Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2019 Weekly Checkins
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Week 40: 9/27 – 10/3
Sheri wrote: "Not quite sure what I’m reading next, thought I had the second wayfarer book but it was the third."If it helps, you can definitely read the third book without reading the second. It's pretty much a standalone with only a couple references to Small Angry Planet.
Lynn wrote: "You know what?!? Whatever you have read this year is what you have read and is much better than having read nothing! This is a HUGE challenge with alot of prompts/tasks to complete. "Thank you for the reminder, Lynn! I tend to be really hard on myself for not reaching goals, so I do need to focus on the fact that this is just for fun and to help me read more. I've loved most of my books this year, and I've gotten a few knocked off my TBR that were there for a long time, and that is an accomplishment regardless!
Hi everyone. It is so cold here. I had to break out the boots and big coat which haven't seen the light of day for months. I'm very jealous of all of you with warm weather right now!This week I finished The Magic Thief. I actually preferred this to the first book. More adventure and vengeance instead of angst and romance haha.
I also finished City of Ghosts. This was cute. I think eleven year old Sarah would have loved it. Weirdly, it does make me think I should really visit Edinburgh some time soon - in spite of the ghosts!
Currently reading: This House is Haunted. I'm not in love with this book but I'm too far in to quit!
QOTW: Roald Dahl, Noel Streatfeild & Frances Hodgson Burnett when I was younger. When I was older I got more into series, like Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins, Shivers & Goosebumps
Ugh. I've been sick this week. Part of me kept looking at the stack of new books near my bed thinking, "Mwahaha I get to skip work and read one!" but of course I cannot read with a fever. I did listen to some things as the NyQuil-coma eased off. Finished:
The Bees - I thought this would be my cli-fi book, but I may have picked the only bee book that might not actually work. Although maybe? Might count it anyway as it was an honest effort.
The Curse of the Werepenguin - Very silly middle grade horror book.
Bernard Pepperlin - This audiobook was delightful! Bernard is the dormouse from the Mad Hatter's tea party. He's SO BORED of time always looping but manages to escape to modern-day New York and has a big adventure! BTW, if you've never heard a male narrator sing showtunes as frog and a female cockroach, you haven't lived. (SUCH a good job) The City is Ours. It’s Ours!
Fuck, Now There Are Two of You - Third book in the Go the F to Sleep series. Read by Larry David. Not as much fun.
Look Both Ways - Jason Reynolds What can I say, the man can do no wrong.
Currently Reading:
What Rose Forgot - 68 year-old Rose wakes up trying to escape from a memory care facility, but why is she there in the first place? Any why is someone clearly trying to kill her?
Much Obliged, Jeeves - Mmmm bedtime Wodehouse
Warren the 13th and The All-Seeing Eye - Too sick to pick this up much this week
QOTW: Did you have a favorite author when you were a child?
My brain instantly went YES!!! My favorite was Charles M. Schulz. Peanuts was my life. I learned all the best stuff: Beethoven from Schroder, Van Gogh from Snoopy, philosophy from Linus, persistence from Charlie Brown, jazz from Vince Guaraldi in the TV shows. I learned about WWI from the Flying Ace, that girls could be quiet and polite or brash tomboys from Marcie and Peppermint Patty, in pants. And let's not forget Franklin, and 5! And Woodstock! I still have my first Snoopy plush. He's 48. I'm a sucker for just about any Peanuts book. Even if it's old and falling apart. Even if I already have 5 of it.
As for more traditional books, I read what was available but didn't get to choose anything until the school library in 7th grade.
It suddenly turned to autumn here on the Scottish west coast this week. Ice on the cars in the morning, chilly air, and now I'm sitting here with the rain pounding the window. Urgh, I can cope (even enjoy) the change in weather if it weren't for the rain..One book for me this week, taking me to 41/55 (32/45, 9/10). I read Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng for prompt #19 multiple POVs. This book is quiet and subtle, but it hits you hard and explores so many issues. It really is beautiful, without being fussy or busy. For me it was how parents can try so hard, to think they're doing their best, but can be so blinkered that they don't even see who their child really is as a person. It's tough, as a parent, to not have that underlying desire to make sure your kids don't have your own faults, don't hit your own dead-ends, or to just simply want more, better, different for them. This is a story of what can happen when you become too focused in making sure they don't inherit your unhappiness, and end up causing them unhappiness anyway. This book shows the extremes of that. Of course I felt sad for Marilyn's thwarted dreams and James' lonely childhood as the victim of racism, but at times I could have climbed into the pages and slapped the pair of them. The real sadness in this book for me is how they are so blinded by their history that they don't appreciate their children - they smother Lydia, neglect Nath, and as for poor Hannah... I think these characters will stay with me for a long time, as this is such a strong character study without becoming too bogged down in minutiae. Beautiful.
