Week 1 Check In

[Sheri]

Hi everyone! Welcome to a new year of check ins!

Welcome any new members who decide to join in this year! (hopefully there are some!)

This week is a little weird since it covers the end of the year AND the start of the new year.

I finished off the old year with some comic catching up and just a quick next-series book. So I read Fables Deluxe Edition Book 2 , Sex Criminals, Vol. 2: Two Worlds, One Cop, and Sex Criminals, Vol. 3: Three the Hard Way . Fables is a bit of a slow start, this book the plot finally started picking up. I'll get the next one eventually. Sex Criminals sounds ridiculous on paper, and it is kind of. But it's actually really good, and takes a look at relationships, how they change when the rush of sex wears off, how mental illness and other health issues can affect sex drive and relationships, looks into asexuality etc. The writer in the back of the book comments how our society really doesn't like to be open about sex, even though it's something that a good portion of it engages in. And even those who don't, still have to navigate the expectations of others. So yeah it's full of a lot of sex jokes and goofiness, but it does have a point beyond being taboo.

To start off the new year, and the reading challenge, I finished The Snow Child which is my popsugar book with a weather element in the title. It's also counting for Around The Year as "prompt that almost made the cut", book set in the winter/snowy weather. (Trying to double dip across challenges as much as is feasible without too much of a stretch). I liked it ok, but not as much as I'd expected to. I think it just was less of a fairy tale than I wanted.

Currently I'm reading Ancillary Sword which is part of a trilogy that i started last year. I think i'm counting it for book set on another planet. But it could also work for the next book in a series you've already started, or a favorite previous prompt (non human perspective).

What challenges are people doing this year? (if any). How do you decide what prompts you want to tackle first?

For me, it tends to be reliant a lot on the library. I read library books first, since there's a time limit. I'd actually put Snow Child on my list just because I wanted to read it, but since it came up so close to the end of the year I turned my wifi off to read it this week. Ancillary Sword came up just before the new year as well, so that became book two. After that, I'll probably read a few books that I bought recently, with the challenge in mind. (at least until more library holds come up).

Once I get caught up on stuff I for sure planned to read, I generally try to mix it up between prompts that I really am not excited about and ones that I am, so that I don't have a bunch of lame ones all at the end, but also so I don't get bummed out reading too much that I don't love right in a row.

Happy reading everyone!

[Susan]

I just finished Eliza and Her Monsters myself. Both my young adult daughters read it in a day and I finally got to read it myself. It was a quick read for me and I really enjoyed it. Being that I am very far away from high school, I mostly related to it based on my kids rather than my own experience. However, I did think a lot about the FoE and Epbot communities while reading it. There is a lot of overlap there. Even though it is a YA book, I'd definitely recommend it to anyone and encouraged my husband to read it since he's home sick.

I just started Year One last night. No opinion on it yet as I'm only on page 10 or so. It is the first book of a new Nora Roberts trilogy.

I have 2-3 books queued up. One is a library book so that will be next, then the other two I own (or soon will) so I'll get to them when I can. My daughter got me a three-month subscription to the Book Of the Month club as a Christmas gift and I just selected my first book yesterday. I hope I like it. You get to choose from 5, and none of them were over-the-top exciting to me.

[Kathy]

Hello ReaderBots-
Trying to participate a little more this year (last year I joined and that was about it.) I was inspired by Sheri's post of her year in reading to set a goal of 102 books and log them this year.
A book I really enjoyed at the end of last year was John Scalzi's Agent to the Stars. Very bloblike aliens have come to earth and decide the best way to introduce themselves is through a Hollywood agent.
Agent to the Stars
Happy Reading!

[Stephanie]

Hello and Happy New Year to those that observe it!

Susan, I'm so glad that you liked that book and that it's become a family experience. I did a bit of research on the book after I read it, and it turns out the author of the book is actually developing a real-life version of the webcomic, and she writes The Children of Hypnos as a bi-weekly serial. That's good self-promotion!

Last week, I finished the Doctor Who and the Daleks audiobook and quite enjoyed it. I started off the New Year by listening to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as I cleaned out some closets around the house. I'm moving on to How to Speak Dragonese as my current audiobook--I just can't get enough of David Tennant's narration, heh. And it's just fun stuff that I don't have to pay really careful attention to as I'm puttering around the house and walking back and forth to work.

