It's Friday! What are you reading? (8/4)

[ufcasey]

Happy Friday!! What books have you read this week? What are you currently reading? Like/Dislike any of them?

QOTW:
It's August, back to school time (well, down here in Florida anyways) - so, what was your least favorite area of study in school? Feel free to list your most favorite too, but I have a funny feeling it will be Literature/English/Reading for a lot of people on here haha.

[aurora]

I'm currently listening to Caraval and just started reading Climate of Hope by Carl Pope and Michael Bloomberg, which my mother gave to me because she's concerned I'm too depressed about the state of the world/environment in the current political climate. We'll see how much it helps.

I'm also sort of listening to Still Life by Louise Penny, but really I'm taking a break from it in an attempt to get through Caraval before it expires so I can talk about it in Book Club. So, I don't know if it really counts.


QOTW: I didn't really have any subjects I strongly disliked, though I certainly had bad teachers who made certain classes dull and uninteresting. For example I had a history teacher whose idea of teaching was to have us read the textbook and copy out the first sentence of every paragraph into our notes (he said that sentence was most likely to be the main idea, but didn't give us the option to copy out another sentence when the first one wasn't the main idea).

[ally]

I finished A Murder In Time, Julie McElwain, this week.  I enjoyed it and have put a hold on the second at the library.  It finished the mystery, but the overarching story is not finished. 

I am now reading The Alexandria Link, Steve Berry, about halfway through and I like it.  It is similar to Dan Brown books - ancient mystery, with riddles, about religion. 

QOTW: I never really liked science classes, but other than geometry I found math fun - partially because of an excellent teacher for three years.

[spedrunner]

Happy Friday!

This week I read:


The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda (Author of All The Missing Girls)
 3 Stars. Meh. It was ok. Most of the time I had no clue what was going on. Hard to follow

Tex S.E. Hinton (read with students)  3 stars

The Couple Next Door   4 stars. I really loved this book!  I read this super fast. Had me hooked. Suspenseful, twists and turns, all of it


Currently Reading

I See You by Clare MacIntosh:  so far its ok. Really not too far into it, hoping it catches my interest a bit more

Walking to Listing:  4000  Miles Across American one story at a time

still reading this. I like it but have to be in the mood for it. Seems to have a lot of hints of war and politics and privilege. Was not expecting that

The Girl Before:  I am LOVING this so much. I am listening on audio and finding excuses to drive or ride my bike to hear it. Its a mix between 50 Shades and The Circle  lol

QOTD:  History! yuck. Always my least favorite and most difficult!

[pandora89]

I am currently reading Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan. I really enjoyed Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend and am liking this one so far too.

QOTW - I hated math and science courses.

[travella]

I have nothing new to report. I did just get a notification that Caraval is waiting for me at the library so I'm excited to dive into that when I get home.

Qotw: I hated history. Our history classes were taught by the school football coach and were known as the no need to study classes which they were - all open book and note tests with no brainier questions. They were a waste of my time. I loved the social studies and business courses in high school.

[kelliebeans104]

I'm currently reading Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders and Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare. I have Chamber of Secrets on audio that just became available so I'll start that on my way home from work today.

QOTW: Math was always my favorite but I hated my history classes. They were incredibly boring. One teacher I had was so bad that my best friend and I would just go hang out in the nurse's office most days during class. (The nurses were our friends' moms so they didn't care we were skipping and it was fun.)

[ufcasey]

The theme of the books I read/am reading this week was 'try to finish all the book series I have started but haven't completed'. This list is surprisingly long so I'm targeting the ones I am closest to finishing (some series have 15+ books in them, so no chance of me finishing them anytime soon).

Read last week:
The Fix (#3 in series) by David Baldacci - mystery/thriller; 1.5 stars; ok for real, this time I really am quitting this series (I said that for book #2 too ha)
Fall of Kings (#3 in series) by David Gemnel - historical fiction; 4.5 stars; I loved this series. And I only recently found out that one of the events that happened in the book actually happened in real life because it was briefly mentioned in a news article - kind of neat. Anyways, definitely check this series out, it's the Trojan Wars but slightly different and much more relate-able to read.
Wildfire (#3 in series) by Ilona Andrews - PNR; 5 stars; and I take back everything I said about book #2. I unashamedly loved this one and am happy that there seems to be an opening for another book to be written in this series.
Saga (Volume 3) by Brian K. Vaughan - graphic novel; 4 stars; if there is only one graphic novel series you ever read, let it be this one. Also, this is the only graphic novel series I have read so, take that maybe with a grain of salt haha. But I really do like this!!

Did not finish
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - classic; gave up at 34% but that may or may not have been too premature to do so. I might go back once I am caught up on where I should be on my goal for the year according to GR

Currently reading:
Crooked Kingdom (#2 in series) by Leigh Bardugo - YA/Fantasy; just started but I'm hopeful considering how much I liked the first book
Waking Gods (#2 in series) by Sylvain Neuvel - Sci-Fi; loving this so far! Also, this series is one of the best audiobook productions I have ever listened to.

