Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2023 Weekly Check-Ins
>
Week 52: 12/22 - 12/28
Mod
Nadine’s Q1 Mini-Challenge: 7/10
AtY: 52/52 DONE!
RHC: 14/24
FINISHED
*Watership Down (Watership Down #1) by Richard Adams ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Admittedly, I became a bit hesitant after the first 50 or so pages of this book, but it took off from there and I never looked back! I find it extremely interesting that Adams started this as stories he would tell his daughters on long car trips. Then he finally sat down and wrote it all into a book! He stated there was nothing symbolic in his writing, though he obviously included some overall themes such as compassion for others, the downfall of a totalitarian regime in its lack of motivation and enjoyment of life for the oppressed, and I especially enjoyed the concept of kindness toward others, regardless of who they are and the ways in which those recipients may return the favor by giving aide in the future!
POPSUGAR:
ATY:
RHC:
*White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was excellently written and argued! This fits right in with the philosophies of Ibram Kendi, Ta-Nehisi Coates and others who state that you are either antiracist or you are not antiracist. By definition anyone living in this society with white skin automatically benefits from the foundational racism and either works to undermine the racist dogma or not. I believe that is true. Though 5 years ago I might have tried to argue otherwise… 😊
POPSUGAR:
ATY:
RHC:
*Next Year in Havana (Perez Family #1) by Chanel Cleeton ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I find it impossible to adequately describe just how phenomenal this book was for me! I literally felt as if I was there for each character—feeling their emotions, seeing what they saw, experiencing what they were experiencing! Cleeton’s descriptions of pre-Castro and post-Castro Cuba are not to be missed, IMO! Highly recommended! Definitely continuing with this series!
POPSUGAR: NEW #
ATY:
RHC:
CONTINUING:
*...And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer
Four more days to finish this last book for the Popsugar 2023 Challenge!! YES!!
*The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
This one will definitely need to wait until 2024!
PLANNED:
*10th Anniversary (Women’s Murder Club #9) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
*Fear No Evil (Alex Cross #29) by James Patterson
11th Hour (Women’s Murder Club #11) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
*Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey for an IRL book club
*Dirty Thirty (Stephanie Plum #30) by Janet Evanovich
Happy Thursday, Lynn.I don't think the monthly reads are a failure. The fact that this month was Bookshops and Bonedust, lead me to suggest Legends and Lattes for my daughter (who is so picky about books that she picks her own every year). After a frustrating HOUR of showing her a ton of books, she finally picked that. So, even though I didn't do the group read, it still benefitted my life.
I read a book that fit no prompts just because I was falling behind on Karen McManus' backlist. The Agatha Christie book, which is more spy story than mystery will bring me up to an even 50 for AYT. I love that I read 10 extra books for both PS and AYT.
Finished:
You'll Be the Death of Me
No Prompts (AYT or PS)
Series - 15/15 - I finished my goal!
Series Completed: - Lying Games, Bronwyn the Witch, Divergent, Millenium, Heather Wells, Mortal Instruments
Nobel laureates - 7/7 - I finished my goal!
Random books - 7/7 - I finished my goal!
ATY - 49/40
PS - 40/30
Nadine's 23 challenge - 10/10 -Completed!
Summer challenge: 12/12 - Completed!
Around the year in 52 movies - 52/52 - Completed!
Currently reading:
The Secret Adversary- 65% done
Buddy Reads:
This Present Darkness - 20% done
QOTW: The first book I'm reading is The House Across the Lake because I bought it for myself for Xmas. I have been trying to read it all year but the amount of holds on it was too high. Like Karen McManus, I've fallen behind on ready Riley Sager.
Happy Thursday, everyone!It’s so hard to believe that 2023 is almost over! Where did the time go?
I have not done a tremendous amount of reading since my last update, for which I blame my new Crunchyroll subscription, but I was able to finish the final title on my “New Books” list, another TBR book, and a few library ebooks and audiobooks.
Here are my final challenge and TBR totals for 2023…
Goodreads Challenge: 820/400 (Challenge Complete!)
Mount TBR Challenge: 150/150 (Challenge Complete!)
📚Physical TBR: 322/634
📱Ebook TBR: 22/236
🎧Audiobook TBR: 13/13
TBR Checklist Total: 357/883 (40.4% complete)
While I have not bought any new books since my final manga preorders, I did get a ton of books for Christmas. In addition to several books that have been on my wishlist for months, I also got a massive trio of boxes from eBay, containing books from the Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms series. I’m really looking forward to reading all of my new books!
Of course, that does mean that I will have significantly more books on my TBR next year than I was anticipating. That’s totally fine, but I think I’m going to increase my TBR completion goal from 40% to 50% to compensate.
I already know that I won’t be purchasing nearly as many new books next year, so I should be able to handle reading more TBR titles.
“New” Books Bought in 2023: 441
“New” Books Read in 2023: 441/441 (Goal Achieved!)
Here are the books I’ve finished since my previous update…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~The Dead Man in the Garden — This is the third book in the Aggie Morton Mystery Queen series. I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook, and can’t wait for the next one to come in at the library. 🎧: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Women's War — This was the final Alexandre Dumas book on my TBR list for 2023. I really enjoyed this book, and thought the story was very interesting. I’ll definitely be reading more of Dumas’s books in the future! 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Murder at the Vicarage — I picked up a copy of this audiobook at my local library to listen to before bed. I really enjoyed listening to Richard E. Grant’s narration. 🎧: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Iron Flame — While there were parts of this book that I really enjoyed, I also I felt like it suffered from second book syndrome. As a result, I had a hard time staying invested in the story until I was about halfway through the book. I ended up taking a lot of breaks while I was reading, and it took me much longer to finish than I had anticipated. That being said, I am planning to continue the series, and I’m hoping that the next book will be more in line with the experience I had reading Fourth Wing. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
None
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
~The Witcher: Ronin — I borrowed this manga from my local library and really enjoyed it. I thought it was cool to have the story set in a world inspired by ancient Japan. Rather than dealing with the same types of monsters as the original books, Geralt instead encounters creatures from Japanese legends and myths. This was a fast-paced, action-packed read, and I really liked the art style. Hopefully the second volume will be released soon. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
I’ll be using the next few days to get caught up on some fanfiction reading before the new year starts.
QOTW:
I typically read more than one book at a time, so I’m actually planning to start several books on January 1st, including…
~Assistant to the Villain
~The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet
~Emma
~The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1
~Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: The Feast of the Moon
L Y N N wrote: "Popsugar: 49/50 SOOOO CLOSE! ONLY ONE MORE!Nadine’s Q1 Mini-Challenge: 7/10
AtY: 52/52 DONE!