As for reading, I finished my first PopSugar 2018 prompt this morning, which was a book by a female author using a male pseudonym: The Silkworm by J.K. Rowling aka Robert Galbraith. I really liked the first book in this series, but this one fell a little flat for me. It was good, but I'm not a mystery lover by nature, so unless it's really good, I'm not going to love it. I was thinking about giving up on the series, but I see from reviews that the next book is considered the best in the series, so I may just read it sometime in the future.

I also started The Golden House today and am about 10% in. I was hoping to stick to light reading over the break (I officially go back to work on Monday), but this came up after a 2 month wait at the library, so I delved in. This is my prompt for a problem facing society today---as it's rather political in nature, I'll just say it's about the American search for identity (particularly white Americans) and how that relates to American during the time that Barack Obama was in office and leading up to issues around elections after. It is, as Salman Rushdie books go, dense and (more and more I find with him) a bit self-aggrandizing. Still, I'm always going to want to check out anything written by the guy who wrote Midnight's Children--one of my top 10 books.

To answer the question: Like Sheri, I've started this challenge by reading books that came in on my library holds. After this, I'm going to read my nordic noir selection because that's what the main Popsugar group is reading this month (but I won't be reading what they're reading because I've read it already). Aside from library holds and book challenges for the month, I tend to base my reading order on one of two things: Am I going to be doing some travelling? If yes, then I want something I can read on my eReader just because I don't have to haul physical books around. If not then I tend to check my mood and reflect on what I've been reading lately. If it's something heavy or dark, I'll go in the opposite direction. Likewise if I've been doing some "fluffier" reading--I'll be ready to dive into something more challenging.

[Sheri]

Welcome Kathy!

That book sounds fun, and I like Scalzi. I'll have to see if I can find it!

Susan, I'll have to see if I can find Eliza And Her Monsters since you all seem to like it so much.

[Jessica]

Hi everyone!
I just finished Animal Farm last night. Somehow it had never been assigned to me in school. My son read it last year and I decided it was time to read it myself. It's lucky it's short, it feels a little too close to current events and was stressing me out.

I'm trying to do both the Read Harder Challenge and the Pop Sugar challenge this year. I normally just keep a count of how many books I read with the Goodreads goal. Last year I fell 7 books short of my goal of 80. So, I set my goal to 80 again this year.

I was going to start on 1984 next, but I might wait on that one to recover from Animal Farm. I might start Binti next. It's the Vaginal Fantasy read for this month. And it will check off some boxes on the other reading challenges too.

Happy Reading!

[Sheri]

Jessica,
I read Binti at the end of last year, it was really good. Also really short, i think only 96 pages or something like that. I just got the second one, hoping to fit it in somewhere along the way. If nothing else, just for fun.

Also yeah, I thought about reading 1984 for the read harder "book you didn't finish in school/book you hated from school" but decided that I can't deal with it right now. So I think I'm going to end up on Heart of Darkness because it's the only book I didn't finish in school, aside from Great Expectations which I had permission to only read cliffs notes. (ran out of time to reasonably expect students to finish it, and after reading the first two chapters i decided to take the reprieve)

[Meg]

Hello!

I just joined from the post on FoE. This year I am going to read at least 52 books. Decided to use goodreads to track it instead of a twitter hash tag.

Ended the year reading Unbelievable by Katy Tur. Just finished Roxanne Gay’s Difficult Women, which kicked off my year on Jan 1.

I am mostly reading whatever catches my eye at the library or on overdrive or that I have at the house but have not read yet. I need to re-read Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword so I can finally get around to reading Ancillary Mercy.

I have half an idea to try to read one book by every author guest of honor from MileHiCon - we’re celebrating our 50th anniversary this year. That may depend on how much is out of print.

[Lynette]

Hi all,
So I have decided this is the year that I get back to reading! I didn't read many books in 2017 (though I bet if I kept track of them I would be surprised), so this year I will keep track, and I am hoping to do the popsugar reading challenge.

This week I finished reading books that were started last year: my SO and I finally finished the audiobook of Ready Player One (so good!) and I finished The Magician- the 2nd of a set of 6 by Micheal Scott. The Alchemyst is the first. I am starting the 3rd- The Sorceress and having it count as my book with twins in it, and I just started the audio book version of Wizards of Once. David Tennant is the reader, so far it is entertaining to listen to.

I am looking forward to seeing where this year takes me, and the rest of the group in books!

[Sunny]

Hi! I'm not doing any reading challenges this year, but I'm always reading. Sometimes I read multiple books at a time, across different platforms. I've starting the year with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I should finish it tomorrow.

[Sheri]

Jenn, that’s no problem! We just like talking about books so any discussion is welcome!

