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2025 Independent Challenge
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Ioana's 2025 Independent Challenge
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A Sorceress Comes to Call I really liked this one, apparently a retelling of a Grimm's tale. https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm089... It's short, with a good story and well defined characters: Evangeline, the sorceress, the abusive and manipulative mother; Cordelia, the 14 year-old daughter, isolated from the rest of the world by her mother, turned "obedient" through magic; Hester, the smart sister of the wealthy Squire, eyed by Evangeline as her future husband; Lord Evermore, generous and loyal; Penelope, the friendly ghost; and not to be forgotten, Falada, the white horse, Evangeline's familiar.
One of the best books this year, 4.5 stars, maybe 5.
When I Was You I have mixed feelings about this one: definitely a page turner, but with issues. Brienne is weak and gullible in the beginning, then smart and resourceful in the middle, then makes stupid mistakes (of course) in the end. The ruse is apparent from the beginning, but I just needed to find out how she got her life back again. 3 stars
Ioana wrote: "A Sorceress Comes to Call I really liked this one, apparently a retelling of a Grimm's tale. https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm089... It's short, with a good story and well defi..."
Glad to hear you enjoyed this one. It was a favorite for me as well.
A Sorceress Comes to Call sounds like it is right up my alley. I just added it to my TBR.
Lea wrote: "A Sorceress Comes to Call sounds like it is right up my alley. I just added it to my TBR."I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
Michelle wrote: "Ioana wrote: "A Sorceress Comes to Call I really liked this one, apparently a retelling of a Grimm's tale. https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm089... It's short, with a good story..."
It was only my 2nd T.Kingfisher, and I hope to read more of her books.
Lea wrote: "Ioana wrote: "Across the Sand was published 8 years after the 1st book in the series, which I read as the "Sand Omnibus" about 7 years ago. While this new one was entertaining, I don't think it was necessary. 3 stars."I feel this way about a lot of "late" sequels. I haven't added this series yet, but it is on a maybe someday list. :-) Happy October!"
I so feel this too! Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who have to complete series. I'm trying really hard to stop that as there are so many other books but I can't seem to walk away. As evidenced by my list of continuing series, lol
Lillie wrote: "As evidenced by my list of continuing series, lol"I'm so glad I'm not the only one :-)
Lillie wrote: "I so feel this too! Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who have to complete series. I'm trying really hard to stop that as there are so many other books but I can't seem to walk away. As evidenced by my list of continuing series, lol"I have a problem with always wanting to complete my series also. I have abandoned some, but I do keep them on my spreadsheet; and I do find myself returning to some of those series. Who knows if I will make it back to all of them?
Lea wrote: "I have a problem with always wanting to complete my series also. I have abandoned some, but I do keep them on my spreadsheet; and I do find myself returning to some of those series. Who knows if I will make it back to all of them?"I know the feeling. My spreadsheet still shows some series that I know I will not go back to, but I can't just delete them. Maybe I'll get back to them someday?
Ioana wrote: "I know the feeling. My spreadsheet still shows some series that I know I will not go back to, but I can't just delete them. Maybe I'll get back to them someday?"I do occasionally go back to some of my series that I think I've abandoned, when I suddenly find myself in the mood for it. Like, Saga, for example, I keep abandoning that series. I don't like the direction it has headed. The last few books haven't been my cup of tea. But then, suddenly, I'm in the mood for a graphic novel. I don't want to start a new series. It's right in front of me on the shelf at my library. So, I read it. :-)
Ioana wrote: "Lea wrote: "I have a problem with always wanting to complete my series also. I have abandoned some, but I do keep them on my spreadsheet; and I do find myself returning to some of those series. Who..."Wait, YOU have a spreadsheet too???? Is this Lea's doing or did you already do this lol
Anywho you are doing great this year woot woot!
Mod
Aren't spreadsheets great!
