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

Sheri’s comments from the EPBOT Readers group.

This week I read Ancillary Justice which will be book from a nonhuman perspective at the moment. Possibly first book of a new series if I change my mind. I liked it, worldbuding was s little confusing.

I also read The Screwtape Letters which is s book of letters. Didn't like, felt like a thinly veiled lecture of what came Lewis considered virtuous vs sinful behavior.

Then I did Wishful Drinking which I'm not sure will count for anything. Possibly book with photos. It was a good read, short and kind of bittersweet.

Currently reading Library of Souls which i planned for book of photos, but I'll see if it fits anywhere else.

Lyndall wrote: "#FoEBookclub

Hey all,
I'm so sorry to have shirked away into a dark corner - but I've had some academic & other (smaller, insignificant) woes.

In a nutshell: I have had trouble getting my my co..."

Sorry to hear about the school trouble! What all needs to be managed with the club? I can probably take it on since I'm the good reads mod anyhow and most active in the group.

Just posting to say I finished! I really liked it. Started off kind of bummed because right now I'm super not into dystopia fiction for...reasons. Especially not dystopia fiction that is near-future after climate change was ignored and the world is suffering because of it. But the story ended up being engaging enough that I got over it and tore through it. I don't actually know how to book club, so I'll stop there and see if anyone else has a better way to lead the discussion.

Hi Everyone!

I had a productive week this week.

I read: The Kept Woman (doesn't count for a challenge, just came up for my library so I read it. It was pretty good.)

Ready Player One for both the book club on here, and as my "Book with an eccentric character". I don't think you get more eccentric than a billionaire hiding his fortune within an elaborate video game puzzle so complex it takes people 5 years to figure out even one piece. And 5 people who devote every minute of those 5 years to studying and researching to find the clues to solve the puzzle pieces.

Blueprints for Building Better Girls: Fiction my book with a red spine, plus read harder's book of stories by a woman. Wasn't happy with this one. I thought it'd be a set of empowering stories about women. Instead they were kind of insipid and didn't go anywhere. Little diversity in the characters, and most of the stories revolved around relationships with men.

Redshirts I'm counting this one as a book set in two timelines. I really liked it. Not a Trekkie so i'm sure i missed a lot of references, but I got enough to chuckle. Well written and an interesting concept. Didn't love the codas at the end, but overall really good.

currently reading: Ancillary Justice Which will either count as my book from a nonhuman perspective (i'm not entirely clear at this point if the lead character ever was actually human, or if she's just trapped in a human body right now). If not, it'll be the first book of a series I haven't read before.

How about you all?

Darla wrote: "I can definitely understand wanting to work on Tale of the Genji. I may have to give it a shot myself. "

It's not an awful book or anything, just extremely dry and kind of slow. You can find digital versions for cheap. Maybe check reviews though, mines formatting is messed up, none of the footnotes are linked properly.

Ah ok, I see. I was just doing the Goodreads self-challenge (set your own goal) to get myself back to reading on the regular, rather than in random spurts.

I did make the overall title "book challenge" not just popsugar or whatever. So you're more than welcome to just update your progress on the general goodreads challenge!

Karen wrote: "Hi all! Is this the Goodreads challenge, or a group challenge? I just joined the group so I'm still getting acclimated. I have read two books so far - Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire first, then ..."

This thread in particular is mostly the Popsugar reading challenge, and for me some Read Harder thrown in because I'm doing them both. But you're welcome to just check in with what you're reading anyhow, even if you're not actually doing a challenge :)

I finally got my copy from the library, and am reading now! I saw a few people had said they read it already, but no one took the plunge to make a new comment thread. So here it is, the thread to discuss the book. Please use spoiler tags or warnings or whatever if getting into specifics, so if anyone who's not finished or doesn't have it yet doesn't accidentally catch something.

I promised myself that I would put down books that weren't carrying me away this year.

I get that, but some of it for me is trying to broaden the scope of what I read. So I keep poking at Tale of Genji, reading a few pages every couple days. Mostly because it was the first novel, and it was written by a woman. It feels like there's historical significance there, which keeps me poking at it.

