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.

Theresa wrote: "For a change I was looking mid-morning to post my update (I'm in NYC) and the thread wasn't up yet! Now I'm back to my after NOON time slot and all is fine."
Sorry. I've not been as efficient as I should be about posting earlier...

"I'm just back from a few days on an island in Maine. We had perfect glorious weather, it was incredibly relaxing and we even saw a bald eagle from the deck (he kept us company in the pine tree while we lunched as he ate his own lunch (a fish he caught), plenty of other wildlife and a tall ship came sailing by! My friend calls it her corner of paradise and her happy place. It truly is."
That sounds wonderful!

"PS - I only have 6 left!"
Whoo! Whoo!

"Finished:
The Great Christmas Knit Off - this was wonderful! First in a series. I fell in love with Hettie's House of Haberdashery and the Knit & Natter group."
I'm going to suggest this for our bookstore's book club for December! It looks light and happy!

"Currently reading:
Klara and the Sun"
Oohhh...anxious to hear your thoughts about this one! I have a copy and haven't decided when I might read it. Perhaps in October?

"QOTW: Since I just fit whatever I happen to be reading into whatever prompts it fits, and I read from my massive TBR Towers, I don't really know how to answer this. It's not like a prompt per se led me to a particular book. I fit the book to a prompt, sometimes streeeeetching to the breaking point. Like that line in the movie The Firm where Tom Cruise says 'I just want to know how far to bend it (tax code).' Answer: up to breaking point."
I tend to do this as well...just for the fun of it!

"Although, on thinking about it, last year's prompt for longest book in pages prompted me to read finally A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth and I thoroughly loved reading this historical fiction set in India and really quite the soap opera! It made me happy on so many levels!"
That's one I want to get to as well!

Brandon wrote: "Currently Reading:

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

This is for next month's book club meeting. At over 50% of the way through, this is mostly a fun, lighthearted read. Leaving the choice of whether Jamie is female, male, or nonbinary up to the reader is fine in theory, but in practice, it distracts from the story."
This is one I definitely want to read...sometime! :)

"Question of the Week:
I like the prompts that feature settings that give readers lots of options. One of these is a book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit."
I like mix of those along with much more specific prompts. :)

Ron wrote: "Nadine wrote: * What's going on with the 2023 challenge? I can confirm that we will absolutely be rolling out a 2023 challenge and soliciting this crew's help in crafting prompts! Theme is still TBD, but all ears if you want to drop ideas in the comments.
* Will prompt albums still exist in a centralized place? Yes! And if you have other ideas for how we can make tracking prompts easier, let me know.

Thanks for the info! Can't wait for 2023. I really had fun with this years challenge so I'm looking forward to next year."
That's so great! YAY!

Nadine in NY wrote: "Ron wrote: "I'd rather take sticky humidity over the dryness. ..."



I'm the opposite!! I find a dry heat is much more comfortable than humidity! I grew up on the Eastern Seaboard and I live in NY, so I am used to humidity, but I don't like it. The few times I've been in the Nevada & Arizona desert and the brief period when I lived in California were wonderful!!

While I was in NJ for vacation, the kids and I went to a glass museum. (Because that area of NJ has a lot of sand - for glass - and a lot of pine trees - for fuel - it was a HUGE glass-making region in the early days of this country.) They had glass blowing demonstrations going on, and we were skeptical because it was so hot out mid 80s that day (so not THAT hot, but still hot, and so humid), but we went in the building, and sure enough it was over ten degrees hotter in there, in the high 90s F, but it was comfortable because the air was so dry from the ovens! Such a weird sensation."
I LOVE glass-blowing! I could watch others do that for hours, dry heat or heat and humidity! LOL

Mandy wrote: "Happy Thursday!

Well, it's rained again. We've had more rain this summer than we've had in years. So it's hot and humid again. I definitely prefer the dry heat."
Ugh. Well, hopefully you got some of the dryer stuff!

