Hooked on Books discussion

Check-in your completed books here

Completed Book requirements:
Theme week: (example: Family Dinners)
Book:
Author:
Pages:
Date Read:
Rating:
Justification:
Book Points:
Team Total points:


Challenge rules:
*No graphic novels, poetry or cookbooks allowed.
*Follow your own time zone. If you finish the book between the theme dates in your time zone, it counts.
*You must be able to justify how your book fits the theme. Example: If the theme is cats, then your book can have a cat on the cover, a cat in the book, can be all about cats, etc. If you can justify it, then it will work. Let's keep this easy and you may be creative with your links to the themes.
Standard Rules Apply

Themes
Aug 1-7 Sci-fi
Aug 8-14 Discovery
Aug 15-21 War
Aug 22-31 Diplomacy

*Theme Start & End times are based on your time zone. So each theme will end at midnight in the time zone that you live in.*


Book Points



Poll
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...




Formal Buddy Reads bonus
✨If you can make it fit a theme and read it during the theme week & participate in the discussion, you get 4 bonus points plus page points. (book must be completed during theme week to get the 4 points)
✨If you can't make it fit a theme but still read & participate you get 2 bonus points plus page points. Just mark the theme as "Bonus" and add the bonus points to your completion post. (book may be completed during any week of the challenge to get the 2 points)

You can find the buddy read here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...



This month if you use a book here AND in the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Challenge you will get bonus points. Don't forget to link to your Animal Crossing post when you check-in!
✨ 2 bonus points if a book is used in both challenges

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Theme week: SciFi Week 1
Book: Journal of the Plague Year
Author: Malcolm Cross, C. B. Harvey, Adrian Tchaikovsky
Pages: 500
Date Read: 08/01
Rating: 5
Justification: Apocalyptic/Post-apocalyptic, SF (including in Space)
Book Points: 3
Team Total points: 3

Theme week: SciFi Week 1
Book: Stellar Cloud
Author: Charity Bradford
Pages: 60
Date Read: 8/02
Rating: 5
Justification: Speculative Futuristic and Space SF
Book Points: 0
Team Total points:

Theme week: SciFi Week 1
Book: Black Vault
Author: Alma Katsu
Pages: 81
Date Read: 8/03
Rating: 5
Justification: Involves UFO sightings/investigation (UAP)
Book Points: 0
Team Total points:

Theme week: SciFi Week 1
Book: Androne
Author: Dwain Worrell
Pages: 329
Date Read: 8/02-8/04
Rating: 5
Justification: Future Military SF/Time Travel Philosophy/Mecha (Drones)
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: SciFi Week 1
Book: After the Battle on Starship Hill: Prologue to The Children of the Sky
Author: Vernor Vinge
Pages: 94
Date Read: 08/04
Rating: 5
Justification: Far Future, Multiverse
Book Points: 0
Team Total points:

Theme week: SciFi Week 1
Book: Time's Eye
Author: Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter
Pages: 379
Date Read: 8/05
Rating: 5
Justification: Not-Earth Interference with Time, Time Folding, Travel through Time, International Space Station
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: SciFi Week 1
Book: Sunstorm
Author: Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
Pages: 368
Date Read: 08/06
Rating: 5
Justification: 2037-2047 A. D., physics, Cosmic Entities, Space Travel, Mars Colonization
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: SciFi Week 1
Book: Icehenge
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Pages: 278
Date Read: 8/07
Rating: 5
Justification: SF Future. Colonized Mars, Space Exploration [Asteroid Belts and Pluto]
Book Points: 1
Team Total points:

Theme week: Sci-Fi
Book:The Alpha Experiment
Author: Eliot Grayson
Pages: 291 Pages
Date Read: 8/3/2023
Rating: ****
Justification: Newt is a Scientist (Sci) and the books is Fiction (Fi)
Book Points: 1
Team Total points:

