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Hello All,

Happy Spring to those of us in the northern hemisphere. It recently has been wet and chilly here in New England after a very mild winter.

This past week I finished reading Where the Forest Meets the Stars. It was a free short story on my kindle. This was such a sweet story. Not that bad things don't drive the narrative forward but it really was a great read. I recommend it.

I also finished listening to Killers of a Certain Age for both this book club and neighborhood book club. I enjoyed the book and plan to add an entry to the discussion thread soon.

Since I finished that audiobook, I am now back to The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. It took a bit to remember where I was and where she was but I'm back into it. I like the adventure so far but it is a very long book so I hope I don't need to interrupt it again.

I started reading another free romance on my kindle. It is Leveled Up Love. It is apparently a gamelit genre which I have never heard of nor read. One complaint is that the descriptions of gaming sessions are way too long and detailed. I guess that's my own fault and I need to shift my expectations.

QOTW:
Would you rather read a book with terrible writing but a good story OR a book with a terrible story but good writing?

I would always much rather deal with a terrible story but good writing than terrible writing. I recently just DNF'ed Pilgrim's Pie in February for partially this reason. There were two blatant grammatical errors in two successive sentences (and some earlier ones too). It came across as sloppy.

I did at least finish the book that had great writing and a terrible (for me) story. I'm looking at you The Four Winds and Kristin Hannah.

My lack of brain this past week sent me running for one of my comfort reads, the The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay, who is one of my absolute favorite authors. It had been a few years so it was time for another reread!

Then I raced through A Tempest at Sea, the seventh Lady Sherlock book, and now I'm all caught up and have to wait for the next book to be published in June.

QOTW: honestly, I probably wouldn't finish either option! I've gotten very good at putting down books that I'm not enjoying, whether it's because of a terrible story or terrible writing. I am not sure which would turn me off MORE, but I don't think I'd keep reading either way.

Well, I finally got the 'rona. I was actually pretty OK, just sore throat and sniffles, but it was somewhat annoying.

Death Knocks Twice - I wanted something fluffy last weekend while I was trying to stay in bed, so I read the third Death in Paradise book. These really are the best based-on-a-TV-show books I have ever encountered.

A Kiss Before Dying - Some of the Golden Age mystery people were discussing how this book, a sort of inverted mystery thriller, is supposed to have the greatest twist ever. I thought the twist was perfectly good but not, like, amazing, but overall the book was excellent. It did get a bit obvious at the end, as the inevitable conclusion bore down like a train, but I would definitely recommend it. If you're the kind of person who can go in blind, this is a good time to do that, but I'll spoiler a little description that does NOT spoil the twist and is basically what I knew going in: (view spoiler)[In Part I, we follow an unnamed young man who has decided to murder his pregnant girlfriend and make it look like a suicide; in Part II, the girl's sister doesn't buy the suicide and decides to find the man responsible, but there are multiple candidates who fit the description, and the reader doesn't know which one it was, either. (hide spoiler)]

You and the Bowerbird - A picture book about a girl observing bowerbirds near her home. I enjoyed it, but then I do identify strongly with the satin bowerbird's attraction to blue objects.

QOTW: Yeah, those are both bad, and I'm not sure which I would actively choose. In terms of finishing, though, I'm more likely to keep going with the good writing, because you can't always judge a story partway through, but the writing is unlikely to improve over the course of one book.

I had a nice, short week at work this week, took some vacation days just to have some days off.

Finished:
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer - 3 stars - for PopSugar's nonfiction book about Indigenous people. I didn't hate this -- in fact, I appreciated a lot of what the author had to say -- but for me, it wasn't the five-star book everyone seems to be raving about. I loved the descriptions of native beliefs and practices, and agreed with the author's criticisms of over-consumption and not appreciating the gifts of nature. But a lot of the essays were slow, and I was left feeling somewhat guilty about having zero interest in gardening!

Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman - still 3 stars. I liked a lot of the poems more on the second read-through with the group, where I could stop to highlight and appreciate the language. I still think it's a very uneven collection, though.

Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire - 4 stars (reread) - for PopSugar's book about a 24-year-old. After this, I am caught up to where I left off this series.

Comics/manga:
Cat + Gamer Volume 4

Currently reading:
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal - not for any challenge (yet)

Upcoming/Planned:
Future Tense: How We Made Artificial Intelligence—and How It Will Change Everything by Martha Brockenbrough for PopSugar's book that came out in a year that ends with "24" (2024)

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa - for PopSugar's book from an animal's POV

QOTW:
I think I would put down the book before continuing with either of those scenarios. I'm probably more likely to keep going with the good writing, bad story, but after a certain point not even good writing can save it if a book is that bad.

I guess it depends in what way the writing is bad in the good story/bad writing scenario. If it's just a handful of typos that clearly got missed in editorial, I can overlook it. If it's just bad writing or lots of purple prose, then no.