No! No! You people have to stop this spreadsheet nonsense. You talked about planning challenges so that not only am I already thinking about next year's challenges, but I'm also making lists in my notes app. Now you're going on about spreadsheets? It's only a matter of time before I find myself opening up Excel and trying to record every book I've ever read. This is just not good. Not good at all.
Michelle wrote: "No! No! You people have to stop this spreadsheet nonsense. You talked about planning challenges so that not only am I already thinking about next year's challenges, but I'm also making lists in my notes app. Now you're going on about spreadsheets? It's only a matter of time before I find myself opening up Excel and trying to record every book I've ever read. This is just not good. Not good at all."Oh, no, Michelle, my spreadsheets don't include the books I've already read. It's a totally different thing. :-)
Instead, they are lists and lists and lists of books that I want to read. Separated by tab.
Once I read a book, I search all worksheets and delete it from Excel. Or on certain tabs where I want to keep an entire list, I mark it as read. But mostly, I delete. :-)
Lea wrote: "Oh, no, Michelle, my spreadsheets don't include the books I've already read. It's a totally different thing. :-)"Wait wait!! You have two spreadsheets? A to be read one and a challenge one? I don't even have one. I'm totally lacking, lol
Alissa wrote: "Wait, YOU have a spreadsheet too???? Is this Lea's doing or did you already do this lol"No, it was not Lea's doing, I've had it for years. I'm just mad I haven't started the list when I started reading...make sure your girls start one now. If not a spreadsheet, at least a list.
Lea wrote: "my spreadsheets don't include the books I've already read. It's a totally different thing. :-)Instead, they are lists and lists and lists of books that I want to read. Separated by tab.
Once I read a book, I search all worksheets and delete it from Excel. Or on certain tabs where I want to keep an entire list, I mark it as read. But mostly, I delete. :-)"
Mine is only 1 document with multiple tabs, for read, want to read books, multiple tabs for series in various stages of completeness, planned reads for the near and far future, books on waiting list at various libraries, etc.
Sounds more complicated than it actually is, and it works for me :-)
My Friends Classical Backman, emotional and beautifully written, with interesting characters that you get to know and care about. About friends (Joar, Ted, Ali, and KimKim - and later one, Luisa) and friendship, being young and growing up with friends, love and loss, art, finding yourself and finding your place in the world. 4 stars
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death In December 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby, the forty-three-year-old editor of French Elle, suffered a massive stroke that left him completely and permanently paralyzed, a victim of "locked-in syndrome."The only way he can communicate with the outside world is by blinking with his left eye, with a rudimentary alphabet board used by his "conversation" partner. And this is how he wrote this book, blinking it letter by letter, reminiscing about playing with his children, cooking and eating nice meals, traveling, enjoying art, all while living as a complete paraplegic with no basic bodily function, with his entire days filled with therapy, doctor visits, tv watching, etc.
It is not a sad book, but one that celebrates life and human resilience. I was hoping though for a book to move me emotionally, and this was not one of those. I sympathize and respect his struggles and perseverance, the effort it took to write the book, but it all sounds very detached. 2.5 stars
Mod
I started with a book my wife bought me that let me list all the books I wanted to read and then the ones I actually bought, then graduated to this site where I could list books, then had a microsoft access page where I listed my purchases and at one time even where they were located in the house... that crapped out, so now I've just got books on order and received... hmmm, spreadsheet for all of my series.. etc etc.. LOLOL It takes up so much time. But lists are our friends, remember that always
Sorry you guys are not helping. My list of books that I want to read (which I keep bits of here and there but in completion only in my head) is far larger than all the books I have ever read. It's pretty much any new book I see or hear about.
Michelle wrote: "Sorry you guys are not helping. My list of books that I want to read (which I keep bits of here and there but in completion only in my head) is far larger than all the books I have ever read. It's pretty much any new book I see or hear about."Same Michelle! My list is anywhere I can write it down, lol
Lillie wrote: "Same Michelle! My list is anywhere I can write it down, lol"
You 2 are too funny. How do you remember all these places with bits of papers and bits of lists?