Sometimes it's also out of spite. I hate when people say they "hate" stuff they don't even try. So, for instance, I read the first 50 Shades book, even though it was awful. Now I can SAY it was awful and not just assume it.

Darla wrote: "I've fallen behind almost two weeks, because City of Fallen Angels tried to kill with boredom. -_-


Ugh I hate that. I admit I have several books still in my "currently reading" because I'm having such a hard time finishing. I've been 'reading' the Tale of Genji for something like 4 months now. I can only get through a couple pages at a time, it's SO DRY. But it is the first novel, so it's not like there were editors and beta readers back then.

I was still on vacation this week so was mostly reading comics. Caught up on a lot of ongoing. Also read Descender, Vol. 1: Tin Stars and Injection, Vol. 1 which were both good. I read Immortal Nights as my book I night while traveling. It was ok, middling as far as the series goes. I'm currently reading The Kept Woman which I'm not sure if it fits into any challenges. Will figure it out later.

Ok I am slacking on check in, because I'm on vacation. Week five I reread The Night Circus for "book that always makes you smile. Also counting it for read harders book I've read before. I also read the The Winter People for a vook with a month or season in the title. It was pretty good, kind of creepy. I've been reading a lot of comics since I finished.

This week I finished Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik as my book about an interesting woman. It was really fascinating and I learned a lot about her.

I just finished Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for a book written by a person of color. It's also counting for read harder's book where all point of view characters are people of color. It was ok. It just felt very long, and I didn't really believe in the relationship between the two main characters.

Not sure what I'm reading next. Might just do Night Circus again as the book that always makes you smile.

What's the etiquette here? Do I wait until April to discuss? If someone else has finished the book can we start a thread on Goodreads and start discussing?

Lyndall is the one actually doing the book club stuff, but I'm the mod for the Goodreads group. You should have ability to make a new thread, I'd keep it in this book club folder.

I think the main thing that I, personally, would say is to make sure you use the spoiler tags where appropriate for those of us waiting to get the book from the library/are slower readers etc.

With the book club I'm in for Emma Watson's feminist book club, people just kind of talk about the books as soon as they finish them. Sometimes just while they're reading if something sparks a conversation.

Of course I defer to Lyndall if she has a more formalized idea of what she had in mind. But I know we're scattered all over the world, so trying to do an actual real-time discussion probably wouldn't work.

Forgot to do my check in!

This week I read The Danish Girl for Read Harder's LGBTQ love story, that I am also counting for popsugars bestseller from a genre you don't normally read. It was really good!

Then I took a break and went on a comic binge, catching up on all my marvel titles.

Now I'm about halfway through Notorious RBG, that will count for a book about an interesting woman.

I don't have my list in front of me but I think that makes about 5 for the overall challenge.

Lyndall, if you need me to do anything, just say the word :)

Shel wrote: "I LOVE the Kushiel series :)"

Yeah! I've read the Imriel trilogy, and the Morrin trilogy but my library didn't have the Phedre one either in physical form or digital. Finally picked the first one up at the book store. Now i'll have to get the rest.

Week 2 check in! Yeah I know week's not fully over, but I'm thinking about it now.

I read Kushiel's Dart as my Book over 800 pages as part of the advanced challenge. I really liked it!

Halfway through Hammered as my book based on mythology, also advanced challenge.

Stephanie wrote: "Isn't Mockingbird fabulous?! I'm so sad it ended.

loved it! Although looks like the trade didn't have the part where civil war 2 started, with the cover that triggered all the internet rage. I so almost bought the shirt from We Love Fine, I just hadn't read the book at that point.

Krisn wrote: "Wow! That's an impressive list for a week! I will finish my MBA at the end of Feb, so I don't get to read much for pleasure until then. I did finish "The First Affair" for the popsugar "Book with m..."

It was mostly YA/Comic books :) those go by pretty quick. Also I'm not finishing an MBA!