Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2024 Weekly Check-Ins
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Week 51: 12/12 - 12/19
Finished:The Silver Chair (3/5, reread, book with silver on the cover or in the title)
This book is a little all over the place. There are some definite highlights (including Puddleglum, the most Eeyore-ish character in Narnia) but not enough to lift it to 4 stars.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (3/5, book based on computer recommendation)
On Amazon's page for Dune, this book was listed as one that other people also bought. I've seen all the versions of Blade Runner but never read this book. The PKD touches make for a much more interesting world and story. Something like those mood organs could make for some powerful tools in the world of mental health, although the potential for misuse also seems quite high.
To Lose the Earth (3/5, not for a prompt)
This is the last post-series Voyager book published to date. While the author is good with the characters and ideas, I was not as happy with the overall story in the last two books. A Pocket Full of Lies makes for a suitable conclusion for me.
Garth Brooks The Anthology Part IV (4/5, a book where music in integral to the story)
While the family life in Oklahoma section had some interest to me, I was much more interested in the projects and concerts that started with the Walmart deal and continued through the Wynn residency. The stories behind the songs on The Lost Sessions and the new material on The Ultimate Hits were new to me, too.
The six CDs included were mostly repeats from other box sets, but they add some value to people who missed those sets, and there were a couple songs that I haven't seen on a release since The Lost Sessions.
Question of the Week:
These are my five star reads and rereads from 2024.
The Word on Fire Bible: The Gospels
The Word on Fire Bible (Volume II): Acts, Letters and Revelation
Watching the Clock
The Eternal Tide
Full Circle
Articles of the Federation
Marvel Year By Year A Visual History New Edition
The Marvel one was the only one that was entirely new to me in 2024.
Happy Thursday!Finished:
Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire - 4 stars - no prompt. Definitely not the place to start the series, but another fun entry.
Comics/manga:
Skip and Loafer, Vol. 10
Oshi No Ko , Vol. 8
Daytime Shooting Star, Vol. 9
Daytime Shooting Star, Vol. 10
Daytime Shooting Star, Vol. 11
Daytime Shooting Star, Vol. 12
Chihayafuru, Vol. 17
Don't Call it Mystery (Omnibus) Vol. 3-4
Akane-banashi, Vol. 9
Noragami: Stray God 27
WITCH WATCH, Vol. 7: Letter from a Friend
WITCH WATCH, Vol. 8: Long Long A Go Go
Currently reading:
That Ain’t Witchcraft by Seanan McGuire - no prompt. The continuing adventures of Annie.
The Apothecary Diaries (Light Novel): Volume 10 by Natsu Hyuuga - no prompt. The continuing adventures of Maomao.
Upcoming/Planned:
Nothing yet. I'll probably start my first challenge books next week to finish in early January.
QOTW:
My eclectic list of > 4 star reads from this past year... (4.25 - 5 stars)
Tidal Creatures
Brown Girl Dreaming
The Apothecary Diaries (Light Novel): Volume 1
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
Dying with Her Cheer Pants On
The Fallow Year
Full Speed to a Crash Landing
The Deep Dark: A Graphic Novel
Somewhere Beyond the Sea
When You Trap a Tiger
The Travelling Cat Chronicles
Dragonfruit
I've been so exhausted this week. I had routine blood tests a few weeks ago where everything was "within range" but I had another look and my iron stores are super low, so I'm gonna start taking supplements and hope I wake up! Not sure why the lab has their normal range set so low, because it does not match up with national guidance.Only finished Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse this week. While it took me a while I ended up enjoying it. I think it helped that I had forgotten a lot of details so I wasn't bothered by some things that annoyed other readers! Not as good as the first book, and could have done with a tighter edit, but glad I finished the trilogy.
QOTW:
Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis
This is my recommendation for space tourism for next year. It's totally about the hospitality industry and how all sorts of people end up working in it, but very few intended to. Each chapter is from a different character's perspective but it all meshes together so well.
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
Made me fall in love with a formless, shapeshifting, man-eating monster. Cosy horror FTW.
The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
I enjoyed all the Kingfisher books I read this year, but I think this was my favourite. Had Southern Reach vibes, but with added taxidermy. No horse trauma in this one either!
Darkly by Marisha Pessl
Loved the puzzles within puzzles in this story about a mysterious board game legacy.
Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The main character reminded me a bit of Red Dwarf's Kryten. Humorous but also dealing with serious issues, such as what do we do if we automate everything and put people out of work? My first by this author but won't be my last.
Other highlights were Red Side Story, Buried Deep and Other Stories, Funny Story, The Undermining of Twyla and Frank, and A Sorceress Comes to Call
Purchased TBR: 20/40Library TBR: 18/
Library Challenge: 22/30
Nonfiction November: 15/22
PS 2025: 10/50
Did a lot of reading this week!
Finished: Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop for prompt healing fiction, also for a book club. Enjoyable, easy read.
The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.: A Biography Oh my gosh! This was NOT a biography! More like a playlist of the order the songs came out in. It was so boring. Used it for prompt a book where music plays an integral part of the storyline.
When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America for a book club. This book was just so-so. I really wanted to dig more into psychology of interaction and solutions.
Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions Just so-so. I've been reading a lot of so-so books lately.
Toxic Positivity: Keeping It Real in a World Obsessed with Being Happy I've been reading a lot of anti-happiness literature. This didn't really add anything to it.
The Philosophical Child used for prompt a book about a nontraditional education.
The Lathe of Heaven I really enjoyed this one! I'm counting it for dystopia with a happy ending.
QotW: I thought I wouldn't have enough if I only counted 5 stars, but ended up having trouble keeping it to 15.
Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy
One of Our Kind
Wendy, Darling
The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily
How Do You Live?
Journey of the Mind: How Thinking Emerged from Chaos
Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist
Imagination and Meaning in Calvin and Hobbes
The Door-to-Door Bookstore
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family
The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
The Dreamers
If You Find This Letter: My Journey to Find Purpose Through Hundreds of Letters to Strangers
Hello All, I haven't been posting much since I decided not to finish the challenge and I'm not too sure of 2025's challenge either.I finished one book this week:
The Black Girl Survives in This One I loved listening to this anthology series. I had a few favorites that really stuck with me.
I'm currently listening to Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me I bought this while it was on sale on Audible and I'm really glad I did. I have about 40 more minutes of it and I can't wait to finish. Whoopi is hilarious and gives me Auntie vibes.
