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.

A Book That Was Adapted into a Musical

Wow. What a cool prompt! Thank goodness for Googling! There are so many that didn't even cross my mind. But then I rarely "watch" anything, so I guess it is to be expected that I might be clueless!
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers is actually the first in a series containing 8 books!
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
The Sound of Music might prove to be a bit problematic as I was unable to discover a book with the same title, but there is an autobiography of the oldest daughter: Agathe von Trapp: Memories Before and After The Sound of Music by Agathe von Trapp. And there may well be more...

Some other Listopias that might help:
"Musicals" Listopia
This one probably includes plays, not just musicals, so beware! "Page to Stage" Lisopia

For nonfiction, perhaps Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow!

Those are some to get us started!

Listopia is HERE!

This discussion thread is to mark your completion of the September challenge to fulfill prompt #6 A book about pirates.

Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19! John Baur and Mark Summers created this international day in 1995.

Please include the following information about this book:

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Would you recommend this book?

This discussion thread is to mark your completion of the August challenge to fulfill prompt #23 A book that features dragons.

National Lizard Day is August 14!

Please include the following information about this book:

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This discussion thread is to mark your completion of the July challenge to fulfill prompt #44 An autobiography written by a woman in rock 'n' roll.

National Day of Rock ‘N’ Roll is July 7!

Please include the following information about this book:

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Author:
Would you recommend this book?

I am currently only on page 91 of this book, ready for the chapter entitled "Auditory." I am appalled that I've made no further progress than that, but have had some neighborhood drama, book club meetings, dinners with friends, etc., that have all contributed to the derailment of my reading plans. However, I plan to hit it hard tomorrow! 😋

Jennifer W wrote: "I picked up MetaMaus: A Look Inside a Modern Classic, Maus from the library. Some of the chapter titles are
Why the Holocaust?
Why comics?
Why mice?

I'm excited to get those answers!"
I hope you will share those! :)

Dubhease wrote: "Happy Thursday!

I finished no books this week. I thought I'd get farther in Dr. Zhivago, but the other two books I wanted to read this month both came in last Thursday, so now I'm working on three books. I am happy with what I accomplished in a week. Yay for 4 day weekends."
Those are the best!!

"I know Dr. Zhivago is going to drag into December which is okay. It's about 650 pages and I generally have to renew long books at least once. I am loving my other two books
Doctor Zhivago - 25% done
The Book of Cold Cases - 55% done
Alvin Journeyman - 35% done"
Making good progress!

"QOTW: Probably either Lizzie Bennett because she could do witty repartee on the spot. Or Luna Lovegood because she was so unapologetically herself."
Luna is just Luna! I love that about her as well!

Ashley Marie wrote: "Happy Thursday! I came down with a nasty sinus infection last weekend but I’m feeling much better today - maybe not 100% but well on my way. Predictably, my NaNo writing suffered and I’m currently wallowing in the void of imposter syndrome with a bonus of “if I don’t have anything new to say, why am I bothering at all?” So it’s going great. Otherwise I’m thankful that my mental faculties are back on track with reading - all I wanted to do for days was sleep, so everything tanked (not that I have a problem with that because I’ve passed my GR challenge goal, but it always bums me out when I don’t feel well enough to pay attention to a book)."
Agreed! That's when you know I am REALLY SICK!!

"I’ve got a pair of staged readings to work on this weekend for The Long Christmas Dinner and The Thanksgiving Play, which means I don’t think I’ll get to the new episodes of The Crown until Sunday or Monday, but I can’t waitttt. I tackled the new Fellow Travelers (Paramount/Showtime) and I love it, it’s going to completely wreck me. Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer are phenomenal. We’re also through s3 of Suits. Sidenote, does anyone else watch Survivor? I was a FIEND for those early seasons and then stopped for a long time, but I got back into it a few seasons ago and I'm in love all over again."
Best of luck getting to all that! I think I watched one episode of Survivor the first season. Of course, I haven't had TV for more than 20 years...

"A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France - 4 stars. Exhaustively researched. Review here."
Looks intriguing!

"Bookshops & Bonedust - I unexpectedly got ahold of a copy right away, but I may shelve it so I can listen to the audio for the group read next month."
YAY! Do plan to join us!

"The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II - Another heavy WWII nonfiction. My hope is that I can knock this out today and tomorrow and shift gears to something a bit lighter next week."
Another nonfiction I would like to read!

"QOTW: Who/What is one of the characters you have read about that you most admire? Why?
I adore Julia Grey from the Silent in the Grave series - she's practical, resourceful, and not too perfect."
I have yet to read the first book in this series. Though I now own it!

"And I love Daniel Faust from The Long Way Down series for never being too good of a person."
That made me chuckle! 😃

Katy wrote: "I just finished Daughter of Eden: Eve's Story It was good. I cried."
It's been awhile since a book made me cry!

