Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2019 Weekly Checkins
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Week 27: 6/27 - 7/4
Happy Fourth of July to everyone in the U.S. All our neighbors gave us Fourth worthy fireworks shows last night, so tonight will probably be really big. Nothing like preteens and their dads setting up fireworks in the middle of the street for a week. Oh well, it is fun to watch when you aren't trying to drive somewhere.This week I read:
Death on the Nile- this Agatha Christie will always have a place in my heart as it is the first one I ever read. I enjoyed it again.
The Other Side of Midnight- a light mystery that I enjoyed.
Grant- I finished this huge book that I have been reading for a month and a half (chapter a day). I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. Very interesting.
I also read the first four Harry Potter books. I have only read them once, right when they came out so I thought I would read them again.
Unrelated question. Last summer someone had a problem with fruit flies and got a solution here. So my question is, does anyone know how to get rid of sugar ants? I am having an infestation and it doesn't matter how many times I scrub up the area- they are always marching on.
QOTW:
The way I organize books drives my sister (and I am sure most of you would agree) absolutely bananas. In my guest rooms I have a shelf of children's to YA books and a shelf of adult books that can all be read in two to three days. A variety of subjects so that whoever stays over is sure to be able to find something they like to read before bed. The rest of my shelves are put together by author, but there are so many book shelves running through my house that I divide up the genres. That way I can always find something to read in any room I am in. My sister always wonders how I can find my books, but I just know what room they are in- I put them there.
Happy Reading!
Dang, am I going to be among the first to comment this week? Wow...Spent most of this week trying to survive the summer rush at work (libraries get CRAZY-busy during the summer, while kids are out of school and people are stocking up on books and audiobooks for vacation), and taking care of my mom. She's still recovering from surgery, and it might be awhile before she's fully better. You don't realize just how much you depend on using both arms until you lose the use of one, even temporarily...
Books read this week:
Damned Lies - goofy comedy book. A little random and the main character’s obnoxious, but still funny, though not entertaining enough to make me want to continue the series. Though the author’s written another book that looks intriguing…
The Carpet Makers - a fascinating sci-fi story! More a series of interlocking short stories than a novel, it still manages to weave its stories together in a satisfying whole. I wish more of the authors’ work was translated into English…
The King in Yellow - I picked this up because it apparently inspired HP Lovecraft in a lot of his writing, and was also an inspiration for Candle Cove and Other Stories, one of my favorite creepy short story collections. Alas, while the first four or five stories are decent, even chilling, the rest are just blah.
A Study in Emerald - graphic novel adaptation of a Neil Gaiman story (one of the only ones I liked from his Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders collection). Yet another mashup of Sherlock Holmes and the Cthulhu mythos, but nicely done, with decent artwork and a great twist at the end.
DNF:
The Hangman's Daughter -- got this as a freebie last month (when Amazon had various international books available as free Kindle downloads). Unfortunately, I just can’t bring myself to finish it. It’s bland, and the language feels curiously wooden. Not sure if that’s due to it being a translation or not, but still...
Currently Reading:
The Anything Box
The Rookie
QOTW:
Organize? What's that? XD As much as I pride myself in keeping shelves organized at work, at home they're jumbled in a random order. Though I do keep a designated spot for "books to read"... a spot that's now so full that the rest of my BTR pile is in a stack by my bed. I'm hopeless...
I'm trying to tick off a bunch of hard prompts now, whilst the weather and my mood are good! The doggo's still on a plain rice and turkey diet, but hopefully we can start phasing in her normal food again today. She's such a foodie it's been torture for her.Finished Educatedfor a book recommended by a celebrity and I liked this more than I expected. It was mind-boggling the kind of injuries they didn't seek help for, I can't imagine having that kind of faith.
Currently listening to The Time Traveler's Wife for a book with over a million ratings. I'm a bit bored by it to be honest (OK first I was disturbed by him going back to visit his wife when she was a child), but I don't have many options that I haven't read already so I'll plod on.
And I'm currently reading Killers of the Flower Moon: Oil, Money, Murder and the Birth of the FBI for ATY (National Book Award), which is filling me in a lot on the treatment of Native Americans in the early 20th century. Just dreadful. I hope the film doesn't gloss over that part, as I do think it'll make a good film.
PS: 32/52 | ATY: 34/52 | GR: 71/100
QOTW:
CHAOS! Hah, I think nicely organised alphabetically ordered systems are for people who don't have a lot of turnover in books or have a lot of time and space to reorganise every week. I squish books into whatever space they'll fit, often double-stacked.
Newer books are more likely to be in the bookcases closest to the front door (where the books come in). If they are older and I don't know where they are, they are likely to be in the office, where books go to be forgotten.
I do have two rainbow bookcases where each shelf is a different colour. And yes I can find books easily there, I remember what they look like better than who the author is. Cookbooks are also located on the one shelf, though ideally they'd be in the kitchen.
Anne wrote: "So my question is, does anyone know how to get rid of sugar ants? I am having an infestation and it doesn't matter how many times I scrub up the area- they are always marching on...."If you want an organic solution you can get nematodes which will kill the ants and nothing else.
Mod
I get ants every year too. The one thing I found that works consistently: Terro ant bait. Target sells it.
http://www.terro.com/indoor-baiting
You can also try sprinkling Borax around, but the ant bait boxes are less messy.
I finished Bear Island as the book I meant to read in 2018.I am now reading Beach Town as my same season book. It's actually pretty good. But, it might be benefiting in comparison to Bear Island which I don't think I liked that much.
QOTW: I don't. I generally don't keep books after I've read them. So, I used to just shove the books over and put the last ones at the end, so they would be in "to read" order. Now when the Pop Sugar list comes out, I look at what's on the shelf and rearrange them, putting the books that will fit categories on the top shelf.
Mod
I've always wondered about that. My library is closed on Sundays during the summer, but open 7 days during the school year.
Happy Fourth! I'm enjoying a day off work with my brand new kitten. I'm pretty sure she never sleeps, just plays all the time. But she is super sweet and she likes to see what books I'm reading. (Mostly I think she wants to eat the bookmarks, or maybe even the entire book.)I finished one book this week, The Golden Hour, which I'm using as a book with an article of clothing on the cover. Technically, the cover is a woman in a dress, but the dress is certainly the focus, so I've decided it counts. I enjoyed reading the book, but, overall, it was just so-so. Beatriz Williams's books are a little hit or miss for me. I just feel like they don't always have satisfactory endings.