You're young and have good memory...just you wait 🤣🤣🤣
Mod
Don't get sucked into their mania, Michelle! Stay Strong!! Revolt!!
LOL :D
Mod
"
You 2 are too funny. How do you remember all these places with bits of papers and bits of lists?
You're young and have ..."
How true.. LOL
Ioana wrote: "Lillie wrote: "Same Michelle! My list is anywhere I can write it down, lol"
You 2 are too funny. How do you remember all these places with bits of papers and bits of lists?
You're young and have ..."
Not that young just not that organized.
Alondra wrote: "Michelle wrote: "No! No! You people have to stop this spreadsheet nonsense. You talked about planning challenges so that not only am I already thinking about next year's challenges, but I'm also ma..."Thanks Alondra! I don't see spreadsheets happening for me. My reading process is more free form.
Patricia wrote: "I plan to read My Friends soon. Glad to see you enjoyed it."It was not as good as some of the older ones, but still a good one. I hope you'll enjoy it too.
Ioana wrote: "You 2 are too funny. How do you remember all these places with bits of papers and bits of lists?You're young and have good memory...just you wait 🤣🤣🤣"
Haven't been called young in so long, lol. Nah, I'm just not organized. Every once in a while I can get my act together and put all the different lists together, including pictures of books I've taken.
The Little Communist Who Never Smiled. Not true fiction, not non-fiction, not historical fiction, but a combination of all these genres. Multiple opinions from various participants, and in the end you don't know what the real story was.But the book it's more than just that, it's also about how we, as a society look at and treat our sport idols, about values in the East and West, about sport women and their development, their training, their mental and physical toll.
The fiction part...I don't think the conversations/letters with Nadia and other characters were real; and as a Romanian who lived in those times, some events were not historically accurate, even though not too far from reality. But some exaggerations make for a better story... and (I think) unless one lived in a communist society, one cannot understand or imagine it.
I was fascinated by gymnastics during the 1970s/1980s, but everything I knew about it was through an American lens. I was also too tall and had not enough upper body strength for gymnastics, so my personal experiences were short lived, but I loved reading stories about the gymnasts back in the day.
Lea wrote: "I was fascinated by gymnastics during the 1970s/1980s, but everything I knew about it was through an American lens. I was also too tall and had not enough upper body strength for gymnastics, so my ..."Nadia was definitely a hero in Romania when I was growing up. I was tall and not very athletic, so I was not part of the group that wanted to be like her, but one of my class mates was very good, and even though not Nadia's level, she was way above the rest of us.
And our physical ed teacher loved her and compared all of us to her. Of course, we all hated them both...
I was looking for a book that explain the person, the times, the effort, the relationships between gymnasts and coaches, and this was not it.
Ioana wrote: "Nadia was definitely a hero in Romania when I was growing up. I was tall and not very athletic, so I was not part of the group that wanted to be like her, but one of my class mates was very good, and even though not Nadia's level, she was way above the rest of us.And our physical ed teacher loved her and compared all of us to her. Of course, we all hated them both...
I was looking for a book that explain the person, the times, the effort, the relationships between gymnasts and coaches, and this was not it."
I have nothing to recommend on this topic, but if you find a good book on this, I will read it to. The books I read in the 70s/80s were all very favorable about her, her coaches, Olga Korbut and Olga's coaches, etc. basically, lauding the value of good hard work and practice. We now know those stories are incontestably not what happened.
Lea wrote: "We now know those stories are incontestably not what happened."Unfortunately, that seems to be the case with so many other athletes...
Ioana wrote: "Lea wrote: "We now know those stories are incontestably not what happened."Unfortunately, that seems to be the case with so many other athletes..."
It's such a nice fairytale, the one where somebody works super hard and becomes the one of the best in the world in their field. We want to believe it so much.
Lea wrote: "It's such a nice fairytale, the one where somebody works super hard and becomes the one of the best in the world in their field. We want to believe it so much."And then we learn the truth :-(
And we learn that the hard work is only part of it, and sometimes there's more to it, and sometimes is not enough.
