Week 34: 8/20 - 8/27 > Likes and Comments
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Happy Thursday all.So I've been slowly paring down my Transformers collection -- choosing which figures are important enough for me to keep and selling the rest on eBay. All proceeds will go towards funding my Japan trip next May. It's a little bittersweet letting go of a hobby I've spent nearly twenty years indulging in, but at the same time it's a little liberating to know I can enjoy an interest without having to buy a ton of merchandise to go with it.
Books read this week:
Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things?: A Comedian's Guide to Autism -- man, I learned SO much about myself from this book. It’s super informative, not just for people on the autistic spectrum but for anyone who wants to understand it better.
Fawning: Why the Need to Please Makes Us Lose Ourselves—and How to Find Our Way Back -- oof… my therapist actually recommended this one. And I ended up recommending it to a bunch of people in turn. It’s a rough read, but a valuable one for anyone who’s felt like they had to make themselves smaller to survive.
Assassination Classroom, Vol. 18
Assassination Classroom, Vol. 19
DNF:
Moss'd in Space -- man, I wanted to like this one. But it’s one thing to bill your sci-fi as cozy and accessible, and another to explain everything to the reader as if they were five years old.
Time to Play -- okay LitRPG, it’s not you, it’s me. I’m just not a fan of this genre, I guess…
Currently reading:
When Darkness Loves Us
The Somewhat Wicked Witch of Brigandale
The Starlit Wood
The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science
QOTW:
Most everyone I've recommended The Martian to has loved it. Though naturally I don't recommend it to people for whom sci-fi is a hard no. For people who have a more general taste in reading I tend to recommend The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I haven't had anyone say they didn't like these books after I recommended them yet...
Happy Thursday! We repainted the boys' bedroom this week. The walls were a deep kelly green (that's the color they were when we moved in), but now they're a bright, light blue. The room is so much brighter! Eli and Ewan are very excited about their "new room."Reading Challenges:
52 Book Club: 50/52
52 Books Read It, Watch It: 8/12
🏆 ATY: 52/52
🏆 ATY Summer Challenge: 25/25
Booklist Queen: 51/52
Popsugar: 49/50
🏆 Goodreads Summer Bookmarks: 11/11
52 Books Mystery Challenge: 31/50
My Ever-Growing TBR: 90/294 – 30.6% (My goal is 33.3%.)
Recently Completed:
🌻 Summer's Never Over: BOTM Selection. (Mystery #38 - I Know What You Did Last Summer/GR Summer Bookmarks #10 – Literally Summer) ★★★★
🌻 The Matchmaker ★★★
🌻 Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment ★★★★
🌻 Lightbreakers: BOTM Selection. (ATY #49 – related to yesterday) ★★★
🌻 Forever, Interrupted ★★★★
🌻 Culpability (Booklist Queen #18 – about AI) ★★★★
🌻 Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds ★★★★
🌻 Wild Sweet Wilderness ★★★★
🌻 Roughhouse Friday ★★★
QOTW: I don't have a book that I routinely recommend. Reading is so personal.
Good morning, everyone! Happy Thursday!It has been a busy week.
I am currently waiting on the technician from my local dryer vent company to arrive at my house. I’m really hoping that a vent cleaning will take care of the issue I’ve been having with my dryer over the past couple of weeks, because I really don’t want to deal with having it repaired. (Every single major appliance I’ve had to repair in this house ended up being cheaper to replace, and I’d hate to have to go through that process this week...I lack the patience for it.) We’ll see what happens.
As far as reading is concerned, this has been an absolutely phenomenal week! Not only have I managed to make a ton of progress on both my TBR and New Books lists, but I’ve managed to find a new favorite author and a new 5-star series.
The romance readathon I was taking part in officially ended on Sunday, and I’m really pleased with the amount of reading I was able to do during that time. I ended up completing a total of 7 books specifically for the readathon, which is exactly what I’d hoped to accomplish.
Here are my current challenge and TBR totals…
Goodreads Challenge: 186/250
Mount TBR Challenge: 114/150
📚Physical TBR: 107/462
📱Ebook TBR: 6/161
🎧Audiobook TBR: 1/1
TBR Checklist Total: 114/624 (17% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2026: 6
TBR Books Soft DNFed in 2026: 3
Audible had a two-for-one sale this week, and I ended up getting several books with my credits. I got all 5 of the Bobiverse books, by Dennis E. Taylor; as well as The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers.
