EPBOT Readers discussion
2021 Reading Check Ins
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Week 9 Check In
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I think it's been warming up a bit around here, too. It's been sunnier, at least. I don't really go out of the house much anymore. *lol*This week I finished Paladin's Strength. I loved it, as usual. I am using it as my Popsugar book your best friend would like, since I recommended it to my partner as soon as I finished.
Some manga finishes also: Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 4, Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 10, Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 11, Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 12, Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 13
Currently reading: I just started Sorcery of Thorns. I only got to read a chapter today due to work busy-ness, so hopefully I can get into this more over the weekend. So far, the setup seems interesting.
QOTW: I don't read as much middle grade, although I did like Percy Jackson.
There's Catherynne Valente's Fairyland books, starting with The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.
Also Seanan McGuire's middle grade tie-ins to her adult book Middlegame: Over the Woodward Wall is the first, and there's a second coming out later.
One I did read this year that I really enjoyed was Ana on the Edge, which was a middle grade about a young nonbinary figure skater figuring out their identity. I'm also a figure skating fan, so YMMV as far as adult appeal.
Mercedes Lackey came up in the Epbot Discord, and Sheri mentioned she was not really into the Sherlock Holmes retellings - well, "Sherlock Holmes retellings" is my summoning spell, and upon learning that A Study in Sable contained both a parrot and a raven, my fate was sealed. Per the author's bio, she actually has birds, so the avian characters were handled well. Sherlock Holmes also felt right to me; I appreciated that he was not magical, and retained as much skepticism as possible. The author did ascribe magical powers to an actual historical figure, and I'm not sure how that person would feel about a certain aspect of that storyline. I wasn't super impressed with the original character protagonists, or with the writing. Worldbuilding-wise it felt like the author had initially come up with a coherent system of magic and then just could not stop throwing more stuff in. I will probably not read more of these, at least for a good while, but I will cherish the image of Sherlock Holmes playing Saint-Saëns' "Danse macabre".Next was a short graphic novel, Clue. I liked the character designs and the art generally, but there wasn't really enough story to hold it together. The main source of suspense seems to have been the episodic delivery, which of course breaks down in a collected edition (as did some of the jokes). There were some attempts at clever nods to both the game and movie, one of which gave me a smile. It's short, so worth checking out if you like the aesthetic, but don't expect an engaging plot.
Last (and also short) was Bodies from the Library: Lost Classic Stories by Masters of the Golden Age. This was a collection of short stories (and one radio and one stage script) that, while they may be by masters of the Golden Age of detective fiction, were not in fact all detective stories. There were some inverted mysteries, a fair number of thrillers, and some that just sort of involved crime (like the Agatha Christie story, which was good but just a revenge story, no detection involved). I don't feel like I got a great feel for which of the authors I'd like to read more, since it was kind of necessarily not their best work.
QOTW: I read very little children's fiction, but I get on better with middle grade than I do YA. The only one that springs to mind is The Aviary, a sort of Gothic fantasy from 2011.
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To each their own! I am here to consume the Sherlock Holmes retellings you leave on your plate. ;)
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I'm just a little bit of the way into Fool's War by Sarah Zettel, which is one of the March selections for my other Goodreads group. I don't know yet which prompt it fits into! I'm having a hard time getting into it, but I think that has more to do with the fact that the only time I have to read it is before bed when I'm tired, and I still haven't figured out exactly what's going on yet. I really enjoyed the only other book I've read by Zettel, The Quiet Invasion, so I have faith that this will pick up.
I've been listening to Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving on my commute. I adore Mo Rocca's podcast by the same name, and figured I'd give the book a try. It's fascinating and funny. I'll use it for a book that makes me laugh out loud.
Still working through The Son of Neptune with the kiddo, a chapter or two at night when it's my turn to put him to bed (we alternate nights with each kid).
QOTW: Definitely the Rick Riordan! I also really enjoyed the Wings of Fire series by Tui Sutherland when my son read them last year and begged me to read them too so we could discuss. I liked it more than I expected to! Another series we've enjoyed the Upside-Down Magic books by Sarah Mlynowski. Disney just made the first book into a Disney Channel movie, but we haven't watched it yet. I've especially appreciated that one as it focuses on a group of kids at a magic school whose magic doesn't work as it's "supposed to", and they end up in the magical version of a special education class. My son gets SPED services himself, so it's provided a really great opportunity for us to talk about learning differences and how different can be a strength (ditto for Percy Jackson's ADHD and dyslexia, actually). Also, the Upside Down Magic books are awesome about representation - the main character is a Black girl, one kid in her class has hearing aids that are not a plot point, there's a nonbinary side character that appears in a later book, the kids come from all different backgrounds that are treated respectfully, it's good stuff.
