Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Happy Thanksgiving (US) for those who celebrate or Happy Thursday or Happy ‘Whatever’ for everyone else…like me! My husband and I decided years ago not to celebrate the attempted annihilation of native people or the ‘mythic meal’, but rather to focus on native people on this day. I plan to pick up House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday which I began reading 4 years ago (Doesn’t that make YOU feel better?!? LOL It should!), put down, and then never returned to…until now! 😊 It won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and I am very curious!

Admin Stuff:
And don’t forget that we will be reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett in December with Lauren leading the discussion! This is to fulfill prompt #1 A book published in 2020. I picked up my copy from the post office yesterday morning!

If you choose to read a different book to fulfill this prompt, you can post that information here.
I just went ahead and set these up since *gasp!* we are almost at month’s end! As of this next Tuesday it is DECEMBER! And…we should have the 2021 Popsugar Challenge listing! Whoo! Whoo!

Popsugar: 49/50
ATY: 52/52 DONE!
RHC: 22/24
Reading Women: 21/26
ATY done and this weekend I should finish Popsugar!

FINISHED:
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ is the book selected for the November monthly read for the Bookworm Bitches group. I was able to make progress on this one last week, so finishing wasn’t too difficult! I truly enjoyed Gilbert’s writing and this imaginative story including so many varied people in all their glory, chaos, and ‘not-so-glorious’ moments! This was a beautiful story with love and romance in it, but not especially in the more conformational ways you might expect. I really appreciate that aspect of this book. I will make it a point to read more of Gilbert’s writing.
POPSUGAR: #3-“I received a letter from his daughter the other day.”, #6, #12, #20, #24-I know nothing about living in New York City or working as a costume designer, #27-Pride, Lust, Greed, Envy, Wrath, #33-4.04, #34, #35, #36, #38, #50
ATY: #4-A time when men could do as they pleased…with women, #10-470 pages, #15-NYC, #22, #23, #26-Live theater, #26-2019 Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Historical Fiction, #27-historical fiction, #33, #34-LGBTQ+, Romance, #43-Death, War, #46-Walter Winchell, #52
RHC: #21
Reading Women: #10-owner/manager of live theater, costume designer, writer, actors, dancers, #12, #20, #22-New-to-me publisher, #23

The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to complete ATY #21-Book related to Maximilian Hell, noted astronomer and Jesuit Priest born in 1720. (The last book for this challenge!) Interestingly, once I had researched others’ reactions to this book I understood much better the writing style, etc. I was correct about it being a bit absurd, ironic, and satirical, but with what I think of as more “classical” writing and use of words. Once I had confirmation of my own first impressions, I was able to basically zip through it. Hazzard’s use of language felt disruptive quite a few times. I don’t recall having to use a dictionary so much with any one other book I’ve read! There was much more plot to this than I thought there would be, so that was a bit of a pleasant surprise. So much infidelity! And manipulation. And I did enjoy the rather humorous references to literature and its effects upon readers scattered throughout.
POPSUGAR: #3-“By nightfall the headlines would be reporting devastation.”, 5-London, #6, #12, #20, #27-Pride, Lust, Greed, Envy, Wrath, #43, #48, #50
ATY: #15-Sydney, London, NYC, NEW #21, #23, #25-Paul was a successful playwright, #27-historical fiction, #28-Born in Australia, #33, #34-LGBTQ+, #42-1982 National Book Award Finalist for Fiction, #43-Death, #52
RHC: #7

CONTINUING:
Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings (Dandelion Dynasty #1) for a 2020 Reading Challenge October/November/December Buddy Read. Should be done this weekend!

Strange the Dreamer by Liani Taylor to complete Popsugar #18-Book with a made-up language. (The last book for Popsugar!) I have simply lacked enough time to complete this enthralling story!

House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday. Yes, this is the one I began reading in 2016! It is my “Thanksgiving Day” read. For November Native American Heritage month.

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi for the campus White Racial Literacy Project book club on campus.

Ooohhh…I have four whole days this next week/weekend! YES!!
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, Learning Race, Learning Place: Shaping Racial Identities and Ideas in African American Childhoods by Erin Winkler, and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. I was hoping to finish them for Nonfiction November.

Yet another nonfiction read--Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker. A good friend gave me this book once she had read it. She was aware of the history of schizophrenia in my family and felt I would enjoy it. And she was correct! It’s fascinating and I am diggin’ Kolker’s writing style. (Get a load of that throwback expression!)

PLANNED:
A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas for the Read Harder Challenge prompt #2 Retelling of a classic of the canon, fairy tale, or by an author of color.

The Red Rooster Cookbook: The Story of Food and Hustle in Harlem and listening to Our Harlem: Seven Days of Cooking, Music and Soul at the Red Rooster on Audible for the Read Harder Challenge prompt #13 Read a food book about a cuisine you’ve never tried before. Marcus Samuelsson did both of these and I have listened to the first section of the Audible recording and it is fascinating!

The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride or A Cat of a Different Color (Alice Nestleton Mystery #2) by Lydia Adamson for the 2020 Reading Challenge Color Challenge prompt #17 Read a book with the word “color” in the title. I really want to read the first one, but I’m pretty sure the second one will be a faster read…decisions, decisions!

Home (Binti #2) by Nnedi Okorafor for the Reading Women prompt #7 Read a book featuring Afrofuturism or Africanfuturism. I loved Binti and plan to do a quick reread of it before reading this next installment.

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie for the Reading Women prompt #5 Read a book that won the Stella Prize or Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Waiting until January now to begin The Wall of Storms (Dandelion Dynasty #2) by Ken Liu. It’s a chunkster!

Question of the Week:
Building off Nadine’s question last week, what book or author have you read this year that surprised you the most?
Again, “surprise” can be interpreted in many different ways:
Were you surprised you enjoyed it/them?
Were you surprised you disliked it/them immensely?
Were you surprised by a new-to-you genre or writing style or author?
Did one specific book or author surprise you by ‘disappointing’ you?

I experienced a huge “surprise” and disappointment this year. It stemmed from reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ Chronicle of a Death Foretold and disliking it immensely. I rated it at only 1 star. Me. The one for whom every book begins at 5 stars and then it decreases only if the book displeases me. This one was, IMO, beyond absurd. Then months later I picked up my copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude, telling myself that surely this would be much better. I got as far as page 73 and abandoned it. I thought I might continue reading it at a later date, but I’ve decided not to waste my time. He and I just don’t mix! And here I thought I was really missing out by not reading his writing! I might at some point in the future attempt Love in the Time of Cholera, but I am not holding my breath for that one either. So I ended up really disappointed in this Nobel-prize-winning author. The positive aspect of this? At least now I know… 😊

Then there was Cocktails for Three by Madeleine Wickham (aka Sophia Kinsella) which very pleasantly surprised me. I had always avoided the Shopaholic series, assuming I probably would not like it, but after reading this one I would not be averse to at least reading the first in that series just to see what I think of it!

