hits the phone gives you. Thankfully, I think I finally might be pulling out of the slump and I hope it lasts for a while.

Let's see, on to reading!

Currently Reading: The Someday Garden

Read:
Insomniacs After School, Vol. 1 Vol 1 - 14 - Sweet little manga series about some high school kids who are insomniacs who discover their school has an observatory so they restart the astronomy club.

今、恋をしています 1 Ima, Koi wo Shite Imasu 1 - Vol 1-9: Another Manga, this one about a girl who decides that the next time she gets a crush on someone she'll ask them out which leads her to ask out a very attractive schoolmate. The series is split between her relationship with her classmate and his best friend with one of her friends. The first relationship was generally fine, but the second one had some weird red flags and toxicity. I didn't mind it too much because it was something that was kind of discussed because their relationship was a bit volatile, but generally okay, but I didn't like the red flaggy stuff being romanticized.

Wolf Girl and Black Prince, Vol. 1 - Vol 1-9 (of 16 I think): This manga was by the same author as the previous series and honestly, based on the title I kind of assumed it was going to be a fantasy. I was pretty disappointed by page 3 or so, I realized it was just another real world high school story. I'm honestly surprised I read as many of these as I did because where the other series had some red flags, this one was so toxic and romanticized some really awful relationship standards. Like, I'm here for a Shadow Daddy situation, but the Male MC in this story has very little redeeming factors other than he's attractive. This was pretty much all Shadow, no Daddy. There was a little bit of character improvement over the series, but not enough to really justify how many books that took overall.

Mayhem and the Mortal - First physical book I've read in ages! Snagged this at my library in the lucky section. A girl hires an assassin to escort her on a journey to find an item to help cure her sister from a curse. The beginning moves quickly and isn't as well written as the majority of the book, but after they get on their journey I really enjoyed it.
Used for: A book featuring a character with a hidden past.

The Score - I watched Off Campus a few weeks ago and really enjoyed Allie (the best friend) so I searched out her book to try to find out more of her story. Was surprised at how much appeared to be different from the show. It's very similar on some plot points and then completely different in a very big way.
Used for: A book about your favorite event in the Winter Olympics. (Hockey). I don't actually have a favorite event, but I figure I've watched a few Hockey games so this counts enough.

Dungeon Crawler Carl - I have been meaning to read this for SO long. My hold for it came in at the perfect time. I enjoyed it and am definitely going to continue the series. I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if the storyline was a bit more unique to me. I've read a lot of webtoons with nearly the exact 'alien invasion plot leading to the humans having to compete with video game style elements against monsters' theme.
Used for: A book with any type of fruit on the cover or in the title (the original cover has a pineapple)

A Practical Guide to Dating a Demon - this one was actually quite cute! I love a good demon romance story and liked how overall light-hearted this story was.
Used for: A love story that defies social boundaries.

Platform Decay - I looooove Murderbot. The fact it took me so many months to finally get to this book (especially as it's so short) shows how deep that slump was to me.
Used for: A book with a "type C" character.

Boots Beneath Her Bed - This one was just okay. The romance was okay, the plot was okay, just everything about it was okay.
Used for: A book about a horse or with a horse on the cover.

Hemlock & Silver: I read this back in like March, but thought I'd include it because it's pretty much the only other book I've read this year.
Used for: A book with an overweight main character whose story isn't about losing weight.

Not bad for coming out of a slump! Except for that last book, I read all of those since last Wednesday. Really hoping my slump is fully over.

QOTW:
What makes a book a classic?
A lot of you have already said this but it should be a book that endures over the years. Classics are a fluctuating list where some books are classics because of specific topics or philosophies that support whatever is the prevailing viewpoint of the current era/reader. If it doesn't support the current era viewpoint (and sometimes, even if it does), I think it needs to have been unique during the era it was written in, so maybe a genre first, or a unique or an overlooked author who is only recently been getting recognized as being ahead of their time, or maybe just the first book of it's kind to go viral for possibly no other reason than it's a fun read.