RHC: 14/24
FINISHED
*Watership Down (Watership Down #1) by Richard Adams ⭐..."
Watership Down is SUCH a good book! I'm glad you liked it. Sadly I haven't found another one by the same author that I enjoyed as much. (Plague Dogs in particular is too long and brutal...)
K.L. wrote: "Happy Thursday, everyone!It’s so hard to believe that 2023 is almost over! Where did the time go?
I have not done a tremendous amount of reading since my last update, for which I blame my new Cr..."
yeah, crunchyroll is horribly fun to play with. This season was especially distracting. The Apothecary Diaries (Light Novel): Volume 2 is one of my favorites this season.
Raven of the Inner Palace (Light Novel) Vol. 1 was a couple of seasons ago and I loved it so much I'm collecting the light novels. There's only 7 in the series. 5 and 6 are on preorder.
I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in The Real World, Too, (Light Novel) Vol. 1 is another. I did read the light novels before watching this one.
Dang! there are so many to list that were awesome in both forms.
Happy Thursday! I thought my laptop had completely bricked earlier this week. Windows wouldn't load and wouldn't reinstall. Luckily I was able to factory reset the whole thing, and everything seems to be working now. So glad I keep all my documents in the cloud!Challenge Progress: I finished the 52 Book Club challenge (and all its mini-challenges), Popsugar and Nadine's mini-challenge, A to Z (by author's last name), and ATY's main challenge. The only thing I have left is ATY's winter challenge. Three more books to finish WINTER WONDERLAND! I'll finish tomorrow.
Completed:
Nine Perfect Strangers (ATY - WINTER WONDERLAND) ★★★
The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty ★★★★
Imperfect Women (ATY - WINTER WONDERLAND) ★★★
Dating Dr. Dil (ATY - WINTER WONDERLAND) ★★★★
The Red and the Blue: The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism (ATY - WINTER WONDERLAND) ★★★★★
The Women Could Fly ★★★★
Bad Vibes Only ★★★★
Nothing to See Here (ATY - WINTER WONDERLAND) ★★★★★
Currently Reading:
The Night Sister (ATY - WINTER WONDERLAND)
Romantic Comedy
Olivia Twist (ATY - WINTER WONDERLAND)
Seveneves
The Second Chance Year
The Year of Second Chances
Blind Man's Bluff: A Memoir
The Edge of Everything (ATY - WINTER WONDERLAND)
QOTW: I count book by the date completed (not the date started), so I've already started books for 2024. The first one I finish will probably be Romantic Comedy which I'll count for PS 4 - a book about a writer. I'm really enjoying it so far! I picked it because I'm behind on my BOTM selections... It's time to order new books!
Good day!I learned how to do two things on Excel/Word! First, I found the fill command! I knew it had to be somewhere. Yippee! And, second, I learned how to rename the books in Word and Excel! Now I have a PopSugar Check-in book rather than Book 1!
I am pushing hard to finish a bunch of challenges.
Oh! And I learned how to play dominoes on my phone. Really fun but a terrible time waster!
Finished
Hush Now, Don't You Cry – Other challenge. Continuation of a series set in Manhattan in the early 20th century. 4*
An American in Scotland – Audiobook. Mystery surrounding an American doctor and the Scottish laird who brought her to his village.
A Study in Emerald – PS #45. GN. I actually read this one in November, but I did not at that time realize that it met a prompt. 4*
In the Balance – Other challenge. A Miss Maud Silver mystery, reminiscent of Agatha’s Miss Marple. 4*
Suddenly a Murder - ATY #51. This completed the last book for ATY. A HS graduation party on an isolated island with a theme of 1920s…and a murder. 4*
Murder Down Under – Other challenge. A mystery set in Australia with MC of mixed lineage. 4*
The Turn of the Screw – PS #37. A Henry James book. I liked the overall story but not the many, many words used to tell it. I am just not a Henry James fan. 3*
A Scone To Die For – Audiobook. I liked the mystery but got tired of the long sections of Gemma’s reasoning and thinking as her thought processes seemed to run in circles over and over again! 3*
Currently Reading:
Garden Disruptors: The Rebel Misfits Who Turned Southern Horticulture On Its Head – PS #44. 51%
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life – Other challenges. 3%
Golf Dreams: Writings on Golf – ATY Fall Seasonal. 54%
Firekeeper's Daughter – PS #30, Nadine’s Challenge (finishes). 4%
Midnight Sun – PS #2
On Deck:
The Family Way – Other challenge (finishes)
Once There Were Wolves – ATY Fall Seasonal
Thanksgiving – ATY Fall Seasonal (finishes)
A Front Page Affair – Other challenge (finishes)
On Back Burner for now
The Beginner's Photography Guide: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Manual for Getting the Most from Your Digital Camera – 27%.
Dreams and Shadows –Kindle. 14%.
PS 47/50 (94% with all remaining started) and 9/10 (90% with the remaining one started)
ATY FINISHED!!! and Fall Challenge 12/15 (80%) [Expect finish by next week], Winter Challenge 5/14 (36%)
GR 252/200 EXCEEDED!!!
Happy Thursday! One morning of work left and then off into 2024. I had a pretty good reading year. I’ve read a record amount of books (64 and counting). But I didn’t finish Popsugar. Somewhere this summer I lost interest. Of all those 64 books there weren’t that much discoveries (like I once discoverd Watership Down, what a wonderful surprise that book was to me), not much wow-moments. PS: 39/50 (goal: 40/50)
Total 2023: 64/52
I wish you all ‘unne gooije roetsj noar 2024’ (Happy New Year, it literal means something as ‘a good slide into 2024’).
Finished
The Boy Between Worlds by Annejet van der Zijl⭐⭐⭐⭐
Not for PS
Annejet van der Zijl tells the story of the life and love of Waldemar Nods and Rika van der Lans. Waldemar with his neverending homesickness to the warmth of Suriname and Rika with her neverending love, warmth and joie de vivre. Lovely story. At the end, Van der Zijl explains why she chose to use specific language as ‘slave’ and ‘brown person’. I’ve heard her explaining it in a lecture too. Her tool is language and the rhythm in it. It is part of making a book attractive to read, because the sentences have a rhythm and movement. I love her writing, so it makes sense to me.
Currently reading
The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin by Steven Lee Myers
Strangers with the Same Dream by Alison Pick
QOTW
I haven’t planned anything yet. I have 3 books piled up from the library, so probably it will be one of these:
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
Een stad, het meisje en de duivel by Svealena Kutschke
Do you speak Disney?: Spraakmakende feiten en verhalen uit een eeuw Disney by Robin Broos
Mod
Quite a few of Obama's titles were on the Tournament of Books long list (and even one still on the short list) ... so, does Obama follow the ToB? or do the Tournament runners follow Obama? Probably a bit of both.