Happy Turkey Day! I'm looking forward to checking out the festivities in Animal Crossing later, otherwise it's a normal work day for me.

I finished ATY this week so I am now officially done with my challenges for the year and can read whatever I like for a month. I'm looking forward to seeing the new list next week.

Finished:
State of Sorrow for ATY (emotion in title). This started off as pretty generic YA fantasy but then turned into a book about an election and corruption...which was different but not really what I wanted to read to escape world news. The ending annoyed me a bit and I don't think I'll be reading the sequel, I can guess what happens. But it ticked off my last ATY prompt so YAY!

Monstress, Vol. 5: Warchild was soooo good. I love Kippa and this was so emotional and it really doesn't shy away from the fact that war is horrible.

The Magpie Society: One for Sorrow was better than I was expecting after seeing some harsh reviews (I think people just like being mean about Zoella). I like Amy's other books so I thought I'd give this collaboration a go. It takes a while to warm to the characters and the writing is quite basic, but if you like reading YA set in unrealistic boarding schools (I do!) it's perfectly fine. Young teen me would have loved this and I guess that's the audience.

Currently reading The Dark Archive and listening to Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths.

PS: 50/50 | ATY: 52/52 | GR: 108/100

QOTW:
Prime Deceptions was literally a surprise book in the post, I wasn't even aware a sequel was out so that was nice.

I was surprised I liked The Starless Sea as much as I did because I was quite meh on The Night Circus.

Midnight Sun was surprisingly long (and unnecessarily so).

I've gravitated more towards authors I know I already like this year, so I've not had too many surprises.

Lynn wrote: "Then there was Cocktails for Three by Madeleine Wickham (aka Sophia Kinsella) which very pleasantly surprised me. I had always avoided the Shopaholic series, assuming I probably would not like it, but after reading this one I would not be averse to at least reading the first in that series just to see what I think of it!..."

I did stop reading the Shopaholic series after a while, but I loved the first few books. A lot of people dismiss it as silly, and whilst it is funny, a lot of young people do have terrible shopping addictions and get into debt just to buy stuff they don't need. So I liked that she actually talked about that and made others talk about it too.

Happy Thursday and Happy Thanksgiving!! For me, Thanksgiving has always been a fall festival to be celebrated with family, and i never associated with the invasion of the Americas in particular (that what the former Columbus Day and all the “patriotic” holidays are for). This year my kids and I are with my mother only - she lives alone and we’ve all been very socially distanced so we thought it would be safe (and I couldn’t bring myself to let my mother spend this holiday all alone, it’s only been a few years since my father died so I think it would be too hard for her).

We are having rather warm weather here, again. Took the kids on a “small” hike that turned out to be a grueling hike to see a “glacial erratic” for their science project. We never made it all the way to the end of the trail to see the Tripod Rock because I think the people who labeled this trail “easy” meant it was easy for rock climbers, but we did see a lot of huge rocks, so we “checked that box” on the science project.


This week I finished 1 book.

Elatsoe - this book got such early praise, I was expecting the world from it, and it did not deliver for me. It feels like a middle grade story and I don’t understand why it’s not marketed as that. I wasn’t crazy about a free short story from the same author so maybe she’s just not my style of author.


QotW


I’m away from home, therefore away from my spreadsheet, so I can’t easily glance at the whole year’s reading, but ... two recent books surprised me by being so ... not good. I had the highest of expectations for both Elatsoe & Winter Counts - they had great reviews (rave reviews, even) and they both sounded like my kind of book, but wow no. In both cases the writing really let me down. There have been quite a few books this year that disappointed me when I expected greatness, now that I’ve looked through my last few months: Afterland, Transcendent Kingdom, Verax, and Neurocomic all let me down when I expected greatness.

QOTW: I read Deep Space as my book on a subject I knew nothing about. It was a coffee table book, so I was honestly surprised at how scientific and above my head the whole thing was. I was expecting something less in-depth. I mean, it was a coffee table book for crying out loud, not someone's dissertation.

Happy Thursday. I finished 2 books for the week. I’m still doing Nonfiction November so both are nonfiction.
The Heartbeat Of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present by David Treuer. 5 stars
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro. 5 stars
QOTW: I think my biggest surprise (in a good way) was The Overstory by Richard Powers. 502 pages about trees. Loved it. My greatest surprise ( I didn’t like it) Tidelands (The Fairmile #1) by Philippa Gregory.

Happy Thanksgiving! This is our first major holiday without my mom, so there are lots of feelings about that. We'll be with my dad. We normally all go (including my parents) to my sister-in-law's house in Pittsburgh, but it was too far to travel and too many people. So, it will just be the three of us. We're also going to put up the Christmas tree, which is a thing we always did when I was young. Which is kind of interesting, because we're not huge on Christmas. We're atheists, and we don't really do a ton of gifts. But we love that Christmas tree.

I've been in a little bit of a reading slump lately. Partly because I'm just having malaise, but partly because I've been spending a lot of my free time sewing. This week I only finished one book, which was Interior Chinatown. It just won the National Book Award, so I was interested. It was okay. I loved the writing style and the format, but the story was a little too preachy at times, and the courtroom stuff/legal citations were a little off. Overall, I would recommend it. There was definitely more good than bad.

QOTW: I think my biggest surprise this year was how good the debut authors were. Two of my favorite books this year were The Girl with the Louding Voice and The Space Between Worlds. I want to read everything that Abi Daré and Micaiah Johnson write in the future.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate. I’m checking in this morning, and then it’ll be time to start prepping my dishes for Thanksgiving. I’m in a quarantine bubble with two friends who live together, but like me, have no family where we live. My dishes are stuffing (or dressing, since it’s outside of the turkey), rolls, green bean casserole, and a garden salad.

Not only did I not finish any books this week, I literally didn't even pick up a book. I read 0 pages. I'm afraid it's a reading slump. Fortunately, the new list comes out Tuesday. I'm glad I have something bookish to look forward to.

QOTW
Wild at Heart was a literal surprise for me because it was released earlier than expected. I didn't see the announcement that the release date had been moved up. I pre-ordered so it showed up on my Kindle early. I dropped everything to read it and loved it.

