EPBOT Readers discussion
Reading Check In 2019
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Week 1 Check In
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I think I'll do my intro/QOTW first to put things in context. I'm Stephanie, and I live in Canada and have a passion for CanLit, British humour, loooong fantasy series, well-written YA audiobooks, and paranormal smut. I'm a former English and Music teacher turned university prof (Music Education) and educational developer (specializing in eLearning). I've done the popsugar challenge for the last two years in order to bust out of my reading rut and renew my love of reading. I'm now back to reading both broadly and deeply. No challenges for me this year, though: I'm breaking free! Over that last two years as a GoodReads member, I've amassed a healthy TBR list and want to chip away at it this year unfettered by challenges. I also set my reading challenge quite low (for me) at 35 books so that I could take some of the (self-imposed) pressure off myself. Also, I (apparently) like to use parentheses (a lot).
So, this past week marked my first week non-challenge week, but I was still more under the pressure than I'd like because I had several long-awaited holds come in from the library before I finished the 2018 challenge and so really had to cram them in over a few days once I finished popsugar. The first was Fire & Blood. Thank goodness I was on winter break, because I had 4 days to get through it, and it turned out to be the longest book I read in 2018, at 705 pages. I really enjoyed this, actually. I know some have found it dry, but my brain was ready for a long, action-driven history of the Targaryens in Westeros without having to do any sort of thematic analysis or dealing with metaphorical content.
Next, I've moved on to Us Against You, which I also have to return soon. I'm about 60% through it and not really enjoying it. This is fairly shocking since it's the sequel to Beartown: one of my favourite books last year. It's just so dark and dreary. All bad things happening to all the people all the time. Bah. It's too much right now!
Finally, I'm almost done Library of Souls. I should finish it on my walk home today. I'm enjoying this just as much as the others in the series, which is to say quite a bit. I wish my library had the next book on audio, but, alas, they do not. I may have to check out the physical copy to follow the next round of Peculiar adventures. Next up on my audio playlist is Ahsoka. It's been on my TBR list for about a year now, and I just today discovered my library had an audio version. I'm excited to get started on it!
Hi Sheri!I’m Megan, and I work for the state of Ohio. I’m married with no kids (and plan to keep it that way!) :) I set my Goodreads challenge to 100 books this year, since last year I set it to 40 and ended up reading 111 (but some were pretty short graphic novels)! I’ve finished two books so far in 2019 (yay days off!) and am currently reading one.
Finished:
Lies Sleeping - the latest installment of my favorite series, and a good one. I can’t wait to see where it goes next after that ending!
The Immortalists - this one is for my primary IRL book club, and not one that I would have chosen on my own - but it was interesting, and I think it will lead to a good discussion.
Currently Reading:
Red Rising - I recently read From a Certain Point of View and really enjoyed Pierce Brown’s story there, so I decided to check out his novels. It took a couple chapters for the story to get going, but 16 chapters in, I’m hooked. :)
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I always set my goodreads goal pretty high because I read a LOT of comics, and it inflates my numbers. I always feel weird setting a lower goal and blowing through it halfway through the year because I went on a comics binge and cleared through 20 titles in a week or something like that.
I'm Bev. I'm new to Goodreads and this is the first time I have set a goal. I set it high--50 books. I haven't spent as much time reading as I would like in the last few years. I wasted too much time on Facebook, but im cutting back. I also got new glasses a couple of months ago. What a difference! The libraries in our metropolitan area formed a consortium last year so it's super easy to order the books I want to read. Being retired, I don't buy a lot of books. I am currently reading Cara Black's series of murder mysteries set in Paris. I am also reading Kreuger's books set in Minnesota. My recommendation: read the series in order!
