EPBOT Readers discussion
2022 Reading Check Ins
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Week 12 Check In
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no finishes yet, i'm still reading Daemon. but i'm almost done!QotW: no recent reads come to mind immediately.... but i have Harry Potter on my reread list. i plan to read it with an eye towards what we've learned about Rowling in the past number of years.
Thanks for starting us off, Susan!Hmm, got a lot of reading done this week. Finished off The October Man, a novella by the Rivers of London author that features the German version of the Folly. Fun to see how another magical police division evolved differently. Next was The Accidental Alchemist, whose main character is a several hundred year old alchemist with a living gargoyle for a sidekick. Liked it more at the beginning than the end; not sure if I will continue the series. Read The Silver Ghost as part of my ongoing effort to reread the Kelling and Bittersohn mysteries in order. Still liked it; they have actually aged pretty well.
Finally, I raced through The Kaiju Preservation Society society; I was finally able to pick up my order yesterday. Agree with most of the reviews that it is just fun. Set from March 2020-March 2021, it has a ton of pop culture references if that's you're thing.
QOTW
I read all the mysteries by Margaret Truman as they came out, and just reread the first one a year or so ago. I'm sure in the 1980s her working woman characters were considered strong and ground-breaking, but they seem forced and awkward now. So yay progress?
I have also read some mysteries written in the 70s that wouldn't work now given what we know about concussion. "Someone bonked me on the head and I was unconscious for awhile but I kept investigating once I woke up even though I felt dizzy." Today's heroine would be taken to the hospital for observation...
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I am now halfway through Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield, and it's truly lovely - otherworldly and lush.
QOTW: ooh, good question. There's a classic Tor post about this - https://www.tor.com/2010/09/28/the-su...
There are definitely books I have fond memories of that I'm afraid to crack open again because I'm not sure they'll hold up to an adult reading. But I've also had the opposite experience, when a book has nuances that I completely missed as a younger reader - a great example of that is The Last Unicorn. I loved it as a kid (both the movie and the book) because it was a sweet story with a scary monster, but the adult themes went way over my head. When I picked it up again years later, I was blown away by some of the emotional scenes that I hadn't picked up on at all when I was younger.
Since my last update, I've made it to vol.6 of the The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, A Rún, Vol. 1 series. I'm sad that none of the libraries I belong to have the subsequent volumes. Their availability in stores also appears iffy.My only other finish is Un point d’interrogation est un demi-cœur, which I picked up as part of my local library's "blind date with a book" Valentine's Day event. It's the French translation from the Swedish of the novel known in English as A Question Mark Is Half a Heart. It was positively Shakespearian in making me want to scream "just TALK to each other. All of this can be avoided!" It was an interesting premise, but I'm just not a huge fan of realistic, contemporary fiction. I slotted it in the Book Nerds script font on the cover prompt.
Currently reading The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music and gutted about the loss of Taylor Hawkins.
QOTW: I guess I should start by saying I don't reread very often. There are books I reread that "age well" or don't, based on my life and headspace at the time I first read them and now.
Then there are those that don't age well due to societal evolution. I'm a very firm believer in not judging past works of fiction by current standards. The clash can be jarring, but it doesn't automatically diminish my enjoyment of the book. It can, however, lead me to refuse to financially support an author who is still living.
Loved the concept of the Suck Fairy in the Tor post Shel shared. Love that a few of my favourite rereads are mentioned in the comments, and I wholeheartedly disagree. I'm not sure the Suck Fairy has much power in my house.
A few finishes for me:When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain - I used this novella for the Popsugar prompt of a book with a tiger on the cover or "tiger" in the title. It was very good, but I didn't like it quite as much as the first book, The Empress of Salt and Fortune, which was amazing.
Crazy Stupid Bromance - I needed some silly fluff. These books are pretty goofy but a lot of fun. This one was the best in the series so far (which isn't saying much because I didn't care for the heroines in the first two books that much.) And since the whole thing included prep for a wedding, with scenes at the wedding itself toward the end, I counted it for the prompt of a book featuring a party.