Question of the Week
It's that time of year when we reflect back on what we've done and what we've loved.
Which books have been your FAVORITE reads this year? They don't have to be 2024 publications or Challenge reads, just any books that you LOVED. (Try to keep your list to fifteen or fewer so we aren't all overwhelmed!)
Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum
The Waning
Flamer
Minor Arcana #1
The House of Hidden Meanings
Happy Thursday!(head's up that I almost missed this check in because it doesn't mention the week number; don't know if you can still edit it but figured I'd mention it. No judging though; I've been there xD)
Lucy is eating her pellets again, WITH pain meds! Last night she licked the entire bowl clean, and today she's back to running towards us for food! PHEW, we can rest now!
I am absolutely exhausted now, so let the recovery begin, haha!
Read
Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid
Read this last night, as my final book for the 20 books off your pre-2024 TBR! Hilarious in true Snicket fashion, but also thought provoking and gut punching. Finally realized the 'never trust anyone who didn't bring a book with them' came from him!
The Girl Who Speaks Bear
My second-to-last book for the same TBR 'challenge', but sadly I didn't love this one as much as I had expected/hoped. I loved the stories in it, and them interweaving, but not the main story. My fave characters were all secondary xD
Currently Reading
Nothing as of yet, as I just finished Horseradish last night. Fingers crossed a new book will catch my eye AND that it ticks off at least one prompt of my readathon's December bingo, haha!
QOTW
Damn, the 'limit it to 15' hurt, given I only read 23 books xD Also very brave of you to assume I can remember what I read this year without grabbing my 'read' list here on GR.
The entire Song of the Shattered Sands series, starting with Twelve Kings in Sharakhai. It was a joy to step back into that world and to then continue it on to the end!
Somewhere Beyond the Sea (and the first book The House in the Cerulean Sea)
Hooked, despite the writing not being the best, the story of Hook really got to me!
Happy Thursday!2024 Reading Challenges: I’m done! This is the earliest I’ve ever completed all my challenges.
52 Book Club: 52/52
ATY: 52/52
Booklist Queen: 52/52
Diverse Baseline: 36/36
Popsugar: 50/50
Robot Librarian: 52/52
ICYMI Backlist: 12/12
Recently Completed:
Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed ★★★★★
Murder and Mamon: The first book in this series was really cute with a fun focus on food, but the characters haven’t developed/progressed since that first book and the food descriptions have taken over the narrative. (ATY #52 – a cozy mystery/Diverse Baseline #36 – a cozy mystery by a BIPOC author) ★★
Let the Games Begin: 2024 NPR Books We Love. ★★★★
All I Want Is You: All the great romance tropes – second chances, a snowbound inn, a room with only one bed, and releasing “the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.” (ATY Winter Challenge #5 – set in the snow) ★★★★
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk: 2024 NPR Books We Love. (ATY Winter Challenge #4 – on a “Best of 2024” list) ★★★★
The Altruists (ATY Winter Challenge #3 – a mostly white cover) ★★★★
The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore ★★★★
The Truth According to Ember: Indigenous rom-com! ★★★★★
The Princess of Las Vegas ★★★
Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues ★★★★
Currently Reading: What to read next? I feel kind of lost without a current challenge!
The Flight Girls
End of Story
What Does It Feel Like?
Cahokia Jazz
Ready or Not
Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future
Inheritance
My Plain Jane
Mother-Daughter Murder Night
Our Infinite Fates: Goodreads Giveaway.
QOTW:
Romantic Comedy
Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning
The Frozen River
Above Ground
Lunar New Year Love Story
This Could Be Us
Annie Bot
James
Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments
Funny Story
Listen for the Lie
Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books
My Lady Jane
The Wedding People
I Was a Teenage Slasher
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
Mod
(head's up that I almost missed this check in because it doesn't mention the week number; don't know if you can still edit it but figured I'd mention it. No judging though; I've be..."
THANK YOU! I fixed it. Goodreads was being glitchy when I created the post, I had to keep re-typing the header. Apparently I needed to re-type it one more time, and I didn't realize!!!
Laura Z wrote: "Happy Thursday!2024 Reading Challenges: I’m done! This is the earliest I’ve ever completed all my challenges.
52 Book Club: 52/52
ATY: 52/52
Booklist Queen: 52/52
Diverse Baseline: 36/36
Popsug..."
Why We Love Baseball is on list too, one of my favorites of the year
I finished some books since I’m on break:The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller (no main challenge prompts)
A Hitch in Time by Christopher Hitchens- used for Robot librarian Published posthumously. Only two more books to complete that challenge, both books will double with other challenges
Hidden Figures by Margot Shetterley-used for The 52 Women in stem. One prompt to finish that challenge, book doubles with RL
A Little Prince by Antoine St Pierre- Exupary- used for a Perks group prompt
Simone Biles: A Little Golden Books Biography- used for the PS prompt women sports.
In Progress:
Lebianas Guide to Catholic School ( LGTBQ romance)
Evvie Drake Starts Over (NaNoWriMo)
Just Kids ( woman rock)
Girlhood (memoir exploring queerness)
The Viscount who Loved Me (published in 2000)
Qotw:
Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments
There There
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Little Women
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library
Happy Thursday! Tonight is the company holiday dinner - huzzah for free food! I've got the majority of my gifts wrapped and/or shipped, so I'm feeling good. In the realm of Not Feeling Good: I woke up with sinus junk today. Being drippy is the worst. (I'll just make sure I sit near the coworker who got me sick in the first place so we can share the misery and leave everyone else out of it.)Finished this week:
The Republic of Thieves - 4 stars. Ugh I love these characters so much. Desperate to know what happens in The Thorn of Emberlain. Come on, Scott! 2025, please??
Hester - 4.5 stars. What a fantastic book! Simultaneously a retelling and a prequel of The Scarlet Letter (which I’m planning to read next month), and I loved it.
Calculated Risks - 3 stars. I don’t generally do well with other planets/dimensions, and the inclusion of massive spiders is always a personal No Thank You, but I appreciate the massive ramifications of Sarah’s character evolution (and I do love Greg!). I wasn’t a huge fan of the Artie resolution either. We seem to be dialing back on the meeting-new-cryptids thing as the series goes (which is fine! I love this family, truly, but I think the first 4-5 books were the strongest).