Happy Day Before Native American Heritage Day (aka Thanksgiving)! This will be the first year my partner and I spend the holiday without one of our families, but it's worth it if it keeps them all alive. I hope everyone stays safe out there. <3

This week I finished:

One Life I loved this! I'm elated when people with significant platforms take a stand for what's right, especially when it comes with a risk and it's not an easy thing to do. What a great role model! 5 stars

Four by Four This was strange. Interesting idea, but the order of things and general structure were odd. 3 stars

Dear Martin Sad, as expected. I had mixed feelings about the ending, but overall a strong story. 4 stars

The Great Offshore Grounds This had a lot going on, and some parts held my attention more than others, but I appreciated it overall. 4 stars

The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race This was for a book club and I look forward to discussing it. Powerful and moving. 5 stars

Barn 8 My engagement with this story was up and down, and the format was a little confusing, but decent overall. 3 stars

I'm currently listening to The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. and reading Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed in print.

QOTW: The biggest surprise this year is probably that I've already read 236 books (mainly because of the pandemic, and being unemployed the first half of the year). But as far as book/author surprises, I might go with some memoir-type books that I expected to like, but ended up being thrilled by: One Life, The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love, Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day, Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me, and Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story.

Thanksgiving greetings from NYC! No annual parade with floats rumbling down Central Park West but ever so thankful to be here, safe and healthy, to miss it and be grumbling!

I have not read a word in over a week. Not even sure what I have pending! Busy with work and falling into a reading slump. Ah, well. This too shall pass. On to the QOTW.

What immediately comes to mind was how disappointed I was in The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson. Not just because I am not much of a fantasy reader. I had gone to an interview by N.K. Jemisin with the author hosted by NYPL on the day it was released, and Wilson was so dynamic and smart! Had high expectations as a result.

I also discovered a love for Japanese police procedurals from the Golden Age of Japanese Crime Fiction (1960s and 1970s) after reading translations of The Mystery Train Disappears and Inspector Imanishi Investigates. Fortunately for me there seems to be a resurgence in interest, translation, and publication of these brilluantly crafted and written mysteries.

Happy Thursday (and Thanksgiving for those who celebrate it).

We're actually planning on having our big Thanksgiving dinner Saturday or Sunday, and using today to decorate the house for Christmas. It doesn't really feel like Christmas after such a mess of a year, but hopefully this helps.

Books read this week:

Life in the Valley of Death: The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold, and Greed -- A bit dry but still a fascinating account regarding conservation of tigers in Myanmar. If you don’t know much about Myanmar as a country, this book could count towards “books about something you know nothing about.”

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking -- A quirky but highly enjoyable fantasy about baking, magic, and the perils of being a hero. If you liked The Twisted Ones and/or The Hollow Places, this is by the same author but is (comparatively) lighter, though with her same witty humor.

Black & White & Weird All Over: The Lost Photographs of "Weird Al" Yankovic '83 – '86 -- Does this count as actually reading a book, since it’s more of a coffee-table book of photos from Weird Al’s early music videos? What the heck, I’m counting it. Probably only interesting to hardcore Weird Al fans, but still a fun look at the early days of his career.

A Ghost In The Theatre -- Novella about two sisters who ghost-hunt for a living. Just okay, though cute.

Fowl Language: Welcome to Parenting -- Comic collection. You’ve probably seen these comics floating around on social media (the duck ones about parenting), and they’re pretty cute and hilarious.

DNF:

The Once and Future Witches -- I LOVED The The Ten Thousand Doors of January, so it was a real disappointment to find I couldn’t connect to this book. The characters just didn’t click with me, and while I get what the author was trying to do in telling a fantasy-laced version of the suffragete movement, it felt extremely heavy-handed to me. (For someone who read the whole book -- are there ANY sympathetic male characters in this book, or are they all monsters/nice guys?)

Currently Reading:

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
The Black God's Drums
Anaconda: The Writer's Cut

QOTW:

I had never read a Seanan McGuire book before this year's challenge, and I was pleasantly surprised by her writing. Looking forward to another Wayward Children book in 2021. Also was amazed at how good Strange the Dreamer and its sequel were, after not really enjoying Daughter of Smoke & Bone.

Kenya - yes, there is at least one good named male character and a group of extras. I really loved The Once and Future Witches, but to each their own!

Sara wrote: "We're also going to put up the Christmas tree, which is a thing we always did when I was young. Which is kind of interesting, because we're not huge on Christmas. We're atheists, and we don't really do a ton of gifts. But we love that Christmas tree..."

I'm not religious in the slightest but it's important to have something to brighten up the otherwise dark winters we have. I love having a tree indoors, decorating the house and eating festive food.

Happy Bird Day, everyone!

Finished: Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones This book has a lot of hype. Took forever to check out from the library. I didn't think it was amazing.

The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads This was really interesting at first, with descriptions of snake oil salesmen, but my interest had petered out by the end.

Started: The Googlization of Everything: My brand loyalty must be really strong because this book hasn't succeeded in lessening my affection for Google.

The Want Makers: Inside the World of Advertising This one's pretty old, but still seems to have some helpful insights.

Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most So far I'm surprised at how much I like this book because I'm not a big fan of the author. It feels like he's picking up in the middle of a conversation instead of rehashing old texts, which I appreciate.

QotW: Autoboyography My neighbor gave me this book and it was sitting on my shelves unread for years. When I finally picked it up, I was surprised at how well executed it was and what an important story it felt to tell on local issues.

Hi all! Happy Thanksgiving to those that celebrate! I prefer to focus on the act of being thankful and grateful for the day, rather than the historical story. And eating, lots of eating! We were going to have a small get together of the 3 of us plus 3 of my partner's family who we have been around this whole time. But one of them got sick with something, and we opted to keep it just to me, partner and kiddo, with a delivery service later to the others. So I'm about to start cooking, but felt I should pop in before I get busy!

I finished Disappearing Earth for a book with a map. All I can say is WOW! What a book!

Trying to finish The Invisible Man this weekend. It's already overdue, but it's a short book so I should be able to do it.

Still haven't picked the next book I want to read. I've got a little bit of a book hangover from Disappearing Earth.

QOTW So my most surprising book is Disappearing Earth. I only just stumbled on it while browsing and added it to my TBR. It isn't the type of book I usually like, but I was completely pulled in to each of the characters. I feel like I know them all. Some people only had a small chapter of a few pages, but they were all real to me. And the ending had my heart racing.

Hi all, we're in our last week of a national lockdown now - I'm so looking forward to getting back in the swimming pool!! Nearly there... Hope everyone is keeping safe. I finished my challenge last week but I have a lot of books out or on hold at the library that I'm really excited about for the end of the year!!


Finished
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot - I've been reading this on Serial Reader since August so finishing feels like a big achievement. I think I'll wait until Jan before starting another large classic - so glad I read this though. I've never read any George Eliot before!