I don't really read the same books he reads, he is - perhaps obviously - far more interested in global issues and politics than I am.
I am currently reading All the Sinners Bleed, and I've got The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store on hold - I've never read anything by McBride before.
Happy Thursday!Finished:
A Little Too Familiar - 4 stars - This was a really fun urban fantasy/paranormal romance. Mostly, I want a friends group like this one. Everyone just seemed like they'd be so much fun to know.
Comics & manga:
Heartstopper: Volume Five
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 27
Currently reading:
The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman - for a book featuring a 42-year-old character. I've been enjoying this a lot so far.
Upcoming/Planned:
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang - right now I have this down for a book where someone dies in the first chapter, but I may rearrange my prompts as I go.
QOTW:
I'm in the middle of the book that will be my first in 2024: The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies. Why? Because it's due back at the library soon, and I wanted to use it for a prompt so I'm timing it to finish January 1. :)
Hello! It appears I have not checked in since April. In 2023, I moved my reading spreadsheets to my personal laptop from my work one. That made updating during work hours on Thursdays more difficult., and I too often forgot to update in the evenings or on weekends.Life update wise, I went all-in on finishing my 2015 NaNoWriMo novel this fall. I stopped adding to the 2015 version on Halloween, and then in November, I started on "part 2" as a fresh NaNo project. I finished that draft on December 15th at 92k words. Combined, part 1 and 2 together are 172,000 words. It needs heavy editing (lots and lots and LOTS), but some writing advice I'm trying says to leave the draft alone for two months to give yourself distance so you can go into the editing process with "fresh" eyes. It's been two weeks and it's killing me to not reread it, after focusing on it so much from September to December.
Reading wise, I didn't get much read in the fall because I was so focused on that draft. But I finished PopSugar this morning and I'll finish ATY here shortly (one book to go). I've glanced at the 2024 lists for PS and Read Harder, but haven't started any planning yet.
Finished This Week: (Just what I've read since last Thursday. No one wants a list of what I've read since April.)
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik. Reread. I bought the hardcover version from a local bookstore and ended up rereading it. Still love book 1.
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi. A book for the Read Harder prompt of an independently published book by a person of color. This is set in Oman and tells the story of the lives and loves of three sisters, their parents, the eldest sister's daughter, the eldest sister's husband, his parents, his father's slave woman, her daughter-in-law, and some other people I'm not entirely sure how they're connected. It's not told in chronological order, and the translator/author didn't use quotation marks, which made the reading difficult. I learned a lot about Oman, its history and its people, so I'm glad I read it. Using for PS #27, About a Family.
Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron. A new take on a doing-it-all-over sort of story. Main character gets texts from her future husband after her death. Husband is determined to prevent said death, but in doing so, prevents their initial meeting. Deals with suicide, death and grief. Using for another challenge that needed an author with the same name. Not for PS prompt.
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. I needed a "modern classic" for another challenge, and this was included on a list of those. It was only 97 pages, so I figured it would be quick. It was. I got it from interlibrary loan, so I didn't realize until I finished it that it was non-fiction. It's a collection of letters between a writer in New York and a used bookshop in England from the 50s to the 70s. Very quick read. Not for PS prompt.
Spider-Verse/Spider-Geddon Omnibus by Dan Slott. A few years ago, an author I love got to write for Marvel for Spider-Gwen. Her run was during Spider-Geddon, a massive crossover between all the spider-beings. I bought the comics to support Seanan, but it confused me to no end. When I saw this omnibus at my local comic book store this spring, my husband convinced me to buy it. It contains the first crossover event, Spider-Verse, and then the sequel (when the bad guys escape their prison and try again), Spider-Geddon. It's 1400 pages, and it turns out the last issue of Seanan's Ghost-Spider was the finale of Spider-Geddon. Or, more accurately, the epilogue, where Gwen goes to funerals. All the action happened in other spider-being's comics. If you know the Spider-Man (and friends) lore, I'm sure you'd love this. For someone who's seen some (but not all) of the Spider-Man movies and watched my husband play the video game, I was very lost. I think the lesson is clones are bad. Using for PS #49, Longest Book on your TBR.
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah. Read Harder prompt #4 was to read a book challenged/banned in your local school district or library. My county library doesn't seem to believe in banning books (yay!), so I checked my school district. This was the only book I could find that was even challenged recently, and the parents lost. Apparently the kids can opt out of reading it and read something else, so the school board saw no reason to remove it from the curriculum. I quite enjoyed it and learned a lot about South African history and the people who live there. Using for PS #8, a Celebrity Memoir.
PS: 50/50 RH: 20/24 ATY: 51/52 GR: 153/150
Currently Reading:
Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo by Grant Faulkner. This book has been living in the bathroom for the past few months and I'll read a pep talk or two every now and then. I'm on pep talk 38, so should probably just finish. Need for another challenge, author from home state.
Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain. I got a few chapters in and thought it would be better to start over. And then I stalled again. Need to start over and not let myself stop. Need for Read Harder #2, Favorite Author's Favorite Book.
The Year's Best Sports Writing 2023 by Richard Deitsch. I've listened to Richard's podcast for years, so when I heard he was editing the year's best sports writing anthology, I pre-ordered it. I've read the first three or so articles. Enjoyed them, but the nature of anthologies makes it easy to not read everything in one go.
It's Not About the Burqa by Mariam Khan. Read Harder #19 is to read a book about intersectional feminism. This is a collection of essays by Muslim women about being Muslim and a woman. Enjoying it so far.
Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher. The latest Saint of Steel book was released in early December. It's been a bit since I last read the books, so I grabbed the audio version of book one from the library. I have four and a half hours to go and am seriously debating just reading it instead of listening.
Up Next: (Optimistic list of books to read before Monday)
The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar (ATY #32, UNESCO City of Literature)
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
And the Category Is.: Inside New York's Vogue, House, and Ballroom Community by Ricky Tucker. (RH #12, BIPOC/Queer History)
Let's Make Ramen!: A Comic Book Cookbook by Hugh Amano (RH #11, Cookbook)
QotW: Which book do you plan to read first in 2024? Why this one?
Realistically, it'll be whatever I don't finish of the 2023 prompts and library books. And then the Saint of Steel books.
For the first new book, probably Starter Villain by John Scalzi. My library hold came up a few days ago and I pushed it off until after the new year to finish all these others, so I imagine I'll read that one as soon as I get it again.