Not for a prompt, I read Cinder's Adventure: Get Me To the Wedding!, which I'm glad I got from the library and didn't buy. I enjoy Meyer's stories, but I'm not a super-fan, and that's who I'd recommend this little experiment to. It's a non-canon, choose-your-own-adventure book, whose primary purpose seems to be getting Meyer's heroine Cinder to cross over with all of her other stories. It only took me about an hour to go through all the various paths, and most of it was cute but pretty forgettable.
I'm currently reading Felix Ever After for the Popsugar gender identity prompt. So far I'm enjoying it, despite some of Felix's poor choices.
QOTW: What comes to mind first are David Eddings' fantasy books. My partner has been re-reading on audio the Belgariad (or maybe the sequel series, I lost track). I loved those books as a teen. As an adult, I'm finding myself much more aware of the casual sexism and especially the fantasy racism (i.e. every person from a country/region/race acts in exactly the same way).
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I hope you had a great vacation, Susan!Educated - I've had this on my list for a while but wasn't sure I was ready for the subject matter. From what I'd heard I was expecting more "cult" and not as much "parent with likely mental illness" (not that there were not cultural factors involved). It was surprising how gripping and page-turn-y it was, given that we obviously know the author does in fact grow up and write a book. I'm not sure I buy all the blurbs that say "universal" and "resonant for many" though.
The Bride Wore Black - This was a new author for me, an apparently prolific writer of noir mysteries. It's been turned into a movie that the author of the introduction didn't seem to think was great, but most of the way through I was like, "Yeah, this would totally make a great film." Then toward the end there was a gambit that wouldn't really work on film, and at the very end there was an extra twist thrown in that was...unearned, I guess. An enjoyable read, though.
QOTW: I don't do much rereading either; the only thing that comes to mind right now is Fahrenheit 451, which we read in middle school and was My First Dystopia, but upon rereading was not great from the manic pixie dream girl aspect but mostly just extremely talky. I had remembered it as having more plot and less preaching.
As far as first-time reads that are now problematic, so many Golden Age mysteries manage to throw in some casual racism just for fun. Often it's a racial slur used in an expression, so it's just sudden cringe out of nowhere.
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Sorry I've not been around! I've felt bad for not posting, but I just haven't had the energy. I kept bringing up good reads but then something would come up or I'd get distracted or I couldn't concentrate.
Since it's been so long since i've checked in, i've read way too much to post everything. I'll just post a vague recollection of some of what ii've read.
Noor - audio book - i really like Nnedi Okrafor's writing, but i often wish she'd write longer books. There was so much complex stuff going on with the world I felt like it needed more world building to support it. The ending moved at such a fast pace, that especially on an audio book, I felt pretty lost by the end. Extending it into a more full length novel would have given some breathing room.
The Masterharper of Pern - re read while migraining
The Chosen and the Beautiful - books and brew pick for march. Whole book club was lukewarm on this. It was a really interesting idea, a magical retelling of The Great Gatsby from the perspective of an immigrant woman living the so called American Dream. But the author stuck SO close to the story of the Great Gatsby that the there was no real life to it. Literal dialogue was lifted from the original. Her magic system was interesting, but not explained at all, it was just thrown in there. It would have been a way more interesting story if it'd just been a story about a magical Vietnamese woman trying to live the American dream, leaving the Gatsby part out of it. Or at least not clinging to it so tightly. Overall disappointing.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built - I really loved this one. Maybe not AS much as the wayfarers books, but still really fun. I wanted more though! Can't wait for the next book. Can i just be a tea monk? Or maybe I need to find one.
The Ex Hex - This was a fun romance, kind a had practical magic vibes.
How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question - I really enjoyed the audio of this. It's by the writer of The Good Place, basically breaking down everything he learned about moral philosophy while writing for the show down into terms that the general populace can put into their lives. From the perspective from someone who is by no means a moral philosopher himself. A lot of the major cast jumped in and read various lines, which was a lot of fun. the lines were usually based on the kind of character they played. So Ted Danson read most the narration sort of quotes, Kristen Bell the kind of Arizona Dirtbag sort of lines, Jameela Jamil anything that needed to be very British etc. I found it really helpful to sort of help me break down questions like "how do you handle when the creator of something you like ends up being a terrible person" or "how do you consume ethically when it seems like there's no good options?". Obviously there's no right answers, but by the end I felt like I had some good strategies for sort of breaking down how to make decisions.
