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Reading check ins 2020
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Week 43 Check In
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Three finishes this week (that hasn't happened in a LOOONG time!):Jurassic Park: Why did I think this was a massive doorstopper? 1. Not at all and 2. It flew by! I thought this was absolutely fabulous in its own right vs. the movie. I also recommend it highly to anyone who wonders if large organizations can pull off vast conspiracies - no, no they can't. Used it for the last Hufflepuff prompt, Newt Scamander, book about a zoo or nature reserve.
The Lonesome Bodybuilder: eleven short stories with a surrealist tinge. Although I thought some of the premises were brilliant, the end result wasn't really my cup of tea. Used it for the last Ravenclaw prompt, and the last prompt of the entire One PHRC 2020 reading challenge, Cho Chang, book by an East Asian author.
*** 60/60 ***
I expect I'll be able to finish the ATY and the 52 Book Club challenge by the end of the year, as I have 4 and 7 prompts left to fill, respectively. I have 12 left for Popsugar and 10 for Book Riot, which I found a bit too niche-y for my taste this year and wasn't really expecting to finish. I think the prompt "romance starring a single parent" just sums up my worst literary nightmare in five words :(
Third finish was What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, which I picked up for the ATY prompt "related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan". Japanese author writing about his practice of long-distance/marathon running, with two instances where he mentions training in the same locations as Olympic runners. As a running novelist, he is what I aspire to: I'm thinking of trying NaNoWriMo again this year, and I've fallen out of the running habit in 2020, which I do want to get back to. I enjoyed the read, but it is quite niche.
49/52
The library has decided that my next read is The Institute, as my hold has just come up.
QOTW: I'd never heard of the Dewey Readathon and had to look up what it's about. Although I can certainly read for long stretches, that just doesn't sound like a lot of fun. Especially if I have to interrupt my reading to be on social media talking about it!
People over in the FB group are again reading A Night in the Lonesome October, which I'd never heard of before the same thing happened last year. I stuck it on my list then (since it involves Sherlock Holmes and thus I am contractually obligated to read it) but the library didn't have it. They still don't, and there don't seem to be $5 used copies floating around, either. Is this just a cult classic with a really small cult? Is it worth spending $15 to get in on it next year?This week I finished Here for It; Or, How to Save Your Soul in America: Essays. I really enjoyed this one. It says "essays" but is basically a memoir, with stories in roughly chronological order. They were sweet and funny and sometimes fraught. It was weird to me that, although the author started college just two years before I did, his college stories somehow felt a lot older. I think that was partly because he was at a different school and dealing with multiple marginalized identities, but also, two years was kind of a lot at the time. Like, the difference between him saying YouTube didn't exist when he was in college, and me thinking I was pretty sure I remembered it (I checked, and it launched during my final semester, but still). Anyway, this was a good book and I am indeed here for it.
While waiting for the new season of Death in Paradise to air here, I decided to read the spin-off novel A Meditation on Murder. The books were written by the show's creator, so that seemed promising. Since he obviously had experience writing for the characters, the dialog was perfect: I totally heard everything in the actors' voices. The plot could easily have been an episode of the show - fully clued, limited suspects, makes you feel like a dunce at the end for not getting it - and overall I thought the narrative prose was pretty good for a screenwriter. I was surprised how many of the ŷ reviews were from people who hadn't seen the show. I mean, you certainly could read it as a stand-alone locked-room mystery; you could read Star Trek novels without having seen that show, either, but you'd definitely be missing something.
QOTW: I had also not heard of this, but I agree with both of you. I don't really need any incentive to read more; I'd be more likely to need a get-out-of-the-house-athon (actually I have a spouse to make me go for walks, so I am doing all right on that front). I'm not much for gamification of reading in general, personally.
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@daniele, I suggest for your "romance starring a single parent" prompt that you consider The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club. It is definitely starring a single parent (widowed) but kind of skirts the romance genre. I think it would definitely count, but is more just a novel than romance novel. I really enjoyed it (finished a couple weeks ago) and it was a fast read for me.
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Ohhhh you definitely need a copy of A Night in the Lonesome October. I was thinking of re-reading it again myself this week! It's a ton of fun and there are SO many references that I catch new ones every time I read it.
