Week 10: 3/1 – 3/7

[Jen]

Ellie wrote: "Carolyn wrote: "Has anyone found that they are entering a point where it is harder to take books off your TBR list and add them to your Reading Challenge List? I find that I have multiple books tha..."

100% Agree with you Ellie. It is a personal challenge to encourage us to read a broader range of books that's all. Plus we get to chat to other bookish people and get a heap of suggestions for books we may not have thought of and may love. That's the best bit!

[L Y N N]

Been a rather slow reading week for me…just too darned busy with other stuff! And although it is already time for the NEXT weekly check-in, wanted to post this anyway since I did have it ready!

I did finish reading Chocolat by Joanne Harris and really liked it. I have been wanting to read it ever since watching the movie 19 years ago. (I CANNOT believe that was 19 whole years ago!) Two of my best friends and I sat in the theater and watched it 3 times through. No one ever challenged us about doing that, neither asking us to leave nor demanding that we pay more money for each viewing! I found the book to be a bit darker than the movie. I think perhaps due to the additional background information that I do not recall from the movie. Though I do plan to rewatch the movie soon. (After all, it has been 19 whole years!) And…I inadvertently satisfied #44 READ A BOOK DURING THE SEASON IN WHICH IT IS SET! Popsugar: #3 (Joanne plays flute and guitar), #9, #18 (Vianne could access people’s thoughts), #19, #31, #44. Could count for #30 amateur detective, though Vianne discovers the truth of the fire(s) inadvertently through other’s thoughts without specifically searching for this knowledge, #46 IF you consider Dates as unusual/unconventional chapter headings…
(ATY: #4-Muscat, #7 or #8-Scifi/Fantasy, Political/Social Oppression, Domestic Abuse, #9-Romance, Scifi/Fantasy, #15-set in France, #16, #17-Fantasy, #19, [NEW] #20-I am assuming the “river people”/”gypsies” would be considered indigenous, #23-village run by the priest, prejudice/discrimination, domestic abuse, #24-nonreligious open-minded people in strait-laced French village, #30-Armande, Guillarme, #33, #39, #42, #44, [NEW] #47, #50-spiritual, emotional, interpersonal, #52)
(Reading Women: #11-Catholicism)

I am anxious to finish When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. I have allowed enough of a break that my anger (about white oppression) has tapered off to the point that I think I can now finish it.

While I would love to continue reading Harris' trilogy and did read the first 10 pages of The Girl with No Shadow and was immediately drawn in, I simply have too many other book club reads to complete for March, so will select one of those...

Question of the week:

Question from Serendipity - Do people agonize over what star rating to give a book (or is that just me) and how do you decide?
I do not agonize nor do I care about others’ ratings. I am simply recording my reaction to a book, mainly for my own information later. Each of us reacts differently to every book...

I (Sara) will add in some additional parts to this question:
-Do you have any guidelines for how you rate books?
-Are you stingy with your stars? If so, why?
-Do you rate books you don’t finish?
I rarely DNF books, so when I do, you know that I am TOTALLY disinterested. And that doesn’t mean I am rating any book as “good” or “bad,” but simply my own reaction to that specific book, and that can be due to many reasons; we each bring our own unique life experience and preferences to any reading experience, so it is only to be expected that any one publication will elicit reader reactions along the full scale from “LOVED it”/“Everyone should read this!” to “This one didn’t work for me at all!”/“I regret the time I wasted on it!”

I believe myself to be a very easy-to-please reader in many ways. I begin each book with this thought, “Take me where you want me to go…” I just hope that I can enjoy the experience of reading the book and perhaps “get it”/experience what the author may have intended.

I tend to begin at “5” stars and then decrease my rating as I read, if I feel it is not enjoyable. Though I would have said I never rated a book I did not finish, that is not true. I have, but I have always clarified in my review that I did not complete it and I do try to provide my reasons for that. However, except for books that are selected for me (by book clubs, etc.) and those outside my wheelhouse that I read for challenges such as this, I am rather selective and feel I have a fairly accurate sense of what books I will enjoy. For example, I would NEVER read a “horror” book. Cannot do it. I get scared way too easily and those ‘images’ do not leave my mind! Ever! With that said, I realize as I interact with more and more readers, that I tend to appreciate/enjoy many more books than others might…if that makes sense. I guess I’m just “easy” when it comes to reading and rating what I read! And I’m okay with that! I want authors to succeed!

I start at 5. (Perhaps I’m just an eternal optimist? lol)

If I am moderately annoyed or displeased by something in a book, it gets 4 stars. (Most often, too many explicitly sexual details--Let my imagination fill in those details, please!--or too much explicit violence.)

If a book was an “okay” read, but not something I would necessarily “recommend,” it gets 3 stars.

I really disliked a book if I rate it at 2 stars. I must consider it was just barely worth the time it took to finish reading it.

One star means I am sorry I wasted my time and I might have simply DNF’d it.

That said, just because a specific book didn’t resonate with ME, doesn’t mean a thing…many many others may well have loved it! And that is the beauty of literature, IMHO!

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Dani wrote: "Good morning from Columbus! It’s been depressingly cold but the forecast for this coming week is looking much warmer at least. Happy Lent to anyone observing! This is my favorite time of year 😍

[b..."

I kept forgetting to come back and respond to this, but I'm really curious what makes Lent your favorite time of year. It's not a statement I see very often. :-)

(For context, I'm a Protestant who goes to a liturgical church, so we're all aware of the traditional church calendar, but don't necessarily do much with it. )

[Paula Cristina]

Books finished:
The two towers
The return of the king
The hate you give
The Art of war
Who took my cheese?
Books curently reading:
Don Quixote
Deep work
Challenges following:
2019 challenge: 100 books
Spanish reders Group challenge: 20 books
popsugar book challege: 50 books
I am accomodating them so i aim to read 100 in total(the more the merrier but i doubt i get to read more than that)

[Simone]

Paula Cristina wrote: "Challenges following:
2019 challenge: 100 b..."

I'm doing 3 challenges and my goal is to read 100 books this year as well. All challenges combined (with overlaps between the challenges), I will have read 96 books if I read one for each prompt (no doubling up within the individual challenges). Good luck with your challenge! I hope we can both celebrate meeting our goal for this year in December :-) If I keep reading at this pace, I will be finished with the challenge way sooner though. I'm already reading book 32.

[Amanda]

I'm so behind on my week 10 checkin.

Progress: 13/50

Finished:
Avid Reader: A Life

Currently reading:
Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

QOTW:
I try not to agonize over what rating to assign. I try to go with whatever pops into my head first.