Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2021 Weekly Check-Ins
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Week 5: 1/29 - 2/4
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Nadine wrote: "They are adorable (and so is the cat!)!!! The dark one with the tan moustache seems especially social.I'm amazed that they can safely run around your full yard like that. No predators in your neighborhood, I guess? And they don't try to dig under the fence?"
(my cats thank you, they are very aware of their looks, hahah!)
Ahh yes, Tommie! He is the most sociable one of the bunch, the one who doesn't mind a pet or a scratch, and doesn't even mind too much when he gets picked up. He doesn't like it, so we do it only when needed, but it's nice to have a bunny you can just pick up- saves all parties a lot of stress, haha!
I think my parents saw one 'marter' at night yeaaaaars ago on the corner of the street, but nothing since! No cats roaming around either, so for now they're as safe as can be. Our yard isn't big enough for a large bird to sweep down either, especially because we have all the fences. But it's still a worry sometimes, and when I live on my own I definitely want my backyard to have a roof!
As for the digging: there is nothing to dig. It's all stone! They have sandboxes for lounging and digging, though they are now of course closed due to weather. Ezra likes to nibble on the fences though, so we might have to replace a few next summer, hahah!
@Carmen thanks for the adorable bunny pictures. I'm reminded why animals attacked me a lot as a child I have bad instincts because all I wanted to do was pick the bunnies up. haha
Mod
LOL That is impressive. I have never done snowshoeing but I can imagine it is quite physically demanding!
"Finished this week:
Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time: I enjoyed this very much.
A Princess in Theory: Loved it! Go read this book if you like romances!"
That sound you just heard? My TBR listing exploding yet again! :)
"Currently reading:
The Italian by Ann Radcliffe. I do love a gothic novel. They're just so overwrought, which hits my funny bone very hard. A monk has already mysteriously appeared with a Dire Warning for the protagonist twice in the first 15 pages. I'm strongly suspecting he's an evillllll monk. God I love it."
And I truly enjoyed your description! :)
"QOTW: For the most part I like to read the source text as well as the retelling, though I don't mind about the order. There are a few instances where it didn't work out, most notably trying to read Three Men in a Boat after reading the glorious To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis."
I was unaware of that connection. I have Three Men in a Boat and keep thinking I need to pick it up and read it! :)
Sarah wrote: "All of your bunnies are so cute!"Thank you! <3
The fluffy one you describe was Maddy, she wasn't with us very long, but she was absolutely stunning! She was the last proper girlfriend of Roger (the fully 100% black one with lopped ears), though he never loved another bunny like he loved Mona.
I started with just Roger, got Mona a year later, and before Roger died in April 2019, I had 7 bunnies without ever meaning to! If anyone wants the short version of the soap series of that journey (still long HA) let me know hahah!
The game is actually to remove the balls to get to the candy that is in the holes! It's the easiest game I have, and they all mastered it in seconds! Bunnies are really very smart. Shanti for example (the white/orange/brown lopped one who had a lovely Snow Coupe the other day) spent some time in my bedroom at first because she had to recover and gain weight. She kept escaping, and wanted to sit on top of the cage, but the bars made it uncomfortable and hard to walk. Her solution? She dragged stuff out of the bookcase behind the cage and on to the cage, so she could sit on that instead!
I have a game where they have to lift covers from holes, and one where they have to pull out a little drawer, to get to the candy. The last one is the hardest, and Henkie (the camouflage one, who liked to stretch on my bed!) managed it, but then his face was too wide to get to candy, poor thing, hahah!
Ezra Ferb mastered that last one, too, but Ferb is also a bit of an idiot, because with the covers one, she lifts the cover... and then runs away with it, leaving Ezra to nom the candy she left exposed (which is very smart of HIM hahah!).
They love the brain games and I can't wait for better weather so I can go do them with them again!
And yeah, that's exactly it! It's why pet bunnies can't live in the wild, their fur gives them away. Even some half wild bunnies have 'pet colors'. They have the instincts at least, but it makes for a much tougher life.
The older two cats are scared of the bunnies. This dates back to before Roger was castrated. He was raging with hormones, wanted to be in charge, and wasn't scared of anything (you could literally vacuum him and he wouldn't move). This led to him chasing the cats, and installing The Fear of the Rabbit into them forever, haha!