“New” Books Bought in 2026: 100
“New” Books Read in 2026: 71
“New” Books DNFed in 2026: 0
“New” Books Checklist Total: 71/100 (71% complete)
Here are the books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Meet Me in a Mile — I thought this was a pretty cute standalone romance, with a good story and likable main characters. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Wulver's Rose — This was a retelling of Beauty & the Beast, which felt similar to a lot of the other retellings I’ve read. I did like that it was set in the Highlands of Scotland, but thought that the story would have benefited from being a bit longer. 📱: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Bluebeard and the Outlaw — This fantasy romance reimagines the stories of both Bluebeard and Robin Hood, featuring a female Robin Hood, with Guy of Gisborne playing the role of the wife-slaying Bluebeard. I really liked this story, and thought the writing was very good. 📱: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The School Mistress — This is the first book in the Emerson Pass Historicals series. I thought this was a really good story, and liked the main characters and the MMC’s children. I don’t currently have any of the other books in this series, so I have no immediate plans to continue it, but I’m definitely interested in picking up more of the books at some point. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📱: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I also started reading The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion this week, and I am officially obsessed. I absolutely adore the title character! The journal format is the perfect way to tell Emma’s story, and at times the humor has caused me to not just laugh out loud, but full on cackle. I’m so glad that I had the foresight to go ahead and get all of the available books in the series, because as soon as I finish one book, I’m wanting to start the next. Content Alert: (view spoiler) The books I read this week include…
~The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 1 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol. 2 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 4 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5 — Parts of this book were kind of emotional for me, because there are a lot of similarities between my family’s Christmas traditions and those of Emma’s family, but that just made me love the book (and series) even more. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 6 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
~Saint Ursula Story of Ursula and Dream of Ursula — I don’t actually remember why I originally got myself a copy of this book, but it was a super short read. 📱: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
~Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels, Book Three — This graphic novel adaptation includes books 6-9 of the Enola Holmes series. I really enjoyed the artwork and found it fun to revisit all of these stories, but was shocked by a significant error in one of them. Specifically, (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
~Icebreaker — I managed to get about 7 pages into this book before deciding to call it quits. It just wasn’t holding my attention, and I didn’t see that changing. 📚
Currently Reading:
~The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 7 — I am loving this series so much! I’m currently about 50 pages away from finishing book 7, and I will definitely be able to do that this afternoon. 📚
~The Butcher's Masquerade — This is the fifth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. While this book is a reread for me, this is my first time listening to the audiobook edition. As always, I am loving Jeff Hays’s narration. 🎧
~A Monstrous Regiment of Women — This is the second book in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. I’m only a couple of chapters into this book, but I think it’s going to be a good one. 📱
~The Two Swords — This is the nineteenth book in the Dungeons & Dragons: Legend of Drizzt series. I’ve only just started reading this book, but I’m kind of having a hard time getting back into the story after more than a week away from the series. 📚
QOTW:
All of my friends prefer to read very different types of books, so I really haven’t had a chance to recommend the same book to all of them.
Kenya wrote: "Moss'd in Space -- man, I wanted to like this one. But it’s one thing to bill your sci-fi as cozy and accessible, and another to explain everything to the reader as if they were five years old...."Uh oh. I wanted to read that, it looked so interesting! But I get frustrated and bored very quickly with books that are too "cozy." Maybe this one is not for me.
Laura Z wrote: "We repainted the boys' bedroom this week. The walls were a deep kelly green (that's the color they were when we moved in), but now they're a bright, light blue. ..."When I was a kid and I got to decide what color to paint my room, I could not choose between blue and green, so I ended up with two walls that were kelly green and two walls that were bright blue!
Morning all! After such a busy week last week, this one's been quiet. Had a friend over for dinner; it's nice to be getting to know people in our new home town. My brother and SIL are coming down this week, so we're alk going to see Coyote vs. Acme. Having worked with lawyers for many years, I never get tired of lawyer jokes.Discivered my library has the BBC version of Going Postal. I love Discworld, but I'd forgotten how much of the story is "man annoys woman until she falls in love with him."
99 books and counting!
Popsugar 50/50 DONE
52 Book Club 52/52 DONE
Booklist Queen 52/52 DONE
This Challenge Killed the Bookworm 25/25 DONE
Around the Year 50/52
Finished:
Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth. It's a 250 year old satire about the spendthrift family ruling the castle. This is my fourth attempt at a book for the "1001 books to read before you die" category for ATY, and at this rate I must be meant to live forever. I review my challenge books on my website, and really don't have much to say about this one. I'm shifting Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath into this category, and finding something else for "book with something edible in the title."
Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy: Volume Five, edited by Dustin Bilyk. The second of three anthologies this year with a story I wrote! Mine is about a near future where everyone can hide behind avatars and usernames, not just online but all the time.
Also some poetry, Like a Beggar by Ellen Bass and The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry: An Acclaimed Collection of Modern Voices in English Translation.
Currently reading:
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond. A passionately argued book that upends the usual discussions about poverty. Instead of "How do poor people need to change?" he asks, "Who benefits from keeping other people impoverished, and how?" While barely mentioning religion, it's the most Christian thing I've read in a long time.
QOTW: Redshirts by John Scalzi. Of course, most of my friends are Star Trek fans!
I finished the audio, read by Andy Serkis, of The Fellowship of the Ring. The voices and narration tend to be good, and I especially enjoy his Elvish voices like Haldir and Legolas. Serkis is not a bad singer, but I do not particularly enjoy hearing the songs, and they vastly slow down the narrative momentum in the audio format.Besides a few places where the geography is just a little too detailed for my taste, this remains a wonderful and compelling tale. 4 stars
I also did a reread of Forward the Foundation. It strikes a good balance between the character stories (Seldon, Raych, Dors, etc.) and examining an empire and society in decline. The political and economic observations are still pretty much applicable to today's world. 4 stars
Next week is the start of the school year for both kids (8th and 6th grade). Please send kind thoughts our way for a good beginning.
