Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2024 Weekly Check-Ins
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Week 47: 11/14 - 11/21
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Happy Thursday, y’all. This has been an interesting week.
My chosen courses for the Lifelong Learning at the local university have come to an end. The movie/discussion group through the library and the downtown lecture series presented by USC-A are also concluding for this year. Our next movie/discussion will be in February, and the last downtown lecture will be Dec 4 - a holiday musical hour.
I am settling into the contemplative time of the year and feeling comfortable in my skin.
And, I am finding books that I am enjoying right now.
I will finish ATY (6 books to go) but probably not PS (12 books left).
I will be dropping out of another group where my interest has waned, making it a bit more likely that I will finish more challenges next year. (That will leave me with 4 groups of which only 3 have challenges.)
And, finally, the weather is getting more fall like here in the south. Soon, I might have to get the sweaters and cooler weather clothing out of storage.
Finished:
The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, and The Accident – ATY #46, PAS. 4* This turned out to be a trilogy of stories with the same protagonist at various points of his life, starting with the Holocaust. It demonstrated how that event at a young age impacted the rest of his life. Not gruesome or depressing at all…just a study of how events shape a man.
A Career in Books: A Novel about Friends, Money, and the Occasional Duck Bun – PAS. GN. 3* I got lost somewhere in the length of this graphic novel and had a bit of a difficulty keeping the three friends separate in my mind. Still, I enjoyed the story and the interaction with Veronica Vo.
The Magic Fish – PAS. GN. 4* A delightful and artistic story of a gay young man trying to tell his Vietnamese mother of his love choice. The interaction between the two is enhanced by the telling of fairy tales. Loved this delicate cultural story.
Rituals for to Call Down Light – PS #48. A local author. Poetry. 4* In some senses this book is an obscure stroll down memory lane. The poet grew up in Appalachian Ohio and much of the poems are set in her home country.
Currently Reading:
Winter Cottage – ALCM. 11%. Kindle.
The Once and Future King – PAS. 83%
Touch & Go – PAS. 20%
Rivers of London – ALCM, PAS. 25%
Just Starting:
The Sunflower – ATY #47. 1%
The American Agent – ALCM
On Deck:
Kate: The Journal of A Confederate Nurse – PAS.
Palindrome – PAS
The Pony Wife - PAS
PS 38/50
ATY 46/52
GR 193/200
QotW: What was your favorite assigned reading book in school?
I don't really recall books that were assigned reading. It has been 58 years since graduating from high school, after all.
I do recall at one point reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories, but that was more a short story than a whole book.
In junior college I remember a semester of Beowulf: A New Translation, but that was poetry.
In my nursing training...books were about Chemistry, Anatomy, etc.
Purchased TBR: 8/15Library TBR: 4/11
City Library Challenge: 10/30
Non-fiction November: 8/22
Storygraph Nonfiction November: 2/4
Finished: Real Toads, Imaginary Gardens: On Reading and Writing Poetry Forensically for city library prompt Utah author
I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives for city library prompt read because of cover
Sacred Reading: The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina
Water, Water: Poems for city library prompt book of poems. This was not as strong of some of Collins's earlier works.
QotW: I really enjoyed Madame Bovary, especially when I realized Flaubert was making fun of everything.
It snowed today! It settled for a few hours but most of it's gone now. I'm hoping it's not too icy tomorrow morning. And the dog has an infection and is on antibiotics. We just thought she was being mopey because I wasn't at home all the time now, but turns out she was ill. Poor poppet.Finished:
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher for ATY (known by initials). I loved this dark comedy of manners fantasy. It's inspired by The Goose Girl but I looked up that fairytale after and it's barely similar - it's mostly Kingfisher's wonderful imagination at play.
Ice Town by Will Dean for set in snow and ATY (chilling atmosphere). I always enjoy my annual visit with Tuva, and I liked this look at trad versus new media, although I completely got the killer wrong. Maybe not the best in the series but still enjoyed it.
DNF:
The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch. It just wasn't holding my interest and the romance had barely got going 30% in. Not sure how she managed to make princes of Christmas and Halloween so dull as the idea had potential, but it got sidetracked with trying to make a point about holidays losing their meaning over and over.
QOTW:
We had a lot more independent reading than assigned texts but I remember liking 1984 and Howards End.
Happy Thursday! We've decided not to do a big dinner for Thanksgiving. We're just doing appetizers and (maybe) a pot of chili. I think it'll be more fun just to spend the day together playing games and enjoying each other's company rather than spending the day in the kitchen.2024 Reading Challenges: I’ve read 439 books and completed 35.9% of my ever-growing TBR. My TBR goal was 33.3%, so I'm pretty pleased to see that I'm going to meet that goal as well as my other reading challenges.
52 Book Club: 52/52 – Yay!!! (November Mini-Challenge: 4/4 – Yay!!!)
ATY: 51/52 (Fall Challenge 45/45 – Yay!!!)
Booklist Queen: 52/52 – Yay!!!
Diverse Baseline: 32/36
Popsugar: 50/50 – Yay!!!
Robot Librarian: 52/52 – Yay!!!
ICYMI Backlist: 11/12
Recently Completed:
How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi: Collected Quirks of Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math from Nerd Nite ★★★★
The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us About Work and Life: 2023 NPR Books We Love. ★★★★
Penance ★★★
Ramón and Julieta (52 Books #40 – set during a holiday you don’t celebrate: Dia de los Muertos) ★★★
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (52 Books November Mini-Challenge #3 – set in 2000-2010) ★★★★
You Me Everything (52 Books November Mini-Challenge #2 – set a country that borders at least 5 other countries: France) ★★★
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern ★★★★★
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me: 2023 NPR Books We Love. (ATY #4 – related to the lyrics of What a Wonderful World) ★★★
After the Fall: Being American in the World We've Made ★★★★
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (52 Books November Mini-Challenge #4 – 800-900 pages long) ★★★★
Currently Reading:
The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race: 2023 NPR Books We Love.
