Erica’s Comments (group member since Apr 05, 2019)

Erica’s comments from the Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge group.

So I gave this a 5 star rating because I thought the Rivas were all good characters, not necessarily likeable characters. TJR so far has a smooth writing style that pulls me in. She starts with a question/secret and manages to keep me hooked for the answer that I don't figure out ahead of time. Her books have made me laugh and cry out loud which most books don't.
How about you guys?

Nadine in NY wrote: "Erica wrote: "@Nadine if the January discussion still needs a leader I'd like to volunteer."



Yes!! At the eleventh hour, our hero emerges!! It's yours to lead, and thank you :-)"

Okay, cool.

@Nadine if the January discussion still needs a leader I'd like to volunteer.

Happy check-in!!
This week I read a lot. Holidays are done, company is gone and oh yeah omicron showed up while the temperature dropped. Also my fave hockey tournament had to be cancelled cause of covid 3 days in. It has been in the -30s Celsius with windchills putting it near or at -50 all week. Today felt warm when going to the grocery store because there was no wind so it's just fresh out despite being minus 30.
I'm definitely getting impatient waiting to start the new challenge in 2022. I'm saving books for Saturday. Although I did read two books this week that I had slotted in for prompts but they came in early from the library...

Finished Reading:

The Red Files ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A poetry collection about Residential Schools. I really enjoyed this despite the upsetting topic. It was nice to read an indigenous perspective that was local so I was more familiar with pronunciation of words and locations. I have been reading from authors in other parts of North America lately.

Radiance ⭐⭐⭐
This was a good option for some 2022 prompts but I didn't feel like waiting. This is an interesting world with a good plot. I had troubles with the writing and often had to go back and read to find out when things happened only to discover the author didn't write it in.

Firefly: Blue Sun Rising Vol. 2 ⭐⭐⭐
This was disappointing. It seemed like the Blue Sun Rising story wasn't long enough for two volumes. So this had filler until tying up story arcs.

Oh Look, a Cake! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was a random new picture book on overdrive. I thought it was cute and awesome. I laughed out loud and read it a couple times.

Firefly: Return to Earth That Was Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Now Greg Pak is writing comics set after the movie. There was new characters and old favourites.

Call Us What We Carry ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Amanda Gorman's poetry collection written during the pandemic. I had an ebook of this and I think an actual book or audiobook would be better. Diagrams didn't quite load right. This was at times difficult to read because the lockdown feelings came back but I really enjoyed it. The research she put into this made her poems that much more powerful.

99 Percent Mine ⭐⭐
I was going to use this for next year but... Anyway this was disappointing. I loved The Hating Game and had been told this was okay but my expectations still were too much. I did not like a huge portion of the book. It seemed ridiculous.

PS 2021 50/50
PS 2017 52/52
Goodreads 277/250

QOTW:
Okay well I can't pair down 277 books down to 4 but here are the stand outs/faves in order excluding re-reads:

Inside Out & Back Again children's poetry
You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism humour/memoir
The Echo Wife sci-fi
The Song of Achilles retelling/Greek mythology
Big Little Lies fiction
Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 1 graphic novel (so gorgeous)
A Man Called Ove fiction
Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores humour
Lore ya fantasy/Greek mythology
Ring Shout horror/novella
Bubble graphic novel
Grave War urban fantasy (favourite series ender)
The Magic Fish ya/mg graphic novel
The Hawthorne Legacy ya mystery
The Love Hypothesis romance
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo historical fiction
Long Way Down ya poetry
The Hating Game romance
Oh Look, a Cake! picture book
Call Us What We Carry poetry

11. Having read Evelyn Hugo I knew that Mick marries someone besides June so I never focused on him as a character. I just hoped for things to not work out between them because June chose it not Mick left.

12. I think it made Nina be more closed off and determined to put the people important to her first. It helped her siblings succeed.

13. Contact with his kids would remind him of his failings.

14. Nina protected Kit from being hurt by their dad the best she could so Kit had some hope of a relationship with Mick. The only reason that makes sense to me for the character to accept was to make the book work.

15. It showed that the four were June's children not Mick's.

16. Empathy for Mick not so much. He had the money to pay child support but didn't and he abandoned them when their mom died.
What did he get in the end? All that comes to mind was that his car was stolen.

9. I didn't see taking Hudson in as a weak choice because he was her kid's sibling although I don't have kids so it seems a simpler choice to me. Keeping the husband not so much.

10. I agree because June never had a life. She married Mick before becoming an adult, had kids before finding anything out about herself and got stuck.

11. Kit's interaction with Mick at the end was my favourite part of the whole book, I was laughing out loud. Kit's dynamic with her siblings protecting her as the youngest felt familiar to me so it made the book more realistic.

