2021 Reading Discussions

[Sam]

Alicia wrote: "I ended up finishing the book. I was too upset that I wasted so much time with the book for it not to count for anything. It was still terrible."

So sorry this one was so bad! Silver lining of getting a challenge checked off I guess. And here's hoping the last week of January and start of February bring a new season of great reads for you!!

[Alicia]

Yeah, it's been a tough reading month. I'm wondering if maybe I'm jinxing myself now. So I'm going to continue read the next Bridgerton book and then Written in Starlight when it arrives on Tuesday. Both are books I have high hopes for and know what to expect!

I will say my best read of January has been If I Had Your Face. It was definitely the bright spot this month.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Sherri wrote: "I finished Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson for a monochromatic cover prompt. Excellent book. Life changing. 5 stars"

I agree, her metaphors and analogies and ways of describing things are so brilliant - plus her own personal stories are engaging. I actually DNF The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration years ago on audio because something new and shiny came out. But I plan to go back to it now.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Alicia wrote: "I ended up finishing the book. I was too upset that I wasted so much time with the book for it not to count for anything. It was still terrible."

That is when I use the return privilege with Audible, when I listened to a book all the way through, hoping it would get better and it didn't. I feel like I deserve my money or credit back for all the time I wasted. If I start an audiobook and just can't get into it, I generally wait and try again another time. Some people feel like they shouldn't return a book they completed, but for me, those are the ones I most want to return!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I finished Piranesi yesterday, which is great because it's overdue at the library and we are discussing it at my book club on Tuesday. So that's a checkmark.

It was... weird? Not the weirdest I've read, but the setting definitely had The Starless Sea vibes. It was much more plot-driven, though, and the plot was intelligible, so yea. I ended up giving it 4 stars.

Now on to Outlawed, trying to knock out at least one of the three Book of the Month Club books I ordered this month lol.

[Ali]

Oh man - I've just finished a book and am now having a total WTF moment from the last page... Like the literal last paragraph.

Fine, drop some crazy bomb but I want to at least unpack it a bit in the book!

[Alicia]

Ali wrote: "Oh man - I've just finished a book and am now having a total WTF moment from the last page... Like the literal last paragraph.

Fine, drop some crazy bomb but I want to at least unpack it a bit in ..."

What's the book? I felt that way with Behind Her Eyes

Also, you can always use this as a book that makes you go WHAT?!?!?

[Ali]

Alicia wrote: "What's the book? I felt that way with Behind Her Eyes

Also, you can always use this as a book that makes you go WHAT?!?!?"

Hah! That's not a bad idea.... It was The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid. I was just so !??!?!! because it had nothing to do with the actual plot of the book

I just don't think I can start another book, I've been watching Scandal all evening....

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

So my book club is reading Girl, Woman, Other. Have any of you read it? Are the characters all interconnected, or is it more like short stories?

The library has holds on all of the copies, so I'm debating if I can handle it on audio (where I can't flip back and forth to remember who is who) or if I need to buy the book.

[Ali]

So it's a bit like a combination of a novel and short stories. They're not tightly connected, but the same characters do pop up across the book. I saw a lovely relationship map of all the people that Bernadine Evaristo shared on twitter that I would really recommend AFTER you've read the book as it's very spoilery.

I listened on audio, and the narration is well done. The various characters were a bit confusing, but I was able to get a lot out of the book by focusing on the story being told in the section I'm in and trusting that it will come together!

There's unorthodox punctuation and spacing in the physical book so, if that annoys you, audio might actually be a plus!

[Marie]

I listened to the audiobook last year and thought it worked well in that format - and I'm generally not fan of audio books for fiction. I'd definitely recommend you give it a try.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Thanks! I didn't realize that the punctuation was weird... that definitely makes me want to go audio for it.

[Sherri]

I read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. I gave it 2 stars. It was slowed paced & too repetitious. I read it too close to The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. The plots were too close for me. I didn't like Midnight Library either.