Oh, also Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson. I got approved to read an arc through NetGalley for her new book, the sequel (I guess?) of The Space Between Worlds. Need to read it soon so NetGalley keeps approving me for books.
Hi all, Made it through hosting Christmas! Always so tiring. But I also don't like driving to Ohio, so prefer to take on hosting than that. At least when people leave I can collapse, rather than having to endure a several hour car ride before collapsing.
This week I finished:
The Unkindest Tide- October Daye read-through, finally caught up to where i left off, now I can get caught up to current!
Night and Silence - more october daye
Currently reading:
Strange the Dreamer - reading for an online book club
Sweet Paprika, Vol. 3 - still need to finish this up
QOTW:
I'll probably either re-read Nettle & Bone, or readStarling House, depending on how long it takes me to get through Strange the dreamer. Nettle & Bone is my next irl book club pick, and it's been a few years since I read it. I got Starling House from the library and it's almost due, so should get that read too. I doubt I can finish them both before new years. Strange the Dreamer is pretty long, it might be my last book of the year.
I finished Gone with the Whisker. It was OK.I'm reading Ripley's Game. I have no idea where they are going with this and the whole premise seems a bit ridiculous. But, it's a fun read.
QOTW: I, the Jury because it's on top of my pile.
Oh no! It erased my whole response!Note to self: if the links stop working, save your work!
I like Obama's list so much better than Goodread's list. I've read The Maniac and Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope and will be reading The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store for book club and am now interested in The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions.Popsugar: 9/50
Robot: 13/50
Finished: He/She/They: How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters For prompt LGBTQIA memoir. It was really good! Shulyer was brave in answering questions that are inappropriate to ask some random queer person. Initially, I gave it a 3, but in digesting it more, I upgraded it to 4 stars.
Lamarck's Revenge: How Epigenetics Is Revolutionizing Our Understanding of Evolution's Past and Present This had low ratings on Goodreads, but I thought the writing was fine and the subject interesting!
How the Post Office Created America: A History Also a subject I'm interested in. It inspired me to create a letter-writing project this next year!
Mastery This one I read for prompt female athlete because it mentioned Martha Graham. But it was a small mention, so I might read a biography that focuses more on Martha. I'm temporarily counting it because I likely wouldn't have read the book otherwise.
Started: The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality Maria Popova included this on her top books of 2023 in her newsletter and it intrigued me. Kinda a Godel-Escher-Bach, but with Borges, Heisenberg, and Kant instead.
QotW: When I first read this question, I thought there wasn't anything in particular that I'm waiting until next year to read because I've already started the PopSugar challenge. But then I realized I'm saving Hello, Habits: A Minimalist's Guide to a Better Life for a retreat on New Year's Day and The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. So there!
L Y N N wrote: "This fits right in with the philosophies of Ibram Kendi, Ta-Nehisi Coates and others who state that you are either antiracist or you are not antiracist. By definition anyone living in this society with white skin automatically benefits from the foundational racism and either works to undermine the racist dogma or not...."I actually found Kendi's and Diangelo's explanations significantly different because Kendi articulates racism as being something that ANYBODY can be and Diangelo talks about how racism is positioned within a racist society, so that those who have the most power are the ones who are racist. I find that Diangelo's explanation makes more sense to me, while Kendi's is more descriptive of being prejudiced rather than being racist per say.
Mod
It's been a rainy last week of the year here, unusually warm.
My ex was just here and installed my new kitchen faucet - the old one was REALLY bad, leaning to one side, leaking, and just a general mess. I had wanted him to install a new garbage disposal at the same time but I guess that was too much to do all at once. I can't complain, I'm lucky he still comes over and fixes things for me. (Speaking of fixing things: My heat has been working just fine for the past two weeks - hooray!)
Maybe in 2024 I'll finally recover from my apparent mid-life crisis and actually start looking for work again.
This week I finished six books:
Bridge* by Lauren Beukes - this was good, but I wish the pacing had been tightened up a bit. It had a lot of layers. It was simultaneously about: travelling the multiverse, our alternate selves in alternate universes, mother/daughter relationships, friendship, and processing grief, all wrapped up in a conspiracy theory sci fi thriller tinged with a whiff of body horror. I guess I wanted more thriller, less grief.
* I had to go to PAGE 12 of titles before finding this in the add books drop down! I had to scroll past countless books that don't even include "Bridge" in the title, such as several of the "Bridgerton" novels from Julia Quinn and at least two of the books from William Gibson's "Bridge" series (none of these include "Bridge" in their titles). This is reminding me of how annoying it used to be to find "There There" by Tommy Orange in the "add book" menu. Goodreads, fix your search engine! The book title should be prioritized over a series name, and new books should be prioritized over old books.
The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters - this dual timeline mystery got bogged down in trying to do too many things and ended up neglecting the main thing (a common problem with debut novels). I could have done without all of the past timeline, just yank that right out of the book and tighten it up.
BRZRKR, Volume 1 & Volume 2 supposedly written by Keanu Reeves but probably actually written by Matt Kindt - these took only about a half hour to read, but it was still a waste of my time. It COULD have been so good! Hoopla doesn't have volume 3 yet but they do have the four individual issues so I might just download those and read them all, for the sake of completion, and in the desperate hope that SOMETHING will finally happen.
The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone On The Media written by Brooke Gladstone - this graphic novel history of journalism was fantastic! I've been meaning to read it for years, and I'm glad I finally made time for it.
The Villa by Rachel Hawkins - meh. I hated everyone and so I cared about no one. Hawkins did a good job portraying the present-day frienemy dynamic, but they were just too awful to each other for me to stay engaged. Also, it's one thing to know that Mary Shelley was only 16 or 17 when she hooked up with older married man Percy Shelley and they went on a cross-Europe jaunt with her equally-young step sister and met up w/ Lord Byron, but that was back in the 1800s and the world got Frankenstein out of the mess, so it seemed somewhat okay. Transporting their story to the 1970s and turning Mary Shelly into a sort of V.C. Andrews (and her sister into a sort of Joni Mitchell) just makes it incredibly icky.
QotW
The Universe sort of decided this one for me!
Back in June when I was looking for a romance to read for Pride Month, I looked for Late to the Party, but none of my libraries had the e-book. I must have tagged it somehow, and then I completely forgot about it, because a week ago it popped up in Libby as now owned and available for me to borrow! I still kind of want to read it, so I decided it will be either my LGBT romance or my Bildungsroman, and it will be my first Challenge read of 2024.