Are the books assigned in schools the right books? (what was required reading in school for you?)
I can't really speak to the first part of the question, but for me, in grade school we read Lord of the Flies, Diary of Anne Frank, Hatchet, The Outsiders, The Great Gatsby, 1984, Of Mice and Men, and probably quite a few others that I've forgotten since then. I hope that kids are still reading the Diary of Anne Frank. I don't think I truly knew what empathy was until I read that book. I connected with that book more than any other book I've read in my entire life (and I'm 40 now). It cemented the real horror of the Holocaust for me in a way that my history classes hadn't really managed to do.

Imagine you had to choose one book from our time to send 200 years into the future to represent us. What would you choose and why?
I'm assuming this book popped into my head because it was so recently made into a movie, but Project Hail Mary. I like that it's a book about the entire globe having to work together to solve a problem and then the whole ethical dilemma of consent when so many lives are on the line. I like that it has technology (not all actually exists of course), which I think would be fun to look back on in 200 years. Plus, a positive first contact story! I like that it's about sacrifice in many ways and connections. If nothing else, I think it would make for some great classroom discussions if it was to make a reading list in the future.

Cornerofmadness wrote: "I'm struggling to breathe because you can't even see the house next door due to the smoke from the Canadian wild fires (and I'm some 260 miles away, anyone closer to this has all my sympathy).

It ..."


My daughter was having trouble yesterday, but today it's so much clearer up here (north of Syracuse)!


It's a completely forgettable mystery, entertaining enough in the moment and I do mean forgettable because when I went to review it I found I had already done so in 2019. Had zero memory of it

This really made me laugh, because btdt (with movies, too!)

Brittany wrote: "Hello!

It's been a while (like 5-6 years since I last regularly updated here). I am so glad to see that the message board and group is still active. Checking in on Thursdays was such a regular pa..."



Welcome back!!! I think your slump energized you, you read A LOT of books this week!!

Nadine in NY wrote: Welcome back!!! I think your slump energized you, you read A LOT of books this week!

Haha, I think you are right! I'll probably slow down in a bit once I'm a bit further detoxed from my phone. It also helps that Libby is the only app left on my phone in the spot where Instagram, FB and Threads used to be. So now when I get the urge to distract myself with my phone, I'm kind of pushed towards books!

Happy check-in! It's been a few weeks. It's actually summer now with heat and mosquitos.

Finished Reading:

Slayers, Every One of Us: How One Girl in All the World Showed Us How to Hold On ⭐⭐⭐ (PS infertility) (Goodreads Bookmark Community Pick 90s)
For Buffy nerds. So much of this book is the music that was made for their blog so I don't think it would be good to read unless you have the audiobook.

Kiss the Girl ⭐⭐⭐ (PS pop star)
Little Mermaid retelling rom com.

84, Charing Cross Road ⭐⭐⭐ (ATY place in title)
Another book from the listopia for book told in letters. This one is short and nonfiction.

Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game ⭐⭐⭐
It was interesting to learn about his highschool era, and how he backed himself and took the harder road through football vs. the easy path of baseball come university time.

Of Swamp & Sea Volume 3 ⭐⭐⭐
Webtoon series continued.

Love on the Brain ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Re-read. I enjoyed this more the second time around when I had zero expectations.

Unbound ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
New Ali Hazelwood following vampires who aren't vampires. This was a good novella and I liked it much better than Bound.

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Goodread Bookmark Staff Picks)
Cute start to a new manga series that I will be continuing.

Arrested Development: And That's Why . . . You Always Leave a Note. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Just a bunch of quotes from the series. Gave me a laugh. It lost a star because one of the three quotes I use all the time wasn't there.