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology - 3.5 stars. Standouts include Kushtuka, White Hills, Hunger, Limbs.
PS 47/50
ATY 50/52
Mount TBR 33/48
Currently:
Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy
Rust in the Root
QOTW: Which books have been your FAVORITE reads this year?
ooooh let's see!
If We Were Villains
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes
Hild
Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman
Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent
A Sorceress Comes to Call
The Last Final Girl
Banned Book Club
Hester
glad the furnace got fixed!Been far more busy writing than reading this week thanks to holiday challenges. The only thing I've finished this week is Sons of Fire: Volume 2 by Adam Lance Garcia which I thought was the end volume based on meeting the artist at a con but nope. Hmm... it's an interesting graphic novel.
QOTW
There were so many good ones this year but as asked, holding it to under 15!
MYSTERY/THRILLERS
Of Hoaxes and Homicide by Anastasia Hastings
A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons by Kate Khavari
Who Cries for the Lost by C.S. Harris
URBAN FANTASY/HORROR
The Graveyard Shift by D.M. Guay
Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn
Twisted Shadows by Allie Therin
Lies on the Serpent's Tongueby Kate Pearsall (one of my favorite reads in a long time)
FANTASY/PARANORMAL
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
A Rival Most Vial: Potioneering for Love and Profit by R.K. Ashwick
These Haunted Hillsby Jana Denardo (also one of the bests in a while)
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Once & Future, Vol. 1: The King is Undead by Kieron Gillen ( I read the whole series)
Lackadaisy: Volume #1 by Tracy J. Butler (webtoon)
The Night Eaters, Vol. 2: Her Little Reapers by Marjorie M. Liu & Sana Takeda
I FINISHED THE 2024 CHALLENGE! Phew - I've actually been done for ages and ages ... except for 1 book - that damn book of poetry which I started in May. I'm just not a reader of poetry - I don't dislike it but just not my thing other than on or two very occasionally.
Finished:
The Duke Who Despised Christmas
Apples Should Be Red
Four Weddings and A White Christmas
The 12 Kittens of Christmas
Waves of Passion
The Selected Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay
The Twelve Days of Snowball
I do love a Christmas romance and if there are puppies and kittens featured - total sucker. These were good.
Currently reading - time for something with meat on the bones:
Ordeal by Innocence
QOTW: I have a list of 20 favorites but don't have time to list them all at the moment I have a shelf called Top 10 of 2024 - it's got 20 books on it, LOL. Highlights that pop into my head as I write this:
James - - blew every other book out of the water for me. My No. 1
All the Sinners Bleed
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
Ruby Fever - a series I adored and this was the final book, the best wrap-up of a series I've ever read. Left me totally satisfied and needing no more.
Stoner
Galatea
There are more but those pop up so those are put here.
Worst: Lordy I'm putting the one that pops into my head: The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World. - this could have been so good but "[i]nstead we get alternating indistinguishable chapters shifting (allegedly) among the girls full of Millennial angst over failed or lack of relationships, unsatisfactory jobs, endless drinking and partying in dirty roach infested hostels from South America through Africa, India, the Asian subcontinent, and Australia/New Zealand. " Hundreds of pages no less.
Laura Z wrote: "Happy Thursday!2024 Reading Challenges: I’m done! This is the earliest I’ve ever completed all my challenges.
52 Book Club: 52/52
ATY: 52/52
Booklist Queen: 52/52
Diverse Baseline: 36/36
Popsug..."
congrats on finishing
Happy Thursday! I can't believe it's almost the holidays- I have been terrible about getting presents. I know what everyone is getting, I just didn't bother to actually buy them? So this weekend is the final push. I decided to take the day after christmas off. That way I have the option to crash at my parents' house if I don't feel up to driving home late. Thanksgiving night was not a fun drive home...I have one book left for the challenge! I meant to really buckle down and finish it this weekend- and I wound up reading a lot! Only it was a lot of fanfic, and a lot of rereading books I read earlier this year, so not much progress. But maybe this weekend!
Finished:
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers- this was very well written, and absolutely heartbreaking. Seeing all the violence and cruelty through the eyes of a child is just really heartbreaking. One of the best nonfiction books I read this year.
-book written 24 yrs ago
Currently reading:
The Picture of Dorian Gray- halfway through, don't love this, but I'll be happy to say I've finally read it.
QotW:
This was actually a really good reading year for me- way more 5 star and high 4 stars than I usually get! A few of my favorites:
Memorial- a book about relationships between partners, friends and family. Almost made me cry in the middle of a busy airport.
Monstrilio- frankenstein inspired, about family love, and what happens when we aren't who our parents want us to be. This also made me cry
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance- this was a great start to a fantasy series, I loved the characters. Will be picking up the second book in 2025
Sorcery and Small Magics- another fantasy book that I loved and can't wait for the sequels.
We'll Prescribe You a Cat- a healing fic book translated from Japanese about cats. I loved it and will be buying a copy for my mom
Love in the Big City- for 75% of this book I thought it was a strong 4 star, and then the last section killed me. I think about this book all the time. There's a tv show and a movie that were made of it, but I haven't been able to watch them yet
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder- I thought this memoir was incredibly moving
Hello from Columbus and happy Thursday! I almost missed todays check in because I thought it was Tuesday lol. Work has been crazy busy but I also get most of next week off. I hit my goodreads yearly goal last week! It always feels great when I do that without having to lower my goal sometime in the autumn because I realize I’m not going to hit my goal. Finished:
Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane for a book riot prompt. He’s one of my favorite artists from my favorite period in my favorite style. I knew he had a very troubled life and a volatile personality so I’m not surprised to read that the majority of what we know about him now was taken from a large number of legal complaints he had against him lol. This book had lovely descriptions of his known works, the context under which they were created, and what was happening in his life around that time. As someone who majored in theology and art, this was a great book.
XOXO for a book that starts with X. I’ve read a few books with very similar plot, and I like them all. Sometimes all I need is a simple kpop love story to keep me going haha. Cute story, I’ll probably read the second one.
What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust for a book riot prompt. I was so damn excited when a new Flavia de Luce book came out. I had been under the impression #10 was the last even though there were still a lot of unanswered questions about the mysterious work her adult family members had been involved in. I really loved this new addition, it was great getting to spend more time with Flavia. We got some more answers but again was left with unanswered questions. I hope that means we’re getting new material in the future. I’m also excited to see the movie when it comes out hopefully next year.
