Sheri’s
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(group member since Jul 25, 2016)
Sheri’s
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Not a whole lot to report since I just posted Monday. Teddy's off to radiation, still doing pretty well. Cranky, but hanging in there, over half done. He'll be happy for the weekend!
Book club Don't forget the book club is reading The Left Handed Book Sellers of London by Garth Nix! The threads are up in the book club folder. I know some people have posted already. I'll be leaving them open, so no rush.
This week I finished:
The Maid - Finished this since Monday at least. I liked it quite a bit. Didn't actually see the ending coming. I liked the narrator a lot. Her voice was weirdly familiar although I haven't actually seen the actress in much. Reminded me of the Daisy Jones narrator I think. I think she brought it to life a lot. Molly was clearly written to be neurodivergent, though it was never explicitly stated that she was diagnosed with anything. I liked how they balanced that just because she didn't always grasp something that would have been obvious to someone else, it didn't mean she was stupid.
The Bone Season - I can't remember if i was still finishing or did finish this for last check in. It's finished now anyhow. It was just ok, a bit disappointing. I don't think i'll continue the series.
Currently reading:
A Day of Fallen Night - Getting into this one, it's a long read but trying not to rush it since the world building is so complex. Kind of wishing I had re-read Priory but that's also an 800 page book. This is set before it, so I'm having trouble remembering all the characters that WILL come to remember if any of them are being set up now.
What Moves the Dead - audio book, although I haven't really started it much. I got a few sentences in and decided I didn't have the attention span just yet. Will probably start it on a walk later.
QOTW:
What books do you recommend to others?
I don't tend to have blanket books I recommend to others. I like to know what kind of books they normally like to read, and then i'll sort through books I've read and figure out ones I think they might like. I'll even recommend ones that I don't necessarily like, if i think they might based on what THEY like. One of my all time favorite books is The Night Circus and I almost never recommend it to people. It's a polarizing book that people tend to love or hate, because it's very atmospheric. I love the dreamy quality to it and the way it makes me feel and think and imagine, and a lot of people just find it boring. I'm not going to recommend it to people who generally like reading stuff with action or adventure or mostly read mysteries or romance etc. I want people to like the books I recommend, and want to talk books with me, not just force people to read the books I read.

Thanks Susan for getting a post up, end of week got a little hectic.
Teddy is doing pretty well. He's grumpy today from starting treatment back up after the weekend. I guess he's learning what Mondays are like for everyone else, and isn't a fan. But so far no real ill effects, which we're thankful for.
Had a nice weekend, lovely weather. We celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary with an amazing dinner at a restaurant we've been wanting to try for ages. It wasn't Amsterdam (where we'd planned to be this month, prior to the whole diagnosis) but it was still lovely. Hopefully Amsterdam next year! Then we popped over to the pride festival and said hi to friends and hung out a bit. Had some relaxing back yard pool time and went kayaking Sunday as well.
Finished:
Yellowface - this was a little bit of a disappointment for me. I was looking forward to this so much! I have enjoyed her other works, so I was interested to see her take on something that wasn't historical fiction with a touch of fantasy. But it just fell flat for me. The plot reminded me a lot of uh..well The Plot. Which I didn't particularly enjoy either. And I felt like it meandered a lot and never really came to a satisfactory end.
Gunpowder Alchemy - read for the vaginal fantasy book club on discord. I forgot about it so ended up reading it in about a day, luckily it was a pretty fast, easy read. Nothing particularly amazing or stellar about it, but it was enjoyable enough. Thought it was an interesting take on the steampunk genre, turning it into more gunpowder punk due to the China setting. The main character got kidnapped a lot which was a little annoying, but she wasn't complacent about it which saved it some. My biggest peeve was really that a lot of stuff kept getting introduced and completely dropped. People would show up and feel important just to never be mentioned again. And the ending was pretty abruptly segued into "go read the next book". i might eventually, it was pretty cheap (maybe free?) but not so gripping that i feel like i just HAVE to know what's going on.
When We Were Magic - This was a weird one for me. I enjoyed it while i was listening to it, but once I stopped to think about it at all, stuff really kind of fell apart. So many things were just...hand waved away.
The Bone Season - i was pretty disappointed in this one too. I really love priory of the orange tree, so was excited to read something else by the author. But this just didn't hold up nearly as well. Although it was apparently her debut novel, so i suppose it makes sense. But the characters were not nearly as compelling, nor was the world building. I felt much more confused, and just kind of slogged along hoping it'd improve eventually. I am not really sure it did. I was slightly intrigued but not really enough I feel compelled to read another one. Especially when there's supposed to be 7 books in this series and the rest aren't even done yet.
Currently reading:
A Day of Fallen Night - Speaking of Priory, I at least get a new book set in the same world even if the other one fell flat. I just started it, but i already am settling into it better.
The Maid - current audio book. It's interesting, i'm enjoying listening to it so far.
QOTW:
I don't really. I don't have a problem with public speaking, if it's something I can prepare ahead of time. Then I can try to memorize it or at least be familiar enough that I only need to glance down at what I'm reading to remind myself of where I am or what comes next.
If I am reading blind, my eyes tend to read faster than my mouth and I'll get lost and start stumbling. Also I have the problem many readers have that you see words and you don't actually know how to pronounce them outside of text, so I always get nervous about that. If I'm preparing ahead of time I can listen to pronunciations and practice if anything is unfamiliar.

