Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2025 Weekly Check-Ins
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Week 29: 7/10 - 7/17
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Happy Thursday! I'm happy to be home after five days in Madison, Wisconsin. It's a great little city, but I'm just not used to the humidity anymore. The Madison Art Fair sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art was held just a block from our hotel. I mentally spent thousands of dollars! I held my actual purchases to less than $200. I also picked up a bunch of cards so I can order online. My favorite piece I bought is a clay sculpture of a hatching dragon. The artist is Dennis Thompson - you can see his work at https://snobhog.com/hatchlings/.2025 Reading Challenges:
52 Book Club: 44/52 (Connections Challenge: 9/21)
ATY: 38/52 (ATY Anniversary Challenge: 8/10, ATY Summer Challenge: 23/25)
The Book Girls’ Guide: 43/74
Booklist Queen: 45/52
Popsugar: 40/50
My Ever-Growing TBR: 86/293 – 29.4% (My goal is 33.3%. Good progress this week.)
Recently Completed:
✅ As You Like It: Not my favorite Shakespeare play, but you have to admire Rosalind. ★★★★
✅ The Lightning Bottles: If you like Daisy Jones and The Favorites, then this is probably a good pick for you. (Popsugar #31 – music is an integral part of the storyline) ★★★★
✅ Jane Austen, the Secret Radical: Jane Austen Book Club. Feminist look at Jane Austen’s writings. ★★★★
✅ Can't Get Enough (Skyland, #3): I have thoroughly enjoyed this series! Sometimes it gets a little spicier than I’m ready for, but I love Kennedy Ryan’s characters. (Popsugar #1 – POC experiencing joy) ★★★★
✅ Véronique's Journey: Goodreads Giveaway. The cover’s more interesting than the story. ★★★
✅ Sunny Side Up: Picked up on a whim and it turned out to be pretty cute! Sunny Greene, a 35-year-old divorced businesswoman starts a swimsuit line designed for larger sizes and begins dating again. Ted, the venture capitalist backing her project? Or Dennis, the mailman? Body-positive. ★★★★
✅ The Mighty Red: Read with Jenna. Louise Erdrich… so the relationships are complicated, and the writing is beautiful. (BGG Book Lovers #7: books about book clubs) ★★★★
✅ First-Time Caller: This is great as an audiobook. ‘Aiden’ has the perfect public radio voice! ★★★★
✅ The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War: I liked the movie on Apple+ more than the book. (BGG Decades #7 – set in the 1960s) ★★★
✅ A Death in Door County: Goodreads Giveaway. Morgan Carter is a quirky bookshop owner, cryptozoologist, and amateur sleuth. Could local deaths be attributed to a Loch Ness type creature? First in the Monster Hunter series. ★★★★
✅ The Age of Loneliness: Essays ★★★
✅ California Golden (BGG Read Around the USA #7 – Pacific) ★★★★
✅ The Sum of All Kisses (Smythe-Smith Quartet, #3): More Julia Quinn. Yes, I’m still missing Bridgerton. ★★★★
Currently Reading:
Swimming Pretty: The Untold Story of Women in Water
El Dorado Drive (Booklist Queen, #33 – set in the suburbs)
What Happens in Amsterdam
Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend (Popsugar #27 – set at a luxury resort)
Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children's Health
The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1): Adventures Underground Book Club.
The Melancholy of Untold History: Goodreads Giveaway.
Yellow Wife
Yours Truly (Part of Your World, #2)
Coven: A Graphic Novel
Notes on Infinity
QOTW: I don't read a lot of series, so this is tough. I guess I'd bring the Bridgerton series... but most of my favorite series are unfinished. No Song of Ice and Fire? No Cosmere? No Murderbot Diaries? Unfair, I say.
Happy Thursday, everyone! It’s been another rough week mentally, but I am pleased to report that the headaches have finally gone away. As a result, I was actually able to make some progress on my household projects list this week, and my office is finally starting to come together. I’m planning to spend the rest of the morning working on clearing off my desk, and I look forward to actually being able to use it.
This was a fantastic week for reading! I had a chance to finish quite a few titles from my “New Books” list, and I’m feeling really good about the progress I’ve made on my reading goals for the month. I honestly don’t know if I will manage to accomplish both goals, because the next couple of weeks are going to be insanely busy, but I’m happy with what I’ve managed to accomplish so far.
Here are my current challenge and TBR totals…
Goodreads Challenge: 246/250 (98% complete)
Mount TBR Challenge: 126/150 (84% complete)
📚Physical TBR: 103/731
📱Ebook TBR: 12/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 126/961 (13% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 3
This week I bought three new releases, including: Three Shattered Souls, by Mai Corland; The Enchanted Greenhouse, by Sarah Beth Durst; and a brand new Murderbot Diaries short story called Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy, by Martha Wells.
“New” Books Bought in 2025: 124
“New” Books Read in 2025: 113
“New” Books DNFed in 2025: 0
”New” Books Checklist Total: 91% complete
Here are the books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Dungeons & Dragons Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd — I thoroughly enjoyed this story, which was really creepy, and liked the characters. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~A Drop of Corruption — This is the second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series. I really enjoyed this mystery, and found it even more twisted than the previous one. I’m looking forward to continuing the series as soon as the next book is released. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy — This newly published Murderbot Diaries short story takes place after Artificial Condition, and focuses on ART and its crew. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and loved having a chance to see more of the relationship between ART and Iris. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Overgrowth — This was a fantastic read, and is officially one of my favorite Mira Grant novels! I really liked the story and characters, and loved the pop culture references to Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Little Shop of Horrors. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
~The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World, 3rd Edition: Over 600 Secrets of the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom — This book was fascinating! I highly recommend checking it out if you’re interested in learning more about Florida's Disney parks. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Ghosts of Salem: Haunts of the Witch City — I bought a copy of this book so I would be familiar with the stories associated with some of the locations I intend to visit in Salem later this summer, and was surprised to find the hotel I’ll be staying in listed among the city’s supposedly haunted locals. I thought it was an interesting book. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~MASH: An Army Surgeon in Korea — This was a really interesting memoir, which not only provided insight into what it was really like to work at a MASH during the Korean War, but also related some stories that fans of the M*A*S*H television series and movie will find very familiar. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~The Last Wish — This is the first book in The Witcher series, which I’ve read a couple times already. I’m enjoying listening to the audiobook before bed each night, and I’m currently about halfway through. 🎧
~Elusive — This is the second book in the Scarlet Revolution series. I’m currently only a couple chapters into the story, but I am enjoying it. 📚
~Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman — This has been a really interesting read so far. 📚
~Bring the Magic Home: An Exploration of Design Inspired by Disney Parks — I decided to order a copy of this book because I wanted to get some ideas for the decor in my own home, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that this book not only includes photographs of rooms and decor inspired by Disney, but also insights into the process of designing the look of the Disney parks themselves. I’m currently reading the section on Fantasyland. 📚
QOTW:
This is really hard!
If they have to be officially completed series, I would probably choose to bring the following series to the bunker…
~The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan — This series has been on my TBR (and bookshelves) for years without being read, and I'd like to eventually get around to reading it.
~The Southern Vampire (Sookie Stackhouse) Mysteries, by Charlaine Harris — I really enjoyed this series when I first read it, and I think I’m about due for a re-read.
~The Dracula series, by Fred Saberhagen — I love this series so much, especially the second and third books (The Holmes-Dracula File and An Old Friend of the Family).
~The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien — Actually, I’m going to add Tolkien’s entire History of Middle-earth to this, because I feel like it all counts as the same series. In fact, let’s just add everything Tolkien ever wrote to this list, and we’ll call it “The Tolkien Collection.” ^_^
~Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling — At some point, I know I will want to read this series again.
And of course, because I am a rule breaker, I would have to smuggle in a few incomplete series as well, including…
~Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman — Princess Donut must be protected at all costs!