Sourdough by Robin Sloan - a really cute and whimsical book that mainly made me hungry haha. Feeling the urge to get a singing sourdough starter going

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell - this was a really challenging book but seemed very true to life. The books is a great start to the conversation around allowing people to define for themselves what constitutes an assault


Currently Reading
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens


QOTW

I read my first Agatha Christie this year for the challenge and I ended up reading a few. I was very surprised how many of those books encourage the perpetrator to commit suicide once they're discovered!! I guess it's a different time and I am aware of some other problematic issues with Christie when read today but that was a surprise to me!

I was also surprised at how interesting this book was: Unnatural Causes: The Life and Many Deaths of Britain's Top Forensic Pathologists which I read for subject you know nothing about. It was genuinely fascinating!! I actually looked up how you train to become a pathologist and a coroner after reading but I think the extra 2 degrees I would need have put a cap on that interest for the time being...

Happy Thursday and happy Thanksgiving for all US-readers!
Just realise that next Tuesday (Popsugar 2021 Day!) I can’t dive into the new challenge because it’s my sports night. And that’s important because of my back. So I have to wait ANOTHER DAY before I can dive into next year’s challenge.

Finished
The House by the Lake: A Story of Germany - Well written story about a vacation home in Gross Glienicke, about 20 km from Berlin. How a weekend cottage became a monument.

Currently reading
Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944
The Silence of the White City

Qotw
Positive surprises:
Watership Down (mentioned it last week). Oh, how I loved those rabbits…!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Never thought I would like a book full of letters.
Jojo Moyes. I thought ‘just another chick lit’, but I really loved her style of writing in The Giver of Stars

Disappointment: In the Midst of Winter. I wrote in the check-in: Well, Allende obviously is through her enchanting stories. Hope her latest book won’t be another disappointment (it wasn’t!). It is a story about two 50-something people finding love where they didn’t expect it anymore. The book is flashing back and forward in time through the lives of the 3 main characters. It just flashed too much I guess...

Happy Thanksgiving and Thursday! Thanksgiving is weird for me. I don't like what meant historically, but I do like the general idea of taking time out to give thanks for what we have. Also don't like the Black Friday thing that happens the day after we're supposed to be thankful. And this big feast falls right in the middle of an Orthodox fasting season, which is just awkward. Oh well. We celebrate with my extended family since it's important to them, and that's always special. It's also my husband's birthday, so that's nice!

Finished 48/50

SO. CLOSE.

Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering for "book set in Japan". WOW was this an eye opener! It's basically a commentary on Shusaku Endo's Silence and an in depth look at Japanese culture and history through the eyes of a famed Japanese-American artist. A little stuffy, but I learned a TON.

Currently Reading

Words of Radiance for "book with a main character in their 20s". It's been on hiatus since other books were due back to the library, but I'm excited to dive back into this world!

Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind (not for challenge). I get books free in exchange for reviewing them, and I have been SO eager for this book. The author is a highly regarded biblical scholar and podcaster, and a favourite of my husband's! I'm only 3 chapters in and it's already been a mic drop. Cannot wait to see what else she has to bring in this hugely needed book!

QotW

Honestly, I was surprised by how much I loved Lonesome Dove. I'm not really a "western" sort of person and didn't think I'd like this at all, but the depth of the characters and the plot were just amazingly written. It truly felt like a classic saga, and I was not expecting that at all!

Happy Thursday and Happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating right now. Canadian Thanksgiving is early October, but this year my family ended up being separated because of family health issues and covid protocols. 2020 sucks. I've been banned from decorating for Christmas until December, but that's only 5 days away now, so I have something to look forward to.

Books I finished:

Sixth Grave on the Edge - These books start okay, drag in the middle, then finish with a bang, which makes me want to read the next.... I just wish they would be more consistent.

Moon Called - It's time for my yearly reread of this series. I think I might skip a few books though.

The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Uncovering Secrets, Reuniting Relatives, and Upending Who We Are - I remember when this book came out pre-covid and I was really interested in reading it, but then it fell off my radar. It was there in Overdrive and I needed a non-fiction so I picked it up. It was interesting.

Hot Winter Nights - So this is the first book outside of the Wildstone series of Jill Shalvis' that I've read and I didn't like it as much. This was fine, had some good humour, but was still just only okay.

Blood Bound - Book 2 in the series. I really do love these books.

QOTW

Good - The House in the Cerulean Sea was just something I read to cover a difficult challenge (A book with a house made of bricks on the cover) and it ended up being one of my best reads for the whole year.

Bad - The Curseworkers series from Holly Black. I really loved The Folk of Air series and then this series was almost a pan for me.

Happy thanksgiving 🥰 this year isn’t much different for us celebration wise. A few cousins aren’t coming into town but otherwise the people at dinner are the same people we see basically daily.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue not for a challenge, I just got this for my BOTM. This was very enjoyable. I kind of like the idea of people not being able to remember me, and the freedom that would bring. But I can imagine that’d get very old after a century lol

The Fall of the House of Usher for the back to the classics challenge and then I decided to make my way through a chunk of Poe’s short stories. I have this very old book that’s a collection of his works. I’ll spare you the tagging but I read about ten short stories, most of the classics and a few other less discussed short stories. My 14 year old referred to Poe as “goth daddy” so that kind of put me off and I switched gears lol

Magic Lessons not for a challenge, I just wanted to read this. My mom loved Practical Magic (the movie) when I was a kid so this felt like a nod to nostalgia. Very well written, I loved the story.

Hi everyone! Happy Thanksgiving, if that's your thing! I make the dinner every year but it's entirely because I happen to love those foods. I want to be buried in stuffing and mashed potatoes.

I finished Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose by Joe Biden, and it was a really moving memoir. Some of the political sections had be zoned out, but the book is really about Beau and his passing. It was really good.

Now I'm onto reading The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris. I'll be honest, I'm still riding high on the election outcome. I just love Kamala so much already!

Two more prompts to go! I just need "book set in the 20s" and "meant to read in 2019." And, okay, being totally honest, I DNF'd my "book from a series with more than 20 books" way back in May. I've found a suitable replacement, but it's last on my priority list.

QotW

I was surprised to hate The Color of Magic and Wicked Saints. They were both books I fully expected to love. As far as being pleasantly surprised, Axiom's End and Magic for Liars exceeded my expectations and became some of my favorite reads of the year. I was surprised, I guess, by how boring I found Midnight Sun. I was expecting a nostalgia bomb and some laughably cringey content, but it was a snooze.

Hi All!

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it! Our family generally just uses Thanksgiving as an excuse to get the family together to have a big meal. Lately, I have been putting more thought into the holiday itself so I've started reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West today as it seemed an appropriate time to start it and I had it upstairs. This year I am staying home and just doing a small meal with my husband and son. And by a small meal, I mean just green bean casserole (my favorite food) and a cheesecake. My favorite parts of the big meal without all the effort and dishes!