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This week I enjoyed finishing the brand-new third Gunnie Rose book. Great series by Charlaine Harris. I also went to a facebook author event she had hosted by Murder by the Book, where she chatted with her BFF author and answered my question! They have a bunch of author events archived on their facebook site.I gave up on the Historian (anyone want to change my mind before I return it to the library?) Finished a favorite comfort read by Elizabeth Peters, Night Train to Memphis. Also read Crazy Rich Asians; I had broken my rule and saw the movie first, but it turns out they actually followed the book pretty well. Started reading Midnight Crossroads, part of another Charlaine Harris trilogy I like, part of my Thriftbooks quarantine impulse shopping haul.
For kid books, I was motivated to suggest the kid book question because I just replaced our family's copy of the Mysterious Benedict Society, which had fallen apart. Everyone in our family loved this, and we heard they are making a series of it (on Hulu?) Gifted misfit orphans recruited to be spies. Another YA series I really like is Scott Westerfield's Leviathan series. Alternate WW1 history, with a girl disguised as boy to enlist main character, and e the warring sides are the Darwinians vs. Mechanicals (??). One side has weapons/ships that integrate biological components, while the other is all mechanical. World is really cool. None of my kids have become readers despite getting books for every gift-giving occasion of their life (I have finally given up.) I decided to read two books that my daughter never read before donating and ended up keeping them. They are Dragon Slippers and Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters.
I thought of another kids' book series for anyone interested in prehistoric life: Earth Before Us. Each one covers a separate geologic era, and the drawings are fun while also staying as accurate as possible based on current (as of 2017-2019) knowledge. There is a lot of info in them, so I think kids could keep going back to pore over them, and adults will probably learn at least a few new creatures.
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Just one finish for me this week: The Stone Sky, to cap off the Broken Earth trilogy. So good! Used it for the Book Nerds "involving magic" prompt. 16/100My hold on Dune has finally come in, so I'll be chipping away at that for the foreseeable future :)
QOTW: Not my area of expertise, so no idea ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Missed last week's check in, but only have a couple of finishes to report.I did finish off The Good Immigrant, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. Most of the essays were interesting and, as a mixed race perpetual immigrant myself, there were elements I found relatable or at least that prompted some further reflection on my own experiences.
A minor finish in Falkland Adventure since it was sitting in the lounge in the guesthouse I was staying at. I wouldn't normally track this sort of book since it's basically a coffee table photo book with some anecdotes and a few poems, but I wanted something for the set where you live prompt and I didn't want to read a book on military history. I might find something else to swap in, but at least there's something there for now.
Sine this seems to be the week for discussing Sherlock Holmes retellings, coincidentally I just finished A Letter of Mary. This is one of a series that is told from the point of view of a young woman that becomes Holmes's apprentice, then partner, then wife (I'm not a fan of that particular move, but I'm moving past it for now) during his retirement. It's a fun series if you're a fan of Sherlock Holmes and not sick of spin offs yet =)
After finishing that, I've moved straight on to the next in the series, The Moor, since I couldn't be bothered figuring out what to read next, and this was available from the library. Currently enjoying it's descriptions of Dartmoor - I did actually look up a few photos to compare what I was picturing with the real thing, and it does look like an interesting landscape, if perhaps not quite as fantastical as I'm imagining for myself.
I can't think of anything at the moment for the QOTW. I do read a fair bit of YA, but I'm not very good really at guessing what the intended age audience for a book is (I don't spend a lot of time around children). If I think of anything good, I'll pop back and let you know!
i've finished with Windmills of the Gods, and am now reading The Desolations of Devil's Acre, i'm somewhere about 1/2 way through........ because i have Fortune and Glory AND Ready Player Two waiting for me at the library!! i have until March 16th to pick them up. XD
Marina wrote: "Missed last week's check in, but only have a couple of finishes to report.I did finish off The Good Immigrant, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. Most of the essays ..."
Marina-I had suggested the question for the week to Sheri with the idea of finding some recent kid books that grownups might enjoy (although kids would like them too.) I find that sometimes a kid book is a nice refresher after making it through something really long. :)
I've missed at least one week of checking in - I think I was finishing The School of Essential Ingredients last time I posted, which everyone in IRL book club #1 also enjoyed.Next up was IRL book club #2, which was luckily a pretty quick read, too - Iron Man: The Gauntlet, which I would definitely recommend to any Marvel fan. It's middle grade, so it would also fit the QOTW. Personally, I thought the scenario of the book would have been a much more plausible setup for Tony's pre-Civil War change of heart than what happened in the movies, and It was fun to see how Eion Colfer writes him, since he's not entirely dissimilar to Artemis Fowl (another QOTW recommendation).
I then moved on to IRL book club #3, The Fellowship of the Ring. It turned out to be a surprisingly good one for the group, since we had a range of everything from people who'd read it multiple times since they were kids to people reading it for the first time to a few folks who couldn't make it through and watched the movie instead, so it was a good discussion.
I'm currently working on IRL book club #1's March selection, Ask Again, Yes. It's not one I ever would have picked up on my own, but I'm almost halfway through and not entirely sure where it's going, so it's holding my interest.