QOTW - Did you have a favorite author when you were a child?
An individual author, it would have probably been Roald Dahl, R.L. Stine (Goosebumps, Point Horror) or Ann M. Martin (Babysitters Club).
But it turns out that one of my other favourites didn't actually write a lot of the books I read, she was just the creator of a series - Francine Pascal (Sweet Valley). I didn't really read classics or "old" books as a kid, and I was too old for Jacqueline Wilson, so I can't recall any other particular authors!
This week I finished:Rereads of Hello Again and Face Off.
Also finished my audio book tour of Harry Potter and read The Tales of Beedle the Bard for fun.
The Walking Dead Vol 21-25 and Here's Neegan
Black & Blue: I used to be a huge James Patterson fan, but this one was a fine example of how lazy and bla his books have become.
Shout: What an interesting audiobook. Nice and short and full of though provoking poetry. I was surprised it kept my interest but it did. (aside: I'm completing past prompts and used this for a book about an interesting woman and if I hadn't already filled a book by a woman you admire, I would have used this for that).
Question of the week:
Did you have a favorite author when you were a child?
Not the same way that I have favorite authors now. It was more like series that I would fall in love with. Nancy Drew. Junie B. Jones. Amber Brown. Magic Tree House.
I'm trying to hang onto my sanity today, but human beings are an often frustrating species. I need chocolate!I finished three books this week. I'm not making as much progress on this challenge as I should because I keep being distracted by other books. I was finished by this time last year. I will barely finish if I read one challenge book each week, but I have a stack of books from the library that will only likely fill a couple of prompts. I need to regroup.
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
PS #15 (retelling of a classic [King Lear]); ATY #5 (inspired by Shakespeare) - 4 stars
This was the Fiction Pulitzer Prize winner in 1992, and I love Shakespeare's work, so it seemed like a good fit for this category. I really liked it and thought she did a clever job with this retelling. I now want to watch the movie [Colin Firth!] but can't find it anywhere.
King Lear by William Shakespeare
Not for challenge - 4 stars
It seemed like a good idea to read this along with A Thousand Acres as it had been quite awhile since I had read it. It was very entertaining to read them together as I was able to see even the smallest of ways Jane Smiley reimagined the story. But yeah, its definitely a tragedy.
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep
Not for challenge, although could fit #6 plant on cover, #26 published in 2019, and #35 author with first and last names of same starting letter - 4 stars
No wonder I'm struggling with humanity this week as my reading has been less than cheerful. This is supposedly about the last book that Harper Lee was attempting to write, and that part was really interesting. But this is basically a biography of the author herself. It is fascinating that she wrote one of the best loved novels of all time (To Kill a Mockingbird) but was never able to finish another book written afterwards (Go Set a Watchman was written before). It wasn't for lack of effort as she spent tons of time writing, but celebrity and wealth didn't settle well with her. She was a complex woman and it's a very interesting story.
GoodReads: 62/80
PopSugar: 33/42 regular, 6/10 advanced
Around The Year: 47/52
QOTW:
Hands down my favorite was Louisa May Alcott. I read and re-read her books many times. My grandmother had an old version of Rose in Bloom, and I loved that old book (and still have it). And Little Women helped me make sense of my world and myself. I recently went on a Little Women movie-watching jag to make sure I've seen all the versions (except for the Elizabeth Taylor one which my library doesn't have), as well as a documentary on Ms. Alcott. Quite a fascinating woman.
Hi all. It was in the 50s and rainy here all day, so definitely fall and I'm already missing summer. So I tried to turn on my furnace today, it wouldn't start! I called a technician and he said everything is working, but the fuel valve won't open. He had to get a part, I'm hoping he comes back tomorrow. Fortunately, we have a fireplace, even though it's mostly decorative, it does give off some heat. Blah.Haven't finished anything this week, though I did make some good progress on Born to Run, thanks to lots of running around for work. Hope to start The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this coming week for a Halloween type book.
QOTW I loved Babysitters Club, and even a few of the spin offs. Judy Bloom was always good, though I never read her more mature books. Paula Danziger always made me laugh. I liked Lois Duncan for creepy books. Probably a few others I'm forgetting.
