Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Happy Thursday!!   Yesterday was the first day of school for my younger daughter, so this marks the end of her summer vacation, which means maybe it's not SO happy.  And they assigned her to the wrong bus, so I have to drive her to school while I wait for them to fix it, because the bus driver wouldn't let her on the bus this morning.  Which meant I had to drop off early from my 7am global meeting to go take care of that.  And my garage door opener stopped working when I got back home from that today.  (Luckily, I had my house keys in my car, or that would have been ugly.)

Nevertheless!  We carry on!!

Admin stuff
Group read for The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is ongoing here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

We have ONE opening left for a discussion leader for December (Malibu Rising).  Let us know if you're interested.



This week I finished two books, but I gave both of them five stars, so I guess it was a good reading week! I am now 40/50.

Caribou: Poems by Charles Wright - this was phenomenal.  Wright wrote these poems in his 70s & 80s, bravely staring death in the face (or so he thought - this was published seven years ago, and he's still alive, and hopefully he's still writing!) and some of them are so powerful.  Wright was US Poet Laureate 2014-2015, and this book proves that my idea of reading the Poet Laureates and Pulitzer winners is a good idea.  I noticed after-the-fact that this book has a black and white cover, so I checked off that category!

Dominicana by Angie Cruz - I spontaneously downloaded this audiobook a few days ago, as part of my Hispanic Heritage Month reading, and then I listened to it almost nonstop and finished it in just a few days (which is fast for me these days).  Five stars, and I recommend the audiobook, because the bookbook is one of those annoying books that dispenses with quotation marks for some reason I cannot fathom. 



Question of the Week
Did you look forward to assigned reading in school, or did you dread it and wish you could choose your own books?

I was excited each year to find what the assigned reading would be, because even as a child I looked forward to being introduced to books I would have never picked up on my own.  That's not to say that I enjoyed every book I had to read!!  (I didn't like Dickens then, and I still don't like Dickens today.  And Billy Budd can just jump in the ocean so far as I'm concerned.)  But I was always filled with anticipation at the beginning of each school year.

When I went to college, I was an engineering student so I didn't have many humanities classes, but I would look at the books assigned for interesting classes, and sometimes I'd buy those books along with all of my assigned texts.

Wow, Nadine! Talk about frustrations! I can’t tell you how glad I am to be beyond all that!! Now my sons and their spouses must deal! Ah, and fair warning about Dominicana's lack of quotation marks! (I personally believe it is just laziness, but I may be misjudging...)

I am still trying to survive the first few weeks of fall semester. It seems I’ve forgotten everything I used to know about my job! LOL Plus my institution keeps changing all the internal processes and programs every 12-18 months and that really gets old. You think you know what to do and then, WHOOPS! There’s a brand-new system to learn! LOL I’m probably just too old and set in my ways for all this change! But it is good to be back to helping students, etc. I thrive on that energy.

EDITED TO ADD: So, of course I plan to participate in the next ATY Read-a-thon that begins Saturday, September 11 and ends Sunday, September 19! Here is the information!

Question of the Week:
Did you look forward to assigned reading in school, or did you dread it and wish you could choose your own books?
I am such a nerd that I loved pretty much any reading, assigned or otherwise! Though I admit Shakespeare was not something I would have ever picked up to read on my own. While I can’t say I enjoyed the several plays we read, I have been grateful to have that knowledge base later in life. Interestingly, my oldest son found his reading niche via Homer and Shakespeare during his junior year of high school. Unfortunately, my high school was smaller and didn’t offer much in the way of literature courses. I don’t even remember reading any other books, though perhaps we did. It’s been 50 years, so my memories have most likely dissipated over time…

I am trying to slowly but surely add to my knowledge base of “classics” over time as an older adult. I have recently read Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. And I am midway through Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women series and I’m finishing up Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Saga series this month. I have begun and plan to finish reading Lois Lowry’s The Giver series.

I have also been rereading or reading for the first time Agatha Christie mysteries while also exploring some other mysteries written by female authors in the same era such as Dorothy Sayers and Ngaio Marsh. I find it interesting that all of their books are basically stand-alones with no real development for the main investigators. It seems that at least some of the more recent mystery series do feature character development for the main investigators!

So while I didn’t have much exposure to classics beyond Shakespeare in high school I keep trying to read some of the books others had to endure in high school! I appreciate having the background knowledge with which to connect when reading other books using these references! I will even research and search out critical writings about some of them. I usually skim those so that I have a feel for what an instructor might have stressed. For example, I read the Norton Critical Edition of The Age of Innocence and do intend to at least skim all the critical text following the actual book, but that book bored me so thoroughly simply because I despise all the hypocritical societal interactions of the time, that I haven’t yet done that. But the book will be there when I’m ready! 😊

Popsugar: 43/50
ATY: 48/52
RHC: 16/24
Reading Women: 11/28
I’m getting closer on POPSUGAR and ATY. Need to concentrate on the other two as well! But I’m excited for my progress thus far!

FINISHED:
The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ proved to be one of my favorite reads! Hoffman is amazing at interweaving story lines and characters! And I love that! So grateful for this gift from a very very good (if long-distance) friend!! What a gorgeous reading experience. I believe the main theme is that we each need to sustain enough faith and hope to perform both random and targeted acts of kindness. You may never know the extent of positive impact you may have on another person…you may even save someone’s life and never know!
POPSUGAR: #4, #18-Unconditional positive regard and enough faith and hope in humanity to give both random and targeted acts of kindness to those we may or may not “know”, #27, #28, #33, #37, #47-A favorite long-distance friend who gifted a copy of this, her favorite book, to me!, #50-a gift from one of my favorite people!
ATY: #3-Brown paper packages tied up with strings-the books Lucy purchased were wrapped like this!, #6, #8-UK, #15, #20-Your actions in the “here and now” can help others in the future, #23-Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Magical Realism, Romance, #27-The Lovers, Strength, Death, Temperance, Judgement, The World, #29, #31, #34, #39, #49, #51, #52-In the end, it is kindness that matters most.

Jack & Jill (Alex Cross #3) by James Patterson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ has restored my faith in this series and I will continue it! This book made me gasp several times while reading it, but in good ways, not bad ways. 😊 There was a “high body count,” as my husband would say, but almost no grisly details! YAY! That’s how I like it. Though I prefer a lower body count overall...
POPSUGAR: #4, #27, #30-Washington, DC and Virginia, #33, #34-Investigative resources for crimes committed against black people
ATY: #3-whiskers on kittens-Rosie the cat, #9, #10-Jeanne/Jill and Sara/Jill, #18-the U.S. has experienced a few other similar assassinations, #24,#27-Jack, #31, #40, #42, #52-In the end, we may never know who really killed him…
RHC: #1-I felt brave tackling the third installment after that second one!, #24