Bright Lights, Big Christmas
The Wildes: A Novel in Five Acts
My Calamity Jane
Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong
You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince
To the Hilt: Reasonable Doubt Book Club.
Love and Other Flight Delays: 2023 NPR Books We Love.
American Born Chinese (Diverse Baseline #33 – a graphic novel or comic book by a BIPOC author: Gene Luen Yang)
Our Infinite Fates: Goodreads Giveaway.
QOTW: We had very little assigned reading in high school, but I remember enjoying A Separate Peace.
Happy Thursday everyone!Man, this month has flown by, no kidding. I haven't even done much. Just school stuff, but even that I'm slacking on because I'm losing interest. It's a class on Cultural Diversity in Education. I was hoping I would like it because it's what I'm into, but I've read so much of this topic on my own so the class isn't as fun because I do know a lot of the information. I'm not gaining anything out of it.
*****
Book News:
I've read 10 books so far this month.
One of them I DNF'd ( Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show ) . After the first 2 pages I had enough. I knew it was about a cult, but I didn't know there were other trigger warnings to it like talk about DV.
*****
Currently Reading:
Lost a little bit of my drive after the election. It's taken a while to find something that I can sink my teeth into that won't get me upset.
The Phantom Menace: Episode 1 - Halfway done with this one.
The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes—and Why - Read this one a couple years ago and loved it. It's been updated and the revised edition was released just this past Aug. with 100 additional pages so I'm looking forward to seeing what new information this one has.
*****
Other Book Info:
Went to 5 Below the other day looking for something in particular and then I found a small vending machine. Planning to use it as TBR of sorts. I found some capsules on Amazon so I plan to put book prompts in those and then place them in the vending machine. It's pretty neat. I've seen them on TikTok and they seem fun.
*****
Question of the Week
What was your favorite assigned reading book in school?
Oh love that question! For me it was Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West in my 7th grade English class.
It was my summer reading assignment for a pre-AP class. We were told to read only 2 chapters from the book, chapters of our choosing. That summer I devoured the entire book. It was the first time I felt seen in terms of representation (I'm half Indigenous/half Mexican) so growing up a lot of my books were by white authors, only 3 African American authors, and no books by other races.
Granted 'Bury My Heart' was written by a white author, but it was the first time where I felt visible in my classes. What little Indigenous history was taught in my history classes was only on Aztecs and Mayans so a lot of it was treated as relics of the past and evil adversaries rather than current/thriving nations.
'Bury My Heart' is what started my journey to developing the fascination I have with Indigenous history. I have close to 200 books on the subject (if not more). An entire bookcase (6 shelves, plus 2 other shelves) are dedicated to Native American books, either by Indigenous authors, mix-raced authors, whites, etc.
Happy (?) Thursday!The Seattle area was hit with a huge windstorm this week. Thankfully, we didn't lose power where I am, but our office has no power and a lot of my coworkers have been affected.
Finished:
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - 4 stars - for Robot Librarian's book of letters and/or written in epistolary format. I was mostly expecting a space mystery/thriller, and this got right up to the line of a little too zombie horror movie for me, but overall I enjoyed it and will read the sequels.
The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones - 3.5 stars - for Robot Librarian's book published posthumously. This was finished by the author's sister and published after her death. I enjoyed it and it was amazing getting one last work from the master, but it was missing some of the sparkle that made earlier DWJ books a must-read.
Comics/manga:
She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 3
She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 4
Currently reading:
I Am the Dark That Answers When You Call by Jamison Shea - no prompt.
Don't Call It Mystery (Omnibus) Vol. 1-2 by Yumi Tamura - no prompt. This is a really fun manga that gives Sherlock vibes.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain - for Robot Librarian's Nonfiction: The 100s.
Upcoming/Planned:
My final two prompts for my 2024 challenges:
Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes - for Robot Librarian's Nonfiction: The 200s.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story by Alexander Freed - for Robot Librarian's novelization of a film
QOTW:
I, too, read Cat’s Cradle - I think also for AP English - and it sent me on a Vonnegut kick. The summer before starting college, I devoured every Vonnegut novel I could find.
The other assigned book I remember really enjoying was The Color Purple by Alice Walker... again, an AP English pick, I believe.
Happy Thursday! 2-week check-in this week because I turned myself into a nurse last week. Last Thursday night, my boyfriend broke his wrist. We didn’t find out until last Tuesday because the pain didn’t ease. So for the rest of the year I’m his home care, cook, dresser and private driver (the plaster will be removed on New Years Eve). So not much reading done. O, and we had snow yesterday. Just a little bit, but it was slippery so I was very cautious because it would be a disaster if I break something too.
FNL: 39/40
PS: 20/40
Total: 63/52
DNF: 1
Finished
Zeiten des Aufbruchs by Carmen Korn ⭐⭐⭐
Currently reading
The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes
Zeitenwende by Carmen Korn
QOTW
We didn’t have assigned reading, so I can't answer this question.
Hi all! Nothing too much going on here. Planning for Thanksgiving. If you have access to Wegmans, I got my turkey for 48 cents a pound yesterday. You have to spend $25 total to get that price, but if you've ever been to a Wegmans, that's not hard... ;) We're hosting. I actually don't find it that hard and enjoy doing it. Plus, I *love* having the leftovers! We're expecting snow tonight. Just a couple of inches, but snow always makes me happy, and I'm in need of things to make me happy.
I don't usually post the books I read with my daughter, but last night we read A Kids Book About Gratitude. I thought it was really well done to teach kids about feeling and expressing gratitude when life isn't going your way.
I finished Bone, Vol. 4: The Dragonslayer last weekend, and immediately checked out volume 5. I used volume 4 for cozy fantasy.
Since then, I've only been reading The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism. It's due in less than 2 weeks and I'm only halfway through. I've had it since midsummer. It's really excellent, and I find lots of passages that I want to highlight and might ask for a copy for Christmas so I can (and I never write in books!). And despite all the people out there warping Christianity to gain earthly power, there still are a lot of people out there who see the con/hypocrisy for what is, and that gives me hope.
