Week 11 Check In

[Stephanie]

Hello All,

I'm leading off the posting this week because it's been a busy one, and if I don't do it now, I may not post. And since I haven't posted since Week 7 . . .

Not that I have much to post. It's been a hectic four weeks, but I have managed to read a few things. I finished off the audio version of My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, which I did enjoy, even if it was a bit too young for my taste. I also listened to How to Ride a Dragon's Storm. Both of these are narrated by David Tennant, so they keep me happy while I'm working on our bedroom reno. On a non-book note, I've been listening to the new "David Tennant Does a Podcast With" series on my walks back and forth to work and find them delightful.

For physical books, I read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Last year I read Norweigan Wood (by the same author) and really liked it in a quiet sort of "this book is so subtle but so beautiful" kind of way. Since I'm interested in both running and writing, this seemed like an interesting choice. I did not disappoint, although he's writing more about long distance running (think marathon), which is not my distance. However, he had a lot of interesting insights into how writing fuels running and vice versa, and I truly enjoyed it as another sort of quiet meditation/reflection on two things I care about.

I also read Charlene Harris' (think True Blood) latest book An Easy Death. If you like alternative histories, Westerns, and kick-ass young female heroines who don't take any crap from anyone, then I highly recommend this book. This book was FUN! As I described to husbot when he asked me what the book was about, "It's about a 19 year old female gun slinger in an alternative American, early-ish 20th century wild west, where the Holy Russian Empire has magicians and taken over the West Coast, Canada has taken over the north, and the Brits have reclaimed the East. And...action." I'll definitely be following this series as it comes out.

Lastly, I'm currently reading the short story Lightbringers and Rainmakers. This story is situated in larger world that's written about in The Half-Made World and The Rise of Ransom City, both of which I've read and enjoyed over the last few years. This is also an alternative timeline world, set in a steampunk-y American Wild West where gods take the form of trains or possess sharp shooters (and they're at war with each other), indigenous peoples have strong magic, and the west doesn't conform to the laws of physics because it's not yet settled. So, if that's your thing, I recommend these books.

I'll leave the QOTW to Sheri. I look forward to hearing about what everyone is reading this week!

[Daniele]

I may as well chime in, seeing as I haven't posted since week 8 and I finally have something to report as well!

Recent finishes:

A Girl's Guide to Joining the Resistance: A Feminist Handbook on Fighting for Good - eh. It had its moments, but I didn't come away from the audiobook feeling particularly enlightened or spurred to action. It filled Dumbledore's Army prompt for a book about social justice or a current issue.

Making History - It was a bit of a slog at first, jumping between two timelines you couldn't really link together, but once it got going, it was a smart, enjoyable read. It fit under a bunch of different prompts, but I settled on History of Magic, i.e. historical fiction, which isn't usually my genre.

Welcome to the Jungle - A quick graphic novel that reminded me I need more Harry Dresden in my life. It filled the Deathly Hallows prompt, for a book with a symbol on the cover.

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things - Like its author, the book is all over the place, but its great bits are stellar. I used it for the Chosen One prompt, as a book that mentions Harry Potter in it.

My challenge now stands at 16/52.

Now I need a good audiobook for the drive to the SO's tomorrow!

[Alexa]

I finished Faceless Killers last night for the Scandinavia prompt on Pop Sugar. I'm not sure why "soul-searching" is how all the blurbs describe Kurt Wallander; the man is clearly depressive and needs a therapist not just to wander aimlessly through his life! I did enjoy the mystery part, but I don't think I'll be reading more of the series. The televised version with Kenneth Branagh was a very good adaptation btw

For my audiobooks, I listened to The Call of the Wild and The Secret Garden which both fill the "Book becoming a Movie in 2019" prompt. Both are re-reads but always awesome!
I also listened to Garth Nix's Frogkisser!. It's a fairytale book in the same line as Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest series. Always so much fun for me.

I'm moving on to The Black God's Drums for my actual reading and Clouds of Witness as my audiobook

[Susan]

This week I finished listening to the audiobook Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones. I enjoyed it and will listen to the next one because it is great when I walk and a fun adventure story to listen to. In some ways this one had a more confusing plot than the first one. I wasn't sure what the goal was and was kind of surprised when the book ended.

I am almost done (hurray) with the FOE Book club The Left Hand of Darkness. Thank goodness. I will finish in the next day or two at the most and happily return it to the library. This has not been very enjoyable to read, just kind of 'eh' for me. I would not have finished it if not for the book club. The writing style among other things are not making me wanting to read more of her work.

I got my FoE Book Flood book and cannot wait to read it on a vacation that I leave on in a week. I'll save that another post!

[Sheri]

Hi everyone, sorry for late posting! Thanks to Stephanie for getting it started!

This has been such a busy week, still getting caught up with work post vacation and my house renovation stared mean lots of little interruptions all day.

