Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

I am once again driving my own car! YAY! It now has new wheels and tires and drives better than it ever has before. Now to get my son to replace the plastic pieces of the bumper and it should be good to go for a long time. (A REALLY long time! No more vehicular repairs, please!)

I was very lazy this month and didn’t read all the Goodreads groups’ monthly newsletters as I usually do…and I totally missed the early notification of Around the Year in 52 Books’ 2021 Read-ARRR-Thon #2 scheduled for May 22-30! Since I enjoyed myself immensely with the two-week long 2021 Reading Challenge’s 25K Team Readathon in April, quite naturally I signed up immediately even though it was already May 21 and the readathon began the very next day! LOL (Those shiny objects get me every time!) I am on the Madagascar Pirates team and am also participating in the Individual Reading Challenge. I absolutely adore reading these shorter books for a while! The books I finished this week all counted and I have others planned: Artificial Condition, finally finishing How to Be an Antiracist, The Bookshop at Water's End, Anyone But You, The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal, The Third Angel, and Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime. Uncertain that I’ll have enough time to read them all, but will certainly try!

Admin Stuff:
Nadine has an amazing discussion thread going for 2021 AAPICAM this month! I guess I don’t specifically read many books for these awareness months because my TBR listing is piled high with them and I purposefully try to select diverse books when planning my reading for challenges, buddy reads, etc. I also use the Bookworm Bitches Travel Challenge to track my reading for geographical diversity, which seems to help me stress diversity among my books.

EDITED TO ADD:
Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin is the May Monthly Group Read and Brandy B is leading the discussion. This book will fulfill prompt #4 A book written by a Muslim-American/Muslim-British author in honor of the Islamic holiday Eid al-Fitr on May 13, 2021. I really enjoyed this book!

And here is the link to post the book you read to fulfill prompt #4 A book written by a Muslim-American/Muslim-British author.

I have moved the June discussions to the Current Monthly Read folder and opened them both for comments. Thanks much to Terri who will lead the June discussion of Dear Martin by Nic Stone for June! This can be used to fulfill prompt #20 A book on a Black Lives Matter reading list, in honor of Juneteenth on June 19th. My copy should arrive sometime next week.

I will move the May discussions back to the 2021 Monthly Reads folder on June 1st. But please remember that all monthly group read discussions are available any time!

We are still looking for a “luminous leader” for July’s Group Read discussion of The Guest List by Lucy Foley! This will satisfy prompt #22 A book set mostly or entirely outdoors. And we need a “mover and shaker” to lead August’s Group Read discussion of Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas, which will satisfy prompt #5 A dark academia book. Finally, there is the September discussion of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab to satisfy prompt #11 A book about forgetting. PLEASE MESSAGE EITHER NADINE OR MYSELF TO VOLUNTEER FOR ONE OF THESE!

QotW:
Building on my last QotW: What about plastic books or board books? Are these actually “literature”/real books?
The first are typically meant for infants/younger children to be able to take into the water (tub, pool, beach, etc.). And the second are mainly targeted toward toddlers who won’t yet be able to handle a book appropriately without tearing pages, etc.

As I was pondering adaptations (which many of these books are), I remembered two faculty members at Purdue in the Education Department who disagreed on this question. Professor Lamb felt that anything resembling a book would help a child learn what a book can and should do, while allowing for the child’s age and or intellectual-level behaviors, was “literature.” However, my Honors class in Children’s Literature Professor felt only “real” books qualified as “children’s literature.”

I did end up agreeing with Professor Lamb once I’d had children. Just getting them accustomed to a “book” in their hands is valuable, IMO. What do you think?

Popsugar: 36/50
ATY: 46/52
RHC: 9/24
Reading Women: 9/28

FINISHED:
Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha (Mrs. Pollifax #7) by Dorothy Gilman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ proved to be a very enjoyable read! I am anxious to read more in this series. Good mystery. I love Mrs. P!
POPSUGAR: #7-She’s a spy!, #18-A well-written mystery!, #27, #29-US, Hong Kong, #30-Hong Kong, #36-253 reviews on Goodreads, #46, #47-mysteries
ATY: #7-A book about or involving a team or organization, #8-Hong Kong, #20-The future is safer for everyone, #27-Death, #29, #31, #34, #36, #39, #42, #45-Hotel, #49, #52-The terrorists were thwarted in the end

If not for a book club selection, I would have not read Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn ⭐⭐⭐⭐. And I was correct. I could have easily skipped this one. While I did enjoy the writing style and most of the themes, I was a bit frustrated at the end… And mythology is just not my favorite thing, so there is that! 😊
POPSUGAR: #16, #21-Contemporary Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Magical Realism, #22, #27, #28, #30-Hawaii, #38-Noa was a musician, #39-From 2015 POPSUGAR Challenge-prompt #28 A book with antonyms in the title. Sharks are usually considered to be killers, not "saviors", #47-A selection for the book club at my favorite used bookstore
ATY: #3-Raindrops on roses—lots of rain!, #7-A book related to money, #8-Hawaii, #15, #18-How much does/can the past determine our future?, #22, #23-Contemporary Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Magical Realism, #24, #25, #27-Justice, Death, Judgement, The World, #34, #36, #38-DEVIATION: How much did they deviate from their “normal” lives due to the sharks?, #41, #49, #52-In the end, were they any better off?
RHC: #1, NEW #5

I remembered The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ as such a precious book, and it read the same for me some 50+ years later! I am so very glad I read the original text of this book right after reading the adaptation. While the adaptation has its place, this was such a much better reading experience for me. However, if I wasn’t able to handle the length and much increased details of this original text, the adaptation would at least expose me to the story. I had rather forgotten about “the Magic”! While there are some things that definitely date the text, this story is timeless, IMO! I don’t believe I ever realized she also wrote Little Lord Fauntleroy, which I have yet to read…
POPSUGAR: #18-the “Magic” of positive thinking!, #19, #21-Classic, Historical Fiction, Juvenile, Young Adult, #22, #27, #29-UK and Italy, #30-UK and Italy, #37, #43, #47-The “Magic” of positive thinking!
ATY: #3-When the bee stings/When I'm feeling sad/I simply remember my favorite things/And then I don't feel so bad/Raindrops on roses, #8-United Kingdom and Italy, #9-Spring/Summer, #14, #19-the present has replaced the past and guaranteed a much better future, #23- Classic, Historical Fiction, Juvenile, Young Adult, #27-The Hermit, Death, The World, #29, #31, #34-Walking vs. Wheelchair, #39, #40, #49, #52-Postitive thinking won out in the end!
RHC: #23, #24
Reading Women: #7, #18

CONTINUING:
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman is on my list for this weekend. (Yes, again!! LOL) I have actually started reading it, so hope to finish this coming weekend. I decided to concentrate on Sharks in the Time of Saviors last weekend since it is longer and I wasn’t sure how quickly it might read…
Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Excellent writing! It really flows and I’m anxious to finally finish it!
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

PLANNED:
Monogamy by Sue Miller for the Literary Wives review to be posted on Monday, June 7th.
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende to fulfill the 2020 Reading Women prompt #26 A book written by Isabel Allende.
Paradise by Toni Morrison to fulfill the 2020 Reading Women prompt #25 A book written by Toni Morrison.
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. Excellent so far! I love Reynolds' humor!
Learning Race, Learning Place: Shaping Racial Identities and Ideas in African American Childhoods by Erin N. Winkler
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

Lynn wrote: "I am once again driving my own car! YAY! It now has new wheels and tires and drives better than it ever has before. Now to get my son to replace the plastic pieces of the bumper and it should be go..."