I'm finalizing my list of "Books I Must Read in 2024" and none of them seem to fit any of our Challenge categories! so that's unfortunate. Maybe I'll try to prioritize those ten books and hope that someone dies in the first chapter or someone turns out to be 24 or 42 years old ...
Ooh! Oooh! K.L. made me want to brag about the books I got for Xmas!Mental Leaps: Analogy in Creative Thought
Fellow Creatures: Our Obligations to the Other Animals
The Nature of God: An Inquiry into Divine Attributes
Anthropocentrism and Its Discontents: The Moral Status of Animals in the History of Western Philosophy
Begin Again
I'm excited to dig into them! I've already read Begin Again (a picture book) and it was great.
Mod
Note to self: if the links stop working, save your work!"
GAHHHH!!! So frustrating!!
Mod
I try to read a few books by Highsmith each year, so eventually I'll have read everything she wrote - first book I ever read by her was The Talented Mr. Ripley but the sequels get such mixed reviews that I've been leaving them for later.
Nadine in NY wrote: "* I had to go to PAGE 12 of titles before finding this in the add books drop down! I had to scroll past countless books that don't even include "Bridge" in the title, such as several of the "Bridgerton" novels from Julia Quinn and at least two of the books from William Gibson's "Bridge" series (none of these include "Bridge" in their titles). This is reminding me of how annoying it used to be to find "There There" by Tommy Orange in the "add book" menu. Goodreads, fix your search engine! The book title should be prioritized over a series name, and new books should be prioritized over old books.."I had to do that with Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire by Lizzie Johnson. It's on page 8 when just searching for "paradise." Searching for "paradise lizzie" found it much faster.
Happy end of 2023's year of reading, All! Personally it's been a stellar quality year of reading for me. Based on my Year in Books on GR, my average rating is 3.8 I try to read from my TBR Towers for the various challenges I do, which tends to lead me to reading really good books - very few below 3 stars - because after all I picked them at some point to 'age' in my Towers! I rarely succumb to the hot buzzy book because I just read differently, more randomly maybe. And my reading is very eclectic, often picked to fit mood and time available to read.
My reading this last week has mostly been to complete various 2023 challenges - I still have a buddy read of Agatha Christie (which I will read next) and one more challenge - a Trim the TBR Challenge in a GR group - but with 4 books left in it to read, it's just going to overflow into 2024 - which is fine. I should whittle that down to 2 left by New Years Eve.
Finished:
In a Holidaze
India Black and the Widow of Windsor
Murder on the Horizon - it finishes a series!
Currently Reading:
The Exchange: After The Firm
Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes
Next Up:
Sleeping Murder
Gingerbread
La Petite Fadette
Endless Night
The Magic Circle
QOTW: No idea as I don't plan. I do have my IRL Feminerdy Book Club read for January - The Mask of Mirrors to read by 14th -- and it likely will fit some PS prompt. The January read always does.
Mod
yes if I had searched for "Bridge Beukes" or something, it would have been the top result. I was just being stubborn.
Mod
Sleeping Murder
Gingerbread
La Petite Fadette
Endless Night
The Magic Circle..."
Is Gingerbread your "magical realism" book? I'm thinking about that one if Monkey Beach doesn't work out for me for magical realism (a sub genre I do NOT love).
I'm so glad I took this week off of work, although it is flying by in moments of nothingness. I do not even know which day it is anymore. I wake up (after a blissful night of sleep) take the dog out, then sit on the couch listening to a few book podcasts. Let myself get caught up in GoodReads and all things books and reading (except actually reading hah!). I do have a friend coming to visit on Saturday through NYE, so that should be fun and will get me out of my house. I also finally finished the PS challenge yesterday! Woo hooo - again it almost took me the entire year to finish it.79/75 GoodReads Challenge
50/50 PopSugar Challenge
Finished:
1.) Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason (#28 Bought Secondhand) ⭐⭐⭐: Dark and filled with even darker humor, a short novel about a 40 year old woman's depth of mental illness.
Currently Reading:
1.) Strange Sally Diamond
2.) Tom Lake
QoTW: Which book do you plan to read first in 2024? Why this one?
No idea- I usually just read what I've already got going. I do plan to pick up Iron Flame pretty early on in January. Cannot wait to continue that series.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Next Up:Sleeping Murder
Gingerbread
La Petite Fadette
Endless Night
The Magic Circle..."
Is Gingerbread your "magical realism" book? I'm thinking about that one if [book:Monkey B..."
It's just from a 2023 challenge called Trim the TBR -- you make a nunbered list of books from your TBR you want to read and a random number is picked each month and you read that book. I'm behind - the number for Gingerbread was picked a couple months ago. My plan is to read it before Monday, so I won't use it for 2024 PS -- but it's a good idea if I don't get to it. Based on the one other book by this author I read (and did not much like), it will likely fit more than one prompt.
I generally have little trouble just randomly reading a book that fits magical realism - it's such a vague genre, way broader than most think. Also, my IRL Feminerdy Book Club usually comes to my rescue at some point during the year for genre like that.
After living in Massachusetts for almost six months, I finally went out and got a library card. Yay! Right next to the desk, they had Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide, which had been on my TBR for a few months, so I made that my first check-out.Is anybody else having problems with Goodreads loading book cover images this week?
Finished:
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Worlds of Deep Space Nine #2: Trill and Bajor (4/5, reread, not for a prompt)
This is a reread, but it still felt brand-new in some ways. The way I read books has changed over time. I am much more patient with descriptions of environments and don't just skim to get to the next dialogue section. Having more life experience also helps make books feel different the next time through. I highly recommend this if you like the Sisko family, especially Jake.
KISS: Behind the Mask - Official Authorized Biography (2/5, not for a prompt)
There are some interesting nuggets here, but overall, the books by Julian Gill provide much more interesting histories of KISS.
Shadow of Heaven (3/5, book published in 2000)
This is my first 2024 prompt definitely fulfilled. Actually, the first book in the trilogy would have technically satisfied it, but the story is only complete here after the third book. It's a nice Voyager story, although I could have done without some of the nitty gritty details of the Romulan story.
Question of the Week:
I will probably start One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission That Flew Us to the Moon as my first completely 2024 book. I looked to see if my library had this one, as the "leap" prompt is #1 on the 2024 PopSugar list, and they do.
Happy final check-in of 2023!I did NOT get any books for Christmas! Instead I got nerd jewelry (as in Star Wars, One Piece, Disney, and dragon-themed jewelry), a Nintendo Switch game, plushies, T-shirts, and a new lunch bag. My family spoils me...
Also got little reading done while at my sister's house for Christmas. Ah well... still had fun.
