It's Friday! What are you reading? (10/6)

[ufcasey]

It's finally Friday! What books have you read this week? What are you currently reading? Like/Dislike any of them?

QOTW:
It's October, which always makes me think of Halloween - what was your favorite costume you ever wore or have ever seen someone else wear? Bonus if you insert a photo of a great costume (it doesn't have to be the one from your answer to the question)

[litskispeciality]

I'm reading "Keep Quiet" it's good, going fast, but I'm ready for a new book.

QOTW: Hmm, we never really bought costumes, more make your own. I was a genie in 6th grade. I had this cool purple crop top and the big pants, that might be my favorite.

[rainbowchip]

I finished Midnight Jewel. I liked it a smidge better than Glittering Court but it was still boring in parts.
I started reading Into the Water (due to poor library hold management on my part). I am really enjoying it so far.

QOTW: I was never really into Halloween. I liked it as a kid but it wasn't my favorite holiday.
My favorite costume I ever wore was a punk rocker. My mom let me wear this ridiculous silver belt and she spiked my hair and bought spray hair color. It was fantastic for an 8 year old.

[aurora]

I'm re-reading The Mists of Avalon and realizing how much of the book I'd forgotten. I guess it had been a long time since I first read it. Definitely a good book if you like historical fiction and strong women.

Listening to Margaret Atwood's new-ish book Hag-Seed, which I hadn't even heard of until browsing my library's available audiobooks. It's a modern re-telling of Shakespeare's The Tempest and is so far enjoyable, though I would probably get more out of it if I remembered the plot of The Tempest better.

Incidentally, if you're into modern retellings I thought Atwood's The Penelopiad was fascinating.

QOTW: since I grew up in Alaska it was very cold by Halloween, so we always had to have costumes that could be worn over winter clothes if we wanted to trick or treat in them. I always thought it made for boring Halloween costumes.

[sassypants]

I'm reading Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Tr*mp's America (the asterisk is to keep the post from turning my photos into kittens because I have an extension that does that). It's a collection of feminist essays, and I won it from Goodreads (finally breaking my 2 year streak of not winning a giveaway!). I've read two essays and the intro so far, and I really like it.

I LOVE dressing up for Halloween so much. It's really hard for me to pick just one costume that was a favorite. I am partial to my Princess Leia one and my Mary Sanderson one.

[MrsAxilla]

I'm almost done with Mists of Avalon. I'm at the point where the end of every chapter feels like it should be the end of the book, and yet the story continues. My kid is anxious for me to finish so I can read the book he recommended - Wngs of Fire. Plus I want to get back to What Happened and finally on to the Stephen King I really want to start. My to read list is making me anxious!

QOTD: I think my favorite costume is the one I wore a few years ago to an outdoor Halloween party/bonfire, and will probably wear again this year - Marty from Back to the Future! I seriously have this exact outfit (don't ask when or where I got a 'vintage' orange puffy vest). Sadly, not one person commented on my costume, but I was so warm I didn't care - lol.

[beachbum22]

I'm currently reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay, by Michael Chabon. So far, I like it. It's not my normal cup of tea, so at first it was hard for me to get into, but I'm determined to finish it, and I'm starting to like it more and more.

I mentioned in another post that I'm doing the Rory Gilmore Book Challenge, and this was one of the first books on the list.

The other book I'm reading is The Visionist, by Rachel Urquhart. I don't know what to make of this book so far.

QOTD: My favorite costume was a genie, like litskispeciality . Mine was baby blue, it was a crop top, with the loose pants, and hat, like on 'I Dream of Jeannie.' My mom made it. But since we lived in New England at the time, I had to wear a turtleneck under it, and it totally ruined the costume. I was so mad.

My next favorite costumes are the one we wore last year. I made the Toad hat, and I'm quite proud.


