Sherri’s Comments (group member since Nov 10, 2019)

Sherri’s comments from the Around the Year in 52 Books group.

Queen Bee (Lowcountry Tales, # 12) by Dorothea Benton Frank. The protagonist is a beekeeper. The bees play a major role in the story. I have also read The Keeper of The Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter.

5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge- Deacon King Kong by James McBride
- My most creative twist on a prompt. I didn't get creative this year. I should of gotten creative on the past,present,future prompt but I had the worst time even understanding the prompt. For some reason it didn't make sense to me. I kept wondering what the meaning & purpose of the prompt was. I gave up & read any book with any sort of timeline, which is any book.
- The prompt I cheated on- no cheats this year.
- My favorite prompt- I didn't have a favorite prompt. Nothing jumped out to me.
- My least favorite prompt- A book from the Are You Well Read in World Literature list. I had to read My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk for my face to face book club. I really lucked out there. I didn't like the book. I didn't like the prompt about the Warwick Prize. Again I had to read The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa for my real life book club. Again the book wasn't a favorite. The good news is I discovered I don't enjoy books in translation. I'm always missing out on something in the story.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!) Black Top Wasteland by S.A.Cosby. A mystery.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!) The Mummy Case (Amelia Peabody #3) Elizabeth Peters. Lyrics to "My Favorite Things". The book was originally published in 1985. It has not held up well. It is insulting, insensitive, and filled with racial slurs. It made me uncomfortable.

I loved Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells. 5 stars. I used it for the future part of the multi week prompt.

For future I read Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells. I finished the prompt.

In 2020 for the Pop Sugar prompt a book by or about women in "Stem" I read, Girl Code: Gaming,Going Viral, and Getting It Done by Andrea Gonzales,Sophie Houser. This is shelved on Good Reads as Teen, Middle Grade. It is nonfiction. The story is about getting girls into "Stem Sciences" especially coding. They weren't adults but I felt it was important to include girls in this prompt.

I was looking at he 2020 NPR’s Book Concierge list & there were several I have read & a lot I want to read. Before I start planning I’m going to wait for their 2021 list to come out in December.

Nancy wrote If you don't mind sharing, what types of prompts would you upvote? The first poll I up voted a book with a language or nationality in the title. I had a book on my TBR queue that works. I up voted the multiple week prompt about continents because I can work a theme with the prompt. Also I have not enjoyed the multiple prompts in years so I was trying to pick a subject I was interested in. I don't up vote much because I can work with a lot of the prompts. I just prefer to weed out prompts I have seen a lot of or just don't want to put time & energy into. What is left are prompts I would be reading anyway.

I have downvoted 8 prompts three weeks in a row. I downvote for a few reasons. I really don’t like the prompt. I have done certain prompts every year for years & years. For example read a classic. Some prompts seem narrow to me. Some genres I read a lot of so I stay neutral on that prompt. For example magical realism, historical fiction. I don’t think about the logistics of 8 downvotes I vote that way because I have done those prompts before & I didn’t enjoy them. I also keep a look out to make sure we don’t get prompts that are very close to each other. For example location prompts or read multiple books related to … prompts.

I finished Piranesi today. It was a wild ride. Very different. If your into alternate worlds this is your book. I liked it.

This is my third week in a row of 8 down votes. The prompts I don't feel strongly about I go neutral & let nature take its course. If they get in fine, if they don't get in fine.

I finished my second round of the summer reading challenge 8/14/2021. I'm not posting this round in this thread feeling posting on my list & spreadsheet was enough. I loved this seasonal challenge. It was fun both times. I think so far this has been my favorite seasonal challenge. Thank you moderators for the great job. See you in the fall.

I started Piranesi this morning. I have gone into this book not knowing what it is about. I was just looking for something to read & it was available on Over Drive. I have wanted to read it & since it was nominated I thought I would try it. Looking forward to it.

The way I interpret a book by a Latin American Author is the author is an American citizen. If this is correct then it doesn’t matter where they were born or live or what generation they are because we are looking at citizenship. To me & I may be wrong, once the word American was used we are talking nationality. Does this make sense ?

I used Awk-Weird (Ice Knights,#2) by Avery Flynn for the prompt. Chick lit,romance. 4 stars. I started the series last year & waited to read the second book. A fun way to fill this prompt.

Thank You so much Joyce. I hadn't thought of using The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating for "you read what?" I haven't filled that prompt & had given up. I was going to use my book club read just because I didn't have a book for the prompt. This works better.

Any insights on this months selections. A couple look interesting but these are all new authors to me.

I read The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, Elizabeth Tova Bailey. 4 stars. Not for this Challenge. I used it for the BR Read Harder challenge. An own voices book about disability. It was interesting. I finished the BR challenge so now I have two challenges left. My goal is to finished both in August. This book is only 208 pages so it went quick.

I finished Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly. 4 stars. Middle Grade, disability. Not for this challenge. I liked the story. It's about a girl who is deaf that becomes connected to a whale that doesn't communicate on the same wave length as other whales. The whale is alone in the sea but keeps singing its song hoping to connect with other whales. Iris, the protagonist, recognizes loneliness when she sees it because she is also living in a world where she has few connections. Iris creates a song for the whale & has to figure out how to bring the song to the whale.

I will second a book set in a small town or rural setting

Winfield, PA Captains and the Kings by Taylor Caldwell