Been a really stressful week, looking forward to a 3 day weekend. Teddy started his radiation on Monday and it's just been exhausting. So much struggling with medication, getting him into his inflatable ring so he doesn't mess with the radiation site. Plus since he has to take a sedative medicine at night and we need to monitor his litter boxing, and make sure he fasts in the morning, I have been having him sleep with me at night. Normally i ban pets from the bedroom at night because i do NOT sleep well. I wake up at the slightest disturbance. So I pretty much haven't been sleeping this week. My husband's been sleeping in the guest room, but he's been having to do all the driving and appointments because he has a laptop so he's able to work in their office while I can't due to my desktop set up. Teddy's really getting fed up with the daily discomfort too and I can't blame him. Still several more weeks to go after this. At least Monday is a break for him too. Husband says he'll sleep with him tonight and over the weekend so I can catch up on sleep, since he has a four day weekend and won't need to be working. Sleep sounds so good.
The book club threads are open over in the book club folder for The Left-Handed Booksellers of London.
This week I finished:
A Discovery of Witches - I've had this on my shelf for years and never got around to it, it was a selection from my group's TBR challenge. I liked it pretty well, I'll probably finish the series eventually.
The Guncle - this is my books & brews pick for June, we'd wanted a lgbtq+ book that was less heartbreaking than some previous year picks. No set in the 80s during the AIDS crisis etc. There was still a lot of bittersweet moments since there were tragic events at the core of the book, but there was a lot of good wholesome humor and bonding and it was overall very sweet and cute.
Currently reading:
Yellowface - I've enjoyed everything by RF Kuang that I've read, so I've had my eye on this since I've heard about it. It sounds rather similar in idea to The Plot which I didn't like all that much, but honestly I trust her as a writer and I already like it better.
When We Were Magic - audio book, it's...interesting? kind of a bizarre start to a book and general premise, we'll see where it goes.
QOTW:
Have you ever read a book that made you laugh out loud?
Most the time if I find something funny in a book i'll just do a little amused...nose exhale? But the one time I can remember actually laughing outright to the point my husband came to see if i was ok was reading Jenny Lawson's Broken. I think it was the chapter where she was talking about something embarrassing thing she did in public and how she can never be seen there again, and then all her twitter followers were sharing THEIR stories. I was laughing so hard I couldn't even explain what was so funny, I just had to kind of wave the book in his general direction.