Now just counting down the days until the 2024 challenge starts. Whoo.
Books read this week:
Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster 1903 -- don’t ask me why I’m so obsessed with books about infamous fires… the Iroquios Theater Fire is almost never talked about anymore, despite being one of the deadliest building fires in US history, and this book is a well-researched account of it.
Stubby Pringle's Christmas -- this is one of my favorite Christmas stories. The cowboy slang takes a little getting used to, but it’s actually a very sweet story for the holidays.
Currently reading:
From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi
The Easy Life in Kamusari
QOTW:
I've already got my books lined up and ready! I tend to read four books at a time, so they're as follows:
Gender Queer for "a memoir that explores queerness" (the physical book I carry in my bag to read on my lunch breaks, at appointments, and elsewhere)
The Girl and the Clockwork Cat for "a book written during NaNoWriMo" (the Kindle book I read at breakfast and before bed)
Matilda for "book made into a musical" (the audiobook I listen to in the car on my way to and from work)
Black Sheep for "book with a 24-year-old character" (e-book I keep open on my computer to read between doing other things online)
...I'm a bit of a multi-tasker, hehe...
Happy Thursday!I went to my sister's house on Saturday and had fun with the kids. The baby loved her dog that made music. She also loved the bows that mom got her. She took the box and dumped them on her head to put them on! It was soo cute!
My sister asked for Queen Charlotte for Christmas. So, I happened to see a Julia Quinn post on Facebook about having books autographed before she went on vacation with her mom, and I said, "Why not!"
So I got my sister an autographed copy of the book. I am still kicking myself though. I should have had her write, "Ha! Ha! I made you buy romance novels!" because my sister is more Darcey Bell and other angsty books than regency romance. She opened it and she smiled so hard.
Mom got a 48 hour bug that night. She probably got it from the clinic on Thursday because the typhoid baby was not sick this time. I'm pretty sure I haven't gotten it because it took 2 days to percolate in her system and more days have passed.
I've been going through some of my books and getting rid of the ones I don't want or won't read anymore. I did a small box and a bag worth. I brought them to work to place them in the sale. I might put one series in the collection since there are ten of them.
Anyway, I have Monday off and I'm thinking of taking the 2nd as well. I'm at my cap of vacation time and need to take a couple of days off to reduce it.
Other than that, life is pretty much boring, which is the best way to be.
QOTW:
I will probably start my netgalley books that are archived in February. I have 11 or 12 that come out in the first quarter of the year. I think the last one is in April. Many of them fulfill prompts for both Popsugar and Aty.
Tales of the Celestial Kingdom is one of the first ones. I need to print a list of them so I have their street and archive dates.
Happy End of 2023 check in!! I started this year off with a goal to do all 50 prompts of the challenge as well as fill them with books written by Black authors but didn't complete it. It's also been a personal goal to find more books that will fit the prompts(that I already haven't read) and discover new authors as well.I didn't finish anything this week but I'm 90% complete for Our History Has Always Been Contraband: In Defense of Black Studies and Vampires of El Norte.
I want to have these last two books completed by the 31st so I can start fresh on the new year.
QoTW: Which book do you plan to read first in 2024? Why this one?
I plan to read Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South I plan to use that for the prompt# A book by a Deaf or Hard of hearing author.
I mainly want to read it because I learned ASL as a kid but I also found out that there is BASL (Black American Sign Language). Knowing how race has shaped our experiences.
I know that Black Deaf and HOH people were put in schools that were segregated and different signs for things were developed.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Katy wrote: "I'm reading Ripley's Game. I have no idea where they are going with this and the whole premise seems a bit ridiculous. But, it's a fun read...."I try to read a few bo..."
The original was definitely much better than the 2 sequels that I have read. OK, I'm not done with Ripley's Game, yet, and I suppose the end could blow me away. I don't know about the last two sequels (I thinkt here are 5 total), but if you enjoy her writing, I don't think you'll be too disappointed with Ripley Underground or Ripley's Game.
Happy Thursday! I can't believe this year is almost over. I'm not sad to be closing the book on 2023- I'm ready for this one to be done and gone. I'm currently at 48/50 for the challenge, close to finishing longest book on tbr, and then I just have the reread prompt. Currently reading:
The Count of Monte Cristo- I'm so close to finishing this! Well, not really. But I am on page 900 of 1243, so I can see the finish line. Might make an ill advised pot of coffee this afternoon and knock out another 100 pages
QotW:
The first book I'm reading next year is House of Sky and Breath. Ever since I read book 1 of this series- back in May maybe?- my friend has been asking me to read the sequel. She asks at least once or twice a month. So I'm finally going to read it. I think most of january is going to be popcorn books- romance, fantasy, mystery. After Count of Monte Cristo, only fun for a month.
I hope everybody had a merry Christmas for those who celebrate, and a happy long weekend to those who don't. Grateful for the long weekend coming up too, lol. I finished the challenge! I was really down to the wire.
Finished reading:
The Woman in White: I'm done with Wilkie Collins. Thanks for your contributions to the genre sir, but your books have 100 pages of plot spaced out over 600 pages of writing.
Marple: Twelve New Mysteries: this was such a good collection! I only had a couple duds; they were all generally very good.
Tanqueray: long form journalism interview of a former burlesque dancer in NYC, from the writer of Humans of New York. would recommend
Lore Olympus: Volume One: excellent, will be continuing
Giant Days, Vol. 1: this is fine but I'm not interested enough to keep going
Devil in a Blue Dress: Glad to have read it since its a classic of the mystery genre, but it's more noir/thriller and that's not my thing
Currently reading:
The Last Good Heist: The Inside Story of The Biggest Single Payday in the Criminal History of the Northeast: currently on the fence about it
QOTW:
I don't know but I just went to the library and got like a dozen books so I have tons of options!
Stupid question: I can't find the link to the 2024 spreadsheet. Can someone tell me where to find it?
I suspect that I'll need the escape of reading in 2024. And I'll be glad to see the backside of 2023.QOTW
I'll be starting with Of Hoaxes and Homicide by Anastasia Hastings and Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew
as I have arcs of those and they are waiting for my reviews. I'll be doing The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander (it's the book on tape for the post holiday drive home) and Murder at the Majestic Hotel by Clara McKenna
I haven't really done much of anything this past week. My cold played havoc with my sinuses and I've got one of those coughs that likes to wake me up in the night.QOTW:
I like to start the year with ATY's prompt number one (other than that, I don't read in order) so probably The Reformatory but it's quite chunky so I might look for a quick win for the start of the year.