My currently reading pile remains too large. I'm hoping to finish some books with this extended holiday weekend. Mostly so that I can start some new ones.
QOTW:
We keep the majority of our books on a large corner unit in our living room, organized by subject matter. So there is a children's section, biography, history, poetry. The fiction is divided by classics, my favorites, my husband's favorites, and then an entire shelf just for John Irving books (my favorite author). Then we also have some small shelves of paperbacks out on our enclosed terrace. I try to purge our shelves at least once a year. I just don't think it's necessary to keep too many books, particularly if you don't love them and aren't going to read them again. Plus, I get a lot of books out of the library, which have their own spot on a shelf in my living room.
Hi all! Happy Fourth of July to those in the US! Got some potentially bad news about one of my cats yesterday. Went to the vet because he was losing hair and, although he’s been on a diet, losing weight significantly faster than his brother. The vet and I originally thought he was hyperthyroid, until she began to examine him. We are still testing for it but it’s now way down on her list, which is too bad because it would have been easy to treat and I’ve dealt with it before so I know how to do so. Her top thought at the moment is Cushings which is rare in cats and incredibly hard to treat (and can be hard to diagnose). We should know tomorrow what the original tests showed and if we need to do further testing. Unfortunately, if it’s not hyperthyroid the other possibilities aren’t great. 🥺
I’m in kind of a reading slump at the moment. I am starting and stopping a lot of books just a page or 2 in and changing them back to “want to read”. I’ve been excited about Recursion since I loved his first book, but my hold came in from the library and it’s just sitting. I’ve got 20 days left so hopefully I’ll finish it before I have to give it back. I did give back the last book in a trilogy I’ve been reading- I’ll try again later.
So, while I’ve been in a slump, I have still been reading, but it’s been more light, fluffy books in my favorite genre- Urban and paranormal fantasy.
I’ve finished:
The Library at Mount Char which was really odd. I gave it 3 stars but I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
Solace Island this was just ok. I liked book 2 in this series much better.
A Ghost in the Glamour and A Bogie in the Boat I really enjoyed both of these novellas and hope to see more of these characters.
Grave Memory. This was my favorite book this week and along with the 2 above are in my “feel good” genre. I think I’m going to be reading here for a little bit longer before I expand out again.
I’m currently reading:
Down Among the Sticks and Bones. This is by one of my go to authors but it’s in a series I haven’t read before. Started it this morning. We’ll see...
The Lost City of the Monkey God is my current audiobook. I’m enjoying it so far. But my commute has decreased significantly so not sure how long it will take me to finish it.
QOTW- I’ve gone to reading e-books almost exclusively because it was hard to store all the books I was buying. So I don’t have to worrry about how to arrange them anymore.
Sara wrote: "Happy Fourth! I'm enjoying a day off work with my brand new kitten. I'm pretty sure she never sleeps, just plays all the time. But she is super sweet and she likes to see what books I'm reading. (M..."My cat shreds paper. And that includes books. It is a challenge keeping things I don't want shredded away from her claws and teeth.
My vacation is coming to an end soon. It’s very sad saying goodbye to friends and family I won’t see again until Christmas. Work has turned into a mess while I’ve been gone, but I’m trying to forget I’ll have to deal with that on Monday and enjoy the last few days of my vacation.Finished
The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson (an “own voices” book). I think historical fantasy is stretching the category, but I’m counting it because a major theme is conflict between Muslims and Christians, despite very similar teachings, and the harmful effects of religious zealots (the Inquisition) on regular people who want to live their lives in peace. It’s not an allegory exactly, but it speaks to current issues of faith and religious conflict. I didn’t really care for the book. I thought it was too slow. If you like literary fantasy, you might like this book.
Reading
Most of the books I’m reading have been paused until next week. I haven't had too much time for reading on this vacation.
QOTW
Alphabetical by author's last name. Books by the same author are then arranged alphabetically by title, except if they're a series. Library books and TBR books go into a basket beside my bookshelf.
Afternoon all, happy 4th of July to all the US folk.I'm sick - my mother picked up a really bad cold from her school reunion and it's just hit me as well. So I feel like ten kinds of trodden-on garbage. Luckily, though, the new Stranger Things season is out, so I have that to keep me entertained.
6 things completed this week. 2 novels, 1 novella, 3 short stories - I need to really rattle through the Hugo packet this month, voting deadline is the 31st. Still nothing for Popsugar. 😳
Instructions for a Heatwave - This is pretty out of my comfort zone, I really only read it because it's set during the British heatwave of 1976, a period I've been somewhat fascinated by since reading The Trouble with Goats and Sheep. Anyway I quite enjoyed it, it was well-written and I liked the Irish-diaspora element of the plot. Definitely one of those books where you end up shouting at the characters. ("OMG you are all, to a greater or lesser degree, not good people, also TERRIBLE at communicating, please for the love of [insert deity here] sit down and talk to each other")
The Black God's Drums - This had loads of really interesting ideas but the plot didn't quite deliver on them. Seemed to be a kind of awkward length (it's a novella) - a full-length novel, I think, would've been able to develop both the broader concepts and the story as fully as they deserved.
The Doll Factory - This was just okay. Nicely marketable historical fiction, along the lines of something like The Miniaturist. Well written though.
The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington - This was... wow. It's by the same author as Black God's Drums, and slightly weird to read after it because while I didn't feel BGD was long enough for the concepts it contained, this was many times shorter and yet successfully built a whole alternate-history universe. Stunning, honestly.
The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society - Fun story about a bunch of human-seducing paranormal creatures having the tables turned and ending up all pining after the same woman. Not quite as good as the other Hugo-finalist short stories, though.
A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies - This was absolutely amazing, easy 5-stars, it gave me so many emotions. It's about a librarian witch watching over one particular troubled patron through the years, and pretty much just the idea of giving someone the right book at the right time. Liked it so much I immediately preordered the author's debut novel, which is also based around portal fantasies. (The Ten Thousand Doors of January.)
Currently reading An American Marriage. Really good so far.
Needing to pick up a more fun read to go along with it, but haven't figured out which one yet.
