Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2020 Weekly Checkins
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Week 41: 10/1 - 10/7
Hello everyone.Happy Thursday. Hope everyone is doing well. It is starting to cool off a little bit. Can't wait for it to be nice enough to open the windows and doors!
Finished two books last night now I have to decide what to read next!
35/40 Regular
7/10 Advanced
Finished
31. Gold, Silver or Bronze, Well her last name is Sterling so I'm going with it.
Currently Reading
Question of the Week
Did you have access to many books in your house as a child? If so, what kinds of books were they?
Yes. I don't think that we owned a lot of books but my mom took me to the library all the time. She never limited my reading so I have always been able to read what I wanted to. It's funny because my brother probably has only read 2 books in his entire life and we grew up exactly the same.
Finished: The Midnight Library This one was really enjoyable. About a woman who tries to commit suicide and ends up in a library with books that represent infinite variations on her life. She needs to find one that will make her want to live again. Loved the existential/multiverse mash-up.Early Departures I loved Justin Reynold's first book, Opposite of Always, so I was really looking forward to this new release. Not quite as good, but still enjoyable. The reader has to take a big leap of faith because the premise is a friend who dies and then is temporarily re-animated.
Creative Calling: Establish a Daily Practice, Infuse Your World with Meaning, and Succeed in Work + Life It's only been a few days and I don't feel like much of the book has stuck with me.
The Battle of the Labyrinth Re-read. It's amazing how fresh Riordan can keep his books even though they follow the same basic formula. Enjoyed the inclusion of Daedalus and my favorite character, Rachel Elizabeth Dare.
Started: Genesis Begins Again This book was selected for me by a browsing librarian based on the books I like, Stargirl and Fish in a Tree. Interested to see how it compares. So far, the main character is hating how dark she is, which doesn't always work as a strategy for kids even if that message is strongly eradicated by the end of the book.
I only pay cursory attention to the National Book Awards. Like you, Nadine, the only one I'm familiar with is When Stars Are Scattered which I was impressed with, so maybe the other ones are just as impressive?
QotW: Yes! My parents had a whole wall of books. But they gave me so many of my own books that I was rarely tempted to read their books. When I did, it was life-changing. I read their copy of Teaching as a Subversive Activity which changed my professional path from that of author to that of teacher. Reading A Dream of Silence has inspired me to write a musical libretto. Which I dreamed my mentor re-wrote one of my songs last night and it was : much better than mine. But of course, I couldn't remember it in detail when I had woken up!
Not much going on this week. Rain. Working at home. That’s about it. Finished
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - First time ever I read Harry Potter. And I loved it! I never read those books because everyone did. For me, that’s an incentive to don’t read it, But I should have. Brilliant translation by the way.
Prompt: read a banned book during Banned Book Week
I've Got Your Number - Just a random chicklit. Nothing special. Easy read.
Prompt: a book involving or about social media
Currently reading
Alles begint bij Bach
Qotw
Did you have access to many books in your house as a child? If so, what kinds of books were they?
We did have some books. But not many or at least not enough for me. Most of them were christian books. Thankfully, when I was about 9 or 10 our neighbour convinced my mom that she had to go with me to the public library. Since it was a public library (and not a christian) my mom considered the library as evil or something like that. To me, it was heaven. Every 3 weeks I picked 6 books (the maximum amount, I still remember that) and read them in less than 3 weeks. We also had an encyclopedia and I turned to that or a newspaper if I really needed to read something.
Drakeryn, are you posting on instagram? I'm doing Mab's Drawlloween club this year, but in ink. Also octobear, all my spookies are bears. Also doing cross stitch patterns to match the prompts. https://www.instagram.com/shukitty/ is mine!
Harmke wrote: "Not much going on this week. Rain. Working at home. That’s about it. Finished
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - First time ever I read Harry Potter. And I loved it! I never read th..."
Harmke, your QOTW response reminded me of my experience checking books out from the public library for my Christian friends whose parents wouldn't let them go! From my perspective (raised by a pack of atheists) none of their requests were shocking--Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High, Black Beauty--so I'm actually not sure whether the specific books or just going unsupervised to the library were disallowed. As far as I know, nobody ever got in trouble, but maybe they were just really good at hiding books.
Mod
We had a limited number of books at home. We had a series of educational Disney books with cassette tapes. And we had a series of Bible stories and morality tales. The morality stories were all about naughty children who got caught and learned their lesson. Honestly, all they did was give me ideas! I don’t remember loving any of these books or stories, but I loved reading so much that I reread them constantly. Only one picture books survived my childhood rereadings. The pages fell out of the rest of them."