I haven't checked in over here in a while but I also didn't read anything for a few weeks. I've just gotten back into it and have mainly been reading the Inspector Gamache series. I'm up to The Long Way Home and am glad that a lot of the drama from the last few books was tied up and we're into something new (at least, I'm assuming for a little while). Also, I think this would make for such a good TV show. I keep imagining Ruth Zardo as Jo Brand.

Ellie wrote: "I was surprised I liked The Starless Sea as much as I did because I was quite meh on The Night Circus."

Wow! CONGRATULATIONS! All challenges finished! I am jealous! But also happy for you! What an achievement!

Interestingly, I much preferred The Night Circus to The Starless Sea. :)

Ellie wrote: "Lynn wrote: "Then there was Cocktails for Three by Madeleine Wickham (aka Sophia Kinsella) which very pleasantly surprised me. I had always avoided the Shopaholic series, assuming I probably would ..."

I hadn't realized that was the theme of the Shopaholic series. It is good that it helps prompt awareness and discussion. I doubt I'll purposefully seek out one of those to read any time soon. I have so many others series that I KNOW I love and want to continue with... :) But I appreciate knowing more about it.

Nadine wrote: "Elatsoe - this book got such early praise, I was expecting the world from it, and it did not deliver for me. It feels like a middle grade story and I don’t understand why it’s not marketed as that. I wasn’t crazy about a free short story from the same author so maybe she’s just not my style of author."

I have a feeling I may like that one better than you did, but who knows? :)

I trust you all will be safe and enjoy yourselves and how sweet that you think of your mother in that way and want to prevent her being alone.

Katy wrote: "QOTW: I read Deep Space as my book on a subject I knew nothing about. It was a coffee table book, so I was honestly surprised at how scientific and above my head the whole thing was. ..."

Ha! Ha! Perhaps it was someone's dissertation turned into a "coffee table book"! :)

Sherri wrote: "QOTW: I think my biggest surprise (in a good way) was The Overstory by Richard Powers. 502 pages about trees. Loved it."

I also loved it! Especially the intersecting story lines. I always have great admiration for authors who can do that without confusing me! :)

Sara wrote: " We're also going to put up the Christmas tree, which is a thing we always did when I was young. Which is kind of interesting, because we're not huge on Christmas. We're atheists, and we don't really do a ton of gifts. But we love that Christmas tree."

I'm so sorry for your family's loss, but how gracious that you are spending the holiday with your father. I had to laugh at your comment regarding atheism and Christmas trees! I also ascribe to no organized religion or deity, but did give up Christmas trees when I had a cat living with me. I thought I would really miss that, but I really don't... Probably because I'm old and insist upon a live tree and that creates such a mess! :)

"I've been in a little bit of a reading slump lately. Partly because I'm just having malaise, but partly because I've been spending a lot of my free time sewing. This week I only finished one book, which was Interior Chinatown. It just won the National Book Award, so I was interested. It was okay. I loved the writing style and the format, but the story was a little too preachy at times, and the courtroom stuff/legal citations were a little off. Overall, I would recommend it. There was definitely more good than bad."

Gosh! It has been over 25 years since I last attempted a sewing project. My machine was damaged in my last move and I haven't bothered to get it fixed or replace it. What is your current project? And Interior Chinatown does sound interesting, but I imagine I might have mixed feelings about it as well...

"QOTW: I think my biggest surprise this year was how good the debut authors were. Two of my favorite books this year were The Girl with the Louding Voice and The Space Between Worlds. I want to read everything that Abi Daré and Micaiah Johnson write in the future."

I never cease to be amazed by some debut novels!

Heather wrote: "Not only did I not finish any books this week, I literally didn't even pick up a book. I read 0 pages. I'm afraid it's a reading slump. Fortunately, the new list comes out Tuesday. I'm glad I have something bookish to look forward to."

Your food list made my mouth water! Perhaps this isn't a "slump" but simply a temporary break from reading... :)

"QOTW
Wild at Heart was a literal surprise for me because it was released earlier than expected. I didn't see the announcement that the release date had been moved up. I pre-ordered so it showed up on my Kindle early. I dropped everything to read it and loved it.."

That is so cool! I did receive a copy of In a Holidaze this past week in the mail. Totally unexpected. I can only assume I won it from the Goodreads giveaway, but they didn't email me to tell me that. Anyway, I had just purchased a copy from my favorite used bookstore since that is our December read for the book club. LOL Guess this will be a gift for a friend! :)

Lauren wrote: "Happy Day Before Native American Heritage Day (aka Thanksgiving)! This will be the first year my partner and I spend the holiday without one of our families, but it's worth it if it keeps them all ..."

I really like "Native American Heritage Day" and think I'll start using that! :)

You amaze me with how much you read in a week's time. I'm just jealous! ;)

Theresa wrote: "Thanksgiving greetings from NYC! No annual parade with floats rumbling down Central Park West but ever so thankful to be here, safe and healthy, to miss it and be grumbling!"

First World frustrations!

"I have not read a word in over a week. Not even sure what I have pending! Busy with work and falling into a reading slump. Ah, well. This too shall pass. On to the QOTW."

Perhaps you also are just experiencing a temporary break from reading! :)

"What immediately comes to mind was how disappointed I was in The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson. Not just because I am not much of a fantasy reader. I had gone to an interview by N.K. Jemisin with the author hosted by NYPL on the day it was released, and Wilson was so dynamic and smart! Had high expectations as a result."

Isn't it funny how that can happen?

Kenya wrote: "Happy Thursday (and Thanksgiving for those who celebrate it).

We're actually planning on having our big Thanksgiving dinner Saturday or Sunday, and using today to decorate the house for Christmas...."

Sending healthy energy to you and your family for a safe gathering.

I do intend to read The Once and Future Witches at some point in time. I feel a bit hesitant about it. Not sure why... Sometimes I just get a "feeling" about a specific book.

I am currently loving Strange the Dreamer so I imagine I'll want to read the sequel as well.

Ellie wrote: "Sara wrote: "We're also going to put up the Christmas tree, which is a thing we always did when I was young. Which is kind of interesting, because we're not huge on Christmas. We're atheists, and w..."

It does sound fun! :)

Doni wrote: "Happy Bird Day, everyone!"

Upon reading this sentence my first thought was..."Oh, now what specific day is this?!?' LOL :) Then I realized...

"QotW: Autoboyography My neighbor gave me this book and it was sitting on my shelves unread for years. When I finally picked it up, I was surprised at how well executed it was and what an important story it felt to tell on local issues."

I really enjoyed The Unhoneymooners and am looking forward to reading In a Holidaze in December!