Congrats on driving your car again :-) I know what a relief that is.

I finished Order in Chaos as my longest book. It was long AND boring.

I read The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine as my book with an oxymoron. I don't think I understood it.

I'm now halfway through The Wind in the Willows as my shortest book.

QOTW: I don't think adults would have much interest in reading them, but yes, of course they're real books.

Happy Thursday! 
I've spent the week watching the baby cardinals get bigger and louder - yay for them!  But I haven't seen Mama Cardinal all week, only Papa Cardinal feeds them, I'm worried something happened to Mama.  Or maybe the female only comes back to the nest at night, so I haven't seen her?


This week I read 2 books, none for this Challenge

Brood poems by Kimiko Hahn - this was very short, a chapbook.  Finally, a book of poems that I kinda sorta enjoyed this year!!  It breaks my streak! phew!!!

Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai- fantastic YA novel about a young Vietnamese woman who makes her way to the USA after the war to search for her younger brother.  Lai is a phenomenal storyteller.



True confessions time: for the last few months I had a problem logging into my phone's "App Store" - it wasn't accepting my password and it also wasn't accepting my PIN to change my password. For whatever reason, I was finally able to change my password and log in again, and ... I downloaded ALLLL the stupid free games, and so this week I've logged countless hours playing stupid games. I am particularly hooked on "Match Tile 3D." This is why I've only finished two books.




QotW

What a timely question! I'm sure some of you have heard the very sad news. Authors of some of my FAVORITE board books, Eric Carle (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?) and Lois Ehlert (Waiting for Wings) have passed away this week.

'Chicka Chicka Boom Boom' Illustrator Lois Ehlert Dies At 86

Eric Carle, Creator Of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar,' Has Died


In short, my answer is YES board books are real books (and almost always, board books are also available as traditional paper picture books - but I find them less satisfying in that form - it's so satisfying to hold a chunky board book and turn its chunky board pages!!). Some of my other favorites:

Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
The Going to Bed Book & Moo, Baa, La La La!by Sandra Boynton
Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap Book by Rod Campbell
That's Not My Puppy... by Fiona Watt
Baby Faces from D.K. Publishing

This week I finished:

I've Got You Under My Skin: This was okay. It definitely built the suspense, and made it unclear who the "bad guy" was, but it did it in a way that was pretty obvious. I like a little more subtlety in my mysteries. It was still enjoyable though. I love some MHC.

Olive Park: I wanted to like this one more than I did. It had a lot of good pieces to it, but it could have been executed better. The pacing and shifting of characters was a little off for me. By the end, I started to think I might read the second book though.

Steampunk Fairy Tales: I am filling in past challenges, and I did not understand what steampunk was. Not that I understand, I feel like it is not for me. Something about these stories were pretty creepy to me, and not in a good way.

Currently reading:

Beneath Devil's Bridge: I don't have much luck with Kindle First reads for Prime customers, but Loreth Anne White has been an exception. The last book of hers that I read was a 4 star book, and this one seems pretty good so far.

QOTW:

A book is anything you think it is. Just read!!!

Lynn wrote: "... If not for a book club selection, I would have not read Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn ⭐⭐⭐⭐. And I was correct. I could have easily skipped this one. While I did enjoy the writing style and most of the themes, I was a bit frustrated at the end… And mythology is just not my favorite thing, so there is that! ..."



You didn't really like it, but you gave it 4 stars? You are a very kind book rater :-)

Katy wrote: "I finished Order in Chaos as my longest book. It was long AND boring. ..."



The absolute WORST!!! Congrats on slogging through to the finish line.

Good Morning. I'm also doing ATY Read-Arrr-Thon & having a lot of fun with the pirate theme. The individual challenge has one prompt that is read a book from your TBR list. This is exactly what I needed because I had been avoiding the advanced prompts for Pop Sugar & avoiding my TBR list. I have finished three books for the week. All three for the challenge.
The Third Man by Graham Greene. 3 stars. I doubled dipped & used it for two advanced prompts. The shortest book by pages on your TBR list. 157. The book that has been your TBR list the longest amount of time. It has been there since 2/11/2015.
Legendborn (Legendborn #1) by Tracy Deonn. 5 stars. Dark Academia book.
We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker. 5 stars. An oxymoron in the title.
I'm currently reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. I will use it for an advanced prompt. a book I meant to read in 2020.
QOTW: I consider plastic/board books essential learning tools for babies to develop a love of reading. They are books & literature to me.

Happy Thursday, y’all.

Not much to report this week... so on to the reading wrap-up, heh...

Books read this week:

The Magic Misfits -- for “book with a heart, diamond, club, or spade on the cover.” Lighthearted and cute adventure about kids, stage magic, and the bonds of friendship.

Furthermore -- for “book by a Muslim-American author.” Man, I really wanted to love this -- the writing style was enchanting and I loved the main character. But the whimsical nature felt rather forced, and it felt like the author was just making up the rules of the world as she went along. Is her Shatter Me series better? I’d like to know...

A Gryphon's Journey -- not for the challenge. I read this by request of the author, who wanted an honest review, and I found it a highly enjoyable fantasy. If you like Watership Down or the Warrior Cats or Wings of Fire series of books, give this a read.

Séance Tea Party -- graphic novel, not for the challenge. I wasn’t terribly fond of the art style, but the story about a girl and her ghostly BFF was very sweet and had a strong message about growing up while still retaining the wonder of childhood.

Challenge stats:

Regular challenge books -- 42/45
Advanced challenge books -- 10/10
Not for the challenge -- 37

Currently Reading:

Spoiler Alert -- for “book about body positivity”
The Line Between -- not for the challenge
Bitten: My Unexpected Love Affair with Florida -- not for the challenge
Healer of the Water Monster -- not for the challenge

QOTW:

Yes, they qualify as real books/literature.