"My vacation was lovely. Work is much better now. I still have a tremendous backlog of processing to do, but I'm feeling much less anxious about it."
Vacations always helped me have a more positive outlook about work when I returned!

"I've been watching Viki instead of reading books. Yeah, I've become hooked on three Chinese dramas. One is called Love Like the Galaxy.
The second is Love Between Fairy and Devil.
The third is also xianxia. It's called Immortal Samsara."
Sounds fascinating and unique!

"Planning:
Steins;Gate 0 Volume 2
Steins;Gate 0 Volume 3
Cemetery Boys
Naruto (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 5: Includes Vols. 13, 14 & 15
Inuyasha (VIZBIG Edition), Vol. 5: Dueling Emotions
The New Gate Volume 1"
Hopefully you'll be joining the monthly group read discussion!

"QOTW:
I think my favorite is just the graphic novel one. I own plenty of manga so it's easy to fulfill and it's enjoyable. I used it for number 40 (I believe) on this year's challenge. I used My Boyfriend in Orange, Vol. 11.."
Great!

Sarah wrote: "Hi everyone. The cray heatwave from last week has turned into crazy storms this week. My workplace flooded with rain water a few days ago but everything is fine now (luckily it was after I went home for the day so I didn't get stuck there)."
Glad you weren't stuck and could get home!

"I also finished Winter's Orbit which I adored. The two main characters utterly charmed me and I loved the world building. I figured out the bad guy pretty early on but it didn't detract from my enjoyment."
Looks like one I should try!

"QOTW: I am really amazed at everyone's memory. I had forgotten so many of these!

I had a quick look back at Pop Sugar through the years and I think my favourites are based on mythology, about a villain and also a musical/play. I don't remember which books I read for them (or if I even liked the books I read) but they're the prompts that jump out at me as ones I would do again."
Cool!

Milena wrote: "Thank you for the great news, Kenya! Now I can say that I want to take a break from the challenge, but then still end up doing it when the list comes out because I can't resist a challenge."
LOL :)

"Currently reading:
The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding
The Woman in the Library"
Both of these look good!

"QOTW:
I know a lot of people don't like genre prompts, but I love them, especially when they're new to me (I will bite my tongue the second there is a self-help book prompt)."
LOL

"My favorites have been: microhistory, cyberpunk, dark academia.
I also love any that include hunts and/or spying on people: book you have seen someone reading in public, book on someone's book shelf, book mentioned in another book"
Those pretty fun and definitely unique!

Jackie wrote: "It's a beautiful day today! I wish had time to spend outside. Alas, just another work day."
But at least it's pretty!

"Finished this week:
Honey and Venom: Confessions of an Urban Beekeeper: A bit disappointing, a premise I was really interested in but ultimately I just didn't get on with the author's writing style"
Aw. It sounds rather fascinating!

"Unicorn Power!: I just love the world and characters of the lumberjanes so much; just so happy and fun"
It's so much fun to find something you totally enjoy!

"QOTW: I've been doing this since 2015, and I think that was the challenge that introduced me to graphic novels? I'm pretty sure the book I read for it was Nimona. So big hats off to that one."
YAY!

Kenya wrote: "Happy Thursday!

Bought a new computer last weekend... now gearing up to start school next week. It's all online, but hopefully doesn't kick my butt too much..."
Best of luck to you! YAY you!

"Also was quite relieved when the PopSugar Facebook group announced that the challenge is still on for 2023! I guess they realized that the challenge still has a lot of fans, hehe..."
This is GREAT news!

"Books read this week:
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy -- I LOVE the Monk and Robot books! They’re cozy sci-fi, and feel like the novella equivalent of a warm cup of tea and a blanket. Becky Chambers is phenomenal."
Loved the first one and anxious to read this second installment! Agreed about Chambers!