1. A book published in 2022 Ruby Fever
2. A book set on a plane, train, or cruise ship A Night to Remember
3. A book about or set in a nonpatriarchal society Unmanned
4. A book with a tiger on the cover or "tiger" in the title Breaking Badger
5. A sapphic book Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me
6. A book by a Latinx author The Poet X
7. A book with an onomatopoeia in its title Clap When You Land
8. A book with a protagonist who uses a mobility aid An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed
9. A book about a "found family" Badger to the Bone
10. An Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner Obit
11. A #BookTok recommendation It Ends with Us
12. A book about the afterlife The Graveyard Book Graphic Novel Single Volume
13. A book set in the 1980s Eleanor & Park
14. A book with cutlery on the cover or in the title The No-Show
15. A book by a Pacific Islander author Year of the Reaper
16. A book about witches Kingdom of the Wicked
17. A book becoming a TV series or movie in 2022 Heartstopper: Volume Four
18. A romance novel by a BIPOC author Get a Life, Chloe Brown
19. A book that takes place during your favorite season Book Lovers
20. A book whose title begins with the last letter of your previous read M C Escher
21. A book about a band or musical group Daisy Jones & The Six
22. A book with a character on the ace spectrum Loveless
23. A book with a recipe in it With the Fire on High
24. A book you can read in one sitting Where the Drowned Girls Go
25. A book about a secret Something Wilder
26. A book with a misleading title Rainy Day Friends
27. A Hugo Award winner The War of the Worlds
28. A book set during a holiday The Last Halloween, Book 1: Children
29. A different book by an author you read in 2021 Book of Night
30. A book with the name of a board game in the title The Trouble with Twelfth Grave
31. A book featuring a man-made disaster Skin & Earth, Vol. 1
32. A book with a quote from your favorite author on the cover or Amazon page A Swift and Savage Tide blurbed by Patricia Briggs
33. A social-horror book Silver Shadows
34. A book set in Victorian times Bringing Down the Duke
35. A book with a constellation on the cover or in the title Hunt the Stars
36. A book you know nothing about Squire
37. A book about gender identity Gender Queer
38. A book featuring a party Edenbrooke
39. An #OwnVoices SFF (science fiction and fantasy) book Marvel's Voices: Legacy
40. A book of poetry 2016 prompt The Flame
41. A book with a reflected image on the cover or "mirror" in the title The Pool Project
42. A book that features two languages One for All
43. A book with a palindromic title Otto: A Palindrama
44. A duology (1) The Blood Trials
45. A duology (2) The Dragon's Promise
46. A book about someone leading a double life Chaos Choreography
47. A book featuring a parallel reality A Spindle Splintered
48. A book with two POVs The Switch
49. Two books set in twin towns, aka "sister cities" (1) New York Stuck with You
50. Two books set in twin towns, aka "sister cities" (2) London To Have and to Hoax

50/50 finished December 22 2022.

Sara wrote: "Okay, I have a bookshelf full of TBR... hopefully at least a couple of these will work for 2022.

A Court of Thorns and Roses
A Game of Thrones
[book:A Lesson in Vengea..."

You could use Game Of Thrones for board game because game is in the title.

Star Daughter, Girl Serpent Thorn, Girls of Paper and Fire could all be SSF own voices

Girls of Paper and Fire is sapphic.

Lore would fit secrets, found family, double life and you could stretch it into afterlife.

Girl Serpent Thorn fits the secret prompt.

Star Daughter works for the holiday prompt, party prompt, double life maybe parallel reality.

+1 for doing a 2022 picture book challenge

@Nadine I think I'm going to read the next volume of Ms. Marvel because I liked the premise but volume 1 didn't have a good plot and the mc was whiny.
Also I hope you enjoy The Love Hypothesis this was a favourite from the past year.

Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate! It is super cold this week but it makes staying in easier. It's been a little hectic figuring out plans with family because some people didn't know if they were travelling or not. It's all sorted now. I finished my Popsugar 2017 challenge and have been free to read whatever I want.

Finished Reading:

The Barrow Will Send What it May ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (2017 month in the title)
This was a second novella in a duology and I enjoyed this more than the first. They are horror and urban fantasy. This duology is a quick read and would work for the gender identity prompt I think.

Deadly Class, Volume 10: Save Your Generation ⭐⭐⭐
The newest of the series. It moved around through time, some parts were better than others.

Malibu Rising ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I really enjoyed this. It starts by telling you about an upcoming fire and then spends the whole book introducing characters so you can't figure out how it starts. (at least I couldn't) The end had me laughing out loud because of the family dynamics.

Little Big Bully ⭐⭐⭐
The end of the collection had information about the poems that would have been much more helpful to put with each specific poem.

Beartown ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (2017 bestseller from 2016)
This finished my challenges and it was amazing. I couldn't put this down but at the same time I didn't want to keep reading due to the good characters that I didn't want anything bad to happen to.