Ravenous Bonus: 18/22Powell's: 6/25
Finished: The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game Really interesting how he applied the mentality of playing games to a swath of so many things.
Abundance Re-read. It wasn't quite as monolithic in it's thinking as I remembered it being.
The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own This book was just so-so, not too surprisingly. I think this is hard topic to pull off in an interesting way. Moral of the story: get rid of some stuff.
Started: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us Oh my gosh! I'm enjoying this book so much. Tries to capture how animals perceive things on their terms instead of in human terms. Fascinating.
QotW: The book that came to mind is The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. I don't know how it landed for everyone but I can remember recommending it to some people who I was surprised they enjoyed it.
Question of the WeekThis week's question was suggested by Theresa:
What’s a book you recommended to many people, and it seemed to hit for almost everyone?
I'm always recommending Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor and several people have told me they continue with the entire series after reading it.
I've made it! After 50 weeks, I've got 3 weeks off. Looking forward to days with zero obligations and time to reset my mind. And books. Of course. Lots of books. I'm gonna rob the library tomorrow, 'cause there's no such thing as too many books.Read this year: 45
PS: 17/40
Finished this week: Sophia's wens by Corina Bomann⭐⭐⭐Just a nice feelgood.
De symfonie van onvrede: De opmars van radicaal-rechts in Europa by Catherine de Vries⭐⭐Analysis of the rise of 'radical right' in Europe. She gets some things right. Overall, it's too much based on the writer's own world views. So she misses the point imho: it is about cultural values.
QOTW
I got a pre-release book this winter and everyone (3 persons) I recommended it to loved it: The Sea Stone Sisters by Eleanor Buchanan. I don't recommend a book to many people, because I always keep in mind what books someone likes.
Happy Thursday! My husband says I have a reading problem and it’s interfering with my gaming. He’s right. And still no A/C in the stained glass workshop but they're (supposedly) getting on with it.PopSugar 49/50
AtY 39/52
Curiosity Killed the Bookworm: 22/25
Rocky Horror Challenge 12/12
Finished:
Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty Imagine a business that will send you back in time, where ever you want. First place I’d go would be to find where I dropped my grandma’s baby ring before I could give it to my daughter at her baby shower. Then, oh man everywhere. Every time.
Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry Audiobook, fantasy, no prompt. With no warning, Odessa’s father marries her to a prince from another kingdom, sending her to spy. It was hard to put down, and I was compelled to get to the sequel immediately.
Vagabond by Tim Curry I finished the book, and a few days later he was gone. He kept his personal life private and no gossip. Mention of his costars was overwhelmingly positive. I’ve admired him in movies for years, he had such talent. He was a real class act. For #42, inspired by a real song, album, band, or artist; also for the Rocky Horror Challenge.
Currently Reading
How to Rule the World by Theo Baker For #33, a book about college
Das Erbe von Winterfell by George RR Martin 2nd part of Game of Thrones
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans For #47, a book told entirely through letters, also our monthly group read for September.
Four Thousand Paws: Caring for the Dogs of the Iditarod: A Veterinarian's Story
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb This will be either Faeries Are Good or Faeries Are Bad for Curiosity Killed the Bookworm
DNF
Rites of the Starling by Devney Perry Sequel to Shield of Sparrows, which I couldn’t put down. This, I just don’t care about.
QOTW
I've not had a lot of luck recommending books. The ones I do, I seem to not hear back, so I assume they didn't go over all that well.
Happy Thursday!Finished:
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews - 4 stars - I slotted this in for a book that features a platonic friendship between a man and woman, since the MC has male characters she's friends with beyond her love interest. This is apparently the year of isekai for me, since this is the second one I've read so far this year. I mostly enjoyed this. The beginning dragged a bit, and it ended on a cliffhanger, which was frustrating, but I'm still looking forward to book 2.
Just Between Us: A Graphic Novel by Adeline Kon - 4 stars - for a book about your favorite event in the Winter Olympics. This was a story about rival single figure skaters
Comics/manga:
Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 45
Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 46
BL Metamorphosis, Vol. 4
I am currently at 39/50 for the Popsugar reading challenge (29/40 and 10/10).
Currently reading:
Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao - for a book that starts with the letter "Z".
Upcoming/Planned:
If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia - for a book that takes place during harvesting season.
Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher - not currently for a prompt.
QOTW:
I mostly recommend books to my partner, and he's liked a good number of the books I've recommended to him. I don't hear much about other recommendations I've made.
Hi all! Bit of a zombie here. Yesterday we went to a local fair. Kiddo had never been to one! The State Fair up in Nadine's neck of the woods is too much of a trek for me, and it's usually a thousand degrees and a zillion people. The local fair still had rides, games, a petting zoo, and yummy fair food (cotton candy for the kiddo, fried oreos for me!). Today, I took her to get a back to school haircut and shop for a few clothes- hopefully she wears them. She has a habit of finding something wrong with most of her clothes, even though they were fine when she tried them on... I also picked up dark purple hair dye for her. She's been begging for months. I want her to just do highlights, but she wants all over. My niece is going to come over next week and do it. I'm hopeless at that kind of thing. I like to say that my Girl Handbook was missing A LOT of pages when I was born (definitely the ones about hair and make up....). Tomorrow, I hope to snooze. Unlikely, but I can hope.