QOTW: By genre. Within genres, it varies. I tend to organize classics and historical fiction by their time period. Everything else I just kinda go by vibes, you know, putting books which have some kind of similarity near each other. "Both these books have mermaids", "both these books are fantasy inspired by the same mythologies", and so forth. My children's-fiction books are a messy mix of alphabet-by-author and "vibe". Also my favourite authors go higher up on the bookcase.
My TBR bookcase (yep, case...) is in rainbow order, because I wanted to try it out. It's kind of a pain, though.
Anne wrote: "In my guest rooms I have a shelf of children's to YA books and a shelf of adult books that can all be read in two to three days. A variety of subjects so that whoever stays over is sure to be able to find something they like to read before bed."That is such a lovely idea! I'll have to try it.
Kenya wrote: "The King in Yellow - I picked this up because it apparently inspired HP Lovecraft in a lot of his writing, and was also an inspiration for Candle Cove and Other Stories, one of my favorite creepy short story collections. Alas, while the first four or five stories are decent, even chilling, the rest are just blah."
Ooh, yeah, I feel like no one in the weird fiction world reads beyond the first four stories! Chambers was known for writing romances primarily, so it's odd that he has this tiny suite of stories that influenced so much horror.
So, happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans! I’m very happy to take the two days work has given us as a holiday and make them into a six-day staycation by taking off next Monday and Tuesday. We have friends visiting from Texas, and it’s going to be a Bacchanal of restaurants, top shelf booze, video games, and movies!
Finished
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time -A debut novel - I loved this. Maybe because I’m a little quirky, anxious, and overly logical at times myself. But for whatever reason, I couldn’t put this down.
This Book Is a Planetarium: And Other Extraordinary Pop-Up Contraptions -A book with POP, SUGAR, or CHALLENGE in the title - What a charming book - it would be ideal for “reading to” (i.e., playing with) with a child around 7 or 8. My 11yo and I had fun with it, even if we were both familiar with a lot of the toys/concepts presented.
Currently Reading
Cthulhu 2000 -Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading challenge (A book that's guaranteed to bring you joy) - This is such a mixed bag. Luckily I really loved “The Barrens,” and this has “Black Man with a Horn,” which is one of the best Lovecraftian short stories of all time. So it is fulfilling the prompt!
From a Certain Point of View - A book that makes you nostalgic - Watching Star Wars: A New Hope may be my earliest memory! I figure my inner 4yo will delight in hearing some minor characters recount all those iconic scenes, and there are some huge hitters on the author and reader lists! Unfortunately it’s opening with the handoff from Rogue One, and that being from 2016, it isn’t quite so charmingly sepia-toned in my memory, but I’m sure we’ll get there!
Ghost Stories - Two books that share the same title - Another weird fiction anthology, but this one is more consistent than Cthulhu 2000. Has classics from Robert Louis Stevenson, M.R. James, etc., plus some enchanting stories I’ve never encountered before. I highly recommend checking out Saki’s “The Open Window,” a quick and frothy 10-minute read that’s not too scary and has a completely charming ending.
Text here: eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks...
Reading here: youtube.com/watch?v=jam1gCYoLtw&l...
QOTW
Um, I don't? For someone who's known at work for being extraordinarily organized, I'm actually quite a slob at home. I have a bunch of bins in the attic full of books, and ones I'm meaning to read soon are kind of stashed in cabinets around the house, or piled on my nightstand.
This is why I love my Kindle - Search is my trusty friend when I want to find something, and it takes up almost no space!
Nadine wrote: "Sorry I’m late I forgot it’s Thursday!! (A belated Happy Canada Day to our Canadians!) And, finally, welcome to the Dog Days of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s hot! Let’s thank Willis Carri..."If I had not already known you live in the Syracuse area, the Willis Carrier reference would have given it away. Does Carrier still have a presence there, other than the Carrier Dome? When I was in law school, Carrier was one of 2 main employers (other was pharma co. Bristol) but was shrinking work force drastically, almost completely leaving the area. Bristol too. This was late 80s.
Mod
well shhh don't tell but I work for Carrier. (I never talk about it because they have really strict rules about social media - so let it be known that in no way do I represent the company, etc etc.) We are still here. I'm not sure how familiar you are with "Carrier Circle" - it looks completely different now. There used to be three huge factories plus an admin & research building all along Thompson Rd & Rt 298 (the two spurs off of the traffic circle that bound the Carrier campus). They knocked them all down about ten years ago. :-( Most of North American Commercial Engineering is still in Syracuse, truck/trailer/container engineering is still in Syracuse, they brought back some of the research groups, and there are some finance & customer service departments still here too. It's still really weird to be able to walk out of my office building and be able to see the road! I am still sad about how things have changed, but I am happy to be employed.
ETA: Bristol is still here, too, but yes much reduced. They have some Carrier chillers running there!
Also, the Carrier Dome is probably going to be renamed soon.
No celebrations for me this 4th, and I am not getting a long weekend either ...work presses. I am taking a short vacation starting next Tuesday. That means I have a lot of client matters to finish up before leaving. I have taken today off but will be sleeping, cleaning up the house a bit, putting away the laundry I did last weekend and hopefully getting to some reading. It is pretty depressing how bad things get at home when you work 16 to 18 hours every day, even when you are single and live alone! Made challenge progress on both ATY and PS this week:
ATY - 47/52
PS - 47/59 - I expanded those prompts with choices to include one of each option since I was so far ahead in completing.
FINISHED:
Cloaked in Malice - PS ghost story. If you want a light fun ghost story, I recommend this cozy mystery series set in a vintage clothing store that has a charming ghost because, after all, it was once a funeral home and carriage house.
The Hydrogen Murder - first of the periodic table mystery series written by a retired physicist where the amateur sleuth is a retired female physicist living in an apartment over a funeral home. I loved it and will be happily hunting down the rest of the series. For ATY book featuring an element from periodic table.
The funeral home theme was purely by accident. I swear!
Christmas in London - not for challenge and no funeral home! I get a craving for holiday themed books as the heat and humidity soar in NYC, so delved into this from my TBR. Cute, mostly sweet romance about 2 couples involved in filming a Christmas food show special in London, one of the couples very much a Cinderella story. What is truly great is the descriptions of London at Christmas, and the FOOD! I gained 10 lbs. just reading about the food! I have been in London at Christmas time and it brought it all back.