QOTW: To Kill a Mockingbird remains my favorite book. I liked most of the stuff we read in school. Other than TKAM, some that I particularly remember: Animal Farm, Macbeth, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Antigone.
Happy Thursday!I've not been doing well. Mentally it's been a shitshow meaning physically is a disaster, too. I am so ready for a quick Disney trip tomorrow, I just need a little break, a change of scenery. A little reminder that not everything is bleak and awful!
I've had contact with the assistance team from Virgin Atlantic today, so that was good. Means I can breathe a little easier. It's not perfect so far, and they can't guarantee me the extra legroom that I need (which means that booking seats together is hard), but there's contact and that's a huge start. I honestly didn't expect it so soon, so I am very grateful. Now to wait for a reply again!
We also had an unplanned visit to the vet with Mickey this week; his cheek and throat/chin were completely soaked. Turned out he must have done something to annoy his eye, so it sunk back, making the lower eyelid curl in, meaning the hairs on it kept poking him in the eye, making him tear up. Two little stitches, salving 4 times a day, and he should be good to go again next week! Poor little bunbun, never a break!
Read & Currently Reading
Still nothing I'm afraid. I've been doing my puzzle books, ever since I bought another subscription and only then realized of the 10 books I got the last time, only 2 were full xD The new DLC of Dreamlight Valley also came out yesterday, so I've been trying to work on that. I hope they fix my glitch soon!
QOTW
I hate to be a downer but as someone who's from a country (Netherlands) where this isn't really a thing, questions (and challenge prompts!) like these are starting to really annoy me, because I never have an answer!
The system we have already kills people's love of reading, I can't even imagine how many more would have stopped reading if they had to deal with assigned reading.
Jennifer W wrote:Since then, I've only been reading The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism. It's due in less than 2 weeks and I'm only halfway through. I've had it since midsummer. It's really excellent, and I find lots of passages that I want to highlight and might ask for a copy for Christmas so I can (and I never write in books!). And despite all the people out there warping Christianity to gain earthly power, there still are a lot of people out there who see the con/hypocrisy for what is, and that gives me hope.
Nice! I got this in hardback when it was released, but the paperback is coming out in December so I'll probably get it then and then hold off until next year to read it since my December TBR is full.
Happy Thursday! It's been raining like crazy here, and my apartment is so cold! Finally feeling like fall though. Work has been busy busy, but there's a four-day weekend coming up, so just holding on for that!Finished:
How to End a Love Story- I really liked this one, a love story that deals a lot with grief, loss and guilt.
And then after I finished it, I realized that I used to follow the author on youtube like 10 years ago! It was such whiplash to finish the book and then go, oh that was you?!?! I feel it definitely adds another layer to certain scenes in the book.
-37 A book written during NaNoWriMo
Six Scorched Roses- the latest book in the series is out this week, so finally picked up the novella. I liked it, really liked the characters, but it was so short there wasn't time to really get invested
-no prompt
Currently reading
The Author's Guide to Murder- not my favorite from this trio of authors, but I'm not very far into it, and I've liked their other stuff, so I'm going to stick with it
QotW:
This wasn't assigned for class, but for some extracurricular group- academic something or other- we were assigned Far From the Madding Crowd, and I loved it! I still have the same copy all these years later.
Happy Thursday.Looking forward to the new list dropping. I need something to look forward to in 2025. (Okay, so I have a family reunion and a Weird Al concert to look forward to in 2025, so it's not going to be all bleak, but still...)
Books read this week:
The Halcyon Fairy Book -- a collection of obscure fairy tales with hilarious annotations and commentary by T. Kingfisher. Also includes Toad Words and Other Stories, a collection of her retold fairy tales.
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins -- wickedly fun story about assassins, magic, and death gods. P. Djeli Clark is a fantastic storyteller.
Don't Let the Forest In -- this must be what YA romantasy feels like to people who don’t like YA romantasy. Some captivating imagery but nothing else worthwhile.
Currently reading:
The Cabinet
Airwoman
A Horse Named Sky
You Deserve Good Gelato: New York Times Bestseller
QOTW: Fahrenheit 451, full stop. It was fascinating and terrifying, and sparked my love for Ray Bradbury and his writing.
Mod
https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/the...
And a Listopia has just been created:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
One more day of work until I get a week off. It's going soooo slooowwwMaybe between next week and two weeks at the end of the year I'll actually finish this challenge. I have 10 books to go but 3 are in progress.
I finished The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat for a book club. It didn't fit any prompts.
QOTW: OMG it's so hard to decide. I'm such a nerd, I liked almost all the assigned books. Let me do it by grade:
9th : Wuthering Heights
10th: The Red Badge of Courage
11th: The Mayor of Casterbridge
12th: A Separate Peace
I think that's why I like reading challenges so much, it's like a form of assigned reading
QotW:In earlier school, The Giver was one of the most interesting books assigned to our class. In high school, my pick would be Hamlet.
In the last week, I finished Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments. The writing here is strong and varied, and it will absolutely appeal to baseball nuts everywhere.
In a reading slump, mostly taking things out of the library and dnfing in a couple chapters while I slog through an arc I have to review for the publisher. I did manage to finish one of the graphic novels I got at Tsubasacon. Sons of Fire: Volume 1 by Adam Lance Garcia
& Heidi Black . It's not bad so far but it's also a little depressing with child abandonment, death of an entire family except one son.
QOTW I took AP literature from 9-12th grade so I had plenty of assigned readings. None of which I actually liked other than Hamlet and MacBeth. I was so happy in the senior year where I could pick my own books (the teacher assigned the country of origin for the author) and I got to read things I wanted to like the three muskteers which was much more boring than 17 y.o. me expected it to be. What made me mad was my teacher was a literary snob and didn't think SF/F classics like Asimov, Bradbury or Tolkien were worthy of reading and they were disallowed.