"Journey to the Center of the Earth -- if you can forgive a boatload of scientific inaccuracies and forget you ever saw any of the film adaptations, this is a decent classic read."
I know read this as a 12 or 13-year-old and loved it. I am now starting the Captain Nemo trilogy and finding the first book endearing!

"DNF:
The Big Over Easy -- starting to think Jasper Fforde just isn’t my bag…"
Well, at least now you know...

"Memoirs of a Bad Dog -- this seemed like it’d be a lighthearted read, but it was boring and even a little grim instead."
Oh, my...

"QOTW:
For whatever reason my favorite prompt of all time has been the "book mentioned in another book" prompt. It's just fun seeing a book lead me to reading another book, hehe..."
Yes! I love that one as well, even though I panicked when I first read it! I now have a whole ton of such books listed in a note on my phone...just in case this prompt or a variation thereof reappears in the future! LOL

Laura wrote: "I missed last week's check-in. You'd think being retired would mean you have a lot of time on your hands, but I'm really not finding that to be true."
I hear ya! My first few months of retirement were spent caring for a dear friend through multiple medical crises so I didn't feel 'retired' until 3 months later!

"We celebrated Seth's 30th birthday last week. He may be 30, but his interests are still solidly childlike. He picked out some animated movies to download and stream on his tablet and was very pleased with his new "DC League of Superpets" plush animals. We only read one book this week, but we read it multiple times: Negative Cat. He loves it! For a young man who doesn't really like animals (I don't think he can predict their behavior), I find it interesting that his favorite books (and movies) tend to be about animals."
Awwww...that book looks adorable!

"Completed:
A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution (Book Club) ★★★★"
Having read The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, I definitely want to read this one now!

"How to Argue With a Racist: What Our Genes Do (and Don't) Say About Human Difference ★★★★"
*sigh* You would think this would now be accepted truth/fact and therefore believed...

"The Tattooed Girl (PS36: a book you know nothing about - ordered from Etsy as a "mystery book") ★★"
Ooohhh...that looks good! I have yet to read one of her books.

"Currently Reading:
The Night Tiger (PS4: a book with a tiger on the cover or "tiger" in the title)"
I'm preparing to read my first book written by her, The Ghost Bride

"Birds of California
Nightbitch
Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir (PS10: an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner)
Blood Sugar
Tracy Flick Can't Win
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau"
Quite an ambitious and diverse listing!

"QOTW: I really enjoyed 2020's "a book with a pun in the title." I love puns and find myself looking for books that fit that prompt all the time.."
I am soooo glad to hear I am not the only one who keeps relating books to past challenge prompts! LOL

Melissa wrote: "Hello. It's been cooler here this week, letting me open the windows more and not need to use the air-conditioning. Except then the humidity gets too high and my husband can't sleep, but the house is too cool for the AC to kick on. It's been frustrating to find a balance. It's raining right now, which we definitely need, but also means none of the windows are open and the AC is running."
It sounds like a constant battle! LOL At least you have cooler air some of the time and that's better than many are experiencing!

"Finished This Week:
Burn for Me / White Hot by Ilona Andrews. Hidden Legacy series reread to prep for Ruby Fever, which has a pub date of 8/23. Except the author let us know on Sunday that they were getting reports the books were on shelves already in physical stores. Apparently the publisher is doing a soft launch for it, probably because it's a year late, so there's no punishment if the stores put them out early. My local Barnes & Noble has them, but I've stopped myself from going there every day this week because I'm not ready to read it yet. I told a friend about it, but she preordered the audiobook, and that won't be out until the 23rd on schedule. Soft launches are very frustrating."
All of that is vey interesting about the book being available earlier, etc., but I do feel your stress with needing to reread beforehand!

"Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan. Book club book for this month. It's about a manager at a Red Lobster in Connecticut who's been told they're closing his location, and this is the last day for his place. It starts with the manager driving into the parking lot, and ends with him driving away that night. Also very short, about 150 pages. I enjoyed it. Using for ATY #3, 22+ letters in the title.
I have been wanting to read this for sooooo long! I keep thinking it will be a good one for a readathon challenge but then it doesn't fit a prompt! I've decided that I will just pick it up whenever and read it! Hopefully in September!

