Sheri’s Comments (group member since Jul 25, 2016)

Sheri’s comments from the EPBOT Readers group.

Oh Lord of the Rings is one for me too haha. I read the Hobbit and liked it ok, but then I read The Fellowship of the Ring and just didn't care enough to finish. Like you said, Jen, I appreciate what it means to the fantasy world, but It's just not for me.

Hi all, sorry for the delay getting a post up.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. It was mostly just getting half bath ready for tile and relaxing.

This week I finished:

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II - finished the audio book. I enjoyed it, I hadn't known much about the code breaking, or that so many women were involved.

Silver Nitrate - This was fun, sort of light gothic horror. This was the last book i needed for popsugar, so i'm finished with that, woo!

Lady Tan's Circle of Women - This was really interesting. It was historical fiction, but based on a real woman doctor in China, who specialized in treating women, both of the upper class and working women. Most the cases in the book were ones based off the journal that she wrote, and then the author filled in the story around how she might have come across these various women.

Love in the Time of Cholera - I'd heard a lot of good things about Gabriel Garcia Marquez and how he's the father of magical realism and such. But I kind of hated this book. The writing was pretty enough, but the story was just...gross. I'm so tired of reprehensible behavior being excused because "it's love!". (view spoiler)[ Sorry, obsessing over someone for 50 years, trying to interfere in their marriage, having affairs with hundreds of women to "heal your heart" and grooming your child ward when you're sixty years older than her and then only feeling bad when she commits suicide later because "you loved her" not because you're horrified at what you did does not make you a man who is moved only by love. (hide spoiler)]

Currently reading:

Dread Nation - TBR challenge book, only one left after this! I'm liking it so far, about half through.

Fourth Wing - sometimes i like to jump on a hot book specifically so I can try to experience it before it gets SO talked about that it can't live up to the hype. So when i saw the audio book of this was available at my library, i snagged it just to see what the fuss is about.

QOTW:

Are there any super popular books that you dislike?

I guess there's not that many that i've actively disliked, I tend to avoid ones that don't seem up my alley at all. Plenty haven't lived up to the hype, but that usually for me just means that I still liked it, just not as much as I expected to.

One I can think of in particular was A Gentleman in Moscow, which was a book club pick or I probably wouldn't have read it otherwise. I really didn't like the main character at all, it felt boring to me, I'd rather have focused on pretty much any other character than the main perspective guy. It's one of the few one stars i've given out, usually i nope out of a book or won't even read it if it looks that unappealing to me. But pretty much every other person at my book club LOVED the book andI know in other goodreads groups people rave over his books in general.

Yeah it was hot so my goal was “costume cool enough to keep on”. Which meant there was no way o was wearing a wig and I don’t have enough hair to attempt a real approximation with my own. Opposite of usual goal trying to get costumes warm enough 😂

Shel, I went as a summery Bride of Frankenstein. Had a gauzy white dress, some gladiator sandals, retro white sunglasses, put my hair up in a pony tail with some white streaks in it, and made some scars along my jaw/neck/face and dramatic make up with very black eyes. It was fun!

Glad you liked the characters better than I did!

I’m watching good omens 2, only finished the second episode. Been busy and my husband isn’t a fan so only watch when he’s busy

Hi all, hope you are all doing well!

Had my Summerween party over the weekend, and it included some out of town friends staying with us for a few days. lots of fun! Peopled out! I unfortunately was so busy i didn't even take pictures, oops. I think my husband got some, but I didn't even think to take one of me in my costume. oh well.

This week I finished:

Bad Feminist - I liked this a lot, i enjoy Roxanne Gay's writing.

Severance - for my irl books & brew. We had been slated to read this for may 2020 but between the library being closed and the subject matter, it got taken off the list. (for a few months until curbside opened, all our book club picks were confined to Hoopla only since there were no waiting lists for those at the time) It's kinda eerie the similarities, big pandemic, thought to of originated in China, people masking to try to protect from spoors. I wasn't super happy to be reading it NOW, no way i would have wanted to get through it back then. I still just thought it was ok.

