EPBOT Readers discussion

Hi all,

Hope you're having a good week! We're currently preparing for our Summerween party. Got a summery costume, going to carve a watermellon, have spooky icecream, getting inflatable pools out. Should be fun!

This week I finished:

The Final Empire - one of my TBR list books. I'd never gotten into Sanderson so this was my first. I liked it more than i expected! Will probably continue at some point.

The Gentleman's Book of Vices - this is for a book club, it was good but pretty raunchy haha. I liked it.

Currently reading:

Bad Feminist: Essays- been meaning to read this for years and finally getting to it. I like it, Roxane has a really fun writing style.

A Song Below Water - for my library's genre genius, off their staff picks. almost finishing the audio book.

All Boys Aren't Blue - Was trying to bounce between audio books for a bit, but that doesn't work very well for me.

QOTW: Would you rather have a book’s ending spoiled for you OR never know the ending?

I think I'd rather have it spoiled. I don't LIKE spoilers, and I get really annoyed with them. But I still read things that got spoiled and generally still enjoy them, even if I would rather have been surprised. It'd annoy me if I just couldn't finish it.

Happy Thursday! Not too much to report here. Things have been a little busy at work but otherwise nothing exciting is going on.

Finished:
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik - 4 stars - for Popsugar's book I meant to read in 2022. I'm glad I finally got around to this series.

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik - 4 stars - for Popsugar's book with a map. That cliffhanger! I'm glad I didn't have to wait for the next book to come out to continue!

Comics & manga:
Himawari House

Currently reading:
The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik - for Popsugar's book with a color in the title.

Upcoming/Planned:
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli - for Popsugar's banned/​challenged book
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher - for Popsugar's book that comes out in the second half of 2023

QOTW:
Between the two, if I was never going to get to read the ending for myself otherwise, I'd rather have it spoiled for the closure.

Summerween, what a fun idea!

I've been plowing my way through the Imperial Radch trilogy and absolutely loving it. Even though it's a completely different character and plot, in some ways it feels a bit like the Murderbot books in that it's told in first person from the perspective of an AI, not a human. Anyway I'm partway through the third book, Ancillary Mercy, and there are a few stand-alones set in the same universe that I may tackle next. I don't always read a series in one grand sweep like this, but sometimes I can't help needing to!

QOTW: oooh, that's a tough one. I think I agree with both of you that I'd rather have the spoiler and get closure, but I hate spoilers! But I usually NEED an ending, to the point that often if I DNF a book I go online and look up the ending out of curiosity.

It has certainly been summer weather-wise! I'm planning to go for ice cream or boba this weekend, although sadly I doubt it will be spooky.

Elephants Can Remember - This is widely (although not unanimously) considered to be the worst Poirot novel. I was expecting Postern of Fate levels of terrible and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was merely not very good. The plot is thin and obvious, but it was interesting as a sort of rambling consideration of memory by someone who was seemingly beginning to lose hers.

Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World - This is the guy who took the viral video of telling a white woman to leash her dog in Central Park, but that makes up only one chapter at the end. It is mostly a memoir of growing up as a Black queer nerd, going to Harvard, working for Marvel Comics, participating in activism, etc. It's not really that much about birds, so I think it would still be interesting to non-birders.

QOTW: I guess I do occasionally read books that have been spoiled, if they are Important or whatever. I would maybe read a book without the ending for the same reason, but that one doesn't really come up so much IRL.