Our Harlem: Seven Days of Cooking, Music and Soul at the Red Rooster by Marcus Samuelsson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ proved to be absolutely excellent! This is only available as an audiobook on Audible. It was so very worth my time and effort to listen to it. I took 5 pages of notes. It is so informative, educational, and fun!
POPSUGAR: #7-A celebrity chef and restaurateur, #14, #16, #18-Food/cooking, African-American history, prejudice/discrimination, #21-Cooking, Diversity, Historical Nonfiction, Nonfiction, Prejudice/Discrimination, #27-Fresh starts with the Great Migration!, #30-Harlem, NY, #34-Diversity and respect, NEW #35-Audiobook on Audible, #36-114 reviews on Goodreads, #38-Marcus is a culinary artist, #47-I think I am in love with Marcus Samuelsson!,
ATY: #1-In the beginning, Harlem was to be a white community, #3-bright copper kettles-I’m sure there are copy pans in the Red Rooster kitchen, #8-Harlem, NY, #13-I read The Red Rooster Cookbook in 2020, #20-Marcus combines his past experiences with his current skills to build a better future for many others, #21, #23-Cooking, Historical Nonfiction, Nonfiction, Prejudice/Discrimination, #24, #33, #34, #36, #39, #47, #49, #51
RHC: NEW #11

Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I had picked this up many months ago and read the first 30 pages then set it aside for other books. I picked it up this weekend and sped through most of it, to the last chapter, which I will easily finish this evening, so I’m counting it. (What a cheat I am! LOL) This is such an amazingly eye-opening and informative read! Any educator would benefit from reading this book, IMO, since it describes so many different ways in which individuals interpret and understand their world. We think every person learns the same way and the same teaching strategies are successful for each student. We are short-sighted and very wrong! Whether a child qualifies on the autistic spectrum or not, there is much more variation within the supposedly “normal” folks than we might believe possible.
POPSUGAR: #7-working for the betterment of animal welfare, #18-Equitable treatment for all!, #19, #21-Activism, Autobiography, Health/Well-Being, Medical, Neurodiversity, Nonfiction, #27, #34-Respect, acceptance, and appreciation for diverse individuals!, #37, #38-Temple is quite the artist!, #46, #47-I am so appreciative of Temple’s activism, professionalism, and most of all her passion!
ATY: #8-New Hampshire, #20- There is a better future out there for others dealing with autism thanks to Temple for documenting her past experiences in the present day, #23- Activism, Autobiography, Health/Well-Being, Medical, Neurodiversity, Nonfiction, #27-Judgment, The World, #29, #31, #36, #51, #52-In the end Temple has achieved so much more than most “normal” people!
RHC: NEW #16
Reading Women: #9

Hazel and Grayby Nic Stone ⭐️⭐️⭐️. This is a Hansel & Gretel retelling. I’m not a huge fan of retellings in general, and especially not this one. It was a short story available on Audible. While I adored Dear Martin and am very anxious to read Dear Justyce, this just wasn’t my jam. Not using for a challenge.

CONTINUING:
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

PLANNED:
For August Buddy Reads:
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
The Alchemistby Paulo Coelho
September Buddy Reads:
Children of the Mind (Ender’s Saga #4) by Orson Scott Card

And…
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
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

this week I read Anna and the King of Siam

qotw: So long ago it's hard to remember. In 10th grade I hated the assigned reading, partly because I only liked 2 or 3 books we read that year, but mostly because it was all symbolism symbolism symbolism and I'm a literal kind of girl.

Before that I think I liked both.

Happy Thursday! Popping in quickly so I don't forget to post before our overnighter to Lake Erie. Sister's wedding went beautifully last weekend and we all made it through. My mom is still grouchy about a few things, but that's to be expected with her.

Hmm... should the header be 9/2 - 9/9 instead, as that's today? Anyway, I've only finished one book in that time.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents - 5 stars. Phenomenal narration by Robin Miles (as always), and I think this would pair well with Ibram X Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Looking ever forward to picking up The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration!

PS 43/50

Currently:
The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstone's Underdog - I was hoping to finish this last night but I zonked out with 15 pages left! Grrr! Finishing tomorrow once we're back home.
Sense and Sensibility - Marianne is driving me and Elinor up a wall.
Circe - Hoping to get through more this weekend!!
Queen of the Night

QOTW: Did you look forward to assigned reading in school, or did you dread it and wish you could choose your own books?
It depended on which books were chosen; I wasn't a huge fan of Romeo & Juliet in freshman year of high school, but we read Macbeth senior year and I loved it. I unexpectedly loved Beowulf. Sophomore year we were allowed to choose either the Hobbit or Lord of the Flies - I went with the Hobbit and liked it. Didn't read Flies til only a few years ago, disliked it, and don't think I would've enjoyed it in school either. I liked To Kill a Mockingbird and 1984. Frankenstein was and still is a slog, unfortunately.

I recently checked in with my freshman year English teacher online; his syllabus still includes R&J but also, happily, The Hate U Give! I'm so glad to see more recent/current books on syllabi.

Happy Thursday! I'm down to ten prompts left for Popsugar, but nothing I really want to read right now fits any of them.

Finished:
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas for my longest book. I went in with low expectations and ended up really enjoying it. Reminds me a lot of the sort of urban fantasy I used to binge read years ago. It needed a little bit of a better edit though, there was so much infodumping at the start that I considered DNFing in the first 15 pages, but turned out it didn't matter that I barely absorbed any of it. It was either repeated later on or unnecessary to understand the story.

Mina and the Undead by Amy McCaw for ATY (associate with a specific season or time of year). This was a fun YA set during the New Orleans Fangfest 1995, with lots of nostalgic references to 90's horror, and vampires.

Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold by Bolu Babalola for ATY (short story collection). This was a pretty decent collection, only a couple of stories I didn't care for. Will maybe check out her debut novel next year.

PS: 40/50 | ATY 40:52 | GR: 88/100

QOTW:
I never really like the assigned reading, but remember we were given a lot of freedom to choose what to read, unless it was for an exam. The year we had to do Shakespeare, someone very smart at the exam board had chosen Romeo & Juliet, it was when Baz Luhrman's version came out and everyone was much more engaged in it!

Happy Thursday, y’all.

We can tell summer is over at the library, because EVERYONE is returning their kids' books at once. It's like they think that now that school is starting, the kids aren't going to have time to read. Which I suppose might be true...

Books read this week:

Starship Troopers -- my fourth Robert A. Heinlein novel, and in all honesty his most boring. While his examination of the military (at least the military at the time he wrote it) was interesting, it makes for really tedious reading. Though now I’m curious to see how much the movie changed things up -- I’ve read before that the film version is basically the director giving a giant middle finger to the book…

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories -- I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as I did The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, Ken Liu’s other short-story collection, but it was still thought-provoking and often lovely, though occasionally devastating. And I did like how a lot of the stories linked together in their own shared universe. Write your Singularity sci-fi novel already, Mr. Liu…

The Legacy Human -- oh look, a Singularity sci-fi novel, haha… Not bad, but got weirdly spiritual in the last third or so, which I wasn’t expecting.

The Lion of Mars -- I seem to like books about the Red Planet, hehe… This was unexpectedly cute! Aimed at kids, but delightful for adults as well. Content warning: this book DOES contain a pandemic, though it’s not the central focus of the plot.

Jukebox -- graphic novel about using a magic jukebox to time travel. Cute concept, but I wasn’t fond of the art style and the story feels surprisingly weak and disjointed. So much could have been done to make this fun, especially with its central theme that music is often strongly tied to historical events.