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[ufcasey]

Read last week:
Archangel's Viper (#10 in series) by Nalini Singh - PNR; 2.5 stars; I generally like this series but this one was very disappointing
Elven Blood (#3 in series) by Debra Dunbar - PNR; 3.5 stars; the end of the book makes up for the first half being kind of blah
Lord Dashwood Missed Out by Tessa Dare - historical romance novella; 4 stars; short but a good mix of cute/funny/smutty/serious
Rock Hard by Nalini Singh - contemporary romance; 3 stars; kind of average but I did appreciate the realism of PTSD/panic attacks
The Highlander by Kerrigan Byrne - historical romance; 4 stars; this book starts out very differently than most HRs, it's quite serious in showing bad things happening to both main characters, but it hooked me in!

Currently reading:
Land of the Beautiful Dead by R. Lee Smith - fantasy romance; just started it

QOTW:
I think my favorite costume was when my husband and I dressed up as Mario and Luigi (this was pre-kids). It was totally un-sexy and I loved it LOL

This is not me but I thought this was soooooo cute!:

[ufcasey]

Oct 6, 2017 9:42:18 GMT -5 sassypants said:

I'm reading Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Tr*mp's America (the asterisk is to keep the post from turning my photos into kittens because I have an extension that does that).

That is AWESOME

[charlatti]

I have two going: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige, a YA book one of my students recommended, and The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin, the last in the Broken Earth trilogy. I like Dorothy but don't love it, and I've only just started The Stone Sky but I devoured the first two.

QOTW: I've assembled some pretty great costumes for my kid the past few years. In first grade she was a monarch butterfly fairy, which I think was my favorite. Hopefully the photo isn't huge. I made the skirt by attaching felt wings to a plain black skirt, which was a ton of work but we loved how it turned out.
. 

[Nonny]

I'm currently reading The Folded Clock: A Diary, because even though I had hoped to read The Hate U Give for the discussion on Wednesday, after coming off of Waking Lions, I really needed a book with a less heavy subject matter.  (I do still plan to read The Hate U Give, I'll just have to come back to the discussion later.)

The Folded Clock is OK. It's silly at times, and downright bizarre at others - the author seems to be a bit off her rocker.

QOTW:  My best costumes haven't been for Halloween, they were for these mini-amazing race style adventure races where teams were encouraged to wear costumes, but probably only a quarter of the teams did.  The first year my friend M dressed up as a fisherman and I dressed up like a crab (complete with trellis netting so that I was "caught"), and we won first place in the costume contest - and then the second place costume team proceeded to be dicks to us the entire rest of the race because they were so pissed they'd lost.

Then the next year I was teamed with M again, and a third friend J, and the three of us were supposed to be the wolf (me), Red Riding Hood (M), and the woodcutter (J), but M got the flu so it was just J and I, but we'd both gone so far out with our costumes that we still managed to come in second place. That was the year I learned you can run around Seattle dressed up like a wolf and get very few strange looks (a nun even complimented me on my wolf ears, LOL!).

[rainbowchip]

Oct 6, 2017 9:35:46 GMT -5 aurora said:

QOTW: since I grew up in Alaska it was very cold by Halloween, so we always had to have costumes that could be worn over winter clothes if we wanted to trick or treat in them. I always thought it made for boring Halloween costumes.

Same in Wisconsin. I have been trying to start a movement to get trick or treating moved to August.

[mrspez07]

Still reading he Gilded Hour. I really like it but haven’t made much progress. I need to go pick up Modern Girls for my IRL book club, and I’m looking forward to some substantial reading time on our upcoming anniversary trip next week.

My two favorite costumes I ever wore were:
Princess Leia in 2nd grade (I had yarn buns!), but no pictures were taken.
My 2nd was one I made for myself at 25. The Statue of Liberty.
I had been working on it for awhile, paper mache and everything, and then 9/11 happened, so it was both good and bad to have chosen it. I still love it though.

[dorothyinAus]

I finished Kerry Greenwood's Heavenly Pleasures. It was a fun mystery and didn't involve a murder, which was nice and refreshing. But the setting in a bake-shops (bread not cakes) and a chocolate shop made me hungry while I was reading it. I bought myself a package of dark chocolate covered marshmallows as a result of reading the book! I then moved on to A Pint of Murder, which I got because it was recommend in the cruise port guide the last time I took a Canada/New England cruise. I'm only a chapter in, but enjoying it so far.