Mod
Hi all! I'm Sara. I'm a statistician for a small consulting company in Minnesota that mostly works in public health and medical research. I'm also married with no kids. Last year I set a goal of reading 26 books and just barely got them in. This year I'm going to tackle the Popsugar challenge by reading 24 books and using audiobooks to fill in the rest. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and want to give myself credit for that. This week I started reading The Flight Attendant. It was an impulse grab at the library - a psychological thriller that reminded me a little bit of The Girl on the Train. I'm hopefully going to use it for the book I'd like to see turned into a movie prompt.
I started listening to the Lunar Chronicles. This series has been on my TBR list for a long time, and the first book was finally available as an audiobook at my library, so I grabbed it. I really enjoyed it! I'm in a bit of a story re-telling phase, and this was one of the better ones! So far I've devoured Cinder and Scarlet. They count as a debut novel and the first of two books with the same title, respectively.
I'm currently listening to The Pharaoh Key. This is the 5th (and I think last) book of a series I listened to last year. The main characters are on a quest to find treasure. I don't know if this will fit in a prompt yet.
Over the last couple years I've gotten lots of good book recommendations here, so I'm excited to see what everyone recommends this year!
Hi everyone!I’m Lynette! I’m a fourth grade teacher in California. Last year I discovered that I love audiobooks, which is great because in September my boyfriend and I bought a house and there hasn’t been much time to sit and read.
My reading goal is 50 books this year. I am doing the Pop Sugar reading challenge again this year. I didn’t get to all of 2018’s challenge, so I will be finishing that this year too.
This week I read Curious Minds and Dangerous Minds, the first (and so far only) two books in Janet Evanovich’ and Phoef Sutton’s Knight and Moon series. They were quick, fun reads. I will be keeping my eye open to see if and when a third book comes out.
I have several choices for my next read- I have three books on Overdrive on my phone, and one play and go from the library. I think I am going to go with Number One Chinese Restaurant which has been on my to read list since the summer. I will also be starting Because of Winn-Dixie with my class on Monday when I go back to work.
Happy New Year! I am an engineer in Michigan with three big kids (turning 16, 19, and 21 in 2019) and IT husbot. Last year was my first year logging on Goodreads, because someone posted their books in review on FoE and it was beautiful. I was aiming for 104 books last year but hit 135. The last time I kept track was in fifth grade, when I read about 270. I didn't do any published reading challenges, but exceeded my goal to read 12 new authors but missed my goal of reading 12 classics.
I joined a book club irl for the first time last year; the company is lovely but four books in I couldn't read one, hated the second, liked the third but wouldn't read again, and picked the fourth one. I'll keep trying.
I have read mysteries almost exlcusively during adulthood, but have branched out into science fiction and fantasy thanks to recommendations from Epbot and FoE. I am doing the Gail Carriger read along to celebrate her 10th anniversary as an author. I have also started rereading favorite series in order.
This week I've read Sue Grafton's last book, Y is for Yesterday. I was sad starting it knowing it was her last, and the crime was more disturbing than I like to read so a bit disappointing. I started Etiquette and Espionage, and remembered how much I enjoy the lead character Sophronia.
Looking forward to discovering new books here in 2019.
Hi everyone! I’m new to the Goodreads and one of my goals this year is to diversify my reading. I feel like I read a lot of “easy” books like young adult and chick lit to unwind. I read a lot of research and nonfiction at work.
I’m 32, live in Texas where I work for the state, and live with my husband and pet hedgehog, Princess Fluffernutter.
I just finished The Outsider by Stephen King. Currently reading Hunger by Roxane Gay (started a year ago, but picking back up — that counts as a 2019 finish, right?).
I’m 32, live in Texas where I work for the state, and live with my husband and pet hedgehog, Princess Fluffernutter.
I just finished The Outsider by Stephen King. Currently reading Hunger by Roxane Gay (started a year ago, but picking back up — that counts as a 2019 finish, right?).