Actually squeezing a post in! Teddy did not end up starting radiation this week, the results in his scan were delayed. So he'll be starting this Monday. Both frustrating and a relief, because i'm glad he got a week of a break, not having to do a long car ride and a scary medical visit. But also just kind of want to get the whole process started and over with. The good news is, he's feeling totally fine. He's happy, snuggling, eating well, not sick at all. Most of this is cleaning up stray stuff from the surgery, to make sure nothing will come back and form in the future.
this week I finished:
Clytemnestra - this was a good, if a bit of a tough read. Her story has a lot of brutal elements in it, but I think the author did a good job of handling them, focusing on her rage, her strength, her power rather than on the actual acts. I read it in part inspired by the book nerds prompt fiction book inspired by a nonfiction read. After reading Pandora's Jar, i was really interested in the character and looked up to see if there was a retelling of her, and saw there was one due out in May. So here we are in may! Managed to get it from the library fairly quickly.
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - this is the book club read, so i went ahead and got started on it. I put my thoughts over in the book club thread. There's also some reading questions if anyone cares to answer any. It was a nice fast read.
Currently reading:
Cat's Cradle - doing a audio re-read of this for the popsugar book I haven't read in over 10 years. I rated it 5 stars back when I read it. I'm definitely not feeling that way now. I think I'm just a lot more aware of inherent sexism/racism than I was back then, and I've read a lot more stuff in general since then. So it's not BAD, but it's not like a knock my socks book anymore. Rolling my eyes every time a woman character gasps and feels faint at the mention of science. Or how often Newt, an adult man who happens to be a little person, is referred to as "Little Newt" like he's a child.
A Dead Djinn in Cairo - quick read, will probably finish up at lunch.
QOTW: borrowing popsugar's question of the week. Does it bother you if a book's cast is all male, or all female?
I prefer all female (or mostly female) over all male, just because i've had enough of male dominated casts over the course of my life. Or the token female being mostly a flat character of Girl or the the Love Interest or there to die to motivate the hero etc. But in general I like my casts to have SOME mix up if they're taking place in the real world, unless there's a specific reason otherwise. Like "this is an all girl's school" or some sort of dystopian/utopian thing where the author is playing with gender. Like I read We Ride Upon Sticks, where the main cast was the girl's hockey team. But there was still Boy Corey on the team, there were dads involved, brothers, male teachers, boys they had crushes on, other students in the school etc. I've read some old sci fi/fantasy where it's like "how are they ONLY encountering men on their travels? are all the women in hiding or something?" or the women are barely even mentioned, not even named in the slightest beyond "tavern wench" etc.


Read the prologue of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London and consider the following
questions: a) What tone did the prologue create? b) Were you hooked to continue reading the
story? c) How did the prologue help you understand the world in which the events of the story
take place?
Why do you think Garth Nix decided to open each chapter with a short poem?
Did these poems enhance your reading of the novel? If so, how? If not, why not?
Merlin St Jacques is equally comfortable in men’s and women’s clothes and has considered shape shifting to become a woman at some point in his past. Why do you think Garth Nix decided to make Merlin gender fluid? Did you enjoy the novel more for this decision? If so, why so? If not, why not? What other novels or films feature a gender fluid character?
How else has Garth Nix played with gender in the novel? [Hint: look closely at the TV show
references.]

Sorry for my silence, it's been a bit of a rough few weeks. Teddy had his first oncology appointment last Monday and it was confirmed that he's going to need some intensive radiation therapy. So this Tuesday he had a cat scan and it's looking like radiation will start either Tuesday or Wednesday next week, if we get the results in time. The scan was mostly to determine the exact area they need to work on, and make sure there were no hidden health surprises. We need to be taking him in for about 15-20 appointments, so basically 5 days a week for around 4 weeks. Hopefully that'll get everything, but he might need a targeted round of chemo or some minor surgery after to clear up anything else that is lingering. But they're optimistic that he'll come through it fine, cats are apparently more resilient than dogs and people when it comes to radiation. And trying to keep the whole thing un-stressful enough that his other issues don't get triggered. So keeping up with anxiety meds, and gabapentin before each visit. So please keep my little guy in your thoughts <3
Book club: The book that won the poll is the Left Handed Book Sellers of London by Garth Nix. The pre-reading and final thoughts threads are up in the book club folder. I'll try to add some questions once I finish reading it. I was able to get a copy from my library already, but I have another book with an earlier return date I need to finish first.
Books I've finished:
House of Gold - this was alright, interesting world and idea but it didn't quite come together for me. Felt like there were a lot of questions about motivation that didn't really get answered.
Portrait of a Thief - was my books & brew book, had a discussion last night, was a pretty good one really. I liked it over all, although i looked forward to it being a heist book and the heist part was probably the weakest part of the book. It had some good character development though, and thoughts about museums and what belongs in them and whether it maters how that art/artifacts were acquired and what rights the original cultures have to their culture's works.
A Coup of Tea- cute cozy fantasy, this is what i needed while being stuck in a oncology office for four hours because they were so backed up, while tryin to comfort my poor scared boy. Not really amazing, but i like the idea of a princess who gives up her title and family to go off to be a tea master to help her people more at a ground level.
We Ride Upon Sticks- did the audio book for this. I really liked it, I thought it was going to be just a goofy tongue in cheek book about a bunch of teen girls playing at witchcraft to win at field hockey. And there was a lot of that. But it in the end was really a story about sisterhood, and embracing who you are as a girl becoming a woman, and learning to reject what others expect of you.
The Master and Margarita - another book off my tbr challenge. This one was a bit rough going. Wasn't the worst classic I soldiered through, but I really feel like I did not have anywhere near enough understanding of Russian history or politics to get the satire. So I just found it really chaotic and confusing and kind of weird.
Currently reading:
Clytemnestra - got my copy from the library, good so far but only a couple chapters in
Malibu Rising - listening to the audio book, reminded me a lot of daisy jones, but different style since it's not a mockumentary and only one narrator.
QOTW: Are you good at guessing plot twists?
I'm pretty good at it, it's sometimes frustrating. I don't like spoilers, so it's kind of annoying if I can immediately see where a book is going, especially if i don't where i see it going. Some times I'm wrong and I get surprised, but I'm a lot of times right, or at least semi right. I really like books that can genuinely surprise me!



