CPL's Book a Week Challenge discussion

The oldest bookstore in the world is located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is the Bertrand bookshop.

What best selling author has a dinosaur genus named after him? Take a guess here.

Summer is almost upon us! And the weather seems to have decided that rain is what we really need. Did everyone enjoy our lightning storms this weekend? I found out that the Great Bridge was struck by lightning on Friday, which explains why the bridge lights seemed to be going crazy when I went home. So if you regularly drive over the Bridge, just be aware that the lifts will be longer and that there might be backup there until it's fixed.

What is everyone reading this week? I've fallen so far behind in my reading, but I picked up Jane Austen, the Secret Radical which has been interesting so far. I don't agree with all the conclusions the author draws (some seem a bit far fetched, despite her evidence), but I definitely agree with her that we've lost something because we are not reading the books in the correct time period. There are subtle things that Austen's readers would have understood but us being 200 years away miss. It is definitely a book to make you think about these subtle references and what they indicate.

For lighter reading, I have Black Widow: Forever Red which so far is as fun a YA superhero adventure as one could wish for.

I finished Foxlowe, which I really thought was good. Now I have started The Good Girl.

I do want to read the Jane Austen book you are reading, Joanna. The week I am reading To The Bright Edge of the World, Demelza, and Mischka's War. Just picked up My Name Is Asher Lev, One of Us Is Lying, and The Frozen Hours: A Novel of the Korean Warfrom the library, so perhaps I will get to one or more of those.

I tried to read Mischling this past week and did not care for it at all so I threw in the towel at page 200.

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I don't seem to be having much luck reading fiction, so I thought I'd try nonfiction. I just checked out Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom by Thomas E. Ricks. It looked interesting.

Joanna wrote: "The oldest bookstore in the world is located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is the Bertrand bookshop.

What best selling author has a dinosaur genus named after him? Take a guess here.

Summer is almost..."

What age group do you think is appropriate for the Black Widow Novel? I'm always on the look out for cool things for my niece

Kayzee wrote: "What age group do you think is appropriate for the Black Widow Novel? I'm always on the look out for cool things for my niece"

I'm about halfway through it and so far, I'd say 15/16, though of course it depends on the parents. It is Black Widow so she is using guns and shooting people. And there is mention of mild torture and the Red Room where she was trained. The main characters are two teenagers, though, and there is definitely going to be a romance factor (haven't quite gotten to that part yet). It's been a fun novel so far, so you might want to read it and see what you think! :)

I haven't posted in forever, and haven't been reading my normal quantity of books either (new baby thus year!).
However, I just finished Confessions of a domestic failure, and it was quite an enjoyable listen. Part of that may be that I find myself in a similar place in life right now, but we all need a little humor for our outlooks!

Julie wrote: "I haven't posted in forever, and haven't been reading my normal quantity of books either (new baby thus year!).
However, I just finished Confessions of a domestic failure, and it was quite an enjo..."

Hi, Julie!!! It's so good to hear from you. How are you? How is your baby? I hope you all are well! Humor is incredibly important in our outlooks and it's cool that you found it in a book. I always find I like reading books that mirror my life but are funny. It does put everything into perspective.

Joanna wrote: "Julie wrote: "I haven't posted in forever, and haven't been reading my normal quantity of books either (new baby thus year!).
However, I just finished Confessions of a domestic failure, and it was..."

Thank you, we are doing well! It's definitely an adventure, but a good one. :) Overdrive audiobooks and Audible are my friends in order to keep reading at this point. I'm so glad they exist! I just started Anna Kendrick's Scrappy Little Nobody, and so far I'm liking that too. I think this year may be the year of lighthearted reads.

Julie wrote: "Joanna wrote: "Julie wrote: "I haven't posted in forever, and haven't been reading my normal quantity of books either (new baby thus year!).
However, I just finished Confessions of a domestic fail..."

So glad to hear that you are doing well! :) I've been slowly learning the value of e-audiobooks; they really can be a life saver when you're not in a position to actually read a physical book. Scrappy Little Nobody is great. I hope you enjoy it!

I am reading two brand new books (yay, Library!), Lockdown by Laurie King and The Child by Fiona Baton. I loved The Widow by Baton and hope this is as good.