PS 37/50
ATY 40/52 Summer 6600/7500
Goodreads 146/150 Bookmarks 7/11

OTW:
I have a classics shelf and it's a mishmash of old books and what I think will be considered classics in time, ie Harry Potter and Twilight. They had huge impacts on pop culture and publishing.

I pretty much disliked every book that was required reading in school from grade 8 onward. One teacher broke that because she let us pick from a list and she made sure to go through the list and talk about each book before we chose which ones to do projects on. I don't know what classics are required reading now.

I think a book to send to the future should be a graphic novel retelling of a classic, maybe Dune.

Erin wrote: "I think I would send Bel Canto- even though it's been years since I read it, I loved it so much. Maybe The Remains of the Day and An Artist of the Floating World as companion pieces. .."

Totally 100% agree! An Artist in the Floating World needs far more attention now!

Nadine in NY wrote: "Theresa wrote: "But even in my day, some of the works being put to us to read --- Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson was offensive then and more so now, and what is with making everyone read Th..."


Oh I managed to raid that adult section ... it's a story but let's just say that with the help of the librarian who actually encouraged reading in youth and a mother who handed over her card I was reading The Godfather at 14, along with Nero Wolfe, Alistair MacLean, Thor Heyerdahl, James Michener, and more. That was in addition to Hardy, Dickens, books like Native Son and Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain. I hated Wuthering Heights, loved Jane Eyre, never read Austen until my early 20s. I was also starting to read french classics but what I read in high school, vs. college, vs. on my own is indistinguishable, mostly.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Theresa wrote: "But even in my day, some of the works being put to us to read --- Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson was offensive then and more so now, and what is with making everyone read Th..."

BTW Nadine, Tale of Two Cities is my FAVORITE Dickens!

Brittany wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: Welcome back!!! I think your slump energized you, you read A LOT of books this week!

Haha, I think you are right! I'll probably slow down in a bit once I'm a bit further detoxed from my phone. It also helps that Libby is the only app left on my phone in the spot where Instagram, FB and Threads used to be. So now when I get the urge to distract myself with my phone, I'm kind of pushed towards books..."


That's a good idea. I'm often distracted by other apps on my phone, I "take a little break" and play a stupid game or check reddit for the billionth time that day. I'm not strong enough to delete all my apps. I did manage to stop checking Instagram more than once a week, but I was never a big user of that one, and FB lost its allure a long time ago, they did it to themselves by messing with the algorithm so much that now I see more ads and promoted posts than posts from my friends.

Theresa wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Theresa wrote: "But even in my day, some of the works being put to us to read --- Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson was offensive then and more so now, and what is with ma...


BTW Nadine, Tale of Two Cities is my FAVORITE Dickens!"


LOL I know so many people love it, which is why I tried again! Nope. No Dickens for me.


We are polar opposites, because I first read Wuthering Heights when I was 9, and I loved it, and I've reread it many times.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "Hi all! Muggy and smokey NY here. The smoke was supposed to improve last night, now they're saying tonight, I'll believe it when everything isn't a haze. I have a bit of a headac..."

Lol, she has periods where she gets up, gets dressed, brushes her hair, and is ready to go before I'm even out of bed and then there are days where I'm like, "you can't have lunch until you're dressed!" lol
Yesterday, she was having a snit because I wanted to go to the library and she was upset because it would be boring. 2 minutes in the door, the book bag was getting heavy to lift and she was playing in the toy area!

You are definitely right about the fact that attention spans, reading, and brain changes are just going to happen. The article mentions at one point people were concerned about the masses learning to read and write because then they wouldn't remember information if it was all written down for them! And now all our info is in our phones. Different pearls, same clutching!

Jennifer W wrote: "Yesterday, she was having a snit because I wanted to go to the library and she was upset because it would be boring. 2 minutes in the door, the book bag was getting heavy to lift and she was playing in the toy area!..."




LOL btdt. There were days when I had to carry my younger kid out screaming because she didn't want to leave the library, but I was hungry and needed lunch. (And odds were good that she was also hungry and that's why she was so worked up.)

