Week 3: 1/14 - 1/20

[Britany]

I finally got my fireplace going and I'm cherishing the cozy reading vibes it's instantly creating. Heats up my tiny apartment pretty quickly, so usually have to crack open a window. I woke up this am to find it snowing and already 5-6 inches on the ground. Took Finn out for his walk and he basically had to swim through the snow to get to the park across the street. It was adorable watching him wade through the snow. He's now peacefully sunbathing in front of the fire.

4/80 GoodReads Challenge
4/50 PopSugar Challenge

Finished:
1.) Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves (#32- Author Blurb - TJR) ⭐⭐⭐: Meh- some parts were good and some were boring. This book would fit a bunch of PS prompts though- Book about a band, and 2 POVs.

2.) Verity by Colleen Hoover (#11 Booktok) ⭐⭐⭐⭐: Couldn't put this down and then hate read the ending. I have so many complaints about the choices these characters made, but for all my emotional turmoil, I can't take that away from the author making me FEEL something.



Currently Reading:
1.) Nowhere Girl: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood
2.) Whiskey When We're Dry



QoTW: Is there a genre that you've always avoided but have recently started getting into because of this (or another) reading challenge?
I feel like I have a good gauge on genres I enjoy and ones I don't. While challenges have forced me to read books within genres I don't normally pick up, and I may have enjoyed them, it hasn't led me to continue to read in that genre outside of just for the challenge.

[Britany]

Nadine in NY wrote: "It was entertaining but the ending was just stupid.."

HAH Nadine.

[Britany]

Shannon wrote: "I've reached frustration saturation, so now I'm just waiting around to get sick since they're refusing to let us even try to avoid it.."

I'm so sorry Shannon- this sounds and I'm sure feels really tough and completely overwhelming. It's still hard for me to fathom your employer taking this approach.

[Carmen]

Jessica wrote: "I still avoid SFF books and always feel bummed out when I see that their is a prompt that wants us to read a SciFi book. I think I just didn't get the nerdy SciFi gene from my parents...probably from having to watch all that Star Trek growing up, LOL! I don't even watch SFF stuff that much. I think the closest I would come to it is Witches, I like stuff about witches.

I always thought I didn't like Sci-Fi either, because I am not a space person. Then I learned that books like The Hunger Games also count as sci-fi, and that's the kind of sci-fi I AM into! However, whenever there's a SFF prompt, I do still tend to gravitate towards the F that stands for Fantasy, haha!

[AF]

I know I'm a bit late but I *finally* finished the 2020 Popsugar challenge. I told myself I couldn't start the 2022 PS challenge until I had. So YAY for me!

The final book for that challenge was Eragon by Christopher Paolini. It fulfilled the prompt a book with a made up language. I didn't love this book, but neither did I hate it. It was meh. But I can see why so many of my 6th grade students like it. :)

Today I will start The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner for a book set on a train.

QotW: Although I don't prefer fantasy, I do find I don't mind reading it once in a while.

[Sheila]

Happy Weekend. Finished reading the Latinist by Marc Prins and When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut. I loved both of them.

QOTD: What I love so much about these reading challenges is being introduced to so many different types of genres and authors. I normally gravitate toward mystery/thriller and literary books but in recent years I've picked up more fantasy and horror books.

[Lilith]

Happy Weekend everyone,

Late checking in! I've been reading lots of chem and biochem, so not a whole lot counting toward the challenge.

Finished:
Letter from Birmingham Jail. Wow! This is a short but powerful read. I read this in 1 sitting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and I have a feeling this will become a new tradition. I wish I could say that this was an eye-opening look at history, but it's much more like an eye-watering look at the present -- and maybe our near future.
I hope you get to read it. May it open your heart and reignite what you're passionate about, as it did for me.

Currently Reading:
Words on the Move: Why English Won't—and Can't—Sit Still. Almost finished and really enjoying it - learning so much.

QOTW:
I think this challenge has made me aware of more genres, some of which I've been reading and had not known they have names.
One of my IRL challenges made me pick up my first-ever graphic novel for a prompt. I'd thought graphic novels were only about superheroes. Imagine my surprise reading a heart-wrenching memoir Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir - I was stunned by the story and the artwork. While I don't always turn to them first, I do pick up graphic novels more often now, so I'm thankful for that challenge.

[JessicaMHR]

Lilith wrote: "Happy Weekend everyone,

I think this challenge has made me aware of more genres, some of which I've been reading and had not known they have names.
One of my IRL challenges made me pick up my first-ever graphic novel for a prompt. I'd thought graphic novels were only about superheroes. Imagine my surprise reading a heart-wrenching memoir Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir - I was stunned by the story and the artwork. While I don't always turn to them first, I do pick up graphic novels more often now, so I'm thankful for that challenge!..."