Hello everyone! Work has swamped me with over me and here I am underneath it all making teakettle-like stress sounds. But I am still reading a bit because how else will I keep my sanity?I finished one book this week: Artemis. I would not say it was a very good book, but I enjoyed all the explanations of how a moon city would work. I have no idea if the explanations were plausible! But I enjoyed them.
Currently reading: Artemis Awakening, which I'm counting as the same title as Artemis. It's the closest I got with books that were already in my TBR list, so I'm going with it. It's fun so far, again not sure it's going to blow me out of the water.
I also started The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, but realized I'm too tired to appreciate how well it's written, so I'm putting it off until after deadlines.
QOTW: I was raised by a librarian, so I had the opportunity to have many favorite authors as a child. I loved Beverly Cleary (side note: I met her when I was in college because I lived in Beverly Cleary Hall! it was a glorious day) and Ann M. Martin, but my One True Literary Boo is and always will be Tamora Pierce. I still read any new books by her whenever they come out.
Yay for October. From Thanksgiving to Halloween (I'm Canadian) plus all the birthdays there's usually a big event every weekend for me. Books I Finished:
Britt-Marie Was Here - It took a bit to get in to it, but I love how then end didn't wrap everything up in a tidy bow. It made me laugh and cry, and I am so thankful to this group for introducing me to how wonderful Fredrik Backman is.
Just My Type: A Book About Fonts - I found this book because of the check ins here. It was fun and interesting, and I now finally know what serifs means.
A Discovery of Witches - I was hoping to finish this before the end of September, but I missed my personal deadline by a day. I know this is a bit slow, but I still love the series.
Books I Made Progress On:
Rosemary and Rue
Challenge Progress: (Only 8 left!!)
PS 2019 - 47/50
PS 2018 - 45/50
QOTW
At first only 3 names came to mind - L.M. Montgomery, Ann M. Martin and Bruce Coville but then everyone kept reminding me of more names - Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, Francine Pascal, R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, Diane Hoh, Jane Yolen, Cynthia Voigt, Joanna Campbell(The Thoroughbred series), and Lurlene McDaniel.
Oh, and How could I forget Martin Handford (Where's Waldo? The Fantastic Journey)?
Lynn wrote: "Jen wrote: "Greetings all,It is mid-semester break here so theoretically no school but I have been in 2 out of the 4 days so far since the Chemistry kids wanted help. Yeah I'm a soft touch but I'v..."
We were on Vaitupu….nobody had electricity, there was no shop except it opened every 6 weeks ish when the boat came, there were no cars or hospital or doctor. We had chooks, a garden and the sea. I know how to thatch and make baskets, mats, spears and rope etc as that was our school curriculum.
Shannon wrote: "Lynn wrote: "You know what?!? Whatever you have read this year is what you have read and is much better than having read nothing! This is a HUGE challenge with alot of prompts/tasks to complete. "..."
Lynn is completely right, however I do understand how you feel as I think I bit off more than I can chew this year too. During the Christmas holidays it seemed like such a good idea to sign up for so many challenges....then that thing called work interrupted my reading time. Good lesson to learn as I hate not finishing what I start so will sign up for less next year.
Hello All. It is cooler here today so hopefully fall is coming. I finished two books for the week. Stalingrad by Antony Beevor. I really liked this book. The other book was, The Wettest County in The World by Matt Bondurant. The movie Lawless came from this book. I read it for my face to face book club read. Then we went to see Matt Bondurant speak at a local college. He was very good. QOTW: Did I have a favorite author as a child? No I didn’t. I can’t remember reading books because a certain author wrote the book. I have read my whole life but as a child I don’t think I was reading because of authors. I read a lot of Cherry Ames. There were 2 different authors that wrote the series depending on the year of publication so I probably read both of them. I also read The Bobbsey Twins. That series had multiple authors. I read fictional historical biographies but all had different authors. I read what was popular at the time.
Jen wrote: "Shannon wrote: "Lynn wrote: "You know what?!? Whatever you have read this year is what you have read and is much better than having read nothing! This is a HUGE challenge with alot of prompts/tasks..."I'm another questioning my decision to do so many challenges this year. I doubt I'll learn from my mistakes for 2020 though...
Cendaquenta wrote: "G'mornin'!Went to Waterstones yesterday for the bookclub and signing I mentioned last week - was fun. Had a right good natter and laugh at the club. The signing was a launch event for"
Beatrix Potter, how could I have forgotten?! I had audio books (on tape!), and even a miniature set with tiny little books...loved her stories.
