Week 7: 2/10-2/16

[AF]

I just finished The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. It was for the prompt "a story within a story". It was very good. I found out, too, that it is a movie that was recently released outside of the US already, and will be released some time this year. I'm looking forward to that.

This makes me 14/52.

Next up is a book with a cat on the cover. I'm going to reread a favorite from when I was in fourth grade, The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. I hope I love it now as much as I did way back then.

QotW: I really don't reread books often and I certainly don't have one book I reread over and over when times get tough. But I do read more when times get tough. It's sometimes good to get out of my life and into a character's.

[[deleted user]]

I guess checking in every other week is the rhythm I'm falling into. (Ugh.)

Anyhow, since my last check-in (2/5), I have completed The Name of This Book Is Secret for #39 (start of a series I haven't read before); If You're Reading This, It's Too Late for A#10 (mentioned in another book); This Book Is Not Good for You for #11 (author using pseudonym); and--in a complete change of pace--Butterflies in November for #34 (month or day in title).

I continue plugging forward in Americanah, and postponing the emotionally tough read of The Underground Railroad till I'm done with the emotionally tough read I'm in the middle of. At this rate, I think my February group read will happen in March. (sorry!)

I've also started listening to Hamlet, Prince of Denmark for the audiobook category. I'm only listening on my drive home from work, and since I have a blessedly short commute, it'll take me a while till it's done.

I'm also breezing through Saving Hamlet, which could fit for #33 (two different time periods), unless I tag along with the July group read for that category. Even if I don't use it for Popsugar, it will tick off categories for my Reddit & BookRiot challenges.

As for the QOTW, I think my comfort food reads are some of the girl classic I read when I was younger--Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, A Wrinkle in Time. I've just started rehearsals for the musical based on Little Women, and I'm using that as an excuse to read that beloved comfort-food-book to cover category #18.

[Jessica]

I will admit to being the WORST at remembering to write a check in! I think due in large part to having very limited/sketchy internet and often having to type from my phone!

I'm currently reading Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics for my book on an interesting woman -- even though it is about a lot of women ;-)

Also I originally picked up The Diamond Thief as my steampunk novel but then realized it was the first in a series so I put it as my first in a series and am reading the second on The Ruby Airship as my steampunk novel. They are alright so far..nothing that keeps me drastically page turning but I'm still interested enough to want to know where the characters turn up. I do feel the first book was stronger than the second but second books are so often arcs between a first and third story that I'm not surprised.

QOTW:
Harry Potter. I can read and re-read and pick and choose parts I want to read based on my mood and I love the characters. Also this is sort of morbid but I really enjoy The Hunger Games. I read them when they first came out and remember telling people "You should REALLY read these books" and getting a lot of sideways glances, then they blew up in popularity for a while. Also pretty much any good retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I know some people hate retellings but...well..not me ;-)

[Loren]

My first check-in. So. In order of reading:
Three Tales Of My Father's Dragon - My Father's Dragon, Elmer And The Dragon, The Dragons Of Blueland - for my audiobook. Audiobooks are not my thing. This one I ordered online for my son and must have mistakenly ordered the audio format. So we've been listening to it in the car. I'm counting it :)
Swing Time - for person of colour prompt. I loved it. I love everything by Zadie Smith
Nutshell - for unreliable narrator. I love Ian McEwan but this is not my favourite of his.
The Bellwether Revivals - for advanced list, featuring an eccentric character. Was ok...didn't love it.
True to Form - for book set in a holiday other than Christmas (summer holidays). Not my usual genre but I was surprised by how much I loved this story.
The Art of Racing in the Rain - for non-human perspective. Went through this book quite quickly. Good story.

So I am 5/40 and 1/12 and busy on Mr. Mercedes for my book with a title that's a character's name.
MUST. READ. FASTER...