Good Thursday morning! We finally got a pair of solid downpours here in NEOhio yesterday afternoon and night, which our grass desperately needed, and the heat has cooled off a good bit. Looking forward to a fully-vaccinated hangout with friends later this evening :D

My reading is lagging a bit this week; I'd hoped to have finished both my current audiobook and library read by now, but... such is life.

Finished:
The Bone Shard Daughter - 4.5 stars, a great new fantasy book! I actually bought a copy halfway through reading this because I want to reread it (likely in October, as the sequel releases in November); there were so many revelations toward the end and I want to make sure I didn't miss anything! It's been years since I read a book twice in the same calendar year.

Fullmetal Alchemist Vols 11-14 - 5 stars across the board. I started reading this series in 2014 after getting hooked on the "first" anime in high school (I only ever watched part of it; stopped when I found out it didn't match the original story), and now I've restarted FMA Brotherhood (the more faithful adaptation). Excited to finally finish this series! Everything else basically got put on hold when I started racing through these.

The Ghost Bride - 2 stars. The beginning was excellent, and then the story just fizzled out somewhere in the middle. The writing is beautiful, but I was disappointed. prettiest cover on your TBR

Currently reading:
A Master of Djinn
The Wolf of Oren-Yaro

PS 37/50

Upcoming:
I think I may have to scrap Pachinko plans for now, but I'm hoping I can fly through Stacey Lee's new Luck of the Titanic over the holiday. I seem to be more inclined toward wrapping up my reads per month this year than allowing for many carryovers, probably because I'm doing my best to stick to my various monthly themes.

QOTW: What about plastic books or board books? Are these actually “literature”/real books? Oh, yes! I'm not sure I remember many board books, but I ADORED the Little Golden Books with their board covers.

Lynn, I saw in ATY that your distractions were from vehicular repairs and I was "uhoh what's happened to her poor car now" so good to hear it's all sorted!

I read like 11 books in the first 17 days in May. And have read like 1.5 books since then. I have nothing to report.

But feel free to drop in and join the final days of the May book discussion of Ayesha at Last. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... I have had a blast leading the discussion the last two months and am happy to be called up again when needed.

QOTW

I like words. I like the sound of them. And I don't think in or remember pictures so I just wasn't inerested in any board books when I was a little kid. I mean I just wasn't having them. I would literally listen to nursery rhymes for days but if my mom pulled out a board book I was like, "NOPE." And so she was always getting me older books and the people at he bookstore were horrified and argumentative with her and she was like, "Whatever." But as an adult I have read a fair few picture books and enjoyed them. Total books.

And if Little Golden's count as board books... do they? I totally LOVED those as a kid. My paternal grandparents bought me a record player goldenbook/record collection so each book had a record so you could read and listen to the book. OMG, This is like my third favorite thing I've ever owned.... my first favorite thing was a little red backpack with my name on it that I took on all my adventured also a gift from those grandparents.

Summer has arrived at long last! I might even get my legs out tomorrow. It's been unseasonably cold lately so I hope this warmth is here to stay.

Finished:
Blackheart Knights by Laure Eve for review and ATY (cross genre). This wasn't really what I was expecting but I ended up enjoying it. It's a take on Arthurian legend, set in an alternate London where disputes are settled in televised bouts between knights. It was less about the celebrity of being a knight that the blurb made it sound like, felt more like an epic fantasy plot in a more modern setting, which I liked. I have to review this pronto as I'm meant to be on a blog tour for it this weekend.

Bookishly Ever After for a book by a blogger. I can recommend these cute and easy reads for anyone stuck on this prompt. This is the final book where Ed takes a part time job in a bookshop and his personality clashes with an autistic colleague. Also contains guinea pigs.

Carpe Jugulum for a bestseller from the 90s. This was a re-read but on audio and loved it just as much the second time. I am so over Popsugar trying to make me read 90s bestsellers though. I really have read the ones I'm interested in by now.

Currently reading The Devil and the Dark Water and listening to Ariadne.

PS: 26/50 | ATY: 25/52 | RH: 7/24 | GR: 56/100

QOTW:
I guess it doesn't matter what it's printed on? Though there are some people that believe in Literature with a capital L, and that's not really the kind of thing I read much of anyway. I believe kids should read whatever they want so they grow up loving books instead of thinking they are homework.

Hi all! I just can't wait for the school year to be done - we're so close! My senior has fully embraced senioritis and I can't be mad about it. My 13yo has basically 3 days more of in-person school before she escapes from the charter school that turned out not to be a good fit at all. Counting the minutes!

Finished

Six of Crows - this held up well on re-read. Maybe I can shoe-horn Crooked Kingdom into one of my remaining prompts . . .

Chivalry - typically Gaiman-esque charm here!

Siege and Storm - this got 3 stars from me, which is basically my Nickelback-level rating. Like, not actively bad, I could read the whole thing and enjoy parts of it, but on the whole it was pretty meh. I won't be reading book 3 - I just read a summary online, and I am interested to see what the show does with it all.

Currently Reading

The Element of Fire - I love Murderbot so much I'm trying more Martha Wells! About six pages in, so far so good.

QOTW

I mean, logically I'll go with the RBG answer (“you tell me what a sandwich is and then I’ll tell you if a hot dog is a sandwich.”), but I do want to register my objection to the snobbishness inherent in that Honors professor's stance. Yes of course children's books are books, even if they're extra resistant to toddler depredations. Like, what a weird place to draw the line!

Kenya wrote: "... Is her Shatter Me series better?..."


No. From my review: "This book had so much potential ... so much ... and it fulfilled exactly NONE of it."

Christine wrote: "... this got 3 stars from me, which is basically my Nickelback-level rating. ..."



omg hahahahahahaha

Morning!

I didn't realize but it's been almost a month since I've participated in this thread!! Life has seemed to fly by. The weather in northern Indiana has been pretty hot the last week and the AC in my car isn't working. I'm taking it in tomorrow but of course it's only going to be like 55 degrees...but hey, I'll be prepared for future hot weather.

Finished:

I'm just going to do an update of my last two weeks, and of course none of them are set for this challenge.

The Girls I've Been - I really liked this, I flew through it. I found the characters interesting, the story was fast paced. I didn't know I needed a story about a teenage girl that grew up with a grifter mom but I'm glad I found it.

The Lightning Thief - I'm using this one for the Read Harder Challenge. Unpopular option time...this was just really meh to me. There were parts that felt like a slog to me. If I read this when I was younger or was reading this with a child, I might have liked it more but I didn't really care about the story or the characters. I won't be continuing the series.

Fence, Vol. 1 through Fence, Vol. 4: Rivals - I saw this available through Overdrive from my library and decided to give it a try. I'm really enjoying the series and plan to continue it when the new volumes come out. Also, it's pretty informative about fencing.