Currently Reading:

All Creatures Great and Small
They Threw Us Away
Carolina Booty
St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves

QOTW:

I was always neutral towards assigned reading -- sometimes it'd be a great book like A Wrinkle in Time, and sometimes it would be something lousy like Tess of the d'Ubervilles. It was a crapshoot, hehe...

My favorite book I was ever assigned to read in school was Fahrenheit 451. We were supposed to read the first fifty pages over a weekend, and when the teacher asked us who'd done the assigned reading I raised my hand and said "I finished the book." She told me to read it again, with the class this time. XD It sparked a lifelong love of Bradbury in me, and I got a lot more out of that second reading.

Hi all,

been a very migraine-y week, boo. But I had a nice long weekend, so at least the Migraine waited until that was mostly over.

This week I finished:

The Hidden Palace - this was great, good getting back to the Golem and Jinni world. I didn't realize she was even planning on a sequel, so the long wait wasn't much to me.

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant - my books & brew pick for September. I was NOT a fan. This is one of those books were most the reviews are so gushing and loving it and I just...didn't enjoy it at all. All the characters were unlikeable and it was sad in a too real depressing way. Nothing cathartic or terribly moving, just a toxic family full of toxic people carrying on their toxicity into their new families.

You Should See Me in a Crown - my book with the same name as a song - Billie Eilish' You Should See Me In A Crown. Also counted for ATY book with at least 6 words in the title, read harder book set in the midwest, book nerds book about hope. I really enjoyed this, refreshing after the homesick restaurant book. There was a bit in the middle that got cringey with the expected "Ugh just COMMUNICATE" type blow up, but i thought it resolved well.

Currently reading:
Final Girls - counting this as my tbr ugly cover. I didn't have anything really hideous on my list so just went for something i wanted to read but i didn't really like the cover.

The Broken Kingdoms - book by author that shares my zodiac, doing an audio book for it

QOTW:

Eh I didn't HATE assigned reading, but I didn't really enjoy it either. I've always been more of a genre fiction fan, and get kinda tired of what schools think is "important" reading. My school maybe did better than some about having SOME diversity in reading, but still a lot of dead white guy classics. I'm really glad that I already had a solid love of reading well before the real assigned reading kicked in. I think that so many people end up hating reading by the end of high school because SO MUCH of the required reading is tired classics and not really picked to relate to modern interests and concerns. Frankly, in my attempts to become better read I've forced myself to read more classics I never covered in school. Very few of them have left me glad I read them, most are just "well, at least I can mark that off my list and say I read it."

Ashley Marie wrote: "Hmm... should the header be 9/2 - 9/9 instead, as that's today? Anyway, I've only finished one book in that time. ..."


yes you are correct! LOL I'll fix that now ...

Happy Thursday. I read three books for the week. I'm now at the point in the year where I can read whatever I want without worrying about challenges. I'm catching up on series I have been reading for awhile.
The Viscount Who Loved Me ( Bridgertons, #2) by Julia Quinn. Three Stars. Regency/historical Romance. I liked it better than the first book.
The Memory Collectors by Kim Neville. This is my first book by this author. I'm not sure I will read her again. I read a lot of magical realism but this book never set well with me. If anyone out there has read this book let me know if you agree with my take away. I felt like I was reading a book about hoarders & the author tried to make it look pretty. Three stars. A friend passed it to me.
Sour Puss (Mrs. Murphy, #14) by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown. I have been reading this series for at least ten years. I usually read one book in the series a year now. It is losing some of its shine for me. I enjoyed it but the formula has gotten old. Three stars. Cozy Mystery.
Question of the Week
Did you look forward to assigned reading in school, or did you dread it and wish you could choose your own books? I went to middle school & high school in the late sixties to mid seventies. I remember taking an American Lit class where we read classics. I looked forward to any reading but never developed a need to read classics. I really don't like the classics prompt during challenges. I read them but come away not liking the book.

I don't recall ever being required to read an entire book for school. Maybe in elementary school, wth the little book report? But not after that.

Greetings from quarantine! I was sent home from work yesterday after getting the news that my sister and nephews were sick. I'm a very involved aunt, so I have had a ton of contact with all three of them. My first quarantine meal broke my microwave, so it might be a very long 2 weeks. Should make for good reading though.

This week I finished:

The Obsession: Thankfully this one got better as I went on. There were some really interesting surprises.

The Final Girl Support Group: This one started out really fantastic and then ventured really far into the ridiculous to me, but I didn't mind too much. It was like a campy horror movie. There was still plenty to like.

Getaway: I really enjoyed this one, but I kept wishing the characters made different choices. To me, that was just a sign that I was very invested. I read it in a day.

Killer Triggers: Murder Comes Down to Sex, Drugs, or Money: I love some Joe Kenda. His voice is incredible, so I got the audiobook and have never enjoyed a murder bedtime story so much. My only complaint was that a lot of the cases discussed were from the show, so there weren't many surprises.

Currently reading:

Always Watching: I love Chevy Stevens. I'm glad I stopped at the library last week.

Follow Me: I actually bought this book and I'm not sure whether I should have or not. Too soon to tell.

QOTW:

I hate assigned reading. Especially when they try to make you pace it a certain way. Like read chapter 3 for tomorrow. I'm going to be finishing that book.

Happy Thursday! I didn't read as much this week but still pressing on.

Finished:
Nothing

Currently reading:

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas. I am almost done with this one so will probably finish today. I have read all Angie Thomas' books now and this one isn't my favorite. I really loved THUG and Concrete Rose, but this one just didn't do it for me.

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay. This one is right up my alley - mystery with twists with some thriller elements thrown in. My only gripe is that it is told from multiple POV which I don't LOVE, and there are also differing timelines (ie: "before" and "after"). Fortunately Finley wrote each POV with their own voice so it is easier to keep it all straight.

QOTW:
Assigned reading was always a sore spot for me. They were not my "genre" of books for the most part. Shakespeare was popular, but rarely did my school assign a "mystery" which is my favorite. I do remember reading Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler for school and loving it. Not something I would have chosen on my own.

poshpenny wrote: "I don't recall ever being required to read an entire book for school. Maybe in elementary school, wth the little book report? But not after that."



Oh I remember A LOT of assigned reading in junior high and especially in high school. Maybe six books each year? I wish I had had GR back then so I could have logged them all, because I can no longer remember all of them. Freshman year we had Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations ... Sophomore year we had The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, Lord of the Flies ... Junior year I distinctly remember suffering through Billy Budd, Sailor and I don't remember anything else clearly. That might have been the year we had to read the damp & depressing Ethan Frome too, and maybe The Cherry Orchard, there was a short story that used the phrase "whited sepulchre" (and I've never read Heart of Darkness, so not that ... alternatively, mabye it WAS HofD and I've just completely forgotten reading it because my brain melted after struggling through Billy Budd), and there was something possibly Russian involving a horse cart sitting in snow ... Senior year I remember we had to read Crime and Punishment, Native Son, The Grapes of Wrath, Cat's Cradle, The Glass Menagerie, Hamlet, King Lear ... hmmm, Grapes of Wrath may not have been senior year. Whatever year it was, I didn't like it.



I know I must be forgetting a few!! As you can see, we read a lot of women and non-white authors ;-|

Katelyn wrote: "On the Come Up by Angie Thomas. I am almost done with this one so will probably finish today. I have read all Angie Thomas' books now and this one isn't my favorite. I really loved THUG and Concrete Rose, but this one just didn't do it for me. ..."