Woah, forgot yesterday was Thursday! Things have been going good so far. Enjoying the Christmas holidays so that's been nice. Other than that not much else has been going on.
*****
Well I knew I wouldn't be able to stick to my wrapped TBR. LMAO! I just can't do those. As a mood reader I have to do exactly that, be in the mood for something. I can plan things all I want, but ultimately if I don't vibe with it then reading just won't work for me.
*****
Currently Reading:
American Carnage: Wounded Knee, 1890
*****
Question of the Week:
Which book do you plan to read first in 2024? Why this one?
Technically I'm reading American Carnage: Wounded Knee, 1890 as my first book of 2024. It was a Christmas gift from my sister. She asked me what books I wanted and I gave her a list of 3. She ended up picking the one I wanted most. I've started this one early because it's a 500+ book.
As for an actual/official January read I'm thinking of going with Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music . Being a 90s kid I thought this would be a fun place to start and it fits prompt 44 "an autobiography by a woman in rock 'n' roll.
After that I'll be reading Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games (prompt 22: centers around video games). I figure I'll go with that one next because I don't particularly like video games. I'll play them every now and then, but really so this prompt is a challenge because I don't have much interest in it.
Hi all! We had a wonderful Christmas around here! The kiddo is spoiled, but she got some great gifts that we can do as a family- board games, video games, and a couple of science kits, so that's been fun getting into those this week while she's been off school. She also got some individual things so I can shoo her off to play when I need some quiet! We already had to take our tree down, it was dropping needles every time I blinked at it. I've never taken a tree down this early, but it had to go. (Nadine, did you ever decorate yours??)
Does anyone do anything for New Year's? I've never made a big deal about it. I've always been a night owl, so I routinely stay(ed) up until after midnight, so that wasn't exciting. I don't drink and I'm not a big fan of get togethers, so... My boyfriend drinks, so he usually goes to his sister's for that and I stay home. The last couple of years I've watched Hamilton on Disney, so I might do that again.
I finally finished Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI SO good! I highly recommend it if you haven't read it yet. I suspect members of my family will be getting copies next year... ;)
I listened to a couple more chapters in Schindler's List the other night when I was too tired to read but too awake to go to bed. So far it's good. I watched the movie years ago, but I don't remember most of it.
QOTW: I'm not really sure. I always want to "read ALL the things!", and I have so many half-started books laying around here. I also got a couple of books for Christmas that sound good. I'm feeling a bit of a book hangover setting in after finishing Killers and not really having anything else ready to go. I'll probably get back into the swing of things once the kiddo gets back to school.
Mandy wrote: "yeah, crunchyroll is horribly fun to play with. This season was especially distracting. The Apothecary Diaries (Light Novel): Volume 2 is one of my favorites this season.Raven of the Inner Palace (Light Novel) Vol. 1 was a couple of seasons ago and I loved it so much I'm collecting the light novels. There's only 7 in the series. 5 and 6 are on preorder.
I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in The Real World, Too, (Light Novel) Vol. 1 is another. I did read the light novels before watching this one.
Dang! there are so many to list that were awesome in both forms."
All of those titles sound really good! I'll definitely have to check them out!
I've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 shows on my watchlist, and I'm currently watching five of those. I decided to do a rewatch of Cardcaptor Sakura and xxxHolic. I absolutely love both of them! I'm planning to get copies of the Cardcaptor Sakura manga next year, which I'm very excited about.
I'm also watching Tenjo Tenge, which has been interesting so far. I haven't decided if I like the show yet, but there are a couple of characters that I love.
Finally, I started watching That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, and The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today. I've been reading the manga of both of those series, and the anime is just as much fun as the manga.
I know that That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime is also a series of light novels, and I've been considering the possibility of reading those. I really like the characters and story, but the series is long enough that I can't decide if I want to commit to both the novels and the manga.
Mod
LOL that's the perfect description of his work!!! (And the reason I'm not eager to read anything else by him.)
Mod
Not a stupid question! I don't think anyone has created a spreadsheet for 2024.
I've got an Excel spreadsheet on my hard drive, I could convert that to a Google sheet to share with the world if no one else has anything ...
Mod
LOL at the eleventh hour, on Christmas eve, my kids put some decorations up on it while I made our Christmas Eve lasagna. It's very minimalist this year! That means (hopefully) it will be fast to take down.
I've always found New Years Eve to be stressful - there's all this pressure to party perfectly and glamorously and to go all out and have pithy resolutions for the new year and fully formed opinions about the past year and etc etc etc it just stresses me out. ONCE I went to a party in Manhattan, so btdt, I value the memory and I and don't need to do it again.
For most of my childfree adult years, I liked to go to a movie - it was completely free of pressure, you go into the theater on Dec 31st, come out of the theater on Jan 1st, voila! it's the new year and you didn't need to do anything!!!
Once I had kids I stayed home (who wants to make a babysitter work on NYE after all??) and when my kids were old enough to notice, we started a "stand up dinner" which is making a whole bunch of appetizers for dinner, like mini quiches and pigs in a blanket and pizza rolls and all that other stuff you can find in the frozen food section. And we always have M&Ms because they are the millennial candy! Of course now my kids are old enough that we could go to a movie again, but movies are so expensive now!!!
Nadine in NY wrote: "Not a stupid question! I don't think anyone has created a spreadsheet for 2024.I've got an Excel spreadsheet on my hard drive, I could convert that to a Google sheet to share with the world if no one else has anything..."
There should be an option in Google sheets to create a copy of Mahi's spreadsheet and then you can just change the prompts and remove the 2023 entries. Might be quicker than converting yours?
Mod
Yeah that could be easier - I've actually never opened any of Mahi's spreadsheets so I don't know what they look like! Go ahead and try a copy/paste on last year's and post it here, you'll be the hero :-)
Ellie wrote: "I haven't really done much of anything this past week. My cold played havoc with my sinuses and I've got one of those coughs that likes to wake me up in the night.QOTW:
I like to start the year w..."
I'm reading that one too (so far a slow starter) as I had an arc but my life derailed a bit at that time. I'm encouraged that Stephen King loved it
Doni wrote: "How the Post Office Created America: A History Also a subject I'm interested in. It inspired me to create a letter-writing project this next year!"...This reminds me of when they used to have us get Pen pals in school. But I'm sure you will make it more academic than just meeting some random person in another part of the world.