Yes, Daddy - I had the eARC of this one and was not expecting the book/story that I got. For some reason I thought it was a summer murder mystery but it's sooo much more than that. I will say, there are a lot of triggers in the book that a number of readers probably won't want to read about. So, if you are interested in this book please check trigger warnings first.

The Red Parts - I just finished this for book club and didn't like it. For a true crime books about the trial of the murderer of the author's aunt it felt very disconnected in parts and far to short and not in-depth enough. I think there are way better books out there in this genre.

Currently Reading:

Anna Karenina for the book that’s been on your TBR list for the longest amount of time. Still plugging away at this with r/yearofannakarenina on Reddit. I have fallen behind a bit and haven't posted on there for a hot second. I plan on catching up over the long weekend.

In the Dream House - I'm using this one for Read Harder and the May Buzzwordathon word. It's so well written and so interesting on how it's telling its story.

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America - I'll be starting this audiobook on my commute home tonight. I've heard so much about it. I'm excited to get started.

Nadine wrote: "Lynn wrote: "I am once again driving my own car! YAY! It now has new wheels and tires and drives better than it ever has before. Now to get my son to replace the plastic pieces of the bumper and it..."

Yes! It may not be nearly as fancy as my good friend's SUV that she loaned me, but it is mine and I'm very comfortable in it! And those steel wheels are a hoot! I suppose they look a bit "gangster-ish"! Which suits me fine! :) At one-third the cost I'm happy! LOL

Hello! On Tuesday, I kept hearing a thumping noise every now and then, and discovered a robin (or robins) bouncing off my kitchen window. They always flew off when I walked up to the window, so they must not have been too hurt. To stop them, I put up an entire pack of the 2x1 post-its on the window to break up the reflection. As I watched the robins, I realized they were building a nest, and found it in my hydrangeas. So I'm hoping this flying into the window was nesting craziness, and not something that will persist. Also, isn't it late to be nest building? At least they stopped flying into my window. And the post-its are surviving today's rain.

Finished This Week:
Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journey by Michael Collins. I really enjoyed this book. It gets into some of the more technical bits of being an astronaut, but also was quite funny at times. Michael Collins was quite the writer, not using a co-author or ghost writer for his book. His accounts of his missions, Gemini 10 and Apollo 11, were great, but I also really appreciated the parts about how each astronaut in his class were given something to specialize on. His was EVA, and he went on for pages and pages about designing the suits. It sounds boring, but he made it not be. I read the 50th anniversary edition, which has a diamond on the cover (PS #3). Also would count for #29 multiple countries.

The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur. This one was hard to get into, because I didn't like the main character at first, but she grew on me. It was also the novelty of a book set in 1426 Korea that kept me going, because I knew nothing about the time. The main character and her sister were found next to a dead body years ago, and only the sister remembered anything from what was called The Forest Incident. When her father is proclaimed dead, but no body is found, the MC heads back to the island they left after the Incident to find him. Only prompts I found for it were #1, published in 2021, and #12, about forgetting.

Coronation Everest by Jan Morris. I needed a book by a trans author who identified as a woman for Reading Women, and someone in that thread mentioned the travel writer Jan Morris. I found that she had written about the first successful summit of Mount Everest, as she had been the designated press person along on the expedition (prior to her transition). It was about covering the 1953 expedition, not about the summit itself. She was worried about other reporters scooping her exclusive, or waylaying her runners taking her dispatches back to Kathmandu, where the radio was (a 6-8 day run from Base Camp). I found it fascinating to see what Nepal and Everest were like back then, and comparing it to the accounts I've read about summitting Everest these days. I debated about how many stars to give it, and ultimately landed at 3.5 because a third of the book is the walk to the mountain (yes, walk. No cars or even horses. They walked to the mountain from Kathmandu), and during the summit ascent, she abruptly devotes a chapter to the legend of the Abominable Snowman. Using for #22, set outdoors, as she was on the mountain with them for the months of the expedition. Also for Reading Women #21, By a Trans Author.

Escape from Aleppo by N.H. Senzai. I needed a Middle Grade Muslim novel for Reading Women, and found this about a girl living in Aleppo who gets separated from her family while they're fleeing the city during the fighting in 2013. The book was very good, showing how the situation in Syria and Aleppo particularly deteriorated. Nadia runs into all sorts of people as she's trying to catch up to her family, really giving you a sense of what Aleppo must have been like. Nadia is also very much a middle grade girl, who early in the book takes the time to reapply her nail polish when she has a chipped nail, and laments how she found a practical use for algebra after all, in calculating how far away the bombing was by how long it takes for the sound to reach her. I wanted to use it for a Muslim author, but none of my research into the author indicated if she was Muslim herself. Could be used for #33, featuring three generations, as she lives with her extended family prior to the fighting. Oh, and her cat lives!

PS 28/50 RH: 8/24 RW: 12/28 ATY: 35/52 GR: 67/100

Currently Reading:
Encyclopaedia Eorzea - The World of FINAL FANTASY XIV - Volume II Haven't picked it up this week, as I had library books due that jumped it in line.

The Chaos of Empire: The British Raj and the Conquest of India by Jon Wilson. Next library book up. I keep falling asleep in chapter one. I might need to give up on this one and find a different history of India during the Raj period.

Up Next:
Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden. Book club pick for June. Haven't started it yet, but library hold came in. Don't know much about it.

Stonewall by Martin Duberman. The LGBTQ+ history book for Read Harder, reading for Pride month. Waiting for me at the library.

Oh crap, my hold for The Burning God is ready! Guess The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic just jumped to the front of the list!

QOTW: What about plastic books or board books? Are these actually “literature”/real books?
I really dislike gatekeepers trying to say something is or isn't literature. If it tells a story, and someone enjoys reading it, that's enough. Would I give you a side-eye if you used board books for your reading challenge? Yes. But I wouldn't claim they weren't real books.

Well, I am rather thankful that I get to check in today since last Thursday I nearly died! Was thisclose to a head-on collision with a large tractor hauling a haybale on his front fork down a farm lane. Dude was flying down that lane and couldn't see me. I don't consciously remember doing it, but apparently I flung our car into the electric fence and saved our lives (most directly, my own!). Car is in three pieces, but it's not totaled and the farm is paying what insurance won't. No injuries, just shaken nerves. Glory to God for all things!
I call that car "Matrim" after a very special character in Wheel of Time who's known for being extremely lucky. I'd say the car earned its name this week!!!

Finished 20/50

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present for "book by an Indigenous author". I learned SO much. Wow, what an important book. Every American should read it.

Scarlet for "book with the same title as a song". Rolling Stones, y'all! Lol. I really enjoyed Cinder last year, so I was glad to have an excuse to pick up the second book this year. I love the sci-fi fairytale thing. It's so fun!