Hello from Columbus! We got our first snow today, so naturally I was 10 minutes late to work because traffic was insane. I’m almost done Christmas shopping, which is a relief. I’m getting my daughter a new mattress though, and I’m not sure how I’m going to get that box inside and easily conceal it. I might just ship it to my mom and make it her problem lol. Finished:
The Immortalists for a book with multiple povs. I liked most of book, but I found the youngest sibling’s pov really frustrating. I like the idea of how a family would process how it feels to believe you know when you’re going to die. They all went in pretty different directions, and it made for a pretty compelling book.
The Train of Small Mercies for a book that takes place 24 years before I was born. I actually got the math wrong on this one, but I’ve already committed to it and it’s close enough. This was fine book. I think you’d get more out of it if you were more familiar with Robert Kennedy and the events surrounding his death than I was. This book jumps from multiple povs of people in different states along the path of the train taking Kennedy from New York to DC. I think it highlighted a lot of social issues that the US was dealing with at that time, this was another book I enjoyed once I got settled in.
Today Will Be Different for a book that takes place in 24 hours. I really loved Where'd You Go, Bernadette and was excited to read this. I loved the narration, if you’re a Gilmore Girls girlie, you’ll recognize her as Liz Danes. And Eleanor’s vibes match Liz Danes’ well. However I found Eleanor pretty unlikable and incredibly uncharitable. Her kid was cute, I liked her husband. Eleanor needs to get a grip though lol
Diary of an AssCan a super short story that’s a prequel to The Martian. I mentioned in last week’s qotw that I generally don’t like sci-fi but I really enjoy Andy Weir. This was funny, worth a few minutes to read.
Artemis for a book that takes place in space. Again, love Andy Weir. This was I feel like was quite different from his other books but still had the same sense of humor and high-stakes situations. This was a fun listen, especially since Rosario Dawson narrated this.
The Truth About Twinkie Pie for a book the dreaded nanowrimo prompt. (Please, let’s never revisit this prompt again). This was a surprisingly cute book. I like that there were recipes for the foods mentioned, and overall this was a sweet, quick book.
Currently Reading:
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return
House of Leaves
Heart Berries
The Slippery Slope
Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Great Adventure Catholic Bible
Challenges:
Popsugar - 40/45; 3/5
Read Harder - 20/24
Classics - 10/12
European Tour - 11/10
12 Friends - 12/12
Yearly Goal - 142/150
QOTW:
I think required reading is what made me fall in love with classic English lit. But some books that I think really stood out to me was The Scarlet Letter and Flowers for Algernon. The latter not in a good way.
We finally got some much needed rain over here, and it's supposed to continue into the weekend.In library news, our new bearded dragon made her debut in the children's room, and so far has been a big hit.
Finished:
A Cat from Our World and the Forgotten Witch Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 - Still a cute series, but the intrigue is starting to creep in. Unfortunately, the next volume doesn't come out until January.
The Star Seekers, Vol. 1 - (A book about k-pop) Pretty art, but nothing about the story was compelling enough to bother coming back for the next volume.
Bitsy & Boozle Tell a Story! - A fun graphic novel that's appropriate for November
Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! 1 - This was mostly just cute, but there was enough of a cliffhanger that I'll be checking out the next volume. After that, though, who knows?
Currently reading:
The Monkey's Wrench
Mermaid Prince
QOTW: I didn't have a lot of assigned readings, so my pick goes to Candide. Despite this, I'm not a big fan of the musical version.
This is gonna be a long check-in for me since I just got home from my fall beach trip, which involved a lot of reading on the drive to/from and on the beach. One more day of vacation and then back to work on Monday. Surprisingly, none of the books I read fit any of my open prompts (how?!?!?!?)...or at least I couldn't figure out a way to make any of them fit. That's ok since I am at the mid-way point, which was my goal for this year. I'm at 22/45 and 3/5 for this challenge, and 97/100 for my overall Goodreads Reading Challenge.
Finished:
* The Change written by Kirsten Miller and narrated by January LaVoy, which was great as an audiobook and one of my book clubs will be discussing on Saturday;
* The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai and translated by Jesse Kirkwood, which was delightful and my other book club will be discussing tomorrow;
* The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny, which was a birthday gift;
* The Cuban Heiress by Chanel Cleeton;
* Stargazer by Anne Hillerman;
* Così Fan Tutti by Michael Dibdin;
* The Note by Alafair Burke, which was a NetGalley copy;
* People from My Neighborhood written by Hiromi Kawakami and translated by Ted Goossen;
* This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson, which is my Banned Books Week read (it was the third-most banned/challenged book in 2023 -- I'd read the first two on the list, so picked this one as my Banned Books Week read);
* The Turnout: A Read with Jenna Pick by Megan Abbott;
* So Pretty a Problem by Francis Duncan;
* The Bookstore Wedding by Alice Hoffman;
* Three Days in June by Anne Tyler, which was a NetGalley title;
* Stranded: A Short Story by Ann Cleeves, which was a freebie from the author;
* Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir (Volume 57) by Ernestine Hayes; and,
* Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout.
Currently Reading:
* The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries edited by Michael Sims; and,
* Last Woman Standing by Amy Gentry.
QotW:
What was your favorite assigned reading book in school? I'm going with the first assigned book that I remember loving reading, Animal Farm by George Orwell. I read it in middle school for a history class and loved learning about the symbolism and satire. I re-read it a few years ago (it worked for prompts for both 2019 POPSUGAR and BookRiot Read Harder challenges) and felt like it lived up to my original reading experience.
I forgot to check in last week :( I haven’t been reading as much lately, and since I didn’t have anything to report, it slipped my mind. I’m feeling okay about reading less for right now. I’ve been spending time on other hobbies, and I’ll be more excited for the 2025 challenge list when it’s released. Finished
At Bertram's Hotel. What a strange Miss Marple. There’s only one murder, and it takes place 3/4th of the way through the book. The ending is bizarrely open-ended. Miss Marple didn’t even solve the murder herself.
Reading
Hell Is Empty
The Yellow Wall-Paper, Herland, and Selected Writings
QOTW
The Cask of Amontillado began my love of Edgar Allan Poe.
This is a genuine question for people who didn't have assigned readings in school because I'm curious to know more about how things are done where you live.How do literature classes work if there aren't assigned readings? What did you read in school, and how did you decide to read that?
