What Are You Reading? 7/21/17

[dorothyinAus]

Hello! and Happy Friday! What book is in your lap this weekend? How are you enjoying it?

QOTW: Back in school, did you do your summer reading throughout the summer, or did you want until the last last-minute?

[rainbowchip]

I am currently reading The Twelve (The Passage #2). I love it when I'm reading it but I don't have a strong desire to finish it.
I'm also reading New York 2140. I just started it last night so I don't have an opinion yet.

QOTW: I never had summer reading when I was in school. I wish I did! My parents forced me to go camping with them and I hated it so I hid out in the camper and read books.

[abs]

I am on book 9 of the Mercy Thompson series. I'm flying through these and have read most of the series in under 2 months. This is pretty good for me!

QOTW: I don't remember really having summer reading. I struggled with learning to read but once it clicked I was rarely without a book as a kid. Then in high school I used summers as a time to read what I wanted to instead of what was assigned. But as far as school goes I was definitely a wait until the last moment girl and relied on Cliff Notes for a few of them more than I should have!

[charlatti]

I'm almost finished with South Pole Station by Ashley Shelby, which I'm really enjoying (and not just because I'm obsessed with Antarctica). Not sure what's up next -- I have a huge stack right now.

I always tried to get it started and done early but then I'd get distracted by things I actually wanted to read and end up rushing through at the last minute, usually with help from cliff's notes.

[smock]

I'm reading This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab after absolutely loving her series A Darker Shade of Magic. Highly recommend that one!

QOTW: I don't remember assigned reading, but I was always a huge reader, and I definitely "assigned" myself some classics in the summer from the bookshelf in our basement. Nerd alert!

[pandora89]

I am reading Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica.

I never had summer reading.

[travella]

I finished Beartown. It started slowly but I ended up loving it. It will probably be a week or two until I start another book since we are visiting family.

Qotw: We didn't have summer reading.

[aurora]

I just finished the Woman in Cabin 10 so am back to re-reading The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time book 12). I'm also listening to HP and the Deathly Hallows.

QOTW: I spaced it out, but mostly because I always had a book with me during the summer so even assigned reading wasn't a chore. I'm surprised many of you never had summer reading!

[brewco]

I'm reading Water for Elephants, so far I love it but I just started yesterday.

I spaced summer reading out, I was a slower reader then and would have never finished if I waited too long.

[sassypants]

Jul 21, 2017 7:40:57 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

I am currently reading The Twelve (The Passage #2). I love it when I'm reading it but I don't have a strong desire to finish it.
I'm also reading New York 2140. I just started it last night so I don't have an opinion yet.

QOTW: I never had summer reading when I was in school. I wish I did! My parents forced me to go camping with them and I hated it so I hid out in the camper and read books.

Girl, I feel your pain! The best vacation ever was when I was finally old enough to stay HOME when they went camping. I hate camping so much!!

As for me, I am about a quarter of the way through Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare. I am enjoying it, but I should really be learning my lines for Much Ado About Nothing. Eep!

QOTW: I'd start out strong but end up having to catch up at the end of the summer. I remember the year I had to read 1984 over the summer and I got it on audiobook (long before they were popular). I felt like I was totally cheating by listening to it instead of reading it with my eyeballs. ;-)

[spedrunner]

This week I read some light summer reads:

Ugly Girls by Lindsay Hunter:  3 stars  * If anyone has read this and would care to discuss, I have a few things I am confused about!

Mystic Summer :  2.5 stars

Currently Reading:

Hunger A Memoir of my Body by Roxanne Gay - I am really loving and enjoying this so much!  It is hard to read (rape) but so drawing!

Walking to Listen:  4,000 miles across America One Story at a Time:  This book is amazing!  A true story of a men that sets out to find purpose/meaning in his life and just decides to walk.  He is going to walk, with a sign on his back, and meet and learn from every stranger/person along the way.  The way it is written is pretty cool.  It shares Andrews story (growing up, family life, etc) then the next chapter is a recount of a person he met along the way (he recorded their conversations) and they each have some kind of life lesson to share. Really great read so far!