Last week I finished Down Among the Sticks and Bones, second of Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series. It's actually more of a prequel that tells the backstory of one set of characters that was only hinted at in the first book. I think I liked it even better than the first one. It was a quick read and I just requested book three from the library - it was available and I will be picking it up this week.
I'm now about a third of the way into Children of Blood and Bone (I guess I'm all about the bones this week?) and really loving it. Faux fantasy Africa is a nice change from faux fantasy Europe.
QOTW: I've never heard of this either. I know that in practice I would get restless sitting and reading that long, but the luxury of being able to read all day without interruption sounds SO lovely (and so unattainable with a fourth grader and kindergartener in the house)!
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Work has actually finally slowed down for me again! So I have a few finishes to report.Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup - I listened to this on audio. This was my Popsugar book by a journalist. I found it fascinating and disturbing how they were able to get away with everything for so long, with so many prominent political and business figures involved.
A Neon Darkness - This book tells the backstory of one of the antagonists from the Bright Sessions podcast audio drama. I think I said last week, Shippen does a great job balancing making the main character both sympathetic and unlikeable. I felt sorry for him, even though he did awful things. I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure it would be of much interest without listening to the audio drama first.
A Thousand Pieces of You - My Popsugar book with an upside-down image on the cover. They're sometimes cheesy, but I really like Claudia Gray's YA romances, at least what I've read so far. She always manages to introduce some topic or themes I wouldn't have expected in a teen romance. This was was a sci-fi romance, with devices that allow travelers to hop between dimensions.
Next up will be Return of the Thief which I have been looking forward to forever. I slotted this into my Popsugar book about a world leader, figuring that fictional world leaders count, too. :)
QOTW: I had never heard of Dewey's Readathon either and had to go look it up. Honestly, I'm with most of the group so far, saying that doesn't sound fun to me at all. I enjoy reading, but I need to take breaks and do other things, too. Plus, there's a live figure skating event going on today I'd like to watch.
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I only have a small short story finish this week, Sunday Night Yams at Minnie & Earl's. My husband told me to read it as it was his favorite story in a moon-themed anthology. It was a good story with an interesting premise. The ending was a little bit unsatisfactory but otherwise I enjoyed it.
I am "this close" to finishing Cibola Burn. This will be a finish next week. I am listening as I type this. I probably have 90 -120 minutes left on the audiobook that is maybe 20 hours long. Lots of action happening on all story threads.
I am still reading Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors. It is enjoyable and I'm working my way through it. There are so many examples in here. Some are not "comedy" when he talks about, say, inward facing doors.
QOTW: I too have never heard of Dewey's Readathon. I think I just do not have the makeup for most any kind of -athon. Reading, hacking, ...
Sheri - have you read A God in Ruins? I read it before Life After Life after hearing about it on Morning Edition when they were doing their book club, but I think she actually wrote Life After Life first. I liked A God in Ruins a lot more, since it doesn't jump around as much and has a fairly specific point. Daniele - that prompt sounds like the seventh circle of hell to me, too - but I read a really good one recently that would fit it in broad terms - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. She's not a single parent for the entire book or anything, but I feel like there's enough time that she is for it to count.
As for myself, I finished I've Seen the Future and I'm Not Going: The Art Scene and Downtown New York in the 1980s right after the last check-in, and I really enjoyed it. It's the kind of book that reminds me why I'm in so many IRL book clubs - I never would have stumbled across it on my own, and that would have been a shame. I'm really looking forward to talking about it next week, especially to find out how the person who suggested it heard about it.
After that, I read The Secret History. I might have gone in with too many expectations, since it had been recommended to me by several people whose suggestions I generally enjoy - but it was not my jam at all. I just do not generally enjoy stories about middle class white people struggling to fit in with slightly richer white people at fancy schools - why are there so many books about that, anyway? Is that a common thing for authors to experience or something? Apparently this one was supposed to be a thriller, but I don't really get how that works because everything is pretty much spelled out as you go, so there wasn't a whole lot of suspense - just the narrator and his frenemies having Very Profound Thoughts that they discuss at length.
