Week 31: 7/25 - 8/1

[Laura Z]

I just DNF'd Gingerbread. What a mess.

[Gem]

Finished: The Luminaries for A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in the title. This was a bit of a slog at times, but overall I liked it. I think it started working better once it had got past all the character set-up that lasts for a good part of the first half of the book!

Started: The Darkest Hour for A ghost story. I am assured by the friend who recommended this that there are ghosts in it, so I hope she's right! I don't really want to read a proper, full-on ghost story for this prompt (being something of a scaredy cat when it comes to ghosts!), so this one sounded like a good compromise.

QOTW:
I don't tend to DNF, being a bit of a completist. And I always think there's something to be taken away from the book, even if it's only the satisfaction of having persevered until the end! Having said that, if it wasn't for the fact that I was reading it for Popsugar, and I would have had to find an alternative for a tricky prompt, it's extremely likely I would have DNF'd Dune. I did not get any sense of satifaction for persevering with that one!

[Sarah]

I DNF Dune last year. I'm glad to hear I didn't miss out on anything!

[Shannon]

Checking in late again! This new job is great so far, but I definitely don't have as much free time. We'll see if I'm actually able to finish the PS challenge or not...

Completed:
Ivanhoe: that's right! I finally finished it! I LOVE this book. The two female leads are some of the greatest I've come across in classic lit written by men. So good.

Currently Reading:
The Grey Fairy Book

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: I'm still really enjoying this. I'm hoping I can finish it by the end of this week.

Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties and On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl's Guide to Personal Finance: These are just for my own personal benefit. Now that I'm back to working full time and I know I won't be getting my PhD, I want to start saving for a house and actually try to make a dent in my student loans. I'm not terrible with money but I could definitely be better!

QOTW: I have never had a problem DNFing books. In fact, my problem is that I'll set a book down, walk away, and never pick it up again, even if I really liked it. So I like these challenges because it reminds me to actually finish books. Basically, I either finish a book in one or two sittings, or not at all...

[Drakeryn]

Sarah wrote: "I DNF Dune last year. I'm glad to hear I didn't miss out on anything!"

Personally, I thought Dune was great BUT the sequels go progressively downhill. Book 5 (which is as far as I got) was a hot mess. I wish I'd cut my losses with that series earlier.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

I have an odd relationship with Dune. I read it at 18 because I had friends who loved it, and I thought it was mostly dull.

Fast forward a decade, and my husband picked it up off the shelf, I think just because it was sci-fi classic he's never read and wanted to know what people were talking about when they referenced it. He loved it SO much, I decided I had to try it again and see if I'd missed something--reading it in my late twenties was a completely different experience from reading it at 18!

This is mostly just because it takes me a lot longer than most people to figure out social signals, so at 18, I was still a bit socially clueless. Dune doesn't generally explain directly what people are thinking or feeling, and all the descriptions of slight facial expressions and such totally went over my head the first time I read it. After a decade more of people experience I was able to actually connect with the characters because they weren't just blank slates to me, and then I actually enjoyed the book.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Jen wrote: "Raquel wrote: "Jen wrote: "Christine wrote: "Jai wrote: "Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity . . ."

Interesting - on the relatively-privileged-but-still-unacceptable front, I ..."

Thank you!

I'm sorry you have such a frustrating combination to deal with too.

[[deleted user]]

I will DNF after maybe 3 or 4 chapters. Life is too short and there are too many books I want to read. However, I did finish the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, even though it was a difficult read. I knew what I was getting into before I started because it was the original.

[WVrambler]

I finished four books this week, but only one was for this challenge and two others were for AtY.

Finished:

42: Zombie Penpal (Choose Your Own Adventure #34) by Ken McMurtry. I found this at the library. There was an entire series, but many of them are fairly old and looked like they were problematic concerning native people of various nations. So I decided on this one.

For AtY:

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik for a book involving something cold. I rated it 5 stars!

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes: Volume 1 by Arthur Conan Doyle the audiobook read by Derek Jacobi. He is a fantastic narrator!

For no challenge was Before the Awakening by Greg Rucka. Not bad.

QOTW:

I will totally DNF a book if I don’t like it. I am constantly adding books to my TBR list and don’t have time to force myself to read a book I don’t like or that I’m not in the mood for.

[Lori]

I haven't posted an update previously, so here's my completed list for the challenge thus far:

Prompt #2 - A Rare Benedictine - Ellis Peters
Prompt #4 - The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh
Prompt #6 - Purple Hibiscus - Chimananda Ngozi Adichie
Prompt #8 - Brick City - LEGO book
Prompt #13 - Barracoon - Zora Neale Hurston
Prompt #14 - The Black Cauldron - Alexander
Prompt #19 - All The Light We Cannot See - Doerr
Prompt #21 - Narrative of Sojourner Truth
Prompt #22 - Sweet Middle East - Anissa Helou
Prompt #23 - Pippi Longstocking - Astrid Longren
Prompt #25 - My Sister the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite
Prompt #27 - Fire and Blood - George R. R. Martin
Prompt #28 - The Cooking Gene - Michael Twitty
Prompt #31 - Cane River - Lalita Tademy
Prompt #32 - The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears - Dinaw Mengistu
Prompt #35 - Bill Bryson's Africa Diary
Prompt #36 - The Dark Thirty - Patricia McKissack
Prompt #37 - Cactus Hotel
Prompt #39 - Zathura, Jumanji
Prompt #44 - The Virgin in the Ice - Ellis Peters
Prompt #45 - Ready Player One
Prompt #47 - the Good Daughter - Jazmin Darznik
Prompt #48 - The Good Daughter - Amra Pajalic

Currently stalling on Prompt #26 with Notes from a Black Woman's Diary, and Prompt #17 with On Beauty.

[Rachel]

- The remaining two thirds of Dark Places for my book that is sad, depressing, devastating or dark for my Top Picks challenge
- Love, Hate & Other Filters for a book with “love” in the title for PopSugar
- 75% of Tower of Dawn for a book written by an author who wrote one of your favorite 2017 books for Bookish 2018

QOTW:
I have only ever DNF'd one book, and I think part of that has to do with being involved in reading challenges. Maybe if I really wasn't interested in the first couple of pages I'd put it down, but after I've spent a day or two reading it, at least if I finish I can count it toward my challenge so I haven't wasted the time I'd spent on it so far.