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

Sheri’s comments from the EPBOT Readers group.

Hi everyone!

Had a bit of a slow week this week. All I finished was The Hammer of Thor, Had in laws spend the weekend, just had little time to read.

I started Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet but I think I'm shelving it. I like ballet, and the history of it is interesting. But the book is written very densely and dryly. It's like trying to read a textbook cover to cover. Sure you can DO it but it's not going to be fun. I will keep note of it though. If I ever want to incorporate ballet into a story, it'd be a fantastic resource. But the whole reason I was reading it was to count for Read Harder's book about sports, and I wanted something more enjoyable than reading about "real" sports. So I guess back to looking for a new book about dance, that's more fun.

How's everyone else doing? I know there's some new people floating around there, feel free to chime in!

Susan, that's really cool! I don't do audio books much, but I can see how they'd help on a long car trip. Good you found ones for the whole family! I think I read Hatchet as a kid. For school maybe? I read Coville all the time though. Was one of my favorites!

Megan wrote: "Has the next book after Unmentionable been selected yet?"

Not yet, "official" discussion was slated to start in July for Unmentionable. So I was probably going to start asking for suggestions then. However if you have a suggestion, feel free make it! Ready Player One and Unmentionable were tied in the original vote, so I didn't really do an official selection process last time.

If anyone has suggestions for how to do the vote this time, i'm open as well. Last time was a google doc that you could add suggestions too, or add counts for a vote. In my popsugar group, they just make a "group read" suggestion thread, and the top entries get put into a poll for a final result. Our group is smaller, so I don't know if we really need a 2-step narrowing down process.

Larissa, welcome to posting!

I like the foundation series ok, the first one of it is my favorite. It gets kind of confusing as it goes on. If you start not feeling it, don't give up on Valdemar! Id recommend going on to the Arrows for the Queen series,those were the first written and lay the groundwork for the whole world. Or the oath sister series which are really good but more stand-alone.

She's my favorite author, hope you enjoy!

Yep, that's me :D Well, this is a FOE group, so all of us are in there somewhere. I just am bad with names, so didn't make the connection.

Riordan's stuff is YA, but it's pretty good reads. Percy Jackson is what he's most known for. Magnus Chase series is newer, so this is only book 2. I think book 3 maybe just came out?

Sun just went away, I think it's playing peek-a-boo. but i think the rain's over for a little bit. says it might rain at noon, but only 30%. So who knows! Plants got watered, at least.

Oh! I didn't realize you were Stephanie of the beautiful cat! :D I love all your Mjolnir photos, she's gorgeous. Such a floofy tail.

It's pretty good so far. If you've read any other Rick Riordan, you know he takes a lot of liberty with mythology, but I think it's fun :)

We've been having rain aplenty. Sun actually JUST came out, after pouring all morning. Also lost power due to a storm last night, for a while. Made for a really stuffy night. Boo.

Hi Everyone!

It's another sunny Summer day in Michigan. (yes, i know it's first day of summer. Michigan doesn't hold with your seasons nonsense, it's been summer since may. Except that one week of fall-like temperatures).

I was traveling over the weekend, so I was mostly reading comic books. I have a bunch on my ipad, and I find them easier to read on vacation. Easier to pick up/put down than a novel.

I still managed to finish a few things.

The Fate of the Tearling - Read this for fun. It was alright, conclusion to a trilogy. The ending was dissatisfying though, so I was a little disappointed.

Dragondrums - Finishing up the series, procrastinating on starting the next books.

The Underground Railroad - This was my book about a difficult subject. I'd been dragging my feet on hitting the prompt because I don't LIKE reading books about difficult subjects. Reading is my escapism, so i have a hard time getting myself psyched to read something I know is upsetting. I was disappointed in this though. I've read books about slavery that were hard to read, but really moving and good. This one was just upsetting because of subject matter, but it was too clinical and I didn't really connect to the characters.

this puts me at 51/52, SO CLOSE. I'm #4 of 1 copy for my last book. I really wanted to wrap this challenge up in June, just for my own pride. but I dunno if it'll come in on time. It's a book with a family member in the title, was having trouble finding one that sounded interesting. So i'm waiting on My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. It looked interesting. Crossing fingers it comes in soon!

Currently reading The Hammer of Thor for fun. I like Rick Riordan books, fun to turn mythology on it's head.

How's everyone else doing? Reading anything amazing? Amazingly bad? Feel free to post, even if you're not doing a challenge, or are sticking to the goodreads yearly challenge :) No judgements, I just like talking about books!

Stephanie,

Long dark tea time was the second Dirk Gently book. I didn't read the first, not sure if it helps. I liked it ok, but it wasn't my favorite. It jumped around a lot and got kind of confusing. But lots of people like Dirk Gently so it could just be me.

Happy check in everyone!

I'm on vacation in Chicago for the weekend, squeezing in a check in.

This week I read:

Phantom Pains for my book about a person with a disability. Second in the series, it's really good.