PS 2021 50/50
PS 2017 52/52
Goodreads 270/250

Currently Reading:
Call Us What We Carry
Radiance
Silver Shadows

QOTW:
I read two graphic novels by G. Willow Wilson and was disappointed/bored of both. Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal & Cairo: A Graphic Novel
Cairo has such a beautiful cover that a black and white comic with less detail killed my ability to buy into the magic in the story.
I also hate read a few books. (Totally taking someone else's phrase of hate reading from this group) The Gunslinger Watchmen As Good As Dead I'm definitely hesitant to read more from Stephen King because I read an anniversary edition that had his thoughts on the book and it was off putting and then the book was so terrible.
I read other things I didn't like but I had expectations for these.

6. How do you feel about the choices mother June made?
She should have taken Mick to court for child support but at the same time she was protecting her kids from the public. She coped with alcohol and it's easy to judge but I don't know what addiction awareness was like in that time period.


8. What did you think about all the details of the party scenes? Is this a party you would like to attend?
The party made for good fake outs of who would be the cause of the fire, but it was ridiculous. Same goes for introducing random people to distract you from who would ultimately set the fire. I would not be at the party and be happy about it.

2. Early on, Taylor Jenkins Reid writes, “Our family histories are simply stories. They are myths we create about the people who came before us, in order to make sense of ourselves.” Do you agree? How did this book make you think about your own family history?
Seems to me family myths come about from families that don't talk to each other. My family talks about passed on relatives so it feels like I know them.

3. This novel is in part about the way we repeat the mistakes of our parents or try to avoid doing so. How was Nina’s life shaped by her mother’s? How has your own life been shaped by the people who raised you?
Nina's mom was to proud to speak up and go after Mick for child support so Nina learned from her role model to do the same.
I guess my family made room for me to speak my mind and listen whether they agree or not which for many women the world over does not happen.

4. Why do you think the author included the parents' stories?
First thought was filler, otherwise it would be a much shorter book. Having now finished, it was important for the final confrontation between Mick and his children.

5. The book is also about sibling relationships. Why do you think sibling dynamics can be so complicated? How do we use our siblings to define our own personalities?
Everyone is an individual so you can be very similar and share the same experiences but you will experience them differently. Also siblings will see multiple sides to you not just what you present to the world.
Well when you're trying to figure out who you are you can over correct and need to be opposite/different from a sibling, or you can copy them.

I might use The Vanishing Half for the mirror image prompt. Although Firekeeper's Daughter works better.

Daisy Jones & The Six is perfect for about a band

So I’m still with you guys but I’m going to wait to read through questions and answers until I finish this book. I’m at 40% and the library is taking it away Sunday so I’ll catch up soon.

Happy check-in! I've got three books to read by the end of the month. So Naturally I can read anything but those three books. :)

Finished Reading:

Covet ⭐⭐
Way too long! Over a 150 chapters some of which were completely pointless.

Dirty Magic ⭐⭐⭐⭐
After years of waiting my library purchased the first book in this series. I really enjoyed this urban fantasy. Basically magic potions created through alchemy are society's new drugs and the book follows a reformed potion cooker who is now a cop.

The Hating Game ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Wait list on this was crazy and I though it wouldn't be in until 2022 but oh well. This was an addictive rom com and I now want to see the movie that just came out this month.

PS 2021 50/50
PS 2017 50/52
Goodreads 265/250

Currently Reading:

Malibu Rising
Beartown PS 2017 bestseller of 2016
The Barrow Will Send What it May PS 2017 month in the title

QOTW:
Probably #8 women's prize for fiction. I read The Song of Achilles and did not think I would love and enjoy this book so much.

So currently reading Beartown and Jojo Moyes is blurbed on the cover.

Anyway anyone else think that any book with the Reese Witherspoon book club pick sticker counts due to her being an author?

The Inheritance Games is being made in to a tv show but I don’t know when it’s coming out yet.

For scalloped potatoes we do thin cut potatoes and thin cut onions layered with a white sauce poured over and then a bit extra milk added. No precooking the potatoes. You probably need to cover the potatoes for the majority of the cook in the oven and remove the cover to crisp the top near the end. You can put it in the microwave to start so that it doesn't need as long in the oven.

Upright Women Wanted does not work for nonpatriarchal society. Sapphic, SFF own voices and read in one sitting (it's a short novella) look possible to me.

The Cruel Prince trilogy
found family can work
there are parties/coronations/weddings
I can read these books in one sitting because I love them so much and have reread them a few times
double life could be used

Inheritance Games/Hawthorne Legacy
Definitely secrets.
There is a party in book 2
Either book could be stretched into man made disaster because the grandpa purposely left people out of his will which made character do desperate things
These books have short chapters and the plot moves quickly so you could read them in one sitting
You can stretch it into found family
The Inheritance Games is being turned into a tv show tbd