Currently Reading

Garden in the East: The Spiritual Life of the Body for "book on body positivity". I'm really excited to read this. It looks so good and so counter to our culture's harmful view of the body. As a woman, I struggle often with how to view my body. So many conflicting messages out there, none of them good. I'm eager to see what this book says.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness for "book on a BLM reading list". I've heard of this book and, after reading The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, I'm interested to see what it has to say, though, sadly, I doubt it'll shock me too much. Our system is so broken and corrupt, and it's minorities who suffer the most from it.

QotW

I'd define them as "children's literature", yes. I mean, c'mon, I have board books for my toddler on Quantum Physics, religion, and language learning. It's educational, entertaining, heightens the imagination, and widens her perspective of the world. So, yes, it's literature though only for a certain age group.

Melissa wrote: "Hello! On Tuesday, I kept hearing a thumping noise every now and then, and discovered a robin (or robins) bouncing off my kitchen window. They always flew off when I walked up to the window, so the..."

OMG, I've still got one pounding on my bedroom window all day!! I tried taping stuff all over the window, but it keeps at it!

Nadine wrote: "Authors of some of my FAVORITE board books, Eric Carle (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?) and Lois Ehlert (Waiting for Wings) have passed away this week."

On no! :( I love Eric Carle! I saw him once! No time now but when I'm home from work I'll elaborate.

Alex wrote: "Well, I am rather thankful that I get to check in today since last Thursday I nearly died! Was thisclose to a head-on collision with a large tractor hauling a haybale on his front fork down a farm ..."

That's sounds terrifying. Glad you're alright even if your car paid the price of that other guy's idiocy.

Made some progress reading after being stuck in various testing/doctor's visits for hours.

For the prompt The book that’s been on your TBR list for the longest amount of time I read Spock, Messiah! By Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano Jr. I had this since the 80s. Oh god is it BAD. Go to AO3 and read fanfic. It's better. Or at least it doesn't have Bones calling an ensign a bitch in heat....


For the prompt A book set somewhere you’d like to visit in 2021
The Snowdonia Killings by Simon McCleave Now I've been badly injured so I'll be going nowhere in 2021 but this took me back to north Wales in all the best ways. It was a good police procedural and I'd want more (I got this one as a freebie and it worked to make me want to buy the next one)

Not for any prompt I finished a YA paranormal short story Just a Matter of Time by Charity Tahmaseb and it was interesting but like many shorts, rushed.

QOTW For what they are, those plastic/board books count. I've gotten them for friends' babies and they were a hit and if it helped them to turn reader down the road more power to these books.

My energy is gone after 8 months of non-stop remote working. I need to separate stuff: work is at the office and home is home. Over the last months, I noticed that the non-stop mixing of work and home is not working well for me. I’m distracted from work (worrying about plants, vans in the street, people talking on the street, laundry, etc.) and I can’t relax that well at home anymore. So now my energy is gone. I talked to my boss about it and we decided that I start working in a new schedule when I return from my 2 weeks off (I have 1 week of work left): office day, home day, office day, etc. I hope it works and it will bring back my energy. And I hope I’ll have a (first) vaccine shot by then so that I can feel a little more safe at the office (I expect my invitation by next week, so I think I’m okay).

18/40
Finished
The House at the Edge of Night by Catherine Banner ⭐⭐⭐
Prompt: #14, a book set in a restaurant, #33, a book featuring three generations

Nice read for in the garden, on the beach, on the camping site, or whatever place you feel good.

Currently reading
John Adams
Vindeling

QOTW
They are of course real books! How on earth can kids develop a love for reading without books?! I remember I loved Where's Spot? as a kid, it really made me want to know how to read so I could tell the story to my younger brothers and sister.

Alex wrote: "Well, I am rather thankful that I get to check in today since last Thursday I nearly died! Was thisclose to a head-on collision with a large tractor hauling a haybale on his front fork down a farm ..."

Wow! Glad you're OK!

Hi all! Been a decent week up here in NY. Weather's been nice, though we lost power for 2 hours the other night *after* a storm went through. That was kinda confusing for my 3 year old...
Been watching a lot of baseball lately, and reading when energy allows.

I haven't finished anything, but I feel like I've read a ton this week! Or at least a ton compared to what I have done lately. Which is good, because I got a case of grabby hands and put holds on a bunch of stuff from the library that I need to go pick up. Ooh! That reminds me, my library is opening back up for regular hours, full capacity browsing on June 1!! They have had limited browsing hours for the last 6 months, but being able to go in anytime any day will make it feel like my happy place again!

So I've made good progress on Burn Baby Burn, which I will probably use for the song title prompt. Also made progress on Gray Day: My Undercover Mission to Expose America's First Cyber Spy, it's got a lot of inside stuff on the FBI (including, good Lord, how behind the times they were with technology 20 years ago), but the meat of the spy story hasn't really shown up yet.
But I'm most happy with my progress on The Magic Mountain. I'm down to the last part of the book, about 150 pages left, and I aim to be done with it by next week! Finally.

QOTW: Absolutely they count. I read 2 or 3 board books a night to my kiddo. It keeps her entertained, keeps her in bed, allows me to go to bed... all good things. And many of them are at least mildly entertaining to me, too. At least the first time....
And like Alex mentioned, there's a ton of super educational ones out there, too. We have space and oceans and biology and physics books in our collection.

Happy Thursday! I haven't read much of anything this month, but I've started a few books that seem promising, so hopefully I'll get back on track soon. Work and very loud, nonstop construction at my apartment building completely sapped any motivation to do anything for the last few weeks.

Finished:
People We Meet on Vacation- this was fine, but pretty forgettable. Or maybe it's just that it uses a lot of tropes I don't love.

Currently reading:
Interior Chinatown- I really love that this is written like a screenplay. Only a little ways into it, but so far I like it

The Office of Historical Corrections- I've liked the first few stories in this collection, and it gets returned to the library soon, so I need to make it my priority
Letters from Iceland
The Count of Monte Cristo

I'm really determined to make a dent in these books this week!

QotW:
I think anything that makes a kid more interested in reading is a win. A book is a book!

Alex wrote: "Well, I am rather thankful that I get to check in today since last Thursday I nearly died! Was thisclose to a head-on collision with a large tractor hauling a haybale on his front fork down a farm ..."

That sounds terrifying! I'm glad you're ok!

This week I worked on sewing projects, made excuses to go outside while the weather was nice, and sprawled in patches of sunlight with my cats and contemplated existence. Very exciting update, I know.

Finished:
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi - I read this for the Afrofuturist prompt and it was okay. I spent most of the book wanting to shake sense into all three of the POV characters and truly think this could have been better if it was 150-200 pages shorter - there was a lot of rehashing mental angst without coming to new conclusions that I could have done without, but the world and story are interesting and I'll probably eventually read the rest of the series.

