Laura’s Comments (group member since Jan 02, 2017)

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

I don't read as many cat books as one might expect...

Cats and the People They Own

In the Woods (Edgar, Barry, Macavity, and Anthony awards)

Not as good as I was expecting, given all the awards, really.

Two others so far:

* Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness (an excellent read)
* Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal

So far I've read:

Mona Lisa Overdrive and I, Robot - both recommended by my husband

and

Wild recommended by my mother

Finished up Falling Leaves as another one for this category. Good insight into the Chinese culture.

Ah, good point on the different types of keys! I'll look again.

This one is tough for me too. I'll need to review my book covers again. I don't read mysteries, usually, which is where I've seen most of them too.

I'll second The Sparrow. I'm not a sci-fi reader, generally, but I quite liked it.

I just realized that a book I'm reading for continuing education credits was written by an MD, so I'm using that, though I don't know that I'd recommend it unless someone was really interested in clinical psychopharmacology.

So while out and about yesterday I came upon two new Little Free Libraries and one had Cats and the People They Own which is mostly full of little one-liners and has a cartoon cat on the cover. So I guess I can pull of this one as intended after all. (So much for no new books.... :) )

Stina wrote: "Ah, I understand. I'm trying very hard to do that myself."

As you'll see in my "post your plans" thread comment, I altered some of the challenges to accommodate books I've already got. It's ridiculous how much I've got piled up.

Xanthi wrote: "I loved that book. Listened to this on audiobook read by the author. He is a very good narrator.

I just finished listening to the audiobook version of -View From the Cheap Seats- which is a collection of his essays, introductions, etc. It was narrated by him and was really enjoyable. He is, indeed, a very good narrator. I'd love to hear him read one of his fictional pieces (even if I've already read them all).

As tempting as it is to get a cat book, I'm trying *really* hard to read off my TBR mountain instead of bringing new books into the house. But thank you both! Xanthi, can I just come visit instead? ;)

Updated description: I've gone through and removed my planned books, instead replacing with ones that actually count. I'm doing my own interpretation of some of the topics so as to use books currently on my TBR shelf as opposed to buying new ones.

[X] A self-published book
* The Tiniest Vampire (and other silly things)
[ ] A book about a haunted building
[X] An illustrated children’s book
* The Stonekeeper
[X] A book with a key on the cover
* The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
[X] A book with the word “Girl” in the title
* The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion
* The Girl With All the Gifts
[X] A story told from a non-human POV
* Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
[X] An award-winning book
* In the Woods (Edgar, Barry, Macavity, and Anthony awards)
* The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
* Cemetery Girl
[X] A book with a woman on the cover
* Brain on Fire
* Why Be Happy When You Could be Normal?"
* Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter
[X] A book by a medical doctor
* Clinical Psychopharmacology Made Ridiculously Simple
* The Brain That Changes Itself
[ ] A book about a sheriff
[X] A book with a cat on the cover
* Cats and the People They Own
[ ] A book featuring a bookstore
[ ] A book set in a retirement community
[ ] A book set on another planet
[X] A book you haven’t read since high school
* Brave New World
[ ] A political memoir
[X] A book at least 100 years older than you
* Herculine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-century French Hermaphrodite (This translation was originally published in 1978, but the memoirs themselves are from the mid-1800s, so I’m counting it.)
* Beowulf
[X] A book from Oprah’s Book Club
* Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail
[X] A book recommended by a family member
* I, Robot
* Mona Lisa Overdrive
[ ] A book with a protagonist who has your occupation
[ ] The first book you see in a bookstore
[ ] A book about a road trip

My mother recommended -Wild-, which I'm using for the Oprah category. My stepmother sent me a book on being present, which I may use. My husband keeps pushing me to read -The Artist's Way-, which is likely what I'll wind up going for.

I'm thinking of altering this just a touch and having it be a book about a specific political person, but not a memoir. (I'm trying to pick books off my own shelves as opposed to getting new ones, though I do realize that kind of defeats the purpose of a challenge like this.)

I read Neil Gaiman's -The Graveyard Book- which won the Newbury and is a great romp. Also, if you type a book title into Google, over on the sidebar it will list awards.

How on earth do I not have a cat-on-cover books?! I need to go through them again.

Ooooo, husband has a slew of sci-fi on his shelf. There's got to be a robot or AI somewhere in there.

If you consider hiking trips, not just road trips, Bill Bryon's -A Walk in the Woods- is hilarious. I'm looking at -The Great Typo Hunt- as a more formal road-trip book. I've read some fiction involving road trips; one is on the tip of my brain It was YA and was about a girl trying to go cross-country, on her bicycle, IFRC. I didn't love it, but it would count toward this challenge. I'll try and come up with the full title and share it.