I loved LOVED THUG, but I wasn't impressed with On the Come Up, but all the reviews seemed to be saying "another great book from Thomas!!" ... and as a result I've not been all that excited to read Concrete Rose. Good to hear that CR is a lot better than OtCU!!

Today's my surgery day. Wish me luck!

Finished: The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help This one was pretty great! I listened to the songs mentioned in her book, and while I didn't love them, I do love her song, Judy Blume. I felt like she was very vulnerable in her sharing and this made me sympathetic to her cause.

Started: Negative Math: How Mathematical Rules Can Be Positively Bent About the constraints of what we consider to be knowledge, I'm enjoying this one too.

Qotw: In general, I felt like I was getting away with something when I was assigned reading for school. You mean all I have to do is read this fictional book and I get to count that as homework? But sometimes the experience of having to read it and analyze it in class ruined the book for me. I read Pride and Prejudice on my own and enjoyed it. But then we had to read it for class and I HATED it. Haven't read any Austen since.

poshpenny wrote: "I don't recall ever being required to read an entire book for school. Maybe in elementary school, wth the little book report? But not after that."

Never?? Wow, we had assigned reading throughout middle and high school (grades 6-12). I think we had a good balance between more contemporary books and classics. For example, we read Lois Duncan and Robert O’Brien in sixth grade, as well Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island. I wish I had kept track of the books read in middle school, but didn’t start doing so until high school.

Lynn — If you like classic mystery writers, you might also like Mary Roberts Rinehart, Georgette Heyer (probably best known for Regency romances, but also has eight mysteries), and Jacques Futrelle (journalist who also wrote short mystery stories).

Hi all! I'm only posting because I have to print off a 75-ish page packet for work, and my copier doesn't have a feed tray, so I am doing this one page at a time! I love it when the powers that be don't consider the real-world applications of the stuff they do.... So I figured in between pages, I would post.

It's definitely cooling off in NY, and the days are getting shorter. Sigh...

I didn't finish anything this week. I made some decent progress in She Who Became the Sun and I'm really liking it! It's funny, most years I don't read any new books, but this one will be my 4th or 5th published in 2021.
Also still reading The Perfect Horse: the Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis. Just got to the American side of the story. Though I think the author is dwelling on how involved the Army is with their horses. You spent the first 3rd of the book on how much the Europeans love their horses, I can infer that the Americans also love horses, get on with it!
I listened to a few more chapters of The Night Watchman. I'm not in love with it, there's too many characters and nothing much has happened yet. I think I would like it more if I could listen to it before I fell asleep. She has a very soothing voice.

QOTW: Great question! I loved seeing what we would read each year. I remember my school did a good job of mixing books the whole class read and independent reading. I generally liked what they picked for us. What I dislike now looking back is that we didn't read a lot of classics. There's so many books that I could use to fill the everyone else read it but you prompt just from typical high school reading lists. Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, Dickens, Austen, Morrison? Not until I was an adult. Still haven't read Diary of a Young Girl or 1984 or Brave New World. Or a slew of other ones that you're all mentioning! Eh, as always, too many books, too little time!

Hi all! I won't be checking in next week because my best friend and I leave for our week-long North Carolina trip tomorrow! I'm excited but also overwhelmed -- I haven't even started packing and there's so much work to do. But I reserved us a horseback tour of the Biltmore Estate and I cannot express my excitement!

Finished:
Socks by Beverly Cleary - A book by an author who shares my zodiac sign (Aries). This was very cute, although I agree with a reviewer who said they hated the humans lol.

Currently Reading:
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg - A book everyone has read but you. No idea how I've never read this. I LOVE Konigsburg and have read most of her other books, and this is a classic. I started it at one point and then did the thing where I put it down and then got distracted and forgot to go back. I'm enjoying it, which is not surprising.

We will be listening to some audiobooks on the trip and I'm sure I'll read while we're gone, so hopefully I can take a good chunk out of my tbr for the year.

Also, Piranesi won the Women's Prize for Fiction!!!!!!! So my "it's on the short list, so I'm counting it" worked out nicely!

QOTW:
Even though I loved reading, I often didn't read the books we were assigned. Sometimes it's because I'd already read them and sometimes it's because I didn't like the premise of the book itself (*cough*Lord of the Flies*cough*). In college, I did do assigned readings because I was an English major and it would have been very difficult to do well if I hadn't lol.

I do remember reading The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales of Terror all in one go (it's short and I was so intrigued!). My teacher was not okay with that, which I still find weird. It's not like I was going to give spoilers!

Shannon wrote: "Hi all! I won't be checking in next week because my best friend and I leave for our week-long North Carolina trip tomorrow! I'm excited but also overwhelmed -- I haven't even started packing and th..."


Is this the trip to the Wizard of Oz theme park?? I'm so curious to hear about that!!!

Nadine wrote: "Is this the trip to the Wizard of Oz theme park?? I'm so curious to hear about that!!!"

It is! We'll be going on Sunday and I'm also very curious lol. I'll definitely update y'all when I get back!

Hello! My husband has started a new job, with one of the bigger medical groups in the area, and it's been remarkable how different everything is compared to the smaller companies he's worked for. He's chafing a bit under their introductory period supervision, as he just wants to be able to do his job, but so far, it looks like a good move for him. He hasn't started in his area yet, just the mentor's area, so fingers crossed that will go well. He'll be in the city, not the suburbs, and I keep telling myself it will be fine.

Finished This Week:
Minaret by Leila Aboulela. I picked this up for the Reading Women prompt of a book by this author, as it sounded interesting. It's also not that long, under 300 pages. It's very spiritual, telling the story of how a woman who'd been considered "Westernized" came into her Muslim faith. The main story is the protagonist in present day (2005) London, with the occasional interludes of not quite flashbacks, telling the story of her time in Sudan before the coup, and then in London after the coup and her journey in her faith. There was only once in the before sections that I didn't want to keep reading, fearing the Fall she had implied was coming. Very interesting, and I'm glad I read it. Using for PS #24, a Muslim author (if anything, she's Muslim British, but definitely not Muslim American. Still counting it.)

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman. I had heard of this story when Read Harder had a graphic memoir as a prompt last year, but it wasn't until early July when I literally saw this on a friend's bookshelf that I decided to give it a try. It's a difficult read, as it's about the author's father's experiences as a Polish Jew in the 30s and 40s, and surviving Auschwitz. And it apparently won a Pulitzer (special citation, but it counts). Using for PS #12, Book Seen on Someone's Bookshelf.

Strangers in Court by Seanan McGuire. I normally don't count the short stories Seanan writes as companions to the October Daye books, but I figured I would count this one as I read it without having read the hardcover it came in. It was included in the special 10th anniversary edition of Rosemary and Rue I picked up in 2019, but I realized I never read the short story in the back. And now I have. Not for prompt.

PS: 39/50 RH: 14/24 RW: 18/28 ATY: 48/52 GR: 126/150

Currently Reading:
The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump's America by Adam Serwer. A collection of essays written by the author for The Atlantic before and during the Trump presidency. I'm trying to read only one or two essays at a time. Not sure what prompt yet, but probably #1, published in 2021.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. I was able to get a physical copy, but started reading the ebook edition before the library took it away. Still fairly early.