[Megan]

Checking in late since I ran out of time this weekend. I finished Be Frank With Me and am trying to decide whether to use it for one of the regular prompts ("A book with a title that's a character's name") or one of the advanced prompts ("A book with an eccentric character"). I'm leaning towards the latter but have it in both spots for now since I'm not plotting out my list ahead of time and this will give me options later in the year. I'm almost done with Inherit the Bones but still not sure if it will fit a prompt category. I started Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person, which fits a couple of prompts. I also picked up The Elusive Elixir from my library, which fits the "book published in 2017" prompt (and possibly the "mythical creature" prompt...if gargoyles count for that :)). I also bought a copy of Hidden Figures -- even though it's the March group read, I won't read it until May since my book club's reading it then -- and The Cracked Spine, which I'm reading for the Minotaur Book Club group (not sure if it will fit a prompt for this challenge though).

QOTW: I don't have a go to book for a comfort read; however, I might seek out a specific (most likely mystery) author if I need one. It's hard to narrow it down more since a lot of times, my need for a comfort read is influenced by my mood and what type of comfort I'm seeking. Escapism might mean a funny cozy mystery (like Tracy Weber or Janet Evanovich), a non-fiction book to get me thinking differently (like the Dalai Lama or Jenny Lawson), or a more intense mystery by one of my favorite authors (like Louise Penny or Tana French).

[Amanda]

Sheri wrote: "Anabelle wrote: "I need it for my over 800 pages... But I am seriously considering giving up. Think I have made up my mind like 90%."

I can list a bunch of other 800+ page books that are less tire..."

I think most of the Outlander books are 800+ pages too! I'm planning on doing one for my challenge.

[Allie]

I'm losing track of the weeks but here is what I've read since the last time I checked in:

The Winter People I finished this for the seasons prompt. I actually enjoyed this. It was simple and a little creepy. I like moving around in time and the different points of view.

The Princess Diarist This was for the book about an interesting woman. Honestly I was a little disappointed in this book. I was hoping for more and what it turned out to be was a book about how she was infatuated with Harrison Ford and slept with him during the making of Star Wars. While I love the Star Wars movies and find her to be a very strong woman, I ended up feeling bad for her most of the time.

I tried reading The Underground Railroad but just couldn't get into it.

That brings me to 7/40.

I'm currently reading Murder on the Orient Express I'm really liking it so far. I'm not sure which prompt it will be for since it can fit into a couple (travel and made into a movie this year). I have several other lined up to read after that. I just joined my library a few weeks ago so I've been adding to my list a lot. Currently I also have out: Sharp Objects which will be my red spine and The Casual Vacancy which will probably be my author from a country I haven't visited.

[Jennifer]

I finished 2 books for this week.

I read King's Cage for my book that was published in 2017. I was kind of disappointed. I didn't find it as action packed as the previous books. It wasn't until the end that the real action got started. Then the author's very politically charged acknowledgement was a turn off. I just found it unnecessary. I read to escape the world around me. The last thing I want to do is read a chapter long acknowledgment that is mostly about her political views. And it being the last thing I read for the book, it remained it for me. I won't preorder the next one.

I also read Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief for the first book in a series I haven't read yet. It was good. Not really my thing, but I like it enough to read the whole series because I can also use one of the books for mythological creature and one of the books for the red spine. There's 5, so I just need to figure out where to stick the other two.

QOTW: reading in general is a comfort. I read Huck Finn a few times when I was in high school. I really liked it. I also love Shakespeare's and could read Romeo and Juliet a million times.

[Jennifer]

I messed up and got my dates wrong. I am on my phone and cannot edit my post. I only read King's Cage for this week. Percy Jackson will be part of the next weeks updates.

[Sam]

Hello All, I finished The Underground Railroad for the February book of the month. I thought it was interesting, a difficult read too. Took me out of my comfort zone. Glad I read it though. I'm nearly finished reading The All Girls Filling Station's Last Reunion, to fulfill set in two different time periods prompt. I'm enjoying it and would recommend it.

QOTW: I think I have some go-to books, not really thought about them as such before. I've read The Belgariad and Mallorean series by David Eddings several times. Harry Potter books and Pride and Prejudice. There's probably others, but the post would be enormous!

[Theresa]

Posting quite late here - I have been very busy, losing track of time as a result.