Doni wrote: "I like Obama's list so much better than Goodread's list. I've read The Maniac and Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope a..."Good luck with the letter writing project. I sometimes miss my penpal days
Nadine in NY wrote: "Bridge* by Lauren Beukes - this was good, but I wish the pacing had been tightened up a bit. It had a lot of layers. It was simultaneously about: travelling the multiverse, our alternate selves in alternate universes, mother/daughter relationships, friendship, and processing grief, all wrapped up in a conspiracy theory sci fi thriller tinged with a whiff of body horror. I guess I wanted more thriller, less grief.* I had to go to PAGE 12 of titles before finding this in the add books drop down! I had to scroll past countless books that don't even include "Bridge" in the title, such as several of the "Bridgerton" novels from Julia Quinn and at least two of the books from William Gibson's "Bridge" series (none of these include "Bridge" in their titles). This is reminding me of how annoying it used to be to find "There There" by Tommy Orange in the "add book" menu. Goodreads, fix your search engine! The book title should be prioritized over a series name, and new books should be prioritized over old books.k..."
I have found that when this happens I will go back up to the search bar and add the authors name usually just the last name will do it but occasionally you need the full name.
So... what you could have searched was "Bridge Beukes" and it should have popped right up.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: " (Nadine, did you ever decorate yours??)..."LOL at the eleventh hour, on Christmas eve, my kids put some decorations up on it while I made our Christmas Eve lasagna...
have pithy resolutions for the new year and fully formed opinions about the past year and etc etc etc"
Lol, hopefully your tree lasts longer than mine did!
I don't do New Year's resolutions. If I want to change something, I'll change it on January 2 or September 21 or whenever I get fed up enough to make a change!
What I do like to do is look back on the year and think about what has happened this year that I couldn't have predicted on Dec 31, 2022. It can be personal things, pop culture, national or world events. I haven't started thinking about it yet.
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Knowing Why: Adult-Diagnosed Autistic People on Life and Autism (other topics)The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with our Wild Neighbors (other topics)
Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear (other topics)
The Cherry Robbers (other topics)
Anatomy: A Love Story (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Sarah Bird (other topics)Emily Henry (other topics)
Lynne Olson (other topics)
Matthew Desmond (other topics)
Viktor E. Frankl (other topics)
More...
Barack Obama has released a listing of his favorite books read in 2023:
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
The Maniac by Benjamín Labatut
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope by Sarah Bakewell
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta
Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country by Patricia Evangelista
This Other Eden by Paul Harding
These books were listed as favorites on his Summer 2023 listing but did not make it to the final 2023 list above:
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
What Napoleon Could Not Do by D.K. Nnuro
Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison
I am always amazed at the diversity of his reading! I do not always agree with his selections, but find them to be interesting and inevitably discover several to add to my TBR listing!
I actually went through the Week #22 Weekly Check-In discussion thread again to make sure I caught all suggestions regarding the Monthly Group Reads. Nadine and I have created a listing of suggested questions to use and it has been added it to the 2024 Monthly Group Read folder for everyone’s reference. It is HERE! Our intention is that this listing will not only aide discussion leaders, but could also help any members who are participating in the discussion.
I gather mainly that participation is limited due to several common factors:
*The selected book is not on a member’s TBR listing and/or is not a book a member is interested in reading
*The book is not available from a library in time to read that month
*Time just runs out and although a member planned to read that book and participate in the discussion, it just didn’t happen
I am gratified to know that some members actually do go back and read through the discussion threads later for various reasons. And I do agree with members who stated that although there are a rather limited number of members participating in the discussion, the thread can still be pertinent to other members who are not participating. That’s kinda cool!
With all that said, I must admit it is much more fun to lead discussion when there are active participants! Though I do realize that life sometimes intervenes and we just aren’t able to read as many books as we would like to at times!
ADMIN STUFF:
First and foremost, the December Monthly Group Read of Bookshops & Bonedust (Legends & Lattes #0) by Travis Baldree is HERE! This book could be used to fulfill 2023 prompt #32 A book published in the last half of 2023. And the thread to list a book you have read that fulfills prompt #32 is HERE!
The January 2024 Monthly Group Read is Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah! This is one I’ve been wanting to read, more out of curiosity than anything else! This book could be used to fulfill 2024 prompt #19 "A book set in the future." Surely there is a “rambunctious wrangler” just waiting to volunteer to facilitate this discussion! Please message either Nadine or myself to volunteer!
And we have extended these next two polls for another week! They are scheduled to be open through Tuesday, January 2! Since several members mentioned they have missed polls in the past, we thought we would extend these two another week to see if there are more members who vote than when the polls are only open for one week. Plus, with the end of the year and the holiday season, it kinda makes sense to provide extra time. We’ll see if that makes a difference!
Poll #1 is a nomination poll for the March Monthly Group Read. This book could be used to fulfill 2024 prompt #48 A collection of at least 24 poems. World Poetry Day is on March 21!
If you do not see the title you would like to nominate, simply write it in. But please check that book's eligibility first! Only books that have NOT been discussed within the past two years (2022-present) are eligible. Please remember to consult the listing of these books that are NOT eligible for this month HERE before nominating! :) There is an alphabetized listing by title as well as a chronological listing for your reading enjoyment! 😉 (Though I don’t recall any poetry books selected as Monthly Group Reads since I joined!) There are now 10 books from which you can select!
VOTE HERE! There have been quite a few write-ins, making it much more interesting!
Poll #2 is a FINAL SELECTION poll for the February Monthly Group Read. This book could be used to fulfill 2024 prompt #1 "A book with the word "leap" in the title." (Since “Leap Day”/February 29 does occur in February!) 😊
There are just three titles from which you may select one:
Lucky Leap Day by Ann Marie Walker
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (Meg Langslow #4) by Donna Andrews
Lemmings Don't Leap: 180 Myths, Misconceptions, and Urban Legends Exploded by Edwin Moore
All three of these look like books I would enjoy! I’m rather fascinated by that last one!
PLEASE VOTE HERE!
The comprehensive listing of 2024 Monthly Group Reads resides HERE for your perusal and reference throughout 2024!
Question of the Week:
Which book do you plan to read first in 2024? Why this one?
I keep vacillating on this decision! Though I imagine that when I awaken on January 1, 2024, I will simply pick up one of the books I really want to read and…read it!
Some possibilities:
Emily Climbs and Emily's Quest, books 2 and 3 in L.M. Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon series
Frederik Backman’s Beartown Trilogy (I want to reread the first one.)
Books 2-5 in Kate Milford’s Greenglass House series: Ghosts of Greenglass House, Bluecrowne, The Thief Knot, and The Raconteur's Commonplace Book
L. Penelope’s Earthsinger Chronicles series (I want to reread the first one.)
Brandon Sanderson’s Skyward series (Again, I want to reread the first one.)
*Dirty Thirty (Stephanie Plum #30) by Janet Evanovich
Continued below...