I actually finished 2 books this week! 1 was great, the other was... not.
A Magic Deep and Drowning For underwater civilization. A retelling of The Little Mermaid. It had potential, and some parts were good, but the love story.... ugh. Although, I suppose it was a change of pace for the man to be all dewy-eyed throughout. But it still made me roll my eyes.
10 Hours to Go for teen angst. Years after a prank goes wrong and one girl is expelled, 3 girls are stuck together in a car 10 hours away from home as wildfires rage. Can they work together to get out alive or will their old rivalries doom them all? Holy tension, Batman! I was less freaked out by the fires than I was a car full of teenage girls who hate each other! (if you were ever a teenage girl, you probably know which is scarier!)
I have about 2 weeks to finish about 300 pages of Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned, I don't think it'll happen, but I'll give it a shot.
I'm also halfway through Fraud. It's a character study, which is not my favorite, but it's very well written.
QOTW: The only one I can think of is The Gargoyle, but the only person that I know who read it was my BF, and he loved it. He's not much of a reader. I recommend it all the time, but I don't know if others have read it based on my recommendation.
Happy Thursday! Yay! I'm finally on time!Finished 36/50
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and other Classic Novels for "book with an underwater civilization". This was SO BORING and the plot was SO DISAPPOINTING. Ugh.
Currently Reading
Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life "for book that makes you feel FOMO". So good so far (lol). I'm almost finished with it!
The Age of Paradise: Christendom from Pentecost to the First Millennium for "book that will make you want to visit Rome". I mean...I don't need much of an excuse to travel anywhere, but Rome has so much religious history in it! So it's nice learning about it.
QotW
Anything Sanderson. I'm happy to recommend him to people, and it usually works.
I tried posting earlier and lost it before it was finished. As I clearly am computer challenged at the moment, I'm just getting down to it. ATY - 51/52 PS - 41/50 -- little reading been happening in this house - no time and very tired.
Finished:
The Louisiana Purchase - a great short history of this so important part of US history -- and I had NO IDEA of all that led to it! US might not have survived as a country without it. Read it. Author is a noted historian but also wrote HF - he's a real storyteller.
Currently reading:
The White Mirror
In the Lives of Puppets
QOTW: *Squeal*! I love this question and am so pleased mods thought it a good one.
I recommend books to people all the time - strangers while getting my hair cut, colleagues while we wait for folks to join a zoom conference, friends, families, anyone and everyone. But I don't just recommend indiscriminately, not even to strangers. I suggest based on what I know or find out about them and their reading. If it's a stranger with whom I'm not already discussing books (they ask me what I am reading for example), I don't just randomly recommend one. And just like when you gift something you love or think is perfect, you need to let it go when you have recommended it. They read it or they don't. They hate it or love it or it's just ok - fine. It takes them 10 years to read it - fine with me.
Recent recommendations:
Dungeon Crawler Carl - to skeptics like me that I think will adore it, and friends in terrible book slumps who I think need to move out of their reading comfort zone and this would likely entertain them and get them reading again, IMO.
James - a close reader friend to whom I recommended it just reported that her coop's book club read it and they all loved it. I suggested it to her to read over a year ago.
The Whiskey Rebels - to an Israeli client when I discovered that she loves reading books about and set in the American Revolutionary period and beginnings of the US - she was born and raised in NJ but went to university in Israel, met her husband there and the rest is history.
The Scribe of Siena - to colleagues - one I had recommended it to a few years ago, during pandemic when he was reading a lot of books with plague settings and he loves HF. I knew he'd read it but we never talked about - too much law to discuss, lol. On a conference call with another lawyer who was about to leave for a weeks holiday in Siena to see the famous horse race and celebrate 20 years since graduating law school (there is a connection), I heard him recommending it to her to read and I started laughing, reminding him I'd recommended it to him initially.
Most recently, as I just read it, Automatic Noodle - I also give those in NYC suggestions from where to order the best handpulled noodles for delivery -- as they are going to want them.
As you see, recommending reads is part of my daily life. Don't be afraid to do it.
Ooh, Theresa, The Whiskey Rebels IS a great book! I should reread it.... it's been at least a decade since I first read it. Have you ever read any of his other books? I haven't gotten around to any of them.
I finished Tom Lake as my book that takes place during harvest season. I am not sure how I felt about it. It was depressing in places. The characters weren't terrible, but weren't great either. Some of it was just didn't seem like it would happen, too much coincidence.I just started The Desire of Ages as my FOMO book.
QOTW: Like I said last week, I'm not really a arecommender.
Happy Thursday!I'm on vacation for the next 2 weeks. I feel like I'm behind on my reading, even though Goodreads tells me I'm ahead. Since I technically only signed up for 30 PS books, I only need one more to complete my goal.
I only need one more book to meet the summer reading challenge. I have 4 days to finish Scarlett which should be a piece of cake.
