EPBOT Readers discussion

Hi all,

Sorry for my silence, it's been a bit of a rough few weeks. Teddy had his first oncology appointment last Monday and it was confirmed that he's going to need some intensive radiation therapy. So this Tuesday he had a cat scan and it's looking like radiation will start either Tuesday or Wednesday next week, if we get the results in time. The scan was mostly to determine the exact area they need to work on, and make sure there were no hidden health surprises. We need to be taking him in for about 15-20 appointments, so basically 5 days a week for around 4 weeks. Hopefully that'll get everything, but he might need a targeted round of chemo or some minor surgery after to clear up anything else that is lingering. But they're optimistic that he'll come through it fine, cats are apparently more resilient than dogs and people when it comes to radiation. And trying to keep the whole thing un-stressful enough that his other issues don't get triggered. So keeping up with anxiety meds, and gabapentin before each visit. So please keep my little guy in your thoughts <3

Book club: The book that won the poll is the Left Handed Book Sellers of London by Garth Nix. The pre-reading and final thoughts threads are up in the book club folder. I'll try to add some questions once I finish reading it. I was able to get a copy from my library already, but I have another book with an earlier return date I need to finish first.

Books I've finished:

House of Gold - this was alright, interesting world and idea but it didn't quite come together for me. Felt like there were a lot of questions about motivation that didn't really get answered.

Portrait of a Thief - was my books & brew book, had a discussion last night, was a pretty good one really. I liked it over all, although i looked forward to it being a heist book and the heist part was probably the weakest part of the book. It had some good character development though, and thoughts about museums and what belongs in them and whether it maters how that art/artifacts were acquired and what rights the original cultures have to their culture's works.

A Coup of Tea- cute cozy fantasy, this is what i needed while being stuck in a oncology office for four hours because they were so backed up, while tryin to comfort my poor scared boy. Not really amazing, but i like the idea of a princess who gives up her title and family to go off to be a tea master to help her people more at a ground level.

We Ride Upon Sticks- did the audio book for this. I really liked it, I thought it was going to be just a goofy tongue in cheek book about a bunch of teen girls playing at witchcraft to win at field hockey. And there was a lot of that. But it in the end was really a story about sisterhood, and embracing who you are as a girl becoming a woman, and learning to reject what others expect of you.

The Master and Margarita - another book off my tbr challenge. This one was a bit rough going. Wasn't the worst classic I soldiered through, but I really feel like I did not have anywhere near enough understanding of Russian history or politics to get the satire. So I just found it really chaotic and confusing and kind of weird.

Currently reading:

Clytemnestra - got my copy from the library, good so far but only a couple chapters in

Malibu Rising - listening to the audio book, reminded me a lot of daisy jones, but different style since it's not a mockumentary and only one narrator.

QOTW: Are you good at guessing plot twists?

I'm pretty good at it, it's sometimes frustrating. I don't like spoilers, so it's kind of annoying if I can immediately see where a book is going, especially if i don't where i see it going. Some times I'm wrong and I get surprised, but I'm a lot of times right, or at least semi right. I really like books that can genuinely surprise me!

Aww, poor Teddy! You and he are in my thoughts, Sheri.

Finished:
Happy Place by Emily Henry - 4 stars - not for a prompt. I really enjoyed this book. It's pretty typical of Henry's books, and it made me tear up at a couple of points. It also made me wish I had a friends group like the main characters'.

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr - 3 stars - for Popsugar's book published the year I was born. I listened to the audio and it was a nice, if sad, children's book about a Japanese girl who got leukemia after the bombing of Hiroshima and died. Her legend is that she folded a thousand paper cranes before her death in an attempt to ask the gods to help her get better.

Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall - 5 stars - not for a prompt. This is a beautiful picture book telling the story of the the author's grandparents and how they fell in love in one of the Japanese concentration camps in the US during WWII. There was a bit of controversy around this book, where Scholastic wanted to reprint it, but tried to make the author censor her language about racism in the US.

Tsalmoth by Steven Brust - 4 stars - not for a prompt. This is a long-running favorite series of mine, and this one is a flashback to an earlier part of the main character's life, so definitely not the place to dive in. I enjoyed it, though, and looking forward to the next one.

That Self-Same Metal by Brittany N. Williams - 4 stars - for Popsugar's book by a first-time author. This was a lot of fun - fae and magic in Shakespearean London.

Comics & manga:
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 25
Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 8
Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 9
Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 10
Rainbow Days, Vol. 3
Persona 5, Vol. 5
Lovesick Ellie, Vol. 2
Star⇄Crossed!!, Vol. 2
Star⇄Crossed!!, Vol. 3
Star⇄Crossed!!, Vol. 4
The Gods Lie

Currently reading:
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen - this a reread in order to prepare for the sequel which comes out next Tuesday. I'm also using it for the Popsugar prompt of a book you wish you could read for the first time again.