Dragonsinger just for fun

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher book I loved as a child. Even after I "grew out of it", and donated to my moms classroom, I'd sneak and read it any time I visited.

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul for my used book. I scoured my bookshelves to find a used book i never read. All the used book shops easy to get to by me shut down, and I didn't know when I'd get up a far flung one. Library's sale selection was lame, so lucky I found something.

Currently reading : The Fate of the Tearling just because.

This puts me st 50/52. So close! I got one library book just today that'll cover my difficult subject prompt. The other might be a while, sigh. I like reading challenges but it'll be nice to finish up and go back to reading whatever I feel like.

How is everyone else doing?

Haha I hope you like it! It actually looks like it's getting kind of ripped apart on goodreads reviews. And I admit it's been a number of years since I've read it. but I remember really enjoying it. It's definitely a bit dark, and Briar is a kind of prickly (clever naming then, huh?), but I really came to appreciate her.

If it doesn't work for you, I read The Girl in the Steel Corset, which was decent. It was just more sterotypical steampunk, where none of the conventions really were explained in a real-world sense. People just wore stripped leggings with short frilly skirts and corsets in the victorian era because...well it's steampunk. But the story was fun enough, referencing some victorian horror.

Stephanie,

I'll have to check The Humans out! Thanks for the recommendation!

My favorite steampunk author is Cherie Priest, with Boneshaker. I really love it because she really thought about all the typical aesthetics in steampunk and came up with world-based reasons for them. It's also great because the protagonist is a middle aged-ish woman looking to find her teenaged son. That rarely happens!

Gail Carriger is also good, with her Parasol Protectorate series. I particularly loved the first one, Soulless. This one is less realistic, and a lot more absurd. It's got vampires, werewolves, ghosts, etc. But it's got a fun sense of humor, and Alexia is a great heroine.

I'd say between the two, Boneshaker is for if you want a serious, somewhat grim story but lots of adventure and attention to detail. Soulless is if you want more of a fun romp, with endearing characters.

hope that helps! :)

Hi Everyone! Beautiful day here in Michigan, loving Michigan summer.

Hope everyone else is doing well too!

Books I finished this week:
The Little Paris Bookshop - Book by an author from a country you've never visited (germany). This was a lovely read. I'm also counting it for Read Harder's book about books, although that's a little bit of a stretch since while books are heavily woven around the narrative, the story was ABOUT the owner of the bookshop and his emotional journey recovering from past heartache.

Red Queen - this i'm counting for my bestseller from 2016, even though it was written in 2015. My library's tagging system is apparently off, or else the article I read was mislead. Unless it was also a best seller last year, not just the previous year. I don't know, but I was on the waiting list for four months, so I'm not wasting it =p This was just ok. I've read a lot of YA dystopian stuff, it felt a little formulaic.

Dragonsong I re-read this as a palette cleanser from red queen. It's one of my favorites, doesn't count for anything.

Currently reading:

Phantom Pains - This will be my book by or about a person with disabilities. the main character is a double amputee with borderline personality disorder, along with some ptsd from the previous book's events. I really like how she's handled, because while her disabilities are an important part of her character but the story doesn't revolve around them.

The Fate of the Tearling - I started this, but then moved on to Phantom Pains because I needed a bit of a break before tackling more YA. Especially because I saw a review saying it was a really disappointing end to a series, so there's a chance I won't like it much. I'll probably go back once I finish Phantom Pains, though.

How is everyone else doing? Any great finds?

Stephanie, I'd say you were reading plenty, even if not for the challenge!

I love paper books, but I find the convenience of a kindle ends up making it my first choice most of the time. I pretty much ALWAYS have a book on digital loan from the library. My physical library is inconveniently located, it's annoying getting over there, so e-library has enabled me to expand what I read without going broke. Plus it doesn't strain my bookshelf capacity when I buy ebooks. Also not having 20+ lbs of books when I travel is awesome. Now I basically save paper book purchases for authors I love or special books I just really want on my shelf.

It makes me feel like a book traitor but it's true! It doesn't help that there's no longer any physical bookstores anywhere conveniently for me to get to regularly.

Hi Everyone!

Weather's really nice and sunny this week, good change from last week.

I had a tragic occurrence this week. My beloved kindle died mid page-flip. It was my dear friend for 5+ years, and I will miss it so. Can I get a dirge?

The good news is my new Kindle Voyager is coming today. I really wish they'd bring actual buttons back, but voyager at least has "pressing" spots, not just bad touch-screen technology. (I almost got an oasis just for the buttons, but I couldn't quite justify an extra 100 bucks just for that).

I had a really busy weekend, so again didn't read as much as usual. Kind of a theme now that weather's nicer. Neither book I finished counted for a challenge, either!

Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History—without the Fairy-Tale Endings I really liked this. Lots of stories about various princesses through history. Her point was to shake up the idea that princesses are always beautiful and kind, and everything goes their way. Some of the reviews mention that the bibliography wasn't as extensive as it should have been, so I guess if you're a big history buff your milage may vary.