Nadine in NY wrote: "We are polar opposites, because I first read Wuthering Heights when I was 9, and I loved it, and I've reread it many times...."

We are - i hated Wuthering Heights even more when reread as an adult.

But I believe we both loved Margo's Got Money Troubles, for example. All is not lost!

I am chuckling over your mom's opinion of Green Mansions! We would have a high old time ripping it apart together!

I had some time on Sunday, so decided to work on my autobiographical document for my children, and then decided to check Ancestry and discovered all kinds of distant relatives. It really is overwhelming for me and after 45 minutes or so I had to stop reviewing links and hints, etc. But perhaps the good news is that there are some distant relatives to be discovered. Whether that will lead to any interpersonal relationships or not will be the question, I guess. It is very interesting to research genealogical connections!

Weather has been hot here again. And the smoke! Asthma zone! Ugh. I haven't been outside any more than absolutely necessary!

ADMIN STUFF:
THE JULY MONTHLY GROUP READ SELECTION IS A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
This book could be used to fulfill prompt #7 A book about a granny hobby
National Gorgeous Grandma Day is July 23
https://nationaltoday.com/national-go...
Let us know if you are the "bountiful baker" who will facilitate this discussion!
Luckily, I enjoyed this one! You can join the conversation HERE!

THE AUGUST MONTHLY GROUP READ IS Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor!
This book could be used to fulfill prompt #50 A book about Afrofuturism
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is August 23
https://www.unesco.org/en/days/slave-...
Feel free to volunteer as the “future foreteller” to lead this discussion!
I have a copy and although I did enjoy the Binti trilogy, I'm hoping this book will contain a bit less violence...

THE SEPTEMBER MONTHLY GROUP READ SELECTION IS The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
This book could be used to fulfill prompt #47 A book told entirely through letters
World Letter Writing Day is September 1
https://nationaltoday.com/world-lette...
Are you the “literary luminary” who would graciously guide this discussion?!?
I managed to score a cheap copy of this one!! I've been wanting to read it!

THE OCTOBER MONTHLY GROUP READ IS The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles #1) by T.J. Klune
This book could be used to fulfill prompt #6 A book with an overweight main character whose story isn't about losing weight
National Plus Size Appreciation Day is October 6
https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/na...
Who among you is the “rambunctious rule-minder" to lead this discussion?
I recently reread this and I swear it is a book I believe I would immensely enjoy after reading it 10 times!!

THE NOVEMBER MONTHLY GROUP READ IS *Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
This book could be used to fulfill prompt #28 A book about debt
Buy Nothing Day is November 27
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_Not...
Which one of you is the “silvery spinner” ready, willing, and able to lead this discussion?

THE DECEMBER MONTHLY GROUP READ FINAL SELECTION IS Horse by Geraldine Brooks
This book could be used to fulfill prompt #10 A book about a horse or with a horse on the cover
National Horse Day is December 13
https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/n...
Surely there is "heroic horse handler" amongst you to facilitate this discussion!
I have been curious about this book and luckily obtained a cheap used copy!

THE LISTING OF 2026 MONTHLY GROUP READ TOPICS IS HERE!
***

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
This week's question was suggested by Theresa:
What makes a book a classic?

Are the books assigned in schools the right books? (what was required reading in school for you?)

Do you think what is viewed as a classic is changing today?

Imagine you had to choose one book from our time to send 200 years into the future to represent us. What would you choose and why?
Wow, Theresa, I really like you, but this question is totally unfair for a reader who cannot even just select one book as my ONE favorite for ANY time period!! Sheesh!! LOL

(1) A classic, IMO, is a book that is still pertinent many years/decades later following publication.

(2) I do not believe there is anything that could qualify as “the right” book! There are so many books out there that could be taught as classics! It is just dependent upon the judgment of that specific instructor to select books they are comfortable ‘teaching’!

