L Y N N’s Comments (group member since Nov 10, 2018)

L Y N N’s comments from the Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge group.

Jennifer W wrote: "But I did find this article of 100 books with great last lines:
https://americanbookreview.org/archiv..."
This is a great resource! Thanks for posting!

I think I'm going to assume that a book I read in 2025 will qualify to fulfill this prompt, at last IMO! 😁

Some from my TBR listing:
I've really been wanting to read this one! Lulu in Marrakech by Diane Johnson
AND...
Cloud Dancer by Mary Ann McGuigan
Shadow Play: A Mystery by Rajorshi Chakraborti
The Figures of Beauty by David MacFarlane
The Clansman (Reconstruction Trilogy #2) by Thomas Dixon Jr.
Death of the Black-Haired Girl by Robert Stone
Loop Group by Larry McMurtry
The Other Story by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Book Borrower by Alice Mattison
Flying Shoes by Lisa Howorth
The Glitch by Elisabeth Cohen
Murders at Moon Dance by A.B. Guthrie Jr.
Panic in a Suitcase by Yelena Akhtiorskaya
Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded (Oxford World's Classics) by Samuel Richardson by Samuel Richardson THIS IS A CLASSIC
Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam
The Garden (Into Shadow #1) by Tomi Adeyemi FANTASY & SHORT STORY
Polite Society by Mahesh Rao RETELLING OF JANE AUSTEN'S EMMA
After Alice by Gregory Maguire
The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
Daughters of Captain Cook by Linda Spalding
Merger on the Orient Expressway by Mary Blount Christian
How Could She by Lauren Mechling
The Diagnosis by Alan Lightman
Vengeance Is Mine by Marie NDiaye
Local Girls by Caroline Zancan
The Evening Road by Laird Hunt BEEN WANTING TO READ THIS TO GIVE HIM ANOTHER TRY...
Noon by Aatish Taseer
Bookish People by Susan Coll ANOTHER ONE I REALLY WANT TO READ!
Black Olives by Martha Tod Dudman
Ballroom by Alice Sherman Simpson
A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia REALLY REALLY WANT TO READ THIS ONE!
Lost Hearts in Italy by Andrea Lee ANOTHER ONE I OWN AND REALLY WANT TO READ!
The Weeping Woman by Zoé Valdés
The Actress by Amy Sohn
Black Deutschland by Darryl Pinckney
Knee-Deep in Wonder by April Reynolds
Tales of the Islanders by Charlotte Brontë
Murder on the Eiffel Tower (Victor Legris #1) by Claude Izner
Lydia's Party by Margaret Hawkins
Perfect Reader by Maggie Pouncey
See Now Then by Jamaica Kincaid
Goldberg Variations by Susan Isaacs
Between You and Me by Emma McLaughlin
Perfect Life by Jessica Shattuck
The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones
The Oriental Wife by Evelyn Toynton
The Boy Who Could Fly without a Motor by Theodore Taylor FANTASY JUVENILE
The Eye of Jade (Mei Wang Mystery #1) by Diane Wei Liang I'VE OWNED THIS ONE FOR YEARS AND REALLY WANT TO READ IT!
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
The Dove's Necklace by Raja Alem
The Female Detective by Andrew Forrester
Murder at the Book Club (Barrett & Palmer #1) by Betsy Reavley
Left in the Wind: A Novel of the Lost Colony: The Roanoke Journal of Emme Merrimoth by Ed Gray
The Queen's Lover by Francine du Plessix Gray

NONFICTION:
Unveiling Whiteness in the Twenty-First Century: Global Manifestations, Transdisciplinary Interventions by Veronica Watson
The Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity by Maria Krysan
The Equal Society: Essays on Equality in Theory and Practice by George Hull
Ending Mass Incarceration: Ideas from Today's Leaders by Inimai Chettiar
Double Stars: The Story of Caroline Herschel by Padma Venkatraman YA BIOGRAPHY OF A FEMALE SCIENTIST
Woman, Child For Sale by Gilbert King

This is what happens when you add any and all books you think you may be interested in reading...as long as you live to be approximately 1,000 years old!! LOL

I read The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship a little over 4 years ago and loved it! It still only has a cumulative rating of 2.85, if you're following the interpretation of using this statistic. This book made me wonder what other books I may really enjoy but may be missing just because others haven't liked it as well I did! 😁😉 It was much more complex than I had expected it to be.

