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

Sheri’s comments from the EPBOT Readers group.

Hi Everyone!

Been glad to see some spring like weather return after a gross snowy weekend.

In case you didn't get the message I sent out, Onyx and Ivory was selected as the next book to read for the book club! It looks interesting. For those who have access to Hoopla, the audiobook is available on it. Stephanie has kindly agreed to run the discussion again, since she did such a great job last time. Thank you Stephanie!

This week I finished:

On Both Banks - this was one of my bookflood books. I enjoyed it, very interesting! The author is a FoE which is pretty cool, as well. It counted for Read Harder's book published before jan 19 with fewer than 100 ratings.

The Beekeeper's Lament: How One Man and Half a Billion Honey Bees Help Feed America - this is my read harder business book. I got it free through amazon prime reading. It was interesting enough, about the beekeeping industry and how it affects and is affected by the agricultural industry. I love honey and appreciate bees, so it was about as interesting as a business book is going to be for me. Still a bit dry and slow to get through.

Immortal Ever After - re-read just to break up the beekeeping book, i need some plot to keep me going.

Man-Eaters, Vol. 1 - The plot in this is taking a bit to get going, but i just love the premise and all he fake ads they fill the book in.

Hacktivist - trying to clear off my ipad, this was just ok. The premise is interesting but the writing and art were just alright, nothing terribly compelling.

Currently reading:

I started The Girl in the Tower which I've been looking forward to, but I found it's been too long since I read the first one. I was getting it conflated with Spinning Silver. So I put it down and am now re-reading The Bear and the Nightingale to refresh my memory. Hopefully I can get the next one quicker!

QOTW:

Any books you're looking forward to this year? Doesn't have to be a new release, could be your bookflood books or something your library finally got in that you've been waiting on.

I'm excited for Fall, or Dodge in Hell, I love Neal Stephanson, and I really enjoyed Reamde which involved Dodge. Looks like a fun read!

Stephanie,

I super recommend the audio drama if you like Neverwhere :) It's got all kinds of big British names! James MacAvoy, Natalie Dormer, Christopher Lee, Benedict Cumberbatch, among others.

Hi Everyone!

Actually making a post in the correct week, at least.

This week I finished:

Zone One - this was for my books & brew. I did not enjoy it, sadly. I know lots of people love the writer, I'm not one of them. There were giant walls of text, and the PoV character kept fading in and out of flashbacks to the point of I kept losing track of what was actually happening. 70 pages in I realized it was still in the same zombie encounter that the book started with, everything else was just flashbacks. I hadn't actually realized it was possible to make zombies so boring. And yes, I get sometimes the meandering can try to put the reader in the same state of mind as the pov, but in this case it didn't work. I just felt confused and annoyed and wishing something would actually happen.

Warcross - this is for popsugar lit rpg, as well as reading women's YA book by a woman of color. I liked it mostly, however i was so frustrated by the abrupt cliffhanger ending. It was a buzzkill!

The Essex Serpent - this isn't my usual sort of book, but I did enjoy it. It was more long meandering character studies than anything particularly action packed, but I liked it anyhow. Wished there was more magic in it though haha. This was popsugar zodiac/astrology symbol in the title, and Chinese zodiac for ATY. Serpent can mean either dragon or snake, both of which are in the Chinese Zodiac.

Dorothy Must Die - Popsugar retelling of a classic, ATY book related to a tv show/movie I enjoyed. It wasn't a straight retelling, it's more a continuation. Wizard of Oz and the rest of the oz books happened, but now Dorothy's become a despot and a resistance is plotting to overthrow her. Again, I really enjoyed the book until the ending. it ended SO abruptly I actually audibly went "WHAT" when I finished, causing my husband concern. And of course the rest of the series is more thanI want to pay right now. Ah well.

Currently reading:

On Both Banks - this was one of my bookflood books! The author is in the group too which is both cool and a bit nervewracking. He was tagged so knows i got it, and there's only like...2 reviews on goodreads so when I review it, it'll be a little obvious which one is mine, haha. Luckily I like it pretty well so far, if pretty weird. I'm using it for Read Harder's book with less than 100 reviews that was published before January 2019.

QOTW:

Borrowing popsugar's question this week, since it feels timely.

Do you like your endings to be wrapped up neatly, or leave you guessing?

I like a neat ending, most the time, haha. I get that in a series, it takes multiple books to resolve the overall plot. However there's ways to wrap up the individual books that still make the book feel complete, while leaving you excited for the next. I don't like feeling like I ran headlong into a wall as I get to the last page.

When it comes to stand alone books, I want enough of a resolution that I feel like I get the point of the book. I don't need every single detail of what happened later, but I want to feel like there was a point to me having read the book. If I have to guess so much it feels like I have to write my own ending in my head, that's not satisfying for me.