Zira and Crowley weren't even born yet when Roger died, so they never had that 'initiation', and so they are mostly curious, and want to play. The bunnies aren't really appreciative of it, haha!
I love them so much! They spend longer in shelters because 'black isn't cute'. It's absolute bs, but what can you do? When I was looking for a girlfriend for Roger after Jiggly filed a divorce (Tommie was colateral damage, the boys still loved each other), I saw a beautiful, black girl named Ferb, who had been on this senior replacing website for over 6 months.
Without. Any. Enquiries.
She was in that shelter for over 6 months, and *no one* had even asked about her.
So I was like 'well then I'll try, the poor girl!' and she's still with me today :D
The one with the tan stripe is Tommie! We always say he'd be great as one of those hospital pets, who visit sick children/people. Henkie would have been, too, and I think Roger as well.
Fun fact; Tommie's belly is white! As is Ezra's (the black one with the silver stripe and ears)!
Mod
I am absolutely wiped- the evaluation was at a time I'm generally not awake yet, and even though I was awake all day for all of last week,... Already have to handle getting a new help, don't want to think about changing psychologist again!"
Psych evals can be tough! I sure hope a new person is helpful to you! A good friend of mine just switched psychiatrists and therapists to a group I used for a while. It has worked for her these past few months so far, so hoping the same for you!
"So if you could all send my Ferb girl some good vibes, that'd be greatly appreciated! (Ezra would also be grateful, because he doesn't get why Ferb is acting so weird, haha!)"
Awwww... My sons raised rabbits for several years. All but one of them was so sweet and she was a mean one! She bit everyone with whom she came into contact. One of the 4H judges finally told us not to return with her. I felt so badly for her! Sending good vibes to Ferb and Ezra! BTW I love the names!!
"Such ramblings, sorry guys! Let's hope next week will be better, haha!"
I do not consider this to be ramblings! Just sharing your life... :)
"All the Young Dudes okay so technically this isn't a book. But it's on GR so I'm mentioning it! Even as a GR Librarian I feel a fic should be allowed on this site if it's THIS LONG. 527k words, everyone. That should count toward our goals, haha! Not counting it for challenges, though; somehow I felt like that was going too far xD Anyways, absolutely loved this! My first HP fanfic ever and it is indescribably good. Taking it as canon, and no one can stop me *shrugs*"
Nor should they try! :)
"Nick and Charlie (hope this works because GR wouldn't let me find it) for heart on the cover (it's tiny but it's there!) for PS, and monochromatic cover for ATY (I figured it counted). Loved this, but then I love everything Nick and Charlie!"
This series is on my TBR
"Currently Reading
Clap When You Land - managed 98 pages today. Slower going than I had anticipated. I'm not good with poetry, and while this is mostly just in verse, there are some stanzas (am I saying that right?) that really wrack my brain. On top of that I have to look up almost all Spanish words and (Dominican) slang (not a criticism!), so it's taking a lot more time than I thought. Really good so far, though!"
Wow. You have really put a lot of effort into that! I am impressed!
"Depends on the classic, and if I've always wanted to read it anyways or not. I read a P&P retelling once and it was *horrible* and it honestly killed my motivation for reading the original and any other retellings of Austen, so I should really read those classics I'm interested in first after all, haha!"
You are so funny! Made me laugh! :)
Lynn wrote: "Psych evals can be tough! I sure hope a new person is helpful to you! A good friend of mine just switched psychiatrists and therapists to a group I used for a while. It has worked for her these past few months so far, so hoping the same for you!"I wished I was changing psychologist and/or psychiatrist. That's nothing new for me. Losing this woman, though, is gonna be tougher. But I am trying to remain positive and to not let the fear overwhelm me. I think I'll be able to handle it a lot better if I already knew who was coming to replace her, but as I know nothing yet, all I have is the knowledge that I'l see her 3 more times and then she's gone.
Poor bunbun! I wonder what made her act that way, as bunnies aren't inherently angry animals :(
And thanks! I didn't pick the names, they already had them from either previous owners or from the shelter, but they fit, so they stayed! I'm aware Ferb is named after a boy, but she's a Ferb and I don't make the rules!