Hamlet for the last prompt on my classics challenge. I’ve seen the play several times but I think this is the first time I read it through, beginning to end. I’ve always liked stories surrounding Hamlet or based on Hamlet so I’d probably say this is my favorite Shakespeare play.
Currently Reading:
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return
House of Leaves
The Grim Grotto
Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Great Adventure Catholic Bible
Challenges:
Popsugar - 42/45; 4/5
Read Harder - 24/24
Classics - 12/12
European Tour - 11/10
12 Friends - 12/12
Yearly Goal - 154/150
QOTW:
I reread a few favorites but here are the ones new to me:
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
Favorite Sons
Bunny
Eileen
The Familiar
Tom Lake
The Warm Hands of Ghosts
Graveyard Shift
The Historian
The Running Grave
Happy Thursday!Gearing up for Christmas this week. I leave Saturday to go spend the week of Christmas with my sister across the state. Excited to spend the holiday with my nephew and nieces.
Books read this week:
The Deal of a Lifetime -- my Christmas read. Super-short and super-heartbreaking (though most of Fredrick Backman’s books tend to be sad, so I dunno what I was expecting), but still good.
Weird Kid -- cute novel about a kid who’s secretly an alien… and about finding your place even if you’re a little weird.
Airwoman -- okay but not great YA fantasy/sci-fi blend. Was a Kindle freebie. Learning to keep my expectations low for these…
DNF:
Scarlet Odyssey -- I’m 80 pages into a 550 page book and am still not hooked… it’s time to move on.
Currently reading:
The Rust Maidens
Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil
Down The Path
QOTW:
Some of my favorite books from this year:
Somewhere Beyond the Sea
A Sorceress Comes to Call
You Deserve Good Gelato
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins
The Kamogawa Food Detectives
Open Throat
And Then There Were None
Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma
Mary Jane
Dying with Her Cheer Pants On
Happy Thursday, everyone!This has been a pretty good week. I had a chance to attend book club at my local library for the first time in several months! It was a meeting where we recommended books to each other, instead of focusing on a specific book, and I came away with several new titles that I hope to read in the next year.
I also had a chance to watch Red One, which is currently available on Prime Video. If you like action movies and Christmas, I highly recommend watching it. I never thought that a movie would manage to replace Die Hard as my favorite Christmas movie, but Red One managed to do just that.
This week’s reading has been pretty heavily focused on the holidays…and on Sherlock Holmes. I ended up finishing a total of three Sherlock Holmes books this week, all of which were set at (or around) Christmas-time, and I’ve already started a fourth.
Here are the books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Sherlock Holmes & the Christmas Demon — If you’re looking for a Christmas book that isn’t romance, I highly recommend this one! James Lovegrove really does a great job with characterization, and the mystery kept me guessing up until the very end. I could not put this book down, and stayed up until about 1 AM finishing it. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Sherlock Holmes and The Twelve Thefts of Christmas — While this book wasn’t quite as unputdownable as the previous one, it was really good. I love the fact that we get to see more of Watson's wife in this book, because she's a fantastic character. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Sherlock Holmes & The Three Winter Terrors — This book included three interconnected mysteries that really kept me guessing. I ended up reading this book in a single day. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret — This is the most recent book in the Ernest Cunningham Mysteries series, and I thought it was pretty good. I still liked the first book the best, but I thought it was well written. It was also fun to read a Christmas mystery set in Australia, since it’s summer there at Christmas-time. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
None
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~More Holmes for the Holidays — This is a collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories set during the holidays. While I have read this book before, it was about 10 years ago, so I've forgotten a lot. 📚
QOTW:
I’ve had a chance to read quite a few amazing books this year, so it was really hard to narrow down the list. But I did manage to get it down to four series and three individual books.
Series:
~The Invisible Library series, by Genevieve Cogman — If you love fantasy, I highly recommend checking out this eight-book series. I absolutely fell in love with the story and characters, and thought the world-building was some of the best I’ve seen in a long time.
~The Murderbot Diaries series, by Martha Wells — I’ve lost track of the number of times that I have physically read (and listened to the audiobooks of) this series. It has definitely become not just one of my favorite SciFi series, but one of my all-time favorite series. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the audiobooks, I highly recommend the ones narrated by Kevin R. Free. They are fabulous.
~The Wayfarers series, by Becky Chambers — I enjoyed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet so much that I actually went back to the bookstore and bought the rest of the series before I was even halfway through it. I’m so glad I did, because I thoroughly enjoyed the entire series.
~An Ember in the Ashes series, by Sabaa Tahir — This is a great YA epic fantasy series! I was really impressed with the writing, and enjoyed all four of the books.
Individual Books:
~The Spellshop, by Sarah Beth Durst — If a book can be a hug, this one absolutely was. I highly recommend this to everyone who loves cozy fantasy.
~The Guncle, by Steven Rowley — This was one of those books that came to me right when I needed it. I lost my mom to cancer a few years ago, so I really connected with the main character’s niece and nephew. I did a lot of laughing while I was reading this book, but there were also some tears. It was a very emotional read for me, which was exactly what I needed.
~The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, by Mark Manson — This was another book that I picked up at just the right time. As someone with anxiety and OCD, I tend to give a lot of my energy to things that don’t deserve it. This book really encouraged me to let some of those things go.
I have one day left of work, and then I’m off until January 6th. I have holiday plans and a few vague ideas about things I'd like to do, but all I can really think about is just not working. I'm burnt out and need this break badly.I always start the new challenge on Christmas Eve when my mom and I exchange books and read all night. I have a bunch of other books lined up for my vacation too. Even if the weather is horrible, I’ll be happily reading.
Reading
Christmas and Other Horrors: A Winter Solstice Anthology
As The Crow Flies
League of Dragons
QOTW
I usually pick my top 5 books, which is really hard! In no particular order, they are ...
In an Absent Dream
Shady Hollow
Something Wilder
Murder Road
His Majesty's Dragon
I finished the ATY challenge! But the weird thing is that I did it accidentally. I thought I'd only do 45 prompts, but I read a bunch of kids' books and that got me to 52 prompts.I finished my last planned book. But I am on vacation until January 6 starting tonight, so I did need another book. I've never read Freida McFadden before, but real people and the Goodreads algorithm think I'll like her. So, I looks like I'll top out at 35 PS prompts. I'm challenging myself to do 40 next year.