Total team points: 4

Theme week: Sci-Fi
Book:A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Author: Astrid Cooper
Pages: 117 Pages
Date Read: 8/4/2023
Rating: ***
Justification: Alex reads "Science Fiction Monthly" Pg 12
Book Points: 1
Team Total points: 4

Theme week: Sci-Fi
Book: In the Lives of Puppets
Author: T.J. Klune
Pages: 432
Date Read: 8/1/2023
Rating: 5 stars
Justification: MPG Science Fiction
Book Points: 3
Team Total points: 7

Theme week: Sci-Fi
Book: The Collective
Author: Alison Gaylin
Pages: 352 Pages
Date Read: 8/4/2023
Rating: 4 stars
Justification: loc 819 "an elderly Vassar professor who self-publishes science-fiction books on the side."
Book Points: 3
Team Total points: 10

Hi I am just checking in. I should have something to add tomorrow

Theme week: Sci-Fi
Book:Twisted Pretty Things
Author: Ariana Nash
Pages: 330 Pages
Date Read: 8/6/2023
Rating: ****
Justification: Tagged Science Fiction - Page 1, Column 2 - 4 Users
Book Points: 3
Team Total points: 13

Theme week: Discovery
Book:Force
Author: Kiki Burrelli
Pages: 361 Pages
Date Read: 8/8/2023
Rating: ****
Justification: David discovers himself after being "trained" to be a perfect mate for 10 years.
Book Points: 3
Team Total points: 3

Theme week: Week 2 Discovery
Book: None of This Is True
Author: Lisa Jewell
Pages: 384
Date Read: 08/09
Rating: 5
Justification: Psychological Thriller, entire novel is unending discovery, one revelation after another after another ad infinitum.
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 2 Discovery
Book: Red Moon
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Pages: 478
Date Read: 8/08-8/10
Rating: 5
Justification: Characters' discoveries about the Moon, Geopolitics, Culture, Feng Shui. Reader's Discovery about all of the above plus Chinese history, geography, culture, politics
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 2 Discovery
Book: Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre
Author: Max Brooks
Pages: 304
Date Read: 8/11-8/12
Rating: 4
Justification: Characters's discovery of Mount Rainier eruption and of cryptids. Reader's Discovery of Cryptids, Volcanology, Cryptid History, Disaster Non-preparedness, character evolution and devolution, prehistoric evolution.
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 2 Discovery
Book: Evolution
Author: Stephen Baxter
Pages: 672
Date Read: 8/10-8/14
Rating: 4
Justification: Biology, Zoology, Geology, from Dinosaur Era to Near-Future. Genetics, Mutations, Evolutionary Biology, History of Consciousness.
Book Points: 5
Team Total points:

Theme week: Discovery
Book:Just a Bit Heartless
Author: Alessandra Hazard
Pages: 236 Pages
Date Read: 8/10/2023
Rating: ****
Justification: Jordon and Damiano discover their love for each other, both being straight before they met.
Book Points: 1
Team Total points: 7

Theme week: Discovery
Book:Where Death Meets the Devil
Author: L.J. Hayward
Pages: 355 Pages
Date Read: 8/10/2023
Rating: ***
Justification: Jack's "Boss" Mr. Valadian discovers Jack is a spy.
Book Points: 3
Team Total points: 10

Theme week: Discovery
Book : Confessions of a Tinderella
Author: Rosy Edwards
Pages: 374
Date read: 9/8/23
Rating: 4*
Justification: Woman discovers love and twats online
Book points: 3 points
Team total points: 13

Animal Crossing thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Theme Week: Discovery
Book: Dark Matter
Author: Blake Crouch
Pages: 352
Date Read: 8/9/23
Rating: 5 stars
Justification: Jason #1 discovers that his alternative Jason #2 has discovered how to access multiple universes and takes his life over.
Book Points: 3 + 2 for using in Animal Crossing. =5