Currently reading:
Sorcerer to the Crown - I must have requested this a while ago from the library, it randomly showed up on my "ready to borrow" list. I like it pretty well, though it's a bit slow.

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II - current audiobook, trying to get more nonfiction covered for the genre genius.

QOTW: What living author would you love to meet?

I'd love to meet Seanan McGuire. She has a fun social media presence, seems like a cool person. I also love her books.

Hi all,

Hope you're having a good week! We're currently preparing for our Summerween party. Got a summery costume, going to carve a watermellon, have spooky icecream, getting inflatable pools out. Should be fun!

This week I finished:

The Final Empire - one of my TBR list books. I'd never gotten into Sanderson so this was my first. I liked it more than i expected! Will probably continue at some point.

The Gentleman's Book of Vices - this is for a book club, it was good but pretty raunchy haha. I liked it.

Currently reading:

Bad Feminist: Essays- been meaning to read this for years and finally getting to it. I like it, Roxane has a really fun writing style.

A Song Below Water - for my library's genre genius, off their staff picks. almost finishing the audio book.

All Boys Aren't Blue - Was trying to bounce between audio books for a bit, but that doesn't work very well for me.

QOTW: Would you rather have a book’s ending spoiled for you OR never know the ending?

I think I'd rather have it spoiled. I don't LIKE spoilers, and I get really annoyed with them. But I still read things that got spoiled and generally still enjoy them, even if I would rather have been surprised. It'd annoy me if I just couldn't finish it.

Welcome back Megan!

I liked Interior Chinatown, but the format did take some getting used to! I also read it within a few weeks of it coming out, I think, just because I had really liked How To Live Safely in a Since Fictional Universe. So i'd just grabbed his new one without really digging into any buzz.

Hi all,

Hope everyone is having a good week! We have tickets to go see Barbie on Sunday, i'm excited! I haven't looked forward to a movie this much in ages.

This week I did a lot of short audio books so there's quite a list of finishes:

Girl Made of Glass- finished up poetry for my genre genius challenge. This was just ok. Poetry is not my genre of choice.

Raven Stratagem - second book of the series, i like it, it's just very complicated.

Crying in H Mart - staff pick from my library, another genre genius. I liked it a lot

The Importance of Being Ernest - plays are one of the genres, and I don't really like reading them. So I found an audio drama version of this, it was pretty fun.

The Past Is Red - this was another short audiobook. I hadn't heard of it before, but it was on Seanan McGuire's list of recommended books. I liked it, pretty funny for a post apocalyptic dystopia book. My main complaint was that it drifted from "now" to past back and forth and it got a little confusing to figure out the passage of time or when exactly it segues.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - another audio play. This was kinda funny, but i also felt like i missed a lot not actually seeing stage action. Might watch the movie eventually.

Currently reading:

The Final Empire - reading the first mistborn book. I haven't read any Sanderson before. I like it so far. About half through.

A Song Below Water - about to start the audio book for this.

QOTW:

borrowing from popsugar again: When it comes to retellings, do you prefer to read the original first?

It kind of depends for me. I'm more likely to read a retelling if it's a story I'm familiar with, and especially if it's a story I like. It's just more appealing to me. But i have read several where either i didn't realize they were retellings until I was committed, or ones of stuff that i'm not THAT fond of but sounded interesting, or ones where the retelling just sounds interesting enough that I went ahead and read them because I didn't really have interest in reading the original. Sometimes reading the retelling will make me interested enough to go dig up the original afterwards, or revisit it.

Hi Everyone!

Teddy had his 1 month re-check post radiation this week. it went really well! They said his skin looks great and is healing well, no sign of any new bumps. We're able to take him off his pepcid and start weaning him off his anti-inflammatory which will make it easier to just...not have to schedule things around a medication schedule. Hopefully in a month, after the next re-check, he can basically be off meds except his anxiety ones.

Book Club: The Brass Queen won the poll. (There was a write in for The Brass Queen too, so I combined those. Not sure if it got accidentally written in or what, as far as I could tell there was only one book called The Brass Queen). But even without those extra votes it still won by 1.