Now that's what I call a dedication to reading! ;)
Mod
I've always had it well in hand, but yes this year I'm starting to wonder if I will actually finish by December! I only have a few categories left, and most of them will be easy, but one of them is "Women in STEM" for which I'm insisting to myself that I read a non-fiction book about the topic. I have The Madame Curie Complex: The Hidden History of Women in Science picked out, and it does not look like a fast read. Right now I'm reading One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy, which isn't for the Challenge at all, and it's rather dry and loaded with detail so I'm kind of stalled. But it's such an important book, I can't bring myself to DNF and move on!!"
Maybe start reading something else a bit lighter to take breaks from the drier nonfiction? I do that...
Mod
I just occurred to me that our elementary school didn't even have a library! :( Of course, this was back in the early 60's in a rural area...
But I did love it when I got to 7th grade and had access to a school library!
Christy wrote: "From my perspective (raised by a pack of atheists) none of their requests were shocking--Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High, Black Beauty--so I'm actually not sure whether the specific books or just going unsupervised to the library were disallowed. As far as I know, nobody ever got in trouble, but maybe they were just really good at hiding books. "I can't speak for Harmke or your friends, but my experience was similar.
Anytime someone bought me a book (or a movie or music), my mom went into a panic and had to screen it. I think the idea was to shield me from "the world," but all it did was make me more curious about what was "out there." It didn't help that I didn't understand why something was banned, like comic books. They just ... were.
This also made me a great sneak. (I mean, if I'm not trusted anyway ....) I would fill out my Scholastic book catalog form with approved books, then change the choices to Babysitter's Club and Goosebumps on the bus and leave the books in my desk or locker to read during silent reading time at school.
Mod
LOL this happened to me, too!!! I was a quiet child, so the teacher apparently just stuck me in a learning-to-read group, and when it was my turn, I whizzzed across the pages, so she called my mom up and said something like "well! Nadine is quite the reader!" and my mother didn't know either. Mom theorizes that I liked being read to so much, I never let on that I could read by myself."
What a great story! I would still love to be read to! ;)
Mod
Yes, I definitely went a little overboard with buying books when I moved out. It took several decades, but I'm starting to see mom's point about clutter. I still buy books, but not many (and often I buy the ebook - no clutter!). My few bookshelves are FULL, and I've got boxes and boxes of books that I've never unpacked from my last move, and I've got stacks of books on the floors ... it's too much."
That last line: "...it's too much." Not possible! :)
Mod
If my elementary school had a library, I can't remember it. Same for the junior high (which was across the street from the high school). The only school library I remember was in the high school. And the high school was next door to the public library, so I don't think I ever borrowed a book from the school library.
Mod
that is brilliant!!!
Mod
Wow! That's cool! A UV santizer! How high tech!
"Started first grade in the bottom reading level. Apparently something clicked that year, though, because I finished the year in the top group. I did start kindergarten at age 4, due to a fall birthday, so it's possible it was an age thing."
Wow! Good for you! Four years of age is really young, though chronological age doesn't always denote maturity. My oldest son was the youngest in his kindergarten class, but according to everyone, the most mature. My middle son was one of the oldest and cried every day the first two weeks of kindergarten...until his kindergarten teacher (with whom we were good friends) let him sit on her lap! I about died when she told me that at the first visit I made after the first two weeks! (She allowed no parents in the building the first two weeks. Smart woman! lol) I said, "Jane, you can't teach a classroom full of kindergarteners with him on your lap!" She just looked me in the eye and said, "Bet me!" and then smiled... She was an amazing person and teacher and died within two years when my middle son was in second grade and my youngest son was in her class. My middle son begged to go to the funeral, so I let him. At age 8, other teachers/parents were a bit upset with me for doing so, but he outlasted all of us. He was dry-eyed through the whole thing while all of us "adults" were losing it with tears literally running down our faces. That showed 'em! LOL He is my most sentimental/emotional child, yet he held it together for that funeral...
Mod
Having read both Pachinko and Homegoing, I would agree that the interaction among generations in Pachinko gave more continuity to the book overall.
It has been a day of back-to-back meetings--somehow, that makes the day go by slower, not faster! But the weather is beautiful, I'm employed, and I and my loved ones are well, so I'm trying to stop complaining. :)Finished:
Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson: This ended up being my banned book. I was looking forward to reading a banned book during banned books week ALL YEAR and then failed. Oh well.