Finished:
The Man in the Brown Suit
ATY prompt: A cozy mystery
Popsugar prompt: A book that came out in a year that ends with "24"
Series - 12/12 - Finished!
Nobel laureates - 6/5 - Finished!
Mysteries/Thrillers - 13/13 - Finished!
ATY - 52/45 - finished!
PS - 34/30 - finished!
Summer - 12/12 - Finished!
Currently reading:
The Housemaid -20%
Buddy Reads:
none at present
I'm going to have to think about the QOTW
Phew, I am so ready for a break! Work has been a mix of chaos as people rush to finish things for the end of the year (and naturally everyone thinks their item should be my #1 priority) and at the same time weirdly slow as so many people are on vacation already. I have tomorrow off and will be using it to finish off some Christmas prep. I haven't been reading much this week but hopefully I'll get some time this weekend while the little man naps.
Best of the Year
Favorite nonfictions:
Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics: highly recommend this one on audio if you can
The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
Favorite Fictions:
James
The Last Time I Lied
Mammoths at the Gates
Favorite Graphic Novels:
Ballad for Sophie
Bloodlust & Bonnets
The Adventure Zone Vol. 2: Murder on the Rockport Limited!
Hi all! Quiet birthday for me yesterday, but for some reason, I woke up feeling like I'd been run over (no alcohol involved, I swear!). I still had stocking stuffers to get and tomorrow might snow a few inches, so I dragged my butt out the door and managed to get it done. Tomorrow I have to wrap presents, at least give Santa a helping hand if nothing else. ;) The kiddo's break starts this weekend. Saturday is Christmas at my dad's, Sunday is cookie baking, Christmas Eve is BF's family, Christmas Day is Santa and then my mom. After that, I have *nothing* planned!! I just hope the kiddo is excited about her presents so I can rest!
I dunno... did I read anything this week??
Oh yes, I finished Pointe for a female athlete. *Very* intense subjects, but I thought it was compassionately handled. I will read more by this author.
Also managed to read a couple of chapters of A Quilt for Christmas. Nothing much going on yet, but honestly, it's perfect for my lack of time and energy.
QOTW: I've had a *great* reading year. I surpassed my GR goal by a few books, and almost all of them were good books.
Favorite was definitely We Deserve Monuments. Read this book!!!!
Other 5 stars:
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Frozen River
Schindler’s List
Proxy
The Woman in the White Kimono
I'm enjoying the Christmas season so far. My shopping is done and I just have a couple of small projects to finish. A favorite tradition of mine is going to the Christmas concert of a local musician (Kurt Bestor). It is mostly instrumental with a couple of guest musicians/singers for some songs. It was wonderful as always (although not quite as awe-inspiring as last year with David Archuleta - that boy can sing!).Finished
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
4 stars; PS #18 (set in space)
My nephew insisted I watch the Apple TV "Foundation" series, which was excellent. I figured I might as well read the book since it has been on my Well-Read list forever.
Goodreads: 47/50
Popsugar: 29/50 (obviously not finishing)
QOTW:
My 5-star reads this year (I don't give a lot of them)
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
Curtain by Agatha Christie (Poirot's Final Case)
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman
Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
Happy Thursday.Stats
DBC: 33/36
At this point, I'm not sure I'm going to finish this one, but that's okay. it's the genres, not the authors that has me stumped.
Books I finished:
The Songbird & the Heart of Stone ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book 3 in The Crowns of Nyaxia series. I'm so glad I found this series this year. I've loved every book and this was no exception. But it did end on a cliffhanger and now I have to wait for book 4 to be published....
Seven Down ⭐⭐⭐
This book started so strong but then it couldn't live up to that promise. Major disappointment.
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I enjoyed the reread. The ending was still so clear in my mind, but there was a large chunk of the middle I had forgotten.
Sweep with Me Dramatized Adaptation ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I'm going through all the graphic audio versions of these books.
Perfect World, Vol. 7, Perfect World, Vol. 8, Perfect World Vol. 9, Perfect World, Vol. 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐each
I'm enjoying this sweet series.
Lonely Castle in The Mirror ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I wanted to like this one more than I did. I just found the whole thing tough to get through, and I wish the content warnings had been at the beginning, not the end.
In Progress:
Magic Burns Dramatized Adaption
QotW
I limited myself to one book per author, and then stayed with in the 15 book limit you gave and here's me list:
Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent
The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher
Me: Moth by Amber McBride
When Among Crows by Veronica Roth
Sanctuary by Ilona Andrews
Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Tidal Creatures by Seanan McGuire
The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff
Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland
The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
Dinosaur Sanctuary, Vol. 1 by Itaru Kinoshita
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
The Yakuza's Bias, Volume 1 by Teki Yatsuda
The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison
Happy Friday everyone!Was busy yesterday so I didn't get the chance to post.
Can't believe today is Dec. 20th. Sadly we haven't gotten around to putting up Christmas decorations. Just not feeling it this year for some reason. Don't even have our tree up. Probably will get it decorated this weekend.
Holidays, aside things are going well. Passed my class so that's a relief. Got like 3 or 4 weeks until my next ones.
Then this month I've just been focusing on reading and writing Christmas fanfic. I've written 3 already and want to do at least 2 or 3 more by Dec. 24th.
*****
Question of the Week:
It's that time of year when we reflect back on what we've done and what we've loved.
Which books have been your FAVORITE reads this year? They don't have to be 2024 publications or Challenge reads, just any books that you LOVED. (Try to keep your list to fifteen or fewer so we aren't all overwhelmed!)
Oh fun question. This year I read 86 nonfiction books and 21 fiction. Some were excellent, others just okay.
I'm creating 3 lists here. My first is my overall top 10, a mix of fiction and nonfiction combined. Then I'm breaking it down by top 5 in the nonfiction genre, and top 5 in the fiction genre.
*****
Overall Top 10:
1. Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness
2. Station Eleven
3. LatinoLand: A Portrait of America's Largest and Least Understood Minority
4. Girl in Pieces Deluxe Edition: Includes a Guided Journal for Reflection
5. Contact
6. Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs
7. Jurassic Park
8. Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World
9. Under the Bridge
10. Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out
*****
Top 5 Nonfiction:
1. Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness
2. LatinoLand: A Portrait of America's Largest and Least Understood Minority
3. The Secret History of Sharks: The Rise of the Ocean's Most Fearsome Predators
4. Of Orcas and Men: What Killer Whales Can Teach Us
5. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
*****
Top 5 Fiction:
1. Station Eleven
2. Contact
3. Jurassic Park
4. Girl in Pieces Deluxe Edition: Includes a Guided Journal for Reflection
5. New Moon
Happy Friday, y’all.What a quick week this past one has been.