Firekeeper's Daughter - books and brew pick for April. I liked it quite a bit. I like reading books set in Michigan, gives a nice sense of familiarity. Was set up north, not in SE where I am. But I still have been up there a little bit, and knew some of what was mentioned.
Day Zero - This was an interesting take on robots vs humans apocalypse, with the caregiving nanny bots being the ones who tended to side with their young charges. Sort of gave me dark calvin and hobbes vibes with a young boy and his tiger nanny.
Beyond the Black Door - interesting premise, sort of meh execution. Didn't really connect with any characters, but was a quick read, didn't drag on.
Canto: If I Only Had a Heart, Canto II: The Hollow Men, Canto III: Lionhearted, Canto and the Clockwork Fairies, Canto & the City of Giants - binge read the whole series so far, and now am sad that the next arc doesn't start until summer.
Crossover, Vol. 2: The Ten Cent Plague - very werid series
The Beautiful Ones - my favorite of her books so far, this one really just caught me. Lots of lush descriptions and I really loved Nina. And Valerie was fun to hate. Poor Luc wasn't a bad guy, just got caught up in it all.
QOTW:
Oh lots of stuff. Probably most comes to mind is Piers Anthony. I LOVED him so much growing up. As an adult I realize just how often he pairs grown men, and not just grown men as in 20 somethings but like...50+ year old men with under age girls. And often has the girls be the sexual aggressors so its "ok" because they're the ones who want it, right? It's often 14-15 year old girls too, not even "ok well she's 17, almost 18 so that's maybe just barely almost ok..." I think when I was closer to 14-15 myself I didn't see that as that weird. I mean i didn't want older men myself but I guess in the effort of wanting to be seen as basically "grown up" I figured if other girls wanted to be with grown ups that was their business. I didn't see it as predatory then.
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Masterharper is an excellent comfort re-read. I [heart] Master Robinton! I also loved Day Zero - I actually have Sea of Rust, which is the book it's prequel to, lined up to start next when I finish my current read. And I'm adding Firekeeper's Daughter to my list, always love to read books set in places I know! Have you read Embers by Laura Bickle? I liked, didn't love it, but it was fun to read a book set in Detroit.
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Happy to help. I suppose really the only thing a current member can't do at the moment is send out messages to the whole group, so it doesn't really matter all that much, but if it would ease your mind then go ahead and add me! :)
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EPBOT Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
Embers (other topics)Sea of Rust (other topics)
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (other topics)
The Masterharper of Pern (other topics)
Noor (other topics)
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Remember the questions are up for The Thursday Murder Club.
Recently, for my neighborhood book club, I finished The Vanishing Half. This book was underwhelming to me (and most others in the book club). I'm not really sure why it received the accolades that it apparently did. But I did not particularly like this book. I felt there was a lot of gratuitous checklist characters and a lot of it seemed shallow to me.
I also finished Matrix. This one I listened to on audiobook. Again, this one was just okay for me. It was one long fictional biography really. It was strange that the end of chapter 2 was something like 50-60% of the way through the book and then some chapters were very short. I don't recall why I put it on my TBR list.
I am currently listening to Old Man's War by John Scalzi. I was just on a vacation and he is good to listen to on long flights. This book is so far good and engaging. I accidentally listened one of the novellas for this series last summer, not knowing it was part of this series. I will have to listen to that again.
Since I was on vacation, I'm reading People We Meet on Vacation. This is a fluff read that is not deep on any account.
QOTW: I have no idea where to find them so I'll make one up. What books have you read (recently-ish) that are older that have or have not aged well?
I find earlier Nora Roberts books have not aged well. Rereading her early works makes me cringe at the behavior of some of her characters. Workplace harassment and such did not age well.
I'm thinking of rereading Isaac Asimov sometime and wonder how they have aged.