Hi all! Danièle here, from way out in the suburbs north of Montreal, Canada. I'm a work-from-home translator, 45, happily childfree, with a long-time long-distance SO, a geriatric pug, and a rescue cat. The long-distance SO means 7+ hour drives every few weeks, so I get quite a few audiobooks in that way. 2018 was my first year doing any kind of reading challenge. I had set it to 50, figuring that was high (sound familiar, Bea?) I started with the Popsugar prompts. I was done by July, so I added ATY, Read Harder, Modern Mrs. Darcy and alphabet soup (by title). I allowed myself to double-dip between challenges and ended up completing them all with a total of 105 books read.
Just today I discovered the Flourish & Blotts Golden Trio reading challenge, which is displacing Popsugar as my top challenge for the year. I feel the HP scheme brings in some fresh prompts without being too restrictive. I'm aiming for another triple-digit year.
So far this year I've read
Fahrenheit 451 for the "book recommended by a Hufflepuff". I always find these first books hard to assign to a prompt when they meet the criteria for several more.
Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up for the "book in translation". I've been listening to it while doing a massive #FOE30bags purge before work really starts up again next week.
Happy reading everyone!
Mod
I saw it in the Potterheads (formerly Hogwarts) Running Club Ravenclaw common room, which is a closed group, and it was published in the Harry Potter and the Order of the Planners (a closed group) Flourish & Blotts subgroup (also closed). I've posted the image to the FoE BookBots 2018 Reading Challenge group for anyone interested: https://www.facebook.com/groups/13610...
Hi all, and happy new year! I'm new to goodreads but looking for good sources of recommendations and somewhere to track my reading, so this seems like the place to be. I've always been tempted, but never done a reading challenge before, still trying to decide whether to jump in with one this year! I got through 50-60 books last year, a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, ya and general fiction. I enjoy pretty much any sort of fiction other than horror. I usually have one book on the go through Serial, one main book, and one audiobook (for washing dishes to).
This week I finished my holiday read of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus on Serial. Will need to pick something today to replace it.
Ongoing is Magician, which I'm really enjoying, but taking forever to finish, and my audiobook is Lies Sleeping, which is as enjoyable as the previous books in the series =)
Here's to a 2019 full of great stories!
Hi everyone! I had good intentions last year, but ended up lurking for most of the weekly check-ins. I can't promise to be better this year, but I'll certainly try to be a little more active :)I'm an editor for the American Board of Radiology, and (unlike my former job) we only have 1/2 hour for lunch, so my reading time has taken a hit. I try to squeeze in at least a half an hour before bed, but it doesn't always work. Between Bookcrossing, paperbackswap.com, and the local Friends of the Library booksales, I've amassed a huge stash of books. My goal is to try to put a dent in the physical books, and de-emphasize ebooks for the year. I'd really like to reclaim some shelf space for all my geeky stuff and collectibles :) (Plus, there are heaps of great stories waiting to be read!)
I noticed that a lot of my physical books are nonfiction, so I'm starting out the year with a couple of longer nonfic reads. The first is Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back. It's a little dated, and VERY opinionated, but it appeals to the former City employee in me. The second is Isaac's Storm, about the hurricane that decimated Galveston in the early 1900s. I've read a couple other books by Larson, and I like his narrative nonfiction style. He makes history very engrossing.
In true geek fashion, I counted up the books per shelf and found out that each shelf averages 33 books. Therefore, I need to blaze through at least 33 paper books this year (in addition to my library ebook habit) to clear off one shelf. Fingers crossed!
I'll share my favorite Neil Gaiman quote (which is taped above my desk), because it's the perfect way to start a new year:
May your coming year be filled with magic & dreams & good madness. I hope you read some fine books & kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful & don't forget to make some art. Write or draw or build or sing. Live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.
Mod
I am married with three adult 20-something kids. My husband and I live in Massachusetts and we're both software engineers. Yes, I'm a rarely-seen-in-the-wild 50-something female in tech.