This week I read:

Pageboy - this was a difficult listen. I had no idea Elliot got so much hate and abuse even before he came out as gay, much less trans. Lots of stark descriptions of the things people said, abuse he endured, eating disorders etc. It was good, just not really happy listening.

Snow Crash - re-read, was using it for popsugar's book I wish I could read again for the first time. I already re-read so many of my favorites, I didn't want to just read one of those. So instead I used it more like I wish I could read it as an adult in in the 90s when all the tech was hopeful and cool and amazing, instead of basically already met or surpassed. (although that doesn't erase some of the language that is pretty dated and kinda problematic).

Currently reading:

Raven Stratagem - sequel to the ninefox gambit. I like it so far, although I wish I read them closer together.

Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe - doing a genre genius challenge for my library, trying to get more nonfiction in.

Girl Made of Glass - more poetry, also for the genre genius. This should wrap up the poetry badge at least.

QOTW:

I'll borrow from popsugar this week. Do you like randomly selecting books, or does the thought fill you with dread?

I don't like to do pure random selection. Even if it's my own book collection, it seems like any time I've tried to do a random selection it inevitably brings up a book that makes me go "eh, i don't feel like reading that right now". Or else a book in the middle of a series, or a sequel that it's been too long since i read the first so I really should re-read it, etc. However I do like randomly browsing the library's new shelves, or wandering through the what's available now digitally and just clicking on whatever catches my eye and reading the description to see if it feels like something I want to read right then. I've grabbed a number of books I'd never heard of until i stumbled across them that way.

This is the place to put your final thoughts on The Brass Queen. I'll add some specific questions later on, once I finish! Spoilers allowed here, so don't read until you're finished.

The winner of July's Poll is The Brass Queen. Here is the thread to post your pre-reading thoughts. Are you exited? Dreading it? Indifferent?

Hi Everyone,

Hope everyone's having a nice week! I had a four and a half day weekend which was nice, yet I'm still ready for the weekend. I think I'm just over working, in general haha.

This week I finished a lot, due to all that reading time:

The World We Make - good conclusion to the duology, I get why she struggled with this book and decided to wrap up after two instead of three. It was still solid.

Rolling in the Deep - audio read. I liked it, a good prequel to the main book.

Witch King - It's not murderbot, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. It reminded me a bit of City of Bones in vibe, her old fantasy from the 90s.

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea - cozy fantasy, reminded me a little of Legends and Lattes. Not as good, but similar vibes. I still did like it, and i'll probably read the second once I need another cozy.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory - Audio read, I liked it quite a bit. Kinda gross in parts, but it did really make me think.

Break Your Glass Slippers - audio book. Trying to hit some more genres for the library genre genius challenge. Amanda Lovelace is one that is generally at least solid for me.

Currently reading:
The Sisters Grimm - got back to this now that library books are caught up. Still not really feeling it, but since it's part of my tbr challenge I feel compelled to keep going. It's not the WORST, just really disjointed and all over the place. hard to get in a groove with how much it jumps around.

Wound from the Mouth of a Wound - more poetry audio. The genre genius requires three of each genre, plus read harder has a poetry prompt for a LGBTQIA+ author or BIPOC author.

QOTW:

What is your favorite scene in a book?

This is hard! I also have kinda a bad memory for specifics, i remember more how I feel and vibes I got etc. But probably up there is the description of the Midnight Dinner in the Night Circus, when it's all the circus performers wearing rainbow colors. It was such a lush scene and I could picture it so vividly, and wish I could go to one like it.

Here is the poll for July 2023 https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

There were only two suggestions this time (A Spindle Splintered was already read in Nov 2020). So I am allowing write-ins for this poll, just in case anyone had any suggestions they forgot to get in.

Hi all,

Hope you're all staying safe this week! The air here is very poor, marked as Unhealthy for everyone. Been masking up when i go outside, and had a migraine all week.

Book Club: Get any last minute recommendations for the book club in! I'll try to set up a poll early next week.