Just as a book club note, I got a message that someone couldn't open the thread properly. Not sure if anyone else was having an issue. But there were only two suggestions, so I hadn't made a poll yet in case some people were holding out til the end. If you have any suggestions, please get them in! I made a second thread, just in case there are any issues with the first. I'll check them both.



I took Teddy's stitches out this week! So he's now living his best cone-free life. thanks for all the well wishes <3
Book club : I have a post up in the book club folder for book club recommendations! I'll make a poll next week for voting.
This week I finished:
The Genesis of Misery - I was looking forward to this so much! I ended up being kind of disappointed. It started out really strongly, then became a slog. It was advertised as Joan of Arc in space, and Pacific Rim meets Evangellion. I expected a lot more action and excitement and a lot less being trapped inside Misery's head as she first debated wether or not she was void mad and then embraced being a prophet and decided that meant everything she did was ordained and required no introspection whatsoever. I wanted a lot more world building and character interaction. However the epilogue was interesting, and implied there might be a second book. I'd consider reading it, just not buying it. (this was a "OMG I'm in the Strand impulse buy)
The Girl from the Sea - this however was absolutely charming and sweet! A girl is trying to hide the fact that she wants to date other girls until she's rescued by a selkie and kisses her which turns her plan upside down. The art was really lovely as well.
How to Be Eaten - this was another Strand buy, luckily went much better. I liked it quite a lot! It's about a support group for women who survived fairy tales and the media circus resulting from those fairy tales, set in the modern day so they were tweaked for a modern setting. So Bluebeard, for example, was a shady tech billionaire with a cyan beard preying on Hooters waitresses and grad students etc and the story being told by the girlfriend who managed to survive him.
Currently reading:
Old Man's War - another one from my TBR challenge, just started it
Paradise Lost - trying to do the audio for this, thinking that I usually do better with poetry when it's read. but I don't like the narrator. It's a British guy with a really dry, fast narration so it just turns into a background drone. But I tend to skim poetry when I read it, so I don't know if switching to reading will go any better. So meh, I'm sticking with the audio for now.
QOTW:
If you could spend your life never sleeping, then what would you do with the extra hours in each day?
I feel like this is one of those sounds good at first but would actually be kind of miserable scenarios. I get overstimulated a lot so I take a nap daily, even if i'm not actually "tired" just to have. half hour where i have my eyes closed, lights on, white nose on, and shut the world out to recharge. I've often gone to bed early on bad days because i just can't anymore. So while there's a part of me that's like "oh yes i'd use all that extra time to write, or draw, or paint or craft", I'm not sure it would. I'm also solar powered, I find it difficult to do ANYTHING productive when the sun is down. So it feels like it'd be difficult to either switch to working after dark so I could be creative in the day, or do my creative things at night. It just seems like the extra time would be hours of staring at screens, or at best reading. Reading is good, but i do a lot of that already. Maybe I'm being too gloomy on a silly question, haha.

Nothing wrong with changing things up!

Here is the selection thread for the next book. Standard 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!

