Week 6: 2/2 - 2/8

[Johanne]

Jacqueline wrote: "...And in my Husbands family......it's them putting us down not the other way around. Actually it's not us v them. It's them v us. And it's all about jealousy. Tall Poppy syndrome. It's something about Australia. If someone has achieved anything of merit you must cut them down. People don't celebrate high achievers.....they put them down. Google it. It's a thing..."

That sounds a lot like Janteloven (law of Jante) here in the opposite end of the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_...

[Johanne]

Mike wrote: "Laura wrote: "Just started Henry V"

I've always wanted to read that. Do you have to have read the first four to be able to follow along?"

You´re funny, Mike ;)

[Jacqueline]

That's it Johanne. Same thing.

[poshpenny]

Rachael wrote: "Carmen wrote: "@Rachael ohmygod I just put Horrorstör on my TBR because how could I not with such a cover?? Thanks for bringing it to my attention!"

Isn't it fantastic?! There are lots of nice touches inside too like the increasingly disturbing furniture descriptions for each new chapter :D"

Wow I impulse purchased that so fast! Thanks, internet.

Mike's posts always make me wish there was a like button.

[Amanda]

Hello all!

No books finished for me this week. :( I'm currently reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil which I'm loosely using for "true crime". The crime has been a small part so far and this book is very different from what I expected. It has served to make me want to visit Savannah for sure!

When I lived in Madrid, Spain, the last few years I was in a women's English book club and loved it so much! I made some wonderful friends there and read plenty of great books. Now that I'm back home stateside, I haven't found one yet but would love to be in another book club.

[Hayjay315]

Carmen wrote: "Hayjay315 wrote: "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo (for Modern Mrs. Darcy and Books and Chocolate Back to Classics challenge)"

Ohhh someone else doing the Back to the Classics challenge!..."

Hello Carmen,
I've got Hunchback of Notre Dame plugged in as my Classic in Translation.

[Mirel]

Christy wrote: "Mirel wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Tricia wrote: "Also reading Moby-Dick or, The Whale (an allegory). I am just about finished (about 3/4 of the way done) but it is a hell of a slog to read. I am findin..."
Well, that's a relief, since I just about decided to try reading it again. It will fulfill the allegory prompt here and the read harder "an assigned book you hater (or never finished)." I was so obsessive about class reading requirements that I finished every book, the only exceptions I can remember are Pilgrim's Journey and Silent Spring. I think I'll go with Moby Dick...

[Deb]

Mirel wrote: "Christy wrote: "Mirel wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Tricia wrote: "Also reading Moby-Dick or, The Whale (an allegory). I am just about finished (about 3/4 of the way done) but it is a hell of a slog to r..."

So - what is the allegory in Moby Dick? I always saw it as a straightforward adventure story based on the real life whaling practices of Nantucket.

[Carmen]

Hayjay315 wrote: "Hello Carmen,
I've got Hunchback of Notre Dame plugged in as my Classic in Translation. "

I've got "Of Mice and Men" slotted for that one, as that prompt is pretty much a freebie for me. But I might end up reading the Hunchback at some point anyways and slot it somewhere because I just love it too much!

[Mike]

(blushing)

[Danielle]

I an way late posting this week, but I didn’t want to fall off the bandwagon! By last Thursday I finished “The Secret Life of Bee’s” for the prompt about a book turned into a movie that you have already seen. I also started “Under the Tuscan Sun” for the weather element in the title prompt. I didn’t love the first few pages, so I’m having a hard time getting started on that one!

[Chloe]

This week I finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt for prompt 36 (set in the decade you were born), and I'm about to start Moonrise by Sarah Crossan for prompt 10 (about death or grief).

QOTW:
I'm not in a book club, because I like to have complete control over what I'm reading. But I do usually read along with the Carnegie Awards shortlist.

[Emma]

Hello, I am not currently in any "real life" book-clubs, but my coworker is doing the pop sugar challenge too, so that kind of counts right..?

Currently I am reading:

Winnie-the-Pooh for the "Childhood Classic I Never Read". It's short and easy and a nice little break from the heavier books I am reading at the moment.

Children of Time for "A Book Set on Another Planet". This one is turning out to be really interesting and intense. Not at all what I thought it would be when I started reading. I am only a third through it and I can only imagine where it will go from here.

Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons for the Advanced Challenge prompt of a "Microhistory". This one is an interesting little piece that I have had for a while but never gotten around to reading. Jack Parsons was a brilliant chemist and a pioneer of rocket propulsion technology in the 1930's and 40's, he was also linked to some of the most notorious occultists of his time. (Any fans of Twin Peaks that read The Secret History of Twin Peaks will recognize his name) There are a ton of references to other books in this one, so I think I will use one of them as "A Book Mentioned In Another Book"

I have completed:

Anne of Green Gables for A Book with My Favorite Color in the Title

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Come and Get It! Simple, Scrumptious Recipes for Crazy Busy Lives for a A past Goodreads Choice Awards winner (kind of a cheat since it's a cookbook but I've got lots of books to read this year)

Voyager for Next Book in a Series (Outlander Series)

All the Missing Girls for Your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 POPSUGAR Reading Challenges (Unreliable Narrator- 2017)

[Theresa]

Deborah wrote: "Mirel wrote: "Christy wrote: "Mirel wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Tricia wrote: "Also reading Moby-Dick or, The Whale (an allegory). I am just about finished (about 3/4 of the way done) but it is a hell ..."

(view spoiler)[The White Whale represents the meaning of life to which Ahab aspures but does not achieve, or an ideal that Ahab relentlessly seeks to achieve onky to have it destroy him (hide spoiler)]

[Marjorie]

My reading weeks seem to be either feast or famine. I finished no books in week 5, but 5 in week 6.

✔10. A book about death or grief - Tell the Wolves I'm Home - very good, very moving. 4*s - This could also fulfill the prompt 12.A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist

✔22. A book with alliteration in the title - In Farleigh Field 3*s WWII espionage, code breakers, English Aristocracy, romance

✔25. A book set at sea - Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania on audio. This was my first book by Erik Larson. Excellent details 4*s

✔38. A book with an ugly cover West with the Night "the story of Beryl Markham--aviator, racehorse trainer, beauty--and her life in the Kenya of the 1920s and '30s." Lush, descriptive writing of her memories. Do not expect a traditional plot line. I read this for my IRL book club 4*s

✔19. A book about or involving a sport - Beartown By far the best book I have read this year and definitely in my favorites since I started using Goodreads in 2012. I listened to this on audio CD and the narrator was very good. Typically I do not like books about sports or sports in general, but this novel is about so much more than hockey. I highly recommend it to anyone. You will see yourself in multiple roles/characters - friend, parent, victim, child, teen, prodigy, undervalued, athlete, outsider, bully, bullied, fan, coach, perpetrator, supporter, sponsors, immigrant, wealthy and powerful, poor and struggling, hiding secrets --- 5+*'s

QOTW - Yes, I am in an IRL book club. I just joined in January and it is so refreshing to be able to discuss books.