(Also just realized I mentioned before that both Ezra and Ferb had been dumped, but I just remembered Ferb came from a home, where she lived with Perry & Phineas, but because the combo of genders was wrong and never properly matched, fighting broke out, and they brought them all to the shelter. I don't know/remember the details but the fighting really did a number on her, and we don't know what happened to her before she got to those people, as we all doubt she was there for 6 years. So she may have well been dumped at one point in her life, but what we know for sure is that she's been through A Lot. Ezra is a lot younger than her, but they love each other and that's all that matters!)
10/10 would recommend Heartstopper! I haven't yet read Solitaire yet and I am not ashamed to say I really want to because of the characters, haha!
Don't be too impressed- it's not a choice, hahah! My brain literally gets stuck if I don't understand something, so unless I look it up and/or figure it out, I'm screwed. I cannot read over it and ignore it. It's why audio is such a blessing for me, because my brain doesn't have the chance to get stuck, as the narrator just keeps going! I sometimes do still pause, but in comparison to reading physically it's a rarity! I might have to switch to audio for Clap When You Land because I haven't picked it up since :(
Noticed I mentioned 'any other retellings of Austen' but what I actually meant was any other stories of Austen's, haha! Though retellings of her stories also make me wary, woops. Glad I could amuse you :D
Sheri wrote: "One of my college friends had some kind of VERY LARGE bunny, and i think it was one of the unusual ones that did like snuggles. It did kinda act like/get treated like a dog. While there was a cage ..."I also had two friends who both had multiple bunnies in their house. Litter box trained and loved to snuggle with you on the couch. Loved visiting them and playing with the bunnies!
Mod
As do the rest of us, posh! :)
"Finished:
Mycroft and Sherlock - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar It's fun to see Mycroft deal with teen Sherlock"
Huh. Don't know where I've been, but definitely would like to give this series a try! Thanks for mentioning it!
"Currently Reading:
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures"
This looks amazing and reminds me of Avatar!
Mod
Would have been my grandma's birthday today, feeling a little blue. But I have a kitty snuggling on my lap, so that's always nice."
Furbabies are great comfort! :)
"This week I finished:
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones - Still more issues, the study guides came up, but not the actual book? Anyhow, this is my women's prize winner. Also used for ATY book off the USA Today's 100 Black authors to read, and Book Nerds story that spans a few years."
I really appreciated the way it illuminated the aftermath of unjust arrest, charge, and incarceration. It was tough to read in many ways, IMO. But I felt it was worthwhile.
"Currently reading:
1Q84 - yay one linked."
That was quite an accomplishment last Thursday! LOL
"QOTW:
Not usually. Either I don't know it's specifically a retelling, or I'm reading it because it's already a story I'm reasonably familiar with. I don't think I'd go out of my way to read a retelling if it was for a story i hadn't read and i wasn't familiar enough to get by. although if i ended up reading it anyhow and liked it, might go back and read the original"
It appears that is the majority consensus! :)
Mod
I am impressed that you figured that out! :)
Mod
That is so cool and reminds me that I really wanted to read Frankenstein this year!
Mod
Medical oversight can be very complicated, especially when it is your own body! Ugh for the snow, but good that you have someone to help you get it moved/shoveled!
"I actually finished a book this week! Day of Tears for a black and white cover and BHM. Oh man, it's short, it's geared towards Middle Grade readers, but not gonna lie, it caused me to shed a few tears, too."
Wow. This looks intense!
"Otherwise, yes, you guessed it, I'm still chipping away on The Magic Mountain. I took a few days off with the cold I didn't have the mental energy to tackle it, but I'll be right back in there tonight or tomorrow."
Well, rest is what you need to get well, so make sure that is the priority. The book will be there. :)
"QOTW: Yay! My question!"
Yes, and thank you so much!
"Sooo I'm super jealous that the rest of you don't seem to suffer from my compulsion. Lol. I didn't used to, but maybe the last 5 years or so, I can't bring myself to read anything that's even based on something else without reading the original. And then if the original is some big old tome like Anna Karenina, by the time I'm done with the original, I don't want to read a retelling/based on book! (#firstworldbookproblems) Fairy tales and myths I can be a little looser with because I usually know the basic story line, but I still haven't gotten around to reading Ophelia because I haven't gotten around to reading Hamlet... sigh..."
Ah...I did have to laugh at #firstworldbookproblems! Good one! I read Hamlet in high school. I am not a Shakespeare fan, so maybe just skim it or read the Cliff's notes? (You'd never know I'm a displaced educator...LOL)
Mod
I can relate. I'm currently mired in a long book as well!