Jennifer W wrote: "I finished Disappearing Earth for a book with a map. All I can say is WOW! What a book!

Still haven't picked the next book I want to read. I've got a little bit of a book hangover from Disappearing Earth."

Sounds like a wise choice to avoid anyone who is sick, especially right now! Good luck with your cooking!

I love it when I enjoy a book so much I need a break to let it sit in my head for a bit. :)

"QOTW So my most surprising book is Disappearing Earth. I only just stumbled on it while browsing and added it to my TBR. It isn't the type of book I usually like, but I was completely pulled in to each of the characters. I feel like I know them all. Some people only had a small chapter of a few pages, but they were all real to me. And the ending had my heart racing."

I may need to move this one up on TBR listing.

Ali wrote: "Hi all, we're in our last week of a national lockdown now - I'm so looking forward to getting back in the swimming pool!! Nearly there... Hope everyone is keeping safe. I finished my challenge last..."

I can relate to that!

I own a copy of My Dark Vanessa and plan to read it next year. Your reaction to it makes me even more interested.

"I read my first Agatha Christie this year for the challenge and I ended up reading a few. I was very surprised how many of those books encourage the perpetrator to commit suicide once they're discovered!! I guess it's a different time and I am aware of some other problematic issues with Christie when read today but that was a surprise to me!"

I has been so long since I read an Agatha Christie that with so many of you listing her books I have a couple pulled out for 2021!

"I was also surprised at how interesting this book was: Unnatural Causes: The Life and Many Deaths of Britain's Top Forensic Pathologists which I read for subject you know nothing about. It was genuinely fascinating!! I actually looked up how you train to become a pathologist and a coroner after reading but I think the extra 2 degrees I would need have put a cap on that interest for the time being..."

That does sound fascinating!

I'm excited for the Popsugar 2021 list to be revealed next week! My husband and I made our first pie from scratch today which we will be taking to our Thanksgiving dinner later. It was an apple pie made with apples from the orchard and it turned out great- even the lattice top!

Completed:
The Sweetest Sound- Nicknamed Mouse by all those around her Cadence Mariah Jolly is a 10-year old who dreams of becoming an author and is hiding a big, powerful singing voice. Preferring to listen to music, write, or play her keyboard in her room Cadence prays asking if God will find a way for her dad to give her a Takehashi 3000x keyboard she will step out of her shell and share her gift with her church. When she obtain the keyboard, Cadence struggles to overcome her shyness. At the same time, she is trying to overcome being pitied by everyone for her mother walking out on her family to pursue her own singing career. As Cadence takes small steps which help her confidence grow, she comes to discover sharing a gift you have been blessed with brings healing to others as much as to yourself.
Prompt: Book that includes Black joy (Fall Popsugar)

The Twenty-One Balloons- Growing tired of teaching math after 40 years in the profession, avid balloonist William Waterman Sherman is in desperate need of peace and quiet. He decides the best way to accomplish this is to spend a year in a hot air balloon seeking to cross the Pacific Ocean. Brought back to his hometown of San Francisco after being found amongst the wreckage of twenty hot-air balloons in the Atlantic three weeks after taking off, he begins to spin his story of the island of Krakatoa. A whimsical and fantastic adventure combining science, the absurd and fiction in to a story that won the Newberry Medal in 1948.
Prompt: Book with "20" or "twenty" in the title (Popsugar)

Currently Reading:
In Sunlight or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper
13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do: Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
Pumpkinheads
The Red Notebook
The Ringmaster's Wife

QOTW:
I purchased A Gentleman in Moscow three years ago after hearing everyone rave about in in 2016 only to have it languishing on my shelf for three years. I finally picked it up and tore through it in 8 days. A few moths later, I read Rules of Civility. I am now a confirmed fan of Amor Towles and will immediately pre-order anything he writes. I'm surprised it took me so long to read one of his works.

Vanishing Falls received so much hype as one of the it books for Fall and the setting of the Tasmanian rainforest intrigued me. This one was my biggest disappointment of my reading year and I expected so much more than what I got with the simplistic writing, and deeply flawed, but immensely unlikable characters. Wish I had DNF'd this one.

Harmke wrote: "Happy Thursday and happy Thanksgiving for all US-readers!
Just realise that next Tuesday (Popsugar 2021 Day!) I can’t dive into the new challenge because it’s my sports night. And that’s important..."

The good news is...it will be there waiting for you! :)

"Watership Down (mentioned it last week). Oh, how I loved those rabbits…!"

I was never much interested in this book until so many of you have read it and loved it!

"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Never thought I would like a book full of letters."

Amazing, isn't it?

"Jojo Moyes. I thought ‘just another chick lit’, but I really loved her style of writing in The Giver of Stars"

I read Me Before You this year and loved it and am looking forward to After You but probably not until 2021.

Alex wrote: "Happy Thanksgiving and Thursday! Thanksgiving is weird for me. I don't like what meant historically, but I do like the general idea of taking time out to give thanks for what we have. Also don't li..."

Bummer about the fasting season aligning with Thanksgiving!

"Honestly, I was surprised by how much I loved Lonesome Dove. I'm not really a "western" sort of person and didn't think I'd like this at all, but the depth of the characters and the plot were just amazingly written. It truly felt like a classic saga, and I was not expecting that at all!"

Another book I've never been much interested in until I hear so many of you praising it! :)

Just checking in while my microwave turkey dinner is heating. Then I'm going to watch Jingle Jangle! I'm very excited.


Finished:
Mary Poppins - I want to read the series to see what else she got up to

Interior Chinatown - LOVED this! Keep in mind, I'm from L.A.

Cinderella Is Dead - I enjoyed this too.

Franklin's Flying Bookshop - And this! I read it to the cat last night. He also enjoyed it.


Currently Reading:
Never Have I Ever - This was free so it'll be my book about a book club

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More - I had started listening to this as I fell asleep but not all of the stories are pleasant so I need to fit it in earlier in the day I think.

Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse: And Other Lessons from Modern Life - For those days at work when it feels better to listen to David Mitchell gripe about things.



QOTW:
what book or author have you read this year that surprised you the most?

I can't really think of anything. I guess I was surprised how feminist John Hodgman is. I listened to two of his books this year, Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches and Medallion Status: True Stories from Secret Rooms.

Hi everyone!

Happy thanksgiving to those celebrating!

We are at to my in-laws to celebrate, there’s 6 people total and we all quarantined and are wearing masks, have windows open, furniture is spaced out, everting was served up by one person wearing mask & gloves, etc. very weird feeling, but we haven’t seen them since March so it meant a lot to my husband.

This week I finished:

Disappearing Earth- read this for my books & brew. I know a few others just posted how much they loved this. Really didn’t like it much. I found myself wondering what the point is, and kept waiting for SOMETHING to happen. The missing girls seemed to be more of a prop than a plot. I didn’t really like anyone, and even the ending left me going “ok...that’s it?”