Currently Reading:
Wilder Girls: A medical thriller. Okay, I'm technically not reading it yet, but it's my "up next" book. I've just crashed at the end of a reading frenzy, so I need to get back on the ol' reading horse.
QOTW:
SO MANY BOOKS. Both of my parents are avid readers and book lovers, plus my mom is a librarian, so our house was always filled with books. I can't even say what kinds because it was seriously just some of everything--they had their college textbooks, classics, romances, SFF/fantasy, comic books (of the Sunday funnies type), picture books, board books, etc.
My parents also both read to us. I mostly remember my dad reading James Herriot to me (appropriate, since my dad is also a vet). My mom was our human audiobook on road trips (we had to drive everywhere)--that's how I first encountered LotR and the Chronicles of Prydain.
Now I have over 600 books in my personal collection, so it's safe to say they passed that love on. Both my siblings are also avid readers and book owners, although my brother became one a little later than my sister and I did.
Somehow, with all these books, I'm still a regular library-user too. And yet I'm pretty sure I won't finish this challenge...I think my love of books gives off the image that I read more than I actually do lol.
Mod
I laughed out loud at that! There are worse things your mother could have taught you, right? ;)
Mod
2020 has wreaked havoc in so many ways!
Mod
Well hopefully your father will be around for many many years! But I did have to chuckle to myself! I have told my husband that if I die he is to let my children and their spouses and children have first dibs on my books, then my good friends, then he can donate those remaining. :)
Hi all! My copy of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab arrived today and I am STOKED! Lol I've been waiting for this book for over a year!!Finished
My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. It was great! A really fun/creepy horror story. I wasn't around for the 80s, but I still enjoyed the nostalgia aspect.
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss. I listened to the audiobook, and oh my god this was amazing. So atmospheric and creepy! The narrator was excellent. I have a hard time hearing accents in my head while reading, so it was nice to get the various accents performed.
Currently Reading
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix for my book about a book club. Really enjoying it so far! I apparently enjoy Hendrix's blend of nostalgia and horror. I also love that the book club reads true crime. I keep picturing them getting super into My Favorite Murder down the line and I'm here for it.
I Am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland. It's a book of poems inspired by horror movies. It's pretty good!
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody. I'm trying to get back into writing, and this is helping. I usually psych myself out so I like the idea of seriously plotting beforehand.
QotW
I had so many books growing up. We went to the library constantly--I still remember what my first library card looked like, and how cool and grown-up I felt to have my own card. And my parents bought me lots of books, too. I read The Adventures of Mary Kate and Ashley books (man, I miss the 90s) and then American Girl History Mysteries and Dear America. And then I got into A Series of Unfortunate Events and that's all my family would ever hear about again. I loved going to the bookstore with my mom and picking out new books!
But, yeah, I was a book hoarder even then. I loved having a full bookshelf, and here I am decades later, in possession of more books than I could read in three lifetimes...
Mod
Did you have access to many books in your house as a child? If so, what kinds of books were they?
Yes. I don't think that we owned a lot of books but my mom took me to the library all the time. She never limited my reading so I have always been able to read what I wanted to. It's funny because my brother probably has only read 2 books in his entire life and we grew up exactly the same.."
Ah, the ol' nature vs. nurture controversy! That is so very interesting!
Mod
Thank you! That makes me feel so much better about my own piles and bookshelves fully packed! :)
Ugh, work. Blech. Today the weather is feeling Autumnal though! It's beginning! I need more sweaters.Wait, I don't actually. I go nowhere but work and we have a uniform. Oh well. Sad face.
Finished:
Little Black Sambo - My actual banned book, thanks for the link
The Golden Thread: The Cold War Mystery Surrounding the Death of Dag Hammarskjöld - Looks at the death of the second UN Secretary General
The Kreutzer Sonata - Tolstoy novella about toxic masculinity
A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians - Not was I was expecting somehow (I didn't read the blurb) but it was fine I learned some stuff about the French Revolution I guess.