QOTD: I used to be the last minute (or cliff note) kind of girl  As a teacher now it drives me nuts!! I am so sorry I did not get into a love of reading when I was younger, and i try to instill it in my students, but ya know how that goes

[bex]

I finally finished Name of the Wind and started Dog Whistle Politics which has been on my to-read list for years now (its from 2015) but its a little out of date after November.  I'm still looking forward to it.

Q: I read all  summer long but I always put off my summer reading until the last  minute.  No idea why lol.

[Nonny]

I finished Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, which tried to make a valid point on how current Western civilization/culture is detrimental to our mental health, but then went off the rails and became entirely about PTSD and glorifying war.  At least it was short.

I've since started The Alice Network, and I'm enjoying it so far, but I'm only about 20% of the way in.

QOTW: I only had assigned summer reading once, for my AP English class and we had a rather long list of things to choose from.  For some reason I decided to pick David Copperfield, and I think I read it at the beginning of the summer, but I don't really remember the when, just that I found it confusing as hell and all around awful, and that I ended up reading a second thing off the list just so I didn't have to write a report on it that abomination (and I don't remember what the replacement book was). 

[aurora]

What's with the camping hating? I've always loved it. Such a great time to read!

[snshne322]

I'm finishing up Ask the Passengers on audio today. I like it.

I'm also reading Grin and Beard it by Penny Reid. I'm enjoying her series' very much.

QOTW: I'm not sure I remember. I was never good at forced reading, so I doubt I finished most of them. Looking back I was a supreme bullshitter of reading materials. It's a miracle I got the grades I did.

I do remember finishing The Chosen and The Killer Angels. Beyond that, I'm not sure!

[snshne322]

Jul 21, 2017 15:19:01 GMT -5 aurora said:

What's with the camping hating? I've always loved it. Such a great time to read!

I hate to be cliche, but bugs.  The bugs!  Someone was nice enough as a child to shine a flashlight from outside the tent one night to show me what was hanging out on it.   

[mx27]

Still reading "Middlesex." I hope to finish by the end of next week. I'm very "meh" about it. I'm looking forward to starting a new book...perhaps, "A Court of Thorns and Roses"?!

QOTW: I can't remember...is that bad?!

[sarahsays]

This week I read Flamecaster and Shadowcaster by Cinda Williams Chima. I really like the series.

QOTW: I always did my reading early in the summer. I'm the type of person who would rather get things out of the way and then enjoy the time off then have it looming over me until the last minute.

[booknerd]

I'm rereading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I'm about to start another book to read too but can't decide what I want.

QOTW: Summer reading wasn't required, but they did send home a list of suggested books to read according to our grade level. My family was poor so they wouldn't buy me any of them and my parents didn't really value reading anyway so they wouldn't take me to the library. I'm the nerd that wanted to do summer reading!

[monkeyfeet]

I'm reading Drums of Autumn. It's slow going because we're moving. My husband is driving with the kids and ive been listening to a lot of the Presidential podcasts that I mentioned a while back. They're really well done! Also, they are (Washington post) starting a new podcast called constitutional soon.

I would space reading out, but by the time school started, I often forgot what I read!!! Still have that problem!

[dorothyinAus]

I'm still persevering with Girl in a Red Tunic, though I am not enjoying it -- I just hate to give up on a book.

QOTW: I always wanted to do the reading early in the summer, and I bought the books early in the summer, but after a couple of years, I found that if I read the books early in the summer, by the time I went back to school and had to write the essays or take the tests, I would have forgotten everything about the books or got the elements mixed up with other leisure reading. So in the end, it was better for me to be a last minute reader, even if it meant spending the last two days of summer frantically reading the shortest books on the list.

[Accountingcat]

Jul 21, 2017 8:37:55 GMT -5 pandora89 said:

I am reading Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica.

I never had summer reading.