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've been bad about keeping the updates going on time! It's been a really busy month, both at work and in general, harder to find time to sit down.

Here's an update thread for the week, I'll try to get another up on Thursday or Friday for this week properly.

Last week I read:
Love and Other Consolation Prizes - popsugar book with love in the title. I loved this a lot, it was such a lovely story and I enjoyed the writing.

I think I already said I finished Pachinko? I've lost track!

I'm currently reading The Essex Serpent, enjoying it so far. It'll be my book with an astrological term in the title, as well as my ATY book involving a Chinese Zodiac animal. I'll fill in the rest of the gaps on this week's check in.

I'll also come up with a question by then.

I also posted a poll to pick the new book for book club, don't forget to vote!

Happy reading!

Hi everyone, I made a poll for the book selection since it seems like conversation has died off. I put results that had at least one "vote" on the poll, in the interest in not diluting the votes with too many options. If yours didn't make it, feel free to submit next time!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Hi everyone, sorry for late posting! Thanks to Stephanie for getting it started!

This has been such a busy week, still getting caught up with work post vacation and my house renovation stared mean lots of little interruptions all day.

This week I finished:

The Windup Girl - this was weird for me. I liked parts of it but I think it jumped around too much. If it had focused more on fewer characters, the story would have flowed better. I still can’t really describe what the actual plot was. Still had interesting ideas as a dystopia though. Also impressed that a white American guy wrote a book set in Thailand that was really well researched and wasn’t just focused on white characters being there. This was for ATY book about food.

Bel Canto - this was my books &. Brew read. I was kinda meh about it. There were some nice moments but too Matt things annoyed me and distracted me. The ending was a letdown and the epilogue was kind of absurd and tacked on. This was popsufars book based on a true story, it was looosly based on the Japanese embassy hostage situation.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
This was very weird but I liked it. Gave me some Foygkas Addams vibes. I’m counting it for popsugars book set in space and Read Hardee’s bioknset in space by an author of color. Also ATY book from a money making genre -sci fi. It technically is more space-time than space, but it was on book riots suggestions list so I’m counting it.

Pachinko - popsugars boom about a family, reading women and ATYs multigenerational saga. I really loved this, such a lovely story. Also I admit I know almost nothing about Korean history so it was pretty eye opening for me. There were lots of moments of heartbreak but it was just so lovely and well written. There were also moments of strebgth, sweetness, perseverance. So good!

Currently reading : Love and Other Consolation Prizes - this will be my book with love in the title for popsugar. Not sure if it fits elsewhere yet. I like it so far!

I’m updating really late so we’ll skip a question this week. Sorry! If anyone has ideas for questions, feel free to message me!

I grabbed it, love that tor gives away books!

Cindy, no problem. It doesn't need to be exact, just if a book only has one person interested I probably won't put it on a poll vs. something that several people expressed interest in. :)


Also I'm still no help, I'm already planning on reading Ella Minnow Pea, for Read Harder's book of letters prompt, so that also works for me.

I don't have any strong suggestions myself at the moment. I've read Fifth Season and Spinning Silver, they are both excellent and would lend themselves well to discussion. I also wouldn't mind re-reading either. Sabriel looks really interesting, and so does Oryx and Ivory so I'm zero help, haha.

Thanks for the heads up Jen, I loved the book but got it from the library. $3 is my “yes, have some” price point!

Jen, I keep meaning to read that!

Here is a thread to start making suggestions for the next book club pick. I'd like to have it selected by the end of March so in April we can start reading and start discussion threads!

Rules for suggestions:

1) Please don't just list books you're planning to read. Give a sentence or two on why you think we should read a book as a book club.

2) If you made a suggestion before, please re-submit it for this time to be included.

3) If someone already listed something you like/what you would suggest, you can "vote " for it by adding support. You can add your own reasoning why you think we should read it.

In a week or so I'll gather up the books that have the most support and put them into a proper poll for the final selection.

Happy reading!

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for the lack of real posting last week. As I mentioned, I'd had a really busy week at work and then went to Disney and just didn't have time to make a proper post.

Disney was fantastic, and it was a great trip with my mom, lots of memories and photos.

So the last two weeks I read:

Catseye - Second book with the same name for Popsugar. It was ok, felt sort of like it should have been the first book of a series, but as far as I can tell it's a stand alone.

Proven Guilty - The Amanda Palmer book took me so long to listen two I had to listen to this non stop for about 2 days to get it all done. As is I got cut off in the last 15 minutes, but I'd read it before so I just called it good.