At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor by Gordon W. Prange. A new attempt at longest book. It's only 900 some pages, not quite The Longest on my TBR shelf, but with this year being the 80th anniversary of the attack, it's time I read it. Especially since my copy is the 50th anniversary special edition.

Up Next:
Still debating if I want to read The Brightest Fell in my October Daye reread, or if I will skip ahead to The Unkindest Tide. I feel like I need it for the Stuff That Happens in A Killing Frost, but I reread it last year. I probably will.

Did you look forward to assigned reading in school, or did you dread it and wish you could choose your own books?
At first, I couldn't think of any assigned reading I knew about in advance, so I didn't really have an answer to this. I certainly enjoyed getting to read for school, but don't recall looking forward to getting to read a particular book. But then I saw others talking about what they did have as assigned reading, and how it shaped them, and I'm going with that.

In fifth grade, my reading teacher always divided the class into groups and assigned each group a specific Newbery winner. My first was The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which honestly, I don't remember. But for the second one, she made the (radical) decision, for the first time, to teach Johnny Tremain to Girls. (Gasp!) I was part of that first group. I can honestly say reading it changed my life. I still remember the paper I wrote about the Tea Party scene, and another student reciting James Otis's "So A Man Can Stand Up" speech. That book, that teacher, that class made me love history, the American Revolution in particular, and Pre-Revolution Boston especially. My degree in history can be blamed on this book.

In less And It Changed My Life, in high school, I very much looked forward to the class called Contemporary American Literature. We all read Ender's Game, took a test on it, and then read what we felt like for the rest of the semester. The teacher would ask us about the books we read to make sure we really were reading. For example, I remember having to explain the literary purpose of Sandra Bullock's character in A Time to Kill, and then compare to her character in the movie.

Happy Thursday! Labor Day ended my family's weekend treks to the cabin, so now I get to focus on all the projects at home. My in-laws are firm "idle hands make weak minds" so I am never without an ongoing project. I try to sneak in my reading, whether it's by audiobook or actual, whenever I can. Unfortunately, that can lead to many "current reading" and not so many, "finished".

PS: 28/50
RH: 7/24
RW: 0/28
GR: 361/365
HP: 61/62
ATY: 2/52

Currently Reading:
One Last Stop
Body of Evidence
Billy Summers
When We Left Cuba
Zeitoun
The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story
High-Five to the Hero: 15 Classic Tales Retold for Boys Who Dare to Be Different
The Library of the Dead
Sunflower Sisters
Voices in the Snow
The Samurai's Garden
History Smashers: Women's Right to Vote
All the Young Dudes

Finished:
The Only Good Indians
Love in a Nutshell
Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science
Love Your Life

QOTW: Assigned reading was always double edged sword. I loved getting the list, and was excited to start the reading. A lot of times though, the teacher would only want us to read a little bit at a time, so we could discuss. I hated being made to feel like I HAD TO read, like it was a punishment. Quite a few books were left unread because I just lost interest at the idea of being "made to read". I have been thinking about picking up one or two again for fun.

WHOOP! Just finished the final book of the Popsugar 2021 Challenge! All in enough time to start my new grad degree on Monday.

Read
The Girls - meant to follow, somewhat, the true crimes/sensationalism of the Mansion Family murders. An okay read - a look into how a young girl could end up being pulled into a cult.

Genuine Fraud - my final PS Challenge book for prompt #26 - a book with an oxymoron in the title. It was a twisty little ride of a book, starting with the current day events and going backwards in time.

Reading
The Casual Vacancy - been on the shelf for a bit.

QotW
Did you look forward to assigned reading in school, or did you dread it and wish you could choose your own books?

Alright, I was an English major in college, so I had to read A LOT of assigned books, some good, some downright mind-numbing. It depended on the class and the teacher if I looked forward to it or dreaded it. And, when I became a middle school English teacher - about 8 years' worth of my career - I tried to update the reading lists for the classes and have students read more relevant and interesting books.

I did appreciate having more choice on who/what I wanted to read as I got older. I chose to read Jane Eyre my junior year in high school for a project and then Mill on the Floss for a senior year project in AP English. By the time I was in my degree program, I was given a chance to read a wider variety of authors and genres that were different from the usual Western canon.

First check-in in a minute. School started and….

Book with a family tree

Undercover Duke by Sabrina Jeffries. Historical romance is my comfort read. Really enjoyed this one.

Book you are Passionate About

How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. I think everyone has seen this one. Good read.

no prompts from fave to least

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. YA*. A native woman investigates drugs coming into her community. Probably one of my fave books this year so far. *The main character has graduated high school and I don't know about his being marketed as YA.

The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon. Contemporary romance. Cute. Really enjoyed it.

The Neighbor's Secret by L. Allison Heller. Thriller-ish. Quick read. Would watch a Netflix series.

A Wicked Bargain for the Duke"
by Megan Frampton. Historical romance. Would've given this 4 stars if not for it being a bit repetitive.

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang. Enjoyable. I didn't like it as much as I liked The Kiss Quotient. Apparently, it was changed quite a bit from an excerpt that was released early but I went in with no expectations, so… And some reviewer decided it wasn't actually a romance because the main character has depression and anxiety and still has depression and anxiety at the end of the book. However, there is a happily ever after…so romance.

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena. Thriller. One of my August BOTM picks. Siblings parents are murdered, who could've done it. Everyone in this book is awful except maybe the son-in-law. The book was meh but I could see it being turned into a prestige drama in the right screenwriter's hands.

The Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller. YA fantasy with pirates. Second in a series. It's okay.

The Wrong Marquess by Vivienne Lorret. Historical romance. The heroine kind of annoyed me as she was obsessed with marrying a childhood friend who was awful and she kept excusing his awful behavior.

When I Was You by Minka Kent. Thriller. Blah. Someone is pretending to be the main character. I don't remember much, it wasn't that great.

QOTW
I enjoyed reading. Did all my reading except Moby Dick which I tried to read a couple of years ago and there's a reason I didn't read it.

I teach high school and some of my facebook groups have people who refuse to give up some books. I've chucked a number of "classics" that kids just don't respond to.

Happy Thursday! Ugh, what a day for you! I'm so sorry it's been a bit hectic!
My little girl starts pre-school on Monday, and I am a wreck. They grow up so fast!!!

Finished 38/50

Pachinko for "book featuring three generations". This was so good. Emotional at parts, but really very good and powerful.

Real Choices for "book about a social justice issue". So, I picked this book before I knew that the abortion debate was going to explode. How timely! This book explores the reasons why women seek abortions, and it calls on both sides of the debate to face the stories of these women and realize that maybe we're all missing the bigger picture of what's happening to women in our society. It was really good. It needs an update, but still really good. Thought provoking no matter where you fall on the debate.