[Bana AZ]

Sherri wrote: "I read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. I gave it 2 stars. It was slowed paced & too repetitious. I read it too close to The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. The plots were too close..."

Really? That is sad. That's one of the books I was looking forward to reading. :(

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I've heard so many amazing things about it. It's our book club pick for March so hopefully just wasn't the right book for you right now.

I'm currently reading The House in the Cerulean Sea, and I'm annoyed because I keep getting interrupted. I'm ready for it to be Saturday so I can just sit for a few hours and fall into this book!

[Kim]

I'm doing pretty well meeting my goal of not double dipping between AtY and Pop Sugar this year. Of the 27 books I've read, only 5 were used for both challenges, 21 were unique to one or the other, and 1 wasn't used at all. How did that happen?
I finished by James A. Michener yesterday, listening to it on Audible and following along in a print edition. Does anyone else do that? I find that Audible isn't good at helping you track your progress.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I use Libby, mostly, which tells you your percentage read so it's easy to track on Goodreads. Audible is... not as friendly. You can click a button that makes it show you how much you've read out of the total amount of time, but I haven't been able to find a button that shows percentage complete, and when you are actually on the book, it just shows you how long until the end of the chapter, not the whole thing. Much prefer Libby (which is good, since that's the free one lol).

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Emily wrote: "I'm ready for it to be Saturday so I can just sit for a few hours and fall into this book!"

I had to leave for work yesterday with only about 20 pages left in The Vanishing Half. Such a travesty! haha

[Brooke]

I use audible frequently, and the book's progress/time remaining shows on the lock screen of my iPhone. Also, after the last app update, the real time remaining (the amount of time left based on your listening speed) shows under the line for the time remaining in the chapter.

[Brooke]

Laura wrote: "Emily wrote: "I'm ready for it to be Saturday so I can just sit for a few hours and fall into this book!"

I had to leave for work yesterday with only about 20 pages left in [book:The Vanishing Hal..."


That is the worst! LOL

[Jillian]

Emily, on audible if you click the three little dots on the top left. Then there is an option to share, I just click email so I don’t actually text someone my progress on a book. It will give you the percentage of the book finished. I have an iPhone in case android works differently.

[Ellie]

Brooke wrote: "I use audible frequently, and the book's progress/time remaining shows on the lock screen of my iPhone. Also, after the last app update, the real time remaining (the amount of time left based on yo..."

I love that real time remaining update! I used to have to try and work out how much was left in my head as I never listen at 1x speed.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Oh thanks Jillian! I rarely use Audible... I signed up for a free trial and got a couple of credits to listen to Obama’s book because I knew I wouldn’t finish it in time to return back to o the library. But that’s good to know if I do start a book on there again.

[Kim]

I use Libby on my tablet to read ebooks, but listen to Audible on either my car radio or my Echo Show. As a real, I neither read nor listen to books on my (android) phone, but I might have to try just to see if you can get the progress on it, now.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

I just use the number of chapters remaining as an estimate of where I am in a book, I haven't ever needed to be more exact. Audible and libro do show the time remaining when I use my phone. When I use my iPod I only see time remaining in the current chapter.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

FEBRUARY 2021

Can you believe how long January lasted?!

How did you do on your reading goals for January? Are you ahead on the ATY challenge? What books do you have planned for February? Let's discuss!

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I finished 6 books, which was my general goal for the month 👏🏻

My husband gifted me a "Been there Done That" Poster for novels for Christmas which is hopefully going to be a push to read more of the classics. I'm starting the month with Anne of Green Gables.

Others on my list:
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
The Alchemist
The Searcher
The Glass Hotel
The Guest List
Anxious People


Holds I'm hoping for:
The Project
The Push
The Duke and I - It's a quicker hold if I borrow a volume (first 3 books)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo


Obviously, as always, I have more library holds and checkouts than I actually read in the loan period...

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I finished 10 books in January, which was above my goal! my favorites were



The House in the Cerulean Sea
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed

But I also really loved the Daevabad series (The City of Brass) and that 100% contributed to me finishing 10 books... three of them were of this series.