"Anyway, it is a good distraction from all the covid-19 horror the television blasts out these days."
I am so grateful not to have TV in my house. This is one of the main reasons. :)
"Currently reading
Roots: The Saga of an American Family"
I remember watching that mini-series. I really should read the book! That's another chunkster!
"QOTW
If you see a book is a retelling or based on another book, do you feel compelled to read the original first?
No. But I want to read it if the retelling is very good or very bad.."
That is such a good point. If it's good, sure, but also if you didn't enjoy the retelling it could be just as compelling to read the original to see if your reaction is the same or different to it. Cool!
Jen K wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Lynn wrote: "Isn't that frustrating?!? I wonder if the new Amazon CEO will care enough to keep Goodreads maintained better than it has been in the past? (Or, I really wonder if Bezos ..."I had no idea that amazon owns goodreads! But then I am usually oblivious to such things.
Carmen wrote: "Don't be too impressed- it's not a choice, hahah! My brain literally gets stuck if I don't understand something, so unless I look it up and/or figure it out, I'm screwed. I cannot read over it and ignore it. It's why audio is such a blessing for me, because my brain doesn't have the chance to get stuck, as the narrator just keeps going! I sometimes do still pause, but in comparison to reading physically it's a rarity! I might have to switch to audio for Clap When You Land because I haven't picked it up since "
I sort of do this too at times. I'll be busy reading a book and I'll come across some new word and then pretty soon I'll be asking Google what it means and often how do you pronounce it too! Sometimes I do sort of ignore it but I would say about 90 percent of the time I'll go look it up. Because I get nosey. People tell me I have a logical brain, a spock brain. 😅 Which I do. I often do experiments too..I also enjoy working out plot secrets. Like trying to guess what something mysterious in the plot is going to be... although I often use logic in making my guesses. It certainly worked on The Obsidian Tower because I guessed that one !!
Carmen wrote: "Sarah wrote: "All of your bunnies are so cute!"Thank you! <3
The fluffy one you describe was Maddy, she wasn't with us very long, but she was absolutely stunning! She was the last proper girlfr..."
I don't understand why people don't want black bunnies. There are many famous black animals like the black stallion, black beauty, bagheera from the jungle book, etc. Oh what about Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon? I'm sure there are many more.
And it's amazing how smart those bunnies are! I had no idea they could do that sort of stuff. That sure sounds like puzzle solving skills, esp with the one pulling stuff on to the top of the cage to sit on it. I never thought a little bunny could do that stuff.
Did you ever try putting a bunny into a maze? Or maybe they would just chew it? Because you always hear of rats running mazes to get a treat. I've also seen videos on YouTube where people tried all sorts of stuff on cats to see what they would do. Like they would cover the floor with something to see if the cat would step on it. Harmless stuff you know.
I was talking to Traci on the phone today and we started to talk about the bunnies and we were wondering if bunnies are social animals? Do they normally live in social groups? Like horses are in a herd and rats I think are in a colony...lions are in a pride. I think I vaguely recall something about rabbits taking over some island?? So maybe they are social?? I think at this point I know more about bunnies then she does..
That's awful that no one wanted Ferb...but maybe it was destiny that Ferb ended up by you. And Tommy is easy to ID with that stripe! Imagine having 10 bunnies that all looked identical. How would you ever tell them apart??
And I can't believe they are so smart to pull open little drawers! I mean how do they even know such stuff?? It's amazing! Do you show them first the drawer can open or do they figure it out on their own??
@Sarah: I wish it was me being nosey, haha! But alas, my brain short circuits and goes ERROR. Very frustrating, especially with flowery prose. Black animals (pets) are not as loved. They statistically spend longer in shelters, and are put in shelters more often. Dogs are the exception, as most dogs are breeds with set colors, but with cats for example that's not the case. Norwegians can be any color (it's genetics, so not random, but they exist in all colors! At least as pets that is). Of course black cats have the stigma of bad luck attached to them. I don't know why it's this way with bunnies- maybe not enough personality? Too boring? I don't know. It's so sad, though!
Roger and Ferb are the only completely black bunnies I've had/have, but Tommie and Ezra are mostly black, too, with some silver/tan and white bellies!
People underestimate bunnies all the time, but they are smart buggers! Very resourceful, and very skilled in knowing the time!