Sarah wrote: "Beatrix Potter, how could I have forgotten?! I had audio books (on tape!), and even a miniature set with tiny little books...loved her stories. ..."I saw something about Beatrix Potter recently on PBS or the History Channel. She originally wrote the stories for a sick relative child or friend of the family, and even made him a toy bunny and they told her she should get the stories published. Then it took her a while to find someone to publish them.
We were on Vaitupu….nobody had electricity, there was no shop except it opened every 6 weeks ish when the boat came, there were no cars or hospital or doctor. We had chooks, a garden and the sea. I know how to thatch and make baskets, mats, spears and rope etc as that was our school curriculum."Wow, what an interesting way to grow up. I just did a little research as I had no idea where this was. At the latest census the population was about 400. I can't even imagine.
Sarah wrote: "I'm another questioning my decision to do so many challenges this year. I doubt I'll learn from my mistakes for 2020 though..."I started a couple of extra challenges this year and then talked myself out of them. I had fun planning books, but then came to my senses and deleted my spreadsheets. Maybe that's what I should do next year - make the plans for challenges and then delete them.
I just stick with PopSugar and ATY and it has worked out fine.
Sarah wrote: "Beatrix Potter, how could I have forgotten?! I had audio books (on tape!), and even a miniature set with tiny little books...loved her stories."I had a miniature set of her books as well. Wonder where they went? I have a vague impression of giving them to a niece. Hope I did.
Teri wrote: "Sarah wrote: "I'm another questioning my decision to do so many challenges this year. I doubt I'll learn from my mistakes for 2020 though..."I started a couple of extra challenges this year and t..."
Not sure I'll do ATY next year....not a fan of many of the prompts selected so far. Def stick with PBT and TRIM. 99% sure popsugar but will wait on the prompts (like the community here though so they would have to be pretty bad). A to Z I think I will just stick to object on cover rather than that plus author first, author last name and title. We shall see.
I've been pondering doing ATY next year, since I'm usually done with PopSugar by the halfway point of the year, heh... Where can I find it?
Kenya wrote: "I've been pondering doing ATY next year, since I'm usually done with PopSugar by the halfway point of the year, heh... Where can I find it?"Around the Year in 52 Books is a GR Group - https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
Theresa wrote: "Kenya wrote: "I've been pondering doing ATY next year, since I'm usually done with PopSugar by the halfway point of the year, heh... Where can I find it?"Around the Year in 52 Books is a GR Group..."
Thanks!
I’m in the too many challenges, paring down next year boat too. This year I did popsugar, ATY, reading women, read harder. I’m finished with popsugar, aty, read harder. One book left for reading women, skipping the bonus books by specific authors. I’m doing popsugar next year because I like the group, but I might skip the rest. I am not feeling next years ATY prompts. I’ll probably wait and see on read harder. Sometimes theirs get obscure to the point of being annoying rather than a fun challenge. I’m not doing reading women, I read a ton of women anyhow. I found theirs were again so restrictive that finding a book by a woman to meet them was hard and I couldn’t double up as much as I’d hoped.
I don’t really care if I finish early, I like having free read time without feeling like I should be reading something else.
Georgia's weather broke today, and we've been in the 70s and 80s all day. We may be done with 90s for the year. We broke all-time high temperature records on 14 days in September. It was good timing, today. Our greyhound group sponsors a 5K every year, and it was today.I finally finished Hamilton (on Audible). Since the Braves made the playoffs, they had just two games this week instead of the usual 5 or 6, so I had more non-baseball nights to listen to Hamilton. And I've started the Graveyard Book. I have 10 books left to read this year, and none of them are 800+ pages long, so I think I can do this. My 52-books-in-52-weeks challenge will be satisfied when I finish those 10 books. There are only 2 books left for PopSugar, and they'll be included in the 52-books-in-52-weeks challenges. My other challenge, BookCrossing's one book per decade (for 1900-2019) is already done. No challenges for me next year except my own challenge: I want to read (or reread) book series: favorite old murder mystery series (Pam and Jerry North, Charlotte MacLeod's series), sci-fi, fantasy (Andre Norton, Ursula LeGuin, Octavia Brooks, N.K. Jemisin, Cherryh's Foreigner series), Dickens, Austen, etc. I can't wait, and I'll probably use some of the Foreigner series to finish my PopSugar numbers this year. (Cherryh and her wife wrote what will be my two-female-authors read.)