This week I finished:

The Windup Girl - this was weird for me. I liked parts of it but I think it jumped around too much. If it had focused more on fewer characters, the story would have flowed better. I still can’t really describe what the actual plot was. Still had interesting ideas as a dystopia though. Also impressed that a white American guy wrote a book set in Thailand that was really well researched and wasn’t just focused on white characters being there. This was for ATY book about food.

Bel Canto - this was my books &. Brew read. I was kinda meh about it. There were some nice moments but too Matt things annoyed me and distracted me. The ending was a letdown and the epilogue was kind of absurd and tacked on. This was popsufars book based on a true story, it was looosly based on the Japanese embassy hostage situation.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
This was very weird but I liked it. Gave me some Foygkas Addams vibes. I’m counting it for popsugars book set in space and Read Hardee’s bioknset in space by an author of color. Also ATY book from a money making genre -sci fi. It technically is more space-time than space, but it was on book riots suggestions list so I’m counting it.

Pachinko - popsugars boom about a family, reading women and ATYs multigenerational saga. I really loved this, such a lovely story. Also I admit I know almost nothing about Korean history so it was pretty eye opening for me. There were lots of moments of heartbreak but it was just so lovely and well written. There were also moments of strebgth, sweetness, perseverance. So good!

Currently reading : Love and Other Consolation Prizes - this will be my book with love in the title for popsugar. Not sure if it fits elsewhere yet. I like it so far!

I’m updating really late so we’ll skip a question this week. Sorry! If anyone has ideas for questions, feel free to message me!

[Jen W.]

This week I finished off The Duchess War. I'm really enjoying this series so far. Milan writes nice romance heroines who I like a lot. And this series has a mix of novellas and novels, so I can read something short when I need a quick fix. :)

I also read a short two-volume manga series, My Brother's Husband, Volume 1 and My Brother's Husband, Volume 2. This was a really cute story about a Japanese single father whose twin brother left Japan and married a Canadian man. After the brother's death, his widower comes to Japan seeking connection with his husband's family. It deals a lot with the prejudices toward homosexual relationships in Japanese culture. I liked it quite a bit.

I'm starting Spinning Silver next, since I just got it from the hold list at the library and I need to space out my romance novel reading a little more.

[Sarah]

Nothing to report here- still plodding through Wheel of Time book 6: Lord of Chaos. Usually I can knock on one of these off in 7-10 days, but I'm up to my elbows in QUACK stuff right now, and am coordinating a retreat the following week, so this one is just going to have to take a longer than usual.

The second of the Firefly novels came out yesterday, too (Firefly: The Magnificent Nine), so that will definitely be another diversion. On the up side, I'm off Monday in lieu of a state holiday, so hopefully I can get some extra reading in and catch back up a bit.

[Marina]

Slow progress these days, but I finished The Enchantment Emporium and started the next in the series, The Wild Ways. I'm enjoying a bit of light, easy reading right now.

On Serial Reader, I finished The Murder on the Links, which wasn't as good as I'd hoped - I'm new to Agatha Christie, and had high hopes. But I think I might also just be getting a bit fed up of the good old boys of 40s England for the time being. My new one is Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, which is a bit different. I think there's a slight flaw in that Serial doesn't show any illustrations, so I'm not getting any of the diagrams. Still interesting though.

[Cindy]

I just finished The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street. I loved the historical fiction in it but the main character telling the story could be so awful at times that more than once I closed the book and walked away. I was too annoyed. Overall, I don’t regret reading it though.

[Megan]

When I last checked in, I was reading What Doesn't Kill Her for IRL book club #1 - it's definitely not one to rush out to put on your list, but I'm still looking forward to talking about it at the meetup next week.

After finishing that, I quickly read the next book for IRL book club #3, Tangerine, which was much more well-written. It's definitely got some plot/continuity issues, but the author completely nails the tone of the mid-century "exotic" noir genre - it's like reading a Hitchcock movie, with all the good and bad that implies. It should be a good one to discuss as well.

Having caught up (finally!) with my book clubs, I then turned to catching up on the various free/cheap books I'd put on my Kindle lately, starting with Bloodline. I've been burned by Star Wars books before, but I liked this one - it let Leia be flawed but also showed a really interesting glimpse into her life between the original trilogy and the new one.

Next was Nebula Awards Showcase 2018. These kinds of collections can be really hit or miss, but this one was pretty much all great. A good variety of topics and styles, many of which made me want to check out more work from the authors, which is the goal of these kinds of things. :)

The next collection, Fast Forward, was not quite such a rousing success - I thought the general topic of "the future" would be broad enough to bring in an interesting array, but for some reason, most of these didn't click with me.

I'm currently reading Year of Wonders, and I'm about halfway through. I've been very mixed on Geraldine Brooks - People of the Book is one of my all-time favorites, but I was kind of meh on March and Caleb's Crossing - this one seems like it will be on the better end of the spectrum, maybe because it's a more original story. I'll let you know next week. :)