By Night in Chile - Weird little story about a weird priest
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - I enjoyed it and it's lack of heteronormativity
Currently Reading:
The Thursday Murder Club - I do enjoy a book where elderly people get up to trouble
The Light of the Fireflies - I keep putting it aside, don't think I've been in the right mood for this
National Book Awards:
I've read and enjoyed Leave the World Behind
I have, but have not yet read King and the Dragonflies and When Stars Are Scattered
I've heard of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Shuggie Bain, Unworthy Republic, Postcolonial Love Poem, and Tokyo Ueno Station
QOTW:
I had some books. I remember a few of them: How Fletcher Was Hatched, The Story About Ping, Part -Time Dog, and a few Raggedy Ann books. I don't remember being gifted books and feel like I only had hand-me-downs from people I didn't know.
I don't know how I nearly forgot my Peanuts books. You know those cheap, mass-market paperbacks of comic strips. For a while in my teens you could find battered old copies for a quarter and I bought Every. Single. Copy. I could find.
I do remember being gifted one book: A nice dictionary for my tenth birthday, from my grandparents. It's red. I read it all the time. One of the best presents I ever received.
Heather wrote: "Disney books with cassette tapes" I remember those, but I remember my family having the LPs. I specifically remember Herbie the Love Bug. You could open the sleeve into a book and follow along, like a big hardcover picture book.
Happy Thursday. It's been a weird week with my step-grandfather getting sick. The good news is it's not covid, but they're still running tests so everything is up in the air. It's going to be a strange Thanksgiving this weekend...Books I finished:
Lost and Found Sisters - So I'm reading this series completely out of order, but they're not really linked, so it's okay. They're fun simple summer reads, and the humour is excellent, but they always fall a little short for me - this one had a subplot about a crooked city manager that was completely unnecessary.
A Killing Frost - I've been waiting for this since it came out in Sept. I'm probably going to read it again before I have to send it back. I love the October Daye books!!
The Good Luck Sister - This novella was to wrap up things left hanging in Lost and Found Sisters. So basically, it was just the happy ending part of a book.
The Old Guard, Book One: Opening Fire - I loved the movie on Netflicks, but it took a while to track down a copy of the source material. The artwork was okay, but the story was top notch, and the best parts of the movie where all taken straight from the book.
Hamilton: The Revolution - Continuing my Hamilton obsession, it was fun to get the behind the scenes story, plus I could sing along in my head with all the lyrics.
Sweep with Me - And my reread of this series is complete.
Books I made progress on:
American Gods
QOTW
There were always lots of books crammed into various bookshelves at home growing up. I even had 2 book shelves in my room just for my books. My Mom is a big reader, who loved hitting used book sales, and passed that love onto me. I still remember the day my Dad accidently sold one of my favorite stuffed animals at a garage sale, and to try and cheer me up my Mom took me to the library. While there, one of the librarians let it slip that the library allowed you to check out up to 20 books at a time, instead of the 2 book limit my Mom had told me. I still think that's the moment that tipped me over into the book-aholic that I became. I do try to go through my books and donate any that I won't read again, but my collection still grows. Covid has really put a crimp in my book buying habits though, because most of the book sales I look forward to were cancelled. And while both my parents are more into mysteries and thrillers, I found fantasy and sci-fi early with C S Lewis and Bruce Coville.
Finished:-The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Currently reading:
-Feed by Mira Grant
QOTW: My dad is a big reader and actually the reason I got into sci-fi/fantasy. My parents were divorced though and I lived with my mom who doesn't read. She'd buy me books for Xmas though so I had a full bookshelf in my room.
I'm a bit worried I won't finish my challenges. I think between my kids starting school, me starting a job, and me doing the summer challenge has gotten me a bit behind. I've read 86 books so far this year, so if I was only doing this challenge I'd be done. I still have 5 prompts to finish for the summer challenge, 18 for the main challenge, and 15 for ATY.
Happy Thursday, and for those of you participating, happy start of the Tournament of Books Super Rooster competition! This week I finished:
Slay - There were so many parts of this that I absolutely loved, but a few things I wished hadn't been included. Overall very enjoyable. 4 stars
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents - This was a strange surprise... not really what I was expecting at all and I'm a bit disappointed. 3 stars
Half Light - What a lovely little gem. Short and sweet and just what I hoped for. 5 stars
More Myself: A Journey - Some of this was really fun, but I found it a bit strange for a memoir to include zero hard situations, it was all very positive, happy, etc. which is nice, but didn't seem realistic. Still enjoyed it though. 3.5 stars
The Black Kids - I appreciated the important historical connections throughout the story. 4 stars
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill - This was a bit too fluffy for me and I was expecting a lot more books... Oh well. 2.5 stars
The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story - This was pretty sad, but a good reminder of the injustices of our immigration system that needs to be changed immediately. 4 stars
Cuicacalli / House of Song - I'm friends with the author and I'm so proud of how this turned out. Excellent poetry that I highly recommend. 5 stars
I'm currently listening to A Narco History: How the United States and Mexico Jointly Created the "Mexican Drug War" and reading Mexican Gothic in print.