I stumbled upon a movie which filled a prompt where I didn't know what to watch. We watched Oliver and Company, a cute Disney version of Oliver Twist. Some of the plot revolved around Fagin owing Sykes a debt - so a movie about debt.
Late Night Witches was fun - witches vs vampires, while set in PEI, during October.
Finished:
The Late-Night Witches
Popsugar prompt: A book that takes place during harvesting season
ATY prompt: A book related to a painting by Vincent Van Gogh
Summer prompt: - A book located in one of the following vacation location - beach - 300 points
Series - 6/12
Number 1s - 6/10
Nobel laureates - 2/5
Rocky Horror challenge: 8/12
Summer Reading challenge - 4900/5000 points
PS - 29/30
ATY - 34/45
PS movies - 27/50
Currently reading:
Scarlet - 70%
PopSugar movies
A movie about debt - Oliver and Company
QOTW: I can't think of anything. Usually, I'm the one people give recommendations to.
How is it already the end of August?! I feel like I blinked and time has zoomed by. Lots lined up this weekend, so I'm closing out the month with a bang 🎊 I finished two books since the last check-in, though I didn't use either for any of my open prompts. I'm at 15/40 and 3/10 for this challenge, and 47/75 for my overall Goodreads Reading challenge. Finished:
* Mother Daughter Sister Stranger by Hank Phillippi Ryan - I received an advanced copy via NetGalley from the author as part of her Super Readers program. It's being released on Tuesday, so I was glad to finish/review it early!; and,
* Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping On a Dead Man written by Jesse Q. Sutanto and narrated by Eunice Wong. I love Vera so much and cannot wait for the next one, which should be an international adventure! This series is such a delight!!
Currently Reading:
* The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries edited by Michael Sims;
* Miss Eliza's English Kitchen by Annabel Abbs, which is one of my book clubs' picks for September; and,
* Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See, which is my other book clubs' pick for September.
QotW:
This week's question was suggested by Theresa:
What’s a book you recommended to many people, and it seemed to hit for almost everyone? I'm usually asked for mystery recommendations, so some of my go-to authors who I love (and seem to be hits with the people I recommend them to) are Louise Penny and Sujata Massey. I normally recommend the first book in the Gamache/Three Pines series by Louise Penny since I think that series works best in order and either the first book in the Perveen Mistry series or the first one in the Rei Shimura series by Sujata Massey. I've also recommend Jenny Lawson a lot and she's always a hit. I just recommended Broken this past weekend!
Happy Thursday, everyone! I read four books this past week. I enjoyed two of them and disliked the other two. 2025 Reading Challenges
PopSugar- 43/50
52 Book Club- 47/52;
HRCYED 3.0- 57/150; Side Qwests- 2/12
GR Bookmarks-
BOTM- 13/15; Omnivoreader- 6/6; Long Hauler- 3/4; Debut Darling- 5/5
1001 Books- 14/20
TBR- 35/50
Finished
The Project- I put this book on hold after seeing the comparisons to Dolly Alderton, whose last book was a 5-star read for me, and the synopsis sounded like it might be a rom-com. This is a rom-com, very much like Bridget Jones, but there are also deep conversations between the leads about vulnerabilities and insecurities which gave it a more literary quality as well. That being said, I really hated the casual drug use in here, and the 3rd act conflict pissed me off. Still, I enjoyed it for the most part. ☆☆☆ 1/2
HRCYED 3.0- old secret prompts #5
Migrations- I loved Once There Were Wolves, I liked Wild Dark Shore, so I was looking forward to reading this to complete her backlist. Unfortunately, this was a disappointment. It was like it was milking how depressing her life was and the writing structure deliberately withholds information to shock you with "twists" that I already guessed ahead of time. This is supposed to be a dystopian, but the worldbuilding is vague. The FMC's self-destructive behavior got annoying. And the ending? Some character just abruptly appears and that's it? ☆☆ 1/2
HRCYED 3.0- biomes #2; backlist authors #4; sideqwests #2
TBR #34
The Vivisectors- read this because it was on the Booker longlist. So far, this has been my least favorite of the longlist. This book is kind of surreal. A woman is dragged into a conflict between a professor and a student when she is asked to get close to the student. The first-person narration is very removed and cold, so it was hard to form connections with the characters. The setting is nameless and there seems to be some background politics going on between the gardeners and the city and university that has resulted in unfettered vegetation, but it was hard to see how this was significant to the story. This just wasn't for me, I guess. ☆☆
HRCYED 3.0- food pyramid #2; second chances & hidden gems #2
The Names- this got a lot of buzz last year, but I avoided it because I didn't want to read about domestic violence through three different timelines. I did end of choosing it as my free Book-of-the-Month BOTY finalist add-on and finally read it this week. The domestic violence was rough to read, but I did like the bittersweet storylines. ☆☆☆ 1/2
HRCYED 3.0- old secret prompts #6; biomes #3
GR Bookmark- Challenge Faves
BOTM #13; Debut Darling #5
TBR #35
Currently Reading
Clear
The Disappearers
QOTW
I don't really recommend the same book to people. None of my irl friends read, so I never get to give recommendations to them. I work in a library, and I always ask patrons about their favorite genres and past books they've enjoyed when they ask for recommendations.