Grant Morrison's 18 Days- don’t think I realized what I was reading, expected a graphic novel. Ended up being more of an illustrated skit, format was hard to rad abc I ended up just kind of skimming.

Rogue Protocol- needed to get back into murderbot, hadn’t read this one yet. A lot of fun as usual!

Exit Strategy- more murderbot, caught up to what I own, will get the novel eventually, really liked this one

A Perfect Blood- continuing hollows reread

Currently reading:

Broken- won a Goodreads giveaway for an ARC, loving this so much. At one point was cry laughing to the point my husband checked to see if I was ok. I couldn’t speak enough to explain haha

A Gathering of Shadows- Audio reread, nice that the narrators switch as it shifts between Leila and Kell.

QOTW:

Was a bit surprised by A Starless Sea, I ADORED the Night Circus, expected to love it just as much. I still liked it, but didn’t capture the same magic. Same with Harrow the Ninth. I loved Gideon the Ninth SO MUCH, it took over half of Harrow for me to really get invested.

However I was pleasantly surprised how much I loved The Invisiblr Life of Addie LaRue. I have enjoyed VE Schwabb, but not LOVED her. She’s not one I devour books by, more just “sure, she’s fine.” But now I’m going back and reading more because I loved that one so much.

Lynn wrote: "Happy Thanksgiving (US) for those who celebrate or Happy Thursday or Happy ‘Whatever’ for everyone else…like me! My husband and I decided years ago not to celebrate the attempted annihilation of na..."

Two things.
Binti Home is even better than Binti. I just read it this week and will be reading The Night Masquerade this coming week.

I am a fan of Sophie Kinsella and Shopoholic is my favourite. If you do try the series the first three are really good then they drop off a bit. Sophie Kinsella was in finance before becoming an author so the downside of shopping is definitely mentioned in the series. I had picked up Cocktails For Three free at the library a couple years ago and hadn't read it until this summer popsugar challenge. It also surprised me because I kinda thought I was done reading her books but this was a 5 star for me. I just read her new one this week and it was good.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I can understand some of the concerns mentioned earlier in the thread, but I tend to celebrate the good parts (being mindful of the good things in your life, being kind to others and gathering with those you love, eating a traditional or festive meal) separate from its historical underpinnings.

Finished:

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl

I gave this 3/5. Her food writing is still great, but the focus leans a little too heavily into the disguises and portraying herself differently for my tastes.

Currently reading:

This is How You Die: Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death
Death Star (reread)
What Judgments Come (reread)

I am about 1/4 through the Machine of Death anthology, and so far, the idea is more interesting than any of the stories that I have read about it.

I am very excited for the prompts for next year on Tuesday!

Question of the Week:

I had quite a few books exceed my expectations this year. Here is a list of them.

The Antares Maelstrom
The Weight of Worlds
Chaos Rising
The Library of Ever
Resistance Reborn
Jade Dragon Mountain
The Last Roundup
The Case of the Colonist's Corpse
You Owe Me a Murder
Bimbos of the Death Sun
The Way to the Stars
Fear Itself
Titan: Fortune of War

I had a few disappointments, but none were so grave as to mention again here.

I hope anyone looking for great deals this weekend and month finds them.

Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating. I finally braved some stores to start some Christmas shopping this week. I'm concerned we will be locked down again pretty soon here, our numbers are significantly worse than they ever were in March.
I achieved my goodreads goal this week with number 200. Keep in mind I have a lot of novellas and graphic novels that are quick reads in that number. I'm now going to have to force myself to focus on the last four prompts I have to finish.

Finished Reading:

LaGuardia ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I loved the creativity of Binti so I sought out more from Okorafor. This graphic novel follows a pregnant doctor as she smuggles an alien into New York through the LaGuardia airport.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was lovely but it lost a star because it required patience to read. I struggle when authors jump around in time and perspective to tell a story instead of being direct. At the same time I appreciate it somehow???

Home ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was even better than Binti. Same strong world building and characters but a better story line for me.

Love Your Life ⭐⭐⭐
So I thought I was done with Sophie Kinsella after the last few have not been great. This seemed like a very generic plot too. Anyway it still had her excellent friendships and ended so well. There's an aspect to the main character that I think a lot of book lovers will get a kick out of.

PS 2020 50/50
PS Summer 20/20
PS Fall 9/10
PS 2016 37/40
goodreads 201/200

Currently Reading:
Soap and Water and Common Sense: The Definitive Guide to Viruses, Bacteria, Parasites, and Disease
Daughter of the Pirate King

QOTW:
Oh I've had a few surprises excluding publishing dates being set forward. (that's so weird)
Serpent & Dove The Girl in Red Fangirl and Binti we're all great surprises from new and old to me authors.
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires In a Holidaze Upright Women Wanted we're all disappointments.

It is getting sad just how little I'm reading

I did get a few more stories down, not sure if I shared these or not (because I've been lax on my bookkeeping)

A book set in Japan, host of the 2020 Olympics - ノラガミ 21 by Adachitoka which is a fun series. It's getting a little drawn out though at this point

Read a banned book during Banned Books Week Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. Oddly enough I had never read this before. It is fun. (banned for 'drug use')

I might have shared this one before - A book with a character with a vision impairment or enhancement (a nod to 20/20 vision) Purrfect Holiday by Jana Denardo A christmas romance with a character who has retinitis pigmentosa

THat leaves me just 2 books. Maybe I can finish this as the next list comes out....

QOTW let's go with good surprises, or at least going with marginalized and/or women authors who are knocking it out of the park

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova
Storm of Locusts and Black Sunby Rebecca Roanhorse
The Spectral City by Leanna Renee Hieber
Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (still working on this one)

Morning all.

As usual, its been a while since I checked in, but I've made more progress.

After a bit of rejigging and going back to books I read earlier in the year, I just have one prompt left to read for this year's PS: 17. A medical thriller - which is going to be An Anonymous Girl.

Finding My Sister, the Serial Killer was a prize winner (tournament of books, but it was in our listopia!) helped me fill out 23. and I replaced it in 32. WOC with The Brightest Fell.

I used It Can't Happen Here for 30. World leader - well written and very disturbing, especially as the past four years have proven that yes, it can happen in the US.

Rogue Protocol slotted nicely into 28. robot character - and I really like Murderbot!

And last but not least, yesterday I finished The Honjin Murders for Adv. 5. A book set in Japan.

So that leaves me on:
Basic prompts: 43/44
Advanced prompts: 10/10

Admittedly, I've not been doing as well on ATY, and I've got a bit behind, as I hit a reading slump in the last few weeks, but hopefully I'll be on track soon.