"Currently Reading:
Wildfire. Last book in Nevada's trilogy for Hidden Legacy reread. I grabbed the audiobook from the library so I could listen while making dinner and driving around, but that puts me around halfway in audio, but at the final battle in paperback. I'll finish today if I stick to the paperback."
I had to chuckle at that! :)


"Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern Istanbul by Charles King. I've only just started. Maybe page 3."
That sounds fascinating! Added it!

"QotW: List one of your absolute favorite reading prompts of all time and the book you read to fulfill it.
I only started participating in reading challenges in June 2020 because of the pandemic lockdown, so I don't have a lot of years of prompts to work with. But my favorite one from that year was Read Harder's Graphic Memoir, something I'd never heard of. I read a couple of them since then, with The Complete Maus as probably my favorite. For PopSugar, I don't remember what year the prompt was from, but I loved the prompt for A Microhistory, which was a genre I'd read before but didn't realize had a name. My favorite I read in 2021, The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute, which was great."
Experience is not necessary! Sometimes I think newcomers can have a more objective reaction. So glad you had such great success with these!

Ron wrote: "Hey everyone, we made it to another week!

Things have been pretty great around here. Cloudy mostly and we had rain all day yesterday. 81% chance of rain this weekend. So glad we're getting our storms now. I have not been able to stand the heat any longer. It's been a brutal summer with temps as high as 110(F) sometimes."
I am so sorry for everyone having to endure such heat! That is miserable!

"I'm sure though, my numbers will go up since I'll be starting school soon. I'm taking all literature classes: Forms of Lit., British Lit., and American Lit. I can't wait to see what books we'll be reading for those classes."
That is so exciting!

"QOTW:
List one of your absolute favorite reading prompts of all time and the book you read to fulfill it. (This could be from any reading challenge, not just POPSUGAR!)

I had never really done any book challenges before. The only one I participated in last year was NonFiction November but I can't remember which books I read for that.

This was my first time doing the PopSugar one though and my favorite was the topic on 'party'. I took a different approach and went political."
I love it when participants interpret a prompt a bit differently! YAY!

"For this one I read: Fire and Flood: A People's History of Climate Change, from 1979 to the Present . This is certainly my favorite book, not just for the challenge, but for the year as well. I loved how linear the author was when it came to presenting the timeline of events. It was fun and sometimes infuriating, to see the different parties, Republican and Democrat, and how they each handle climate change differently."
I was just wondering the other day, "How differently might our world look now if Al Gore had become President? Especially with regard to climate change...

So how long is this book? Somehow I can't find a number of pages listed anywhere for it. I always like to know that...

"On another note, officially 1 month until Banned Books Week! It's a, I guess holiday-ish, event I always look forward to. For the past few years I go to the bookstore beforehand to pick up banned books so I can showcase them in my personal library.

Went to the bookstore today and picked these up which are on various banned book lists:

Girl, Interrupted - This has been on my want to read list since I want to say high school. Now seems like the perfect time to read it.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed- Discovered this one about a year or two ago when I was looking up random books on education. This one popped up. When I discovered that it was on the banned books lists it was an immediate no-brainer."
Thanks so much for that reminder!

I already had Girl, Interrupted on my TBR listing, but definitely added the Freire book! That looks to be very interesting to me!

Laura wrote: "Doni wrote: "My all-time favorite prompt is one that was in our local library's super summer challenge this year: Read a book about a social or cultural issue by a writer you do not agree with at all."

Oof! That's so hard to do. I did that last year for a different reading challenge. I can't believe I actually made it through Liberal Privilege: Joe Biden And The Democrats' Defense Of The Indefensible by Donald Trump Jr. Spoiler Alert: It didn't change my mind!"
You are much more courageous than I! :)

Doni wrote: "I'm doing another book fast from Aug. 1 to Halloween and getting rid of a book each day for half that time! Because of this, I've finally gotten to some books that have just been sitting on my shelf since I got them."
Good for you!