QOTW:
I was a big reader as a kid, almost as much as I am now. ;) I had a large bookshelf with all the standards for small kids (Hungry Capterpillar, Giving Tree, Courderoy, etc.), then I got into all the usual series for tweens (Goosebumps, Boxcar kids, Sweet Valley, Wayside School, etc.).
And I'm relatively pleased with the short list of the National Book Awards. I've read three of the novels, and have the other two on my shelf. I'm interested in most of the books in the other categories as well.
I was away at Mohonk Mountain House for most of the last week (www.mohonk.com for those who don't know it), relaxing, destressing, reading. It was easy to social distance, masks worn religiously by all, and I felt safe. Already planning a return in December!I finished a lot of books I have been trying to finish or just read, some for challenge! Although I have yet to update my challenge list.
A Brief History of Time - I have been reading this since MARCH! It's official: that high school C- in physics was no mistake.
The Secret of the Wooden Lady - honoring Nancy Drew's 90th birthday and one of my banned book reads.
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood -LOVED this! My 'official' banned book for Banned Book Week.
Charlotte's Web - also one of my banned book reads. Cannot believe I am only now reading it for first time!
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone audio with Jim Dale revisit and guess what? Also a banned book read!
Holidays on Ice revisit in audio and realized 2 of the essays address Halloween, not Christmas. Had forgotten.
Currently reading:
Murder in the White House by Margaret Truman - seemed appropriate.
Grand Hotel
To Kill a Mockingbird audio by Sissy Spacek, and a reread. And another banned book read.
QOTW: There really weren't many books in our house. Being dairy farmers, having several kids including 2 with special needs plus my mother's ill health over many years left my parents with barely time to read the newspaper. They did get Readers Digest Condensed Books that my mother read. And they read aloud Golden Books and Dr. Seuss when we were little. Once we started school our reading mostly came from school libraries with occasional visits to the small local public library. My brother was 10 years older so when he came home from college in the summers we all raided whatever he brought...I read JD Salinger's Nine Stories at about 10. About then he gave me Nancy Drew...and suddenly I was bringing all kinds of books home, spending my allowance on Harlequin romances bought at the grocery store. My father retired when I was in high school and had time to read. So he would raid my books or pick up used books at garage sales or at local seniors center. I remember catching him reading The Last Days of Pompeii.
I brought lots of books home for my sisters and public library visits became weekly events for them once I had my license to drive. When I went away to college, I would bring boxes of books home on holidays and over the summer...I took a lot of literature courses. The day my father picked up Finnegans Wake by James Joyce and tried to read it...well, he only cursed like that at the cows when he was milking still! He thought it total garbage, unreadable, and was even more outraged when I handed him the book that was a guide on how to read it!
Actually, I was just relieved he had not checked deeper in the box and discovered my copy of Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings. Or the Samuel Beckett. I was more careful after that what books were in the top layer...
My bestie and I had a girls' weekend in a local hotel suite. I'm not well enough to travel presently, so this was the next best thing. We have both been careful during the pandemic and tried to be as safe as possible. We ate at restaurants with outdoor seating and ate too much junk food. We talked and talked and did a little reading. It felt almost like real life. I hadn't seen her in months, and it was soothing to my soul to spend time with her. I finished two books this week:
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman - 4 stars, PS #4 (book club)
I loved the first half of this book. Made me laugh out loud several times. It lost some of its charm for me when it turned into a regular romance novel, but it was still delightful.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - 3 stars; PS #6 (bildungsroman)/ATY #17 (neurodiverse character)
I'm still not quite sure what I think about this. The storyline and main character was interesting enough, and I liked the epistolary format. But my high school experience was so different than the ones often portrayed of constant drinking, drugs, smoking, and sex that I don't really relate. Plus I'm old now. Glad I read it since I've been meaning to for ages. I'm going to see the movie soon.
