EPBOT Readers discussion

Hello everyone,
This post is a bit late. I am at my elderly mother's house. She is unexpectedly in the hospital so I'm staying here extra days. But this is fairly positive development since a problem she's had for weeks was finally diagnosed correctly and is getting fixed. That problem has been an extremely frustrating diagnosis that should not have been hard. It is kind of like my QOTW last week. I'm here expecting to get her ready for independence and setting up help and then it took a left turn.

Anyway, I have plenty of reading time here, away from my house and spouse. I fnished Forever My Hero. It was a paperback given to me by my sister a few years ago. It was okay. The writer is too saccharine for my taste. It was great as something that was reading without needing anything from me.

On walks around the complex here I've been continuing listening to Margo's Got Money Troubles. I'm about 1/3 of the way through and enjoying it well enough. I like some of the surprise turns it has taken and others are just okay. But it is interesting so far.

I started reading The Fourth Daughter again. I had barely started it a month or so ago. I've now read more (10%) and am excited to continue this one. It has engaged me and pulled me in.

QOTW:
What characters in a book you’ve read (fictional or not) would you like to be friends with?

This is a hard one for me. I like lots of people! I identify most with analytical type people (I'm a techie nerd, engineer and problem solver). So of my recent finishes, I think I would like to meet Ryland from Project Hail Mary. Or at least we'd understand how each other thinks. I'd also say the same for Mark Watney from The Martian. Therefore I would probably also enjoy meeting Andy Weir.

I hope everything works out well with your mother! I'm about to leave on an overseas trip, so I probably won't post for a couple weeks.

The Fabulous Clipjoint - An 18-year-old teams up with his somewhat-estranged carny uncle to solve the murder of his father in 1940s Chicago. I thought this was extremely well written. It's in a sort of hardboiled style but with a much more naive protagonist. Some of the plot was a bit far-fetched, but the sometimes sordid realities of a family barely clinging to the working class were movingly drawn.

The Wind in the Willows - I had been reading this in gaps between other books and just finished it. It was mostly sweet but uneven, and it absolutely and completely fails the Bechdel test. I loved Mole but I really couldn't stand Mr. Toad.

These Names Make Clues - A classic mystery set at a "Treasure Hunt" party, where guests must solve clues in a sort of scavenger hunt fashion and then of course someone dies. It was not the best plot ever, but I thought it was a fun read, and I learned about home electrical wiring in the 1930s.

QOTW: Hmm... Dr. Chef from The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Cimorene from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Despite my love of murder mysteries, I'm not sure a lot of the detectives would make good friends, and it's potentially dangerous, anyway! Maybe Encyclopedia Brown, since he seems nice and the mysteries are less fraught.