Currently reading:
The Rule of Four enjoying
Between the World and Me a change of pace and for ATY
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
1794: Charlotte - halfway through...just need to finish.
The Master and Margarita
This week I finished: Waiting for Fitz: I really wanted to enjoy this one, but it just didn’t work for me.
Dear Wife: I finally finished an audiobook after some helpful suggestions from fellow readers.
The 18th Abduction: The only reason I'm giving this book 3 stars is because I have a long love of the women's murder club series but this one was missing a crucial element to make it great. There was not enough play on the existing star characters to carry a book with a meh plot.
The Favorite Daughter: This was a slow burn. The narrator was compelling and delusional and fun to spend some time with. It got a little repetitive and there was not a lot of suspense for much of the book, but there were a few little surprises left.
I'm currently reading:
Keep This to Yourself: This one is just okay so far.
Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide: This one is funny, but I find myself wishing that I had waited for the audiobook.
The Hunger Games: This is a previous read for me, so I’m listening to it this time and really enjoying that.
Question of the week:
How do you organize your book shelves?
By size and author.
Hi everyone. The heat has finally hit Yorkshire! It's about time summer arrived here. I was beginning to think we'd skipped straight to autumn. I'm supposed to be getting ready for a work night out but all of my colleagues who I actually like have faked excuses and got out of it so I'm just sat here in my PJs procrastinating and wondering if I can think of a good excuse too. I'm clearly not a social butterfly! This week I finished Archenemies. I could have sworn that there was only going to be two of these books but now I have to wait for a third?! *makes dinosaur noises*
Currently reading: I am another person who is slogging through something they don't really want to read for the over 1 million prompt. Apologies to any Tolkein fans, but The Hobbit or There and Back Again and I are not getting on.
QOTW: I am back living with my parents at the moment so all of my stuff, including mountains of books, is crammed into one bedroom so I don't have much of an organisational system. I do keep books from the same series together and matching covers etc. but I have too much chaos around me to notice if a book goes back in the wrong place. I have a pretty good memory so if I do just shove one back in a random place I tend to remember where...most of the time
I haven't been getting a lot of reading done lately until this week. Weather
89°F/32°C
Humidity 59%
Mostly Cloudy
Finished
Pachinko
The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost
Ghosts
Men Explain Things to Me (A book that has inspired a common phrase or idiomn [Mansplaning])
The Making of Donald Trump
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
The One and Only Ivan (A novel based on a true story)
Reading
Magic for Liars
The Thief
War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence
Question of the Week
The short answer is I don't. I think about dividing my brother's books from mine or putting them by author but It took several years just to move them from boxes to a book shelf.
Hi everyone! It feels like summer has finally arrived in the UK. I'm loving the sunshine, but the heat is making my class a bit too hyper at school lol,This week I finished Crazy Rich Asians for a book including a wedding, bringing my total up to 22/50 for the challenge. This was ok, but not as fun as I was expecting.
Currently reading:
The Lie for my first of two books with the same title. I haven't much time to get into this, so I'm sure what I think of it yet.
QOTW:
My books are a mess these days because whenever I get new books I always end up just squeezing them in wherever there's space. Originally though, back when I had dreams of a beautifully organised bookshelf, they started off being arranged by genre and then by author.
Happy 4th of July to those south of the border!Books I finished:
Us Against You - I loved this even more then Beartown, and am now doing my best to track down other books by Backman.
Fire Touched, Silence Fallen, Burn Bright - I'm almost done the Mercy Thompson reread.
The Poison Eaters and Other Stories - The first few short stories in this collection were only so-so, but there ended up being some real jems.
The Bird Tribunal - So I needed a Nordic Noir for last years list, and someone here suggested this one for people who don't really like noir because it's only 185 pages. It wasn't bad, but nothing much happened. Still it was a quick read, so now I can stop dreading that challenge.
Books I made progress on:
Midnight Reckoning
The Unhoneymooners
Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales
Popsugar 2019 - 40/50
Popsuager 2018 - 38/50
QOTW
Well ordinarily I'm the girl who loves to alphabetize everything, but I just can't with MY books. I need to shelve based on use. I also have problems with the whole too many books, not enough shelf space. But either way, my favourites need to be easily accessible for rereads, as well as visible so I can just look at them and get a burst of pleasure from remembering them. And I also try to keep all the books together by author or at least by series. But some shelves are only big enough for paperbacks, and giving prime space to books I hate, but that are from series I love just doesn't work when I'm pressed for space. Then I have an entire shelf packed to the gills with the books I've picked up from various sales and as gifts that I have yet to read. I know the whole system is chaotic and I'm the only one who can find anything in my system, but it works for me. About once or twice a year I do a major reorg and attempt a cull, but I still end up adding more books then I give away most years.
Happy Fourth Everyone. I finished 3 books this week. I read Ahimsa by Supriya Kelkar for the BR Read Harder Challenge prompt a children’s or middle grade book that won a diversity award since 2009. It was a very good story. I read In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson for my face to face book club. The theme was travel for the month of July. I usually like his books a lot but I didn’t like this one much. I got bored with it. The last book was Are You There God? It’s Me,Margaret by Judy Blume. This was for the pop sugar challenge a book that makes you nostalgic. I have never read it. I really liked it. I only have 1 prompt left on the pop sugar challenge then I am done. I finished the advanced last week. My last prompt is a book with pop,sugar, or challenge in the title. I have Tiny Beautiful Things Advice on Love & Life from Dear Sugar on hold. I am 6 weeks out on it. I hate I have to wait that long to finish.
I only read ebooks so I don’t organize.
I think this may be the first time I've actually checked in on a Thursday! 😉 I finished three reads this week (one was a sneak preview, so it wasn't a full book...but GR counted it...and I plan to read the full version when it comes out). One of them worked for an open prompt. I also realized that one of the books I read last week fit an unfinished prompt (duh!), so my overall totals are 26/40 and 4/10 for this challenge and 72/100 for my overall Goodreads Reading Challenge.Finished:
* The Stories You Tell by Kristen Lepionka, which was a NetGalley ARC. I now want to bump up the first two books in the series to the top of my TBR list;
* The Murder List Sneak Peek by Hank Phillippi Ryan, which offered the first five chapters of the upcoming novel; and,
* I See Life Through Rosé-Colored Glasses by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella, which I used for "a book by two female authors."