QotW:
Building off Nadine’s question last week, what book or author have you read this year that surprised you the most? On the basis of surprised I enjoyed it/them?

There have been a few this year, actually. Here are a few of them which I'd recommend.

Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens, which I loved and gave 5* to (I've only given 8 new 5*s this year).

The Brightest Fell, Nupur Chowdhury - a near future political thriller which I was asked to review and enjoyed a lot (4*)

The Honjin Murders, Seishi Yokomizo - a good Japanese locked room mystery, which was only translated into English for the first time last year (4*)

A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine - this year's Hugo winner for best novel. I put off reading it until really close to the end of the voting, and then, when I finally read it, I really liked it. I particularly enjoyed its dry sense of humour (4*)

I've just been feeling so blank lately. Despairing. It feels like the apocalypse is happening and half the planet is whistling past the graveyard. The news reports lockdown restrictions easing for Christmas, then moves straight into a story showing a small community cemetery that's had to bury over 50 people just in the last fortnight because of COVID, then back to "saving Christmas ho-ho-ho!"

I've been in self-imposed lockdown since March. I'm not coming out before March 2021, and now I'm starting to wonder if March 2022 is even a possibility.

so. I've read 3 books in the last 2 weeks, let's talk about them while the world burns

The Midnight Library - God this was a disappointment. Painfully predictable, trite, and clichéd. Read like an overextended pamphlet on depression, but one of the intensely unhelpful ones that think depression is just "feeling sad" and if you just buck up and try to change your perspective and think happy thoughts, it'll all be cured. Which is weird, because the author is quite open about the fact that he has first-hand experience of mental health issues, so you'd think he'd write about them in a way that sounds less fake.
Also, the (view spoiler)[method of the protagonist's suicide attempt (hide spoiler)] was either chosen deliberately as something that's impossible to actually do, or a huge research fail. (view spoiler)[Nora almost dies of a fatal overdose... of a medication you can't actually fatally overdose on. (hide spoiler)]

Such a Fun Age - This was just... fine. I liked it well enough, there was nothing I particularly disliked, but nothing that made a huge impact on me. I feel like it's a little bit of a basic narrative about the topic of race relations in America. Like if you're already invested in the Black Lives Matter movement, if you've read viral Twitter threads or articles about racism and the various subtle ways it can manifest, basically if you try to keep up with social-justice causes at all... you've heard this story. Multiple versions of it. Real-life versions of it. And if you're a voracious reader who tries to consume a wide range of diverse books, well, you've encountered fictional versions too.
(Disclaimer, I am very very white to the point of ghostliness, and not American, so my opinion here doesn't hold as much water as that of others.)

Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley - This was a Chonky McChonkerson. (McChonkerdaughter would probably be more fitting.) Took me about the whole fortnight to read. But I did really enjoy it, thought it was well-executed and I felt it educated me. Did a good job of humanising its subjects, I ended up feeling quite close to both Marys. I appreciated the structure of the book - it alternates chapters between the life story of Mary Wollstonecraft and the life story of Mary Shelley, and that definitely kept me reading and interested and contributed to me managing to get through a volume of this length. (It's listed as 500-odd pages, but the print size is quite small - the book is, if it makes sense, longer than its actual pagecount, plus there are another 100+ pages of notes at the end which are not included in the GR count.)
Would definitely recommend to those interested in Wollstonecraft + Shelley, but it is a project.

Temp-DNFed The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. It was just so gorgeous that I need to save it for the absolute right time, and reading it alongside another book when I'm feeling so mentally and emotionally exhausted was the wrong time.
One day I'm gonna get in the mood where some real old-fashioned classic fantasy is what I crave desperately, and this'll be waiting for me.

Currently reading On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. Not sure if I quite "get it", but I really like it. But ho-lee crap, that bit with the macaque was one of the most disturbing things I've ever heard of.

QOTW: What book or author have you read this year that surprised you the most?
Uh, let me see.

Books:
In the Night Garden because I love Cat Valente but I was not prepared for how rich, tangled, multifaceted and astounding this was. I did not know a book could be like this. *flails in wordless awe*
The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics - I'd decided that I didn't like romance without ever reading a romance novel. This proved me wrong. Prepared to give the genre more of a fair shot now.
A Kind of Spark - Surprised me by taking a sledgehammer to my emotions. If you're looking for autism rep - this is the book. This is as close to my childhood, as an autistic kid and specifically an autistic girl, as it's possible for a book to get. It's spot on and it brought those experiences and feelings from way back when flooding back in an immense moment of catharsis. Phew.

Authors that surprised me - I guess Sebastian Barry and Niall Williams. Was not expecting their writing to be as fabulous as it was. I need to read more Irish authors.

Since my last check-in, I've finished only two books but both were very good.

Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames by Thich Nhat Hanh. After this year of pandemic & endless electioneering, this book has helped me to understand why I feel this way. Now part of my personal collection.
How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster. An entertaining book on decoding literature.

Currently reading When These Mountains Burn by David Joy.

QOTW: What book or author have you read this year that surprised you the most?

As a positive, Women Talking by Miriam Toews was shot in the dark since I don't do blogs or podcasts. I believe it was on the List for that prompt.

As a negative, The Abolition of Species by Dietmar Dath. I just couldn't wrap my mind around all the imagery in this book.

Only 2 books to go to finish the challenge - yay!

Finished reading:
Fleishman Is in Trouble (a book with an upside down image on the cover): I struggled with the first two parts, enjoyed the third part the most. It made some good points, but it was too long and not enough happening in the plot for me.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (a book about a book club): I loved this! Was not expecting all of the emotions that would come with this book. I kind of wished I'd kept it for Christmas as it's the perfect cosy read, as well as emotional!

Currently reading:
The Night Tiger (no prompt): Not for the challenge, but I wanted to read this as I got it back in February! Enjoying it so far.

QOTW:
I already mentioned Cinder last week, but another title that surprised me was Daisy Jones & The Six - I didn't expect to love it as much as I did, and it's definitely a favourite from this year!

Nadine wrote: We are having rather warm weather here, again. Took the kids on a “small” hike that turned out to be a grueling hike to see a “glacial erratic” for their science project. We never made it all the way to the end of the trail to see the Tripod Rock because I think the people who labeled this trail “easy” meant it was easy for rock climbers, but we did see a lot of huge rocks, so we “checked that box” on the science project. (th..."

Fun Fact- The town I live in is named for a glacial Erratic. The Indigenous Blackfoot peoples name for the erratic is derived from their word for rock, which is "okatok." ( the town spelling is now actually Okotoks) It is located just outside of town and you can see it from the highway. A little easier than the crazy hike you had to go on.