Stina’s Comments (group member since Dec 11, 2016)

Stina’s comments from the Challenges from Exploding Steamboats group.

I'm torn. Do I read something I already have? Because for a non-romance reader, I seem to have plenty of these. Or do I support Courtney Milan* and go buy one of hers? I guess I can always buy one of her books and then read whatever for this challenge.

*There's this whole big thing where Romance Writers of America treated her very shabbily and kinda-sorta non-apologized, and there are huge implications for how authors of color are treated within the industry.

Well, Bridget Jones's Diary is earmarked for the "written as a journal" prompt, but I'm sure I'll find something good and ugly without resorting to a cover photo of Trump.

Somehow I have wound up with a lot of middle grade reading on my TBR. I'm not sure how that happened. Well, part of it is probably Sirens, and part of it is probably the monthly Audible freebies. Speaking of which, I might go with Interview with the Robot to complement my Anne Rice read.

What exactly is high fantasy? Well, here's what Wikipedia has to say on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fa.... What are your high fantasy book recommendations?

Past or present tense, take your pick. I may try reading something in French that I originally read in translation, like Madame Bovary or Le Malade imaginaire.

Remember, reviews and ratings are different things. A book can have hundreds or thousands of ratings but still have few enough actual reviews to count for this prompt. This must have been a seasonal prompt fail, because I have scads of obscure books that qualify.

Sure, it's fine if the word is pluralized or otherwise embedded. I'll probably read Tree of Dreams.

The list is posted here: http://entertainment.time.com/2005/10...

"Critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo pick the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923—the beginning of TIME." So, of course, extremely subjective. And the list itself appears to be 10 years old now (well, in a few days), so there's that. Still, I found several of my TBRs on the list. Do you see anything appealing?

I'm not tinkering with this one. I have never actually read anything by her, and I managed to find a copy of Interview with the Vampire, so I'll give it a go.

I expect I'll finish Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente, but I will be counting that for the 'every continent' prompt, so I will be on the lookout for another Cat/Kat author. Or maybe I'll just read Valente's The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

I always have several of these on my TBR or wish list. I'll probably read either Kindred (fiction) or Time Travel: A History (nonfiction). What's your favorite time-travel read?

These were in the Linz challenge last year, so I've set this up so that I can count these only after I've finished the other reading for those levels I failed. You, of course, may ignore my self-imposed restrictions and do this however you like. Let us know what your treat reads are!

I may end up taking some liberties with this prompt. One of Linz's other prompts last year was to read a book by John Grisham, and I felt like I had read plenty of Grisham over the years and would be better challenged to read a legal thriller by a new-to-me author. I was thinking of changing this up to Heinlein, another well-known SF author with whom I likely disagree philosophically. The difference being that he is dead and my purchase of one of his books does not benefit him. But maybe I can borrow a Sanderson tome from one of my many friends who love him.

I did read Illuminae last year, so technically, I could count that for Part I of this 3-part prompt and just continue on with the other two books. However, it was pretty clear that Linz meant it to be an entire trilogy in the same year. Do what you like, but I'm honoring the intent. This 3-part prompt also appears again on Linz's 2020 challenge, so I am not counting this trilogy read for that challenge.

For this, I will probably read N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy. What are your favorite trilogies?

I keep thinking I'm going to finish Ringworld, but this time I'm going to try to get Swords and Deviltry off of my Audible TBR. I'm not really enjoying it, but the nice thing about audiobooks is that they keep going even when you don't really care what happens next.

So far, every time I've read a book for a birth-year prompt like this one, I've been disappointed. I hope you are having better luck with your birth year.

I'm planning to read The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline for this one, but here are some other indigenous authors I have on my shelves:
Rebecca Roanhorse
Louise Erdrich
Stephen Graham Jones
Leslie Marmon Silko

Which indigenous authors do you recommend?

This could be as simple as a museum or site guidebook, or something you picked up to read on the beach. I kicked off the year with a short book I got at the restored alchemist's lair in Prague last fall: Alchemist's Laboratory of Rudolph II.

As usual, I will allow myself to use one book for multiple prompts.

Procrastination Penance
1. A book that you bought while on vacation - Alchemist's Laboratory of Rudolph II
2. A book first published the year you were born - Swords and Deviltry
3. A book by an indigenous author - Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story

Lost Linzi Levels
Level 3
6. Read a book by Brandon Sanderson - The Stormlight Archive - A Pocket Companion to The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance
80. Read the first book of a trilogy - Scandalously Yours
- Read the second book of that same trilogy - Sinfully Yours
- Read the third book of that same trilogy - Passionately Yours
- Free Space! Read any book
Level 4
48. A book about time travel - Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach
97. A book from TIME Magazine's All-TIME 100 Novels list - Neuromancer
- A book by Anne Rice - Interview with the Vampire
- A book with the word "dream" in the title - Tree of Dreams - Lincoln's Dreams
- Free Space! Read any book