This week i finished:

Notes on an Execution - my next books & brew read. I liked it. Explores the fascination with serial killers, and redirects the sort of story but telling it more from the perspective of people surrounding him and affected by his murders. So his mother, the police woman who caught him, the relatives of victims, etc.

Fractal Noise - I listened to this mostly because Jennifer Hale was reading it and I adore her. She did a fantastic job, and on the whole the presentation was really cool with the music cues and the thumping. However the story was pretty lacking. Too much of the main guy wallowing in grief, bickering amongst the team, and weird religious debates.

The World We Make - good conclusion to the duology. I can see why she decided to trim it down and pivot, considering that reality started getting a little too much like what she was attempting to fictionalize. Looking forward to whatever else she writes next.

Currently reading:

Witch King - Enjoying this a lot, even if it's not Murderbot. I was sad to read about her health, I hope she caught things soon enough that she can be treated and recover.

Rolling in the Deep - audio book of the novella, almost done with it. I like it as a nice fill in for the previous story.

QOTW:

Are there any books that have sequels, but you wish they didn't? (or the vice versa question, are there any standalone books you wish had a sequel?)

Not sure if I can think of any offhand. If a book is truly a stand alone, i generally don't want to mess with it. I adore the Night Circus, and while I might have some interest in how the circus is adjusting to the modern era with bailey as the proprietor, I don't know that i actually WANT that written out. I prefer to just think about it or imagine it myself. I didn't think I needed more Priory of the Orange Tree, but i did end up liking A Day of Fallen Night, more because it was just set in the same world but a different part of the timeline rather than being a real "part" of a series or a proper sequel or prequel. I have heard that the follow up book to The Sparrow wasn't good, so I never bothered to read it. So maybe that one shouldn't have been written haha.

Just as a note, it looks like we DID read a Spindle Splintered back in 2021. i liked it! But we could read another of her books or the sequel if you want to change the recommendation

I have read will my cat eat my eyeballs and got through that fine, haha. And I do want to read the other one, when smoke gets in my eyes or whatever.

I've heard good things about Stiff, but my library has it on audio. I think I could READ about dead bodies ok, i don't know if I actually want to hear it out loud though. I'm kinda fussy with audio books at times. I tend to not want to hear anything too steamy read out loud, anything too violent, or just gross stuff.. I like the option of skimming if necessary. (the library might have stiff in hard copy too, i just never think to specifically check)

Hi all,

Quiet week this week. Teddy continues to be doing well, although we still need to give daily medication until July 11th when there's a recheck. Looking forward to being able to cut most of it out, and actually plan a little vacation, or do things that involve being out of the house all day.

Book Club I put up a thread for the book club next book suggestions: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

This week I finished:

The Duke Who Didn't - fun brain break from some longer reads. I liked the two main characters, and it didn't go the way I expected.

Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times - I'm doing a genre genius challenge at my library, and there's a bunch of nonfiction for it. Trying to work some into my reading so I don't end up with only those at the end. I really like Bernadette Banner's fashion history youtube videos, and so this seemed interesting. It's not very new, but it's mostly dealing with stuff from 20000 years ago, and the author seemed to be pretty even handed about focusing on more than just Europe, even if it doesn't cover the entire world. There was plenty of information from the Middle East, and areas of Asia, as well as lots of information on Egypt.

Warrior Girl Unearthed - Did the audio book for this, it was pretty good. it's a sequel of sorts to The Fire Keeper's Daughter, taking place about a decade later and focusing on different characters. But the events from the first were brought up several times as well as various characters.

Currently reading:

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law - i'd heard a lot of good things about Mary Roach, so I picked this up in my nonfiction efforts. I don't know if I'm just not in the mood for it, or this isn't one of her best books, but I'm kind of struggling to get through it. I thought it'd be funny but educational, and it's more kind of depressing to read about all the ways humans kill and otherwise harass animals who dare to simply be animals in their territory that humans moved into.

