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

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

Did everyone survive Daylight Savings? I will admit, it gets harder every year to loose that hour. My body still doesn't know what time it is. Lol.

Bestsellers... those popular books everyone is talking about and generally have a crazy hold list here at the library. Do you get swept up in the bestseller craze? Do you wait until it's died down? Or do you just ignore it completely and read other books?

If you read bestsellers, what's been your favorite one so far? And do you think it lives up to the hype?

Susan found this fun link which gives you the best selling book the year you were born! Click here and tell us the book..

*Edit* Apparently, I need to read the instructions better. You enter your AGE not the year you were born. Lol. Mine is actually The Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy. And while I've not heard of that book, I have definitely heard of the author.

Susan wrote: "For number 7- a green what?"

You're looking for a book which has a cover that is predominantly some shade of green. If you happen to drop by the Central Library, there is a display in the Teen section of books that fit the bill. :)

Happy March!! March's Take It or Leave It is now up! Go take a look to see the categories. If you haven't already, click here to log your February ones.

First discussion post for Citizen is posted. Join the entire Hampton Roads region as we read this book in the month of March.

What is everyone reading this week? I'm halfway through The Two Towers so hoping to finish that up in the next day or so. My coworker was reading Spying on Whales via OverDrive so of course I had to put a hold on it. I've been waiting for a hard copy but didn't even realize we had it digitally. So excited. I love reading about whales. I also have what looks to be a cute YA book, Comics Will Break Your Heart.

Tell us your current read!

March's Take It or Leave It challenges are below. Do one, do all, do none! It's totally up to you.

1. "We Can Do It" - Celebrate Women's History Month by reading a historical fiction or non-fiction book about a famous lady

2. Belief Systems - Read a book about religion or theology

3. Making Me Hungry - Read a book with food on the cover

4. The Compelling Villain - Read a book about a villain or antihero

5. I Saw You on the Subway - Read a book you saw being read by a stranger in a public place

6. It's About the Journey - Read a book about travel

7. Shamrocks! - Read a book with a green cover

Have fun!

One of the great things about Citizen is that it pushes readers outside their comfort zone. From the language to the words to the images, the book is designed to force us to confront uncomfortable topics.

If you've started the book, what so far has made you look past your comfort zone?

If you haven't, is there a book you've read in the past that forced you to confront uncomfortable topics? If so, which and what did you learn?

How did you all feel about Outlander? Love it? Hate it? Went out and bought the rest of the series? Binged the show?

I'm still working my way through it but I don't dislike it as much as I thought I would. I'm intrigued by the characters and want to know what is going to happen. But I don't think I will read the rest of the series. I feel like at some point, it's going to start getting repetitive. But I'm glad I'm reading this first one; it's a little outside my normal and it's good to stretch a bit.

Tell us your thoughts!

February is almost over! This month always flies by so fast. If you're participating in our Take It or Leave It Challenge, be sure to list which ones you completed. You can comment on the thread here.

What is everyone reading this week? I took last week off and I managed to only finish one book (A Curse so Dark and Lonely). I feel so ashamed. All that time and my book pile never got any smaller. Does this ever happen to you? You set aside time to read but you end up doing other things? I feel like I need another vacation to make up for the fact that I didn't do any reading on this one. Lol

For this week, I want to try and finish the book club book, Outlander. I also have The Count of Monte Cristo, Ruin and Rising, and The Two Towers on my list. Plus manga volumes.

Tell us what you are reading this week!

Claire is an "outlander" - a stranger or foreigner. In Outlander is a term defined as "a stranger or foreigner." The term "Sassenach" is also used to refer to her.

What makes Claire an "outlander?" How does she handle it? In what ways does her 20th century views clash with the 18th century views of those around her? Do you think this makes her more of an outlander? By the end of the book, do you think she has better found her place or is beginning to?

Join us in March as we read through the NEA's Big Read selection - Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine.

Be sure to place your copy on hold today!

If you've been to the library recently and picked up the Spring edition of the Loop, you may have noticed the double paged spread in the middle about the NEA Big Read. The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read is a national program geared toward broadening perspectives through a good book.

This year the book is Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine. This thought provoking book grapples with race and identity, asking us to look deeply at our intentional and unintentional racial biases. The hope is that this book will open up valuable dialogue in our community.

Join us in March as we read and discuss Citizen in our Online Book Club. Be sure to place your copy on hold today!

In addition, Old Dominion University was a grant recipient for Big Read and will be using this money for programming across Hampton Roads, in partnership with libraries and other community partners. Check out all the region wide events here.