~The Witcher, by Andrzej Sapkowski — This would have gone on my list of completed series, but we’re getting a new book (a prequel) later this year.
~The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells — This is one of my all-time favorite series, and I’m so glad we’re continuing to get new books and short stories.
~The Wayward Children series, by Seanan McGuire — I have been loving every installment of this series.
Nadine, I'm with you. I'm a professor who goes off for research etc in the summer. Popped back to my place a few weeks ago and a mouse was in the kitchen. I'm still shuddering at the clean up.Didn't even notice that Goodreads had a new logo.
As for me, it's been a rough week. Broke a tooth and it was so broken it was pulled yesterday. Fun times. I did manage to finish some things
For the PS prompt 35. A book centering LGBTQ+ characters that isn't about coming out I'm using Cinders of Yesterday by Jen Karner which had strong Buffy/Supernatural vibes written by a queer author. Loved it. But this is also a genre I read often so I have a few others if people want recs These Haunted Hills by Jana Denardo which is a paranormal romance between a paranormal investigator/professor and an author as well as Jana's Cassadaga Nights which also has strong Buffy/Supernatural vibes
Carmilla: The First Vampire by Amy Chu (graphic novel but of course the original story has strong lesbian aspects, such as they could get away with in the 1800s)
And books I used for other parts of this year's challenge Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell (dealing with the AIDS epidemic and magic realism) We Can Never Leave (young adult horror with multiple queer characters) The Smoke in His Voice by J.V. Silver (speaking of Buffy/Supernatural vibes) and Under This Red Rock by Mindy McGinnis (YA mystery)
QOTW
Oh this is HARD since most of my current favorites are not finished so there goes Sebastian St Cyr and Pendergast (I'm tempted to use Harry Dresden because while Butcher is still writing the books, I finished with it a few books back...)
1. The Raven Boys series by Maggie Stiefvater It was really so good
2 & 3 The Tommy and Tuppence and Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie
4. The Lord of the Rings series J. R. R. Tolkien
5. Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
or maybe switch out one of the Christie series with the mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson or (as much as I don't want to give a dime to her) Harry Potter by Rowling
Haha I was going to ask later when I check in if anyone’s experience of goodreads was improved by the logo change. I also don’t like it and I would have preferred that they not give a bs reason. I wonder how focus groups of readers would approve of a change that steps away from written language?I’m guessing that they wanted the logo to be distinct from google.
I'm too mush brain at the moment to type a full post, but are we in this bunker *together*?? Can we swap books? ;) (I'm all about finding loopholes!) :D
Greetings from NYC! Temps and humidity have been up and down today is a bad day but it breaks tonight and we are back in the 80s day and 70s night though humidity can still make it close and heavy. I keep reminding myself that it is mid-July only and this will endure until mid Sept at least so get used to it. For the record, I dislike the new logo as the avatar on the button you tap on your phone and other devices to open the app. The old one was easy to spot. My eye slips right over it and i have to go searching - even though my apps are kept alphabetical. it's a cuter logo for sure and I do like the font of the rest but it's not eye-catching at all.
I also need to take issue with Nadine as the 'dog days' only apply to August as that's the traditional deadly summer month of entrenched high temps/high humidity. My farmer father definitely taught us that as I grew up on a farm in upstate NY. He's also the one who taught me about Indian Summer being the high temp period in the fall that happens after the first freeze with temps below freezing. Of course Nadine and I have a running disagreement on that, LOL.
PS 37/60 ATY 50/62
Finished:
The Lovely Bones
Murder at the Christmas Carols
A Navy SEAL for Christmas
Just in Time for Christmas by Carolyn Brown - PS prompt - 1st book with same title
After finishing the dark but excellent The Lovely Bones, I needed light fun and - because it's hot and humid - wintery reads so Christmas in July has dominated this last week.
Currently reading:
Just in Time For Christmas : Tales of Romance - prompt the 2nd book with same title.
QOTW: I dislike these questions as I can never come up with a real answer - not that I can't think of books or here series - but would I really want to take them? I once had a discussion with a friend about answering a question like this - and her response was 'romcoms' we'd want romcoms -- I think that was a queston of what films would you want. And that makes sense to me.
Also, many of the series I gravitate to are still being written, even though authors are on in years, But here are a couple that as I write this post, come to mind:
1. Sue Grafton Kinsey Milhone series. Sued died before she could write the last in her originally planned series but there are 25 of them and a collection or two of essays. I've read almost all of them at this point but since I started reading them when she first wrote them, time to read them from the beginning again.
2. & 3. Agatha Christie -- I'd take her entire oeuvre but if limited to series, I'd have to take Poirot as one and Marple as another as I can't just read Poirot. It still leaves out some of my favorites which feature neither sleuth.
4. Definitely a romance series but which one? Probably one by Grace Burrowes ... one of her longer ones. And there will be some at Christmas in the series so that need will be supported.
5. Proust - Remembrance of Things Past: Volume I - Swann's Way & Within a Budding Grove and all the volumes -- it's not a bucket list read as I did read the entire thing over 9 months in 2019/2020. It merits re-reading and also works well to read sections at a time.
Happy Thursday!I have no opinions on the new logo. I just noticed it this morning and was "eh" about it, heh...
So randomly this week I decided to look into what there is to do in Japan, since that's another travel destination on my bucket list. One thing led to another, I went down a rabbit hole, and now I have a Japan trip planned for 2027. Guess I have the travel bug now, haha...
Books read this week:
The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom -- boy howdy, this was a ROUGH read. But so powerful, and I applaud Shari Franke for coming forward like this. I wonder if more kids of the “family vlogging” trend are going to come forward and tell their stories now…
Gone South -- not as good as Boy's Life or Swan Song by the same author, but still a pretty good read.
Full Speed to a Crash Landing -- I WANTED to like this… but the lead characters had no chemistry between them, and the female lead was obnoxious. Also this book resolved practically nothing, and I HATE it when books are left dangling to force you into buying the sequel…
DNF:
Bloomability -- started reading this because it was mentioned in A Little Less Broken: How an Autism Diagnosis Finally Made Me Whole. Started out promising, started losing my interest after the first few chapters, and finally I lost any desire to read about the time the main character started sympathizing with a bigoted racist classmate.
The Hatmakers -- wasn’t holding my interest
Currently reading:
The Best of Catherynne M. Valente, Volume One
The Smuggler's Gambit
Things Aren't Right: The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five
Eden Undone: A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II
The Second Chance Convenience Store
QOTW:
Dang, this is hard! Especially because some of my favorite series are still in progress! If I have to go with completed series, I guess it'll have to be the following:
1. Dragonriders of Pern (Anne McCaffrey)
2. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland series (Catherynne M. Valente)
3. The Wayfarers (Becky Chambers)
4. The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis)
5. The Old Kingdom series (Garth Nix)
Happy Thursday everyone! Wow almost down to 2 weeks of July. This week has been busy with volunteer work and therapy sessions so that's been nice. I don't mind having all these things to do because it helps keep me distracted a bit. School doesn't start until August.
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Book News:
I can't really say what I've read this past week. I haven't been keeping up weekly. Ulimately, this month I will be just keeping track of how many I've read and by the end of July I'll have read 18 books.
I have been doing a lot of book buying lately though. I went to a 2-story BN which was very cool but I'm glad I don't have one where I live because I have a fear of heights and escalators. Plus I get disoriented on two-story buildings. They did have books that I don't have here at my local BN though so that was cool.
I've also been getting a lot of poetry books. I'll be participating in the Sealey Reading Challenge come August which is about reading poetry every day. I may not read 31 poetry books, but I want to read just enough so I'll probably do at least 15. I've already read all of the poetry books I own so I wanted some new ones.
And then of course pre-orders have been coming in. And I have more in the upcoming months.
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I just found out that Martin Sheen will be doing the audiobook for Ghosts of Hiroshima . I don't listen to audiobooks, but I might make an exception here since I like Martin Sheen. I pre-ordered the book when I found out James Cameron obtained the rights to the book and plans to turn it into a film at some point.