Currently Reading

Edgedancer for "book you think your best friend would like." I keep trying to get my husband into the Stormlight Archives. He's a huge Wheel of Time and Kingkiller fan, so this series is right up his alley! He just needs more time to read. Oh well. I'll read it for him! XD

QotW

You know, the answer to this changed for me depending on my age. I got to pick what I read in elementary school, so that was cool. In middle school I didn't care too much about school picks because I had enough time to read what I wanted anyway. High school was a mixed bag. Some books I LOVED, some I hated. In college, I did tend to look forward to the required reading because it was subjects that interested me, but my program was so rigorous, I didn't have time for personal reading, and being able to pick up a book I wanted and have the time to read it after graduation was pretty liberating. So....I guess the answer to your question is yes? Lol!

Finished three books this week, none of which counted towards the PopSugar challenge.

Progress:
PopSugar: 38/50
Goodreads: 90/100

Finished:
* 100 Classic Short Stories — I have been working on this collection for a couple of years, and read the last two over the weekend. Many authors were familiar to me, some were not, and many genres were represented: general fiction, mystery, horror and science fiction. Authors included Dickens, Mary Shelley, Mark Twain, Fitzgerald, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Kipling, Jacques Futrelle, HP Lovecraft and many more. As with any anthology, I liked some stories more than others.

The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories by Agatha Christie — This was a reread for me, last read in 2010. Despite the decade in between, I did remember the gist of and outcome of almost all the stories.

* Coached to Death by Victoria Laurie — First in a new cozy mystery series, featuring secondary characters from the author’s other two series. Some scenes actually had me laughing out loud.

In Progress:
* The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle — Only four stories left in this collection, to which I am listening on YouTube.

* The Book That Made Me by Judith Ridge — Collection of essays by nearly three dozen authors on the books and writers that influenced them. So far my favorite is one titled “Thwack,” about the Anne of Green Gables series. Reading this on my Nook.

* The Book Stops Here by Kate Carlisle — Book eight in her “Bibliophile” series. Have these books in print.

QOTW: Did you look forward to assigned reading in school, or did you dread it and wish you could choose your own books? It depended on what we were reading, but for the most part I liked the books we read. We did class reads from sixth through twelfth grades, so there was a wide range of books from Lois Duncan and Robert C. O’Brien to Jules Verne, George Orwell, Shakespeare, Twain, Steinbeck and Charlotte Perkins.

We read one Shakespeare play each year of high school: Romeo and Juliet (and the modern retelling, Westside Story), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, and MacBeth.

Because I started keeping track of books read while in high school, I can tell you some of what we read each year.

Grade 9: Good Old Boy (didn’t really like), To Kill a Mockingbird (loved), Animal Farm (was okay, but think I appreciated it more when I reread it last year), Lord of the Flies (disliked), Hiroshima (liked/recently reread), All Summer in a Day (liked/reread last year), and The Catcher in the Rye (disliked).

Grade 10: Tisha: The Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness (liked; chosen from a list of biographies), The Book of the Dun Cow (hated; friends and I substituted the word ‘dun’ with ‘dumb’), The Last of the Wine (for history; dull and dry), Of Mice and Men (liked), You Come Too (liked), Brave New World (liked), The Color Purple (a second reading for me; liked), The Catcher in the Rye (disliked and somehow ended up reading it twice).

Grade 11: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (I ended up hating this book. It was the first book read that year, and every subsequent work was compared to it. I enjoyed it much more when I had to read it for an American Lit course in college), Never Cry Wolf (liked), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (liked, reread in college), Anthem (liked), Night Shift (eh...some of the stories were okay, but not a preferred genre — plus, this book is the reason I still can’t sleep with an open closet door), The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (boring!), My Antonia (loved), The Great Gatsby (disliked), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (loved), Cosette et Marius (read in French class. Loved it so much that I spent the summer reading the unabridged Les Misérables — in English).

Grade 12: The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone (these would be revisited many times in college, especially Antigone, which popped up in French and English classes, including a “modern” retelling by Jean Anouilh), Le Petit Prince (loved; French class), Emma (disliked and did not finish. Took four tries to finish, which I finally did this year), An Enemy of the People (liked), A Separate Peace (was okay), Cat's Cradle (honestly do not remember it—how’s that for an impression?), Le Client le plus obstiné du monde (French; liked), Faust (ehh...).

College was more hit or miss than high school, and largely depended on the class and teacher. I liked more of the books in Victorian Lit, American Lit (except Moby-Dick, Emma and The Pioneers), French Lit, Play Goers, and Film & Lit classes than I did those for Brit Lit and European Lit. The teacher/professor of a course truly does make a difference!

Shannon — From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was one of my favorite middle grade books, reread many times. Glad you’re enjoying it!

Enjoy your trip!


Melissa — I think Johnny Tremain was a fifth grade book, but I can’t remember if we read it individually, or if it was one read to us. We mostly did individual reading that year with weekly book reports. The Witch of Blackbird Pond was a favorite. My sister and I both read it many times.

Chrissi — Congrats on finishing the challenge!

Hi Nadie!

Still want to be in the group. I think that I am lost Where do I begin in the group. Help me please! Sorry ! about my comments they are straight from the book. I think I am making comments on a different page. Just wanna get it right .
I like being in the group and Thank you for the book to read
this month. it is my first read with everybody.

SH

Nadine wrote: "Katelyn wrote: "On the Come Up by Angie Thomas. I am almost done with this one so will probably finish today. I have read all Angie Thomas' books now and this one isn't my favorite. I really loved ..."

I liked Concrete Rose because it was told from Maverick's point of view and about him becoming a father to Seven so young, it had some humor in it which was nice. Again, not as good as THUG but better than OtCU.

In case anyone else is interested...

I plan to participate in the next ATY Read-a-thon that begins Saturday, September 11 and ends Sunday, September 19! Here is the information!

Katy wrote: "this week I read Anna and the King of Siam"
Oh, my gosh! I loved the movie adaptation with Yul Brynner. And as a teenager my mother treated us to tickets to see him in the live theater event and he ended up with laryngitis so they piped in his recorded songs during the production. I was sooooo disappointed! Did you enjoy the book?

"qotw: So long ago it's hard to remember. In 10th grade I hated the assigned reading, partly because I only liked 2 or 3 books we read that year, but mostly because it was all symbolism symbolism symbolism and I'm a literal kind of girl."
Instructors and critics can get carried away with symbolism at times...

ShelisaVeniceHenley wrote: "Hi Nadie!

Still want to be in the group. I think that I am lost Where do I begin in the group. Help me please! Sorry ! about my comments they are straight from the book. I think I am making commen..."


Everyone is welcome here! And it's a big group, so I know it can be overwhelming at first. This group was originally created as a way for Goodreaders to talk about books they are reading for the Popsugar Challenge. We are not affiliated with Popsugar, we are just a bunch of readers.

In an effort to make it more navigable, it's divided into folders. Each folder has posts about specific topics, and we try to stay on topic in each post or it begins to feel like chaos (although we are not super strict about this). The Weekly Checkin folder, which is where we are here, has a post each week where we talk about what we've read this week (whether it's for this Challenge or not) and any other major events.

The group votes on 12 special books to fill 12 of the Challenge cateogories, and each month anyone who wants to participate can join the discussion about that month's group read. I know you found that post, too :-) Usually the group read has a discussion leader who initiates the discussions with different questions about the book. This month that's Theresa. If you have read or are reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, that's the place to talk about what you thought of the book.