These are all great books! Thank you, everyone, for sharing!

Question taken from LitLovers' reading guide

Time travel - without it, you couldn't have Outlander. Everything that happens is directly related to the fact that Claire gets thrown 200 years into the past.

How disorienting—or appealing—would it be for you to be transported back in time? How would you cope with the time change? What era would be most appealing to you to travel back to?

I feel like the disorienting/appealing nature of being transported in time would come down to whether or not I was prepared. Thinking of Claire, if she had known what was going to happen and brushed up on 18th century ways, it might not have been quite so bad. Ending up there suddenly (and in the middle of a fight no less) would make anyone disoriented.

I'm not sure when I'd want to travel back to. I would love to have seen Greece during its height or go back far enough to get to see all the Ancient Wonders of the world before they were lost.

I'm sure by now many of you have seen or heard about Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, the Netflix show about how to tidy up. One of her tips making the rounds is her preference for only keeping 30 books in your house.

Now this of course set off every bibliophile everywhere. "Get rid of all but 30 of my books? How could I? My books are like my children." It's also led to some pretty funny jokes- "That's 30 books per shelf/to-be-read pile, right?"

While I agree that I won't ever be getting rid of my books (they are my children), my roommate and I had a fun evening discussing which 30 books we most definitely need in our lives. It quickly became obvious that our list of "must haves" was way longer than 30 but it was still a fun exercise in picking out those books that mean a lot to us.

I'm putting the question to you - what are your 30 books (or less or more) you couldn't live without? What books do you always want to see on your shelf?

Mine ended up being everything Tolkien, Agatha Christie, and Jane Austen; Dinotopia, Jane Eyre, A Count of Monte Cristo, Crown Duel, A Countess Below Stairs, Fangirl, Carry On, Beauty, A Tale of Two Cities, and Thr3e.

Tell us yours!

Stacy wrote: "Don't give up. All the characters are going to evolve. I didn't understand what all the hype was about; then I watched the series on Starz. I'm so obsessed. I've read the first 4 books and most of ..."

We'll see if I read the rest, but I'll definitely finish the first one. And aren't the books really always better? :)

A week into February, how are you all feeling about Outlander? Liking it? Not liking it? Cautiously optimistic?

I will admit that I wasn't looking forward to reading it (please don't judge). But I'm a couple chapters in and I don't hate it. I like Claire and I'm very interested to see what will happen next. Especially since I'm wondering how Gabaldon makes this plot go through 8 books (so far).

Susan wrote: "Super surprised there isn’t a Black History month option- I was saving “an American marriage” for that reason! 😊😊"

I can add one! The options are randomly generated (I have a document with 100+ options numbered and I use an online random generator to pick my numbers for me) and I wasn't paying attention. Lol.

Tell us your current read here!

(Sorry for such a late and short thread this week. I've been sick the past few days. Being sick really cuts into your reading and work time. Look for a normal length post next week. And thanks for understanding.)

Edit: I added a new Take It or Leave It for Black History Month. Thank you to Susan for pointing it out to me. :)

February's Take It or Leave It challenges are below. Do one, do all, do none! It's totally up to you.

1. That's Ancient - Read a book written before 1920

2. Not All Tears Are Bad - Read a book that makes you cry (or that you think will make you cry)

3. What Makes Us Human? - Read a book with non-human characters

4. Dear Friend - Read a book in epistolary form (letter, diary, blog, emails, etc.)

5. Touchdown! - Read a book about or involving sports

6. Relive Your Glory Days - Read a bestseller from the year you graduated high school

7. All of Time and Space - Read a book that involves time travel

8. Black History Month - February is Black History Month! Read a book to celebrate.

Thank you to everyone who participated last month! Make sure you record your February challenge reads here, in this thread.

How was everyone's to be read book? Did you enjoy it? Are you disappointed in yourself for waiting so long to read it? Or was it just okay? Did you dislike it?

Tell us your final thoughts about your tbr book!

I absolutely loved mine (which was Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo). I can't believe it has taken me this long to read it. I'm already halfway through the sequel and I'm excited to find out what happens. I've gotten attached to the characters.

Here's to finishing all of our to be read piles!

Susan wrote: "1) popular “How to Walk Away” by Katherine Center {instant NY Times bestseller, had a hard time finding list of how long it was on there🤷🏻‍♀️}
2) young achievers “Looking for Alaska” by John Green..."

TBR piles truly are never ending, lol.