Laura Floyd > Recent Status Updates

I'm over at StoryGraph too, now. If any of you are also over there, I'd love to connect in both places. Hit me up as Snukes. :)

Book friends! I need your spooky/ghosty/creepy favorite read suggestions! Please? Discovered T. Kingfisher last time I asked, and I love her stuff. Ghost stories, haunted houses, and atmospheric creepiness are my favorites, but I’m also open to your favorite monsters and murder-cults, as long as none of it cuts too close to the bone of real life. :-p Many Thanks!

Holy crap this book is long...

Please tell me about the best books you read this year!

I left a rather long ramble about and list of my favorite reads from 2021 here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Now I'm assembling my 2022 Reading Wish List, and I want your input!! I can't tag people, but if you haven't yet suggested any books to me in real life or on Facebook, please hit me up!

FAVORITE FICTION OF 2020

Uprooted, Naomi Novik (brilliant grown-up fairy tale)
Spin the Dawn, by Elizabeth Lim (YA fairy tale with Chinese roots)
Skyward, Brandon Sanderson (brilliant YA sci-fi)
Pet, Awaeke Emezi (sharp, scary YA)
The Twisted Ones, T. Kingfisher. (really smart horror)
All Systems Red, Martha Wells (murderbot has existential crisis)
Magpie Murders, Anthony Horowitz (nested mysteries, clever AF)

FAVORITE NON-FICTION OF 2020

Priestdaddy, Patricia Lockhart (memoir of a priest's daughter)
The Sun is a Compass, Caroline Van Hemert (4000-mile hike)
The Road to Jonestown, Jeff Guinn (Jim Jones biography)
Gulp, Mary Roach (bodies are cool!)
Because Internet, Gretchen McCulloch (evolving language, memes)
Quiet, Susan Cain (why introverts are awesome)
Sex at Dawn, Christopher Ryan (biology! psychology! sex!)

FAVORITE FICTION OF 2020

Uprooted, Naomi Novik (brilliant fairy tale)
Skyward, Brandon Sanderson (brilliant YA sci-fi)
Pet, Awaeke Emezi (terrifying YA dystopia)
The Twisted Ones, T. Kingfisher (super-smart horror)
Spin the Dawn, Elizabeth Lim (fairy tale based in Chinese traditions)
The 10,000 Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow (some doors ARE magic)
All Systems Red, Martha Wells (murderbot has existential crisis)

FAVORITE FICTION OF 2020

Uprooted, Naomi Novik (brilliant fairy tale)
Skyward, Brandon Sanderson (brilliant YA sci-fi)
Pet, Awaeke Emezi (terrifying YA dystopia)
The Twisted Ones, T. Kingfisher (super-smart horror)
Spin the Dawn, Elizabeth Lim (fairy tale based in Chinese traditions)
The 10,000 Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow (some doors ARE magic)
All Systems Red, Martha Wells (murderbot has existential crisis)

Musings while reading: I will never be a successful novelist because (NOVELISTS HAVE TO ACTUALLY *WRITE* THINGS) [shut up that's not the point right now] my life is totally devoid of trauma. Sure, I fight a little mild depression, but nary an addition nor hint of abuse can be found. I can't even be HOMELESS in an inspirationally suffering way. Not in this posh parental basement surrounded by people who love me. Sigh.

The hard-edged science fiction is very thick here. I found enough space in my brain to finish and thoroughly enjoy the ultra-sciency The Calculating Stars, but this one is a bit more than I'm up for right now. The premise is intriguing. I shall return later.

I am TOTALLY digging this book, but I need to set it aside because it turns out it's not helping my current stress situation. Asteroids ending the world are one of my bags. I've thought about the subject rather deeply, and this book is SO sharp and well written that the events described feel disturbingly realistic. As in, stress-dream-inducingly realistic. I'll be back after I finally land a new place to live.

These first eight chapters have been a bit of a slog. Think I'm going to take a break and work on a book that isn't trying to be so many kinds of commentary wrapped in a cross-eyed narrative style. Anyone want to convince me I should pick it back up after I've sufficiently drowned a few brain cells in something fluffier?

Road-tripping with MPR next week. The number of books in my Currently Reading pile is about to go WAY up. :D

I'm off to a terrible start with library books this year. I've lost (timed out on) both Once Upon a River and Spinning Silver with two chapters to go. They're shiny new titles, so I find myself #17 and #54 on the waiting lists to get them back. Boo! Yes, I know I could just buy the title and off we'd go, but if I'm going to spend real money on a book, I want a REAL book. Time to stop borrowing popular titles.

Goodreads thinks I reviewed 49 books this week, and has put me on the list of Top 100 Reviewers. O.o

There is something lovely and atmospheric about the secondary concept of this book: a race of artisans who create delicacies that do so much more than provide a nice slice of cheese or glass of wine. I love reading those bits. But... the characters and the plot are leaving me hollow. I may return to this. I probably won't.

I'm going to have to come back to this. Maybe I'll come back to it. I want to know how everything plays out, but in my world right now, the subject matter is too intense, and it isn't helping my aching heart.

Fighting through, one car trip at a time.

Laura: *chokes on the misogyny and radically inaccurate and demeaning ways Heinlein imagined future relationships between men and women would evolve*

Dustin: It's a product of its time.

Laura: Okay, okay. I'll try to appreciate it for what it is.

Book: Rape jokes are hilarious and appropriate!

Laura: *strangled sounds from the passenger seat*

This is a bit heavy for a book about joy. It came to me heartily recommended, but I guess I wasn't really in the mood for philosophy this week. I'm going to read a little fluff and then maybe come back.

Survey question: How do you decide which book to read next?

Okay - take two. This time, as a paper book rather than an audiobook, which totally didn't work for me.

Friends who are fans of Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles: go read the review he left on the third book in the series. Best thing I've seen on the internet today. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

7 Rooms in. This book is gorgeous, but strumming all the strings of my existential dread.

Going to try something new: creating an actual reading list for 2017. My list will contain at least:

12 by people who aren't like me
12 Non-fiction
6 Hugo winners
6 dealing with current social issues
4 classics
2 dealing with very local issues
All the trashy books I need to get through cleaning one more toilet

Now, the trouble is that I have a goal of reading 52 books, and 74 books on this list. Hmm.

"One day I would have all the books in the world, shelves and shelves of them. I would live my life in a tower of books. I would read all day long and eat peaches. And if any young knights in armor dared to come calling on their white chargers and plead with me to let down my hair, I would pelt them with peach pits until they went home." page 16 ❤❤

I like to listen to audiobooks while I clean, and for this I prefer books from trusty series that don't require a lot of deep thought. Lately, those have included The Dresden Files, the Pendergast novels, and the Mary Russel/Sherlock Holmes series. Apparently I'm a fan of mysteries with improbable twists. Any compelling series that isn't too deeply intellectual would be good. What are your trusty favs?

Finally got my hands on this after months of waiting on hold at the library, and started reading it with huge excitement - it comes SO highly endorsed - but dang, man. This is dark. Bethany says she only made it a third of the way. I'm going to push on (I have a LOT of painting to do) and hope it throws me some bones.