Theme Week: Discovery
Book: The Lost Library
Author: Rebecca Stead
Pages: 224
Date Read: 8/11/23
Rating: 5 Stars
Justification: Evan discovers a link between an old in book in the little library and his father and the fate of the old burned down library.
Book points: 1 +2 for using in Animal crossing= 3

Theme week: Discovery
Book: 4:50 from Paddington
Author: Agatha Christie
Pages: 288
Date Read: 1
Rating: 4 stars
Justification: page 17 "...fur collar to delay discovery"
Book Points: 1 +2 for using in animal crossing= 3

Team Total points: 24

Theme week: Discovery
Book:Breaking News
Author: Ella Frank
Pages: 202 Pages
Date Read: 8/11/2023
Rating: ****
Justification: Xander "discovers" he's in love with Sean.
Book Points: 1
Team Total points: 24

Theme week: Discovery
Book:Inside Affair
Author: Ella Frank
Pages: 239 Pages
Date Read: 8/11/2023
Rating: *****
Justification: Xander "discovers" he has a stalker and finds out who that is.
Book Points: 1
Team Total points: 25

Theme week: Discovery
Book:The Alpha and His King
Author: Kiki Clark
Pages: 366 Pages
Date Read: 8/12/2023
Rating: ****
Justification: Rick discovers Kai and his siblings living in a shed
Book Points: 3
Team Total points: 28

Theme week: Discovery
Book:Swept Away
Author: Amy Bellows
Pages: 176 Pages
Date Read: 8/12/2023
Rating: ****
Justification: Tru discovers that Rabbit shifters can mate with eagle shifters, contrary to cultural nroms
Book Points: 1
Team Total points: 29

Theme week: Week 2 War
Book: Guests
Author: Kealan Patrick Burke
Pages: 131
Date Read: 8/14-8/15
Rating: 5
Justification: one group, invaders, against "residents," to-the-death
Book Points: 1
Team Total points:

Theme week: Discovery
Book:Wolf Reborn
Author: Sam Burns
Pages: 192 Pages
Date Read: 8/14/23
Rating: ****
Justification: Miles discovers that werewolves are real.
Book Points: 1
Team Total points:

Theme week: Discovery
Book:The Deputy and His Enforcer
Author: Kiki Clark
Pages: 319 Pages
Date Read: 8/14/2023
Rating: *****
Justification: Marcus discovers his mate and his mate discovers wolf shifters.
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 3 War
Book: Rusted Synapse
Author: Elwood Stevens
Pages: 131
Date Read: 08/15-08/16
Rating: 5
Justification: Cyberpunk SF, Near-Future. "War" in the sense of battling cartels, also governments battling over (and stealing) High-tech (specifically Super-class Advanced AI's.
Book Points: 1
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 3 War
Book: The Beast You Are: Stories
Author: Paul Tremblay
Pages: 365
Date Read: 08/16-08/17
Rating: 4
Justification: Single-Author Short Story Collection: some relate to war
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 3 War
Book: Devolution of a Species: Planet Earth is Fighting Back
Author: M. E. Ellington
Pages: 336
Date Read: 08/17-08/18
Rating: 3
Justification: Virus attacks human genetics, reversing evolution, human to human violence, Apocalypse
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 3 War
Book: Arc Light
Author: Eric L. Harry
Pages: 610 (Goodreads: Kindle version) 916 (Scribd version)
Date Read: 08/16-08/18
Rating: 4
Justification: World War III
Book Points: 5
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 3 War
Book: 2034: A Novel of the Next World War
Author: Eliot Ackerman
Pages: 307
Date Read: 08/18
Rating: 5
Justification: A novel of World War III, U.S. and China
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 3 War
Book: Megalodon: Bloodbath
Author: Michael Cole
Pages: 292
Date Read: 08/20
Rating: 5
Justification: Nature warring against Man and Man against Nature (Megalodon)
Book Points: 1
Team Total points:

Theme week: War
Book: It Happened One Summer
Author: Tessa Bailey
Pages: 385
Date read: 17.08.23
Justification:
Points: 3
Total team points: 53

Theme week: Diplomacy
Book:Business As Usual
Author: Alison Hendricks
Pages: 219 Pages
Date Read: 8/22/2023
Rating: ****
Justification: Jamie is very diplomatic when dealing with the board regarding the bad product
Book Points: 1
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 4 Diplomacy
Book: Deepsix
Author: Jack McDevitt
Pages: 532
Date Read: 08/22-08/23
Rating: 5
Justification: constant balancing between rescuing crew from doomed planet vs scientific experimentation
Book Points: 5
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 4 Diplomacy
Book: Terra Utopia
Author: Phil Moore
Pages: 278
Date Read: 08/21-08/24
Rating: 4
Justification: Diplomacy between stranded Interstellar travelers and the Sentient, Conscious, Planet is ongoing
Book Points: 1
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 4 Diplomacy
Book: Ancient Shores
Author: Jack McDevitt
Pages: 388
Date Read: 08/24
Rating: 5
Justification: Diplomatic tension between Sioux tribe and Federal government, between scientists and law enforcement, between citizens embracing the new portal and those fearful.
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 4 Diplomacy
Book: Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars
Author: Avi Loeb
Pages: 256
Date Read: 08/25
Rating: 5
Justification: Discussing the inevitably of eventual [soon] contact with Extraterrestrial Civilizations and how to approach contact [NOT attacking first].
Book Points: 1
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 4 Diplomacy
Book: book:Humanity's Last Hope|123230962]
Author: Jaysee Jewel
Pages: 331
Date Read: 08/25
Rating: 5
Justification: Children "rescued" by "benevolent" aliens are trained to recover Earth from another species. Constant Diplomacy is necessary to balance these young humans with their alien "rescuers."
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 4 Diplomacy
Book: Before Us
Author: Nathan Hystad
Pages: 359
Date Read: 08/26
Rating: 5
Justification: Humans in Apocalypse, among Natural Disasters and other dimensional intrusions must practice Diplomacy with sentient AI robots whom they hope will protect them...constant tension.
Book Points: 1
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 4 Diplomacy
Book: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Pages: 406
Date Read: 08/25-08/26
Rating: 5
Justification: Balancing temporary amnesia, personality difficulties, and cultural trauma while practicing Diplomacy with a different (non-technological) Culture.
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme week: Week 4 Diplomacy
Book: Arkhangelsk
Author: Elizabeth Bonesteel
Pages: 470
Date Read: 08/19-08/27
Rating: 5
Justification: An established planetary colony must co-exist with outcast "exiles," and suddenly with an exploratory generation ship tasked to construct a Space transmitter, which may bring new Colony ships from Earth.
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Theme Week - Diplomacy
Book: The Case of the Missing Marquess
Author: Nancy Springer
Pages: 240 pages
Read: 8/24/23
Rating: 4 stars
Justification: When Sherlock Holmes sees that Enola is a bit on the wild side and sees that Mycroft is only getting her angry, he tries to handle the situation with diplomacy by suggesting that perhaps she should go and change. Thereby avoiding a big blow out without angering Enola or Mycroft.
Book points - 1 point + 2points for use in Animal Crossings= 3 pts
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Team Total Points: 77

Theme Week- Diplomacy
Book: Ninth House
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Pages: 476
Read: 8/29/23
Rating: 5 stars
Justification: Location "discretion and diplomacy warranted by"
Book Points: 3
Team Total Points: 80 points

Theme week: Week 4 Diplomacy
Book: The Ark
Author: Patrick S. Tomlinson
Pages: 414
Date Read: 8/30-8/31
Rating: 5
Justification: 2.5 centuries on a Generation Ship, constant Diplomacy is essential. Also class strife between crew and "cattle."
Book Points: 3
Team Total points:

Team total: 119