I mostly only read before bed and listen to audiobooks when my neighbor/walking partner is out of town and I walk alone. So I have a somewhat modest total book count. Therefore, I don't do challenges but love participating here anyway. This will be my 3rd year participating here, since Sheri started sometime back in 2017.
I read a lot of non-fiction and then intersperse it with some chick lit or fiction. This year my goal is to actually keep track of what I finish on GR. I plan to use this check-in to prompt me to maintain my reading in my account too.
This week I'm listening to The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter and I am about 70% through. I am very much enjoying this story. It is a delightful mystery. The way all the various 19th century famous fictional characters are all tied together is very enjoyable. I definitely find I walk much longer alone when listening to this, which is all around a good thing. More steps, more exercise, more story.
I finished Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are. If you want a non-fiction to read, this one is fascinating. I found this guy's methods of sociological research really interesting and what he finds equally so. This one was a fast read for me because I really wanted to keep reading it. Basically people generally expose who they really are by what they search for on the internet and the author does his research with anonymized Google and Microsoft search data. It shows a very different picture than surveys where people tend to lie.
Now I've just started Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. I am only about 30 pages in and it is reading a bit like a thriller so far. This is about the rise and fall of Theranos. I'm in software, not biotech or medical devices, but I have worked for some startups. I've never worked in Silicon Valley though. But so far so good. This is a fairly gripping story and I've only barely started.
Hi everyone! I’m Sarah, and I’m the Operations Director for my county’s chamber of commerce. It’s just my husband and me and our two furry kids, a Lab-Akita mix named Pepper and a cranky Maine Coon kitty named Ellie. I have been on Goodreads for a long time. Mostly I was using it to keep track of books my friends recommended so I could remember the titles when I went to the library. But, I’m new to this group and happy to find a friendly extension of the comfy corner of the Internet known as EPBOT and FoE.
Because of added responsibility at work, I rarely had time to read over the last couple of years, but I really want to get back into it. I was an English major in college and was in my element reading and then discussing what I’d read. So, I am taking the Goodreads challenge this year, and set my challenge at 20 books for the year.
I just finished reading Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and I’m about to start Becoming. I don’t usually read biographies, but for some reason these two have grabbed me.
I’m excited to discover new authors and new books with all of you!
Mod
Hi, I’m Katie, I live in Whitby Ontario, a suburb just east of Toronto. Married with 13 year old twin boys. I am a Montessori teacher. I love all kinds of books, but couldn’t get in to Audio books (drove to Florida this past summer and got 5 from the library, I just ended up tuning them out). I just finished Wildcard by Marie Lu (YA cyber punk ish) and the girls they left behind by Roxanne Veletoz, (historical fiction). Currently reading Circe after being on hold at the library and trying to do it fast because I just got A conjuring of light by v.e. schwab also from the library...they always seem to come at once 🙂. Nice to meet you all
Hi! I’m Jennifer. I’ve been in this group a while but life made it hard to read, much less talk about reading so I wasn’t very active. My reading goal last year started at 24, but my nieces introduced me to Percy Jackson, and that took out almost half my goal in March / April. I ended the year with 37, which did feel like a stretch so I set this year’s goal at 36.
I am mostly a fiction junkie: science fiction, fantasy, literary, suspense are my go-tos. I have made an effort to read more non-fiction, and that’s my main self-challenge this year: For every 2 fiction books I want to read at least 1 non.
I am currently a stay-at-home mom with a 4.75-year-old and a 6-year-old. In my previous career I was a reporter and newspaper editor, ad copy writer, public relations specialist, and content publishing director. Basically, words and communication are my focus.
Currently I am ready Ron Chernow’s “Hamilton” and really enjoying it in spite of taking a long time to get through it. But I have 3 books waiting for me, and another pre-order coming soon, so I need to get a move on!
Hello all!I'm Erica. About me: married with two botlings, 7 and 4, I work as a research engineer, volunteer as a fencing coach, and read and crochet in my (miniscule) spare time.