I decided to use Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future by Pete Buttigieg for the "book with "pop," "sugar," or "challenge" in the title" prompt. I blew right past "challenge" in the title when I finished it and later realized what I'd missed.
Currently Reading:
* The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan, which is one of my book club's picks for July. I don't think it fits any of my unfinished prompts.
QotW:
A spin-off from last week’s discussion, per Karen’s excellent suggestion: How do you organize your book shelves? I try to group similar categories of books together (i.e. historical fiction mysteries, non-fiction, contemporary mysteries, my fave authors, Goodreads wins) and then put series or books by the same author together based on height/size and how many books I can fit in the space available. I go horizontal and vertical...and have one book case that has shelves that are deep enough for two rows of books each. I keep the already read books in the back and the TBR books in the front (mostly). However, I have more books than shelf space, so I also have a lot of stacks of books around my house that are arranged according to what is least likely to topple over -- is that an organization style? 🤣 Every time I see this question it makes me want to tackle my bookshelves (and stacks), so maybe I'll have a different organization method by the end of the long weekend (ha! who am I kidding?! Dare to dream, Megan...dare to dream 🤣😂🤣).
Sarah wrote: "Hi everyone. The heat has finally hit Yorkshire! It's about time summer arrived here. I was beginning to think we'd skipped straight to autumn. I'm supposed to be getting ready for a work night out..."I have never managed to make it past about 50 pages of the Hobbit. I have read and reread Lord of the Rings. They are very different books.
Nadine wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Nadine wrote: "Sorry I’m late I forgot it’s Thursday!! (A belated Happy Canada Day to our Canadians!) And, finally, welcome to the Dog Days of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere. It’..."Man has it changed! I have not been in Syracuse in 25 years probably. Not surprised that Carrier Dome may soon be renamed. Time for a redo I am sure and giving naming or renaming rights in exchange for a very large pot of money is Development Fundraising 101. Do you have any idea how inconvenient, noisy, and disruptive it was going to law school in a building next door to the Carrier Dome?
I had a freelance job in the marketing department at Bristol my last year of law school...best part was the employee discount at the deeply discounted employee store. Paid $2 for an Excedrin bottle with 1000 tablets in it. Perfect for the impoverishec law student who ran out of money halfway through the last year. I think that was on Thompson Road.
I do need to revisit. The law school has at least doubled in size since my day.
Hello. Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans. It’s raining here and I’m enjoying a lazy day, napping on and off. The last couple of days I created a new calendar on my IPad to keep track of my reading tasks. Whether I keep it up is an unknown but for now it makes me feel accomplished.I read three books this week:
Steam Pigs by Melissa Lucashenko for RH prompt #8 Oceania ownvoices book and RW prompt #16 book by an indigenous woman. This was an older book (1999) and it took me a while to catch things as I haven’t read a book that takes place in Australia before.
Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner for RW prompt #6 Multigenerational family saga - this took me three days to finish. Not because I didn’t like it but it felt so true. It was reviewing all of the major milestones of my life as a woman. It also is so fresh and painful because I feel we are relitigating so many of these things again.
Another Dance by L.A. Ashton a short m/m romance story a Netgalley arc. I didn’t enjoy the writing. It’s too bad because the characters had promise.
I’m currently reading Me Myself & Him by Chris Tebbetts an ARC and then finally I get to read
The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar for a buddy read as well as for the PS salty prompt.
And Under Currents by Nora Roberts which I won in a giveaway in the Nora Roberts group.
Current stats
PS 34/55. RH 15/24. RW 20/26. B2C 4/12. TRIM 2/12.
GR 89/100
Thanks to Cendaquenta for her reference to A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies I read it today and it was marvelous.
QOTW
I love hearing how everyone organizes their books. I moved to my current residence in December and I’m still fussing with my books. In my last place they were in tubs and bags and impossible to find. I have 7 bookshelves plus a couple of smaller ones and it’s driving me crazy. I have all my fiction alphabetized my author. I haven’t divided by genre. It’s an interesting concept except for those books that fit in multiple ones. My nonfiction is divided sort of by type. Autobiography/Biography divided by political figures and then others. Social justice, race, women, lgbt, inspirational, health/healing/reiki books. I have a whole bookshelf for my Pagan books. I’m a mess. I think because I overthink everything.
I've done some reading but not much for the challenge itself.For the prompt of a book inspired by mythology, legend or folklore
I read Kept Tears by Jana Denardo (Welsh fairy folk)
I also finished Spellbent by Lucy A. Snyder, urban fantasy set in Columbus OH but it wasn't all I'd hoped it would be
Black Butler, Vol. 24by Yana Toboso
QOTW Ahahahahahaha, tries to catch breath, nope, ahahaha, things are just everywhere
Sarah wrote: "Hi everyone. The heat has finally hit Yorkshire! It's about time summer arrived here. I was beginning to think we'd skipped straight to autumn. I'm supposed to be getting ready for a work night out..."Haha! Heat? I've spent the last week in a full length winter coat...admittedly I have been getting funny looks off those in shorts and t-shirts.
Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone has a safe one! I was only able to finish Daughter of the Siren Queen for a book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature. I'm now at 34/50.Currently (actively) reading:
The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo for a book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in title.
About the Night by Anat Talshir for AtY and the GR summer challenge...I'm hoping to finish it this week.
P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han for A Game of Booksathon.
QOTW: I had very good intentions to organize my books when I got a bookcase but that didn't happen! I do at least have the books in series together and in book number order. I'm trying to get my collectible books all together, but they're currently in small groups on 3 different shelves.