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Question of the Week
You have to live the rest of your life in an underground bunker, and can only bring five complete series with you. They must be completed, not on-going. Which series do you choose? (To make this easier, assume the bunker comes complete with a sacred book of your choice, if relevant, and the complete works of Shakespeare.)
Oh man what a question! And one I absolutely love.
Okay so 5 series. Thanks for saying that instead of just 1 as that would have been too difficult.
- Twilight Saga (Midnight Sun included)- This is my comfort series. Even though it's badly written and full of other unpleasurable things, it's my go to when I don't want to deal with reality.
- Nikki Heat Series- Nothing like the show Castle in book form. I have all 10 books so that's perfect. Nothing beats the first book though, Heat Wave. I can still hear Nathan and Stana reading some of the book at Comic Con a while back which was a real treat (I saw the clip on YouTube).
- Left Behind Series- I'm not religious, but I love those books because of the doomsday scenarios. I skip over all the God/preachy stuff, but the disasters are what make them entertaining for me.
- Pacific War Trilogy- By Ian Toll. I have the books, but haven't gotten around to reading them. They are 3 books between 600 and 900 pages long so it would take me a while to read.
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I'll have to think about my 5th pick series because there aren't a lot of nonfiction series/trilogies out there and I rarely dig on fiction unless I'm really into it.
I could have gone with the Hunger Games, but who knows given the recent release of Sunrise on the Reaping, if Collins might have another story in the future so I consider that on-going.
The 24 Hour Dewey Reverse Readathon is coming up tomorrow, and man, am I excited!The new Goodreads logo kind of bugs me, but I don't feel like that feeling is really justified. But now I feel like it's more justified since it bugs some of you too! :)
Each week, I have to count up separate months of TBR's. I probably should just make it into one list. Oh well.
Library TBR: 14/26
Purchased TBR: 12/28
Finished: Journaling as a Spiritual Practice: Encountering God Through Attentive Writing I liked this one pretty well. It had a lot of good prompts!
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City This was so gritty. I thought it was an interesting choice for the author to remove his presence from the account except for the epilogue. It worked pretty well, but sometimes I found myself wondering, how does he know this is how it went down??
A Sideways Look at Time This was all over the place. I enjoyed it as a fun read, but probably won't use it for anything (like an article.)
The Writing Life So this is why I got all the Anne's confused. I started Bird by Bird by Ann Lammott and then realized The Writing Life is actually the one I prefer. So yes, similar names and similar reads. This was a re-read and I didn't enjoy it as much as the first time. But it was still good.
Started: Make Your Creative Dreams Real: A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, and People Who Would Really Rather Sleep All Day So far, I like the look of us this better than the actual contents.
All the writing ones below are re-reads:
Bird by Bird
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work
From Chaos to Creativity
Arguing for a Better World: How Philosophy Can Help Us Fight for Social Justice
Writing to Change the World
QotW: I love and hate this question. If I were to choose, I wouldn't choose books to bring with me to a bunker, I wouldn't pick series. But I'll try to stick with the constraings:
1) His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
2) The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
3) The Just City by Jo Walton
4) Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery
5) The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
It feels like series are more of a kid's thing... At least I read more series as a kid.
Mod
LOL I was just thinking that! There's been surprisingly little overlap in our choices - if we all bunk together, we will have a nice little library to choose from!!
Mod
oh no!! I wasn't expecting more weather related controversy!!! LOL! I thought the dog days started in mid July. This time, I've got the Old Farmer's Almanac backing me up. They say they started July 3. https://www.almanac.com/content/what-...
Happy Thursday! Later today we're meeting with the bathroom people to go over a proposal for remodeling our master bath. It's exciting but also anxiety-inducing. Just how much is it going to cost me to have the bathroom of my dreams, lol. It's very much overdue. The secondary bath we redid two years ago to add a tub to make it more kid-friendly, meanwhile our own bathroom is in much greater need of a full reno. Finished
True Grit: glad I got around to reading this! not going to be an all time fave or anything but a good experience
Lumberjanes: True Colors: the last book I needed to finish off the series (I'm sure they'll publish more of these one-off novels but I'm set).
Currently Reading
The Spare Man
The Adventure Zone Vol. 4: The Crystal Kingdom
I Shall Never Fall in Love
QOTW
Well, I will also take some license with 'series'
1. The Complete Agatha Christie (if we can have the complete Shakespeare, I feel like this is fair).
2. The Middle Earth Series by Tolkien (Hobbit, LOTR, Silmarillion, accompanying works)
3. Nancy Drew (I'll take the original 56 if you're feeling limiting, everything else I can sneak in if you're not)
4. The Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters
5. The Anna Pigeon series by Nevada Barr - I know this series isn't finished but mystery series aren't like fantasy series, they don't usually end per se. So we'll just agree I'm allowed to take all the ones that are published at the time of bunker occupation. I just feel like all the national park descriptions would be really nice when you're stuck in a gray cinderblock nightmare.
6. I vote we all get the complete works of Jane Austen too.
I might switch out Emily of New Moon with Hitchhikers guide...
Happy Thursday, y’all.Weather: Remains hot and humid. Temps in the 90s with relatively high humidity makes outside activities hard for me. Still I do try in starts and bits.
Exercise/Health: Even though the gym inside temp is in the 60s, heat gets to me even there. I relish those activities that put me in front of the fan!
I did achieve a 30 sec plank with full arm extensions from the floor. Up to now, I have been doing planks from boxes of various heights and from my elbows as my arms could not hold up my body. It took me 3.5 months to achieve this, but it was great when I did it! Now to achieve full pushups.
Garden: Yikes! Now my tomatoes that are ripening inside are getting ahead of my eating them!
Yard: No progress on this front. Still dead. Still trying to figure out what I can do and how much it will cost.
Reading: I’ve reached half-way for PS and ATY. Yay! I am moving a couple of books around. [I had one already set for the menopause prompt that got moved to chosen family so that I could put Sandwich there.]
Oh, and I dipped my toe back into the paranormal world with werewolves that felt like such a refreshing dip in the pool to me! What fun!
Finished:
Sister Snake – PS #5 (snake on cover). 4* I had mixed feelings about this book and thought that I would end up with a 3* rating, but the ending was great!
The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare – PAS. 4* Just a fun read, but predictable. Continuation of series.
The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act – GN. 4* I liked this and I hated it; but, I guess in the end that I liked it more than hated it. Probably will not continue it.
Sandwich – PS #ATY seasonal. 4* Wow! This felt like a real rollercoaster ride between her memories of when her kids were young and the present.
Alpha and Omega – Audiobook. No prompt. 4* Yes! This book was so refreshing to me after weeks of serious spiritual reading. I loved it! Also, it was a prequel to a book I have on hand. Guess what I will be reading this weekend?
Currently Reading:
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All - ATY #30 (monster), PAS, PS #44 (book I have avoided). 58%.
Navigating the Bible: The 5-Minute Guide to Understanding God's Word – I am using this book as a brief overview of whatever Bible book I am reading. Currently it is ?. I haven’t got the faintest idea what book to read next in the Bible. However, I am sure inspiration will strike. So far, I have read Isaiah, Matthew, Romans, Hebrews, and Colossians.
Smith Wigglesworth on Prayer, Power, and Miracles – No prompt. I am reading one essay a day. 73%. Interesting man, interesting teaching.
A 5th Portion of Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 More Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit – no prompt. Devotional reading. 46%
In the Clearing – PS #7(cult). 13%. I have a dread that something bad is going to happen that makes me choose any other book to read than this one. Still…I will keep trying to get it read as I do not like this prompt and think that any other cult book will be the same.
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World – PS #49 (dystopia with happy ending). 61%. Liking this one and finding the protagonist interesting.
Just Starting:
Shaman – PS #38/#39 (same title). 6%. I own this book, so it takes the back seat to library due dates.