I noticed that books I grew up with in the 90's are having a comeback but, as graphic novels. I guess it is the new big thing. An example is the Babysitters club books.

[Kelly]

Jessica wrote: "Kelly wrote: "The Bills absolutely walloped the Pats. Crossing my fingers for the Packers to crash and burn this weekend..."

They totally did!!!"

Aaaahhhh I know!! 🎉 I don't normally like to root against a team, but... *shrug*

[Erica]

Britany wrote: "2.) Verity by Colleen Hoover (#11 Booktok) ⭐⭐⭐⭐: Couldn't put this down and then hate read the ending. I have so many complaints about the choices these characters made, but for all my emotional turmoil, I can't take that away from the author making me FEEL something."

I just read It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover for the BookTok prompt and that is the perfect way to describe the reading experience.

[David]

After a promising first week, my reading has slowed to a crawl due to various factors. We're not even at the end of January yet and I have already used up both of the spare weeks built into my schedule, which means I have to read at least one book every week to stay on track. Not impossible, by any stretch, but not likely based on my track record.

Currently (still) reading - The Thursday Murder Club

Question of the Week - No, there's not really any genres I avoid, although the reading challenge hopefully does help me not to stick to just my favourite genres.

[Sheri]

Hi all, it's been a rotten start to the year this year. Late posting yet again.

This wee I finished:

Adventureman, Vol. 1: The End and Everything After - finished the volume up

Babyteeth, Vol. 4 - finished this series up. I really liked the series as a whole, but this did end a bit more abruptly than I expected. Apparently he always planned on just 20 issues, but it feels like he maybe lingered too long on some earlier moments and found himself running out of time towards the end. I did like the epilogue, just felt like things wrapped up a bit TOO easily, considering everything that had come before.

Avengers by Jason Aaron, Vol. 8: Enter the Phoenix - doing comic catch up, this was fine. Mostly set up for a lter arc.

Basilisk, Vol. 1 - interesting new comic, want to see where it goes.

Bermuda - fun little run, interesting bermuda triangle take

The Vanishing Half - next books & brew pick. this was a bit hit or miss for me. I thought the first 3/4 really dragged, but the last quarter was really compelling. So that saved it for me, but i spent a long while wondering what all the hype was about.

I postponed The God of Small Things, i got about two chapters into it and just wasn't feeling it right now. Nothing was WRONG, but it just felt confusing and i wasn't following. the whole point of skipping challenges this year is to not feel like i have to finish books I'm not feeling, so i just put it aside. I can check it out later, if i get more in the mood.

I DNFed Noir, which is a bummer for me. I usually like Christopher Moore. But i was a little suspicious when he started the book with a "this is a period piece so some views on race and women are based in the time". I was doing ok with it for the first few chapters, but then he dropped the n-word and I noped straight out. This is supposed to be a humor book, I can't really think of a reason that a white man needs to use that word, in a humor book with a certain level of fantasy in it, just because of "the time period". Honestly that's enough i'm not sure i'll bother with any more of his books in the future.

Currently reading:
Alkarra Awakening - second book in the Network Series, enjoying it so far.

QOTW:

Probably nonfiction. I never used to willingly read it, i always had trouble with nonfiction reading in school so I guess I assumed I'd never like regular nonfiction. I've had to read enough for various prompts, I'm finding the areas I do well in. I find that if it's written in a sort of narrative way, like a memoir or denoting specific events where there's a story involved that I can get into it as well as fiction. Still have trouble with nonficiton that's more "here's a bunch of dense information about a particular subject". So for example I really liked Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women.

I'm not sure if it's reading challenges in particular that did this, but i am also finding myself more open to horror, at least particular types. I tend to like more supernatural horror, like monsters and ghosts and stuff. No interest in just general terrible people going on killing sprees.

[Shannon]

Britany wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I've reached frustration saturation, so now I'm just waiting around to get sick since they're refusing to let us even try to avoid it.."

I'm so sorry Shannon- this sounds and I'm s..."

Thank you--yeah, it's not great. But I'm extremely thankful that my supervisor has at least allowed us to make all our appointments virtual, so we're able to reduce the number of people we come into contact with daily. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the power to send us home to work remotely (she would if she could).

My heart goes out to all those in the service industry and healthcare and any field that literally cannot be done remotely. As annoyed as I am that I still have to go to the office, I at least know my job can be entirely virtual.

[Carmen]

Sheri wrote: "I DNFed Noir, which is a bummer for me. I usually like Christopher Moore. But i was a little suspicious when he started the book with a "this is a period piece so some views on race and women are based in the time". I was doing ok with it for the first few chapters, but then he dropped the n-word and I noped straight out. This is supposed to be a humor book, I can't really think of a reason that a white man needs to use that word, in a humor book with a certain level of fantasy in it, just because of "the time period". Honestly that's enough i'm not sure i'll bother with any more of his books in the future."