I finished The Circle as my book that's becoming a movie in 2017 (opens in March with Emma Watson and Tom Hanks). It was an ok read, but will be a fantastic movie. I felt I was a tad too old for the book, that it will resonate more with millenials and gen-xers than with baby boomers like me. Basically a dystopian tale with at the center a company that is a mash-up of Facebook/Google/Apple, right in the Big Brother meets Stepford playing field. My problem was the speed and blind ease with which everyone just about in the story buys into these twisted concepts and the take over of the world by this predatory company. Where's the critical thinking? Innate suspicion? Protection of the right to privacy? It does have a certain relevance to our world today though, especially under our current political regime. It's just not as well-crafted as the classics in this genre.

I then read The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story as my book set in wartime. A non-fiction biographical historical narrative set in the Warsaw Zoo during all of WWII and the occupation of Warsaw by Germany, it is an absolutely awesome book! Diane Ackerman is a lyrical writer, basing much of the narrative on the diaries, interviews, letters and memoirs of Jan and Antonina, the zookeeper and his wife, with a particular talent in incorporating nature and animal life into her narratives. The story is about the family and its animals who after all were part of the family. This one is living deeply with me, as both a testament to the ability of individuals not only to survive the horror of war but to fight in the underground, raise a family, hide hundreds from the Nazis while helping them escape under their very noses, rescue what animals they could, and even adapt and create some kind of daily routine and normal family life under the most extreme circumstances. One of course immediately thinks of Aleppo, Mosul, and even Baghdad and Beirut. The book qualifies under several challenge categories -- it's being made into a movie this year, it has a subtitle, and more. I highly recommend this one.

I then started two other books but quickly set them aside for now -- I was having too much trouble switching from A Zookeeper's Wife. So hopefully in the next week I'll finish both Bewildering Cares: A Week in the Life of a Clergyman's Wife as my book recommended by a librairian (life at an English vicarage in early days of WWII) and The Ides of April a mystery set in Ancient Rome with a female detective (my book with a month in the title).

QOTW: What an apt choice this week given my difficulties shifting to something else after A Zookeeper's Wife! When I couldn't settle on a new book, and was so very busy, I decided on some 'comfort reading' -- usually a favorite Regency romance or a cozy mystery. this time it was some faves by Stephanie Laurens, but it often will be ones by Georgette Heyer or Barbara Metzger. For cozy mysteries, I sink into favorite Agatha Christies or Charlotte MacCleods. After re-reading 2 or 3 of them (wholly or partially), I am able to settle back into less familiar fare. It's just taking me a bit longer this time -- I've re-read 5 so far, LOL.

[Tania]

Hi - my name is Tania and I'm new to the group. I've been working my way through the PopSugar Reading Challenge in another group, and then I discovered there was a group dedicated to it. My goal is to finish 32 of the original 40 tasks, and I'm at 16/32.

February has been a good reading month for me. After making my way through some tough reads, such as Winter Men by Jesper B. Kold, I turned to some lighter fare. I don't like to let a book leave my house unread, and I had some children's books that were given to me to donate to one of those "Little Free Library" stands that are going up around the neighborhoods. I think my favorite was Daring to Dream by Suzanne Weyn, but then I'm always partial to horse stories.

I do have comfort books that I go back to over and over - King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian by Marguerite Henry, The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, and the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Sometimes, when I'm feeling nostalgic, I also peruse through Moon Nicaragua by Joshua Berman - it's my well-worn travel guide, we take it with us every time we visit Nicaragua and mark it up with the places we visit and the sites we see.

[Anabell]

Sarah wrote: "Anabell wrote: "Sarah wrote: "My latest read was The Power of Six. I read the first book in the series a couple of weeks ago and I'm trying to figure out how to fit them all in to the prompts. I us..."

Hi hi... Yes I must admit that some I have stretched a bit, as the genre really isnt my cup of tea... ;-)

How nice to have your dad to talk to about the books. Hope you are going to enjoy the rest of the books as much as I am... Just dont do the thing I did. I wanted to add the "revenge of seven" to my TBR list. So I opened the page up and my eyes just jumped to the blurp, which start of by telling what the 4th book ended with. It completely spoiled the ending for me as I hadnt finished it yet... There was no going back... and it was a major spoiler :-(
But look forward to "the fall of five" its great :-)