And we still believe that next time the reality will be a fairy tale with a happy ending.
And then I read the news..."NBA gambling and sports rigging indictments". Hmm, maybe not a fairy tale.
Belcanto A reread for my real life book club.A birthday party honoring Mr. Hosokawa, a Japanese tycoon at the vice-president's villa in an unnamed Latin America country. He's there not to invest, but to see a famous opera singer, Roxane Coss, who's also a guest. The president was invited too, but canceled the last minute, to watch his favorite soap opera.
At the end of the performance, they realize they are all prisoners of a revolutionary group, who was hoping to get the president. So now, 40 prisoners and 18 revolutionaries are stuck together. French, Japanese, Russians, Italians, English and Spanish speakers.
They all discover something new about themselves (some like to cook, some like housework, revolutionaries are human too, some discover they are good at music, some fall in love).
While slow moving, we realize that language is only one way we communicate, and not always necessary. Music and love are the universal languages. 3 stars.
Ioana wrote: "Belcanto A reread for my real life book club.A birthday party honoring Mr. Hosokawa, a Japanese tycoon at the vice-president's villa in an unnamed Latin America country. He's there ..."
I loved this book! It was so simple yet not so simple. <3
Alissa wrote: "I loved this book! It was so simple yet not so simple. <3"So simply said, so true!
Mod
A birthday party honoring Mr. Hosokawa, a Japanese tycoon at the vice-president's villa in an unnamed Latin America country. He's there ..."
I think I am one of a few who just absolutely loved this book. Not sure if I reread it, if I would feel the same; but at the time, it checked ALL the boxes for me. I miss it.
I know that my book club will have a great discussion on it. They are such a smart group, and after participating in the discussion, I always appreciate the books we've read more. I know it will be the same with this one.
The Orphan Collector Leave it to crooks to take advantage of any human tragedy.In this case, the tragedy is the flu of 1918. And what had potential to be a good story was poorly executed.
Either completely good or completely villain characters, predictable situation, way too many coincidences and unbelievable turns to make a happy ending, a 6th sense that allows Pia to "know" when someone is sick or dying, and even diagnose the illness (plus, she's 13 and she speaks and acts like a more mature person), a ruthless Bernice that somehow manages to manipulate nuns, doctors, orphanage officials to allow her to take the children away and never ask about their where-abouts, adoptive parents, etc.... too many issues. 2.5 stars.
Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick Lots of interesting facts, but dull writing and too repetitive. 3 stars
Ioana wrote: "The Orphan Collector(plus, she's 13 and she speaks and acts like a more mature person)"
Oh! That'd drive me crazy. Yes, I know there are some kids out there who are mature beyond their years but I find it hard to deal with in a character in a story. Those are the books I usually walk away from.
Lillie wrote: "Oh! That'd drive me crazy. Yes, I know there are some kids out there who are mature beyond their years but I find it hard to deal with in a character in a story. Those are the books I usually walk away from."My RL book club will discuss this book soon, and I know most of them liked it. I didn't for the reasons mentioned above, and if young teenagers behaving and talking like adults are not your thing, run!
I understand that circumstances will force such kids to mature sooner, but I think that while they might act maturely, they will still speak as a teenager.
Ioana wrote: "My RL book club will discuss this book soon, and I know most of them liked it. I didn't for the reasons mentioned above, and if young teenagers behaving and talking like adults are not your thing, run! I understand that circumstances will force such kids to mature sooner, but I think that while they might act maturely, they will still speak as a teenager."
Taking your advice and crossing it off my list! :)
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Orphan Collector (other topics)Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (other topics)
The Orphan Collector (other topics)
Belcanto (other topics)
Belcanto (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
T.Kingfisher (other topics)Karin Slaughter (other topics)
Karin Slaughter (other topics)
Yes, that was a good one. I think I was hoping to feel the same about this one, but it didn't happen...