February Picks
My goal for February is to read all Black authors. I have... a lot of options, most of which I own or already have out from the library.



Things Fall Apart
Monday's Not Coming
You Should See Me in a Crown
Transcendent Kingdom
The Mothers
Strange the Dreamer
Not So Pure and Simple
Concrete Rose

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I read Concrete Rose and liked it. It should be a good quick read to balance out some of those other, heavier options. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as THUG but it was nice to see a prequel.

[Ellie]

I had a great start to the year, though admittedly a lot were short books. I read 12 books and got a head start on both ATY and Popsugar.



Then I started reading Maxwell's Demon which is requiring a lot of brain power that I don't have right now, so really slowing up. It's good but just reading in tiny portions. Maybe I need to go read a graphic novel.

I have piles of pre-orders due in February, most looking forward to The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, The Edge and The Gilded Ones.

[Alicia]

Ellie wrote: "I had a great start to the year, though admittedly a lot were short books. I read 12 books and got a head start on both ATY and Popsugar.

Ellie, I really enjoyed the Truly Devious series!!

I finished 13 books for January, but it was definitely a tough month. I started thinking that maybe I'm just being a more critical reviewer.

Only one 5 star, If I Had Your Face. I haven't read a lot of books set in modern Korea and it was really interesting to see how women are treated. I'm going to start Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 today as Women in Translation prompt that is similar.

4 stars were Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, The Viscount Who Loved Me, The Deep.

Least favorite books: 1 stars (A Study in Scarlet Women, Little Women, Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors) and 2 stars (Dark Matter, Among the Beasts & Briars)

[Traci]

I read 13 books in January. I slotted 3 into ATY, but have some that do fit prompts that I might slot in later (I'm always looking at the ATY map and wanting different countries).

Like Emily, I'm trying to read all Black authors for Feb (other than the one I started Sat planning to finish Sun, but then binge watched movies on Sun).

Books I have or hope to get from the library:


Maybe:


I do think I still need to find a new "N" for the winter reading challenge.

[Traci]

Alicia wrote: "Ellie wrote: "I had a great start to the year, though admittedly a lot were short books. I read 12 books and got a head start on both ATY and Popsugar.

Ellie, I really enjoyed the Truly Devious se..."

Little Women was a favorite when I read it (I think in middle school), but I have a feeling I would really dislike it now, so have never reread it.

These books set in modern Korea look interesting, for Korean setting, I've only read historical fiction or memoirs that are focused on the past (and usually have to do with N/S Korea issues or Japanese occupation)

[Alicia]

I was the same re: Little Women. I liked it as a child but now I hate Jo. The entire time I was thinking about how Jo is those feminists that only focuses on their little pocket of women instead of lifting all women up. At the time I realize this was a great stance for feminism, but it just doesn't translate well anymore and I was just yelling at my poor book the whole time. The pages didn't deserve that.

This leads to a February read I'll start next week, Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot.

[Jim]

Good evening!

I joined the group this year and am doing my very first ATY in 52 books challenge. A slow reader with 6,036 books on my Goodreads "to read" list, I read only three books in January:

Travels on a Greyhound Bus (2013) by Beckie Henderson, for prompt #2: book whose author does not have the letters A, T, or Y in his/her name. 4 stars. I read it from January 1-3, 2021 on one of my Kindles because I was intrigued by the title.

Emma (1815) by Jane Austen (1775-1817). Another Kindle book, from a Golden Deer anthology called 50 Masterpieces you have to read before you die Vol: 1, which contains fifty full-length classic novels, I read it from January 3-16, 2021 and gave it three stars, mainly because I disliked the title character. I thought she was as unremarkable as much as she thought herself to be hot stuff, whose matchmaking skills were second to all, as the dominant question seemed to be who married who. I slotted it in prompt 19: 3 books representing Past, Present, Future Book 2: Present, as the setting was in the same time period as the book's publication.