I have no reading goals for the year, and don't plan to make any. I like to read purely for pleasure, without any pressure to read what I "should". But, I enjoyed hearing about all of your progress last year!
Currently reading: I just finished "The Last Unicorn: the Lost Journey" and haven't picked up my next book yet.
Hi! I'm Jen! I live in the Seattle area in the US with my partner. I work as a front-end web developer, and for hobbies I also enjoy writing and playing video games. I've been here but lurking for a while, and hoping to get more involved this year.I start at 50 books for my annual goal every year, but I read a lot of graphic novels/manga, so I usually shoot past that. I mostly read fiction. I prefer fantasy and sci-fi, some romance and mystery. Give me a good heist story in any setting and I'm happy. I don't really care for non-fiction much, but I'll read it occasionally if it's with a group, or a topic I'm particularly interested in.
I keep toying with doing one of the reading challenges I always see going around, but I'm always kind of intimidated by them. I tend to be kind of a slow reader because I mostly read on my lunch breaks/on the bus, and not as much at home as I used to.
I'm currently reading Uprooted by Naomi Novik, and loving it so far.
Hi Everyone!I'm Jessica, from Canada but currently living in Germany. I'm trained as a Computer Engineer/Software Tester but not employed at present which leaves lots of time for reading.
I mostly read ebooks and audiobooks these days since almost all of my physical books are wasting away in a storage locker indefinitely. I love Audiobooks because I can 'read' while walking or knitting or playing certain video games. I have also found ebooks to have grown on me because I can read without my glasses on which I find allows for more comfortable reading positions.
My reading goals for this year are
1) Finish the book I got for last year's FoE Book Flood - Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow (I'm not sure how to link to it) I've had it almost a whole year and I'm only about 10% done. I'm really enjoying it but it's quite long and heavy in both subject matter and physical book weight which often deters me from picking it up.
2) Read at least 2 books in German. These will probably be Heidi (originally written in German) and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (which is of course translated from English).
3) Read 50 books. Which seems high but I can probably manage it... especially if I find a new series or author that I like.
At the moment I'm not really in the middle of reading anything, aside from the aforementioned Washington book but I just finished Fire & Blood by George RR Martin and quite enjoyed it. I love history, even if it's fictional history!
Hi folks,I'm another person who's been lurking in this group for awhile, but one of my goals this year is to try to actually participate more, so here I am!
I'm Marisa. I live in southern Arkansas and work as a registrar's assistant at the local university. I'm married with no (human) kids, but my wife and I have a little farm with potbelly pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, etc., so we've got plenty to keep us busy! My favorite genres are usually YA and British lit, but I've been getting more into comics & graphic novels lately, and I'm generally up for trying pretty much whatever.
My undergrad and grad degrees are both in English lit, so I'm obviously a big fan of reading/books, but since we moved down here a couple years ago and I started my job, it's been hard to find time to actually sit down with a book. Also, before we moved I was commuting 2 hours total every weekday, so I got a LOT of audio book time in, but my current commute is a lot shorter so that also makes it harder to put a dent in my TBRs, and 2018 was actually the first year in awhile that I didn't reach my Goodreads goal. But my wife got me a book subscription for Christmas this year that will be sending me two YA books a month, so I figured I really need to try and get back on the reading train or I'm going to end up buried alive under my TBR pile, haha!
I did a few yearly challenges awhile back and really enjoyed them, so I thought I'd shoot for doing the PopSugar challenge this year. I got started over the weekend by reading The Cruelty, which came in my January book box. It had some pretty obvious plot holes and wasn't super memorable, but it was entertaining enough for me to finish in one sitting. It could work for several of the challenge prompts (debut author, two-word title, amateur detective), so I'll probably wait and see where it fits best once I start to check more things off on there.