"I just started Winter and Night. And when I say just started, i'm literally on page 2, so no opinion whatsoever yet"
That's a new-to-me series!

"QOTW: That's a hard question. I'm only going to consider strictly fictional characters. Maybe Claire from Outlander. she managed to adapt to an entirely different time period. Tried to make her original marriage work when she went back, and I'll not blame Frank for that not working out. Waited until she raised her daughter to go back to her true love, and not even knowing if he'd still be there. She had a lot more courage than I do."
I love read about courageous characters!

"Then on another note, tomorrow is my last day at my job. On a scale of 1 to 10, my stress level is at least 15. I've only applied to 2 jobs and did not hear back from either of them, but wasn't really planning on getting serious about the job search until I get back from Thanksgiving. Deep cleansing breath, deep cleansing breath, deep cleansing breath."
Sending positive job-hunting energy!! Keep breathing!! 👍😁

Ron wrote: "...on the book front. I haven't been reading a lot lately because I've been focused on my writing instead. With 2 books recently self-published my attention has been there for now. I want to give out copies to family members for the holidays so that will be a nice surprise for them."
That is so cool!

"Lynn, thanks for sharing those National Book Awards list. I am so happy with one of them:

The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History

So cool to see a book that I love as a winner for a change. I read the book back in May and it was my #1 favorite book that month. I do still have to go back and read some of it because it was such a long read, but I read most and absolutely loved it!

I saw that "Fire Weather" by John Valliant was also there which I read this year as well. Between the two though, thrilled more so for the "Rediscovery" book."
You are way ahead of me! Thanks for mentioning these!

"QOTW:

Who/What is one of the characters you have read about that you most admire? Why?

Oh excellent question and one I haven't thought of before, I guess because I don't read that much fiction (only 20% this year).

I don't think there's any that I have really admired, but there are some that I've liked that I would enjoy being friends with because I think we have a lot in common.

That said, the first that comes to mind is Cath from "Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell. She's basically me. I feel like I could have written that story. I got my degree in English because I love to write, I was an introvert like Cath, and I too write fanfiction. I think Cath and I would get along great!"
I liked her!!

"The second is Melinda Sordino from "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson. I could relate to her in a lot of different ways down to her depression. While I can't relate to some aspects, I think she and I would hit it off because of the first part I mentioned and she has her art and I have my writing so I think those would compliment each other nicely. Plus we both hate high school so we have that going for us and aren't that well at talking."
Sounds like a good match!

K.L. wrote: "Happy Thursday, everyone!

It’s been a bit of a week. I was supposed to have my new fridge delivered over the weekend, but got a call the day before the delivery date to say that it hadn’t arrived at the fulfillment center, and that it would be delivered on Monday.

Well, Monday rolls around, and I get a text that my delivery is on its way…which is then followed by a phone call from the delivery driver to let me know that he is only dropping off the hose for the ice maker. Apparently the fridge did not make it on the truck.

To make a long story short, I talked to multiple people and the fridge should be delivered tomorrow. Fingers crossed, because this is the fourth delivery date I’ve been given for it."
Oh, my! That sounds so frustrating! Sure hope it finally arrived safe and sound!

"As far as reading is concerned, this was another fantastic reading week! I continued to make progress on my TBR list, and I’m currently 4 books away from completing my TBR goal for this year. I was hoping to meet that goal by the end of the month, and it’s looking like I might actually be able to finish before the end of next week instead, which is awesome!

I’ve also had a chance to continue reading titles from my “New Books” list, and can honestly say that I’ve made decent progress this week.

My choice of reading material over the past several weeks has been amazing, with a lot of 5-star reads, and this week did not disappoint. Of the 10 books I read this week, 4 got a 5-star rating from me."
That all sounds great!! Good for you!

"~Bookshops & Bonedust — This was such an enjoyable read! I loved the story, and thought the characters were great. 📚:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~System Collapse — This was such a great book! I love Murderbot so much! 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"
Glad to see you enjoyed both of these! My copies should arrive this next week!

"~The Secret of Chimneys — Although this book was a little slow toward the beginning, I ended up really enjoying the mystery. There were a lot of twists and turns that I did not see coming. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"
Christie is good at that!

"QOTW:
Since I’ve been reading a lot of Agatha Christie lately, I think I would say Miss Marple. She just understands other people (and what drives them) so well."
Yes she does!

Ellie wrote: "It's Hidden Books Game day! Lynn has posted the thread so early the game hasn't launched yet, but I imagine it will be live by the time most of you read this (10:30 GMT).
https://hiddenbooks.nationalbooktoken..."
Oh my! That is always a challenge for me! Thank you for posting!

"The neighbours cut down a beautiful mature birch across the road from us and I'm quite sad about it. The whole place just looks bare now. The council do a scheme where you buy them a tree and you get some say over where it can go, so I might enquire to see if we can have one near to where it was. Honestly, I think you should be forced to replace any tree you purposefully destroy, we have a planet to save!"
That makes total sense to me. You use it, you replace it!