Happy 4th July to those who celebrate it. Happy Territory Day to those back home.As expected this week was an epic fail on completing anything. I am back in UK after 9 years and have been busy. I've been to Sedgefield (up near Darlington) for a night with a friend who owns kennels and a cattery (60 dogs to play with), Whitby several times, been for a walk through to Grosmont and seen the steam train (featured in the first Harry Potter movie), been out for a feed to both pubs in Egton Bridge and over the stepping stones and up Egton bank, been through to Scarborough, been to Middlesbrough twice and visited my uncle (who probably won't be with us next trip over), been to York, stayed a night in Hull with a friend who has 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 rats, 4 mice, a snake, a tank full of fish and a crested gecko which masturbates on the side of his tank. We had to put the deposit under the microscope and it looks like the sperm are deposited at different stages of development which would make sense since the female gecko will keep the deposit until she is ready to use it. Today I caught up with 2 ex-students (now 32) and tomorrow I get to catch up with my old Chemistry teacher for lunch before heading off to London to see my sister. I am getting very odd looks for wearing too many clothes but it is COLD!
Good trip so far but little time for reading. Hope to finish Atonement before I leave (17th) UK since it is Mum's copy. Best book news is I got a signed copy of Recursion in Middlesbrough.
QOTW
The bookshelf in the lounge houses my Currently reading books for both work and fun in any old order.
The bedside table has whichever I am in the mood for right now.
The study/3rd bedroom has one bookshelf (5 shelves) for core sciences (lots of marine bio/diving) 1 for psych and popular science books, 1 for classics, 1 for travel and adventure, 2 for YA, 3 for general fiction. TBRs are either balanced along the top of the bookshelves to make extra shelf space or with the others by the same author with a sticker on to remind me to read them. They are all broken down by author and date published eg Stephen King the first published to most recent. Nothing is alphabetical or colour coded and I have run out of shelf space so have also started using the wardrobe for textbook type ones. I may be slightly out of control.
Happy Independence Day! Or just regular day, to all those non-Americans! For the third year in a row, I'm working night shift, so I feel way less attached to this holiday than I used to. Alas. Med school libraries are almost always open since med students are almost always studying!Completed:
Cast Two Shadows: The American Revolution in the South by Ann Rinaldi: This was originally going to be my novel based on a true story but the majority of it took place in June and July of 1780, so it felt really appropriate to move it over to the "read a book during the season it's set in" prompt. I have always loved her books--she's my favorite historical fiction writer because of the people she uses to tell her stories and the way she provides an explanation for what's fact and what's fiction.
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden: This was my nostalgia book. I read this SO many times as a kid but somehow didn't remember most of it, so I wanted to re-read and see what I thought. It's incredible how the images have always stuck with me. While I didn't remember the overall storyline immediately, scenes kept coming up that woke up little parts of my memory, like finding bits of myself that were so familiar I'd just stopped thinking about them. It was a lovely reading experience. And I did still love the story!
I'm now at 23/47 for PS.
Currently reading:
Ivanhoe
The Grey Fairy Book: Not for PS but, as I've mentioned before, I usually have a book of fairy/folktales going before bed.
Bunny: I really shouldn't pick this one up, just because I don't need it for PS, but I'm so intrigued by the premise and my library just got it in their popular books collection. So this means I'm going to fall behind on PS again...
QOTW:
I may not be an official librarian (I'm a library assistant part time and it's only a "for now" job) but I am DEFINITELY a librarian's daughter! I have my entire collection cataloged on The Library Thing, complete with genre and location tags! A huge chunk of my collection is in boxes at my parents' house, which makes me ache sometimes because I want them all with me and on shelves, but I have yet to settle anywhere long enough to justify bringing them. Hopefully in the next year or so! For now, the books I do have with me are split between four bookcases: Classics; fairy/folktales and biographies (a weird combo, but they fit together on the shelves); non-fiction; and fiction. Then they're alphabetized by author and, of course, series are in order. I have also resorted to decorating with books so that I have space for the ones that don't fit on the shelves!
I get so excited thinking about the day when I have my whole collection together and can REALLY go to town divvying them up and giving them proper homes!
Hey all! I haven't read anything new this week - had a busy week at work, and also my spare time is going to the newly-released FFXIV: Shadowbringers.In Shadowbringers, you travel to the faerie realm, which made me realize how much faerie-themed media I've been consuming - The Scorpio Races, The Call, The Cruel Prince, and now this. It wasn't intentional, but I always like seeing themes pop up like this.
QotW: These days, practically everything I read is e-books or library books. But my physical shelf organization is kind of a hodgepodge. I have my books roughly tiered by how much I like them, so one shelf is favorites, the next shelf is almost-favorites, and so on. (Series stay together, even if there's a dip/spike in quality.) Then each shelf is arranged in descending order of height (still keeping series together).
Ellie wrote: "Currently listening to The Time Traveler's Wife for a book with over a million ratings. I'm a bit bored by it to be honest (OK first I was disturbed by him going back to visit his wife when she was a child), but I don't have many options that I haven't read already so I'll plod on."Man, I tried so hard to read that book when the book club I used to be in chose it. I, too, found the whole "let me go visit the child version of my wife" SO creepy that I just couldn't like his character. And I was bored. So bored. I don't remember how far I got but I know I didn't finish it. And I've never looked back!
Jen wrote: "Happy 4th July to those who celebrate it. Happy Territory Day to those back home.As expected this week was an epic fail on completing anything. I am back in UK after 9 years and have been busy. I'..."
OK... the Masturbating Gecko wins a prize! Not sure what prize, but definitely a prize! 😂😂😂😂😂😂🦎
Jen wrote: "Happy 4th July to those who celebrate it. Happy Territory Day to those back home.As expected this week was an epic fail on completing anything. I am back in UK after 9 years and have been busy. I'..."
On the being cold when all are in tee shirts and shorts...last year I spent a week in mid-September in Montana. Warmest it got was high 50F, and at night in high 30F - that is cold. It actually snowed in the moubtains. I could not get warm, a real oddity because I am always hot. I should have been revelling in it, going without a jacket, etc. I was bundled up while everyone around me wore flipflops and shorts and was swimming in the pool. Day 2 I figured out the problem....when I got on the plane in NY, it was high 90F witn 100% humidity, and it was the end of hot humid NYC summer. I get off plane in Montana - it was 50F and nearly zero humidity. Of course my body could not instantly asjust!
By end of week I got by with just a down vest, but still...
Theresa wrote: "Jen wrote: "Happy 4th July to those who celebrate it. Happy Territory Day to those back home.As expected this week was an epic fail on completing anything. I am back in UK after 9 years and have b..."
I could be wrong but I think the gecko already got his prize.
