EPBOT Readers discussion

Hi all, sorry for another no post last week. If you can believe it we lost power AGAIN. Lost it 4:30 last wedneday, didn't get back until afternoon on Saturday. Then the internet went out about an hour after the power came back, and didn't come back until overnight Saturday. And then again on Sunday I felt terrible. Luckily the rest of this week has been much calmer, except frantically working to catch up/get ahead so I can go on vacation next week. We're flying to Portland tomorrow evening, which I'm kinda nervous about. When we booked the tickets a few months ago, things were a lot calmer. But we're going to go, got some k95 masks for airport/plane. And Portland has mask mandates for everything indoor, so hoping it'll be ok. We're vaccinated, and so is the friend we're visiting.

the last couple weeks I finished:

The Priory of the Orange Tree - enjoyed this, interesting new take on high fantasy, dragon lore, magic, etc. Used for popsugar book with a family tree, Book nerds book with a magical creature

Vulnerable AF - Reading Wo men poetry collection by a Black woman, i like Tank's music so read her poetry. I find I tend to like most poetry spoken out loud more than just read.

Hummingbird Salamander - this was disappointing, i really loved his Annihilation, and this looked good from the blurb. It fell flat for me. I didn't really like how the narrator kept saying stuff "if only I knew what would happen" or "that'd be the last time i ever saw that person". That always annoys me, build suspense naturally without giving these leading statements and then not following up for pages. used for book nerds set in the future.

News of the World - this was my books & brew pick, we had our first in person meeting in a year and a half last tuesday. Was kinda nice, if very hot because it was 90 and we were outside. I wasn't a huge fan. I don't love westerns to begin with. I just kind of have issue with telling a story about a girl who was a captive of an Indigenous tribe and then leaving them to be the villains, without really exploring to any of the situations going on at the time that might have lead to that. The author said she didn't touch on that because she wanted to tell a lighthearted story, but that seems kind of...lazy and privileged. But no one else seemed to mind that so maybe i'm reading too much into it.

Board Stiff - I clearly was having a slump, also wasn't a fan of this. I used to love Piers Anthony, but as he got older he seemed to get even pervy-er than he was. When I was younger I didn't notice as much, but once I got older it got more glaring. This book was just full of not really necessary nudity, lackluster relationships, lots of sexism, a kind of predictable plot, etc. Counted for popsugar book that's been on my tbr the longest, i got it on a kindle sale before I decided I wasn't really feeling him anymore and they've been sitting on my kindle since. Probably 2014 ish. also used for booknerds bottom of tbr

The Fire Rose - re-read because I wasn't doing well reading a book about eldrich horrors while sitting in a dark house and needed something already downloaded on my kindle.

Beneath the Rising - popsugar book with a black and white cover. It was an interesting premise, didn't love it. Seemed like it probably should have been an adult horror, but she was trying to make it YA. The banter was really juvenile and kind of broke the mood, and it felt like it didn't make sense for Johnny's age to be so young.

Currently reading:

Little Women - this is my book that everyone has read but me. Never read it as a kid somehow. I think i probably would have liked it more back then, as it is I'm finding it pretty saccharin.

Don't forget to post your thoughts about Project Hail Mary, if you've finished!

Aw, Sheri! I'm sorry things haven't been going well. I hope you can get a break next week and enjoy Portland! We're going to be traveling to the Oregon coast in about three weeks, and I'm really looking forward to getting away for a little bit.

Since our last check-in, I've had a few finishes.

The Invisible Library was my Popsugar book where the main character has your dream job - maybe kind of a stretch, but I would love to be able to be an adventurous librarian. This was a lot of fun - inter-dimensional librarians pulling heists in alternate universes, while trying to protect the whole multi-verse from the forces of chaos.

Discount Armageddon - a reread, because I plan on getting caught back up with this series, which I'd previously read through volume 5. Also using as my Popsugar book with a family tree. I love this series - it's fluffy and not super-serious, but it's fun.

A Lesson in Vengeance - this was my book for the dark academia prompt. This was really compelling reading, with an unreliable narrator and an almost fever-dream atmosphere. I spent half the book wondering what was happening, but in a good way, like unraveling a puzzle, if that makes sense.

Some manga finishes, too: Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 6, Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 7, Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 8, SPY×FAMILY 1, SPY×FAMILY 2

Currently reading:
I'm about to start Queen's Shadow, which will fit the prompt for a book whose title starts with "Q," "X," or "Z". I'm looking forward to it; even though the Star Wars prequels aren't my favorite, I feel like Padme especially was not explored enough and had the potential to be a much more interesting character. I'm curious to see what an author who loves the character can do with her.

Sheri I hope all goes well in Portland. Our daughter flew out today to Bend, OR to visit our son and his wife. Hopefully it all works out as she's staying here after she returns (just for one night). If it isn't the pandemic, then it is the smoke and bad air quality.

Anyway I am still reading the same two books from my last post. The physical book I'm reading is Klara and the Sun. I don't know how/why this ended up on my To-read list but it is really interesting and engaging and I'm glad I picked it up at the library. I am about 75% of the way through and things just keep surprising me in interesting ways.