Thoughts so far? Are you listening to the audiobook? I just finished it and I was a little let down compared to other Mary Kubica books. I listened to the audiobook which seemed extra cheesy so that probably didn't help. I'd say it was still a 4* book.


This week:
Every Last Lie 4*
Small Great Things 5*
God Never Blinks 4*
Here We Go Again 4*
Hamilton: The Revolution 3*
 


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[miniroller]

Jul 21, 2017 7:40:57 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

QOTW: I never had summer reading when I was in school. I wish I did! My parents forced me to go camping with them and I hated it so I hid out in the camper and read books.

Sorry late, but reading through the thread I HAD to add that my parents still, to this day, speak of my tackle box that always contained at least one book.
I could see the bobber over the page, dammit!! 😋

[sassypants]

Jul 21, 2017 15:50:14 GMT -5 snshne322 said:

Jul 21, 2017 15:19:01 GMT -5 aurora said:

What's with the camping hating? I've always loved it. Such a great time to read!

I hate to be cliche, but bugs.  The bugs!  Someone was nice enough as a child to shine a flashlight from outside the tent one night to show me what was hanging out on it.   

Definitely bugs, but I don't like being dirty and I need access to a bathroom that doesn't involve hiking through bugs and dirt to get to it.

[mrspez07]

I kind of have a bunch of stuff going right now.
I'm still re-reading an Echo In The Bone, I'd like to wrap it up this weekend. I got Firefly Dance on the kindle and turned the first few pages of Caraval yesterday.

I never had summer reading. But my favorite reading memories are reading in the summer under the tree on a blanket in the back yard.

[rainbowchip]

Jul 21, 2017 21:21:26 GMT -5 sassypants said:

Jul 21, 2017 15:50:14 GMT -5 snshne322 said:

I hate to be cliche, but bugs.  The bugs!  Someone was nice enough as a child to shine a flashlight from outside the tent one night to show me what was hanging out on it.   

Definitely bugs, but I don't like being dirty and I need access to a bathroom that doesn't involve hiking through bugs and dirt to get to it.

Camping is like, let's take all the stuff you normally have to do in life and make it 1000x more difficult. Need to take a shower? Gather everything you need, towel, clothes, soap, shampoo, conditioner etc, and put it in a bag or something. The. Hike with that to wherever there are showers. Once you get there, you likely have to wait in line for a shower. When you finally get in the shower is dirty and there are bugs so you get mosquito bites on your ass. You get about 5 seconds of water per quarter. The shower stops right as soap drips in your eye and you have to struggle blindly to get the water back on. Getting dressed is nearly impossible because there is no where to stand that isn't wet. Once you do get dressed, you then have to hike all the way back to your camp site. And you end up somehow getting dirty on yourwalk back so it was all wasted effort.
I'm exhausted just thinking about that.

[mrspez07]

rainbowchip
That's why you don't shower while camping, you are supposed to be dirty. ;-)

Now on the other hand, cooking and sleeping in the cold in a tight sleeping bag? Those are my annoyances, but I do it anyway, (and always bring a book).

[rainbowchip]

Jul 22, 2017 8:57:59 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

rainbowchip
That's why you don't shower while camping, you are supposed to be dirty. ;-)

Now on the other hand, cooking and sleeping in the cold in a tight sleeping bag? Those are my annoyances, but I do it anyway, (and always bring a book).

I just did the grossed out face along with a little bit of whole body shaking. 7 days accumulation of bug spray and sunscreen and dirt and grime. No thanks. I'll head to a hotel instead.

[mrspez07]

rainbowchip, I've never camped that long! 3 nights is about my max. You are right, showers would be necessary for 7 days!

[rainbowchip]

Jul 22, 2017 13:29:32 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

rainbowchip, I've never camped that long! 3 nights is about my max. You are right, showers would be necessary for 7 days!

We did do some camping trips that were just weekends at county parks and those didn't have showers. Those also had pit toilets so I didn't poop for 3 days either.

I really hated camping. Lol