Goodreads: 89/100
Popsugar: 40/44, 10/10
ATY: 50/52
QOTW:
We had quite a few books around, but not enough. I read everything in the house many, many times. I remember Trixie Belden and Bobbsey Twins books, as well as old Louisa May Alcott books that had been my grandmother's. I read nearly everything in our school library, the bookmobile that came around in the summer, and anything else I could find. The books I remember getting for Christmas in my teens was "Gone with the Wind" and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Loved them immensely.
Hello everyone! Finished
Heartstopper: Volume Three - 5. A book set in a city that has hosted the Olympics [set in Paris]
This series gives me so many queer feels. I love these boys so much.
Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things - 38. A book by or about a journalist
Pinocchio - ATY33 Non-traditional family
This book is so bizarre...
Love in the Time of Global Warming - BR15 Climate change
Wasn't for me, unfortunately. I'm honestly just very confused by the whole premise and setting.
Progress
PS - 44/52 | ATY - 48/52| BR - 19/24
Currently Reading
Fahrenheit 451
The Nightingale
Out Now: Queer We Go Again!
I Wish You All the Best
QOTW
There were some books in the house growing up. I had a lot of Goosebumps, Shel Silverstein, and in high school I was really into the Star Wars, Star Trek, and Charmed books. My mom has every Stephen King, Robin Cook, and VC Andrews, but I never got into those books. Mostly I just use the library.
I now have five prompts left to finish the challenge. I have just bought books to cover two of these, and I have ideas for the remaining three. I may actually finish the challenge this year!Finished reading:
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race (no prompt): Essential reading, particularly for those in the UK.
Currently reading:
The Surface Breaks (no prompt): I'm just over halfway, and I am enjoying it, but there's something about it I'm not totally sure of. Hoping to finish it by tomorrow.
QOTW: I don't remember there being loads of books in the house, but we took several trips to the library and there was a small library at my primary school. My book collection slowly grew over the years and I now have about 10 boxes of books at my parents' house along with the books that I have at my flat!
Heather wrote: "I can't speak for Harmke or your friends, but my experience was similar.Anytime someone bought me a book (or a movie or music), my mom went into a panic and had to screen it.I can't speak for Harmke or your friends, but my experience was similar. "
Good to know I was not alone. Wish I knew then. I massively caught up by the way. When I was about 15 or so my mom finally realised that her 'strategy' had the opposite result.
Mod
I don't know if you've read any other Jill Shalvis books, but if you liked these, I recommend her enormous backlist! She's very prolific and somehow always manages to churn out fun, well-written books. She's one of the few contemporary romance authors that I can count on, and I like following her on social media because she always has charming stories about her dogs or wildlife around her home or her new grand daughter... I haven't read any in this series, I think she was trying to break out of the "contemporary romance" slot and move into the "chick lit" slot"? I'm not sure. If you like straight-up romance, check out her Lucky Harbor, Animal Magnetism, and Heartbreaker Bay books.
Mod
LOL why do parents put limits like that on library books?
Mod
LOL okay, so I loved physics and I've got a Masters Degree in Thermosciences, and I found that book incredibly confusing. It was not accessible or interesting AT ALL and I'm mystified by its popularity. He was all "the event P at the P horizon is the eventuality of P or the elsewhere of P ..." and, like, dude, what is that? why do I care about P?
A MUCH better general "science and the universe" book is Sagan's Cosmos. Forget Hawking. Maybe he's a genius but he's no good as a pop-sci writer.
Murder in the White House by Margaret Truman - seemed appropriate.
Snort!
The Marquis de Sade really had a resurgence in the 80s, didn't he? Why was that? I had his book, too, (plus Henry Miller, Anais Nin, all that risque lit). I bought it from that old catalog, Loompanics. I didn't like it, i just read it to see what all the fuss was - and I was confused by all the fuss. Do college kids still read de Sade or has he finally fallen out of fashion for good?
I'm guessing parents put limits because a) they know they're going to have to carry them home and b) They don't want to have to keep track of that many books and deal with resulting fines haha. I remember I had to buy one of my school library books because I COULD NOT FIND IT. I tore apart my room, it wasn't anywhere. like 2-3 years later I did a full "pull absolutely everything out of the closet from top to bottom" clean, found the missing book that had gotten wrapped up in a pile of toys that I clearly didn't play with very often and must have played with for the last time right before putting them away and forgetting about them.
Mod
I'm still not quite sure what I think about this. The storyline and main character was interesting enough, and I liked the epistolary format. But my high school experience was so different than the ones often portrayed of constant drinking, drugs, smoking, and sex that I don't really relate. Plus I'm old now. ..."