Upcoming/Planned:
Painted Devils by Margaret Owen
Mika in Real Life by Emiko Jean

QOTW:
I'm often pretty good at guessing plot twists. As a writer, especially, sometimes I can just kind of tell what an author is working toward with certain scenes. Still, I like it when a book can surprise me, as long as the surprise makes sense.

Thanks for posting this week Sheri! I am sending all the good thoughts to you and Teddy.

We've recovered from my daughter's wedding. All went off without a hitch. Given that they all live on the other coast my son and DIL and daughter and new SIL were at our house for 2 days after the wedding. It was exhausting and while we love being with them we're happy to have our house empty again. But it was a weekend of love and having extended family from all over together.

I'm currently reading two non-fiction books that are pretty slow going. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail I was reading before the wedding. It is entertaining enough.

But I put that one aside to read my neighborhood book club book for May The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race. While I love science and non-fiction relating to science, I'm less of a fan of biographies. This one is going to be a challenge to get through and finish before our meeting. It is very thick. I usually can only get 10-15 pages read before I am sleeping in bed because it is fairly dry.

And I'm STILL listening to European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman. Getting there. I have 1.5 chapters left and I'm going to get through it. But this has been a slog even if I like the story and characters in general. I'm just ready for something else.

QOTW:
Unless they're obvious or a trope I can sometimes be oblivious to plot twists that are coming. Being surprised is good. I'm a smart and very analytical person in general but I often just don't think that hard about fiction books I'm reading. Non-fiction often is informational and not plot twisting.

The one non-fiction that comes to mind with plot twists is Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup.

I FINALLY finished that audiobook on two long walks today. The last chapter was only about 15 minutes long and only set up the next book.

Sending all the best healing kitty thoughts to Teddy, Sheri!

My two finishes since last post:

Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality was fantastic. The animal kingdom is so much more queer than I thought! Really fascinating, funny, and well-written.

The Year of the Flood, second of the MaddAddam trilogy by Margaret Atwood - this one I almost put down (I used it for the book I thought of DNF'ing prompt) because at first I was super confused and having a hard time getting into it for that reason. It jumps around in time, jumps back and forth between two characters, and jumps back and forth between first and third person narration. But once I figured out what was going on I got into it and ended up liking it better than the first book.

I'm now reading Network Effect to get my Murderbot fix.

QOTW: I am a fast reader and have a tendency to race through a book to find out what happens next, so I often miss clues towards plot twists that on second reading I can't believe I didn't pick up. Some tropes can be awfully predictable. I really love it when a twist can surprise me, though.

Oof, I think I will not be reading Monstrous Gentlewoman. I had concerns about the length and "slog" doesn't sound promising.

Till Death Do Us Part - This author is considered the master of the locked-room mystery, but that's not my favorite genre, and I wasn't super impressed by the other book of his that I read. This one was much more enjoyable. I had read that it had a good twist partway through, and indeed it did. The solution to the locked room was more plausible than most (in that I actually believe it would work), although there was still a fair amount of luck on the perpetrator's side in not being seen at certain points or whatever. The series sleuth is not my favorite, so I probably still won't read a ton of these.

Butts: A Backstory - I feel somewhat misled by the cheeky (heh) title and cover, which didn't really match the tone of the book. Much of it was only tangentially about butts, and the more butt-centric parts were mostly about racism. I thought the best part was the more contemporary stuff near the end, from Mix-a-Lot through J-Lo to Kardashian, but overall I don't know that I learned a whole lot about butts from this.

The Mimicking of Known Successes - So this is blurbed as "a cozy Holmesian murder mystery and sapphic romance" on another planet (I wish the blurb didn't specify the planet; it's better if it sort of emerges in the story). I thought the setting and plot were mostly well done but found the narrative style of the Watson character somewhat annoying (there was a third-person prologue that wasn't like that, so it seems like a choice). The romance aspect was pretty minimal, which is fine by me but might disappoint someone more interested in that aspect.

QOTW: Despite my first book above, I actually don't read that many books with twists; generally in whodunnits the final reveal suffices. When I was younger I read like Shel, where I'd get to the twist and be momentarily shocked but then realize I sort of knew but hadn't consciously reflected, but now what with having a job and such I'm more often forced to read in chunks that allow me to process, so I catch more twists. Once I was telling my husband about the book I was reading and was like, "and then he starts getting messages from this guy... annnnd I have just realized it's going to be his estranged father."

Rebecca wrote: "...overall I don't know that I learned a whole lot about butts from this."

LOL! If you like podcasts and you want to know more about butts, I highly recommend this episode of Ologies:
https://www.alieward.com/ologies/glut...

It was fascinating and also I giggled through the whole thing.