I am happy to hear that others are currently enjoying some of my favorites (Shel with Mobituaries and Marina with Holmes and Russell). Marina, I totally understand that for plot purposes they needed to get married to allow them to travel together easily, but, yeah - their marriage has never struck me as being particularly romantic. And Shel, I listened to Mo right before COVID hit last year and everyone started broadcasting from home - and he has the trumpet hanging right over his couch (or whatever he sits on when he's on TV), which made it feel even more like the book was just a conversation he was having. I'm hoping there will be a sequel one of these days!
QOTW: Aside from the Eion Colfer stuff I already mentioned, I would add The Last Dragonslayer series by Jasper Fforde - it takes place in the same reality as his other books and has the same sensibility, but the main character is a teenager. I'd also recommend a couple audiobooks I talked a lot about a few months back, Silverswift and The Flying Flamingo Sisters- there isn't a print version of either of them, unfortunately, but they're great to listen to.
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I finished A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression. It was only meh for me. It was a different focus than I expected.
I also finished listening to the novella The Vital Abyss for The Expanse. I was a lot closer to the end of that at last checkin than I realized. I have since started listening to the 6th Expanse book Babylon's Ashes. It is interesting how Season 5 of the TV show pulled in some of the storylines from the 6th book into that season. We'll see how the 6th season shapes up especially with the last-minute main character departure.
I also just finished Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life. This was a short and fast read. I enjoyed it well enough. I like Steve Martin generally and we've seen him in concert with Martin Short and everyone agreed they wished it had just been Steve Martin.
I also have The School of Essential Ingredients that I plan to start today. I am pretty sure I put it on my TBR list from @megan. Thanks! Looking forward to it.
QOTW: Although I have 3 adult kids, I don't recall what they read when at this point. A lot of answers are triggering memories that yes they read that. I know my one daughter was very into, even in college, Ranger's Apprentice.
I finished reading the Desolations of Devil's Acre, and am now working my way through Fortune and Glory. Still have two books waiting for me at the library.... XD
Susan, I hope you enjoyed The School of Essential Ingredients as much as we all did!
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I just looked it up and added it to my list - looks good! :)
EPBOT Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life (other topics)Babylon’s Ashes (other topics)
The School of Essential Ingredients (other topics)
A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression (other topics)
The Vital Abyss (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Shannon Hale (other topics)Sarah Zettel (other topics)
Sarah Mlynowski (other topics)
Hope everyone is doing well! Enjoyed the above freezing weather until it went back to being cold today. Looks like weather is warming up next week though!
This week I finished:
Fables Compendium One - this was a massive beast! And it's only the first of 3. over 1200 pages, of nice high quality gloss, I think it weighed at least 10 lbs. A bit awkward for carrying around the house! It was nice to blaze through the whole thing in a sitting though. I get annoyed having to switch out issues repeatedly, it's nice to get a big swath of story at once. counted for Booknerds graphic novel prompt.
The Testaments - books & brew picked this for our march read, discussing tuesday. I probably wouldn't have chosen to read this right now, I in fact didn't read it when it came out because it was in the "too real" level of dystopia. And that was BEFORE an actual attempted coup that was only two months ago. So it was well written, engaging, I wanted to know what happened, but man it was mentally trying right now.
after that I went on a comics binge as a palette cleanser.
Big Girls, Vol. 1 - this series is fun, giant women facing off against big monsters, kinda Pacific Rim ish but with more social commentary.
We Only Find Them When They're Dead Vol. 1 - this one is also sort of Pacific Rim ish but more in the sense of how Ron Peralman's crew stripped down the dead Kaiju and sold the parts. But in space. Art's really nice, interesting idea, plot feels a little thin so far. Hopefully picks up as it goes on.
An Unkindness of Ravens - feels very Sabrina modern reboot-like. Sort of dark teen magic. Like it fine
Seven Secrets Vol. 1 - i like this one too, bunch of secrets in briefcases that must be protected for the fate of the world. Of course others want those secrets. Secret society, secret cases, more general secrets., secret bases. It's all very secretive.
Ascender, Vol. 2: The Dead Sea & Ascender, Vol. 3: The Digital Mage - I ADORE the artwork of this, lovely watercolor in a striking palate. The story isn't quite as good as Descender, but i still really like it.
Currently reading:
The Leavers - this isn't really grabbing me so far. I think i put it on request at my library a couple years ago when it'd fit a prompt, but never came in until now. I'll stick at it a little longer.
1Q84- didn't actually make new progress.
QOTW: Another question from Kathy: Do you have any recommendations for new kids/middle grade books that would appeal to adults? (such as newer than 2000)
I feel like my suggestions are pretty obvious, Percy Jackson and basically anything Rick Riordan. I also really enjoyed the Aru Shah books by Roshani Chokshi which are very similar in format/style to Rick Riordan but pulling from various Indian myths.
I also enjoy the My Little Pony comics, I find they're kinda similar to the show in that they're aimed at and appropriate for children, but plenty of jokes/references for the adults reading.