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Hi all,

Hope you're all staying safe this week! The air here is very poor, marked as Unhealthy for everyone. Been masking up when i go outside, and had a migraine all week.

Book Club: Get any last minute recommendations for the book club in! I'll try to set up a poll early next week.

This week i finished:

Notes on an Execution - my next books & brew read. I liked it. Explores the fascination with serial killers, and redirects the sort of story but telling it more from the perspective of people surrounding him and affected by his murders. So his mother, the police woman who caught him, the relatives of victims, etc.

Fractal Noise - I listened to this mostly because Jennifer Hale was reading it and I adore her. She did a fantastic job, and on the whole the presentation was really cool with the music cues and the thumping. However the story was pretty lacking. Too much of the main guy wallowing in grief, bickering amongst the team, and weird religious debates.

The World We Make - good conclusion to the duology. I can see why she decided to trim it down and pivot, considering that reality started getting a little too much like what she was attempting to fictionalize. Looking forward to whatever else she writes next.

Currently reading:

Witch King - Enjoying this a lot, even if it's not Murderbot. I was sad to read about her health, I hope she caught things soon enough that she can be treated and recover.

Rolling in the Deep - audio book of the novella, almost done with it. I like it as a nice fill in for the previous story.

QOTW:

Are there any books that have sequels, but you wish they didn't? (or the vice versa question, are there any standalone books you wish had a sequel?)

Not sure if I can think of any offhand. If a book is truly a stand alone, i generally don't want to mess with it. I adore the Night Circus, and while I might have some interest in how the circus is adjusting to the modern era with bailey as the proprietor, I don't know that i actually WANT that written out. I prefer to just think about it or imagine it myself. I didn't think I needed more Priory of the Orange Tree, but i did end up liking A Day of Fallen Night, more because it was just set in the same world but a different part of the timeline rather than being a real "part" of a series or a proper sequel or prequel. I have heard that the follow up book to The Sparrow wasn't good, so I never bothered to read it. So maybe that one shouldn't have been written haha.

We had hazy skies yesterday here in the Southeast, but it hasn't been "don't go outside" bad. I'm headed to the PNW for a wedding next week, and it's forecast to be hotter there than here, which seems wrong. I'm loading up the Kindle in preparation.

Goshawk Summer: A New Forest Season Unlike Any Other - This is from a wildlife cameraman who had permission to film in the New Forest in England from April through June 2020. It's very very English: the wildlife, the cultural references, the language, and the specifics of the pandemic reaction (actual official lockdowns and such). The choice of title is a bit odd, given the dates, but maybe Goshawk Spring just didn't sound right. It was contemplative in a light way, if that makes sense, and I enjoyed it. I might have to pay three bucks to watch the documentary he was working on, though.

QOTW: I read all the (actual Frank Herbert) Dune books in high school, and it is my official position that there is only Dune, it has no sequels, there is no series. It's not like the first book wraps everything up in a bow, but it does have enough of an ending and a really great final line. The second one wasn't bad, but it was like a ball rolling downhill, they kept getting worse, I kept reading hoping they would improve, and the last one basically ended with my least favorite (by then, anyway) character riding into the sunset. I should've quit while I was ahead and that is what I recommend to others.

It's been pretty warm here (70s and 80s) in the PNW, but not too bad. Next week, we have Tuesday off for the holiday, and then we start summer Fridays, where we get a half day off on Friday if we've finished all our work. I can't wait!

Finished:
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin - 3.5 stars - for Popsugar's book that takes place in the decade I was born. I loved the PBS series that came out back in the 90s. This is written in a fast, breezy style, but I felt a lot less connected to the characters reading the book.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - 4.5 stars - for Popsugar's book your friend recommended. I love books like this with a slowly unravelling mystery and lots of clues.

Comics & manga:
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 4
Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Vol. 3
Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon Vol. 4
Run on Your New Legs, Vol. 1
Run on Your New Legs, Vol. 2
Something's Wrong With Us, Vol. 15

Currently reading:
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo - for Popsugar's book about a holiday that's not Christmas (the climax of this one focuses on Chinese New Year). I didn't finish this in June, but this will still count as part of my Pride reading.

Upcoming/Planned:
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert - for Popsugar's book about an athlete/sport.

QOTW:
The first thing that came to mind was Ready Player One and Ready Player Two. I haven't read the entire sequel, but I've heard enough from my partner's audiobook and seen enough reviews to make me push it way down my TBR when I was originally excited about it. The first one was just fine as a standalone.

I can think of a few books where book 1 is good and satisfying as a standalone, but I still liked the sequels (Middlegame, Little Thieves).

One book I wish had a sequel was Year of the Reaper. It was fine as a standalone, but it was an excellent surprise during my challenge reading last year, and I was hoping the author would write more about the world/characters.

It's been hazy here in New England too, although not quite as bad as it looks like it's been in the midwest. The advice has been for vulnerable folks to stay inside but the general public should be ok...but my son has mild asthma so with the exception of a few hours where the kids begged to go to the pool yesterday we've been hiding out inside.

One finish for me this week, The Hyena and the Hawk (last book of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Echoes of the Fall trilogy), which I just finished this afternoon. I had a hard time putting it down once I got past the beginning and reminded myself who all the characters were and what was going on.

Now I've actually made it to summer vacation and will have a lot more reading time! But I still can't find my kindle.... :(

QotW: There have been a few sequels that I've been kind of meh about compared to the first book, but one sequel that I actively disliked was Children of God, sequel to The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. The first book is absolutely brilliant - one of the best SF I've read - but I thought the second one took everything that was brilliant about it and completely turned it on its head, not in a good way. The first one stands alone quite well so I just like to recommend it on its own and pretend the sequel doesn't exist.

There has been some haze/smoke here in New England, as Shel mentioned. Not too bad. We're back from our vacation and it is a few weeks before we travel again. So I should get back into a reading and listening groove for a little while.

This week I finished Lessons in Chemistry. I rated it a 3 and really had mixed feelings about it. The story was interesting, but I really did not believe the setup. It was as though the author plucked many things from today and put them into the 1950s and 1960s. I don't believe it. The main character was not very likable either. As a woman in STEM I don't like when that happens. It's as though you cannot be STEM-oriented, smart yet still be a kind, enjoyable person. I guess that isn't interesting nor dramatic.

I briefly started Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow on audiobook. But then that got put on hold when I found the Far Reaches Collection on Amazon - free for the Kindle and Audible. So I'm listening to those short stories now. The first I finished is John Scalzi's Slow Time Between the Stars. The audiobooks are less than an hour each. I now am at the beginning of How It Unfolds. That is by James S.A. Corey but is not in The Expanse world.

I'm also reading We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds. It is both kind of dry but also quite interesting. I think someone here read it and/or recommended it. Maybe Rebecca? It was on my TBR list when I went on vacation and was on the shelf at my local library the day before we left.

QOTW:
I am totally drawing a blank. If something comes to mind I'll post more!