Fractal Noise - audio book, that i admit i got mainly to listen to Jennifer Hale read me a story again. It's not a BAD sci fi book, just i probably wouldn't care as much about the series if my favorite voice actress wasn't so GOOD at performing them.

The Sisters Grimm - another book from my TBR challenge. This one is also not really grabbing me, even though the story sounded really interesting from the blurb. Jumping around too much, making the narrative feel too disjointed.

QOTW: Do your prefer used or new books?

I don't MIND used books, as long as they're in reasonably good condition. I don't really like buying used ones that look like they've already been through some stuff. I know books can get damaged from carrying them around, and generally just handling them, so I don't really want to start one one whose binding already looks like it might loosen or whose cover is all tattered and looks like it could come off. Also any more I tend to buy books more to have them on my shelf, otherwise I borrow from library or buy an ebook deal. So in that case, I want the book to look nice on my shelf. So i'd tend towards new unless I lucked out and found a great condition used.

Hi all, here's the post to make suggestions for the next book. Usual rules apply.

Please make sure you give a sentence or two why you think we should read it together, not just a list of books you're planning on reading.

If a book is recommended that you also want to recommend, you can mention it again to add support. If there's a bunch of titles, I'll just pick the ones that seem to have the most interest in the poll, if there's just a few i"ll pull them all.

This is a new selection round, so if you want to suggest a book you've suggested before, put it here again to be considered, I won't be going back to past suggestion posts.

Happy reading everyone!

Hi all,

Good news, Teddy is done with radiation! Unfortunately it's been giving him some gut issues, so he's not feeling 100%, but we are giving him stuff to help, and hopefully now that more radiation isn't blasting him every day, things will settle back down soon. We'll still have to do some rechecks every few months to make sure things are staying ok, but he should be mostly out of the woods. The radiologist said he did great! He'll still have to wear the tube when we can't watch him until his skin heals up a bit more and some of his fur grows back for protection.

Book Club: Don't forget the threads are open for the discussion for The Left Handed Booksellers of London! Also start thinking of some books to suggest, I'll probably open a suggestion thread next week.

This week I finished:

What Moves the Dead - did the audio book for this, pretty short, I liked the narrator. It is the kind of horror I like which is more creepy and gothic than bloody and murdery. Still extremely unsettling! Based on Poe's Fall of the House of Usher, i'll have to read it now.

A Day of Fallen Night - finally finished this, it was nearly 900 pages! I liked it though, so it wasn't too bad reading that much. I was a little miffed at first because I really liked the Priory of the Orange Tree was a stand alone fantasy, not a series. However this takes place several centuries before Priory. There are things that get set up that become relevant in Priory, but it's more in a "oh so that's how that came about" sense. Not in a "these books don't work if you don't read them both" sense. So it's more like two standalone epics set in the same world, pulling from the same mythology.

Currently reading:

The Duke Who Didn't - some light romance as a break from horror and long epics. Works for a read harder prompt too, independently published book by a BIPOC author.

Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times - library's doing a summer reading challenge and a genre genius challenge that both have nonfiction activities. So trying to get some nonfiction read via audio book. It's really interesting, so much history in how we got from hide to woven cloth. And so much of it had to be really carefully teased out since cloth will rot, wood looms will rot, wood spindles will rot etc. So a lot of evidence had to be pieced together over painted pictures, carvings, things like bits of metal and shell found in a grave stuck to the forehead or wrists in a way that wouldn't have made sense without a cloth band and some kind of string to attach them, the occasional bog preserved body with clothing or other artifacts etc.

QOTW: Do you check out books from the library? How many do you check out at a time?

It tends to go in spurts. I mostly do digital library holds, so I'll have a bunch of stuff on hold, thinking it's all nicely spaced out and then suddenly get piled up with all of them at once. So I might have 5 or more checked out at once at times. Then I'll get them all cleared away and decide I'm going to focus on trying to read books I own, and probably manage that for a bit until there's inevitably either another hold or a new book i can't resist checking out. Plus I like to have an audio book on hand, and i don't like buying those because I don't necessarily want to re-listen to them, and they take up a lot of storage space. So I often have a library one checked out.