Wow, that'd be enough to put me off someone as well. Really sounds like he's aware its Not Done but he's hoping he can cover his bases by saying it's a period piece. As if that gives you a carte blanche, especially when there's fantasy involved!

[Sheri]

Carmen, yeah, I mean I didn't really get that far but apparently the "mysterious perspective" is (view spoiler)[ from the perspective of a snake, so therefore a sentient snake capable of narrating (hide spoiler)] So that feels very "...ok you could have tried harder".

[Carmen]

...yeah, it really does feel like that. Wow.

[Paula]

Howdy, this is my very late check in. The weekend got away from me.

Finished
The Bad Beginning (a Series of Unfortunate Events #1) by Lemony Snicket. I enjoyed this enough to continue the series as I want to find out what happens to the kids.

Sleepless Volume 1 and 2 by Sarah Vaughn. This is a two book graphic novel series. I loved the story and the characters.

Saiyuki Reload Volume 2 by Kazuya Minekura. This is the second have of the Saiyuki series. The first series was great and this one is just as good. I really love the characters and their adventures. I'm planning on using this book as a book that starts with the last letter of my last read. I love this manga series.

Look and See Michigan With Me: A Puzzle Book by Kathy-jo and Ed Wargin. This is a compare the pictures and find the differences. It was fun to read with poems and trying to find all the differences.

Scraminals by Jack Prelutsky. This is a poetry book with interesting animals combinations like a cheetah/ostrich or a broccoli/lions or a panda/daffodil. Are among the different types of animals you will find in this book.

Reading
The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle #2) by Ursula K. LeGuin. I'm about halfway done with this and hope to have it read soon.

Next up (hopefully)
Eragon
Bad Sister

QotW:
I don't read a lot of romances, but I've found a few I loved reading for challenges and I'm reading a larger variety of books in general as I've been trying to do the book that is picked for the month plus a couple of buddy reads. I've always read a wide range of books, but I think I read more now as I find books that people read and like so I try some of them. I would never had read Ayesha at Last or Dear Edward if it wasn't for reading them here.
Thank you for giving me even more opinions and ideas for more reads.

[Britany]

Erica wrote: "I just read It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover for the BookTok prompt and that is the perfect way to describe the reading experience."

Yes, pretty sure I hate read that one too Erica! ;)

[Taylor]

I have officially read more books this month than I did all last year, so that's one giant checkmark on new year resolutions.

Finished
Cloud Cuckoo Land - This very well may be the best read of the year already. I absolutely adored this book. The number of characters in daunting yet entirely enthralling as you read along. While not for hurried reader, you will find yourself consuming this book quickly.

Pride and Prejudice I'm obsessed with the movies yet never got around the book. I'm having trouble finding a prompt that fits so this might end up being one that fulfills a prompt past catchall. A long but good read, this one was enjoyed by audiobook, Kate Kellgren does a wonderful job with narrating and capturing different characters' voices.

In Progress
The Silent Patient Enjoying as an audiobook for my walks, the narration is as good as the story

The Push I read on every plane, so far this is one of the few books to get rave reviews from a flight attendant

[E.R.]

Hi everyone!

I finished Godshot and man, that was a lot. It was really good, but definitely a more serious read.

Now I'm onto Six of Crows so I can return to the Grishaverse and feel all the feelings again!

QotW

I've always, always avoided romance novels--like, pure romance, not books with romance in them, per se. But recently I've tried out a few and I actually don't hate them! They're not my favorite, but I've come to enjoy a few, notably Red, White & Royal Blue and One Last Stop. I want to try Emily Henry's books, too, as I hear good things.

[Nicole]

Popsugar: 4/50
ATY: 4/52

So far, I've read 3 of the 4 books I set out to read this month:

- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strange Beasts of China (36. A book you know nothing about) - This surprised and delighted me, maybe because I had zero expectations for it. Mixed reviews from book club, but I would recommend it!

- ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (13. A book set in the 1980s) - Light and fluffy, a cross between Sabriel and Neverwhere

- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Queen's Gambit (30. A book with the name of a board game in the title) - Stayed up way past my bedtime to find out what happened next in each chess game. I was shocked by how much I enjoyed this.

The 4th book I'd planned to read wasn't for the challenge: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. I have it in hardcover, but it was slow-going, so I decided to give the audiobook a try. I'm listening to it while I run on the treadmill, and this subject matter is not making my runs easier... But I'm making more progress on the book, so I'll stick with it. When I was reading it, I was struggling to get past the long passages of metaphor that I didn't find very convincing, and I think listening to it helps me to focus on the interesting anecdotes and quotes but space out a bit when the argument isn't as compelling.