(3) I don’t know regarding what is classified as a “classic” today. I would assume that might be evolving to some degree since there are currently thousands of new books published in a very short time period.

(4) Honestly, I think I would select an Agatha Christie mystery! LOL

2026 READING CHALLENGES:
Popsugar: 41/50
52 Book Club: 47/52

FINISHED:
*Pet by Akwaeke Emezi ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for an IRL book club meeting this Tuesday. I admit I was rather hesitant about reading this one, though I have wanted to give it a try ever since it’s release! The first 15 pages or so had me wondering if I would enjoy it, but I truly did! All the other book club members enjoyed it as well! I would definitely like to read Bitterwhich is a prequel to Pet! (And I have a copy on its way to me!)
POPSUGAR: #2, #3, #9, #13, #15, #16, #19, #27, #34
52 Book Club: #5, #7, #11, #13, #16, #18, #26, #35, #38, #49,

*Bella Baxter and the Itchy Disaster (Bella Baxter #2) by Jane B. Mason and Sarah Hines Stephens, illustrated by John Shelley ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was so cute! I love the outlandish Trudy character who is the local librarian and knowledgeable about everything!!
POPSUGAR: #1, #16
52 Book Club: #2, #8, #13, #16, #24, #26, #38, #48, #49

*Bella Baxter and the Lighthouse Mystery (Bella Baxter #3) by Jane B. Mason and Sarah Hines Stephens, illustrated by John Shelley ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was once again an extremely enjoyable installment in this series! This was truly a “mystery,” IMO! Currently hunting for a copy of the fourth and final installment!
POPSUGAR: #16
52 Book Club: #8, #12, #13, #16, #25, #26, #48, #49

*After Life by Gayle Forman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for an IRL book club meeting on Tuesday. This is the book club I facilitate. As I expected, this did make for some very interesting discussion. Many different things to consider as you make your way through various issues presented: “life” after “death,” religion, addiction, infidelity, teen love, etc.
POPSUGAR: #9, #13, #15, #19, #27
52 Book Club: #4, #11, #16, #25, #33, #35, #38, #49

*Ashes of Aries (Elizabeth Chase #5) by Martha C. Lawrence ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was an almost perfect mystery book, IMO! I appreciated the well-defined characters as well as the technical details! I do appreciate a police procedural with defined characterization! A suspenseful page-turner without, IMO, being too creepy! Anxious to read the first 4 in this 5-book series now! 😊
POPSUGAR: #2, #15, NEW #49
52 Book Club: #4, #12, #16, #18, #19, #24, #25, #35, #48, #49

*A Cup of Flour, A Pinch of Death (Baker Street #3) by Valerie Burns ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was yet another excellent installment in this series. Just one more to go and then I await the due-to-be-released 2026 installment!! Whoo! Whoo!
POPSUGAR: #11, #13, #14, #15, #25, #27
52 Book Club: #5, #16, #17, #25, #35, #48, #49

CONTINUING:
*Silent Thunder: In the Presence of Elephants by Katy Payne
*The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green is great, but am taking notes and will read intermittently between other books…as I typically do with essay collections!
*Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine for an author event
*A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
*Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez is rather fascinating. I keep wondering exactly where/how this will end…
*Hope on the Inside by Marie Bostwick is not what I was expecting! Bostwick is so savvy at connecting titles…
*Hope in the Dark: The Untold History of People Power by RebeccaSolnit
*The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley
*The Double Life of Benson Yu by Kevin Chong for an IRL book club meeting
*The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

PLANNED:
*The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett for an IRL book club meeting
*Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris
*Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser
*The Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez
*What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez
*For Rouenna by Sigrid Nunez
*Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict
*The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley
*The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
*The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict

Two week check in and I am definitely over this heat. It just makes me want to stay inside in the AC and do not much of anything.