You lot getting excited about the cold.... and complaining about 80-90 (I assume F). We hit 39C/102F here already and the build up has hardly started. Gonna be a warm one and I may even use aircon this year.
I’m in the “you can never have too many reading challenges” camp. At the start of the year I committed to six (Popsugar, ATY, Reading Women, Read Harder, Modern Mrs Darcy and Back to the Classics) plus a couple of self-imposed challenges . I’ve finished them all (I let myself count one book for more than one challenge but not for more than one category within a challenge - if I have time I may go through and see how many gaps I have if I don’t let myself count books towards more than one challenge). Then I stumbled across a few more challenges (Mommy Mannegren, Pingel Sisters, Bookish, A-Z and Diversity RC 2019)and I’ve picked the interesting prompts from them that I haven’t already completed and compiled my own composite challenge to get me through to the end of the year. I’ve got eleven gaps to fill there.Anyone else gather stats from their reading challenges to see which one is most successful for them? I did this year and going by average star rating Modern Mrs Darcy was my top, followed by ATY, Reading Women, Popsugar, Back to the Classics and Read Harder.
What I do next year depends very much on my employment status.Should I land a job my reading time will drop considerably. In which case I might just pick and choose my favourite prompts. Like several others here many of the ATY prompts for next year haven’t excited me. Yet I’ve been able to find books on my TBR for most of them.
Jen wrote: "You lot getting excited about the cold.... and complaining about 80-90 (I assume F). We hit 39C/102F here already and the build up has hardly started. Gonna be a warm one and I may even use aircon ..."I am not excited about colder weather, I loove summer (I´m in Denmark). And I was like - why is everyone so happy with colder weather? Then I found a fahrenheit to celsius converter to see what everyone was on about, and it gave me some basis of comparison.
Our absolute highest summer temperatures are around 30C/86F, and that´s hot. Just checked the meteorilogical institute: Middle temperatures of summer 2019 was 16,8C/62F.
At the moment I am at work (sunday librarian), it´s 11am and 7C "feels like 5C" which is 44F feels like 41F.
My aunt lives in Norway and she just posted a picture a couple days ago of the year´s first snow - the 30th september. So I guess it´s all a matter of perspective...
And I am very ambivalent about next year´s challenges... I like different aspects of different challenges - but this year I didn´t keep track closely and I am now trying to fit books I read months ago to see how I am doing challengewise. And more challenges make this more confusing... hmmm what to do.
Johanne wrote: "Jen wrote: "You lot getting excited about the cold.... and complaining about 80-90 (I assume F). We hit 39C/102F here already and the build up has hardly started. Gonna be a warm one and I may even..."It got down to 16C here one night this year and was in all the papers as being the coldest on record...……… Once nights hit about 27C the doona comes out and fans are off at anything below 30C. Aircon goes on when it hits 40C plus about 98% humidity. The air is like a warm wet blanket and there is a constant fight with mould in the wet season.
Oh yes, the humidity. We have that too. Makes the cold feel colder and the warmth feel warmer.
Mod
Wow those are cool summers! How cold are your winters?
I'm another one who is not super excited about winter coming - winter is COLD. (Bright side: I don't have to mow the lawn, and the mosquitos are gone. Down side: COLD. SNOW. ICE.)
Nadine wrote: "...Wow those are cool summers! How cold are your winters?
..."
Well those are middle temperatures of the whole 24-hour period, so day temperatures are 20-25C/68F-77F on what we consider a "good" (means warm) summer day. A colder, (still normal) summer day is 15-20C/60-68F. The highest temperature ever recorded is from the year I was born (1975): 36,4C/ 97,5F.
It doesn´t get really cold in Denmark in winter (though Jen will think so :) ). But it gets wet and dark and grey. Around -5C to 5C/23F to 41F is normal day time temperatures. Sometimes colder down to around -20C/-4F - but that´s considered cold here.
Mod
NYC is a lot warmer, but they have wicked wind chill! Those skyscrapers make the streets into wind tunnels.
Johanne wrote: "Nadine wrote: "...Wow those are cool summers! How cold are your winters?
..."
Well those are middle temperatures of the whole 24-hour period, so day temperatures are 20-25C/68F-77F on what we con..."
NOT COLD....my eyeballs nearly fell out at that. The coldest I have ever experienced was breaking the sea ice to go in for a Dive to get samples in the Isle Of Man. Man that was cold but in full wooly-bear and Dry-suit it was sort of OK. I guess being dressed right helps.