Jennifer W wrote: "Ooh, Theresa, The Whiskey Rebels IS a great book! I should reread it.... it's been at least a decade since I first read it. Have you ever read any of his other books? I haven't gotten around to any..."I have several of them and not yet read them either!
The Whiskey Rebels was just fab ..and a whole early American event I knew nothing about. Funny story .. you know how something like that pops up in your reading, or elsewhere in your life (for me often operas and theater.), then suddenly it keeps popping up? I read that book very recently. This week I finished a short history book on the Louisiana Purchase and wouldn't you know but The Whiskey Rebellion and political stance of the western frontier - western PA, Ohio, Kentucky at that time - has a huge influence. Then a week ago I was scanning my cable menu, and there is a documentary on The Whiskey Rebellion. DVR'd it to watch when I have a minute.
@Megan - Sujata Massey is just wonderful!
Life update: Not much has happened this week, which is good because my vestibular disorder has been playing up. My husband is away, and a friend has been an absolute lifesaver by calling each morning to collect our dog and walk her along with our friend's own dog. Between that and the sad death of Dolly Parton, I've been thinking a lot about the importance of kindness and community over ideology and material wealth.Reading update: With the house to myself, the TV has stayed switched off, and I've got more reading done. I now have only two books to go to finish this year's challenge. I read:
Fiesta en la madriguera - PS: about a mob; Spanish Titles: F. This is a really clever book about a boy growing up in a drug cartel compound. 5 stars.
The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei - PS: character who runs a marathon. Not super well written, but extremely interesting. 3 stars.
Roseanna - PS: spouses. My father loved this series, but damn, it has not aged well imo. 2 stars.
Dear Committee Members - PS: epistolary. I had imagined this descending gradually into the absurd, but it gets there pretty much immediately. Still, it was enjoyable enough. 3 stars.
Anarkata: A statement by The Afrofuturist Abolitionists of the Americas - PS: about Afrofuturism; Anticapitalist Inspiration: about colonialism. This isn't listed on Goodreads, I imagine because the collective behind it probably doesn't want to be linked to Amazon platforms; it's available as a free ebook in the Anarchist Library online. It's short - 47 pages in the epub edition - but not by any means a fast read. I probably averaged about 5 pages an hour because I had to stop to think about what it was saying. No star rating because it doesnt feel like my place as a white person to judge it, but I did learn some things from it.
Star Trek: Designing the Final Frontier: How Midcentury Modernism Shaped Our View of the Future - Odd Format: pictures throughout. Like many Trek fans, the look of the original series is my favourite, so I decided to learn some of the technical details about it. The book does a decent job of that, but I would have liked more detail on why the midcentury modern style worked so well where later approaches have fallen flat. 3 stars.
Happy Land - Flowers for your shelves: Sunflower. Covers an interesting piece of history I knew nothing about. 3 stars.
Pansy Boy - Flowers for your shelves: Pansy. Gorgeous artwork illustrating a book about homophobic bullying; the text, in verse form, is a bit clunky and the resolution feels implausibly optimistic even in a children's book. 4 stars for the art and good intentions.
The Complete Mahabharata Volume - 3 Vana Parva & Virat Parva - spiritual reading, no prompt.
Bartleby the Scrivener - audiobook, no prompt. Odd, but written with compassion. 3 stars.
I dnf'd three, all because the writing style wasn't working for me after the free sample:
It All Comes Back to You
The Theory of Flight
The Saga of Marathon
Stats:
Popsugar: 5 this week, 48/50 total.
Diversity Challenge: 0 this week, 10/14 total
Queer Reads Bracket Challenge: 0 this week, 6/7 total
Flowers for Your Shelves: 2 this week, 7/22 total
r/Fantasy Bingo: 0 this week, 8/25 total
Odd Formats: 1 this week, 2/11 total
Spanish Titles ABC: 1 this week, 2/26 total
French TBR: 0 this week, 2/50 total
Great Big Jewish Literature Challenge: 0 this week, 7/24 total
Anti-Capitalist Inspiration: 1 this week, 20/30 total
Reading About Writing: 0 this week, 4/40 total
All books finished this year: 10 this week, 110 total
DNF or paused this year: 3 this week, 27 total
Challenges completed this year: 2
Challenges in progress (end date in 2026): 2
Challenges in progress (no end date or end date in 2027): 9
Currently reading:
The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora: A Novel - PS: inspired by a real song, album, band or artist; Odd Format: breaks the fourth wall; Anti-Capitalist Inspiration: about art or music
Violeta - Flowers for your shelves: Violet, Spanish Titles: V
The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI - research, no prompt
A River Runs Through It and Other Stories - audiobook, no prompt
THE COMPLETE MAHABHARATA UDYOGA PARVA VOL 4 - spiritual reading, no prompt
QOTW: I can't think of anything at the moment. I usually give tailored recommendations to just one or two people, and often don't hear back afterwards.
