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2021 Reading Check Ins
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Week 5 Check In
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No finishes for me this week. I'm still working my way through Harrow the Ninth. This is going to be my Popsugar book with something broken (the pieces of bones) on the cover. It's been slow going for me. For some reason, it's really easy for me to get distracted trying to read it, and I don't know if it's the narration style being hard for me to get into or just work stuff making me very distractible.QOTW: I do like retellings in general, but I think they have a harder time because they really need to bring something new to the story for me to get into them. Whether that's unique, likable characters (not just rehashes of the original) or a new variation on a theme to explore.
Sometimes I'll read a retelling without knowing the source material, or without knowing it's a retelling, and I'll enjoy it on its own merits without the context of the original. So I guess I don't necessarily need to know the original to enjoy them, depending on the strength of the retelling.
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Sheri, good to know it's not just me! :) I'm only at about 36% but I'm going to stick with it. I've heard a lot of people say that, that it gets a lot better later on, and I actually had a similar issue with Gideon; it took me until they arrived at the House for me to really get into it and start to grasp the science-fantasy-horror worldbuilding mix.
Yeah, Goodreads is definitely having a search issue. I already had this week's book on my shelf, so I got the ID number and manually added the link below; we'll see if this works.My one book this week was a chonker: The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World. This was recommended by someone I know who is an Earth science writer for NASA. It's about conflicting visions about how to act for the future of humanity. The author takes one man as an example of the "Prophet" philosophy, which says, "Cut back! Cut back! Otherwise everyone will lose!" and one as the "Wizard" philosophy, which says, "Innovate! Innovate! Only in that way can everyone win!" It was really interesting, and I learned a lot about the history of thinking about population and environmental issues, but it was also kind of... stymying, I guess? Like, the author is clear that he doesn't really know which theory he prefers, there are downsides to both, and we don't actually know all that much about the complicated factors at play. So, yeah, I feel like I learned a lot but also nothing, you know?
QOTW: I read some retellings. I wasn't really ever much into fairy tales, but Beauty and the Beast was kind of my Disney movie, so I read most retellings of that one that I come across. Obviously I didn't read the actual original first, it's an 18th-century French novel, but I did eventually find a bad OCR copy, so I've read it now! (And I mean the Villeneuve version, not the Beaumont version people call the original. Yes I have become a BatB hipster.)
Also I will read almost any Sherlock Holmes pastiche. In that case I did read at least one novel and one short story from the canon first, although I had been previously exposed to Sherlock Hemlock from Sesame Street.
Just one finish for me. I know I said I'd be reading Black authors this month except for library holds, but this was a library recommendation I had made that they decided to purchase, so it automatically came to me.To me, this is the best of the series. And someone posted that the author had published another Lundy story last year, so I dug that up as well. Fabulous. Used for the Book Nerds "with a magical creature" and "set in a fictional place" prompts. 12/100
Just borrowed the Zone One audiobook by Colson Whitehead. Love me some zombies :)
QOTW: I'm fussy about retellings, not because I'm particularly protective of the originals, just because they don't often strike my fancy. Spinning Silver was ok, but so far removed from the original, I wouldn't have thought it a retelling without being told. Same for Hansel & Gretel I read at the top of the year. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was worth a chuckle, but as I'm not a huge P&P fan to begin with, it wasn't all that fantastic.
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A week or so ago I finished What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. That was a quick read and interesting enough. I liked that each question was short so I could skip or skim less interesting ones and move on to the next one.
I then felt like I just wanted a mindless romance so I got the next in Alice Clayton's cocktail series. Rusty Nailed. Surprising to me is that this is essentially a continuation of the first book Wallbanger with the same main characters. Since this is a group of 3 friends, I just assumed it would move on to the next friend. This book is doing fine scratching this itch.
I also finished Nemesis Games as an audiobook just yesterday. Book 5 of The Expanse. We've been watching the TV season at the same time. This book is clearly "Book 5 part 1" since not very much was resolved. I didn't know that going in and it is slightly unsatisfying. But I'm invested and enjoy the books anyway. I have the "book 5.5" novella up on audiobook next but haven't started it yet.
QOTW: I have not been a fan of retellings usually. I definitely do not seek them out. I think I've stumbled upon them a time or two but if so, none of them stick in my head. The closest the comes to mind, but it is not a retelling, but more of a gathering of various characters, was The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter
I had a bunch of books in progress during my last check-in, so was able to finish a bunch last week. Thunderbird Falls. This is book 2 in the Urban Shaman series, and so far it's pretty straightforward urban fantasy. I saw the "twist" coming a mile off (which I usually don't do!), so this was good, but kind of meh overall. I'm curious to see where the series goes next, so will keep reading.
So Close to Being the Sh*t, Y’all Don’t Even Know. I listened to this on audiobook, read by the author. Not a particularly deep memoir, but certainly entertaining. I think I would have gotten bored if I had been reading it, but hearing Retta tell the stories in her own voice was a lot of fun. Hamilton nerds will have plenty to enjoy in the last chapter :)
Solutions and Other Problems. This was a mixed bag for me. I loved the first Hyperbole and a Half collection, but this one seemed to be spinning its wheels and never going anywhere. She had shared the Richard story online before the book came out, and I felt that was the strongest story in the collection, so having already read it, there wasn't a lot else here. I'm glad to know Allie is still around and still producing content - I'm interested to see if her stories/art take a different turn once she has more time to come to terms will all the really rotten events of the last couple years.
