Joanna’s Comments (group member since Dec 27, 2013)

Joanna’s comments from the CPL's Book a Week Challenge group.

Welcome to the final week of the year! I hope everyone had an amazing challenge this year and that all your books were 5 star reads. Whether you read one book or 52, thank you for participating!

Couple of quick reminders... last day to log books for this challenge is 11:59 p.m. on December 31. Prize drawings will be January 8, 2024.

The challenge will return next year under a new name: Book-A-Week. Please note that due to the holiday, the challenge may not be available immediately. It should be up by the end of the first week of January, though.

Once again, thank you all so much for participating in Book Quest! Wishing you all a wonderful rest of the holiday season and great start to the new year!

Happy reading!

Happy Holidays, everyone!! I hope your December has been going well so far and that you are ready for the holidays. Do you have any fun plans?

Couple of quick updates... the new year is almost upon us! All books for 2023's Book Quest must be logged by 11:59 pm on December 31 or they will not count toward the challenge. Prize drawings will happen on January 8, 2024.

The 2024 challenge is getting a new name and a new person in charge. Janice Green will be taking over moving into 2024. She's guest posted on here a couple of times and I know you all will love her. The new name of the challenge will be Book-A-Week as this more accurately reflects what we hope to accomplish. You will see changes on here to reflect the new name in 2024. The challenge will still run the same on Beanstack. Additionally, while our Goodreads group will still be going, posts will be more sporadic than every week. As I never seem to be able to post weekly anyway, this won't be too big a change lol.

If you all have any questions about these changes, please don't hesitate to ask.

What is everyone reading this week? I hope during this busy time you all are able to carve out some time for yourselves to enjoy a good book. December has not been the best reading month for me but I'm hoping to find time to work on The Peoples of Middle-Earth and maybe finish it before the new year.

Happy reading and Happy Holidays!

Happy week after Thanksgiving! How was your holiday? I hope everyone had a lovely one, full of all good things (and extra reading time).

What is everyone reading this week? I managed to finish one book over the holiday (*cries*). But it was 650 pages so there is that lol. Now I'm just reading The War of the Jewels and trying to get that done before December is here. After that, I'll probably read System Collapse because I am ready for a new Murderbot story and Murder in the Mews.

Happy reading!

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope your all's week has been off to a great start.

As we head into Thanksgiving next week, what are you all thankful for this season, book related or otherwise? I am obviously very grateful for all of you- for your participation in Book Quest (whether you're new this year or have been doing it every year since the start), your comments, and your recommendations. Programs like this couldn't exist without their members; you all are the reason this continues every year. So thank you.

Happy reading!

Happy Halloween! For those who celebrate, I hope you have a great spooky day. If you don't, I hope you also have a great day. I'm crossing fingers the rain holds off for the trick or treating hours because I bought a lot of candy and I need the kids to come take it so I don't eat it. Lol.

Don't forget, the Freedom to Read challenge ends tomorrow (31st). Be sure to log activities and submit your tickets to be entered into the prize drawing!

What is everyone reading this week? I finished Iris Kelly Doesn't Date over the weekend and it was so good. I've loved the Bright Falls series and I'm sorry to see it end. Not sure what I'm reading next. Still working on Babel and The Price of Freedom. I think I might also start Thornhedge. But we'll see.

Happy reading and Happy Halloween!

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope your week is off to a great start.

What is everyone reading this week?

I finished Silver Nitrate over the weekend which was a wonderfully spooky book about old films, sorcerers, curses, and two friends caught up in the middle. Definitely recommend. Now I'm working on the final Lockwood & Co book, The Empty Grave, as well as a Pirates of the Caribbean book, The Price of Freedom. I've been meaning to read this for ages but the only place that had a copy was Virginia Beach and I wasn't willing to pay for a library card. But now their cards are free for in state residents (if you didn't know that, now you do, and you should definitely take advantage) so here I am years late, finally reading it. Hopefully it will be worth the wait.

Happy reading!

Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone's week has been wonderful so far.

As many of you probably know, last week was national Banned Books Week. In honor of that (and the right to read), we have a new Beanstack challenge: Let Freedom Read. Learn new perspectives and celebrate the freedom to read by completing activities that relay the words and lives of real people that have been challenged through the years. This challenge runs now through the end of the month. The more activities you complete, the more tickets you earn which can be entered into the prize drawings.

To register and participate in the challenge, scroll down to "More Challenges" on your Beanstack home page. Click and hit "Join Challenge." Simple as that. Like with Book Quest, you can find the activity badges under "Badges."