This gave me the space to get through another book on my Kobo:

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (17. A book becoming a TV series or movie in 2022) - Clever and cute, managed to surprise me with a twist. I definitely cried. Hope it ends up being a movie in 2022, because I'm counting it either way.

I'm hoping to finish The Shadow of the Wind (49. Two books set in twin towns, aka "sister cities" - Barcelona) this week, and then my stretch goal for the month is to get through Once There Were Wolves (11. A #BookTok recommendation) and This Time Next Year (23. A book with a recipe in it). I'm pretty sure Caste will take me well into next month.

QOTW
This is my first shot at a challenge, so I can't say I've experienced new genres yet, although The Queen's Gambit was one of the books I added to check off a category and wouldn't have been something I chose without the encouragement to try something new.

I've looked at challenge lists in the past, and the genres that would definitely be atypical for me are mysteries and westerns. I picked up the recommendations to read Lonesome Dove and Murder on the Orient Express through those lists, but alas, haven't actually read them yet...

It's amusing to me to see everyone avoiding romance novels, because those are the books I read when I'm "not really reading" and they're the reason why I was so committed to doing a challenge this year!

[Lisa Marie]

PROMPT #2: Set on a plane, train or cruise - Read Santa Cruise by Fern Michaels 1/18/2022 thru 1/19/2022

[JessicaMHR]

Nicole wrote: "The 4th book I'd planned to read wasn't for the challenge: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. I have it in hardcover, but it was slow-going, so I decided to give the audiobook a try. I'm listening to it while I run on the treadmill, and this subject matter is not making my runs easier... But I'm making more progress on the book, so I'll stick with it. When I was reading it, I was struggling to get past the long passages of metaphor that I didn't find very convincing, and I think listening to it helps me to focus on the interesting anecdotes and quotes but space out a bit when the argument isn't as compelling...."

Sometimes for some books I like to read along to the audiobook. I find for some books esp. "heavy" ones it makes it easier to understand and focus on it. I'm actually doing that right now with The Signature of All Things.

[Nicole]

Jessica wrote: "Sometimes for some books I like to read along to the audiobook."

Oooh, I'll have to try that! I don't often have 2 versions of a book, and audiobooks are kind of new for me. But this would be a great one to try this on. Thanks!

[Kass]

So far this month I have read 4 books for the challenge and I'm on the 5th.

It's All a Game: The History of Board Games from Monopoly to Settlers of Catan⭐⭐⭐⭐ (a book with the name of a board game in the title) Very interesting coverage of the history of board games but it got a little tedious at points
A Christmas Carol ⭐⭐⭐ (a book set during a holiday) Well-written and the first Dickens I've ever read, but I didn't get anything out of it that I hadn't seen in the movies based on it. I rated this one based on my own enjoyment
Phoenix Extravagant ⭐⭐ (an #OwnVoices SFF book) Interesting premise but clumsy execution
Heavy Vinyl, Vol. 1: Riot on the Radio ⭐⭐⭐ (a book about a found family) A cute little graphic novel, but it was a little too cheesy
Heavy Vinyl: Y2K-O! ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (A book featuring a man-made disaster) Much better than the first book in the series! I kind of cheated with "man-made distaster" and chose something about Y2K, because I really don't like most disaster novels.

And I'm currently reading Golden State for "a book you know nothing about." Could be either a 3 or 4 star at this point

[Patricia]

Happy Thursday!
I've always been excited about weekly check-ins. I have a little time reading books this weekend but I'm going to read a lot of pages. I've already voted the poll:D

Question of the week
Is there a genre that you've always avoided but have recently started getting into because of this (or another) reading challenge?
- Yes, and I think it was Historical fiction and romance books.

[Allie]

Soo, I was supposed to post, but I got busy, since I left on vacation on the 22nd. I meant to, but I forgot and....sorry.

QOTW: I think I have had to pick more foreign authors. I tend to stay away from "adult" books, and pick books based on an interesting cover or a Good Reads recommendation. Having to get a book specifically for the prompt has me leaning to books I normally wouldn't look at in the library.

I only have 51 more for last year
PS: 3/50
RH: 0/24
GR: 6/365
HP: 0/52
ATY: 0/52

Currently Reading:
Lumberjanes, Vol: 19: A Summer to Remember
The Engineer’s Wife
Brown Girl Dreaming
Tender is the Flesh
Witch Please
James Potter and the Hall of Elders’ Crossing
All the Young Dudes

Waiting for the library to renew:
The Manningtree Witches
Big Shot (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #16)

Finished:
Adnan’s Story
Out of Character
In The Night Room
The Lincoln Highway