On Deck: (library)
The Little French Bistro – PAS. (due 7/26 with no renewal)
The Woman in Cabin 10 – ATY #25 (waves on cover), PAS. (due 7/26 with no renewal)
Happiness Falls – PS #43 (nonverbal character), PAS. (due 7/13 with renewal)
In the Night of Memory – (due 7/20 w/renewal)
This Must Be the Place – PAS. (due 7/20 w/renewal)
Project Hail Mary – PAS, PS.
Yellowface - PAS
Cry Wolf - PAS
The Accidental Book Club - PAS
PS 25/50
ATY 32/52, Anniversary 9/10, Summer 4400/5000 points
GR 113/200
QotW:Five completed series that I would take to a bunker?
Since I do not do re-reads, this is tough.
1. Anne McCaffrey series' about Pern...all of them. I have only read a couple of the Dragonrider's series, but I would take all the series' that she wrote that include dragons and Pern.
Beyond that, I would need to do some further thinking...perhaps Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I have only read one so far, and I liked it.
This week has felt weird to me, and I can't exactly put my finger on why. I did finally get out to see the Michaels that is technically closest to me, but in the complete opposite direction of everywhere I actually go. It was nice, but not nice enough to make a special trip on a regular basis. (Still bummed that the one that was right on my way home from worked closed earlier this year.)Re: Dog days, I thought they were based on when the star Sirius is visible in the sky? So the dates can vary, but it's usually later in summer.
Finished:
The Guardian Test - I thought this would be a graphic novel, based on the cover, but it was still fun story. A good fantasy option for younger readers. I'd be willing to continue this series.
Deep Water - I always enjoy a novel in verse, and this was no exception. Excellent exploration of a young teen's complicated relationship with her mother.
Spent: A Comic Novel - (PS A highly anticipated read of 2025) One of the biggest perks of working at a library is getting first crack at the new books, so I surreptitiously read this one while it was waiting to be processed. I enjoyed it, but I'll read anything Alison Bechdel, so there you go.
Shock City: A Graphic Novel - I was not surprised one bit to discover the author/artist worked on Invader Zim, as the influence is all over this title. It took me a little bit to get into it, but I really liked it by the end.
Currently reading:
The Sound of Music Story: How A Beguiling Young Novice, A Handsome Austrian Captain, and Ten Singing von Trapp Children Inspired the Most Beloved Film of All Time
It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror
Sona and the Golden Beasts
Cursed Princess Club, Vol. 4
A Work in Progress
QOTW: This is a hard one, since I don't read a lot of series, and I wouldn't necessarily want to take a chance on something new. I'd want a series with a lot of books, so as not to run out of reading material, but that's the be-all, end-all, either. So, my picks are:
1. The Discworld series
2. The Oz series
3. Ranma 1/2
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide series
5. Calvin and Hobbes
Oh! Calvin and Hobbes. That's a good one.
Hi all! Hot and humid here, too. I don't mind too much, but it is draining. Kiddo is almost done with swimming lessons. I'm relieved, no more running to town every day. On the other hand, what do I do with her home every day?? She'll still have gymnastics' lessons weekly, and there's a Girl Scout camp and Vacation Bible School coming up, so she won't be totally homebound and bored. Plus, I want to tie dye shirts (Nadine, doing any more?) before the end of summer. As for me, things are going well. Getting SS and Medicare sorted out, so that's getting better.
I don't think I did any reading since last week. Bone, Vol. 9: Crown of Horns was checked out by the time I got to the library the other day. Not that I don't have over 25 library books at the house atm.... I think I was having a bit of a reading hangover after I finished Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness. That happens after I read really good books, I don't feel like switching gears right away.
Oh, I guess I did read about 20 pages in The Turn of the Key while kiddo was swimming.
QOTW: This is hard for me, I don't read many series, and I'm so far behind, I don't know if the author has finished them. Though I suppose if we're all going into bunkers, there probably won't be any new books being published, so all series would be finished by end of the world chaos!
The realist in me would probably pick really long series, like LOTR, Dune, Mists of Avalon. But based on what I've at least started, I would go with:
Hunger Games
The Flavia de Luce books, starting withThe Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (are they done? I have no idea, but I know there's more that I didn't read)
Peanuts comics
How about something by someone like Dickens that was serialized?? That should count, right?
To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman. I have no desire to read that latter, but TKAM is my favorite book, so I can bring both and just read that one!
Happy Thursday everyone! I noticed the logo change on the app as well. At first, I didn't really have an opinion on it, but now it's kind of grown on me? I feel like this new logo is sharper and has more personality than the old one.On the reading front, I knocked out another one of my reading goals this week! At this rate, I might need to raise the bar for next year since I’m finishing them so early. Lately, I’ve been more intentional with my book choices, placing holds on titles that fit the remaining prompts in my challenges. I’ve also been reaching for more romances to balance out all the darker stuff I usually read. This past week, I finished four books with mixed results.
2025 Reading Challenges
Popsugar- 47/50
52 Book Club- 47/52; Connections- 7/21
Barnes & Noble- 47/52
Booklist Queen- 48/52
Buzzword- 6/12; Cover- 6/12
Finished
Passion Project- Picked this up a few months ago as my BOTM selection and finally got around to reading it. I hated this book. The female MC was insufferable, the romance felt contrived. Did not enjoy, do not recommend. ☆
ATY Summer #3D- a book title that includes a word starting with the letter P
52BC Connections #5- +/- 30 pages to previous book
Great Big Beautiful Life- I was worried going into this book as everyone I follow has given this a lukewarm to negative review, but in the end I really enjoyed this one! It's not my favorite Emily Henry, but compared to the last romance I read (see above), this was a million times better. This book also gave me the Goodreads Chart Topper Bookmark! ☆☆☆☆
ATY Summer #3A- a book with red on the cover
52BC Connections #6- similar title font to previous book
B&N #26- beachy
Billy Liar- this was a short read and not a bad one. It's a funny coming-of-age tale and the protagonist reminded me a lot of Holden Coulfield, but I feel like I had to be British to really appreciate some of the humor. I heard this was adapted into a film in the 1960s, and it looks like it was actually better than the novel, so now I'm intrigued. ☆☆☆
1001 Books #10
ATY Summer #2E- author's initials in: SPARKLING WATER
The Heart Goes Last- Atwood is one of my favorite authors, so I picked this one up to satisfy one of my reading challenge prompts. It was a fast-paced read with twists and turns, and some suspense. I guess I was not expecting the humorous tone and some of the twists took the reader into absurd territory. Overall, it was okay, but not my favorite Atwood. ☆☆☆ 1/2
ATY Summer #2A- author's initials in: FRESH-SQUEEZED LEMONADE
52BC #24- title is a spoiler
52BC Connections #7- author shares name with character from previous book
Currently Reading
Challenger Deep
The Second Chance Year
QOTW
1. The Hercule Poirot series- I haven't read this Agatha Christie series even though I've been meaning to. There's like 30+ books in the series, so I'll have plenty of books to keep me busy!
2. Tolkein's Middle Earth series- Although I did read The Hobbit a few years ago, I never read the original trilogy, so this would be good opportunity to finally do so
3. The Unwind series- I was trying to find another series to include that I haven't read before and saw this series staring at me from my bookshelves, haha. I bought the whole bookset at a library sale for $5 after hearing my siblings rave about it, but never got around to actually reading them.
4. Abby Jimenez's Part of Your World series- I feel like I would need to include a romance series as a good pick-me-up. I've given every book in this trilogy a 4 or 5 star, and although I don't normally reread books, I can see myself revisiting these.
5. Meg Cabot's Mediator series- this was one of my favorite series as a teenager! It had mystery, romance, paranormal elements, humor! She released a 7th book about a decade ago, so I feel I would have to reread the original 6 as a recap before reading the last book.