The Hole - This one was disappointing for me, I'd really looked forward to it. However I really didn't like any of the characters, and so all the horrifying things were just uncomfortable to read, without any real sympathy towards anyone going through them. This counted for a psychological thriller by a woman for Reading Women, far east author for ATY, a book in translation by or translated by a woman (applies for both) for Read Harder., and a book with a plant on the cover for popsugar.

The Song of Achilles - Loved this so much, although it was very sad. Her writing is so lovely! This was my ATY author with the same first and last initials, ATY something old since it's set during the Trojan war and is based on the Iliad which is also very old.

My Beautiful Enemy - this was my historical romance by an author of color for read harder, and a historical fiction book for Reading Women, as well as a book with a criminal character for ATY (main character was a thief, among other things). It was a nice quick read, lots of action.

The Windup Girl - this is my ATY book about food. I had mixed feelings about it. Overall it was interesting, but I really didn't like the way the author wrote Emiko (the titual wind up girl). It also felt like the perspective jumped around so much it was difficult to keep track of where the plot was actually going. Even the ending felt a bit anti-climatic.

Currently reading:
Bel Canto - this is for my book club meeting Tuesday, not sure it'll actually fill any prompts yet.

QOTW:

Last question from Kathy: Any newer books people have read with their kids that they would recommend for adults?

This doesn't entirely apply to me, since I don't have kids. But I have read most of Rick Riordan's books, which are classed as middle-grade, and I really enjoy them. I actually saw Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, the musical, last week on Wednesday. It was really cute!

thanks Cindy, it was a great time!

Hi everyone! I was super busy this week at work, and now I’m at Disney so I can’t really do a proper check in. Feel free to do so yourselves! I’ll provably do a double post for myself Thursday.


Happy reading!

Jessica,

No worries about the book club, we will probably start picking a new book either this week or next, but the threads will remain open. So you can still contribute to the discussion, no matter when you finish!

Also good to know about the podcast, I'll have to check it out. It might take me a while, I'm still only on year 4 or something for Nightvale, and I'm behind on Adventures in New America.

Jen,
I just recently read The Hero and the Crown, I wish I'd found McKinnley when I was younger! I still loved it now, but I know I'd have loved it younger. I loved stories with leading ladies being awesome.

I still love Mercedes Lackey too, haha. I think I found her in high-school ish, with the Tarma and Kethrey books and that lead into the rest of the series.

Susan, on Netflix they made a movie of Aliens Ate My Homework! It’s suuuper cheesy but I thought it was fun. William Shatner is Phil! I was mad they got rid of Snout though.

Hi Everyone!

Having a much better week this week, got the check in up on time!

This week I finished:

Ball Lightning - this was my two word title for Popsugar, and my STEM book for ATY. I liked it overall, although I didn't really connect to any of the characters much. It was interesting, lots of theoretical physics and such. The author said in the afterword that it's sort of a prequel to The Three Body Project, which was pretty interesting.

The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help
This is my book by a musician for popsugar. It was ok overall, but it got rather long and rambling and took a long time to get through. I mostly made it because I know who Amanda Palmer is, and I am a fan so that kept me going, I wouldn't at all be surprised that someone who didn't really know/care about her wouldn't want to keep on. So I feel you, Stephanie haha.

The Wife Between Us - was not a fan of this. It felt like it was trying really hard to be the next Gone Girl and not really working. There were a lot of twists, but they weren't mind blowing "that's amazing!" twists, they were "uh..what? ok...." type twists that were just confusing. This is my book with two female authors for popsugar, and psychological thriller for ATY.

Alice Isn't Dead - I like Joseph Fink, so picked this up on a whim a while ago. I liked it a lot. I didn't realize it was a podcast, might check it out eventually. Not a huge horror fan, but this kept it about where i'm comfortable. This is my popsugar and AtY multiple POV book, and Read Harder book by or about a person who's neruodiverse. Both the author and the main character have anxiety.

currently reading:

Catseye - this is my other half of two books with the same title. the other was Cat's Eye but I figure they sound the same when said out loud so it's close enough. I like it alright.

Proven Guilty - took me so long to get through the Amanda Palmer audio, I'm having to shotgun this one with constant listening, going to expire later tonight. It's a re-read, not for challenge.

QOTW:
Another question from Kathy (thanks for sending!)

What are your favorite books from childhood?

I loved Bruce Coville as a kid, he was my gateway to sci-fi. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher was my absolute favorite though. I also really loved The Little White Horse, I remember reading it a lot. I was horse crazy back then so I read all of the Saddle Club books, as well as the Thoroughbred series.

Kathy, I personally love the book but I totally get how it’s not for everyone. Are you to the ice yet? That’s where it picks up about as much as it’s going to, and you get to know the two characters better.