I'm now reading The Engines of God, which is off to kind of a slow start - but I'm not quite 1/4 of the way through, so I haven't fully formed an opinion yet.
On the audio front, I finished Once More Upon a Time, which was very cute and worked great in the audio format, and the very short Coming Out Party, which was a lot of fun, as I work through all of the Audible freebies I downloaded during my subscription. I just started Ghostsitter - A Crazy Inheritance, since it seems appropriate for Halloween week. It's a bit confusing, since I think it was probably written in a different language first and translated, so it seems to be set in an odd hybrid of America and an unspecified European country, but the premise is fun.
QOTW: I was not familiar with the Dewey Readathon, so I just googled it...and it seems like the premise is to read for 24 straight hours, but to switch frequently between books and to respond to blog posts? I think that would be fun if it was spread out - like over the course of a month you spent an hour reading each day and then responded to posts about it, so over the time you would finish the books you've started - but it would drive me crazy to jump around between books like that! And the whole thing with spending so much time planning and making charts - she could have finished all of the books if she hadn't spent all that time on it! Maybe it is more for people who don't really like to read to sort of force themselves to do it, so those of us here are not really the intended audience - that makes a bit more sense.
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Sheri - I am usually a stickler for reading things in order, but that was one where you really don't have to. So don't worry if you forget Life After Life by the time you get around to it - you won't miss anything! Shel - I am one of those people who can't not finish a book, but also I kept thinking that if all of these other people love it, there must be some amazing twist at the end that makes it all worthwhile - so you were probably hoping for the same thing! I am relieved to hear that I am not the only person who didn't enjoy it, because I'm still not sure what exactly I'm going to say to everyone who recommended it if they ask me!
EPBOT Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
The Secret History (other topics)I've Seen the Future and I'm Not Going: The Art Scene and Downtown New York in the 1980s (other topics)
A God in Ruins (other topics)
The Secret History (other topics)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (other topics)
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Been a hectic week at work, stressed out big time. So glad it's the weekend!
Reminder, pre-reading thread is open in the book club folder. I just got my copy of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, so hopefully I can get questions up in the next week or two.
This week I finished:
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: And Other Questions About Dead Bodies - This was a fun if gross read. I'd watched some of her youtube videos, she's really informative while keeping a kind of dark subject pretty humorous. I liked the illustrations in between questions too. I had to read other stuff at meal times though, however humorous, I don't need to read about decomposition over food.
Fiyah Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, Issue 10: Hair, Spring 2019 - Literary magazine for Read Harder, which means I'm done, woo! I'd been sitting on it for a while, forgetting to transfer to ipad, and then forgetting i DID transfer it to ipad. It was pretty good, some good stories in it.
Life After Life - Took a break from Nightvale so I could get this read for my books & brew. I thought the librarian running it said it was a 900 page book, it ended up only being 500 or so. Not that it's not still long, but even for me 900 requires some planning and I didn't want to run my hold out. But figured once I started, might as well stop and now I can let the hold go in case anyone else in my group is waiting on it. I liked this a lot, a really interesting look on changing the past and the future. Not traditional time travel, so much as sort of life-long groundhogs day type loop, where every death leads to being reborn again in the same life, with vague memories. Hard reading at times, since time setting was across both world wars, but good.
Currently reading:
The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe - back at it now that I'm finished with the other. Nice revisiting old episodes, and sometimes I have an easier time following when reading rather than listening.
Nowhere Men, Vol. 1: Fates Worse Than Death - ongoing in background for when my kindle is charging. It's just ok. I like sci fi but I think i'm kinda over "the hubris of upper/upper middle class white men" type sci fi. Art's not amazing either, but ill probably finish just to finish.
QOTW:
Is anyone doing the Dewey Read -a-thon this weekend? Have you done read-a-thons before, or would you in the future?
In my other groups, people have been talking all about what they're planning to read and everything. I admit that it doesn't hold a lot of appeal for me. I love reading obliviously, and I read a lot. But I can't really imagine an entire day spent reading, outside of something like a long trip on a plane, or a bad weather vacation day or something. Even on reading-heavy vacations, usually go for walks, watch some tv, SOMETHING. Although I didn't actually read the rules, it's possible breaks are worked into it.