How to Cure a Ghost by Fariha Roisin - the top goodreads review for this starts "This book represents all the tumblr poetry cliches of 2019" and I sincerely cannot think of a better way to describe it.


Currently Reading:
The Priory of the Orange Tree
The Argonauts
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
99 Percent Mine


QotW:
All books are books!

Christine wrote: "3 stars from me, which is basically my Nickelback-level rating."


🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Argh me mateys... Okay wrong group. I've been loving the pirate theme to the ATY read-a-thon. We're finally coming out of the second lockdown here and the weather is back to being sunny and things are looking up. Yay.

Books I finished:

Force Multiplied ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Old Guard #2) - I loved the movie, I love the story and it went interesting places. The artwork is fine. ATY - Cover with more than 2 people on it.

Snow, Glass, Apples ⭐⭐⭐ - The artwork was gorgeous and it was a dark take on snow white so I was expecting to love this and yet it was only okay. ATY - Author with a 21+ year career.

Cursed Luck ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - This took a bit for me to get into it. I had a really negative first reaction to the one character, but after I got into the book, it was just another reminder of why Kelley Armstrong is one of my favs. ATY - A book with magic.

Lawbreaking Ladies: 50 Tales of Daring, Defiant, and Dangerous Women from History ⭐⭐⭐ - I wanted a nonfiction book, it was short and had a whole section on pirates so I figured it was perfect for the read-a-thon. But none of the stories went into ANY depth.

Pocket Apocalypse ⭐⭐⭐⭐ & Chaos Choreography ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Continuing my reread of the series.

Dune: the Graphic Novel, Book 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - It's been years since I've read Dune so this was a nice way to go through the story again. The artwork is decent.



Books I've made progress on:

The Witch's Heart

Dracula - I am determined to finish this before the end of May.



QOTW

Of course they're real books. They're just books aimed at toddlers who are still learning to understand language. So they have to function differently with more focus on visuals and the tactile experience. And they have to not irritate the parents and other adults who have to read them.

What a crazy week! It's been administrative tasks week, including getting my residence permit renewed so I can spend another year in beautiful Switzerland, working on my not-so-fabulous German. I got my second COVID shot, which made me achy and tired the next day. No work for me! I'm also getting myself sorted to turn in my application for another master's degree, this time in history through the U of Edinburgh. What can I say? I'm a teacher who loves learning!

On the other hand, because the weather had been so crummy, I did get a few books read and some more started.

Read
I finished Toffee for prompt #11. Beautiful book, sad book, told wonderfully in verse. Definitely one that will stay with me for awhile.

I also finished The World That We Knew for prompt #4. If you're a Pisces, Alice Hoffman fits! You could also use this for the magical realism prompt or for the genre hybrid - it's magical realism & historical fiction. It was a gorgeous book, sublime writing. I'm so curious about Switzerland during WWII, and it was set on the French border with Switzerland for a good chunk of the book. I'll be digging into some of her suggested sources.

Lastly, I raced through Tin Man for prompt #6. Tin comes from a mineral, as far as I understand, and it was on a huge international list of recognized minerals. It does have parallels between one of the main characters, Ellis, to the Tin Man of The Wizard of Oz, and his good friend Michael is definitely the heart. I saw it had mixed reviews on GR, but again, the subtle writing and descriptions really struck me as beautiful. Someone struggling to feel after a lot of trauma. To make sense of things. Feeling shame all the way from childhood and dealing with society and the AIDS scourge all at once. The ending genuinely made me tear up. Bonus, it's set in Oxford, which will forever be in my heart after a term there.

Reading
Mudlark: In Search of London's Past Along the River Thames for prompt #7. While mudlarking isn't 'technically' her job, as I understand, it absorbs a huge amount of time and would be her job if life were that simple. I would love to be able to work within archaeology, museum curation, and just ... finding objects of the past and feeling that awesome history.

Middle England for prompt #47 - a book I associate with a favorite person, place, or thing ... I'm an acknowledged Anglophile, I love the evocation of the English countryside, the mill where Benjamin lives ... and how a landscape and a world can be in complete turmoil but still have such strong ties to an ancient history.

American Dirt - not started yet, but getting closer on my TBR pile. I have dusted off Fall of Giants for the longest book on my TBR list and I'll be doing book calisthenics to get ready!

I'm trying to get through the physical books on my shelf here before I go home for the summer and tackle my local library. I'll have my TBR Kindle books as well ready for afternoons in the sun, long flights, and such.

Hi all,

Actually finished some stuff this week, so yayyy

This week I finished:

Reserved for the Cat - comfort re-read

Petals to the Metal - Wanted a fast read, and my general goodreads challenge is behind. I might actually lower it a bit just so i stop feeling pressure. I know it's silly and NBD but it still feels judgy "you're behind". I realized this works for the internet personality book, the graphic novels are based on the Adventure Zone podcast. This was the third one. I don't listen to the podcast, their voices are grating (sorry to those who love them). But condensed down into a graphic novel, the stories are pretty fun. This was my favorite of them so far.

The Great Believers - my next books & brew book. I enjoyed this pretty well over all, certainly very moving. I cried at the end, husband had to check and see what was wrong haha. I removed a star because I felt like the whole missing daughter plotline was shoehorned in. Distracted from what I felt was the real story, and every time the perspective shifted to dealing with it i was impatiently waiting to get back to the 80's storyline, or for something related to happen. I used it for book set somewhere you'd like to visit in 2021. Not sure I'm actually traveling this year, but Chicago is one of the places we'd probably go if we do decide to. lots of friends and some family there. Paris was in half the book, that's out of the question for this year, but it's on my general "someday" travel list.

currently reading:

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within - not very far, but liking it so far. I heard this might be the last wayfarers, that makes me sad! I hope even if she takes a break for a while, she'll circle back to the universe someday. Especially since each book is pretty self contained, so there's plenty of room for more stories without wearing out what you can do with a particular cast.

1Q84 - still no progress, really need to get on it.

QOTW:

Not sure if the question is whether board books are real books, or whether they are Literature with a capital L. I mean they have words on them, I'd say they were books. I took a book binding class in college, several of our assignments were meant to push the idea of what a book could be, including making books out of food, making a book out "cards" with whatever you want to interpret as a card, stuff like that. Mine was a 3-d set of houses made out of cards, painted like the sky with information about various zodiac information. Didn't look like a book much at all but it conveyed information!

If the question is more about Literature with a big L , i just....can't with that sort of discussion. It feels pretentious enough when it's adult books, an excuse to get snobby over what one reads. I mean sure I accept there's a big difference between something like Frankenstein and a paranormal romance about necromancers. But most the time it seems like it's a way to look down on genre fiction. The idea of trying to apply that to books meant for children is just....ridiculous. It's words aimed at kids to help them learn, who cares if it's printed on plastic or board or paper if it's helping the kid and they enjoy it?