Here are some other tips we put together to try to help:
Tips for New Members
And Frequently Asked Questions

Greetings from a rainy and humid NYC! The first of the annual Jewish Holidays just passed, yet there are several more coming up, which make conducting business in NYC nearly impossible as someone critical to whatever is inevitably observant. We've been very spoiled the last couple of years as most have fallen on weekends. Not this year -- all are hitting mid-week.

But, it also means those of us not observing might just be enjoying a slightly slower work pace. 😊

I've continued my study of Studly Men and Hunky Dogs - meaning I've still been reading K-9 Thrillers and romantic supsense, including a couple of re-reads from 2018:
Dark 'N' Deadly
Trap 'N' Trace
Survive the Night
Through the Fire

I also discovered a superb K-9 crime fiction (no romance and involves a serial killer) - first in series that the author says she will be continuing: Death Scent: A Jessica Anderson K-9 Mystery - these are Search and Rescue themed.

But all is not hunky canines. I picked up again Black Water Sister which is being discussed Sunday at my Feminerdy Book Club meeting. After that, not sure what will claim my attention.

QOTW: Eh, that was so very long ago, I really can't say. I'm sure mostly I looked at assigned reading with excitement and joy even if I ended up not liking some or, in the case of some of the assigned French Lit, struggling. I was essentially a French Lit major in college (it was an interdisciplinary major) which means I liked reading, even assigned reading. Thinking back over those college courses I remember, most are literature --- even the philosphy and comparative religion courses. History courses too were a ton of reading and some of it fiction, not just non-fiction. On thinking about it, I clearly reveled in the reading lists as so many courses I chose revolved around them.

Heather L wrote: "poshpenny wrote: "I don't recall ever being required to read an entire book for school. Maybe in elementary school, wth the little book report? But not after that."

Never?? Wow, we had assigned re..."

Nope. I remember one semester of English was lit and one was comp, but I do not remember ever reading a whole book.

I know freshman year there was Romeo & Juliet, because we watched that horrible bland movie and then read some bits in class. Sophomore year I remember there was The Scarlet Letter, but there were only enough copies for one period, so we had to come to class, read for 50 minutes and leave the book on the desk for the next kid. After two weeks the teacher just told us how it ended and then what it meant. I never once took a book home to read. I've never read most of the books everyone else read in school.

this week I read Anna and the King of Siam"
Oh, my gosh! I loved the movie adaptation with Yul Brynner. And as a teenager my mother treated us to tickets to see him in the live theater event and he ended up with laryngitis so they piped in his recorded songs during the production. I was sooooo disappointed! Did you enjoy the book?."

I more or less enjoyed it, but I'm not sure how much of it was factural. Anna seemed a little too good to be true. The book basically states that she was responsible for ending slavery in Siam. I'm just glad that they left the ridiculousness of a romance out.

"qotw: So long ago it's hard to remember. In 10th grade I hated the assigned reading, partly because I only liked 2 or 3 books we read that year, but mostly because it was all symbolism symbolism symbolism and I'm a literal kind of girl."
Instructors and critics can get carried away with symbolism at times...

I remember our teacher was big on light symbolizing intelligence. We were reading To Kill a Mockingird and there was a scene where Scout is hanging off and spinning around a lamp post outside, if you know what I mean. Anyway, one of the kids in class raises his hand and suggests that was to show that Scout was intelligent. The teacher said sometimes a light is just light and I wanted to stand up and scream in frustration.

Lynn wrote: "In case anyone else is interested...

I plan to participate in the next ATY Read-a-thon that begins Saturday, September 11 and ends Sunday, September 19! Here is the information!"




So this is probably a good time to admit that I've never participated in a readathon because I have no idea how that works. Like, you have to start and finish many books in that time period? and you just post about each book you finish? Do people really read non-stop for a full weekend? What if you can only read one book?

poshpenny wrote: "... I know freshman year there was Romeo & Juliet, because we watched that horrible bland movie and then read some bits in class. ..."



by "horrible bland movie" you mean the Castellani or Zefferelli one, right? Surely not the Baz Luhrmann masterpiece??


oh good lord in the course of looking up all the movie versions of R&J, I discovered one with LEMMY KILMISTER https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tromeo_...

It’s summer! And my hubbie is home! And I finished 2 books this week! I think I’m having a great week :-)

32/40
Finished
The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel ⭐⭐⭐
Prompt: #30, a book set somewhere you’d like to visit in 2021 (Florida!). Also fits #29, a book set in multiple countries.

A nice, but not very special World War II read. Didn’t like the end.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Prompt: #28, a magical realism book. Also fits #27, a book about do-overs or fresh starts and #29, a book set in multiple countries

Delightful! It makes you think about your own life and your ‘Book of Regrets’.

Currently reading
The Romanovs: 1613-1918
Body Positive Power: How learning to love yourself will save your life

QOTW
We didn’t have assigned reading in school. We had to read an assigned number of books, but you could choose them yourself within certain conditions.

My freshman HS English was chaotic, my teacher was pregnant with triplets and had complications in the 2nd week of school. at least in my district, if you sub for more than a set number of days, the school HAS to offer you a full time position, though not necessarily the one you filled. So rather than do that, we just had a sub for one under the number of days before that was required, and then a new sub came in. Had 4 teachers that year. When we did Romeo and Juliet a drama teacher was our sub. She made us act out almost every scene in front of class, and then we had to watch the Zeferelli version AND the Baz Lehurman. She only agreed to Baz because it was clear we would riot if not allowed haha.

Hey everyone! Actually managed to finish two books this week- both super short, but I'm trying to get back into the rhythm of actually reading again, and maybe if I'm knocking books off my tbr it'll help

Finished:
Night of the Mannequins: A Tor.com Original- this was not what I was expecting, but I liked it. Very disturbing, very creepy.
-book by Indigenous author

No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference- these speeches are really inspiring, but they also make you feel so bad that we've basically made a child shoulder this huge responsibility.
-book about a subject I'm passionate about

Currently reading:
Klara and the Sun- just started this, really like it so far. It's due back to the library very very soon, so I have to get focused!

QotW:
I was really bad at doing my assigned reading. I always wanted to focus on my own books. There's a shelf of books at my parents house of all the ones I never fully read for my college courses. I've been slowly getting back to them now though.

Ashley Marie wrote: "Happy Thursday! Popping in quickly so I don't forget to post before our overnighter to Lake Erie. Sister's wedding went beautifully last weekend and we all made it through. My mom is still grouchy about a few things, but that's to be expected with her."
So glad it all went well!

"Anyway, I've only finished one book in that time.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents - 5 stars. Phenomenal narration by Robin Miles (as always), and I think this would pair well with Ibram X Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Looking ever forward to picking up The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration!"
A good motivator for me to read these!

"Currently:
The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstone's Underdog - I was hoping to finish this last night but I zonked out with 15 pages left! Grrr! Finishing tomorrow once we're back home."
Or...you could possibly cheat as I did this week! LOL 😁

"Sense and Sensibility - Marianne is driving me and Elinor up a wall."
Ha! Ha! 😂

Circe - Hoping to get through more this weekend!!
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this one!