Doni wrote:The 24 Hour Dewey Reverse Readathon is coming up tomorrow, and man, am I excited!
Oh, you had me curious about this! I might do it. Is there a Discord page for it?
I finished A Better Class of Murder as my book that takes place in a luxury resort. It was boring and pointless and didn't really fit the category, but I'm sticking with it.I am almost done with A Yak for Christmas as my book that starts with a Y. Not Christmas-y at all, bt sort of interesting.
QOTW: The Hunger Games (haven't read them yet). Harry Potter (only half done). Left Behind. Lord of the Rings (I've wanted to give it another go reading them all at the same time). And then a random one that someone else picks because I can't decide.
Happy Thursday!I think the new Goodreads logo is fine. I wasn't expecting the change, so it caught me by surprise.
It's been really hot here this week. Today's a bit cooler, but I really hate hot weather.
Finished:
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar - 5 stars - for a book that an AI chatbot recommends based on your favorite book. I loved this so much. It was beautifully written, emotional, and powerful. Highly recommended.
I am currently at 37/50 for Popsugar (31/40 and 6/10).
Currently reading:
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley - for a prompt that might be a spoiler (view spoiler). This is interesting.
Upcoming/Planned:
The Apothecary Diaries (Light Novel): Volume 14 by Natsu Hyuuga - not currently for a prompt
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins - not currently for a prompt
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg - for a book that features a character going through menopause
QOTW:
You have to live the rest of your life in an underground bunker, and can only bring five complete series with you.
Wow. Um, this will be tough, because I read a lot of series still in progress.
1. Little Thieves by Margaret Owen - Who saw this coming? Everyone. Plus they're nice big books.
2. Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series, starting with The Thief, because I love them so and they are so layered for YA books.
3. For nostaligia, one of Mercedes Lackey's early series. Probably The Last Herald-Mage, because those are some of the books that shaped me as a teenager. (That explains a lot, I'm sure.)
4. T. Kingfisher's Clockwork Boys duology, since it's finished series only, and her other series are still ongoing, and I love these two books as well.
5. I'm torn here between Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows duology, and Patrick Weekes' Rogues of the Republic series, starting with The Palace Job. Both series I adore. If push comes to shove, I'd probably pick Weekes, just because Bardugo is still writing more books in the Grishaverse, and I don't care for some of the things that happened in later books.
My very close runners up are Courtney Milan's Brothers Sinister series, or a contemporary romance series like Jen DeLuca's Well Met series, or a completed manga series like Sailor Moon.
Kenya wrote: "Happy Thursday!I have no opinions on the new logo. I just noticed it this morning and was "eh" about it, heh...
So randomly this week I decided to look into what there is to do in Japan, since t..."
I almost put Pern on my but in the back of my head I was thinking 'will adult self like it?'
Quick check-in for me! I finished one book (no prompt) and started yet another one because a Libby hold came in. I'm still at 12/40 and 0/10 for this challenge, and 40/85 for my overall Goodreads Reading Challenge.I actually didn't notice the Goodreads logo change until I read Nadine's post, soooooooooo I'm thinking this change has had zero impact on me 🙃 Now that I've clicked on the post in the app that showed up in my feed that I'd previously scrolled past, I really liked the explanation behind the change and how the change factored in accessibility 🌟
Finished:
* A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Best Investment Guide That Money Can Buy by Burton G. Malkiel, which I enjoyed WAY more than expected. Glad it was recommended to me!!
Currently Reading:
* The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries edited by Michael Sims;
* The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis, which is one of my book clubs' picks for July;
* The Briar Club written by Kate Quinn and narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, which was a Libby Lucky Day pick. I am at a VERY exciting point in the story, so I want to speed listen now to get to the end;
* The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso, which I selected as my #CampNetGalley pick and need to finish/post a review before 1 August to get this year's camper badge; and,
* Dare to Lead by Brené Brown, which was recommended by a co-worker whose book recommendations I trust very much. Hopefully this is finally the right Brené Brown book for me!
QotW:
You have to live the rest of your life in an underground bunker, and can only bring five complete series with you. They must be completed, not on-going. Which series do you choose? (To make this easier, assume the bunker comes complete with a sacred book of your choice, if relevant, and the complete works of Shakespeare.) I am struggling with this one because I don't like to re-read (except for books I loved as a kid) and there are several in-progress series with dozens of very long books that I would pick because I've only read a few of them and read them out of order (like the Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George). Here's the best I could come up with:
* the Ramona Quimby series by Beverly Cleary because I love Ramona and think I'd want something comforting;
* the Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal because Maggie might inspire me to be brave in the bunker if I needed that and I still haven't read the last book in the series, so at least I'd have one new book to read;
* the Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen because I've only read the first one in the series and they're long and I like Scandinavian noir...and I think the series is complete but I don't know for sure...hopefully, I'd get the English translations...unless I'm also learning Danish for fun to pass the time in the bunker and then I'd want both versions for comparison;
* the Adam Dalgliesh series by P.D. James because I've only read one of these and am running out of ideas...and I need to start getting prepped for work tomorrow (ugh! how did it get so late!?!?!?); and,
* the Puskin Vertigo mystery series because it's 34 books in translation from all over the world that I definitely have not read yet. I feel like this may be cheating but I don't care because my Kindle tells me this is a series and I'm using the loophole because this question has been impossible for me! 🤣
Happy Thursday!I'm now on vacation for 2 weeks, I'm hoping to get my reading into overdrive.
I finished 2 books last week and none this week. But I'm almost done the ones I'm working on.
Series - 5/10
Reading Across Canada - 6/10
Nobel laureates - 2/5
PS - 26/40
Regular ATY - 23/40
Anniversary ATY - 7/10
Summer Challenge - 1900/5000 - 38%
Currently reading:
Interior Castle - 25%
Sunrise on the Reaping - 80%
To You Shall All Flesh Come - 65%
Buddy Reads:
we are trying to review the second Miss Peregrine book so that we can read the third.
QOTW: What a hard question.
I loved Tolkien and Lewis so much that I'm going to have to start with LotR (and hopefully I can convince them that the Hobbit and Silmarillion are part of the series) and Chronicles of Narnia.
Then the complete Anne of Green Gables series.
Beyond that, it's what did I adore the most - the Mitford series? Harry Potter? I've read so many series that were good, but don't stand up to re-reading.
Happy check-in! Two weeks to list. Finished Reading:
Games Untold: An Inheritance Games Collection ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I'm caught up on this series now just in time for the next one at the end of the month.
A Curse Carved in Bone ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (ATY underground/underworld)
The ending to this Norse Mythology duology. I was so sure things I didn't want to happen were going to happen, but I was wrong. :) I hope the author revisits this world with new characters.
Sweet Bean Paste ⭐⭐⭐ (PS <250 pages)
I don't think pancakes are that special and the philosophy was obnoxious. The history that was touched on was really interesting and I liked the characters.
The Midnight Feast ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (ATY coastal)
Great mystery, lost a star for sober people thinking humans turned into birds.
A Curse For Spring ⭐⭐
A novella about Spring becoming a human to save a kingdom from drought only for her to lose her powers.
Solo Leveling, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Great start to a new Manhwa series. I was not expecting it to fit the horror genre.
PS 40/50
ATY 44/52 Anniversary 5/10 Summer 23/25
Goodreads 172/250 Bookmarks 4/9
QOTW:
Well I like the communal bunker idea that means some of my favourite series have already been accounted for.
Kate Daniels world by Ilona Andrews
I will take all books within this world despite some spinoffs being unfinished. (I think that's 17 books right now)
The Old Kingdom by Garth Nix
Sabriel is still my favourite book. (7 more books)
Confessions Of A Shopoholic by Sophie Kinsella
Her writing plus the humour make these easy to read over and over again. (I think it's 10 books)
Harry Potter world by J.K. Rowling
(I think that's 14 books)
Folk Of The Air world by Holly Black
(That should be 11 books)
Happy Thursday! So far so good on the covid front, but another close coworker tested positive, so I got to work from home again this week. I have a terrible story for those of you who don't like mice- the other evening I went to take out the trash, opened the dumpster, and there was just a sea of rats. And the dumpster was nearly full, so they were at about chin level. I'm not even necessarily scared of mice/rats- but that was too much!