I'm writing this before reading anyone else's posts because I'm short on time today. Our next batch of students is starting, so my calendar is starting to fill up! My doctor has me doing intermittent fasting and LET ME TELL YOU it is HARD to have such a strict timeframe for eating when your day-to-day schedule is so unpredictable!

It better work for the weight loss lol!

Finished:
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë - a book by an anonymous author. Ho. Ly. Carp. I flipping LOVED this book. It was infuriating and heartbreaking and exciting and just...wow. Anne knew what was up! It is feminist lit done beautifully and this is definitely a new favorite of mine.

Currently Reading:
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger - a book by an indigenous author. I'm only a couple of chapters in but I'm already sold on the premise.

QOTW:
I think anyone trying to say a book isn't a book for whatever reason is just being pretentious to sound "intellectual." It's like defining "art" with really strict terms--just because you don't like it, or it wasn't created with the ~intellectual~ in mind, doesn't mean it's not art or not a book. Some books are published as both board books AND paper books, including the incredibly famous Good Night Moon (not my favorite, to be honest, but still). Why exactly would one of those count and not the other?

I'm a lifelong fan of Sandra Boynton and own several of her board books (as a childless 33 year old, no less!). Her rhymes are creative and her illustrations are adorable--it's not like it's just a bunch of nonsense written on cardboard! But Not the Hippopotamus is 100% literature--it has a complete storyline, interesting characters, plot development, AND creative rhymes! It even has a slight cliffhanger ending!

This is a hill I will happily defend and die on with zero regrets.

Alex wrote: "Well, I am rather thankful that I get to check in today since last Thursday I nearly died! Was thisclose to a head-on collision with a large tractor hauling a haybale on his front fork down a farm ..."

I'm so glad you're okay!!!

Hi everyone. The weather still isn't behaving like the end of May. Hopefully June will be sunnier! I have my first Covid jab on Saturday and I haaaaate needles, so wish me luck

Last week I finished nothing. This week I finished 3 books. Funny how that happens!

First up was The Perfect Storm. This was really interesting and in depth but there was a chapter that went into way too much detail about what happens when you drown made me feel sick.

I also finished The Secret Commonwealth finally...and what the heck? How is that the ending? That isn't even a cliff-hanger. It is just...the end of the sentence. Where's the rest of the story? I guess I have to wait for it to be published.

Thirdly was Thin Air which was really good. I felt completely sucked into the setting, and that rucksack was the creepiest bag ever!

Currently reading: Aladdin: Far from Agrabah which is a bit of a strange concept. Aladdin and Jasmine go on a side quest whilst on the magic carpet ride. When do they even have time to do that? It is cute so far though.

QOTW: I don't really have an opinion. *shrug*

Shannon wrote: "... including the incredibly famous Good Night Moon (not my favorite, to be honest, but still). ..."


That caught my eye because I am - apparently - a pedant. One of the things that has always bugged me about that book is its grammatically incorrect title: Goodnight Moon (and one of the - MANY - things I've always loved about Good Night, Gorilla is the fact that Rathman got it right!). So it's pretty funny to see that an overly enthusiastic Goodreads librarian has apparently created a listing for "Good Night Moon" bwahahaha they can correct it all they want, but that won't change the fact that the real title is "Goodnight Moon"!!!




But Not the Hippopotamus is 100% literature--it has a complete storyline, interesting characters, plot development, AND creative rhymes! It even has a slight cliffhanger ending!

Another one of my favorites!!! Oh my goodness, along with cute art and a snappy rhythm, it's got plot tension! pathos! a moral!! All in a few short pages!

Poor Hippopotamus I swear I got choked up reading that! And what a relief when her friends include her at the end!!!!!

Kenya wrote: "Happy Thursday, y’all.

Not much to report this week... so on to the reading wrap-up, heh...

Books read this week:

The Magic Misfits -- for “book with a heart, diamond, club, or s..."

I read the whole Shatter Me series, novellas included, during lockdown last year. They were enjoyable ya to me, I've put it on my craptactular shelf. This series seems to be hit or miss with people. It starts off with the main character being quite mentally unwell and the writing style changes within the books to accommodate better wellness in the mc's pov. Plus every time I was ready to be done with the book/series there would be an unexpected plot twist.

Nadine wrote: "That caught my eye because I am - apparently - a pedant."

Haha honestly, that's a legit thing to be irritated by! I just always found it kind of a boring book. I much prefer Brown's The Runaway Bunny (it always makes me cry!).

Nadine wrote: "Poor Hippopotamus I swear I got choked up reading that! And what a relief when her friends include her at the end!!!!!"

Yesssss!!! I love it so much!

Where did Thursday go?????

For about 2 weeks now, I've not had any interest in reading anything - zip, zero, none. I'm in such a reading funk. Just want to watch tv, play online mindless games to the ever-next level, and obsess about work somewhat. I've even got a jigsaw puzzle dumped out ready to sort and put together ---- for at least a month now (clearly I don't have pets or children and live alone). This has been a hard year for everyone and the way it affects each of us hits at different times and different ways. I'll get over this and I'm really fine. I actually believe times like this are good for you, as long as you accept that they are temporary AND that they really are temporary!

I also hate the super hot weather we are having this week in NYC -- which no doubt is contributing to my slump. Give me cold snowy winters.

PS Challenge - I am at 31/50

Finished: One book that took me a week more to read even though it usually only takes a couple days .... O is for Outlaw. This was my bestseller published in the 90s (1999) and I enjoyed my visit with Kinsey very much. I'd read through L in order, then in the 90s just stopped reading them for no real reason although I kept buying the first editions when they came out. I've been reading those unread Kinseys out of order from time to time and I am really appreciating them more now than I did then. Visiting the 80s when detecting did not rely on internet and cellphones....sublime.

Currently reading:

Three Lives
Interpreter of Maladies
How Much of These Hills Is Gold


QOTW: Why wouldn't they be? As for the professor who did not consider them to be real literature, how does he class all those Golden Books that taught so many of us to read. Many of those were adaptations and abridged for very young children learning to read. I am a firm believe that those are books as they instill a love of reading.

Alex wrote: "Well, I am rather thankful that I get to check in today since last Thursday I nearly died! Was thisclose to a head-on collision with a large tractor hauling a haybale on his front fork down a farm ..."

Yikes. Glad to hear you're all okay.

Jennifer W wrote: "Which is good, because I got a case of grabby hands and put holds on a bunch of stuff from the library that I need to go pick up...."

This is the best way to explain checking out books from the library.

Shannon wrote: "But Not the Hippopotamus is 100% literature--it has a complete storyline, interesting characters, plot development, AND creative rhymes! It even has a slight cliffhanger ending!"

I LOVE that book.