QOTW:
I basically hated Science, especially Chemistry in highschool. I just had zero interest in it and I could live without knowing anything about chemical reactions. My favorite was a tie between History (I thought it was interesting to find out about people I have never met, how they lived, what trials they went through and decisions they made etc) and English (some good books to read).

[snshne322]

I'm reading Beard Science by Penny Reid. I'm really enjoying her books. I think I will have one more then I'm caught up.

I'm also listening to Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett. Damn that man can write. The narrator is also fantastic. He makes Follett's 1000 page monstrosities easy to read.

QOTW: Anything beyond basic math. UGH. I couldn't stand it. I loved history though.

[frog]

Just finished "Someone Knows my Name." It was excellent- I highly recommend it.

[sassypants]

I'm rereading Voyager because when I'm between library holds I'm working my way back through all the Outlander books. I'm nearly finished with it, though.

I hated Geometry and Trig/Pre Calc. Our Geometry teacher, on the first day of class, told us he didn't believe freshman were able to handle geometry. I was one of three freshman in the class...talk about major psych out, and the first C I ever got! I thought I was going to die!

[aurora]

Aug 4, 2017 13:47:02 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

The theme of the books I read/am reading this week was 'try to finish all the book series I have started but haven't completed'. This list is surprisingly long so I'm targeting the ones I am closest to finishing (some series have 15+ books in them, so no chance of me finishing them anytime soon).

...

This would take me a long time, too. Though, in my defense some of the series themselves aren't yet done, so I can blame GRR Martin or Diana Gabaldon, etc.

Of course, I just started a new series with A Court of Thorns and Roses so I guess I'm actively sabotaging myself here!

[Nonny]

I finished The Alice Network, which I ended up rating a 3. Eve's storyline was a solid 4 stars, but by the end Charlie's story had degraded to 2 stars for me and I was over her half of the book. 

I've since moved on to A Court of Thorns and Roses, since 1) everyone has been raving about the series, and 2) the last in my Bookish Box subscription was heavy items from the first book, and I feel dumb wearing the t-shirts if I don't know anything about the story.  I'm about 1/3 of the way through and I feel like the plot has potential and I'm interested in seeing where it goes, but I think the writing is kind of awful (so many ... dramatic ... pauses -- so much repetitiveness and redundancy, I get it, you want to go home).

QOTW:  I've always hated math classes because I can't remember formulas for shit.  I remember in HS I had some split math class, the first semester was trigonometry and I had totally sucked at and hated geometry the previous year, but this teacher let us have a 5" x 8" notecard for tests.  I still only got a B in the class, but those notecards took a HUGE amount of stress off of me and I actually enjoyed the class.  But the next semester, same teacher, was analytic geometry and for that class we couldn't have the notecards for tests because he didn't think they were necessary (or some such nonsense) and of course I couldn't remember the formulas, I was horrendously stressed out by the class, and ended up with a C.  The only C I ever got in high school.  Bastard. 

[rainbowchip]

I just finished New York 2140. It was OK but a little too much financial stuff.

Next up is Six of Crows. I just looked through the first few pages and it looks like the same terminology as The Grisha trilogy. Is this set in the same world? I loved The Grisha trilogy!

QOTW: I disliked geometry but I loved every other math class I took. I also hated gym class. I don't mind doing athletic stuff but I hated that a lot of times you had to have a partner and my introverted self hates that so much. And I hated changing in the locker room.

[charlatti]

I'm reading The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson. Her books are usually light but smart reads, and this one seems to fit that so far.

I never liked history much -- I wish I remembered more of it now. I really wish I had taken more science courses. I always liked it fine but never focused on it.

[dorothyinAus]

I'm reading Jolly Foul Play, the 4th in the Murder Most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens. I love them because they are fun reads with intriguing characters and the mysteries aren't bad either.  And I love the covers of the UK editions (the US edition covers are not as nice, particularly for lining up on bookshelves).


QOTW:  I hated PE. I cold really find something to enjoy in all the other subjects, but I hated PE. I was bad at most of the sports and kids being kids, I was teased a lot. It was just a horrid experience for me.

[dorothyinAus]

Wow, lots of geometry hate. That was my favorite math class, because I could see where the numbers came from and how they fit together. I had trouble with Algebra, the numbers never seemed to click the way they did in Geometry.

[ufcasey]

Aug 4, 2017 19:57:53 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

I just finished New York 2140. It was OK but a little too much financial stuff.

Next up is Six of Crows. I just looked through the first few pages and it looks like the same terminology as The Grisha trilogy. Is this set in the same world? I loved The Grisha trilogy!

QOTW: I disliked geometry but I loved every other math class I took. I also hated gym class. I don't mind doing athletic stuff but I hated that a lot of times you had to have a partner and my introverted self hates that so much. And I hated changing in the locker room.

Yup, same world but placed in a different country than the Grisha series and different characters. I'm reading the sequel right now

[ufcasey]

Aug 4, 2017 15:16:15 GMT -5 aurora said:

Aug 4, 2017 13:47:02 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

The theme of the books I read/am reading this week was 'try to finish all the book series I have started but haven't completed'. This list is surprisingly long so I'm targeting the ones I am closest to finishing (some series have 15+ books in them, so no chance of me finishing them anytime soon).