The Usual Fails
5. A book about a country or culture you have never visited - The City of Brass
7. Fewer than 100 Goodreads reviews - The Cases of Nancy Trentino
11. A 'Top 10 of 2019' book - The Murmur of Bees
12. A 'collected works' volume - American Hippo
14. A book based on a true story - Little Women
16. An #ownvoices book set in Oceania - The Whale Rider
24. Read a book being adapted for TV or film this year - The Plot Against America
31. Middle grade - Five on a Treasure Island
41. Highest Goodreads rating - Rebels & Revenants: A Sirens Benefit Anthology
42. A book of poetry - Stay the F At Home
47. Set in Asia - Pachinko
53. Western - The Peaceful Valley Crime Wave
54. Read for school - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
58. Ugly cover - New York Shape Shifter
59. A book with "love" in the title - Locke & Key, Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
63. A book related to a skill - Becoming Fluent: How Cognitive Science Can Help Adults Learn a Foreign Language
68. A book set on a college or university campus - The Semester of Our Discontent
76. A book published when you were a teenager - The Lion's Lady
77. A book by an Australian author - Mothers' Group
79. A 'random number' book - Two Truths and a Lie
84. Read a book that you were recommended by a friend on Goodreads - Six Names of Beauty
85. A #bookstagram recommendation - Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World
86. Read an ethnography or a book involving an anthropologist - Dust Tracks on a Road
87. A book at the bottom of your TBR pile - The Capture
91. A business book - Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need
92. Historical romance - The Flight Girls
101. A play - A Raisin in the Sun
102. A book of short stories - Parker Pyne Investigates: A Short Story Collection
120. The first book by a favorite author - Sense and Sensibility
- High fantasy - The Raven Tower - An Illusion of Thieves - A Wizard of Earthsea
- A book longer than 700 pages - Kushiel's Dart - The Quincunx
- Read a book set on every continent - Space Opera
- A true crime book - Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
- A book of nonviolent true crime - The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World
- The oldest ARC you own - Right as Rain
- Longest-standing TBR book on Goodreads - Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals
- A book written as a journal - Bridget Jones's Diary - The Sandmann's Journal: Vol. 1
- A book published on your birthday (just the day, not the year) - The Silkworm
- An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America
- A book by a South East Asian - The Bone Witch
- A LitRPG book - Space Opera Insertion
- Finish a series you started at least a year ago - Fire Watch
- A family member's favorite book - A Tale of Two Cities
- Any book in the Redwall series - Redwall

Unprompted Inspiration
8. A book featuring an abandoned building - The Likeness
9. A graphic novel - Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening
13. A story spanning several decades - Mercy House
26. A book with a disabled protagonist - The Stars Are Legion
118. A memoir by a woman of color - Unashamed: Musings of a Fat, Black Muslim
- A book with the word "river" in the title - River of Darkness
- A screenplay - Brick

Here is the entire list of prompts. You can copy any or all of it into your own post on this thread and then come back in and edit it throughout the year.

Procrastination Penance
- A book that you bought while on vacation
- A book by an indigenous author
- A book first published the year you were born

Lost Linzi Levels
Level 3
- Read the first book of a trilogy
- Read the second book of that same trilogy
- Read the third book of that same trilogy
- Read a book by Brandon Sanderson
- Free Space! Read any book
Level 4
- A book about time travel
- A book authored by a Catherine/Katherine or variant
- A book by Anne Rice
- A book from TIME Magazine's All-TIME 100 Novels list
- A book with the word "dream" in the title
- Free Space! Read any book

The Usual Fails
- Fewer than 100 Goodreads reviews
- Read for school
- High fantasy
- Middle grade
- Ugly cover
- Historical romance
- Western
- Set in Asia
- A book of poetry
- A book longer than 700 pages
- A play
- A book about a country or culture you have never visited
- A book related to a skill
- A book of short stories
- The first book by a favorite author
- A book based on a true story
- A book at the bottom of your TBR pile
- Read a book being adapted for TV or film this year
- Read a book set on every continent
- A true crime book
- A book of nonviolent true crime
- A book by an Australian author
- The oldest ARC you own
- A #bookstagram recommendation
- Highest Goodreads rating
- Longest-standing TBR book on Goodreads
- A book written as a journal
- A book published on your birthday (just the day, not the year)
- An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America
- An #ownvoices book set in Oceania
- A business book
- A book by a South East Asian
- Read an ethnography or a book involving an anthropologist
- A book set on a college or university campus
- A book with "love" in the title
- A LitRPG book
- Read a book that you were recommended by a friend on Goodreads
- Finish a series you started at least a year ago
- A family member's favorite book
- A book published when you were a teenager
- A 'random number' book
- A 'collected works' volume
- Any book in the Redwall series
- A 'Top 10 of 2019' book

Unprompted Inspiration
- A book featuring an abandoned building
- A book with the word "river" in the title
- A graphic novel
- A book with a disabled protagonist
- A memoir by a woman of color
- A story spanning several decades
- A screenplay

Oh, my! I think I may have to read that one just because that title is so... extra! Seriously, I just read Tender Wings of Desire, possibly the worst historical romance fast-food marketing tie-in ever. Hopefully the only one ever.