Week 13 Check In

[Sheri]

Hi everyone,

I took Teddy's stitches out this week! So he's now living his best cone-free life. thanks for all the well wishes <3

Book club : I have a post up in the book club folder for book club recommendations! I'll make a poll next week for voting.

This week I finished:

The Genesis of Misery - I was looking forward to this so much! I ended up being kind of disappointed. It started out really strongly, then became a slog. It was advertised as Joan of Arc in space, and Pacific Rim meets Evangellion. I expected a lot more action and excitement and a lot less being trapped inside Misery's head as she first debated wether or not she was void mad and then embraced being a prophet and decided that meant everything she did was ordained and required no introspection whatsoever. I wanted a lot more world building and character interaction. However the epilogue was interesting, and implied there might be a second book. I'd consider reading it, just not buying it. (this was a "OMG I'm in the Strand impulse buy)

The Girl from the Sea - this however was absolutely charming and sweet! A girl is trying to hide the fact that she wants to date other girls until she's rescued by a selkie and kisses her which turns her plan upside down. The art was really lovely as well.

How to Be Eaten - this was another Strand buy, luckily went much better. I liked it quite a lot! It's about a support group for women who survived fairy tales and the media circus resulting from those fairy tales, set in the modern day so they were tweaked for a modern setting. So Bluebeard, for example, was a shady tech billionaire with a cyan beard preying on Hooters waitresses and grad students etc and the story being told by the girlfriend who managed to survive him.

Currently reading:

Old Man's War - another one from my TBR challenge, just started it

Paradise Lost - trying to do the audio for this, thinking that I usually do better with poetry when it's read. but I don't like the narrator. It's a British guy with a really dry, fast narration so it just turns into a background drone. But I tend to skim poetry when I read it, so I don't know if switching to reading will go any better. So meh, I'm sticking with the audio for now.

QOTW:

If you could spend your life never sleeping, then what would you do with the extra hours in each day?

I feel like this is one of those sounds good at first but would actually be kind of miserable scenarios. I get overstimulated a lot so I take a nap daily, even if i'm not actually "tired" just to have. half hour where i have my eyes closed, lights on, white nose on, and shut the world out to recharge. I've often gone to bed early on bad days because i just can't anymore. So while there's a part of me that's like "oh yes i'd use all that extra time to write, or draw, or paint or craft", I'm not sure it would. I'm also solar powered, I find it difficult to do ANYTHING productive when the sun is down. So it feels like it'd be difficult to either switch to working after dark so I could be creative in the day, or do my creative things at night. It just seems like the extra time would be hours of staring at screens, or at best reading. Reading is good, but i do a lot of that already. Maybe I'm being too gloomy on a silly question, haha.

[Jen W.]

Hi, everyone! Sheri, that's great to hear about Teddy. <3

Finished:
The Echo Wife - 4 stars - for Popsugar, a book about a divorce. I really enjoyed the sci-fi take on the domestic thriller. It's about cloning and ethics, but also about cycles of abuse and breaking them.

The Witch's Heart - 4 stars - for Popsugar, a book with a love triangle. I found this really compelling, even though I already knew the mythology. It made me want to read more Norse-inspired works.

Comics & manga:
Toilet-bound Hanako-kun, Vol. 17
Magus of the Library, Vol. 6

Currently reading:
I am just about to start Blood Debts for Popsugar's book about a family.

Upcoming/Planned:
Some Desperate Glory
And a bunch of physical manga that needs to go back to the library soon

QOTW:
There was a book about this! I read it with my old book club. It was Beggars in Spain. Most of us didn't like it very much, but your question put me in mind of it.

Honestly, I think it depends. I would start off reading or playing video games all night. Assuming my eyes would still get tired from looking at screens, I would probably want some activities, like listening to music, audiobooks, or podcasts, that I could do while my eyes were resting.

[Daniele]

Yay for Teddy!

Finishes this week:

Walking to Aldebaran, the first finish of new-to-me authors recommended over on Book Nerds. Enjoyed the writing, but this is one instance where I'm not sure the author is the best audiobook narrator. It kinda works given this particular novella, but I guess we'll see. Used for Book Nerds "Out of this world" prompt.