"I seem to be reading on a theme this week..."
Ha! Ha! Yes, you do! 😁

"Starter Villain by John Scalzi for ATY (recipe word). I liked the cats, but it didn't seem to have much substance and a lot of the humour fell flat for me, which I think it was relying on. Maybe a different audiobook narration delivery would have helped? He sounded so annoyed the whole way through."
Audiobooks do involve a layer of interpretation... Sorry this one didn't seem to work very well for you!

"Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. This was fun! I thought it was going to be another disappointing "big on TikTok" book but I really enjoyed it. The romance was slow and there was enough non-romance plot to keep me intrigued. It's silly, but in a good way. Warning, it does end on a cliffhanger and there is quite some wait for the next one."
Looks as if this is her debut novel... Added to my TBR listing. Sounds fun!

"QOTW:
I'm not sure I think about characters that way. Surely nearly every main character does something that's admirable in some way, but I don't think I would say I admire them?""
Fair enough!

Doni wrote: "Finished: How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question This is a funny book about philosophy! It's written by the writer of The Good Place (TV show), but you don't have to be familiar with the show to get a lot out of it.

*Don't skip the footnotes. They're the best part!
Quite the title!

"Started: Evil and the God of Love This is such a good book! If anyone would be interested in doing a buddy read of this, I would love that. It's a book that satisfactorally answers the paradox of a benevolent, omnipotent God and the existence of evil."
I can't imagine a book being able to do that... 😋

"QotW: I want to be friends with the friends of the main character in Real. She has autism and they're just so dang awesome with her!"
Aww...they sound wonderful!!

Theresa wrote: "Greetings! I see Lynn is burning the midnight oil! Oops, so am I! Have had bad sleep patterns for last several days though I am usually up late. This is pushing it."
Ha! Ha! Sometimes when I arrive home from the gym on Wednesday nights I am jazzed up and determined to get the Weekly Check-In posting up and done before going to bed. Plus, I was trying to finish Marjorie Morningstar! LOL

"Not a good reading week. Still at 45/50. Finished one book, a 40 page delightful children's book called Grumpy Monkey Up All Night. Perfect for this particular moment, right? 😅"
Exactly! LOL

"Had less reading time this past week with meetings, court hearings, litigation deadlines, and giving workshops at an annual industry event all weekend."
I assume you are happy working from home full-time? I sure hope so! That would be a huge change, I would think!

"But I did finish a bear of a jigsaw puzzle started the week before Halloween, Dowdle's House of Seven Gables. Appropriately bookish, right?"
I haven't worked a jigsaw puzzle in many years. Now that I'm down to three cats and they're all relatively well-behaved, I might just get one to put on the kitchen table. My husband enjoys working them as well.

"QOTW: I hate questions like this. First my mind freezes, then I panic thinking I never see characters that way. Of course that is never true.

So I will have to get back to you on this when/if any drift to mind
How dare you hate my question! LOL 😋😁 I know what you mean. If I had encountered that, I would have reacted in the same way. Just so happens I already had the answer when I asked the question! (Cheating, I know... 😉

This discussion thread is to mark your completion of the June challenge to fulfill prompt #18 A book set in space.

National Meteor Watch Day is June 30!

Please include the following information about this book:

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Author:
Would you recommend this book?

This discussion thread is to mark your completion of the May challenge to fulfill prompt #41 A memoir that explores queerness.

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia is May 17!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna...

Please include the following information about this book:

Title:
Author:
Would you recommend this book?

This discussion thread is to mark your completion of the April challenge to fulfill prompt #29 A book with a neurodivergent main character.

April is Autism Awareness Month!

Please include the following information about this book:

Title:
Author:
Would you recommend this book?

Kendra wrote: "L Y N N wrote: "I find it very interesting that Prospero, in effect, abuses his own daughter physically as well as emotionally, while “Alexander” abuses his ‘adopted’ son emotionally, though not ne...

I'd say it's more because Alexander doesn't really care about Marco, but Prospero is so desperate to not lose he goes too far to prepare Celia"
Ooohhh...thanks for that insight! Very possible...
EDITED TO ADD: I guess I just can't imagine treating your own child in such a way for your own purposes and not considering what is best for the child! Ugh...

I find it very interesting that Prospero, in effect, abuses his own daughter physically as well as emotionally, while “Alexander” abuses his ‘adopted’ son emotionally, though not necessarily physically. Does Prospero assume as the supposed biological father he has a “right” to treat his own flesh and blood in any way he pleases, whereas “Alexander” doesn’t assume such additional abuse? Or is one just a much meaner person than the other?

As always, please present your own unique reactions, questions, points for discussion, etc! Happy reading!