I participated in the ATY Read-a-thon, but I ran out of steam by the end of the week. Since last weekend, I have done little reading and more TV watching, mostly holiday movies. And I saw 3 current movies: Wicked, Moana 2, and on Prime TV Red One.
It is amazing to me how time consuming TV and games on my phone can be! And yet, it is a frequent activity during this time of year as I vegetate.
I will not finish most of my challenges this month, but I am OK with that and may even finish several of them in the new year as I am close on several.
Finished:
Cat + Gamer Volume 1 – GN. PS #22. 3* A cute graphic novel.
Children of the Mind – PAS. 4*. I was amazed at how much I remembered the previous books…and how quickly I was absorbed in this one. But, what amazed me mostly was the Afterward by the author.
Currently Reading:
Lessons in Chemistry – ATY #50, PAS. 11%. This one is a bit slow for me, but that may be due to chick-lit not being my favorite genre.
The Women – ATY #51. Audible. 27%. Wow, I am thoroughly engaged in this book!
Throne of Glass – PAS, ATY season. 23% Due back at the library by Saturday. Gee, I hope I can get it done in time as there are no more renewals.
On Deck:
Kate: The Journal of A Confederate Nurse – PAS.
The Pony Wife – PAS
Moving Target – PAS
The Consequences of Fear – ALCM (last book)
High Noon – ATY winter
The Christmas Garden Affair – ALCM, ATY winter
Twisted Tea Christmas – ATY winter
Quaker Testimony - ALCM
Palindrome – PAS
Unraveled Sleeve – ATY #52
PS 40/50
ATY 49/52 (I expect to finish this as I am currently reading two…and the last is a cozy mystery.)
GR 211/200
QotW: It's that time of year when we reflect back on what we've done and what we've loved. Which books have been your FAVORITE reads this year? They don't have to be 2024 publications or Challenge reads, just any books that you LOVED.
I seldom give 5* as my criteria is that it must impact my life. And, as I create this list, it occurs to me that my rating may be related more to where I am emotionally in my life than a true rating of the book's story/writing or an admiration for the other's life story.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
The Friday Night Knitting Club
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe
Tears of the Silenced: An Amish True Crime Memoir of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Brutal Betrayal, and Ultimate Survival
Once There Were Wolves
@Nadine: Hallelujah for heat! So glad that you have achieved this level of comfort. May it serve you well for years to come!
Happy Friday! This is my final check-in this year. I also decided to focus on another challenge next year, so I won’t be posting or checking-in much here next year. I’ve found a good Dutch challenge which better suits my reading since it’s getting more and more Dutch and/or European.
I loved to be part of this community, you all sparkled my joy in reading and it was my pleasure sharing my joy in reading with you. I wish you all the best and maybe I’ll come back some time…
FNL: 39/40
PS: 21/40
Total: 66/52
DNF: 1
Finished
Terra di Sicilia. Die Rückkehr des Patriarchen by Mario Giordano ⭐⭐⭐
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro ⭐⭐⭐
PS 33, an unreliable narrator
QOTW
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Zwischen Welten by Juli Zeh
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us by Steve Brusatte
Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore
The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley
De omwenteling by Suzanna Jansen
The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin by Steven Lee Myers
Harmke, thanks for being here this year. I really enjoy the perspectives of readers from other countries.
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Happy Birthday!
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This is my final check-in this year. I also decided to focus on another challenge next year, so I won’t be posting or checking-in much here next year. I’ve found a good Dutch challe..."
Please come back any time, even if it's only every few months! Everyone is welcome and wanted, whether or not you're doing the Popsugar challenge.
Mod
LOL it won't last, something will break again. Really I just need to get a new furnace.
Aw participated in a Superman Secret Santa this year. It was so fun and my Secret Santa was awesome. So appreciative of the things they got me. *****
On the book front, my mom asked if I started reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West yet. I told her I haven't. That's going to be a top priority read for January 2025. Very curious about it since I wasn't a fan of the musical/movie. I'm really hoping the book will be better.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "Hi all! Quiet birthday for me yesterday, but for some reason, I woke up feeling like I'd been run over (no alcohol involved, I swear!). I still had stocking stuffers to get and t..."Thanks!
Glad you got a part for your furnace! It's supposed to be in the single digits this weekend!!
QOTW:I really only had a couple of outstanding books this year (but I don't know if they were 5 stars or not. I don't rate.) The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway and Written in Red by Anne Bishop. The rest kind of ran together.
Ron wrote: "Happy Friday everyone!Was busy yesterday so I didn't get the chance to post.
Can't believe today is Dec. 20th. Sadly we haven't gotten around to putting up Christmas decorations. Just not feelin..."
It's not feeling much like a holiday here either
These were my 5 star reads of the year:Wrong Place Wrong Time
Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story
Mere Christianity
The Only One Left
The Canterville Ghost
The Darkest Road
Bea wrote: "I seldom give 5* as my criteria is that it must impact my life. And, as I create this list, it occurs to me that my rating may be related more to where I am emotionally in my life than a true rating of the book's story/writing or an admiration for the other's life story."That's exactly how I feel about doing 5 star ratings. For example, I gave a 5 star rating to the last Agatha Christie novel that finished up my reading of all of her novels. It wasn't actually one of her best novels, but it had taken me several years of reading one book a month to finish all of them, and that rating incorporated how I felt about the entire project.
This month has been a blur! I missed last week's check since I was dealing with a house issue (I would not have chosen the gift of a new roof for myself but I guess that's what I'll be getting...le sigh) on top of holiday prep and general busy-ness. No movement on my POPSUGAR numbers (still at 22/45 and 3/5) but I did finish a short story and two novels, so my overall Goodreads Reading Challenge is at 104/100.Finished:
* Colored Television by Danzy Senna, which I'm still trying to process...but I did like it!;
* Black Vault written by Alma Katsu and narrated by David de Vries, which was a Prime Catalog read. I liked the story but didn't love the narrator. Other reviewers loved the narrator, so maybe it was a me thing; and,
* The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai and translated by Jesse Kirkwood, which was an absolute delight!