I suspect that NO ONE'S high school experience is like that book. My high school experience was not like that in the 80s, and my kids' high school experience is not like that now. He wrote a fantasy high school experience, and I am afraid that teens everywhere are reading it and thinking "wow everyone else is having so much fun like Charlie and my life is so boring."
Mod
yes, it's true. I try to keep the kids library books all in one place, but that's not always possible ... I've paid for a number of books that we found much later. I now own The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet. None of us have read it. It just sits there, judging me for losing it.
Luckily since it was a school library and I still went there, I took it back and the librarian refunded me my money once I found it, haha. I think the money I paid was still actually clipped inside a file, i'm guessing i'm not the first to have to pay for a book and then find it.
Sheri wrote: "I'm guessing parents put limits because a) they know they're going to have to carry them home and b) They don't want to have to keep track of that many books and deal with resulting fines haha. I r..."In sixth grade the reading teacher had a table full of books that you could sign out for the night. You were supposed to bring them back every morning. One day I forgot mine. However, she had two copies of the same book and someone had removed it from the table, not signed it out, and left it there. She came up to me and asked about the book. I said I was sorry but that I had left it at home. She informed me that I had left it there, proceeded to yell at me for not taking it home when I had signed it out and signed it back in. When I got home, thinking I was crazy, I looked and there was the book. Not knowing what else to do, I kept it. I probably should have snuck it back somehow, but that teacher was always yelling at me and I just didn't want to get in trouble again.
Katy, that's frustrating. I get trying to instill responsibility into kids, but making them afraid is hardly the way to go about it. Still are kids, even adults make mistakes.
When I was at secondary school there was loads of underage drinking and smoking and I do remember being at a party and someone having weed. This was rural Scotland in the 90s, so I ended up thinking squeaky clean YA is unrealistic!
Hello everyone,I came back to check in, because I remember to do it.
I finished Leviathan Wakes. Really liked, but it didn't have an AI character, how I expected. I didn't watch the TV show The Expanse, but I will in the future because I want to see how they put all that stuff in images. I don't intend to read the next book of the series this year, but I definitelly want to seek this series next year.
I am currently reading The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side. I love Agatha Christie, but I readed more Poirot books than any other detectives from her. Time to read a Miss Marple mystery.
QOTW: In my house, before I learnt to read there were not many books in it. I recall when my parents took me and my sister to the mall, we had always ask them to us to go to the book shop, to see kids books, so some incentive they must had given to us to like books, despite we did not have money to buy them. When I learn to read I started my libraries journey, because the first book I read was from the library near my house. Then, my dad became a librarian for the law part of a company (that library wasn't fun, obvious), but he incentived his daughters to read books from libraries, because buying then was out of question. By that age, we had some non fiction books in the house, I think for my dad studies, but most books that would be interest for a kid was only available on the local library or were borrowed from other parents at my dad's job (this was the way we read most of Harry Potter books). I never leaved the habit of going to library to have new books to read and I think this is the best way to discover books without the fear of disliking and end up spending money with something you did not enjoy. I can't wait to the libraries to re-open here, I want new books to read (yes, to this time the libraries are still closed)
Hello EveryoneNothing much exciting this week we are experiencing warmer than normal weather for this time of year and I am truly enjoying it. This time last year we had already had 2 major snowfalls.
My reading is all over the place (someone mentioned how current events are affecting peoples reading habits) and honestly before this I was a one book at a time reader and now I currently have four going.
The Green Mile still reading with my daughter
Midnight Sun Love the Twilight series so I had to check it out.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Audio came in from the library so I had to start it.
Hector and the Search for Lost Time Started this audio book while waiting for Hitchhikers
Not sure when or if I will finish any of them.
No finishes this week.
QOTW
I do not remember many books around the house as a child the normal Dr.Suess and Bernstein bears. I don't ever recall seeing my Mom or Dad read a book (my Mom in my adult years has given me a few books to read that she liked) So I had to make due with the elementary school library.
At the age of 8 I could ride to the local public library and I quickly figured out that if I told the librarian that the books I were taking out were for my Mom they would let me take out books from the adult section (as long as I slipped in a couple of kids books) so I pretty much skipped over the babysitters club and went straight to Stephen king and Dean Kootz, giving myself many nightmares and a very active imagination even to this day.