I love Harry Potter, I should work in another re read this year since I didn’t have time last year.

[Jennifer]

Hi! New to the group. Challenge this year is to read 100 books, same as the (unsuccessful) challenge for last year. 2017 was kind of a mess since I didn't set the goal until March, and I KNOW I didn't track everything I'd read before then. Oh well.

2018 is off to a great start, quantity-wise, if not necessarily quality-wise. Because I'm reading (takes deep breath and blushes profusely) a Regency era series of bodice rippers. They aren't BAD, but they aren't whatcha'd call "literature," if you know what I mean.

REALLY looking forward to seeing what my fellow FoEs are reading and finding new favorites!!!

[Andi]

hi reader bots!
i am new to the group...and new to goodreads. so i am just figuring out the app!
I have had almost 0 time for reading over the last 5 years. so I am dipping my toe back in slowly with a very moderate goal of 12 completed books.
right now i am reading The magicians book 1.
i am also doing some cooking research and work so 2 cookbooks are on my currently reading shelf. :)
thanks for this wonderful and welcoming place!!

[Stephanie]

It's so awesome to see so much chat in the group this week! Kathy, Agent to the Stars sounds like a lot of fun.

I love 1984 and have read it quite a few times since high school, but yeah, it's a tough read in today's times--kind of like The Handmaid's Tale.

Lynette--welcome to the year you get back into reading!! I joined last year for the same reason, and it's completely re-connected me with it. I'm going to have to check out the The Wizards of Once: I'm a sucker for anything read by David Tennant.

Jennifer--no need to blush over bodice rippers!! One of the attractions of the PopSugar challenge last year was that bodice rippers and romance in general had become my primary reading genre and I wanted to branch back out, but I still enjoy a good bodice ripper, and last year we had more than once conversation about the "vampire smut" we were reading (credit to our moderator Sheri for giving us the terminology).

And welcome, Andi! 12 books is a great goal! I'm looking forward to hearing about what you're reading over the course of the year.

[Sara]

Hey bots! New to the group and while I'm not particularly new to goodreads I haven't always been consistent in keeping track of what I read on here.
But, I've really jumped back on track with it so I'm very consistent now! :D
I fizzled out in 2017 to be honest. And before that I hadn't really done a reading challenge. Technically I didn't do one in 2017 either but I only read 35 books in 2017. And since most of them were graphic novels I kinda don't really count them. That's just my own personal thing (I love my graphic novels buuuut novel they're really not).
So! This year I've got the goal of 50 books. And on a more personal note 20 of them have to be books I already own and have not read. I figured that way I'll knock down my terrifyingly large TBR shelves....piles...book collection...things.
Right now I'm reading Dark Deeds by Mike Brooks. It's like a fun adventure science fiction story. Kind of like the Syfy show Dark Matter mixed with parts of Firefly and Retribution Falls. I'm still sticking with this series even though, for me, they're basically like 3-3.5 star books. But I can't help it. I love space pirates/smugglers!
I look forward to sharing our reading adventures together! <3 :)

[Megan]

I am in three IRL book clubs, so that usually keeps me reading - but I've really been struggling lately with a string of books I just couldn't get into, which seems to put me off reading in general! I'm trying to change that for 2018, so I'm glad Shari sent out her message about checking in here. :)

My first book for the year was Being Audrey Hepburn by Mitchell Kriegman for book club #2 - it was quick and light, which was what I needed! I'm now trying to get into The Horse Dancer by JoJo Moyes for book club #3 - I usually enjoy her writing, but this one is hard for me...maybe because I'm not a huge horse person? I never went through the "horse phase" as a kid, and I think survivors of that are the target audience. But I am GOING to finish!

I enjoyed hearing about what everyone else here is reading, so I hope I can keep checking back in!

[Sheri]

So glad to see so many new people posting! Welcome everyone :)

Sara, I know how you feel about the graphic novels. For me, I post them to GR but only as the trades, not the individual comics. (for ones i follow as they go along, I just wait until the trade is out and add them). But that's partly why I set my reading goal to 175 this year, with the knowledge that I have a huuuge backlog of comics i want to read. So I'm hoping to get through a bunch of them this year, around my reading challenges.

[travelgirlut]

Hi! I've been a lurker for the last year, but one of my "goals" for this year is to attempt to be more social, so here I am!

I'm usually a pretty prolific reader, but this last year was just kind of meh. Though looking at my stats I did manage to read 63 books. Hopefully I can get a few more in for 2018.