For our literature classes, we read a book/play/story as a class. The teacher read, or had us read, portions aloud in class. There were a lot of breaks to teach us how to read the text where we talked about what words or passages meant, literary or character analysis, etc. We had some reading to do as homework too, and some kind of essay and/or writing test about the material.
Happy Thursday!I am so far ahead in my books. My goal was to read 3 1/2 books this month (Nobel winning books get 2 books to finish because they are often long and convoluted).
I finished my second book, which I loved. And I'm almost done my series book. Due to the postal strike, my interlibrary book can't come in, so I had to swap my longer November book for my easy December read. I'm almost half done my Nobel book - which is really interesting, for a change.
I'm taking a week and half off work starting next week. Last year I was so burned out working full time and doing Christmas stuff in the evening that I barely enjoyed Christmas. So, this year, I'm taking 7 working days off to do all the Christmas stuff so that I can actually enjoy December.
Finished:
Jane of Lantern Hill
ATY prompt: A book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the final list
Popsugar prompt: A bildungsroman book
Series - 10/12
Nobel laureates - 5/5
Mysteries/Thrillers - 12/13
ATY - 48/45 - finished!
PS - 31/30 - finished!
Summer - 12/12 - Finished!
Currently reading:
The Last Straw - 80%
Gravel Heart - 45%
Buddy Reads:
none at present
QOTW: I loved all the books we read, minus that Can-con. English made love Shakespeare, Mark Twain, the Great Gatsby, Orwell, Bradbury, and Huxley, most most of I loved The Importance of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde became one of my favourite writers. I even had an Oscar Wilde T-shirt for a while.
Greetings from rainy NYC! I just had a client yelling at me for a ridiculous reason at the end of a long day. I couldn't not take his call because he knew I was still working as I'd literally just sent him an update email. Last time I do a late update for him. So I'm glad I had no time earlier to come here and update, as it's calming me down!
Still holding at 49/50 - that poetry book creeps along...
Finished:
Soulless: The Manga, Vol. 1 - read the print book.
A Perilous Undertaking - Veronica and Stoker continue to amuse
The Austere Academy - the series is growing on me as background listening when doing updates and stuff. Lemony Snicket reading his own books is not. I want Tim Curry back.
Umberland - 2nd in Everland series and I will absolutely read the third and last.
Currently Reading:
Throne of Jade
QOTW: Do you honestly think I can remember that far back? And if I do remember if it was assigned reading or just reading I did because it wasn't assigned and I felt I should read it? Yes I was that kind of nerdy girl.
Taking a stab at it:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream in junior high. Great teacher and he had us read it aloud over several days, assigning parts to different students every day and having discussions as we read. Still the best experience with Shakespeare ever, even counting some professional stage performances I've seen.
The Little Prince - high school french class - still a treasured favorite
Out of the Silent Planet - basically introduced me to SciFi though I didn't really take to it but this was so good - probably because it was the only high school English class where we read non-classics. Also liked from that class Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. That was 1972/73 after all.
The Magic Mountain and Swann’s Way in college.
Dubhease wrote: "Happy Thursday! I'm taking a week and half off work starting next week. Last year I was so burned out working full time and doing Christmas stuff in the evening that I barely enjoyed Christmas. So, this year, I'm taking 7 working days off to do all the Christmas stuff so that I can actually enjoy December..."My birthday is a week before Christmas, and when I was working, I would take the week between my b-day and X-mas off. Most of my coworkers took the week between X-mas and New Years off. I much preferred my week; I could finish any shopping, wrap presents, make cookies, etc and do it at my pace. Plus, with everyone else off the following week (both my coworkers and the people at other agencies that we utilized), it was always *super* quiet, so it was barely working that week, too!
Heather wrote: "This is a genuine question for people who didn't have assigned readings in school because I'm curious to know more about how things are done where you live.
How do literature classes work if there..."
I'm quite curious, too.
Heather wrote: "This is a genuine question for people who didn't have assigned readings in school because I'm curious to know more about how things are done where you live.How do literature classes work if there..."
Well, for starters, we don't have such thing as 'literature classes'. It's just the language. And a small part of that is literature. Which means we had a text book where the highlights of literature were pointed out, writing era's and the characteristics of literature in that era and that's about it. For your reading, you had to pick books from 3 different periods of time. At the end of the year, you had an oral exam in which your teacher asked questioned about 3 books out of 12, so you didn't know in advance which books you got questions about.
And - disclaimer - this was how it was done about 30 years ago, so maybe it has changed.
Another part of the classes was 'reading comprehension'. You read a text (from a newspaper, magazine or book) and then you answer multiple choice questions. That really kills any love of reading. This is still practice and I wish they would stop it.
Just checked my numbers on StoryGraph. By the end of this month, I'll have hit 99 books for the year. So stoked that I'll hit the 100 mark by the end of 2024.
Heather wrote: "This is a genuine question for people who didn't have assigned readings in school because I'm curious to know more about how things are done where you live...."Granted this was Scotland in the 90's so things have probably changed, but English as a subject covered more than literature. We had a lot of focus on writing, both creative and essay writing, so when the texts weren't a group thing we were expected to write about them. We all had to keep a reading journal at one point, which was like writing reviews every week!
We did do some of the analysing an assigned text as a group stuff too, it just wasn't the bulk of the lessons that I remember.
Here in NY, we had English class. It covered spelling and grammar and literature. We also had comprehension and multiple choice, but we had a lot of fiction reading and summary or essay writing to go along with it. We would have a book every month or two that was read by the whole class (either as a group out loud or individually as homework), and we would also have independent reading with books of our choice. I don't remember most of the books I chose myself, but I do remember most of the assigned books, so I guess it worked? lol
Brandon wrote: "QotW:In earlier school, The Giver was one of the most interesting books assigned to our class. In high school, my pick would be Hamlet.
In the last week, I finished [book..."
I am a baseball nut, and I gave it 5 stars when I read it in July. I will read it again.