I forgot to answer the QOTW!I have a lot of books ... shelves and piles in every room, including the bathroom. There is absolutely zero order to be found. That is not my natural state. I moved once too often in a relatively short span of time, and the last move into my current apartment was not well orchestrated. It ended up that I had to have the boxes of books unpacked without taking time to put them into order. And I have not had the impetus to tackle the project in the 8+ years since.
There are vestiges of the prior order, but I can never seem to find a book I know I have and want to read - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is there somewhere. So are all the Lauren Willig historical spy series. But what pops up? James Joyce and TS Eliot!
I have an enormous # of 📚. So many I have to double layer on the shelves. That means I have hardcovers and trade paper in the back row and peperbacks in the front. Oversize books are separate. When they were organized, I had them sorted by genre and then alphabetized by author, with series in sequential order. Really special books have a small bookcase all their own: Lymond, GOT, HP, LOTR, Proust, Beckett, special gift books and autographed.
Genre divisions are key. Cookbooks and books involving food or chefs, including fiction, are in the eat-in kitchen. Reference and travel related books including travel essay go in foyer where desk and computer are. Romances in the bedroom. Mysteries, general fiction, biography, needlework, general non-fiction or misc. Oh, and all Christmas themed of any kind go in their own case.
I really need to get them organized again.
I also have a lot of ebooks. Not organized in the Kindle App at all, but thise in my Nook app are organized by shelves, a great easyy to use feature that I wish Kindle had. It is one of the reasons I mostly read ebooks using Nook app. My Nook shelves are mostly genre bit some are author specific.
Read this week-The Fellowship of the Ring( meant to read in ‘18)- On rereading LOTOR I can see why people don’t always get along with the style. It reads like what it is- a mythic epic novel written by a midcentury Oxford professor/linguist. That style doesn’t bother me though, and the story remains special to me. 4 stars.
QOTW-
I don’t own very many books so my organization is simple. I have one shelf for read fiction, one shelf for read non-fiction, and then a shelf for TBR
Theresa wrote: "I forgot to answer the QOTW!I have a lot of books ... shelves and piles in every room, including the bathroom. There is absolutely zero order to be found. That is not my natural state. I moved on..."
I started putting my kindle books in collections. I love that you can put them in multiple collections - like different shelves. In many ways I think shelving ebooks is much easier than hard copy because you can put them in more than one place. The only problem is I much prefer to read my hard copy books.
This week, I finished
Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future by Pete Buttigieg and
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Both are for PopSugar prompts.Currently 59% through
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. I was going to save it for October (Willie Lincoln is a ghost in the story) but I was curious about it and started it last weekend. Then a mountain of work fell on me, and I haven't read anything that isn't work since last weekend. (For work, I proofread how-to publications in two languages for a fast-food chain. (I've already worked more than 8 hours today on my holiday...a couple of hours of work left to go.) But--nothing scheduled on my calendar until Monday, so I should get nearly a three-day weekend. (I'm sure something will come in.) Saturday, I've got a greyhound group meet-and-greet and a brunch with my family. But we need to do a short meet-and-greet because my 11-year-old greyhound isn't well (vet thinks vasculitis), so I don't need to tire her out. (And both greyhounds are black, and Saturday's temps are supposed to hit 80F by 10 am.) Tonight, both dogs are under the influence of some hemp oil; the boy has finally gone to sleep, but the girl is just panting like crazy. Fireworks are not popular in my house.QOTW: I've pretty much stopped buying books that aren't ebooks, so the thousands of ebooks I've bought are just scrambled around on GoodReads, where they're nicely searchable. (I have a huge list of shelves on GoodReads, but not that many books sorted onto them.) But before my Kindle and GoodReads, I read a lot of paperback sci-fi and mysteries--on shelves upstairs, alphabetical by author on two sets of shelves. The hardbacks I have are histories and biographies downstairs by era: Romans, middle ages, American Revolution, Civil War, WW I, WW II, mid- to late-20th century. I have all the U.S. topics on two bookcases, English on another, and the rest of the world (mostly Russian histories) on the 4th bookcase. My earliest immigrant ancestor arrived at Jamestown three months before the Pilgrims hit Plymouth, so I had ancestors pretty much everywhere in U.S. historical events, and a few other ancestors milling around in Great Britain or Western Europe.
Hello everyone!!! Happy 4th of July for those that celebrate it. Happy Thursday and check-in day for those who don't. I have not finished any books this week but that's ok. I have actually watched some movies and television this week instead which I rarely am able to make time for more than 1 a week. I am working on quite a few books this week and just enjoying things. The weather is blistering and super unpleasant so I shall be hiding inside for the foreseeable future.22/40 Regular
4/10 Advanced
Currently Reading
Listening to this on overdrive. Really enjoying it so far. I read The Wife Between Us last year (I think) and I quite enjoyed it.
This is my "textbook" for my Critical Thinking course. Only certain chapters are assigned so I don't know if I will finish. It's super interesting so far though.
Super whovian here, I want part in EVERYTHING David Tennant does. Watched the 1st 4 episodes and loved it (pushed to watch by the ridiculous petition to take it off the air, f u censorship!) Decided I wanted to read it despite not liking Gaiman as a novelist. So far it's almost word for word of the show so far. I'm not mad at it.
Not actively reading this one right now. 8/
QotW:
A spin-off from last week’s discussion, per Karen’s excellent suggestion:
How do you organize your book shelves?
This is exciting because I just got 2 new bookshelves in my house!!! My husband and I are setting up our office, which up until this point has just been the room we put all the stuff we have no space for. I have one shelf already in the office which has been over-flowing for a while now. I have not fully set how they will be organized but I currently have all my book of the month club books together and sorted alphabetically. I have my acting books and plays together. Cookbooks are together. I previously just had everything on the shelf, paperbacks in one area, hard covers in the other. Other than that there was no actual sorting. Now that I have more shelves I believe everything will be sorted differently. Not sure how though. Excited to get it set up though. Will be sorting kindle now that I know it's an option!
I haven't checked in in a while, mainly because I've read diddly-boo-wop. I've been so busy with moving that reading has flown out the window. However, as someone who just put her books back onto the shelves, I love this week's question. I organize roughly by genre (though sometimes that is a genre of my own making) and then within that by author, and then by publication date.