My first book of the year is Persepolis Rising, the 7th book in the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey. I really love this series. Not sure what I'll be reading after. I have a vacation coming up, and I tend to read fluffier stuff then.

As of now I don't plan on doing a reading challenge. I did some extensively in the past and found that I never got around to reading the books I really wanted to because I was so caught up in finishing the challenges. I tend to read things as they come in at the library and never actually buy books. I don't usually read anything more than once so I don't see the point of owning something I'll never read again.

So here's to being more social and trying to read more in 2018!!!

[Kristi]

Hi everyone -
I posted a few times last year, but got really behind IRL and didn't keep up with online groups. I'm hoping to remedy that in 2018!

Back in 2004, I joined Bookcrossing, and then discovered the Friends of the Library booksales, so I ended up with a tremendous backlog of books. As with most FOEs, I have lots of little collectibles and such, so I need shelf space for them as much as for my books. To that end, my challenge is to clear off an entire shelf of books per year (by reading and releasing them). Being a nerd, I ran some math and figured out that I need to clear out an average of 33 books to empty a shelf, so my loose goal is to read and get rid of 33 physical, paper books per year. The problem is that I can only read ebooks at work, and hardly any of my titles are avl through the library.
Nerd level 2: realizing this, I came up with a secondary goal. I pulled a list of my TRBs from Bookcrossing and put it all in a table. The table is 12 pages printed, so my secondary goal is to read and get rid of at least one book per page, per year. This makes sure that I dip into the oldest TBRs and don't just read the new, shiny titles at the top of the list :)
What am I reading now?
Audiobook (for my commute): Argo: How the CIA & Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History

eBook (for lunch breaks): A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression

paper book (from Mount TBR): Inkheart

2018 is off to a good start :)

[Sara]

Hi all! So fun to see all of the activity on this thread! I'm excited to see what other people are reading and recommending. :-)

For 2018, my goal is to read 26 books. I debated doing the PopSugar challenge, but decided against it so I could get through more of my TBR list.

After finishing my 2017 reading challenge, I've been at a little bit of a loss for what to read. It's like I have a paralysis from too much choice. I've started 4 different books from my bookshelves and just borrowed 2 more from the library. I get 10 or 20 pages in and switch to something new.

I think I'll stick with The Elite for my first book of 2018. I read The Selection for a prompt last year, but didn't have enough time or prompts left to finish the series. This series is a bit of Mockingjay meets The Bachelor. Girls from different castes/factions are competing to be the prince's bride. It's a YA, easy read.

Happy reading!

[Susan]

It is great to see so much activity on the group this week. Although I commented frequently last year, I have not done, nor am I planning any challenge this year. I do have some book in progress all the time and I'm happy to share. Welcome to all!

Kristi, if you're a math nerd, one of my favorite math books is The Grapes of Math: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life. I frequently read non-fiction and as a fellow math nerd, science techie type, I loved it. I flew right through it.

And everyone keep those recommendations and short descriptions coming. I find I get most of my "want to read" ideas from here. I usually get my books from the library and if something is on hold for a while I'll often forget where the recommendation came from.

[Deborah]

I'm new to GoodReads, too. I am always looking for books to read so when I heard about the popsugar challenge, I decided to use it as a way to find new books to read. I mostly only read library books so I am reading the books I already have checked out and seeing if they fit the challenge. I signed up on GoodReads mostly as a way to track how many books I read.

[Sheri]

Welcome Deborah!

Usually at the beginning you can figure out a way to get most books to fit into popsugar. :) Also, the challenge is meant to be fun, so stretching the definition of the prompt is allowable, especially if it's a way to make an unappealing one work better for you.

Also welcome all the other new folks, sorry this thread is getting big! :) So glad to see more conversation!

[Laura]

I'm trying to purposely engage more here. I tend to lurk more, but want to stretch out of my comfort zone a little. I finished the year reading Rogues. Literally spent all day the 31st reading so it would count for 2017 since I was one book short of my Goodreads goal. I picked it up because of George R.R. Martin and oddly enough that was my least favorite story.

Now I'm reading Mark of Fire which is ok. Nothing earth-shattering, but decent enough. I seem to start the year trying the Pop Sugar reading challenges with the best intentions then forget all about them.

[Sheri]

Welcome Laura!

I tried doing the popsugar 2015 challenge, but didn't realize that it was popsugar, or that it had a goodreads group. A few friends started doing it to but they all fizzled out. I think I almost finished it but the last few prompts that i found difficult i just never really got to because who cared? I found commenting on what i read, and what it filled and seeing what other people were reading kept me interested until it was done. :)