Cheers everyone
Happy Reading
Sherri wrote: QOTW: I do have to say something funny about my mom reading. My mom is pretty much blind from macular degeneration. She can read on the iPad because of the lighting & large print. Mom is 89 years old & only reads regency romances. Funny story about My Grandmother who was quite the reader also suffered from macular degeneration and loved westerns, she was getting alot of audio books from her local library, One day she went in to pick up her selection of books and ended up grabbing the wrong pile due to her bad eye sight and all the books were "very dirty" as she put it. She told me she quickly returned them back to library but not before she listened to them all, (she quietly whispered to me) I love my grandmother and miss so much.
I just wanted to pop in to answer the QOTW, because I love it so much. I had access to TONS of books in my home and in my grandparents house. No one else in my immediate family reads, but as soon as I showed an interest in books, my parents flooded the house with books and took me to the library whenever I wanted to go. I got a monthly stipend for Scholastic book orders, could buy basically an unlimited number at yard sales and thrift stores (within reason) and my Christmas list was always full of books. Conversely, my grandmother loved to read and read to all the grandkids at every visit, mostly ghost stories, which I loved. When she we into a nursing home, she gave me all of her books and all the books I loved from childhood that she had. My other grandfather bought me a collection of the 100 greatest books ever written in faux leather (He only bought 75 before he died), so basically my passion from reading has been encouraged and provided for as long as I can remember, and I learned to read by age 4, because of it.
Nadine wrote: "The Marquis de Sade really had a resurgence in the 80s, didn't he? Why was that? I had his book, too, (plus Henry Miller, Anais Nin, all that risque lit). I bought it from that old catalog, Loompanics. I didn't like it, i just read it to see what all the fuss was - and I was confused by all the fuss. Do colOK, clearly I need to expand on Sade. First this was the mid-70s, 1975 I believe, and I actually had the read Sade's Philisophy of tbe Bedroom, published in the volume with Justine, for a history seminar at Barnard College on late 18th Century France- think French Revolution and Reign of Terror. The day all 7 or 8 young women in the seminar arrived at class to discuss it, we found a very embarassed and apologetic professor who had not realized the political tract entitled Philosophy of the Bedroom was buried deep inside a book of sadistic porn with same title. We all laughed and proceeded to discuss Sade's warped politics in the context of the Reign of Terror.
So in the mid-70s, Sade was part of the history curriculum! As students we were too busy experimenting with sex, drugs, and rock n'roll, and political protests, to read anything not part of curriculum. Well except for Sexual Politics, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, Fear of Flying, and The Women's Room.
I do remember a surge in popularity in the 1980s of literary erotic writings by Anais Nin, Henry Miller. I believe this was a backlash against the conservative swing that started rolling through the country and led by the likes of Phyllis Schafly ....which movement we are seeing the end result before our very eyes daily.
As for Sade and the Philosophy of the Bedroom political tract hidden inside porn, I always wondered if he did that in part to make sure it was widely read.
Nadine wrote: "Theresa wrote: "... Brief History of Time - I have been reading this since MARCH! It's official: that high school C- in physics was no mistake. ..."LOL okay, so I loved physics and I've got a M..."
I also read Astrophysics for People in a Hurry within last year.... and was even more puzzled.
No I won't be reading any more physics books. Now Carl Sagan I saw some of tbe PBS series he narrated. Did not tempt me into reading more.
Here is link to my full review if you want a chuckle: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I suspect my reaction to law books written for general consumption mirror yours on physics so written.
Harmke wrote: "Good to know I was not alone. Wish I knew then. I massively caught up by the way. When I was about 15 or so my mom finally realised that her 'strategy' had the opposite result."Yup. That's about the same time all hell broke loose in our house. That kind of control over children has a short shelf life.
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Where the Crawdads Sing (other topics)The Colour of Magic (other topics)
The Face on the Milk Carton (other topics)
Fahrenheit 451 (other topics)
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (other topics)
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Elizabeth Acevedo (other topics)Beverly Jenkins (other topics)
Mindy Kaling (other topics)
Ariana Franklin (other topics)
Samantha Norman (other topics)
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Don't feel bad, I'm currently chugging at 34/50. I'm almost certainly going to allow myself to double-dip, though I still have a bunch of unique prompts that need filling.
Nadine wrote: "Not really a QoTW, but still a question: Does anyone follow the National Book Awards?"
Haven't heard of a single one of those! I guess it's not surprising because I don't really follow literary fiction or nonfiction or poetry. I was at least hoping to recognize some of the YA picks, but nope.