Mort, my first Terry Pratchett! I really should have picked up some of his work earlier - he is right up my alley. Gosh darn it, now I have a whole nother crazy series to explore! Used for Book Nerds "Death" prompt, because, duh!

I also finished two... I suppose graphic novels, even though they are not written as novels, but as printed as such:

1. Zombie Recognition Guide is exactly what it says on the cover. It is a reference guide for zombie types around the world, with their rarity, strengths, weaknesses, and a short background on how the came to be. Facing page is full-page B&W artwork. They cover zombies caused by viruses, alien spores, mad scientists, military labs, demonic possession, and religious rites gone awry. Some of the cultural references were clever, others not so much.

2. All My Friends Are Zombies!, same layout: full page B&W artwork, and on the right, an interview with a cavalcade of zombies, mostly in North America, with a few Europeans sprinkled through. They all answer the same, almost dating-game type questions, including likes, dislikes, what they are most likely doing on Friday night, how they got turned, and so on. Uneven levels of hilarity.

Both become a bit repetitive when read in a single sitting, but I got them both for free from a local guy who was emptying his shelf of zombie-themed books, so... win?

QOTW: I would love to say write, but in actuality, sadly... probably not.

[Rebecca]

I didn't do a lot of reading this week, as we had a little vacation with some hiking and kayaking near my parents' new 55+ community.

Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions - This author is described in one of the blurbs on the back as "iconoclastic", so that's what you're in for. I thought she did a pretty good job with her mission of making clear what is possible, impossible, or outside the realm of scientific inquiry. I didn't super love it, but I'm not the sort of person who has a lot of qualms about free will or whatever. If someone has told you something about quantum mechanics that made you question your worldview, maybe it's for you.

QOTW: I mean, assuming this wasn't a society-wide phenomenon in which capitalism would just dictate that everyone should work an additional 8 hours, I guess I would read more, and probably watch a lot of silly YouTube videos. Maybe I'd actually watch television shows with long plot arcs, but I'm not convinced.

[Shel]

Hooray for Teddy!

Last week's reads:
A free kindle first book, Hide by Tracy Clark. It was okay - certainly hard to put down, I ripped through it in a day, but it had all of the same problems that I find most popular thrillers usually have...predictable twists, characters whose motivations make no sense or who are randomly evil for no reason. At least it was free of unnecessary romance.

I've started a re-read of Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood with the intent of finishing the rest of the trilogy this time. I first read it when it had just been published, and even though I really liked it I somehow didn't bother looking up the other two at the time of their publications. But now my other GR group is reading the trilogy so I'm looking forward to revisiting it!

I started reading an old childhood favorite with my daughter, The Night Journey by Kathryn Lasky, and am still on Dragonquest with my son.

QOTW: Interesting question. I think I would miss sleeping, honestly. I'd probably spend a lot of time curled up in my bed with a book. I would certainly appreciate having time for my mostly sedentary preferred activities AND time to get some exercise in. I usually don't have time for both and need to pick one...somehow, exercise always loses... and I'm in terrible shape. It's not good.

[Susan]

Hurray for Teddy Sheri.

I have no finishes this week. I'm still working on both books from last week.

I'm reading Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling. I'm into the part about crafting your story. I'm actually trying to actively do the (daily) things he mentioned in Part I of the book about finding ideas. But I haven't done them daily so I seem to catch up every couple of days when I remember. I'm also trying to remember to watch his YouTube channel.

I'm still listening to European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman. This is a long audiobook so you'll be seeing this for a while to come.

QOTW: Good question. I definitely love to be active and outdoors so I'd spend more time doing that, but not if the time gained is dark. I'm nearing retirement age with an empty nest so I feel less time pressure on a daily basis. I'd use more time to visit family. But in daily life, probably more of the same things I enjoy now, reading, cooking, jigsaw puzzles, watching some shows and YouTube channels, etc. I definitely would not want more work hours in my day.

[Sheri]

Hi all,

Just as a book club note, I got a message that someone couldn't open the thread properly. Not sure if anyone else was having an issue. But there were only two suggestions, so I hadn't made a poll yet in case some people were holding out til the end. If you have any suggestions, please get them in! I made a second thread, just in case there are any issues with the first. I'll check them both.