Finished:
Only Stars Know the Meaning of Space: A Literary Mixtape- this book really took me by surprise, at about pg 40 I was thinking "this is really well written, don't know if I love it." By pg 170 it was making me cry and had me by the throat. It's interconnected short stories exploring a writer on his way to turning 30, and the relationships that have shaped his life, and the toxic habits he's fallen into. It'll be a favorite of the year.
-47 A book of interconnected short stories
Currently reading:
Sunrise on the Reaping- finally started, hoping to get further into it tomorrow
How We Know Our Time Travelers: Stories- a short story collection by a local author I saw at a book event recently
QotW:
Ok, the first few would be series I haven't read yet, so it would give me plenty of new books to discover (fingers crossed that I actually liked them):
1.The Expanse- I liked the show, so the series would be a good, long read
2.Daindreth's Assassin- a romantasy series (I think) that I think would keep me entertained
3.The Realm of the Elderlings Series- I've been meaning to read Robin Hobbs, so stuck in a bunker would be a good time
And then some comfort reads:
4. Lady Julia Grey- Deanna Raybourn has moved on to other series, but I'll always love this one
5. Discworld- not necessarily an all-time fave, but they're always entertaining with interesting characters, there's tons of them, and it would mean I could do my reread of Hogfather each winter
Happy check in....and Happy Birthday Disneyland, which is 70 today! So happy that we are still having a mild summer in So. Cal. Not happy that work (school) starts again in 2.5 weeks.
I do not the new logo, but as Nadine said it's probably because I just like change. It's innocuous enough and I'll get used to it. Honestly I think it's too innocuous, I think it had been changed for a few days before I even noticed.
I finished 3 books and 2 were actually for prompts:
A Passage to India (no prompt)
James (set on a body of water)
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (space tourism)
Currently reading:
Ducks, Newburyport
Mostly Harmless
The Razor’s Edge
War and Peace
QOTW:
I don't read that many series books, but I will take:
1. The Hitchhiker's Series (see above, read this week!)
2. All 7 volumes of In Search of Lost Time (Marcel Proust), which I have read and know is good for reading again and again
For the other 3, I will cheat and consider an author's collected works published in one volume to be a series, and take:
Jane Austen
Anthony Trollope (27,000 pages on Kindle!)
Virginia Woolf (only about 800 pages, but dense enough to last awhile)
Nadine in NY wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I also need to take issue with Nadine as the 'dog days' only apply to August as that's the traditional deadly summer month of entrenched high temps/high humidity. My farmer father d..."😂
My dad the farmer was known to take issue with The Farmer's Almanac!
A little disagreement over the weather just keeps things lively.
Life update: Our eldest has temporarily moved back in with us while he hunts for a houseshare after breaking up with his long-term partner. I'm sad for him, but at least it happened while we're still in London to offer him a spare room; nine months later and it might have been a different story. Meanwhile, I've been getting frustrated that we keep having internet outages, apparently because the fibres in the fibre-optic cables get brittle in the heat and break. So that's great in the midst of global warming. I've been looking into mobile broadband as an alternative; let's see if I can get my husband on board with that when he returns from his current work trip.
Reading update: I only managed to finish one book this week, Changewar, for interconnected short stories. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the novella in the same universe, The Big Time. I did also make progress on several other books, but the nonfiction I'm reading for the Pride Season challenge has slowed down my usual reading pace. I'll be glad when I can return to reading mostly fiction for a while.
Stats:
PopSugar Challenge: 1 this week, 47/50 total
Star Trek Series Challenge: 0 this week, 16/18 total
Readers of the Wild Moor: 0 this week, 17/30 total
Pride Season Challenge: 0 this week, 7/15 total
Queer Reads Bracket Challenge: 0 this week, 1/6 total
Cosmere Challenge: 0 this week, 2/48 total
Outside the challenges: 0 this week, 18 total
All books finished this year: 1 this week, 91 total
DNF or paused: 0 this week, 19 total
Challenges completed this year:
GR Community Favorites, GR Seasonal Bookmarks
Currently reading:
The Bisexual Imaginary : Representation, Identity and Desire for Pride Season Reading Challenge: nonfiction about bisexuality
Trans Historical: Gender Plurality before the Modern for Pride Season Reading Challenge: nonfiction about transgender history
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, vol. 2, for my current audiobook
The Valmiki Ramayana Vol. 3 for spiritual bedtime reading
QOTW:
1. Discworld, because it's entertaining and would also help to remind me of my values
2. The Hercule Poirot books, because I've been meaning to get into Christie and there are enough to keep me busy for a while
3. The Maya Greenwood series by Starhawk, because we also share a lot of the same values and I like her descriptions of the outdoors, which I will definitely be missing underground
4. Jack Kerouac's Road Novels, because Dharma Bums is my favourite book of all time
5. The Jack Parlabane series by Christopher Brookmyre, to remind me of home (Scotland) and because I'm sure to have some dark moments in the bunker that will be helped by Brookmyre's equally dark sense of humour
Oh, and I hate the new Goodreads logo. Why switch from a nice clean sans-serif to an outdated serif that looks like it's been squashed into a box? It doesn't make sense to me at all.
Hello,Brand new to the group! So far these year I've read 83 books this year (6 in July). So far, I've done the all the easy prompts and 2 of the medium prompts. I plan to look at my other books to see if they fit any categories. I don't want to become obsessed about completing the challenge I just want to enjoy discovering new books (easier said than done!).
Mod
Brand new to the group! So far these year I've read 83 books this year (6 in July). So far, I've done the all the easy prompts and 2 of the medium prompts. I plan to look at my other books t..."
Welcome!! We have some members who are obsessed, some members who are relaxed but also sure they'll finish, (some members who are finished already!), some members who may or may not finish and don't care, some members who have chosen a shorter curated list out of the full 50, and some members who aren't doing this year's challenge at all!! So, you are among friends, no matter what you do!
Two week check in and finally secured a place to live! Lease starts in two weeks, so got to get to packing, but definitely don't feel like doing that in this heat. Next up is planning a trip for October ish, anyone do anything fun this summer?31/75 GoodReads Challenge
27/50 PopSugar Challenge
Finished:
1.) Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (#5-Snake on Cover) ⭐⭐⭐: LOVED getting Haymitch's backstory, did not need the song lyrics or the quotes from Poe, or all the extra stuff shoved in. This was devastating, but definitely set up for the trilogy that started it all.
2.) Tell Me Everything by Minka Kelly (#37-Same Title #1) ⭐⭐⭐⭐: Great autobiography narrated by the author, got some good tea, but wanted so much more FNL tea.
3.) Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson (#12-Road Trip) ⭐⭐⭐⭐: Loved the quirky characters and the slapdash of a weird story about four siblings that go to find the father that left them all.
Currently Reading:
1.) All the Colors of the Dark
2.) Famous Last Words
QoTW: Which series do you choose?
Ooh this is hard because I hate reading series.
1.) Harry Potter
2.) Hunger Games
3.) Agatha Christie Hercule Poroit
4.) Black Beauty
5.) ...
Nadine in NY wrote: "Ellen wrote: "Hello,Brand new to the group! So far these year I've read 83 books this year (6 in July). So far, I've done the all the easy prompts and 2 of the medium prompts. I plan to look at my..."
Thank you!
Mod
We are experiencing daily rainstorms right now. Fortunately, no big winds, just rain. And gentle rain. That is excellent for preparing the soil I need to work up and plants I need to get transplanted and more weeds to pull and junk to pile up! Luckily, my neighbor’s great-nephew has been helping and he is young and strong!! I’m now gathering information to better organize and plan for selling off items worthy of resale, disposing of items that are simply trash, and piling up all the brush/debris to haul off.