Teddy's doing a bit better, vet wants stitches to stay in til tomorrow night so he's still coned. But gave approval for Teddy to roam the house again, so he's less miserable being cooped up all day. We still have him isolated at night though, but with my husband sleeping with him in the guest bed for company. (he's better at sleeping with animals, he sleeps like a rock.). The girls are freaked out by the cone and there's more fighting than usual when they going, even Pixel his bonded sister wants nothing to do with him right now. So we don't want him out at night when we can't break things up if it gets too intense. We have an oncology appointment for May 1st, which is farther away than I like but we're on the list if there's an earlier opening. It's really just a consultation for next steps, there's no current sign of anything returning. No actual urgency to it, it's just the anxiety of "what if". And being unable to make plans, not knowing if he's going to need additional treatment no matter what, or only if something shows up.
this week I finished:
The Echo Wife - I liked this quite a bit, kind of dark and creepy and unsettling. Part of my book club's TBR challenge.
A Holly Jolly Diwali - audio book, this was cute and light
Followers - got this as part of my book club's white elephant book exchange at Christmas. It was a social thriller involving social media. I liked it, weird. A bit over the top. Also part of my TBR challenge.
Currently reading:
The Genesis of Misery - kinda expected to LOVE this, but it's dragging a bit. I don't hate it or anything, but i expected it to be much faster paced, in you face than it is. Spending way too much time just in one character's head.
Paradise Lost - trying to do the audio for this, which I thought would help. Not huge on poetry, but usually someone reading it imbibes personality and emotion to it. But the narrator for this one is reading at a pretty emotionless speedy clip. So it just kind of turns it all to background noise, making it hard to really follow. I'm not sure if I'd do much better reading though. I 100% tend to skim poetry, which is why i picked audio in the first place. It's a bummer there doesn't tend to be multiple audio editions to choose from. (i get why, it's just a bummer).
QOTW: I'm a graphic designer, i do love a good cover. I tend to like ones that either have fantastic artwork or really striking design. I love





Another exhausting week, I would like to be done with these. Teddy had to have another urgent vet appointment Monday, he wasn't eating and threw up, was really lethargic. I guess he picked up a little infection that the antibiotics weren't catching. So he got put on MORE antibiotics and anti-nausea, and anti-inflammatories and fluids and such. He's doing a bit better. Have a virtual vet check in tonight that will go over some next steps in his treatment plan as far as possible surgeries and what to do about managing possible cancer return and all that. And hopefully set a time to get the stitches out. So pretty anxious about that. Also feeling a vague "feel like i'm getting sick but not quite actually sick" that's lasted like 3 days so far. Vague little coughs and some light congestion and feeling run down but not actually "oh yes, this is 100% sick" where i feel justified in calling in sick. It always feels like TOMORROW i'm going to wake up feeling completely miserable.
This week I finished:
Alanna: The First Adventure - I'd heard really great things about Tamora Pierce but I never got into her when I was younger. I think i would have LOVED this when I was younger, but as is it did NOT age well. However I've heard from other Tamora Pierce fans that she's acknowledged the mistakes of her past, apologized and put in the work to educate herself and improve, so that's good to hear. Maybe in the future I'll read some of her newer work.
Siren Queen - I liked this quite a bit. It was set in 30's era Hollywood, but with magic. I'd read her The Chosen, The Beautiful and while I liked the idea, felt it got strangled by being too tightly tied to the Great Gatsby framework. This one had a similar vibe, but since it was it's own story rather than a too-tight retelling it was free to be it's own thing. I liked it much better.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow- this is my books & brew book for my irl book club for April. I was certain I was going to LOVE this since it was about playing and making video games, and it was getting rave reviews. However I only just liked it. I found both Sam and Sadie so insufferable that my dislike for them meant that a lot of scenes that I felt like should have been very moving fell pretty flat for me. I did rate it higher than most books where I didn't like the main characters though, so I guess that's a testament to the writing.
Currently reading:
The Echo Wife - part of my tbr challenge, got it in te holiday book exchange for my book club. Liking it so far.
A Holly Jolly Diwali - audio book read
Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer - comic read
QOTW:
Over in popsugar they're doing a quiz with a booksona, but it feels like just a marketing ploy to sell a handful of their current "want to sell these" authors. So my question is there a booksona YOU feel like you have? Not necessarily a specific book, but maybe a type of book that feels like embodies you? Doesn't have to be the one you read most, more like what you feel like represents you.
I know I love reading all kinds of sci fi and fantasy. But I think when it comes down to it my booksona are the cozy bookshop/teastore type fantasy sci fi books. I had my husband read the first Monk and Robot book and he said "this is you, as a book" and it felt pretty accurate, haha. I'm really excited about the Legends and Lattes prequel because I'm not really a coffee person, but that one is going to take place in a BOOK STORE.