I am still listening to Persepolis Rising. Expanse #7. I am about 60% of the way through this. It is as interesting as all the rest of the Expanse books. If the author hadn't said 30 years had passed since the end of the 6th books, you'd otherwise never know it. All characters are still together and behaving in pretty much the same way. It would be just as easy to believe only a year or two passed.

Travel safe, Sheri! Not sure if you're going to Portland ME or OR, but I've been to both Portlands and both are wonderful! (If you're going to Oregon, you HAVE to stop by Powell's bookstore, it's legendary). I have a strong nostalgic love for Little Women, but I can definitely see how it would be a little much if reading it for the first time as an adult.

My past few weeks...meh. 3 out of the 4 members of my household, including yours truly, ended up with COVID. @#$%^ Delta variant got through my vaccine! :( But spouse so far seems to be ok. Kid #1 and I are both past our isolation period and are theoretically no longer contagious, Kid #2 came down with it the minute her brother got released from his confinement so now we're home with her until next week Thursday. Everyone is doing fine - mild cases for all three of us - so it's inconvenience and disappointment more than anything else. But it's been a bummer of a way to finish out the summer. At least they will have some immunity heading into the school year?

Lots of reading time when you're quarantining, so yay? I've read:
Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson (own voices prompt), which I absolutely loved. Afro-Caribbean magic realism...set in Toronto. So unique!

I was low on mental energy after that so I re-read some old favorites - I didn't end up going through the whole series but I read the first four books of the Indigo series by Louise Cooper (Nemesis, Inferno,Infanta, and Nocturne). I will probably read the second four at some point soon, but I took a break after book four. It's been many years since I read these and they read a bit dated, but still good!

Currently reading:
Death's End, book three of the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, so far just as mindblowing as the first two.

Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works, on recommendation from my doctor, and I'm not quite done with it yet but at about 80% through it makes SO MUCH SENSE. Seriously, I can't recommend it enough if you, like me, struggle to be healthy. Very much HAES (Health At Every Size) philosophy.

And kiddo and I are almost finished with The Sword of Summer.

Shel, OR and believe me, we’re doing powells. :) our chosen family brother moved there 7 or so years ago, we have visited him at least once, sometimes twice every year since then (except last year, obviously). We miss him! But I am 100% also shopping.

Also sorry to hear about the illness! That’s partially why we’re so nervous about the trip. We booked this back in early June when things were feeling like they were headed back to some semblance of normal. Got some k95 masks for the airport/plane, hoping it goes ok!

{{hugs Sheri}}

in those two weeks i've read:
A Lonely Man - it was mostly a good story. it had a few slow spots but otherwise it wasn't too bad.

An Unwelcome Quest - book 3 in Magic 2.0, a pretty humerous take on time travel.

I'm now currently reading Million Dollar Demon - I put it on hold back in March, it came out in June, and the library finally got it in last week. wow.

Sheri, sounds like rather a lot has been going on for you lately! I hope everything goes smoothy for your trip though.

I've missed a few check-ins lately. Pretty much just slogging very slowly through Ulysses. And it definitely feels like a slog. I found an online reading guide to read alongside it, which is helping a bit. At least I now know roughly what's apparently going on, and can at least vaguely appreciate some of the techniques being used. Over halfway now, and extremely keen to get on to some other reading eventually, so I'm trying to pick up the pace a bit. I'm so tempted to pick up something different for a while, but not sure I'd ever get back to Ulysses again if I did, or be able to hang onto what tenuous grasp I have on what's happening.

I did listen to A Closed and Common Orbit, which was lovely. I think I preferred the first book (I missed the space adventuring) but still think this one was really well done and with some excellent characters.

Just started listening to All Systems Red. I know so many people love the Murderbot stories, but I've never read any - so far so good!

Night at the Vulcan - People seem to like the Ngaio Marsh books set in the theater, as it's a setting she knew well, but this felt more self-indulgent to me, like she was dwelling on the theatrical details to the detriment of the story (there's no murder until literally halfway through). Also the romance was a May-December, out-of-nowhere, second-cousins-once-removed situation that was not satisfying. Not my favorite.

Obit - This was mostly prose poems about the author's mother's death and her father's dementia. It didn't really resonate with me, and I'm not sure it it was her choice of metaphor or that I haven't experienced grief as an adult in the same way. There were one or two really striking turns of phrase, but overall I think it just wasn't for me.

Bootlegger's Daughter - This was a recommendation from someone in this group a little while ago. It was very well written and entertaining. I did think it spent a little too much time on the narrator's family relationships and her legal and law enforcement connections. Also rural NC thirty years ago makes me uncomfortable but that's not the author's fault.

Buses Are a Comin': Memoir of a Freedom Rider - So I did not know anything about the Freedom Rides until fairly recently, and this just came out so I thought it would be interesting. It was, but I think it might've been aimed more at young people. The book was very committed to a bus metaphor in which "getting on the bus" is a symbol of "seizing opportunities of taking action", which, fine, but they really kept beating on it. Also the author was on the first ride before it became a whole movement. There were a couple of books cited about the broader movement that I might look into.

My hold just came in for book club, so I should be commenting on that in about a week.