Bonnie > Recent Status Updates

Goals update:

17/25 nonfiction (I am LOVING this genre this year, lots of 4 & 5 stars among my nonfiction reads)

4/10 classics (muuuuuch more slowly. I'm not entirely sure I will complete this challenge. Let's see how many classics I get through in August).

Nonfiction books read so far: 7 (out of goal of 20).

Classic books read so far: 1 (out of goal of 10).

Books languishing on my TBR that I've read: a ton.

I've been inspired by BookTubers to make reading goals for 2024. Not the amount of books read, but the kind of books I read this year. I have three goals:

(1) My big one is that I want to read more books that have lingered on my TBR list for years (at least 5 years). I usually focus on new publications, but I want to clear out my backlist.

(2) Read 25 nonfiction books.

(3) Read 10 classics.

“She began decorating her house the day after Halloween.”

This heroine is my instant enemy. Christmas season does not begin until the day after Thanksgiving and I will die on that hill.

An 18th century French ambassador tried to convince another French foreign liaison he was feuding with that his lodging was haunted by hiring a chimney sweep to make eerie sounds down his chimney. Another example of history being stranger than fiction…

Anna is the most naive immortal I have ever read. Gee whiz, is the obviously abused mother of the obviously amused child LYING about how her son got a concussion? Why would a DV victim possibly try to cover for her husband? Her solution? "Ah well, hope it's just a one-off. The mom is the only one who can solve this problem!" Not like you're an immortal vampire with supernatural powers or anything, Anna!

I'm enjoying this, but are there only five men in the entire world who will date the Duong women? Because the coincidence of the love tangles is absurd.

Why do all the coyotes all have Russian names?

I'm not sure if I've read a book that I enjoy quite a bit while simultaneously despising the main characters more as the book goes on, as instead of growing they appear to be settling into the worst versions of themselves.

Can we please stop forever the “woman slaps man because he annoys her”? It’s 2023, and we know by now that it’s not ok to slap a child in anger and it’s not ok to slap a woman in anger and it’s also not ok to slap a man in anger. Violet slaps her husband because he recovered from a head injury (!) and didn’t timely inform her. Not a good look by Violet or the author.

A YA fantasy published in the last 5 years that I find…fun? Charming? Engaging? With characters that don’t make me want to throw them into a river? Yeah, I didn’t see this coming either.

This reminds me of Jennifer McMahon’s semi- supernatural thrillers. The one thing I cannot get over though is neither the police nor the social workers realize that “Clover” is claiming to be a little girl missing for 22 years?!?! Is there no database for missing children? They found her sister Luna to be a guardian but didn’t learn that Clover disappeared 22 years ago?!?

I'm trying to understand where all the negative reviews for this one are coming from. So far, I remain intrigued about this story of a mixed race singer passing as white on an ocean liner caught up in a murder plot, and it is going down as easily as a perfectly mixed gimlet.

I cannot say no to a timeloop book.

I love Judy Greer’s narration, but bless her heart when she is forced to do a Bigfoot growl. It sounds like a parent doing a tiger growl for their child (“What does a tiger say? That’s right, rawrrr”). They couldn’t afford better sound effects for the audio? They have JUDY GREER and NATHAN FILLION. They could pay for some sound mixing too.

Ahahaha it gets better:

WHEREAS the MAIN SQUEEZE will, if possible, find True Love, potentially resulting in an Engagement, Marriage, and Everything She’s Ever Dreamed Of,

This contract says nothing about payment, how many hours of filming are allowed, arbitration provision,jurisdiction, etc etc, but it’s a contract provision that the signor will possibly find true love. I am dying here.

WHEREAS the MAIN SQUEEZE agrees, to the best of her ability, to explore deep, soul-searching love in complete honesty and without any “emotional walls”…

I’m enjoying this book but yeah, I’m pretty sure you cannot contract someone to agree to that. I want to know what that would even look like in a legal dispute (your honor, she explored love, but it was not soul-searching!)

This is my first time reading Mary Shelley's Frakenstein, and I had never realized it starts with a framestory of an arctic explorer writing letters to his sister. It felt like I was reading another book entirely and thought that there was somehow a mix-up. Pop culture/modern interpretations seem to leave this part out for some reason.

I want to know what Oregon coast town has COBBLESTONES.

The doula has just been told by one of her clients about domestic violence. She....freaks out, doesn't know what to do and ignores the text message. Excuse me, what? She's an experienced doula and she has literally no training or experience on how to handle suspected or confirmed DV in her clients? That seems implausible.

One of the characters keeps getting "I know what you did, I hope you die" texts. She doesn't know what she did. She's upset someone could wish her dead. MA'AM HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN ON THE INTERNET BEFORE. These messages are TAME compared to what public figures get in the comments on the daily.

This story is set in 2095 and they just mentioned the Disney-esque amusement park had a bicentennial celebration. Which means it was built before 1895, when Washington was barely a state (it's set near Centralia, Washington) and it would make it (I think) the oldest amusement park on the West Coast and far pre-dating Disneyland. I wonder if anything is going to come of the location or age of the park.

want to know what will likely be nominated in the GR Choice Awards? Go to andwhensheread.blogspot.com

YES CRAKE IS BACK. Not as an idea or a myth but as a REAL LIVE FLASHBACK. Yes yes yes yes!!!!! The hope of this happening is what kept me reading this series.

Ceridwin's analysis of the GR deleted review debacle is a nice piece of work: http://soapboxing.net/2013/10/by-the-...

Oh my gosh, Benedict Cumberbatch reads chapter 58. You are REDEEMED Moby Dick. Also, Mr. Cumberbatch, please read all my books to me. kthnxbai.

Chapters 56 & 57 - OH GOD MELVILLE WROTE TWO MORE CHAPTERS ABOUT WHALE IMAGES. That is...not acceptable

Chapter 55: Melville describes pictures of whales. This book's title should be Herman Melville: He REALLY Frickin' Loved Whales.

Finally got back to listening to this. It's changing POVs all over the place and there's soliloquies and songs about Spanish ladies and I think Melville forgot there's supposed to be a plot? Someone will one day have to explain to me why this is a classic.