That profile pic of mine was in the Ice Bar in London this summer and I had 2 coats on and 2 pairs of gloves....coldest I have experienced in at least 15 years.
KF-in-Georgia wrote: "Georgia's weather broke today, and we've been in the 70s and 80s all day. We may be done with 90s for the year. We broke all-time high temperature records on 14 days in September. It was good timin..."Did you like Hamilton? Was it worth the slog? I really enjoyed it when I read it and was sad to say goodbye to the "characters". I've even said I may reread it at some point, which for nonfiction and a giant door-stopper of a book is rare for me!
@Joanne - I am back in Denmark for work, and I am glad I brought a coat! When Uber picked me up in Dallas to take me to the airport yesterday afternoon, it was 95 degrees. In October. I am happy for the break from the heat this week, but I wish the sun would stay!
Nadine wrote: "I'm another one who is not super excited about winter coming - winter is COLD. (Bright side: I don't have to mow the lawn, and the mosquitos are gone. Down side: COLD. SNOW. ICE.)"I'm not excited about actual winter, but I love fall temps - 50-65F is my ideal. We just hit that zone so hopefully it stays that way as long as possible.
@Jen, it does get cold :) I was comparing to the rest of Scandinavia, and northern US where Nadine lives (if I remember correctly). We have insulated houses and heating, not aircon, and that's no coincidence. Also - proper clothing. I've started wearing my autumn jacket, my thin gloves and thin scarf. Then I have several upgrades. And layers and rain wear etc. Reminds me I gotta find my youngest son's winter clothes and he needs new boots...
@Brooke, yes the weather is beautiful today :)
But it's all a matter of what you're used to. I lived in Botswana and Zimbabwe for some years as a child/teen and I feel great about warm weather. A lot of people I know here in Denmark feel it's too hot when it hits 25C.
I finished four books (two worked for prompts) this week and made progress on three more. I'm now at 33/40 and 6/10 for this challenge; I'm now at 104 books read so far this year. Finished:
* The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See;
* The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, which I used for "a book becoming a movie in 2019";
* The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware, which I used for the advanced prompt "a book with no chapters/unusual chapter headings/unconventionally numbered chapters" (it was the first one); and,
* Inspector Chopra and the Million-Dollar Motor Car by Vaseem Khan (a Baby Ganesh Agency short story).
Currently Reading:
* Educated by Tara Westover, which I'm planning to use for "a book set on a college or university challenge";
* The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan, which is one of my book clubs' picks for October; and,
* Murder Likes It Hot by Tracy Weber, which is apparently the end to this cozy series. The author's taking a writing sabbatical to take a Masters program in Clinical Animal Behavior. She's thinking about a possible spin-off series featuring a character who is introduced in this book (Rainbow) once homework demands lessen, so I'll be keeping my eyes out for that.
QotW:
Did you have a favorite author when you were a child? My two favorite authors were Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume. I credit both of them (and my Mom! :)) with turning me into a life-long reader.
Brandy wrote: "I missed last weeks chek in so two weeks and still hardly anything complete. I finished last year all three lists with no repeats but I'm not convinced I'll do it this year. We'll see. It isn't lik..."Thanks for the reminder of the Sideways Stories from Wayside School books! I forgot about those but definitely enjoyed them as a kid. :)
I'm terrible with either the cold or the heat. I think the south coast of England is fairly comparable with Denmark's climate. But our problem is even though winter isn't properly cold, it's so damp, and often windy, that it feels cold and miserable all the time. I love a nice crisp frosty morning with the sun shining, that feels warmer to me than 5C in the drizzle.
Mod
Nadine wrote: "Yes a damp cold is so miserable. I'd rather have it be -9 C than 4 C, because at 4 C you get the damp cold. Once the air gets cold enough to not be able to hold any moisture, it's better."but at -9 you get snotsicles. There is nothing so grim. Plus cold wind makes your ears hurt so much. Memories are coming back and I think I shall stay with my crocs and cyclones.
Jen wrote: "but at -9 you get snotsicles. There is nothing so grim."
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Happenstance: Two Novels in One About a Marriage in Transition (other topics)The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection (other topics)
Black Beauty (other topics)
The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon (other topics)
A High-End Finish (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Garth Stein (other topics)Vaseem Khan (other topics)
Lisa See (other topics)
Tara Westover (other topics)
Judy Blume (other topics)
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Congrats, fellow completist!