Participation in this challenge is also now a special Take It or Leave It activity in Book Quest.

A big shout out to Arlice for putting this amazing challenge together!

Happy reading, everyone!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Hope your week has been off to a great start.

What is everyone reading this week? I am super excited because I have accumulated enough spooky/autumn books to make my tbr for October fit a theme (for once in my life). But before I can dive in, I have to finish a couple other books (boo). Currently reading A Conspiracy of Kings and then my roommate and I are going to take Thursday and buddy read Blonde Identity together. She loves Ally Carter and I've read nothing by her so this will be a fun time. I also need to read vol.3 of Fangirl. Once those are all done... spooky books! :D

Happy reading!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! How was your weekend? I hope this week has been going well so far.

Update! Our new system is live. And it's wonderful (I will spare you me waxing poetically about it though I think it can all be summed up in the fact that one of their people, who is here to oversee the going live bit, made us chocolate chip cookies yesterday morning because she knew we'd need sweets; so it's all lovely, company and product lol). As with everything, there have been some hiccups, one of which is that not every pin transferred over. If you're having issues logging into your library account or the online resources, please drop by to reset your pin.

Our phones are a separate issue. Their transition did not go as smoothly. Even I'm unsure which lines work at this moment. Hopefully by the end of the week that will be ironed out but please consider swinging by the library if you have a question. And please be gentle with library staff- all these issues are things out of front line staff control.

On to more fun things! What is everyone reading this week? I am finally reading the final book in the Bloodright Trilogy, Vows of Empire . After struggling with the first two books, I'm actually really into this one and hopefully it won't take me too long to finish. I'll hopefully get to some graphic novels including Revenge of the Librarians and Fangirl vol.3. I'm under 100 pages in You Had Me at Hola which has been super cute. Not sure what comes next but I have a giant tbr pile so the options are basically endless lol.

Happy reading!

Janice wrote: "Netflix did a great job on Shadow and Bone. I usually don't want the film/show adaptation until after I've read the book, but with this show, watching it first made we want to read the book. Once I..."

Shadow and Bone was a good adaptation! It was one of those ones where the changes they did made sense (for the most part) which is really hard to pull off.

Happy Monday! How has everyone's September been going? Surviving the heat and storms? Hopefully it's been going well and that you've read lots of amazing books.

System update! There will be more information on the library's social media and other internet channels but I wanted to give you all a head's up that the library is getting a new internal system and the changeover will begin on Friday (the 15th) with "go live" being Monday the 18th.

What does this mean for you? Beanstack will not be affected. That will continue to operate like normal. However, other library services will be down - this includes the library catalog and access to My Account on our website. I anticipate that our ebook/eaudiobook content will also be down so be prepared to have no access to Libby/Overdrive and Hoopla over the weekend. If you plan to drop by any branch to borrow books, please make sure you have your physical library card. Staff will be unable to check out without the physical card. Be aware that most likely our patron computers will also be down during this time. When the new system goes live on Monday, library services might still come back slowly or over the course of a couple days; I'll give you an update on what's happening in next week's thread.

Transitions are always hard and I thank you all for your patience with library staff during this process. We are all really excited for this new system and we think you'll love it too.

Happy reading!

Ann wrote: "I finished The Mitford Scandal and reread Naked in Death by J. D. Robb (I was out sick Tuesday and felt the need of a comfort read.).
I'm off for a week, and am stocking up with books to read, and..."

I hope you are feeling better! Enjoy your time off! May it be full of great reads. :D

A happy Thursday to everyone. I hope you are having a great week so far. Sorry this post is so late. I've been in training all week.

What is everyone reading this week? I finally finished Dark Water Daughter which I ended up really enjoying if not as much as I hoped (more on that next week). I also managed to read the next Lockwood & Co book, The Hollow Boy. I've picked up Murder in Mesopotamia and will probably also read some manga before the week is over.

Happy reading! And I hope everyone has a lovely holiday weekend!

Happy Monday! I hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy the nice weather this weekend, especially on Saturday.

What is everyone reading this week? I managed to finish The War of the Ring over the weekend and I'm hoping to finish Dark Water Daughter this week. Then I might start Lockwood & Co: Hollow Boy (my roommate is waiting impatiently for me to finish the book series lol). Besides that, I don't know what I'm in the mood for but I'm sure I'll find other things to read!

Happy reading!