"Finished: Literacy For Social Change A good introduction to the field, but I didn't really learn anything new. Would probably recommend Freire instead.
Theology for Skeptics Focused on feminist aspects. I wish it had been broader.
Justice: Rights and Wrongs
Decision: How the Supreme Court Decides Cases"
These look to be pretty intense!

"Started:Plato Was Wrong!: Footnotes on Doing Philosophy with Young People Full of good ideas. I resisted reading this until I met the author and he was able to totally change the feel of a room by leading one of his exercises."
This sounds like one I would love if I was still facilitating a classroom! Cool! I love that the whole atmosphere changed!

"Qotw: My all-time favorite prompt is one that was in our local library's super summer challenge this year: Read a book about a social or cultural issue by a writer you do not agree with at all. I think this was really important because we get so siloed these days, especially in our use of social media. I re-read my least favorite book: Fountainhead. I didn't really even remember why I disliked it so much. In re-reading it, I found that every single character was completely selfish in different ways. I felt like it was effectively written, but I hated the message!"
Now that's what I call a "challenge"!

REMINDER: The December 2022 Monthly Group Read poll will close tomorrow night! Currently, ONLY 22 members have voted. Let your voice be heard! Vote now! ;)

(This has been a public service announcement... LOL)

Love this discussion of heat and humidity versus a "dry heat"!

I have lived with heat and humidity my whole life and my whole body is riddled with osteoarthritis, but when it is 112 degrees F I don't care if it IS a "dry heat" I must have a bottle of chilled water with me at ALL times because my body feel dehydrated every single second. I guess I don't consider either one to be enjoyable, but I doubt I could ever prefer the extreme "dry heat" temps over what I've endured my whole lifetime...

Alex wrote: "Happy Thursday! It's beautiful here too. I love the weather transitions between seasons! So calm and cool."
Good! Glad it is enjoyable weather for you as well!

"Dune for "Hugo award winner". It was really interesting! I liked the world concept and all the intrigue. I'm eager to see the movie now."
Good!

"Currently Reading
At the Corner of East and Now: A Modern Life in Ancient Christian Orthodoxy for "book by an author you read in 2021". I love Frederica. I have a goal to read everything she's ever published!"
I get so excited when I discover an author like that!

"QotW
Honestly, I love the "first book you see in a bookstore" prompt from Popsugar 2016. I always bring that one back for the "favourite past prompt" prompt. It's a great excuse to get a new book. :D"
That was kinda neat!

Sheri wrote: "Hi all,

I think i missed a couple weeks of check ins. Been having hectic weeks at work, vet visits, food poisoning, etc. Finally things have calmed down a little. And the septic guys just dropped off some big cubes and some equipment so the new field we've been trying to get put in since FEBRUARY is finally happening! I swear we are never using Angies list again. It's terrible, it did NOT make things easier, it just added a layer of confusion and delay and outright lies."
You have had a lot to deal with! Sorry for all the frustration! Glad you took time to post and join us!

"in the Time of Saviors- this was the august books & brew pick for my irl book club. It was just kinda meh for me. I don't know if it was just a mood reading thing, I wasn't really in a great mental state with cat worry and stuff. But it felt like i SHOULD have found it deep and meaningful, but I just kind of found it depressing and sad. It was probably the least we've ever talked about a book at book club, in part because the head librarian was about to leave for vacation the next day so was in total vacation mode. I don't think anyone super was into it though."
It didn't particularly enthrall me either.

"Activation Degradation - this was on a list of books for people who like Murderbot, and it didn't disappoint too much. I liked it quite a bit. Nothing is identical to Murderbot, but it did check a lot of the same boxes for me."
Hmmmm...might be worth a try!