I haven't ever done such a thing, as all my pets are idiots, no matter how smart they are, and they'd just trash the thing, haha! I also fear that with some of them it would just induce stress and that's something I'd like to avoid. As for the drawers (or any game, really) you have to help them first, show them how it works, help them, until they get it. It's like with little children! The more often they do it, the better they get at it! The game with the balls is useless now because I don't even get a chance to put them back on, hahah! There is also a game where they have to lift a lid with their noses, which is quite tricky, but one bunny (Henkie) used to scratch at it until it got pulled up and a lid opened, or threw it up into the air so lids opened. Not the way it was supposed to go, but it worked for him, haha!
I always wondered the same thing! But my parents tell me that you'll always know, and while I'm still not sure you could do so by a photo alone (providing you weren't the one to take it), I know 100% that by character you'd know. All of my bunnies have identical characters, so even if they'd looked the same, I could tell them apart by that!
Bunnies are very social animals! In America it's still contested, sadly, but bunnies truly are happier together. You can't just put two bunnies together and call it a day, though, they have to pick each other, basically. But the love.. absolutely beautiful. And that way they always have company! From someone who speaks their language! (I fear that I'll have to recouple Ferb and Ezra, as she stopped eating again and is currently in my bedroom recovering and they might be too long apart to just be put back together)
My couples don't like each other (we tried after Jiggly died), so I (sadly) don't have one big group yet, but it is my dream one day! In the wild they live in groups too, they're called fluffles! (or a colony but that's no fun) There is strict hierarchy, too.
As for Rabbit Island ... the less said about it the better. Awful place. Poor bunbuns deserve better. I don't believe for a single second that's one big group, either.
Mod
I'm pretty sure this is the case for black pets in general - definitely for black dogs. In the US, the SPCA will tell you that black dogs tend to linger in shelters. I don't understand it either!!
(Although I must confess that right now I have two beige colored dogs - I would have been just as happy with a black dog, but when you get a rescue mutt, sometimes you just take the dog that is available when you are ready for a dog!)
And especially for black cats too. That whole "black cat crossing your path" superstition.
Black doggos, too? Poor things. I stand corrected!
I can't remember the address, but there was a website I stumbled on years ago that was all about helping shelters adopt out black pets. All of them seem to have a harder time getting adopted.
Jennifer W wrote: "I can't remember the address, but there was a website I stumbled on years ago that was all about helping shelters adopt out black pets. All of them seem to have a harder time getting adopted."I really don't get it, poor things :( What a great initiative though!
Most of my bunnies come from a page that help shelters rehome senior bunbuns, who otherwise either don't get found or left behind, so I love that too!
🗓Week 5❌Prompt #5 (dark academia) I haven’t narrowed this down yet so I will have to come back and read this prompt another week
📚Books read this week: 6
Popsugar: 15/50
ATY: 15/52
goodreads: 25/100
📚Reading Goals: mood read, read 100 books, read diverse
✔️Week 5 Finished: (1/29-2/4)
1. Meet Me in Bombay ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. A Hundred Suns ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3. Before She Disappeared ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4. A Duke by Default ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
5. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
6. Siege and Storm ⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖Currently Reading:
Do No Harm
📚Further Reading Plans: (Week 6)
House of Earth and Blood
❓Question of the Week:
If you see a book is a retelling or based on another book, do you feel compelled to read the original first?
💬AOTW:
Not really, but I do when it’s a tv adaptation! I guess it all depends if the original book was on my TBR and I was really excited to read. I read The Wife Upstairs and now I do really want to read Jane Eyre
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Meet Me in Bombay (other topics)A Hundred Suns (other topics)
Before She Disappeared (other topics)
House of Earth and Blood (other topics)
A Duke by Default (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Anne Morrow Lindbergh (other topics)Dhonielle Clayton (other topics)
Gary Taubes (other topics)
John Grisham (other topics)
William Shakespeare (other topics)
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Is it just me, or has the GR search algorithm gone even more squirrlly? I was trying to get the links for the books mentioned below, and I ended up w...
Definitely not just you. So many people today have been having trouble, just in this post! I checked the Known Issues list for Feb, didn't see this one, so I wrote to GR support this morning. Haven't heard back yet."
Ha! When I checked it was listed on the Known Issues list. Probably because of you! :)