Madison wrote: "The Book Thief is one of my favorite books ever, and I think the movie did a solid job of expressing all its themes, even though of course there were some changes made.

I also watched RWRB this we..."

I loved the Book Thief but I've never seen the movie. I need to rectify that. I do need to go reread RWRB; it having been so long probably helped me like the movie more. It's always hard when they have to condense or remove book plot.

Ann wrote: "I read Red, White, and Royal Blue a while ago, and would love to see the movie. I still rewatch LOTR, The Hobbit, and HP (not so much Fantastic Beasts- except the first one). I want to watch Trent,..."

The movie is on Prime! I definitely recommend watching it. LOTR is such a great adaptation. I used to randomly watch HP when it would be shown on ABC Family/Freeform but since I don't have cable anymore, I haven't watched it in a long time. I'd be interested to know if Trent is any good.

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Today we're going to talk about book to movie/show adaptations. Why? Because Good Omens gave me brain rot. And then I binge read the almost 500 page book. And now I want to read it again. Then season 2 of Heartstopper dropped and even though I finished the graphic novels early this year, I'm eying them again (vol.5 can't get here soon enough). And last night I watched the Red, White, and Royal Blue movie which I thought was adorable and much fun and it's been a few years since I read the book so who needs a tbr pile? Please send help.

But honestly, I think we as book lovers think a lot about book to movie/show adaptations. The world is filled with them and most of them are just... okay. Not good, not bad, but fine. There are some though that are almost perfect. Yeah things were changed (books and film are two separate mediums and not everything translates) but they still kept to the heart of book. I get to add Good Omens and Heartstopper to that list. Their adaptations are just * chef's kiss * They keep the tone of their respective books and what's added only enhances. What's removed makes sense. Of course, these two have an advantage - their creators were heavily involved, including doing the actual script writing. If only all creators could have that much say in their movie/tv show. Red, White, and Royal Blue was not as good an adaptation but for trying to adapt an almost 500 page novel into a two hour movie and still give fans what they want, it did a great job. Anyway, thanks for letting me happy vent about my current favorite things.

What's a perfect book to movie/tv show adaptation for you? Or what's one that makes you cringe just thinking about it?

Today is Book Lovers Day! The perfect day for all of us. I hope you're able to find some time today to curl up with a good one.

What is everyone reading this week? I'm still trying to finish all the same books I've been trying to finish lol. I don't think I'm in a slump, but for some reason, I've just not been finding reading time for them. Part of the reason I don't think it's a slump is because over the weekend I binge read all of Good Omens because the show gave me brain rot (please send help). I'm really hoping, starting today, on Book Lovers Day, I can pull myself together and get these other books finished. Send me good luck.

Happy Book Lovers Day!

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend full of rest, relaxation, and good books.

What is everyone reading this week? For some reason I'm reading like five books right now. Plus I just finished a graphic novel - Nimona - which was great. I watched the movie on Netflix and loved it; the graphic novel is a bit different but still just as good. Highly recommend. Also reading The Raven King, Dark Water Daughter, and Wildblood.

Then there's my e-book, Say You Swear, which is the reason for this thread's topic title. "DNF" stands for "did not finish" and I am notoriously bad at not doing this even when I should. But this book is... well it's become sort of a hate read haha. I picked it up because I saw good reviews on Instagram and there were supposedly some tropes in it that I enjoy, also sports romance. However, it's proving not to be anything like what was promised and I honestly am seriously disliking it. But I've devoted a couple hours to it already and I can't just waste that time by dnf-ing it. Right? Someone needs to save me from myself lol.

Do you DNF books? Or do you find, once you start, you need to finish?

Have a good week!

Hi, everyone! Thank you again so much for your patience with the Take It or Leave It challenges for this quarter. I am happy to report that Quarter 3's challenges (July-September) are now live on the Beanstack website.

Happy reading!

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a lovely weekend and that your week is off to a fantastic start.

What is everyone reading this week? I had so many plans for reading last week but I ended up just watching Big Bang Theory and enjoying romances on Kindle Unlimited because my brain was fully in program mode. When you run a two day convention for work, sometimes your brain just becomes mush lol. But now it's over (until January), so I'm more hopeful for this week.

I've got three main books going - Wildblood, Dark Water Daughter, and The Raven King (which is a reread). Dark Water Daughter is actually one of my two most anticipated books this year. The author described the book as Pirates of the Caribbean-esque but set in the north and the male main character has Norrington vibes. Sign me up please.

Happy reading!