Happy check-in! Winter showed up this week and we got all the snow we got in a couple months last year in two days. Oh well you have to get back in shoveling shape somehow. ;)I have started my last book for popsugar so I will finish before the new list. I'm so ready to be done with challenges and start planning for next year's!
Finished Reading:
Abbott: 1979 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A good ending to this comic series.
Perfect World, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cute manga about a woman reconnecting with her highschool crush and discovering he had a spinal cord injury in college leaving him using a wheelchair.
The World Will Follow Joy: Turning Madness into Flowers ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (PS blind author)
Alice Walker poem collection. It was hopeful.
The Wake-Up Call ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fun Christmas time rom-com. Although the hotel is not believable.
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Just cause.
Filthy Rich Fae ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Good cliffhanger ending, I didn't see everything coming. Sequel publishes next year. :(
Tricks for Free ⭐⭐⭐
I got bored in the middle because the author spent too much time describing Not Disneyland instead of plot happening. Theme parks aren't an interesting setting to me I guess.
PS 49/50
ATY 52/52 Summer 36/36 Rejects 9/10
DBC 31/36
Goodreads 263/275
QOTW:
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors and all the Shakespeare.
All the Can-lit and American-lit were awful.
Nadine in NY wrote: "December group read will be The Portrait of Dorian Gray (why does some book by "Elizabeth Gray" pop up first when I search for that title???)"Possibly because the proper title is Picture instead of Portrait? (not snarky, for real spitballing over here)
Happy Thursday! Another rainy few days, but now with bonus snow flurries! ❄️ I suppose I shouldn’t complain bc the first day it snowed last year was Halloween. And my car is as winterized as it can get. In more exciting news, I finally get to meet Baby Niece! My flight to Virginia leaves at 7am Sunday - not ideal as far as how early I have to be up, but my Kindle is loaded and charged. I’ll be staying with my sister’s family all week for Thanksgiving. I can’t waittttt ❣️ Finished this week:
Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945 - 4.5 stars. There’s something supremely bizarre about listening to an English memoir with an American narrator. Beyond that, this was brilliant. I wasn’t expecting Marks’s rapier wit (more fool me). This memoir reads like a thriller! If you liked The Rose Code, this is an excellent nonfiction companion piece.
PS 46/50
ATY 50/52
Mount TBR 30/48
Currently:
Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy - This is rolling into December because it’s too chonky to take with me on the plane this weekend. I’m content to take my time with it!
Imaginary Numbers - I love Sarah so muchhhh
QOTW: What was your favorite assigned reading book in school?
Oooooh probably 1984, I loved Orwell. I also loved Beowulf, and The Hobbit, and Macbeth!
QOTW: Oooh, what a hard question. I had a lot of assigned books that I hated and a lot I loved. Not much in between, LOL. If I had to choose, I might go Huckleberry Finn. When we finished that I ran right down to the library to get Tom Sawyer, which I didn't like nearly as much. But, that's what I'm basing it on.
Mod
Possibly because the proper title is Picture instead of Portrait?..."
ohhhh LOL maybe that's it!! I thought I was spelling "Dorian Gray" wrong but I looked it up and I had it right, so I couldn't figure out what the problem was. It was the REST of the title I had wrong. Thank you. I fixed my link and got rid of my question.
Happy Saturday. Winter has arrived, and I'm already over it.Stats:
PS: 50/50 Done!🥳
ATY: 52/52
ATY Rewind: 25/25
ATY Rejects: 24/25
DBC: 33/36
GR Choice: 29/30
Books I finished:
The Viscount Who Loved Me ⭐⭐⭐⭐
(Bridgerton #2)
Before We Forget Kindness ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
(Before the Coffee Gets Cold #5)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I finally got around to reading this. I loved it and now understand the hype.
Games Untold: An Inheritance Games Collection ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Nash & Libby story was underwhelming and read more like a series of out-takes than a full short story, but the Hannah/Toby story and the Christmas story were top notch and worth it.
The World Will Follow Joy: Turning Madness into Flowers ⭐⭐⭐
PS: Blind or visually impaired author.
My sister recommended this, and to be honest I just wanted to be done the challenge. It was fine. Nothings really bad, but nothing that really stuck with me.
DNF
Abbott - This was just not my cup of tea.
In Progress:
The Atlas Six
An Offer From a Gentleman
QotW
I narrowed it down to 4, but I can't pick between the 4:
A Night to Remember (Grade 9)
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (Grade 9)
Macbeth (Grade 10)
On the Beach (Grade 12)
Heather wrote: "This is a genuine question for people who didn't have assigned readings in school because I'm curious to know more about how things are done where you live.How do literature classes work if there..."
My Dutch experience is a bit more recent than Harmke's, but mostly it's the same.
We had 'Dutch class', and it covered grammar, spelling, and comprehensive reading. We had to read 12 books, and we got to pick them ourselves (there were restrictions which killed the love already; no one was interested in any of the books on the list). We may have read short stories in class together and talked about them, but nowhere near the in-depth analysis that I've heard of in the USA. The way it's done there actually bothers me; the author is dead, you can't ask them what certain stuff meant, yet the teacher teaches it as if it's fact.
For example, Watership Down is seen as an allegory for World War II, but in my copy the opening note says it isn't, that he never intended for it to be. And yet it's still taught as such.
And then, like Harmke said, there's the reading of short bits of text and having to answer questions about it. This was my hell. I didn't know I was autistic, and having to write down the 'hoofdgedachte' (main subject/most important thing) was impossible, because it was all important to me, haha!
For English, German, and French classes, it worked about the same (reading of a bunch of books with restrictions) but nothing beyond that. At least I don't recall the same in-depth questions about a short text, just 'normal' questions.
Mod
I just finished McQuiston’s One Last Stop and it blew me away. Admittedly, romance is not a favorite genre for me, but this book was so much more than that! YAY!! Anxious to post some questions/reactions and see what others think!
Still trying to complete the 2024 Popsugar challenge. Of course, as usual, I completed the AtY challenge. I find all but a few of those prompts are usually fulfilled just by the books I read throughout the year.