"QOTW:
I"m not sure offhand. There are prompts that excite me more than others, but I can't really think of any particular one that stood out as THE best. There are great prompts overall that I ended up picking a dud for, and there are prompts that i think were dud prompts that I ended up reading a great book for. I don't think the fact that i read a good or bad book for a prompt necessarily means that that the prompt got worse or better because of what i chose for it. My favorites tend to be ones that I have lots of options for and I can really pore over what to pick and decide, my least favorites are the ones where i feel like i have to pick the best of a bad lot, even if i end up liking what i ended up with."
That sounds totally fair!

Harmke wrote: "Whoohoo… 2 weeks no work!! I’ve already been to the city library and stuffed as many books in my bike bag as possible. I had to stop after 8 books. It’s way too much, but there’s no such thing as having too many books while on vacation."
You and Nadine evidently shouldn't vacation together either. It would require a whole suitcase for books! :)

"Good news: I’m still covid-free! And the temps have cooled down a bit. We had a little bit of rain so it’s still dry-dry-dry: our grass is yellow, plants are hanging down and leafs are falling down already. Now we have humid air and I don’t know what’s worse… my feet and wrists hurt and my head feels heavy. At least in Switzerland (where we’re heading to this weekend) it’s about 20-23 degrees the next couple of days, so I would say that’s nice summer weather."
I am so jealous! Enjoy!

"Finished
The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End by Robert Gerwarth⭐⭐⭐⭐
Not for PS
Interesting, actual and easy read. World War 1 ended on November 11, 1918. But did it really end all war? No. Especially Eastern Europe was full of revolution, civil wars, pograms, ethnic wars and all other kinds of atrocities. In Western Europe it was more revolution, but it was not all peace and quiet there as well. Gerwarth takes you with him through this often overlooked part in history. But it is actually very important. Even now. Or maybe especially now. You can see the roots of Russian-Ukrainian fights, the Balkan war in the 1990’s, the unrest in the Middle East and even today's politics of Hungary and Turkey."
Surely we humans, who believe ourselves to be so superior to other life forms will someday actually behave and get along...I'm still holding out hope...

"A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles⭐⭐⭐⭐
Not for PS
Loved the writing. And loved the Russian soul that sounds throughout the book. “We Russians as a people have proven to be unusually adept at destroying what we have created.” And “We are willing to destroy what we have created because we believe more than others in the power of the image, poem, prayer or person.” There’s some truth in that, I guess."
Glad you enjoyed it. :)

"QOTW
A book with a made-up language - I read Watership Down. I didn’t expect anything, was even dreading to read it, but I sooooo loved this story!"
That's a book I keep hoping to read!

Katy wrote: "I finished If Bread Could Rise to the Occasion as my book with cutlery on the cover. It was perfectly adequate for what it was, but nothing to write home about."
At least you didn't hate it! LOL

"I'm now reading Ship of Fools as my book that takes place on train, plane, ship. A Little over halfway through. Took me a while to get into it and there are a lot of characters and I tend to forget who is who, but it's kind of interesting."
That is the book I had originally planned for that prompt. I read it when I was 13 and now want to reread some 50+ years later! I imagine I will enjoy it much more now... At least I imagine the characters will carry more meaning than they did then...

"QOTW: Wow. You keep asking hard questions. I really liked the prompt a book that you see mentioned in another book. That was the first year I did the challenge and I liked the scavenger hunt quality. I ended up reading Catch-22 which I think I saw mentioned in Camino Island, and I didn't really like it, but still liked the prompt:)"
Sorry. I do not mean to make them hard! I tend to use whatever is interesting to me. :) Feel free not to answer if you don't want to. :) Funny you should mention that one. I now have a note on my phone with well over 200 books listed for "Books Mentioned in Other Books"! LOL

"I also love the prompts about places where you want to go. I love to travel, but not being a billionaire, and wanting to visit my parents at least once a year, don't get to do too much of it."
Agreed!