I also learned that in addition to the huge garage and 3 outbuildings full of stuff, there is a whole “back room” in my neighbor’s house that is evidently piled to the ceiling with items her husband was going to list on e-bay for sale. She has already drafted her sister and daughter to help her sort through all of that! (Fingers crossed that happens!)
I’m finally taking some time to document past reads. Sheesh! I’ve never been this far behind! I realize this is just my own self-imposed routine, but it is important to me, so I will persevere!
A friend and I are beginning a buddy read of East of Eden by John Steinbeck. This is a book I’ve always been curious about.
One of my IRL book club reads for August is The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin In addition, I will be reading The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race by Jesmyn Ward and Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.. I initially read Baldwin's book 6 years ago and then purchased the other two so plan to read all three!
A LIST!
Seven New Books Recommended By Readers This Week
I already had A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna on my TBR!
ADMIN STUFF:
THE OCTOBER MONTHLY GROUP READ NOMINATION POLL IS LIVE! This book could be used to fulfill prompt #18 A book containing magical creatures that aren't dragons!
National Black Cat Day is October 27, 2025
https://www.calendarr.com/united-stat...
There are 9 books nominated thus far with only 11 votes!
This poll will run through Tuesday, July 29th!!
VOTE HERE!!
THE JULY MONTHLY GROUP READ IS Sunrise on the Reaping (Hunger Games #0.5) by Suzanne Collins!
This book could be used to fulfill prompt #5 A book with a snake on the cover or in the title
World Snake Day is July 16, 2025 (I had no idea there was one of these!!)
Dubhease is the “sibilant superstar” who is leading this discussion! Yay Dubhease! Thank you so much! 👏👏👏👏👏👏
THE AUGUST MONTHLY GROUP READ IS Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt!
This book could be used to fulfill Prompt #28 A book with an unlikely friendship!
World UFO Day is July 2, 2025!!
https://www.calendarr.com/united-stat...
Vaish B is the "fun-filled friend" who has graciously volunteered to lead this discussion! Thank you so very much!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏
I absolutely adored this book and wouldn’t mind rereading it, if I can make the time to do so.
THE SEPTEMBER MONTHLY GROUP READ IS *Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery!
This book could be used to fulfill prompt #32 A book about an overlooked woman in history
Emma M. Nutt Day is September 1, 2025
A fascinating story of the world’s very first woman/female telephone operator!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Nutt
Who is the “adventurous advocate” willing to lead this discussion? Message either Nadine or myself to volunteer, please!
I am especially interested in reading this since one of my best friend’s grandsons is currently walking the Appalachian trail!
THE LISTING OF 2025 MONTHLY GROUP READ TOPICS IS HERE!
***
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
You have to live the rest of your life in an underground bunker, and can only bring five complete series with you. They must be completed, not on-going. Which series do you choose? (To make this easier, assume the bunker comes complete with a sacred book of your choice, if relevant, and the complete works of Shakespeare.)
Well, skip the works of Shakespeare, please and I’ll substitute a 6th series. And I have no “sacred book” to include…
My main complaint about this question is regarding the “completed” qualifier. How can you know that for certain? Some series are extended by a different author upon the death of the original author. I believe you cannot know if/when any series is totally “complete,” but that is just my interpretation. Several of my former Borders coworkers refused to read a series until they were sure it was “complete” and I admit I found that to be a ridiculous qualifier. If you’re interested in a series, why not read it now? After all, it may not be technically “complete” until after your death! So then you’ve missed reading something you might have enjoyed more than any other books in your whole life! 😊
And there are so very many series that I adore! So, as usual, it is almost impossible for me to select only 5! But here are some of my favorites:
Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
Cobbled Court Quilts by Marie Bostwick
Jo Mackenzie by Gil McNeil
Cedar Key by Terri Dulong
Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Wayfarers by Becky Chambers
Those that are rather definitely ongoing, so not complete…
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Isabel Dalhousie by Alexander McCall Smith
Chet and Bernie Mysteries by Spencer Quinn
Andy Carpenter by David Rosenfelt
Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (I see there is an 8th book supposedly expected in 2026!)
Cat in the Stacks by Miranda James
Lady Astronaut Universe by Mary Robinette Kowal
There are more, but I’ll stop here… You’re welcome!!
Mod
2025 READING CHALLENGES:
Popsugar: 39/50
Around the Year (AtY): 51/52
AtY 2025 Anniversary List: 10/10 FINISHED
Read Harder: 16/24
52 Book Club: 44/52
2024 Popsugar: 47/50
FINISHED:
Here you go, Nadine! That long-awaited answer! 😉
*Open Throat by Henry Hoke ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was a quite unique reading experience, IMO. It proved to be a bit confusing at times for most all book club members, though it did gel in the end. Most of us did NOT get the “queer” part of the touted story line until one member who has an MFA spoke up stating that in her opinion the whole book worked as an allegory for being queer… That was the key for me. That made total sense and I was so grateful for her input which made me view the book in a different way. And that is what took this from a 4-star rating to a 5-star rating for me.
POPSUGAR: #6, #8, #20, #28, #43
ATY: #1, #2, #5, #16, #24, #43, #44, #48
RHC: #6, #12, #21, #24
52 Book Club: #13, #33, #37, #38, #39,
*The Tale of Oat Cake Crag (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter #7) by Susan Wittig Albert ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was once again a totally enjoyable read! And Beatrix and Will finally have made a commitment to their future…together!
POPSUGAR: #2, #6, #16, #20, #40
ATY: #1, #2, #5, $7, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #21, #25, #31, #32, #37, #40, #45, #48
RHC: #4, #11, #16, #17, #21, #25
52 Book Club: #2, #6, #10, #18, #22, #25, #28/#29, #38, #42, #43, #51-304 pages
*The Tale of Castle Cottage (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter #8) by Susan Wittig Albert ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was, IMO, a spectacularly romantic finale to this series!! Loved them all!
POPSUGAR: #2, #6, #16, #20, #23, #40
ATY: #1, #2, #5, #7, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #31, #32, #36, #37, #40, #41, #45, #48
RHC: #11, #16, #24
52 Book Club: #5, #7,#10, #16, #18, #22, #25, #28/#29, #39, #43, #51
*The Guncle (The Guncle #1) by Steven Rowley ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was a great read. It just didn’t ‘blow me away’ as I expected it might. It was a bit more intense/serious than I expected. That wasn’t a bad thing, just a bit unexpected. I loved the diversity of characters!
POPSUGAR: #6, #14, #23, #28, #35
ATY: #2, #5, #15, #16, #19, #23, #26, #31, #35, #36, #40, #41, #43, #48
RHC: #19, #24
52 Book Club: #7, #13, #41, #51
*The Celebrants by Steven Rowley ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ was an excellent read! I have always felt we should celebrate people while they’re alive! Why wait until they’re dead? They don’t have the advantage of knowing how much others care about them…IMO that is only to satisfy those left behind… This was what I love about reading—characterization and relationships, relationships, relationships! Everyone who had finished reading this book enjoyed it at the IRL meeting.
POPSUGAR: #2, #6, #16, #20, #23, #24, #26, #35, #40
ATY: #2, #5, #13, #15, #19, #23, #24, #26, #31, #36, #37, #40, #41, #48
RHC: #12, #19, #24
52 Book Club: #22, #33, #39, #43, #51
Yet to be documented…but at least I’ve made progress! 😉
*Classified as Murder (Cat in the Stacks #2) by Miranda James
*File M for Murder (Cat in the Stacks #3) by Miranda James
*Orbital by Samantha Harvey for an IRL book club
*Out of Circulation (Cat in the Stacks #4) by Miranda James
*Tom Lake by Ann Patchett for an IRL book club
*The Wedding People by Alison Espach
CONTINUING:
*East of Eden by John Steinbeck
*The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley
*The Double Life of Benson Yu by Kevin Chong for an IRL book club meeting
*The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
*Hope in the Dark: The Untold History of People Power by RebeccaSolnit
PLANNED:
*The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
*The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race by Jesmyn Ward
*Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
*Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict
*The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley
*The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray*The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict
August is coming up and aside from my general TBR for the month, I'm also planning to do the Sealey Challenge which is a poetry challenge to read poetry all month.I may not get to all 31 days/books, but I do have 20 planned at least.