Currently Reading:
* The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries edited by Michael Sims;
* The Answer Is No by Fredrik Backman and translated by Elizabeth DeNoma, which is a short story but has chapters so I've been slowly reading it even though it's short -- super fun and quirky so far;
* There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job written by Kikuko Tsumura, translated by Polly Barton, and narrated by Cindy Kay, which is also quirky but I'm liking it; and,
* Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever by Matt Singer, which is one of my book clubs' picks for January.
QotW:
It's that time of year when we reflect back on what we've done and what we've loved. Which books have been your FAVORITE reads this year? I decided to go with six fiction and four non-fiction to keep my picks to ten total. I thought about including a Top Five Audiobooks because I listened to so many good ones thanks to the narrators...but ended up with too many and am now wondering if I should've done a Top Ten Audiobooks instead because it would've been a slightly different list! 🙃
Favorite Fiction:
* The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen
* Guide Me Home by Attica Locke
* The Kamogawa Food Detectives written by Hisashi Kashiwai and translated by Jesse Kirkwood
* The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies written by Alison Goodman and narrated by Kristin Atherton
* How to Age Disgracefully written by Clare Pooley and narrated by Clare Corbett
* A Dream in the Dark written by Robert Justice and narrated by J.D. Jackson
Favorite Non-Fiction:
* Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
* Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent by Dipo Faloyin
* Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land
* The Menopause Brain: New Science Empowers Women to Navigate the Pivotal Transition with Knowledge and Confidence by Lisa Mosconi
Harmke wrote: "I loved to be part of this community, you all sparkled my joy in reading and it was my pleasure sharing my joy in reading with you. I wish you all the best and maybe I’ll come back some time…"We will miss you. It has been nice to learn things about your part of the world. I'm glad you have found a new community, but please don't completely forget us. Best wishes for a wonderful future, in books and in life.
Ordered these two books. They're technically the same book, but not really. I'll be doing a comparison read.The Day After Tomorrow - Strieber wrote this one based on the screenplay of the movie.
The Coming Global Superstorm - This is the original that was published in 1999 for which the 2004 movie was based on.
Thanks everyone for the nice words. I will drop by every now and then, don't worry.
Harmke wrote: "Thanks everyone for the nice words. I will drop by every now and then, don't worry."Goodreads decided not to notify me of this thread this week so a bit belated, but I'll miss a fellow Dutchie on here! Will be looking forward to your drop ins!
Happy check-in! So it's been awhile and I have way too many books to bother listing to catch up. Needless to say I really enjoyed the ATY read-a-thon and managed a crazy amount of short books. Mostly I've been picking comfort reads this week because my grandma had a stroke but seems to be doing okay in hospital which has thrown a wrench in all the Xmas plans.
QOTW:
I've read over 300 books this year, and I had many five star reads.
In no particular order:
A Fate Inked in Blood Norse mythology romantasy
Homegoing historical fiction family saga
I Hope This Doesn't Find You ya romcom
How to Steal a Galaxy space opera
Arch-Conspirator sci-fi retelling of Antigone
Dragonfruit ya fantasy
Dinosaur Sanctuary series sci-fi manga
Me: Moth ya novel in verse mental health
The Yakuza's Bias, Volume 1 kpop manga
Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza poetry
Funny Story rom com
When Among Crows Slavic mythology urban fantasy
Once & Future series Arthurian legend comics
Odder middle grade poetry in verse
Lore Olympus couple volumes Greek mythology comics
Mod
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/..."
thank you!!!!
Mod
My Question of the Week answer was too long, so it is in a separate posting below!
ADMIN STUFF:
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!
Dubhease is the "End-of-Year Innovator" who has graciously volunteered to lead this discussion! YAY Dubhease! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
THE JANUARY 2025 MONTHLY GROUP READ IS Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper!
This book could be used to fulfill prompt #43 A book that includes a nonverbal character!
National Dress Up Your Pet Day is January 14, 2025
Surely there is a member out there whose New Year's resolution list includes facilitating the first 2025 Monthly Group Read discussion!?! Message either Nadine or Lynn to volunteer!
THE FEBRUARY 2025 MONTHLY GROUP READ NOMINATION POLL IS
HERE!
PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO TIME LIMITATIONS, this nomination poll will only be available through New Year’s Eve Day NEXT Tuesday, December 31! We’ll return to keeping polls live for two weeks once we have a February selection finalized! (We just need to hurry these first two month selections along so members can have an opportunity to obtain the book if they wish to participate.)
THE LISTING OF 2025 MONTHLY GROUP READ TOPICS IS HERE!
The comprehensive listing of 2024 Monthly Group Reads resides HERE for your perusal and reference throughout 2024!
***
2024 READING CHALLENGES:
Popsugar: 46/50
Around the Year (AtY): 52/52 DONE!
Read Harder: 19/24
52 Book Club: 47/52
FINISHED:
*All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker ⭐⭐⭐⭐ for the IRL book club I facilitate. There were 6 members present at this discussion. Two loved it, one DNFd it, one was only 70 pages in but planned to abandon it, one was just 30 pages from the end, and I personally didn’t truly enjoy this one much. My enjoyment rating would be only 2 or 3 stars, but Whitaker’s writing skills and ability definitely lifted it much higher for me. I could appreciate so very much about his writing, but I felt as if I’d been run over with a steamroller and totally drained of all ability to emote by the time I finished… I don’t require HEA, but the teeny tiny bit of hopefulness at the VERY end of this 600+ page tome did not redeem it for me. To say this one is emotionally intense is, IMO, a vast understatement. HERE is my review, if you’re interested…
POPSUGAR: #2, #21-2024
ATY: #3-A book over 500 pages long, #10-Historical Fiction, #11, #16, #17, #21, #25, #27, #33, #34-Doc, #36, #41, #46, #48, #49, #51
RHC: #23, #24-2015: prompt #6 A book written by someone whose gender is different from your own
52 Book Club: #3, #14, #19, #20, #24, #25, #26-Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, #29-2024, #30, #31, #33, #41, #43, #44, #49, #51, #52
*XYZ - A Detective Story by Anna Katharine Green ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was very enjoyable for me! Especially immediately after All the Colors of the Dark! 😊 How had I never before heard of this “American Agatha Christie”/”mother of the detective novel” before? She is one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted and legally accurate stories. (From Wikipedia article). Really enjoyed this short story/novella and am definitely up for reading more of her writing! She published 37 books in 40 years. Looks as if I’ll be able to get several on Gutenberg!