Jennifer W wrote: "Hi all! Bit of a zombie here. Yesterday we went to a local fair. Kiddo had never been to one! The State Fair up in Nadine's neck of the woods is too much of a trek for me, and it's usually a thousa..."FR almost all my memories of the NY State Fair involve exhaustion, sweat, and dust (because they used to have a giant dirt track in the middle of the fairgrounds for dirt racing). I haven't been in a few years, but my ex still goes every year. There are some good bands that you can see with the price of admission. Violent Femmes are playing next Friday.
I like to say that my Girl Handbook was missing A LOT of pages when I was born (definitely the ones about hair and make up....)
SAME!!! I feel so bad that I can't help my daughters with makeup and skin care tips, but I honestly have NO CLUE. I wash my face with goats milk bar soap, (and my mom just uses regular bar soap) - don't ask me about a skin care routine and cleansers.
I too have memories of the NY State Fair 'up in Nadine's area'. As a dairy farmer's daughter in Tioga County in southern part of NYS, the local county fair was a part of every summer of my life until I left home, and once I was a teen, I even got to go to the NYState Fair as part of 4-H - doing demonstrations in the Cooperative Extension building and sleeping in the dorms in the upper floor of the building. This was back in the dark ages, but I have kept some of the blue ribbons and a trophy or two I won at these fairs for my exhibits. My entire family participated in the County Fair -- older brother and youngest sister showed animals, all siblings submitted exhibits, mom won ribbons for her floral arrangements and Dad in the National Grange local chapter displays. At the age of 5, I won the Little Miss Tioga County pageant - and was totally uninterested because I wanted the rides and cotton candy!
Memories ...
Happy Friday! Haven't had a chance to read the rest of the posts yet, but want to get my update up while I have a sec. Today one of my coworkers gave his two weeks notice, and he's the only one on the team who also does my job, so unless they figure out something quick, I'm about to double my workload. And then I jut got a text from my building manager that the construction crew will be back tomorrow to finish replacing the windows. Interesting timing since they just painted the exterior of the building... but that means instead of running errands tomorrow, I'll be stuck at home keeping an eye on things, so maybe I'll get a lot of reading in? I really thought it was going to be a chill weekend- jokes on me!
Finished:
Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls- this was a fun, chatty memoir perfect for Gilmore Girls' fans
-no prompt
Lemon- a sad, bleak book about the lasting grief and guilt of the murder of a high school girl. I really liked how this was written, but it left me so sad
-no prompt
Things Remembered and Things Forgotten-this was a really great short story collection about growing old, the lingering effects of WW2, and the ways the past haunts the present. Quite a few of these stories left me very choked up
-no prompt
Currently reading:
Death of the Author-still chipping away
Up Next:
Problematic Summer Romance-everything I'm reading is making me sad, so hopefully this will be an antidote
Your Utopia- a short story collection from one of my fave authors
QotW:
I can't think of anything to be honest
Theresa wrote: "I too have memories of the NY State Fair 'up in Nadine's area'. As a dairy farmer's daughter in Tioga County in southern part of NYS, the local county fair was a part of every summer of my life unt..."I never knew there were dorms in the 4H building! Makes sense, I never thought about it. I see cots set up in the cow barn & horse barn, and I know a lot of people stay in RVs over in a special lot
Nadine in NY wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I too have memories of the NY State Fair 'up in Nadine's area'. As a dairy farmer's daughter in Tioga County in southern part of NYS, the local county fair was a part of every summe..."Kids showing large animals at fairs camp with them, both at County and State level. All those kids you see doing demonstrations and manning info booths in 4-H Building come from all over the state so need housing.
Two week check in for me and I've got a bummer of a summer cold. I guess best to get this over with now, but man it really stinks to not WANT to do anything. I'm updating this from the comfort of my bed, LOL.53/70 GoodReads Challenge
40/50 PopSugar Challenge
46/52 ATY Challenge
Finished:
1.) Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser (No Prompts) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫: Slow to start, but absolutely LOVED this retelling of a classic Cinderella. Really gave new meaning to Prince Charming.
2.) Zorrie by Laird Hunt (PS#4: Stars with Z || ATY#26: Z in Title) ⭐⭐⭐: A quiet, slow slice of life novel.
3.) Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt by Ben Reeves (No Prompts) ⭐⭐: This just wasn't for me, I didn't connect with it, and the lack of quotation marks really pushed me over the edge. Felt preachy to me.
4.) Big Swiss by Jen Beagin (No Prompts) ⭐⭐⭐💫: I thought this would be a perfect read for the end of summer, however I'd slate it more as a Fall book. Quirky - loved the premise, the back half went a bit off the rails.
Currently Reading:
1.) The Calamity Club
2.) When Mikan Road Was Ours
3.) Theo of Golden
QoTW: What’s a book you recommended to many people, and it seemed to hit for almost everyone?
Hmmmm, I used to heavily recommend Gone Girl, Defending Jacob, No Exit, Unbroken - all the time
This year, it's probably been Yesteryear.