The Light Fantastic. I know Pratchett is adored by many readers, but I'm not sure he's quite my cup of tea. I guess I prefer Christopher Moore for my wacky comedy. The constant nudge-nudge, wink-wink wordplay on EVERY page was wearying. I wanted a funny story, not incessant clever asides and puns. As a writer, I appreciate the craft behind it, but as a reader, it really disrupted the flow.
QOTW: I've never been much of a fan of fairy tales or mythology, so I'm not bothered when source material is tampered with. That said, a good story is a good story, and a bad story is a bad story, and so many supposed retellings I've read have been poorly written. I can't think of any I've really enjoyed or wanted to share with others. I do love mythic beings in new settings, though, like Jane Lindskold's Changer. She moved King Arthur, Diana, and others to a hacienda in New Mexico, and I couldn't get enough of it :)
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I've just started Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, and my loan for November 9 finally came in, so I will probably bounce back and forth between the two.
QOTW: I don't know that I specifically seek out retellings, but I enjoy them if they are well done. If I'm not already familiar with the source material I'll usually at least head for Wikipedia to get the bones of it!
Funny story - I took a Shakespeare class in high school and we spent so much time on King Lear that I was thoroughly sick of it. I'd picked up The Serpent's Tooth by Diana L. Paxson at a bookstore just because it looked interesting, and it didn't take long for me to realize it was a Lear re-telling. But I enjoyed it anyway :)
A couple of finishes since my last check in. Finished offThe Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, I enjoyed it, but wasn't quite as satisfied by the ending as I'd hoped. Still, good concept, enjoyable mystery, glad I read it.
Next up was Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. All in all, I thought it was good. The boy was a bit annoying to start off with, but I got used to him as it went on. Not my usual sort of read, but I liked it well enough.
Just finished the audiobook of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet on my walk to work this morning - I've been wanting to read this forever, and it didn't disappoint. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Sweet, funny, wholesome space adventures with friends. What's not to love?
Currently reading The Hand, the Eye and the Heart, which links into the QOTW, as it's loosely inspired/based on the story of Mulan. I tend to really like retellings. I find comfort and fun in familiar stories told new ways. I am usually at least familiar with the original or the basic storyline, but I don't think I'd mind too much if I wasn't. If it's a good story and well written, I'll enjoy it, but it kind of misses a layer if I don't know what they're basing it on. I often like the fairytale retellings, and have read quite a few of those over the years. I read a few of the Hogarth Shakespeare project books and really enjoyed them, I'd not hesitate to pick up the others if I came across them.
EPBOT Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
The Hand, the Eye and the Heart (other topics)The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (other topics)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (other topics)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (other topics)
The Serpent's Tooth (other topics)
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Been having some goodreads book tagging issues, let's see how this post goes!
Book Club
There's a finished reading thread over in the book club for anyone who finished November 9, as well as a pre-reading thread for anyone who hasn't started yet.
This week I finished:
An American Marriage - Yay this is fixed, book WOULD NOT show up yesterday, only study guides. This was pretty good, I liked how realistically flawed everyone was. The interactions felt pretty real. That being said, while I thought the people were very real, I didn't particularly LIKE a lot of the decisions people made. So it made it harder to root for the characters. But it was well written and wasn't a struggle to get through. This counted for popsugar winner of Women's prize, ATY book from one of USA Today's 100 Black authors to read, Book Nerds book that takes place over several years.
Thick: And Other Essays - Tressie McMillan Cottom - still won't show up in the search, even though it's on my goodread's shelf so I know it's in their system. Oh well. It's a book of essays about being a Black woman in America, from the author's perspective as an academic writer. I'm counting it for Popsugar's body positivity prompt since some of the essays touched on how mainstream beauty and the beauty industry relate to being a Black woman in America. Also using for ATY book of short stories, poems, essays, Reading Women book off the 2019 short list/honorable mentions, book nerds book with a dark cover.
currently reading:
The Burning God - went to library and got a random stack of new releases, this is the third of the Poppy Wars novels. I like the series, but war books are always hard to read. Normally I don't like books where I don't like the characters, and Rin is NOT a hero by any means. But I do find her strangely compelling.
The House in the Cerulean Sea Sneak Peek - so this one links, but to the sneak peek not the actual book? Whatever, you get the idea haha. I'm doing the audio book for this. I've heard great things about it. Not very far yet, an hour if that.
1Q84 - still poking at this, will be here a while. It's very long and slow going.
QOTW:
Do you like to read retellings of stories? If so, do you make sure to read the original first?
I love fairy tale retellings, in particular. Most of them I'm at least semi familiar with, and often there's not really a definitive source. I might go google the original story if the retelling is referencing something I'm not familiar with and I'm curious.
I don't do AS many non-fairytale retellings. But I'd probably be less interested in reading one if it wasn't a story I already was interested in. I know there's a ton of Pride and Prejudice retellings, but i didn't terribly enjoy the book so I'm not really interested in reading different versions of it. Also I'm kind of sick to death of Romeo and Juliet as a source material. But I did really enjoy The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, and when they attached the original Frakenstein to the end of my e-book I went head and re-read it.