The week was alright I guess, but I did get to see Eddie Izzard the other day, so life is good! He was a good pairing with my audiobook. Cheeky Brits.It's not even dark yet and it's already so loud I'm not sure I'll get any sleep at all, which is great since my alarm goes off for work at 3:15am. Ugh. I miss when I was a kid. Everyone waited until dark and nobody but the pros had the crap that shoots into the sky.
This month is the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, so I'm having a space marathon! Woohoo!
Finished:
Space Opera - As someone who knows of exactly two Eurovision songs, I am impressed I could tell they are the chapter titles/headers.
Currently Reading:
Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story - Book club meeting next Thursday, so I need to get off my butt and finish this.
Sovereign - One of those Audible freebies, and I'm suddenly not regretting my rarely choosing any.
QOTW:
Right now my books aren't organized at all, since I have three or four bookcases worth of books, but only one bookcase. They are in huge stacks on my huge desk, and several other places, and in bags on the floor. Hopefully that will change in the coming months. When I had the chance, I organized by books I think went together. Usually that was by genre, and within that, honestly what I felt went together best. Frankenstein was always next to Dracula.
I only read two books plus a picture book this week... A quite respectable amount of reading, but usually I tear through a lot more books than that when I'm this low energy with health issue flare ups, so I'm not sure what happened there. Finished Reading:
Compete I was so disappointed with this sequel to a YA book I really enjoyed! The world building and all that was still great, but the 'romance' suddenly took a turn to icky/awkward/jerkface territory. Every scene after that where they were together and it was still written like there was romantic tension was just really uncomfortable. And there's a third book, which I kind of don't want to read, but kind of want to get the overall plot arc resolved. Sigh.
Pride Audiobook. Not the greatest as a retelling, but very interesting as a slice of culture.
Instructions Loved this picture book! So perfect.
Currently Reading:
Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist Sloooowww progress...
Orthodoxy Using this for 'book recommended by a celebrity you admire' as I found it recommended by a rather obscure musician that I have high regard for. LOVING this one so far! It is from a Christian perspective, but I'd recommend it for anyone who enjoys reading philosophical type books.
One Corpse Too Many Decided to read the sequel to A Morbid Taste for Bones, partly because I liked the first one, and partly because I feel like checking of 'set in a monastery' is more official with this one. A good historical murder mystery, but I don't feel the need to continue binging the series or anything.
DNF:
The Cellar beneath the Cellar Temporary DNF as I just wasn't in the right mood and it needed to go back the library.
The Marvelous Misadventures of Ingrid Winter Well written book about a very boring character. Just didn't care enough to stick with it.
QOTW:
First age group, then fiction/nonfiction, then genre/subject, then author, with maybe subgenre sorting if I feel like it. History (along with any historical biography and the like) is all on one shelf sorted chronologically.
I have half a dozen book cases filled with books, so I don't always follow my own system perfectly, especially if adding new books in the right place would involve shifting several shelves worth of books in order to make room in the right places. Also, there are few anomalies around hard to sort books--all the Tolkien and LOTR related books are in a place of honor on top of one of the shelves, Anne McCaffrey sits between fantasy and sci-fi as she wrote both, etc.
Hello, hope everyone had a happy 4th of July whether or not it was a holiday for you. Lazy day here, hot and humid so no cookout or fireworks. Since my last post I finished a few challenge books:
The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect and The Book of Why for books with the same name. The first was for my science book club, and I found the other (a novel) at the library. Can’t say I really liked either, but this was a tough prompt for me.
I’m reading Harry Potter for the first time, and it fits many prompts! This week I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which I’m using for the superpower prompt.
I also read Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return, loved them. Also finally got around to Daisy Jones & The Six, really liked it, although it didn’t quite live up to the huge hype its getting.
QOTW: I have no organization for my books. I do pull a stack off the shelf that I intend to read next and put them on the coffee table. Sometimes I actually follow through, sometimes I re shelve after a few months when I change my mind.
Theresa wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Hi everyone. The heat has finally hit Yorkshire! It's about time summer arrived here. I was beginning to think we'd skipped straight to autumn. I'm supposed to be getting ready for a ..."I read the first two LOTR books years ago and I don't remember them being such a struggle.
50/50Completed the challenge!
Finished:
The Big Four by Agatha Christie. Not for the challenge.
Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie. Not for the challenge.
Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah for a book that's published in 2019.
Currently reading:
The Labours of Hercules
Jen wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Hi everyone. The heat has finally hit Yorkshire! It's about time summer arrived here. I was beginning to think we'd skipped straight to autumn. I'm supposed to be getting ready for a ..."We literally had two different staff members pass out from the heat at the weekend because it was that warm here! Your winter coat would definitely have got some funny looks
I'm in awe at everyone's organisational skills! I used to shelve books by genre but I'd end up being undecided on where some books should go, and then the science fiction started encroaching on the crime fiction as my tastes changed. Now I'm just happy if they are on a bookshelf and not the floor/on top of the dog's crate.My parents are visiting from Scotland next week, so I've put together a big bagful of books for them... which means I have some gaps I can plug my new purchases in. That gives me satisfaction!
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
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Odd One Out (other topics)
Our House (other topics)
Be Prepared (other topics)
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Our July monthly read of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet has begun, annnd our polls for choosing the monthly reads for the fourth quarter (ghost story, pop/sugar/challenge in the title, and published this year) are open until Sunday.
This week I finished 2 books, one for this Challenge, so I am now 43/50.
Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman - I was so disappointed in this book, it’s no where near as good as their previous series (Illuminae). I probably won’t continue with the series. It is definitely “set in space” however, so that worked.
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean - this was ok but, for a layperson’s vaguely humorous history of science, it was not as good as Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. I used this for the AtY category: “related to an element on the periodic table.”
Question of the Week
A spin-off from last week’s discussion, per Karen’s excellent suggestion:
How do you organize your book shelves?
My house is a mess because I can’t be bothered to keep up with other people moving my stuff. In a perfect world, my books would be organized by genre (all cookbooks together, all gardening books together, all field guides together, etc) and then alphabetically in some way that makes sense to the genre. Fiction would def be alpha by author. The series of Best Short Stories volumes would be by year. Cookbooks I’d probably just group by type (baking, vegetarian, other) and size.