I read The Education of Henry Adams (1907) by Henry Adams (1838-1918) on my Android phone January 9-31, 2021 after borrowing it on Hoopla and renewing it once. Slotting it in prompt 18: 3 books representing Past, Present, Future Book 1: Past, as this autobiography reviews most of the first 67 years of his life, I gave it three stars. Adams, the great-grandson of the second U.S. President, John Adams; and grandson of the sixth, John Quincy Adams, was IMO a largely friendless, bored misanthrope.

For this challenge I have decided to read first and slot later. I started Season on the Brink: A Year with Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers (1987) on January 31, 2021. I am enjoying it so far but don't know where to slot it, because it's a biography or memoir.

Today I began Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen (1775-1817), am enjoying it so far, and am thinking of slotting it in the prompt for set in a place you've never visited.

I've rambled for awhile and hope you're not bored.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

I'm surprised to find I read 14 books in January, though several were short. Two books I probably wouldn't have read if not for prompts were both Japanese - The Travelling Cat Chronicles and The Housekeeper and the Professor. Both are also very short and heartwarming.

The only book I gave 5 stars to was a reread of Driftless. I had recommended it to a book group that started this summer on Zoom, so I led the discussion. I was just going to skim through the book that I had read years ago, but I ended up reading the whole thing. I hardly ever reread because I have SO many TBR and new books keep coming out all the time.

[Ellie]

Alicia wrote: "Ellie, I really enjoyed the Truly Devious series!!..."

They were just what I needed to start the year! I'm a big fan of the true-crime-obsessed-teen-solves-cold-case sub genre.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Welcome to the challenge Jim! You tackled some heavy hitters, so I'm impressed that you read three of these in one month!

[Sherri]

I finished Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi. I needed a book for the winter challenge for the letter e. I wanted a book to fit in my black history month reading.The book was available on hoopla. I read the synopsis & thought the book would be fine. I really didn't know what I was getting myself into or what the book was about. Freshwater is beautifully written & I was invested in the protagonist. I was also invested in the story & author. That is the problem. The book tore me apart. This is a very hard emotional story. The book deals with mental health, which I thought I could do. Nope, I was wrong. This turned out to be a terrible time to read a book about trauma,mental health, & constant emotional pain. I'm glad I read the book & I like the author but now I will be very picky about future reads for awhile. I gave it 3 stars.

[Jim]

Good morning!

I have the paperback edition of A Season on the Brink, the hardcover of which was published in 1986. After doing some research on John Feinstein, the book's author, I discovered that it's his first of 43 books, so I can slot it in prompt #1: "From the Beginning".

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I'm in the middle of three different books, which is weird for me. I had started All Boys Aren't Blue on audio but I didn't like his narration, so I switched to print. But I also had started You Should See Me in a Crown in print, so I'm juggling those two. Then I have Girl, Woman, Other on audio. So... a lot of different books going on but I feel like I'm not making a lot of progress on any of them.

[Sherri]

I finished The Fire Next time by James Baldwin. 4 stars. I enjoyed the essays.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Anyone else having trouble with Goodreads search feature? I was trying to add Educated to a listopia, but the only book it's pulling up is Educated / Where the Crawdads Sing, which is weird.

[Alicia]

I just checked snd I had the same issue with Educated. But when I search other books it works fine.

Maybe a library issue that someone accidentally messed up? Weird though because it’s not even the same author.

[Hilde]

I haven’t tried myself, but seen a lot of comments on this on other groups. So it seems we have another of those lovely GR glitches ;)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yea, I tried to tag You Should See Me in a Crown, but it says no books available. Just all around strange, but hopefully this means they are improving their algorithms lol

[Jillian]

There is some glitch going on with GR for searching for books. Hopefully, it gets fixed soon. It seems using ISBN or googling the book for it’s GR page seems to be the best thing to do currently.

[Milena]

Love your optimism, Emily.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Also had that problem last night with Eiger Dreams. It only showed me like study guides for Eiger Dreams. I could link to the book by first searching the author, but the title search seems to be having problems.

[Jillian]

Someone in a FB group shared the help page that this is an issue they are working on. https://help.goodreads.com/s/announce...