Erin wrote: "Lemon- a sad, bleak book about the lasting grief and guilt of the murder of a high school girl. I really liked how this was written, but it left me so sad ..."I think your reaction was probably the author's goal, but that book just confused me, maybe because I listened to the audiobook
Britany wrote: "4.) Big Swiss by Jen Beagin (No Prompts) ⭐⭐⭐💫: I thought this would be a perfect read for the end of summer, however I'd slate it more as a Fall book. Quirky - loved the premise, the back half went a bit off the rails...."This book gets such great reviews from people who loved other books I loved, but I HATE the cover and the title and the description so I'm so reluctant to read it LOL
I agree Nadine - it's been on my "Must read" list for years, so I just had to finally read it.
Hello, y’all. I don’t know how it happened exactly, but it is now Sunday; I meant to post on Thursday.
I finished 2 books and was impressed by both. The book about Mae Jemison was a surprise as I did not know her name at all. Although I do not normally read middle grade books, I was very pleased to find this one and to learn about another woman who beat the odds for her time. I loved the way her story was put into context for political and national events. Very well done! And, I will read more VIP books if I can get my hands on them.
I also enjoyed the Vincent Van Gogh book. Not only did I learn a lot about his life but also about his paintings. Such a sad life for such a genius painter. This book made me want to see some of the paintings IRL. I don’t know if I will ever get the chance, but it is definitely a bucket list item now.
Oh, I did make a decision about reading goals this week. I decided to lower my GR goal from 200 to 150. Now instead of 33 books behind, I am 1 behind. Anyway, it removes some pressure.
Finished:
VIP: Dr. Mae Jemison: Brave Rocketeer - Thoroughly enjoyed this informative book...middle grade/juvenile. 4*
The Essential Vincent Van Gogh - ATY #14 (Gogh). 4*
Currently Reading:
The First Fig Tree – PAS. 16%
True Detectives – ATY# 52 (sunset vibes - 2025), PS #44 (spouse #2). Also waiting patiently for me to get back to it. 2%
Insatiable - Audible. Having difficulty with my phone audible app.
Future Forward: Harnessing Artificial Intelligence - ATY #21 (Tomorrow). 15%
On Deck:
(library)
This Is How You Lose Her - ATY #47 ("this" in title)
Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight - PS #27 (Curly hair)
The Ephemera Collector - PS #50 (Afrofuturism)
The Garden Tour Affair: A Gardening Mystery - PS #1 (Garden)
Life, Loss, and Puffins – PS #2 (Platonic friendship)
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency – ATY #25 (1001 books)
(owned)
Tainted Sand - ATY #44 (Symbol of death)
Dancing on My Grave - ATY #52 (Reindeer)
Tales for Twilight: Two Hundred Years of Scottish Ghost Stories - ATY #46 (Not a novel)
PS 27/50
ATY 44/52, Seasonal Winter 9/14, Seasonal Spring 6/15
GR 98/150
Nadine in NY wrote: "I think your reaction was probably the author's goal, but that book just confused me, maybe because I listened to the audiobook .."Yeah I think this would have been confusing as an audiobook- so many chapters barely tell you who's speaking, and then the switching between two names that sounds similar.
I was hoping to find another book by the author, but it seems like they either haven't been translated into English or haven't been published in the US but none of my libraries or bookstores have any
I'm back home, and I guess it didn't rain for two weeks, everything is dry and crispy, most of my container plants died. Bright side: my lawn isn't terribly overgrown after my vacation so I don't have to mow yet.
August is always a busy month for me since I spend half of it at my mother's house, which makes the month fly by, and then POOF I feel like my summer is over. On our drive home we saw a lot of trees already turning red. I need to learn how to embrace autumn.
***** Admin stuff *****
The August group read (Afrofuturism) is: Death of the Author You can join the discussion here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
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 2 books, none for this Challenge, so I remain 45/50:
Happy Ending by Chloe Liese- I enjoy "rom-com" novels, and Liese has been popular, so I decided to give her a try. Two stars. This romance was completely implausible.
Fallow by Sarah Anderson - this debut novel was offered to me on NetGalley and I'm SO GLAD I gave it a try! I LOVED this book! Five stars!! This won't be for everyone, but it was definitely for me. It's a weird story, with a lot of unexpected developments, and I found the protagonist to be so relatable!
I had been doing so well chipping away at my NetGalley backlog, I got my NG tbr list down to 13 books and my ratio up to 90%, and then when I got home from vacation I had a moment of sadness when I discovered I'd been declined for Stephen Graham Jones new book (Off the Reservation). How could they reject me like that??!!? Don't they realize how much I love SGJ?? I told myself I'm DONE requesting books, because I'm SICK of being declined. Then I processed my grief by requesting three more books on NG.
(PS I got approved for one of my new requests this morning, Wandering, so you win some you lose some!)
Popsugar 90% 45 /50
Must Reads 0% 0 /1
2026 pub 120% 60 /50
NetGalley ratio 90%
Question of the Week
This week's question was suggested by Theresa:
What’s a book you recommended to many people, and it seemed to hit for almost everyone?
This can be sort of a spin-off of last week's question, and for this question, I have no idea! I don't think there is any one book or series that I recommend to a lot of people.
But I'm definitely interested in hearing what you all have found to be a hit with everyone. Maybe it's a book I should read too!!