POPSUGAR: #24, NEW #50
ATY: #3-A book you could read within 24 hours, #9-438 ratings, #10-Historical Fiction, #11, #17, #24-Green, #25, #46, #48, #49
RHC: #23, #24-2023: prompt #14 A book with under 500 Goodreads ratings
52 Book Club: #14, #20, #26-Classic, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, #30, #32
CONTINUING:
*The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (#36)
I am finding this to be a rather strange reading experience!
*The Trees by Percival Everett (#40)
*Shift (Wool #2) by Hugh Howey (#46)
*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:
*XAIPE by E.E. Cummings (#30)
*Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (#42)
*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
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That's terrible!!! I used to get migraines often, but menopause ended that, which is nice! Now they are very rare for me. Aleve does nothing for me, I swear by motrin and a cold washcloth on my forehead. For really bad headaches, I would drink a Coke. (I don't know if it was the sugar or the extra caffeine or something else, but it had to be coke, coffee or sweet tea didn't help much, only a cold Coke. ) My mom swears by Excedrin, motrin never works for her. Do the probiotics held with the pain, or do they help you absorb the Aleve?
*XYZ - A Detective Story by Anna Katharine Green ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was very enjoyable for me! Especially immediately after All the Colors of the Dark! 😊 How had I never before heard of this “American Agatha Christie”/”mother of the detective novel” before? She is one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted and legally accurate stories.
I never heard of her either!!!
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
XYZ - A Detective Story (other topics)Ms. Demeanor (other topics)
The Lost Story (other topics)
Tome of Death (other topics)
The Wishing Game (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Miranda James (other topics)Donna Andrews (other topics)
Elinor Lipman (other topics)
Meg Shaffer (other topics)
Hugh Howey (other topics)
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It is a happy Thursday for me. My furnace was FINALLY fixed yesterday!!! (the danged module got delayed in the mail, tis the season I guess). I can hear it running right now, in fact. And my older daughter just got home last night, finally! And I'm getting a dishwasher installed for xmas! (well, the week after xmas, but whatever)
**** Admin stuff ****
I think we all know the NEW LIST is out!! If you missed it, you can go look at it here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
The poll to select our January group read (that could fit "nonverbal character") is open. Instead of our usual Thursday-to-Thursday schedule with two-week-long polls, we accelerated this one, so it started Sunday and runs until Saturday the 21st, so that we get our January book chosen before January begins.
Books in the poll:
Gallant
Tress of the Emerald Sea
Speak
Out of My Mind
Voting ends on SATURDAY so if you didn't vote yet, go vote now!
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...
And, finally, a mini-poll is open to help me decide if I should set the challenge tracker to start on Dec 2nd or Jan 1st:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...
****
This week I finished one book and DNFed one book:
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto - this book was delightful!!! It was so much better than the Aunties books, they got kind of annoying, but Vera never did. I've got the sequel on deck from NetGalley so I'll get to that soonish.
And I DNFed
The Sleepwalkers by Scarlett Thomas - I do not know where this hot mess was headed, but it's nothing like advertised, and I immediately noped out.
Popsugar 100% 50 /50
Must Reads 80% 8 /10 (But I have actually STARTED the last two books on my list!)
AtY 100% 52 /52
2024 pub 128% 64 /50
NetGalley ratio 69% because I am getting approved for books faster than I am reading books - I need to stop requesting and start reading!!!!
Question of the Week
It's that time of year when we reflect back on what we've done and what we've loved.
Which books have been your FAVORITE reads this year? They don't have to be 2024 publications or Challenge reads, just any books that you LOVED. (Try to keep your list to fifteen or fewer so we aren't all overwhelmed!)
I have created the year-end Listopia, please add your books to it!!
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
My ten favorites:
Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory- this is one of the books on my list of "must reads" in 2024, and I LOVED it! This is the second time I've been surprised by how much I loved a book by Daryl Gregory. Clearly I need to go read everything he's published, and I will no longer be surprised when I love it.
Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier - I fell in love with this book!! It is so lush and romantic and full of longing, but also the characters are assholes LOL Only duMaurier could pull that off.
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera- this was fabulous!! The protagonist has amnesia, so I checked off "unreliable narrator." If you like psychological thrillers with a podcast angle, read this!
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng - I was blown away by this book (as I expected to be) and I nearly cried when I finished it because I was so sad that I had no-more-book.
Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams - this was my first NetGalley book and I LOVED it. It's one of my favorites from Williams.
Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe - this book took me by surprise and blew me away and I'm pretty sure it's my favorite book of 2024! It's very quirky, and it's not quite what you think it's going to be. Thorpe is a FANTASTIC author, she's funny and witty and so engaging and she creates real and complex characters who do weird and quirky things. This is the first book I've read by her, but I know now that I need to go read EVERYTHING she's published. I feel giddy now that I've discovered her.
You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto- what a thrill ride!! I LOVED this book! And what a joy it was to find a thriller that was truly thrilling! This was another NetGalley read, that I managed to finish exactly on publication day. I inhaled this one.
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center - I stayed up until 1 am reading because I just HAD to see how this ended! I loved it!! I've never read this author before, but I'm definitely reading more of her books. I can't believe she's never come across on my radar before. What other romance authors have I been accidentally sleeping on?
Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas - OMG! I absolutely LOVED this book!! LOVED IT!! I'm slapping myself for not reading it sooner. I have found another favorite author!! The only problem I had was "what do I read next?" because what do you read after an amazing book?
The Favorites by Layne Fargo - YOU GUYS!!! This was a NetGalley book, it comes out in January, I encourage you all to read it if you have any interest at all in: Wuthering Heights, retellings of classics, badass women, juicy passionate burn-it-all-down partnerships ... or ice dancing (that was like a hindrance for me, not at all an appeal - but if you love ice dancing or pairs figure skating, there is a LOT of ice skating in this book). Everyone in my real life (which honestly isn't really that many people) is sick of hearing me talk about this "ice dancing retelling of Wuthering Heights." Because I would not shut up. It was SO GOOD. FIVE STARS. All time favorite!! This was one small spark of happiness in my dreary week.