The 2025 52 Book Club Challenge has been posted, so am going through to select books for that, though trying to limit my selections to 2-3 per prompt, otherwise, I’ll spend all day doing that! LOL
ADMIN STUFF:
THE NOVEMBER MONTHLY GROUP READ IS One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
This book could be used to fulfill Prompt #39 A fiction book written by a trans or nonbinary author
THE DECEMBER MONTHLY GROUP READ IS The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde!
This book could be used to fulfill Prompt #36 A Book Written By an Incarcerated Or Formerly Incarcerated Person
National Mudd Day is December 20! What is National Mudd Day, you may ask? It references a fascinating bit of history I doubt many of us know. Dr. Samuel Mudd was a doctor who helped John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirator David Herold immediately following Lincoln’s assassination on the night of April 14, 1865. Mudd performed surgery on Booth and allowed them to spend the night. He didn’t report the men’s visit for another 24 hours, though it was assumed he would have heard of the assassination well before that time. Mudd was arrested 12 days later and eventually convicted to a life sentence by a military commission for the crime of aiding and conspiring in a murder, missing the death penalty by only one vote!
I know virtually nothing about this book, so I will probably join in the monthly read discussion! Dubhease is the "End-of-Year Innovator" who has graciously volunteered to lead this discussion! YAY Dubhease! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 And I had no idea that this book can be classified as "horror" to some degree. I already have a copy, so I'll definitely at least start reading it. I just hope I won't have to DNF it!
The comprehensive listing of 2024 Monthly Group Reads resides HERE for your perusal and reference throughout 2024!
***
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
What was your favorite assigned reading book in school?
Damn! Talk about ‘ancient history’! 😉
I know we read several of Shakespeare’s plays. They were okay… And The Odyssey and The Iliad—UGH!
I really didn’t have much assigned reading in high school other than these.
There were several in college that I enjoyed: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, and all the children’s books in a children’s literature class though I don’t remember many of those titles.
2024 READING CHALLENGES:
Popsugar: 40/50
Around the Year (AtY): 52/52 DONE!
Read Harder: 19/24
52 Book Club: 46/52
FINISHED:
*The Mountain and the Sea by Kwame Dawes ⭐⭐⭐⭐ was an okay listen. I did appreciate the plot and the characters seemed genuine and believable to me. Disclaimer: I typically do not listen to audiobooks. I just don’t find them as satisfying to me as reading an actual book. There were a few more sexual details than I needed or wanted. (I’m a wuss about that!) Also, Dawes is mainly a poet and poetry is not a favorite for me. I listened to this as a gauge of whether I would drive for 1½ hours to participate in an author event that included Dawes. I decided against it.
POPSUGAR: #10, #11, #17-Jamaica, #47
ATY: #1, #3-A book you could read in 24 hours, #14, #17, #18, #22, #23, #24-Green, #27, #28, #29, #33
RHC: #24-2015: prompt #16 Listen to an audiobook
52 Book Club: #8, #9, #14, #24, #30. #32, #43
*African Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History by Tracey Baptiste, illustrated by Hillary D. Wilson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was such a compelling introduction to the history of the African continent! I appreciate knowing a bit about some of the people and history of it! I find it horrific that much, if not most, of the historical artifacts and knowledge have been destroyed by conquerors and colonizers, then the enslavement of the people which broke the civilizations, etc. I can only hope archeological expeditions will continue so the world can learn more about this amazing continent and the people who originally colonized it! Though it is written for juvenile/middle grade readers, I found it very informative since my knowledge of this continent is almost nonexistent!
POPSUGAR: #2, #4, #17
ATY: #1, #3-A cultural book, #7, #9-33 ratings, #10-History, #14, #17, #22, #23-boats, #24-Orange, #25, #27, #28, #32, #33, #36, #40, #45, #48, #49
RHC: NEW #4, #16, #24-2023: prompt #14 A book with under 500 Goodreads ratings (33)
52 Book Club: #4, #6, #8, #14, #20, #30, #36, #43, #44, #46,
*Murder on Black Swan Lane (Wrexford & Sloane #1) by Andrea Penrose ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for the IRL book club I facilitate. This is a reread and I made sure to read the latest/most recent installment in this series BEFORE rereading this for this week’s meeting so that hopefully I wouldn’t get confused with the most recent installment! (Yeah, ya just gotta plan more when you’re older and more forgetful and/or more easily confused! LOL) Everyone enjoyed it and wanted to know how the series progressed! I was able to fill them in since I just finished the newest release! Definitely a series I could easily binge-read!
POPSUGAR: #27, NEW #32
ATY: #3-A book related to masks or a masquerade, 5-London, England, #10-Historical Fiction, #17, #25, #33, #37, #38/#39, #41, #46, #48
RHC: #23, #24-A book you’ve read before
52 Book Club: #14, #20, #26-Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, #30, #43
*One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston for the November Monthly Group Read has proven to be so much more than I expected it to be! 👍😯 I just expected a rather typical “romance,” but this went way beyond that, IMO! And happily so! Anxious to post some questions to see how others felt about it. It would also work for the 24-year-old prompt, IMO. Several of the characters are 24.