Shannon wrote: "Nadine wrote: "That caught my eye because I am - apparently - a pedant."

Haha honestly, that's a legit thing to be irritated by! I just always found it kind of a boring book. I much prefer Brown's..."


Yeah I prefer Runaway Bunny to Goodnight Moon too! But I like Big Red Barn even better than Runaway Bunny.

Happy check-in. It's been a rainy week and that has been a good thing. I'm a little sad today because my hockey team got punted from the playoffs last night and seeing that Eric Carle had passed away. I remember borrowing his books over and over again because of the artwork. I always picked pictures books due to the artwork as a child, didn't care for the whole reading thing. Haha things change.

Anyway to the QOTW. At first I had no idea about what you meant by plastic/board books. I envisioned fake plastic books that don't open or homemade board games that are carved into plywood. 🤷‍♀️😂 Reading through everyone's posts helped me visualize. I have never heard of kids books that have thick pages being called board books. I would not say that these can't be literature. More simplistic language does not lessen the value of a story.

Finished Reading:

The Time of Contempt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (2021 bestseller from the 90's)
I loved getting back to this awesome series. I'm still sad The Witcher got canceled.

The Soulmate Equation ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (2021 set in a restaurant)
The newest Christina Lauren that didn't seem that appealing after reading the blurb, but these authors are always funny and they love BTS so... A lot of this books happens in a coffee shop or in restaurants so I stretched into this prompt. :)

Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook ⭐⭐ (2021 About forgetting)
A horror origin story of Captain Hook by a good author, didn't quite work for me. Creativity and writing style were good, but it was a bit boring and depressing.

Space Opera ⭐⭐⭐ (2017 First in a new series)
This was a difficult read for me but it ended well and I rounded up to three stars. An ode to Eurovision set in space with pop culture references galore. The creativity is awesome but the writing style is it's own thing.

Vampire Academy: The Graphic Novel ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A comfort read to make up for all the depressing and tough reads I've got going on.

PS 2021 31/50
PS 2017 28/52
Goodreads 110/200

Currently Reading:

Watchmen This is work ugh
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Turtles All the Way Down

I am so looking forward to the 3-day weekend and leaving this week in the rearview mirror. And now for this week's book update! I finished three books -- just one worked for an open prompt. I'm at 15/40 and 2/10 for this challenge, and 32/100 for my overall Goodreads Reading Challenge.

Finished:
* Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and Their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight by Amy Shira Teitel, which was a book club pick for May. We had a great discussion last weekend, so I'm glad I recommended it and my brother let me borrow his copy :)
* Fatal Fried Rice by Vivien Chien, which means I'm finally caught up on the series! Now, I just need to wait until January for #8. This one had more scenes in the Ho-Lee Noodle House than the last couple, but I didn't think it was enough to use it for the "book set in a restaurant" prompt.
* They Never Learn by Layne Fargo, which I used for "a dark academia book." I could not read this one fast enough! So good.

Currently Reading:
* Lady Joker, Volume One by Kaoru Takamura and translated by Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell, which I need to get moving on since it's 600 pages and I won't get to renew it since there's a waiting list.

About-To-Be-Currently-Reading:
* Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong -- my library hold came in this evening, so I've checked it out but haven't started reading it yet.

QotW:
Building on my last QotW: What about plastic books or board books? Are these actually “literature”/real books? To me, a book is a book is a book. Can I see/touch/feel/smell/read it? Yes? That sounds like a real book to me. Labels. Blech.

Guess who is fully! vaxxed! babeyyyyy!
Got my second dose last Friday, the injection hurt more than the first but no side effects otherwise, and I managed not to have a needlephobic meltdown and turn into the no-no-no cat this time around! Go me!
(explanatory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKI-t... - content warning for somewhat upset kitty)

Now just a couple weeks till I can go Do Stuff in public safely again! First on the agenda is visiting some lovely indie bookshops in Stirling. In the meantime I shall paw at their social media shelfies like a small puppy.

... hmm. No more sugar for me tonight, I'm overdoing the exclamation marks and sound mildly unhinged.
(*sneaky pours another glass of Irn Bru*)

Right, books. Only finished 2 this week, which is... surprising, I thought I'd read more. I did start another and put it aside for now, and tried a few chapters of a couple more without continuing them, so that explains that I suppose.

The House in the Cerulean Sea - This was very, mm, very nice. Not terribly substantial, but nice. It was sort of what I wanted Every Heart a Doorway to be - I love EHAD but every time I read it I wish it was just pure worldbuilding rather than a murder-mystery.
Lucy the 6-yr-old Antichrist was adorable and, oddly, relatable from a mental-illness/OCD perspective - he talks about how he has "spiders in his brain" (may or may not be metaphorical) and experiences intrusive thoughts brought about by his demonic side. There's a lot of discussion about how he is so much more than those thoughts and has the power of self-determination no matter what his origins were. Really appreciated that representation.

Plain Bad Heroines - Mixed feelings on this one. I really liked the book overall, how it was told and narrated (footnotes! squee!), and overflowing with queerness. Buuut the plot was kind of all over the place and never really came clear.

Temp-DNFed The Traitor (a.k.a. The Traitor Baru Cormorant). It seems pretty good but I got just over 100 pages in and started to feel like I was pushing myself through it, so put it aside for a time when I can give it the enthusiasm it deserves.

Feeling maybe a lil slumpy now. Started Crow Country just 'cause a little natural history is always soothing. Not sure what I'm in the mood for novel-wise...

QOTW: Huh. I need to do some thinking on my own literary biases because my initial reaction was an immediate "no they're not", but I couldn't quantify why I think that. And I had plastic books in my cot even as a newborn...

Good evening and here is this week's evidence I have no life. All AAPI

Finished:
Pirate Vishnu - Jaya Jones treasure hunt mystery
How to Pronounce Knife - Good
The Good Son - good
Flamer - Toxic masculinity, the graphic novel
Quicksand - Jaya Jones
Seconds - graphic novel
Little Elliot, Big City - cute picture book
Unsettled - verse
Lines - pictures
Stargazing - graphic novel
Eyes That Kiss in the Corners - picture book
A Master of Djinn - Fatma's Big Adventure
Michelangelo's Ghost - Jaya Jones


Currently Reading:
Frankenstein in Baghdad - translated
The Ninja's Illusion - Jaya Jones
Vietnamerica: A Family's Journey - Graphic novel


QOTW:
Books is books. I have no interest in assigning some of them what is basically the label of "worthy" or otherwise.

I have had so little time to post lately. Catching up now, since my dog woke me up at 6:15am for no reason whatsoever.

Finished:
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family
The Missing American

Currently reading:
Black Sun
The Four Winds
The Frozen Rabbi
War and Peace

QOTW:
Nothing to add that hasn't already been said.