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I am Sarah, I live in Portland, Oregon. My current personal challenge is reading all the Hugo best novel winners, I am currently up to 1993 (A Fire Upon the Deep) and also just started reading The Reluctant Queen (book #2 in the Queens of Renthia series)
Susan wrote: "Jennifer, I started Chernow's Alexander Hamilton, but it was a DNF for me and I want to go back to it sometime. I loved it, and actually found it too stimulating to read before bed; it..."I originally checked it out as an ebook. But it came available at Christmas, so I only got about 100 pages in. When I saw how long the holds list was, I made the executive decision to just buy it because I know it'll take a while to get through it! I'm loving it, but I have so many other TBRs that I might take a break for one of the others then come back to it.
Hi everyone! I’m Alexa. I mostly lurk but sometimes remember to post. I had a lot of life happen last year, but I’m confident that this year will be better. I tend to like genre fiction (fantasy, sci fi, and mystery) best.
Mod
Hi everyone! I’m going through and checking out older posts, and thought here would be a good place for an intro 🙂 I’m relatively new to the group - though I’ve been more of a lurker until the last month or so. For a while now I’ve wanted to be part of a book group, and I feel cozy here. Yay!Okay, so. I’m a married mom of four; live in Canada; I clean houses two days a week and code for websites the other three days (with the plan to do more in the future). I love to read, but I don’t always have the time to read as much as I’d like.
To be able to read a paperback book is heaven, but usually I borrow books digitally from my library. I LOVE being able to do that!
EPBOT Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
Alexander Hamilton (other topics)A Fire Upon the Deep (other topics)
The Reluctant Queen (other topics)
Alexander Hamilton (other topics)
The Cruelty (other topics)
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Welcome to a fresh year of reading! I hope everyone was able to successfully complete whatever reading goals they had for last year. Even if you didn't, good job on finishing what you did!
For those who are new, these threads are for checking in weekly with what you you've been reading the past week. It's particularly helpful for those of us doing reading challenge(s), to keep accountable and get ideas for what to read for prompts we haven't gotten to yet. However anyone's welcome if you just want to chime in with what you're reading! I usually try to think of an extra question to ask each week, just to keep conversation going. Feel free to comment here or message me if you have ideas of more questions to ask!
This week I have finished:
The Glass Sentence - This was a book that I recommended the library get digitally so long ago I don't remember why I added it. just suddenly got notice that they purchased it and auto-checked out for me. It was ok, somewhat interesting but not terribly engaging. Took me longer than usual to read just because I was busy, and it wasn't sucking me in.
Super Chill: A Year of Living Anxiously - used up my hoopla downloads for december on a bunch of comics, breezed through this in less than an hour. I like his comics, but i found he'd been promo-ing this book so much, each time with a new "exclusive comic to the book" that I'd already read over half of them from those promos.
The Black Tides of Heaven - First challenge read of the year. Counting it for Popsugar's book by an author from Asia, as well as Read Harder's book by an author that is transgender or nonbianary. (The author is nonbianary). It was really good, very different from a lot of the fantasy I read. There's a lot of mention of gender roles and the whole society treats it different than our current society does.
currently reading:
The Red Threads of Fortune - the first book was good, but pretty short so I immediately went and bought this one. It's the continuation of the previous story, but from the other twin's perspective this time.
Dead Beat - re-reading via audio still
QOTW:
Since I know we had a bunch of sign ups, plus people who said they lurked but want to be more active, how about a little bit of an introduction, and what reading goals you have for the year.
I'm Sheri, I work from home as a web designer, and live in Michigan. I'm married, no kids, four cats which is plenty enough for me.
This year I'm potentially working on 4 reading challenges. Popsugar, Around The Year in 52 books, Read Harder, and Reading Women. I'm hoping pretty much all of Reading Women can be worked into the rest of the challenges by virtue of picking as many women authors as I can. I don't double dip within the same challenge, but I'll easily stretch a book across as many challenges as I can.
Happy reading everyone!