42/70 GoodReads Challenge
36/50 PopSugar Challenge
40/52 ATY Challenge

Finished:
1.) The Only One Left by Riley Sager - (PS - no prompt || ATY #34 Window on Cover) ⭐⭐⭐💫: An invalid who was accused of killing her entire family is at the center of this novel. I enjoyed it, but a tad bit too much thrown in at the end.

2.) The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst- (PS #1 Gardening || ATY - No prompt) ⭐⭐⭐⭐: This series is just so dang cozy and I adore it. She has such a way of writing food and magic that makes me swoon.

3.) The Burning Side by Sarah Damoff - (PS No prompt || ATY #49 Pub in 2026) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: LOVED this one more than her debut. A married couple want to divorce, then their house burns down, this is the aftermath.

4.) Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden - (PS #16 <260 pgs || ATY #32 <250 pgs) ⭐⭐⭐: Willful ignorance is not my jam.



Currently Reading:
1. The Emilys
2. Whistler
3. Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice from Dear Sugar



QoTW: What makes a book a classic? Are the books assigned in schools the right books? (what was required reading in school for you?) Do you think what is viewed as a classic is changing today? What would you choose and why?

Classics to me need to be published at least 50 years ago. I haven't been in school in so long, but at the time I felt like they were fine. I remember specifically reading many books that have stayed with me. The Jungle and Great Expectations and The Odyssey

Choosing a modern day classic -- hmmm, I really need to think on this and come back.

Britany wrote: "Two week check in and I am definitely over this heat. It just makes me want to stay inside in the AC and do not much of anything.

..."




I often choose books just for their covers, and Whistler & The Burning Side both have such gorgeous covers! I feel so drawn to them!! BUT every time I read the book descriptions, I think "nope, I'm not going to like that one." I'm so conflicted!!!

L Y N N wrote: "I had some time on Sunday, so decided to work on my autobiographical document for my children, and then decided to check Ancestry and discovered all kinds of distant relatives. It really is overwhe..."



That's really interesting, I've thought about doing something like that too. Now that all my grandparents and great aunts are gone, that big chunk of history is almost completely forgotten. Are you following a template, or just writing things down as you think of them?

I did the Ancestry thing, and I found unknown relatives too! Turns out my great grandfather (my father's grandfather) did not die young, and he had lots of siblings! (Although he never had other children, so far as anyone knows.) The descendent of one of his sisters contacted me, they all stayed in Virginia so she knew all of them.

It's so funny, he's always been the dead end in my family tree, because he left when my grandfather was a baby. I always thought he'd abandoned the baby, but then my mother cleared THAT up, along with info from the new distant cousin. He was visiting Long Island after WWI, perhaps there was a vet hospital there? he was injured from the poison gas in the war, and he met my great grandmother. They never married and her family did not approve of him (not sure why - maybe he was a jerk!), so when she died shortly after childbirth, they drove him off. He WANTED his son but they refused. My great-grandmother's sister raised my grandfather. (I never knew my grandfather because he died young from tuberculosis when my father was a toddler, so my grandmother raised my father as a working single mom long before daycare existed - I don't know how she did it, but she did.) That whole branch of my tree is a series of only children: me, my father, his father, and - I THOUGHT - my great-grandfather. So it was a shock to learn he had many sisters!

Of course I have forgotten all of their names, so I should go log into Ancestry again to find them and write them down. Who knows, maybe there's another relative on there to find, too - Ancestry keeps sending me plaintive emails saying I have a new DNA match to explore.

AND I learned that their family goes wayyy back to the colonies, so I could join the DAR if I wished LOL No, I do not wish, but it's funny to know that, because every single other ancestor that I knew of immigrated here in the late 1800s. I've always thought of my family as all recent immigrants.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Britany wrote: "Two week check in and I am definitely over this heat. It just makes me want to stay inside in the AC and do not much of anything."

I LOVED The Burning Side (even better than her debut which I also enjoyed), and I am enjoying Whistler too. Both are more character driven, slice of life novels.