...

This would take me a long time, too. Though, in my defense some of the series themselves aren't yet done, so I can blame GRR Martin or Diana Gabaldon, etc.

Of course, I just started a new series with A Court of Thorns and Roses so I guess I'm actively sabotaging myself here!

Yeah I have quite a few where the series isn't even completed too, so I'm just trying to catch up to the latest installment. I'm bad about starting new series too when I have so many to finish! I just can't help it lol

[mrspez07]

I'm reading Sex Object A Memoir by Jessica Valenti. Just started it last night.
I also keep forgetting I have John Adams by David McCullough on audio and I need to get back to it. I have enjoyed it so far, especially since some of the people he mentions overlap with characters in An Echo in The Bone. I got lucky that I read them so close together.

I loved school and had very few classes I disliked. It's sad to me there is so much history hate and that it was taught by bad teachers.
The class I was most consistently frustrated with was Spanish. I also was disappointed in statistics and geography, both of which I took as kind of electives but didn't include things I thought they would teach. I also didn't enjoy English itself, I disliked being required to read specific books and discuss them, why couldn't I just read what I wanted?! (Said my high school/jr. high self)

[ssmjlm]

Finished - Lucy Kinkaid 7, Cold Snap
These are my I'm between reads. This one was 3 stories in one and not the best. But a nice break.

Currently reading- Never Let You Go
Apparently this year's theme is books about domestic violence. I think this is book 5 or 6 this year? Not far enough into it to have an opinion. I'm trying to keep track or the jumping in time periods each chapter.

QOTW- geometry and calculus were my hated classes. I also feel like I had a ton of mediocre teachers in high school. So There we're lots of blah subjects and classes in those 4 years.

[sarahsays]

I reread Red Queen and started Silver Sword this week. I also just got an email that the new Sherman Alexie bio is on hold for me at the library so I'm looking forward to starting that on Monday.

QOTW: Math was my least favorite subject, mostly due to bad teachers. History was my favorite.

[sunbutter]

Just finished Chemistry. It was a fast read in an unusual style. It was relatable to me as I am a science PhD. There were things that made me chuckle but it was also annoying and whiny at times. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

Also LOL to what bookS this week. I'm lucky if I get 30 minutes in a day - but I'm trying!

[BlackCanary]

Currently reading Princep's Fury by Jim Butcher.

QOTW: My favorite was English and my least favorite was math, hands down.

[AJL]

I'm reading Written in Red by Anne Bishop. I'm almost finished with it and I've really enjoyed it. It's paranormal fantasy series. This is a 3.5 star one for me but I'm going to definitely continue with the series.

I also read this week The Things We Cherished by Pam Jenoff. This book was meh. It's didn't really know what it wanted to focus on plot-wise. It was sort of all over the map and the main characters were really shallow. A solid 2 stars. 

QOTW: I actually didn't enjoy English/Lit classes.  I don't like to write about what I read. I don't enjoy dissecting writers' works. I couldn't care less about what the author meant by anything. I like to read for pleasure. Sometimes English-Lit took all the pleasure out of reading.

My favorite classes were chemistry, physics, and calculus.

[Vespasia]

Currently reading Night Film. It's pretty interesting.

QOTW: Math was hard for me until I had a professor in college that actually explained things in a way I understood. I also agree with AJL's assessment of English Lit.

[cole]

I finished To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care by Cris Beam. It was interesting, very heartbreaking, but good.

Least favorite was chemistry. In terms of the sciences, I loved biology.

[Nonny]

Aug 6, 2017 6:14:34 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

Currently reading Night Film. It's pretty interesting.

That book was trippy! Are you using the app to get the supplementary content? It's kind of gimmicky, and not necessary to the story, but some of it was kind of fun. My favorite is the mini-audiobook of The Mysterious World of Bartho Lore.

[Vespasia]

Aug 6, 2017 14:26:53 GMT -5 Nonny said:

Aug 6, 2017 6:14:34 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

Currently reading Night Film. It's pretty interesting.

That book was trippy! Are you using the app to get the supplementary content? It's kind of gimmicky, and not necessary to the story, but some of it was kind of fun. My favorite is the mini-audiobook of The Mysterious World of Bartho Lore.

I didn't know there was an app, I will look! I am reading it on my Fire rather than my regular Kindle for the pictures and stuff.

[Nonny]

Aug 6, 2017 15:20:07 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

Aug 6, 2017 14:26:53 GMT -5 Nonny said:

That book was trippy! Are you using the app to get the supplementary content? It's kind of gimmicky, and not necessary to the story, but some of it was kind of fun. My favorite is the mini-audiobook of The Mysterious World of Bartho Lore.

I didn't know there was an app, I will look! I am reading it on my Fire rather than my regular Kindle for the pictures and stuff.

Yeah, when there is a little bird icon on the pictures you can scan it and get extra random stuff. When I was reading it I had a Windows Phone and had to snag my H's iPad. I actually contacted them and told them their app was crummy (it crashed on me a lot) and that not everyone had an iDevice to use for the content and it should be on a webpage.  Looks like they listened - marishapessl.com/night-film-app/ LOL!