The Chemist I know Stephanie Meyer gets a lot of guff for not being a good writer. I've always enjoyed her books. I think she's really creative and tells good stories, even if her actual style isn't amazing. It was a great fluffy thriller, and a good break in the midst of the more serious and heavy stuff I'd read the last couple weeks.

Currently I am reading The Little Paris Bookshop, which I'm counting as my book about books fro Read Harder, and my book by an author that is from a country you've never visited. She's from Germany, and I haven't been there yet. This one was highly recommended by my friend, so looking forward to it!

How's everyone else doing?

Stephanie wrote: "'m sorry about your almost "rage quit" this week! It sounds like that book was fairly horrible. I do love your term, "rage quit," though--having encountered two books like that already in this challenge! I'm glad you were able to get through it and cross that off your list."

haha, yeah the term comes from playing video games. From when a game makes you so angry, you just shut off the console without even saving. I apply it to anything else that makes me angry and I quite though =p

I'm liking Princesses Behaving Badly so far! I'm about 100 pages in. It covers a bunch of them, some of them just for a page or two, since a lot of them only have passing mentions in history. Several of them have to be teased out from myths about them trying to find the actual story. The Lucretia Borgia chapter was pretty great, in particular. She's always portrayed as such evil woman, when the reality was that she was more of a woman trying to survive being used as a political tool by her family, the best she could. A lot of the stories are basically "ok here's what history says" and "here's what we could piece together". I'm kind of wondering if Erzebet Bathory will be mentioned, even though she wasn't actually a princess. I saw an article postulating that her reputation for being a serial killer was just a job to discredit her because she was doing a really good job running her estates and land after her husband died, and her rivals didnt' like that.

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are all doing well. It's a rainy grey day here in Michigan, but hopefully it'll improve soon.

Had a busy weekend last week, did a comic con, a wedding across the state, and then a Pottercon. Still managed to knock off some short books though.

FInished:
Labor Day - book set around a holiday other than Christmas. This was a weird one. I don't even know how to explain why without going into spoilers. Just the tone and the events were strange, and it felt implausible. And I say this as a big sci-fi/fantasy fan. (not that it's actually sci-fi/fantasy, just that it's implausible in a plot sense).

Salt to the Sea - Book about an immigrant or refugee. This was about various teen-to-young adult refugees from world war 2 all trying to get through together. It was a really great book, but heartbreaking.

You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life This is my book involving career advice. I want to get my butt in gear on personal projects that can maybe become a living in the future. So I thought it'd be motivational. I almost rage quit it instead, only the fact that it was short and I didn't feel like finding another option kept me going. For one, she literally talks about vibrating your way to success by matching your "energy frequency" to the "universe energy source" to achieve your goals. She also implies that depression and anxiety are just bad moods/bad habits that you need to just shake off, not actual mental illnesses. She goes on to imply that if you're broke, it's because you have a bad attitude and haven't just willed your way into a better job yet. Again, no acknowledgement of the economy, debt, student loans, gender pay gap, racial pay gap, the non-livable minimum wage etc.

Currently reading: Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History—without the Fairy-Tale Endings which won't count for anything. just came up at the library, and it looked good. It's about real princesses throughout history who were warriors, usurpers, schemers, who slept around, or partied hard. Basically trying to shake up the idea that princesses are just pretty and ornamental and perfect in every way. It's good and interesting so far!

This puts me at 45/52 so almost done! Waiting on a bunch of books I need for the last couple challenges, so I'm cool with doing some deviations from challenges.

How is everyone else doing?

Oh, I thought i posted something on this, but apparently the app ate it.
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Anyhow, as far as the Hysteria chapter went, I interpreted all that as her way of saying Hysteria was such an umbrella term that it was used for just about anything. She does mention that legitimate complaints often just got brushed under the label. And I think she does mention simply not falling in line could also be dubbed hysteria. The whole thing with the upper/middle class, I read as her way of saying that those who were wealthy and privileged were able to use the umbrella term as a way of getting a medically sanctioned break. She also did mention that there tended to be a black and white view towards mental illness. So if you weren't privileged enough to get the gentle "take a vacation" cure you were expected to either deal and get over it, or you'd be locked away.

Me too!

I always get annoyed when a book blurb posts a major event. unless it's happening in the first 5 pages, don't tell me!

Usually I skim just enough of a blurb to see if it sounds at all interesting.

Pam wrote: "Do we have a thread for this yet? I'm at a stopping point because I'm furious with the author and really upset that I spent money to support them. Looking for hope of redemption."

I went ahead and made one, if you want to post. :)

Someone asked for a thread for this, so here it is! I finished the book, I really liked it. I found it a humorous take on a really popular era. I never particularly wanted to be born in the past, I was always pretty well aware that whatever problems I may have in my current life, they'd have been worse in the past.