Help me out gang: I have seen people use what are essentially placeholder books on goodreads to review their whole year in reading but I can't find it. I'm wanting to do that as a way of tracking my son's favorite books but for the life of me none of the searches I am trying are producing the goods. I feel certain somebody in this group has done this and will know where to point me.
Thank you! I knew someone here would know!
Greetings! Summer in NYC is a mixed bag this summer - one day lovely , not humid the next hazy, hot & humid, like walking through a sauna. I'm so longing for winter (I dislike heat and humidity. intensely) that I've read more books set at Christmas this month than I have managed in December in recent years. PS - 44/50
ATY - 58/62
Finished:
Miss Desirable - prompt - MC is an immigrant or refugee - Xavier is an émigré
Snobbery with Violence -prompt - AI picked based on favorite book.
The Murder of Thomas Cardwell - prompt - read you have anticipated in 2025 -- I've been waiting years, decades, for this character from one of my favorite books to get his own romance.
Arsenic and Old Cake
Scandal's Bride - prompt second of 2 books that are related
Currently Reading:
The Treasure Hunters Club
Bleak House
QOTW: Besides Pesephone Books which I and Lynn both love, I also frequently look for New York Review of Books publications. I also love Soho Crime - many of my favorite crime fiction authors are published by Soho Crime.
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Arsenic and Old Cake (other topics)The Murder of Thomas Cardwell (other topics)
Bleak House (other topics)
Scandal's Bride (other topics)
Miss Desirable (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Samantha Harvey (other topics)Miranda James (other topics)
Steven Rowley (other topics)
Henry Hoke (other topics)
Victoria Christopher Murray (other topics)
More...
Welcome to the Dog Days!! (northern hemisphere friends only, I think?) "Dog Days" are generally thought of as "sweltering" and heck yeah we are feeling that! It's been in the 90s more days than I can count, and that's really unusual for this area. My dogs and I are all happy that our air conditioning works. My tomato plant has finally got some tiny green tomatoes on it!!! I cannot remember what kind of tomato plant we bought this year so I'm not sure how long I have to wait until they are ripe - I think they are going to be yellow pear tomatoes. I'll know in another week or two! We've had so much rain, I've only had to water my plant once this year.
I saw a mouse run through the kitchen Monday night. I have ZERO CHILL when it comes to mice. Full on musophobia. I thought July was safe from mice in the house??????
We are now past the midway of the year, AND we are now closer to 2050 than we are to 2000. That's sobering. 2000-2025 went by in the blink of an eye for me, but I may not live to see 2050, which means the rest of my life will go by in another blink. What do I want to do with my next blink???? I'd better start planning.
We are shopping for a car for Lily, which is exciting and nerve wracking. TBH I hate shopping for a car, which is why I hold on to my own cars for over ten years each. I wish my dad were still here - he LOVED car shopping, he would love taking his granddaughter around to dealers.
How do you all feel about the new Goodreads logo?? It's cute and all, but I don't like change, and I really don't like change that I didn't have a chance to prepare for, so I'm all in my feelings about it. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually. I don't understand why they did it, though. It must have taken a full team months to workshop this and develop the new look, and why did they waste money and time on that? What benefit does it provide?? There are so many other things they could have put their time into instead.
My annual beach vacation (aka "two weeks at my mom's house") is coming up in a few weeks, and I put a bunch of books on hold at the library, and most of them will fulfill an open challenge category, so I anticipate a lot of challenge progress in the next month! I see in my "2025 plan" that I was hoping to get my NetGalley ratio up to 100% by June 1st, and THAT didn't happen, and it's not looking like it's going to happen in the next two months, either. Maybe before the winter ...
***** Admin stuff *****
The July group read (which could fill "snake on the cover or in the title") is: Sunrise on the Reaping. You can join the discussion here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
August's group read will be: Remarkably Bright Creatures.
September's group read, which could fulfill "A Book About an Overlooked Woman in History," will be: Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail. Let us know if you'd like to lead this discussion.
And the nomination poll for the October group, which could fill "A book containing magical creatures that aren't dragons" read is open! https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...
This week I finally finished a few books!! I think my "book slump" was just "I'm reading several books I'm not enjoying right now." I got past that and phew!!
Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell - this was a NetGalley read, and it was not the most thrilling of thrillers. It was a slog, tbh, and none of the plot twists were a surprise. The title doesn't even make sense. (Yes, I know, it's the name of the FB group she creates in the book, but ... why name it that?) No challenge category for me. It could fill "married couple who don't live together."
Make Sure You Die Screaming by Zee Carlstrom - this was extremely weird, and I spent most of the book feeling not sure what to make of it, but in the end it all coalesced into an actually good and heartwarming book, which I did NOT see coming (AND that weird cover art finally made sense!!). Impressive. No challenge category for me. This could fill "book about a road trip," and it would sort of work for "unlikely friendship" also.
The Love Haters by Katherine Center - this was completely ridiculous and completely delightful and I loved it - 5 stars! (The scene on this cover NEVER HAPPENS in the book!) No challenge category for me. This is set in Key West and features a Coast Guard rescue diver, so there are a lot of scenes on the water and it could be used to fill "takes place on or near a body of water," and it could also work for "chosen family."
Popsugar 80% 40 /50
Must Reads 20% 2 /10
AtY 83% 43 /52
AtY bonus 10% 1 /10
2025 pub 68% 34 /50
NetGally ratio 84%
Question of the Week
You have to live the rest of your life in an underground bunker, and can only bring five complete series with you. They must be completed, not on-going. Which series do you choose? (To make this easier, assume the bunker comes complete with a sacred book of your choice, if relevant, and the complete works of Shakespeare.)
1. My first answer is easy, because it's a my multiple-years-long project to reread this series (and note that I do not think counting interconnected series as ONE series is cheating here LOL): Gene Wolfe's Solar Cycle series. https://www.goodreads.com/series/1306... It's a 12 book series worthy of multiple re-reads, so this one series alone might be enough for me.
2. And I might want something fluffy to read when I'm not working on Wolfe, so I'll bring along Maria V. Snyder's full Chronicles of Ixia series. https://www.goodreads.com/series/1111... I've only read a few of these, so this will be several new-to-me books.
3. When I was a kid I liked Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders books, but I only read a fraction of the full series of Pern books, so I could bring those along, too. That's a lot of books, and a lot of books I haven't read yet. https://www.goodreads.com/series/5006...
4. I really like Patricia Highsmith, and I've only read one of her Ripley books, so I think I'll bring along the series of five (the "Ripliad") for when I don't want to read fantasy. https://www.goodreads.com/series/4332...
5. So that leaves one more choice! I was going to say Sherry Thomas's Lady Sherlock series (I've only read the first one, and Thomas is a sure bet with me), but it looks like she's still writing those, so it's not complete. Then I thought about Jo Nesbø's Harry Hole series (because I've only read a few of those), but it looks like he's not done with that, he's teasing another book to come, so that is not complete. Then I considered the Joe Ledger series by Jonathan Maberry because I like zombie books, but he's still writing that, dammit.
So that leaves Terry Pratchett's Discworld, because that's A LOT of books (and I haven't read any of them) ... but the reason I've never read them is that I think I won't like them, I suspect Pratchett's humor is not my humor. So it's a risk. Truth is, if I were truly packing up to live in a bunker, I'd put more time into researching books and find something other than this one.