POPSUGAR: #2, #3, #11, #17-NYC, #35, #39, NEW #45
ATY: #3-A book that features a hobby, #4-saying “I love you” is so difficult, #5-NYC, NY, #11, #14, #15, #16, #17, #19, #24-Orange and Purple, #25, #32, #33, #44, #46, #48, #49, #52
RHC: #23, #24-2023: prompt #16 A romance with bisexual representation
52 Book Club: #4, #5, #6, #14, #19, #26-Fiction, Romance, Magical Realism, Mystery, #30, #44
CONTINUING:
*Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley (#28)
*Shift (Wool #2) by Hugh Howey (#46)
*Year of the Elephant: A Moroccan Woman's Journey Toward Independence by Leila Abouzeid, translated by Barbara Parmenter
*Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
*The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer
*Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking has me thinking so very much that I have delayed reviewing it until I can finalize my thoughts…
*The Birthing House by Kathy Taylor
*...And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer
PLANNED:
*The Conjure-Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem by Rudolph Fisher (#16)
*Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel (#30)
*XOXO by Axie Oh (#5)
*Brace for Impact: A Memoir by Gabe Montesanti (#7)
*The Trees by Percival Everett (#40)
*Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (#42)
*Persuasion by Jane Austen (#43)
*The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (#36)
*21st Birthday (Women’s Murder Club #21) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
*22 Seconds (Women’s Murder Club #22) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
*23rd Midnight (Women’s Murder Club #23) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
*23 1/2 Lies (Women’s Murder Club #23.5) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
*The 24th Hour (Women’s Murder Club #24) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
*Fear No Evil (Alex Cross #29) by James Patterson
*Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
*The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
Mod
I adore gingerbread (it's really a "cake," IMO!), but with chocolate? I don't know. I might agree with your kids! LOL
"My car just started making a weird noise on Tuesday, so that's fun. Earliest I can get it to a mechanic is next Tuesday. Wednesday I'm planning to drive down to my mom's house. So ... do I trust this new-to-me mechanic can get it fixed? or do I reserve a rental car now for my trip? ARGH."
If you can afford it, a rental, IMO! Having much experience with car breakdowns...a rental! Then you don't have to worry!
"The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong - delightful and cozy! I highly recommend this. NOTHING bad happens, but it was charming and I was never bored. This was a NetGalley book but they approved me so late, I didn't get to it until after the pub date."
Sounds like one I would love!
"And I DNF'ed:
When Stars Have Teeth by Dani Trujillo - I tried to read this romance for Native American month, but the writing is just so stilted and wooden, I couldn't handle it. What a relief when I finally gave up! two thumbs down, would not recommend."
Well, darn! That one looks good!
"Question of the Week
What was your favorite assigned reading book in school?
We read Cat’s Cradle for AP English, and it was eye-opening. I'd never heard of Vonnegut, and I had never had an assigned book that was FUN.
It remains my favorite book by him. If you haven't read it yet, go look it up! It's short!"
Ugh. After two of his books, I think I'm done. 😯
Mod
That sounds so cool! Good for you!
"I am settling into the contemplative time of the year and feeling comfortable in my skin."
Agreed!
"I will finish ATY (6 books to go) but probably not PS (12 books left).
I will be dropping out of another group where my interest has waned, making it a bit more likely that I will finish more challenges next year. (That will leave me with 4 groups of which only 3 have challenges.)"
Sounds like a plan! I'm down to 10 books for the Popsugar challenge...
"And, finally, the weather is getting more fall like here in the south. Soon, I might have to get the sweaters and cooler weather clothing out of storage."
We've already had a snowstorm that dumped 2-3 inches of snow on us in one day. Fortunately, it was gone two days later! But I ended up driving through the worst of it to get home that day! Sheesh!
"The Magic Fish – PAS. GN. 4* A delightful and artistic story of a gay young man trying to tell his Vietnamese mother of his love choice. The interaction between the two is enhanced by the telling of fairy tales. Loved this delicate cultural story."
Sounds like a very difficult conversation to have...
"QotW: What was your favorite assigned reading book in school?
In my nursing training...books were about Chemistry, Anatomy, etc."
My high school counselor tried to talk me into nursing. I've often wondered if I would have liked it and stuck with an undergraduate degree at that time in my life... Though he proved to be a lecherous man once I was in college. I had my BFF in college read a letter he had written to me and she said, "I don't care who he is! You're not going anywhere with him!" I was so glad she confirmed my feelings of repulsion upon reading the letter! LOL
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The Iliad (other topics)The Odyssey (other topics)
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (other topics)
Murder on Black Swan Lane (other topics)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Casey McQuiston (other topics)Oscar Wilde (other topics)
Tracey Baptiste (other topics)
Hillary D. Wilson (other topics)
Liu Cixin (other topics)
More...
Time is flying by for me. This entire month was a blur. Why? I don't know. I'm not doing anything special.
I need to decide what kind of dessert to bring to my aunt's for Thanksgiving. I'm thinking about a chocolate ginger cake this year. It's easy, it's simple, it will go well with the pumpkin and apple pies. Downside: my kids don't like it. ... But they can just have pie!
My car just started making a weird noise on Tuesday, so that's fun. Earliest I can get it to a mechanic is next Tuesday. Wednesday I'm planning to drive down to my mom's house. So ... do I trust this new-to-me mechanic can get it fixed? or do I reserve a rental car now for my trip? ARGH.
Admin stuff
I'm sure you all heard we await the release of the 2025 list on Mon Dec 2!!! I'm super excited!! Lynn and I have been setting up empty placeholder folders so we are ready to go on the 2nd (because GR limits the number of new posts we can create at one time).
November group read of One Last Stop is happening here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
December group read will be The Picture of Dorian Gray
This week I finished 3 books and DNF'ed one book:
The Waking: Poems: 1933 - 1953 by Theodore Roethke - this was extremely uneven and I'm shocked it won a Pulitzer.
Cackle by Rachel Harrison - disappointing & dull. Two thumbs down. This is the first book I've read by Harrison, and I believe it will also be my last.
The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong - delightful and cozy! I highly recommend this. NOTHING bad happens, but it was charming and I was never bored. This was a NetGalley book but they approved me so late, I didn't get to it until after the pub date.
And I DNF'ed:
When Stars Have Teeth by Dani Trujillo - I tried to read this romance for Native American month, but the writing is just so stilted and wooden, I couldn't handle it. What a relief when I finally gave up! two thumbs down, would not recommend.
I finally finished another NetGalley book so I've got my ratio almost back up to 80%. I need to get started on my last two "must reads" for the year!
Popsugar 100% 50 /50
Must Reads 80% 8 /10
AtY 100% 52 /52
2024 pub 118% 60 /50
NetGalley ratio 78%
Question of the Week
What was your favorite assigned reading book in school?
We read Cat’s Cradle for AP English, and it was eye-opening. I'd never heard of Vonnegut, and I had never had an assigned book that was FUN.
It remains my favorite book by him. If you haven't read it yet, go look it up! It's short!