Jamie wrote: "I found this helpful. I might try Sam and Ilsa's Last Hurrah. https://bookmarklit.net/2019/05/17/bo..."

Excellent resource! Thanks for posting!

Ally wrote: "I'm ok with this and interpreting in different ways (my challenge, my rules). 1. I'm looking at the lowest overall rating of all books on my TBR (3.01). 2. I'm looking at the people I follow on GR ..."

Brilliant interpretations!

Bea wrote: "LeahS wrote: "I'm just taking it as under 3 when the prompt list was published i.e. on 2 December 24."

I can accept that reasoning. It removes worry...and I get to stay with my choice of Lis..."</i>

And [book:Listen to Me includes a road trip and there are at least two other books with that same title!

Andrea wrote: "Right now, City of Night Birds, the new Reese Witherspoon book club pick, has below a 3 star rating. It looks like a lot of people gave it a low rating solely because it featured R..."
I just checked and it is already at 3.83 on December 7, 2024.

Denise wrote: "I like this one but I'm not sure what I'm going to read for it. I read You Should See Me in a Crown and I did like it!"
One of my favorites!

Lisa wrote: "Just want to put a plug in here that all of the books in the ‘No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency’ series would fit, and they are great reads that are a snap to get through and also funny and charming!
Though the series is long, each book features its own mysteries, so if you don’t plan on reading the whole series, you could read any of them as a standalone.
I’ve read several and they’re fantastic!

I will make a disclaimer that although the main characters are women in Botswana, the author is a Scottish/Zimbabwean white man. I mean I *think* he does a good job, but not being a woman of Botswana or knowing any, it’s hard to be certain..."
This is one of my all-time favorite series. And Smith was not just born and raised in Zimbabwe, but he was educated there and has worked there establishing a school, etc. He is such a brilliant person talented in so very many areas!

Anyway, to your point about you "think" he has depicted these women accurately... No matter what 'group' of people being considered, the scope of differences will be just as wide. (I learned that in an introductory sociology class.) So, IMO at least, there is never just one stereotypical representation that should be considered "right," but I know there are many readers who feel differently. So, IMO, Smith has accurately depicted Precious and Grace. 😊 Glad to see I am not alone in my enjoyment of this series!!

Jen W. wrote: "I remembered these on the interconnected short stories thread. Blackout and Whiteout are interconnected short story anthologies I read last year, featuring love stor..."
Question. I own a copy of Blackout and have been wanting to read it, but are the stories of BOTH books intereconnected? Or, I assume, I could just read Blackout OR Whiteoutand those stories are interconnected within the one book. But I wanted to check to be sure... Thanks in advance!

Kimberley wrote: "Definitely going to read Becoming by Michelle Obama. She's such an inspiration"
I loved it!

Deb wrote: "I think Ready Player One and V for Vendetta may work for this prompt."

Yes, Ready Player One definitely works!

LeahS wrote: "I'm just hoping I come across a left handed character in my ATY reading. Could we stretch this to The Left Hand of Darkness?( (Probably not)"
I don't even consider that a stretch! LOL

Jen W. wrote: "I guess I'll finally read one of those super-popular books I've been dodging, like Fourth Wing or Educated."
Ooohhh, Educated was excellent! Scary and certainly made me appreciate my own childhood much more!

Jeniece wrote: "Such an open ended prompt. I need guardrails.....But I will either go for a Homer or Shakespeare. Other thought is I am planning on reading the Ramona Quimby books to my daughter next year, and Bev..."

Wow. I had no idea she was that old! Cool info! Thanks for sharing!

Gail W wrote: "I highly recommend Less by Andrew Sean Greer. I'll be reading the sequel, Less Is Lost."
Ooohhh, that's one I want to read soon! Thanks for reminding me!

Jen W. wrote: "I think any fantasy or sci-fi where LGBTQ identities are just part of the world by default and not questioned would satisfy this prompt."

Excellent point!!

Tania wrote: "Travel makes up the bulk of my bucket list, some of my choices are:

Austria (and specifically going to the Spanish Riding School): [book:The Perfect Horse: the Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Pr..."
That looks like an amazing list! Thank you!

Katherine wrote: "@Lynn, may I suggest "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer? It's a middle grade book, but pretty good. Afro-future, traveling around the area including a "traditional" village, little bit..."
Thanks for the rec. I don't do Amazon unless forced to...except for Goodreads, of course! :(

Katherine wrote: "sorry about triple posting, my phone was lagging something bad when I tried to post initially"

No problem! I deleted two of them! :)