"QOTW: Did you look forward to assigned reading in school, or did you dread it and wish you could choose your own books?
It depended on which books were chosen; I wasn't a huge fan of Romeo & Juliet in freshman year of high school, but we read Macbeth senior year and I loved it. I unexpectedly loved Beowulf. Sophomore year we were allowed to choose either the Hobbit or Lord of the Flies - I went with the Hobbit and liked it. Didn't read Flies til only a few years ago, disliked it, and don't think I would've enjoyed it in school either. I liked To Kill a Mockingbird and 1984. Frankenstein was and still is a slog, unfortunately."
That's so cool that you really enjoyed so many! Oops. I'm still planning to read Frankenstein this year!

"I recently checked in with my freshman year English teacher online; his syllabus still includes R&J but also, happily, The Hate U Give! I'm so glad to see more recent/current books on syllabi."
Good for him!

Ellie wrote: "Happy Thursday! I'm down to ten prompts left for Popsugar, but nothing I really want to read right now fits any of them."
Ah, but you're whittling it down! 👍

Finished:
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas for my longest book. I went in with low expectations and ended up really enjoying it."
Cool!

"Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold by Bolu Babalola for ATY (short story collection). This was a pretty decent collection, only a couple of stories I didn't care for. Will maybe check out her debut novel next year."
This is on my TBR listing. Good to know you enjoyed it!

"QOTW:
I never really like the assigned reading, but remember we were given a lot of freedom to choose what to read, unless it was for an exam. The year we had to do Shakespeare, someone very smart at the exam board had chosen Romeo & Juliet, it was when Baz Luhrman's version came out and everyone was much more engaged in it!"
Hmmm...a "lucky coincidence" or maybe that was the plan? 😊

Kenya wrote: "We can tell summer is over at the library, because EVERYONE is returning their kids' books at once. It's like they think that now that school is starting, the kids aren't going to have time to read. Which I suppose might be true..."
Well, hopefully they still have some time to read for pleasure!

"Books read this week:
Starship Troopers -- my fourth Robert A. Heinlein novel, and in all honesty his most boring."
I've never really been drawn to Heinlein...

"The Hidden Girl and Other Stories -- I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as I did The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, Ken Liu’s other short-story collection, but it was still thought-provoking and often lovely, though occasionally devastating. And I did like how a lot of the stories linked together in their own shared universe."
I did a buddy read with the first two installments of his Dandelion Dynasty series. Those books were so amazing with the inclusion of technology, etc. He has such talent. I'm really anxious to read this collection!

"The Legacy Human -- oh look, a Singularity sci-fi novel, haha… Not bad, but got weirdly spiritual in the last third or so, which I wasn’t expecting."
Well that piqued my interest! LOL

"The Lion of Mars -- I seem to like books about the Red Planet, hehe… This was unexpectedly cute! Aimed at kids, but delightful for adults as well. Content warning: this book DOES contain a pandemic, though it’s not the central focus of the plot."
That definitely looks like one I would probably enjoy.

"Currently Reading:
They Threw Us Away"
Awwwww...what a sad premise!

"QOTW:
My favorite book I was ever assigned to read in school was Fahrenheit 451. We were supposed to read the first fifty pages over a weekend, and when the teacher asked us who'd done the assigned reading I raised my hand and said "I finished the book." She told me to read it again, with the class this time. XD It sparked a lifelong love of Bradbury in me, and I got a lot more out of that second reading."
Oh, yeah, especially reading that as a teen. I can definitely understand getting much more out of it the second time around.

Nadine wrote: "So this is probably a good time to admit that I've never participated in a readathon because I have no idea how that works. Like, you have to start and finish many books in that time period? and you just post about each book you finish? Do people really read non-stop for a full weekend? What if you can only read one book?"

I'm so glad you asked, because I've wondered the same thing!! How can people read that much?? I mean I have a 3 year old so..... ;) Lol!

Sheri wrote: "...been a very migraine-y week, boo. But I had a nice long weekend, so at least the Migraine waited until that was mostly over."
Ugh. Those darned headaches! 😒

This week I finished:
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant - my books & brew pick for September. I was NOT a fan. This is one of those books were most the reviews are so gushing and loving it and I just...didn't enjoy it at all."
I have yet to read an Anne Tyler book. Perhaps this shouldn't be the first one I try! LOL

"You Should See Me in a Crown - my book with the same name as a song - Billie Eilish' You Should See Me In A Crown. Also counted for ATY book with at least 6 words in the title, read harder book set in the midwest, book nerds book about hope. I really enjoyed this, refreshing after the homesick restaurant book. There was a bit in the middle that got cringey with the expected "Ugh just COMMUNICATE" type blow up, but I thought it resolved well."
I really enjoyed this as well!

"Currently reading:
Final Girls - counting this as my tbr ugly cover. I didn't have anything really hideous on my list so just went for something i wanted to read but i didn't really like the cover."
Oohh...yeah, ugly AND creepy! And since it is first and foremost horror I put it on my "do not read" shelf! LOL

"QOTW:
Eh I didn't HATE assigned reading, but I didn't really enjoy it either. I've always been more of a genre fiction fan, and get kinda tired of what schools think is "important" reading. My school maybe did better than some about having SOME diversity in reading, but still a lot of dead white guy classics. I'm really glad that I already had a solid love of reading well before the real assigned reading kicked in. I think that so many people end up hating reading by the end of high school because SO MUCH of the required reading is tired classics and not really picked to relate to modern interests and concerns. Frankly, in my attempts to become better read I've forced myself to read more classics I never covered in school. Very few of them have left me glad I read them, most are just "well, at least I can mark that off my list and say I read it."
Yep! There are those that I'm just glad I read to have the background experience and knowledge of the book/story. As with any genre, some are more enjoyable to me than others!

Jennifer W wrote: "Nadine wrote: "So this is probably a good time to admit that I've never participated in a readathon because I have no idea how that works. Like, you have to start and finish many books in that time..."

I wonder too. I mean, a chunkster would eat up a whole weekend.

Lynn, the librarian running book club picked homesick restaurant because it’s supposed to be the best of all her works. So I know I won’t be reading more! But lots of people gave it 4-5 stars, I’m clearly in the minority. You might like it more than me!

And yeah Final Girls is pretty solidly horror. I dont find it that intense, but if you’re an absolute no on horror then for sure skip. Really any of her Mira Grant stuff seems to be sci-fi/horror combo

Lynn — I haven’t read Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (yet!), but have read other books by Anne Tyler that I liked and would recommend: The Accidental Tourist, Saint Maybe, A Patchwork Planet and Breathing Lessons.

Theresa, Jennifer and Nadine — I did a readathon in May, and actually did more reading than I thought I would. Generally, you commit to however much time you are able, that fits your life. You don’t have to read for the entire 24 or 36 hours (some start Friday night). The point is to read as much as you personally are able. You don’t have to commit to one chunky novel, either. There usually isn’t a rule about what you can read, so kid’s books, short stories and manga/graphic novels count. Some people even get their families involved.

During the weekend I participated, I listened to an entire 8-hour audiobook (my favorite book this year), read a 20-page short story, finished a print book already in progress, and started another print book. The only reason I didn’t finish another short story on my goals list was because I watched a favorite movie that was on TV that weekend (but I still read during commercials).

Don’t let the thought of reading for 24 hours put you off the idea. It’s only intimidating if you allow it to be. 😉