QOTW: I never liked Halloween and the last time I dressed up for Halloween, my best friend & I decided to be playboy bunnies and it turned out to be the day of my first period. I was at school and it was just as horrible as you imagine. Yeah, not a fan of Halloween; too many bad memories.

[dorothyinAus]

Oct 6, 2017 15:14:21 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

Oct 6, 2017 9:42:18 GMT -5 sassypants said:

I'm reading Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Tr*mp's America (the asterisk is to keep the post from turning my photos into kittens because I have an extension that does that).

That is AWESOME

We have that extension for the former PM in Australia. I didn't realize it was available for 45.

[dorothyinAus]

Oct 6, 2017 16:31:32 GMT -5 Nonny said:

QOTW:  My best costumes haven't been for Halloween, they were for these mini-amazing race style adventure races where teams were encouraged to wear costumes, but probably only a quarter of the teams did.  The first year my friend M dressed up as a fisherman and I dressed up like a crab (complete with trellis netting so that I was "caught"), and we won first place in the costume contest - and then the second place costume team proceeded to be dicks to us the entire rest of the race because they were so pissed they'd lost.

Then the next year I was teamed with M again, and a third friend J, and the three of us were supposed to be the wolf (me), Red Riding Hood (M), and the woodcutter (J), but M got the flu so it was just J and I, but we'd both gone so far out with our costumes that we still managed to come in second place. That was the year I learned you can run around Seattle dressed up like a wolf and get very few strange looks (a nun even complimented me on my wolf ears, LOL!).

DH and I went to a "Fancy-Dress Memorial" which was the most interesting and strange memorial service I have ever been to. The deceased was a fan of Sci-Fi and most people were dressed as Doctor Who, Star Wars, or Star Trek characters.  Not being a fan of costuming, I went as a cat with ears, eye-liner whiskers and a long tail, trend out to be okay as the decades loved cats. But there was a person at the memorial who dressed as the TARDIS and it was great.

[travella]

I finished The Alice Network and I started reading A Gentleman in Moscow.

Qotw:My favorite costumes were last year when my kids decided they wanted to go as a dolphin trainer and a dinosaur trainer. I had no idea in the beginning how I was going to make it happen, but I ended up having a lot of fun figuring it out.

[sassypants]

Oct 6, 2017 15:14:21 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

Oct 6, 2017 9:42:18 GMT -5 sassypants said:

I'm reading Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Tr*mp's America (the asterisk is to keep the post from turning my photos into kittens because I have an extension that does that).

That is AWESOME

It's called Make America Kittens Again and it's available on Chrome but I don't know about other browsers.

[Nonny]

Oct 6, 2017 20:48:44 GMT -5 dorothyinAus said:

Oct 6, 2017 16:31:32 GMT -5 Nonny said:

QOTW:  My best costumes haven't been for Halloween, they were for these mini-amazing race style adventure races where teams were encouraged to wear costumes, but probably only a quarter of the teams did.  The first year my friend M dressed up as a fisherman and I dressed up like a crab (complete with trellis netting so that I was "caught"), and we won first place in the costume contest - and then the second place costume team proceeded to be dicks to us the entire rest of the race because they were so pissed they'd lost.

Then the next year I was teamed with M again, and a third friend J, and the three of us were supposed to be the wolf (me), Red Riding Hood (M), and the woodcutter (J), but M got the flu so it was just J and I, but we'd both gone so far out with our costumes that we still managed to come in second place. That was the year I learned you can run around Seattle dressed up like a wolf and get very few strange looks (a nun even complimented me on my wolf ears, LOL!).

DH and I went to a "Fancy-Dress Memorial" which was the most interesting and strange memorial service I have ever been to. The deceased was a fan of Sci-Fi and most people were dressed as Doctor Who, Star Wars, or Star Trek characters.  Not being a fan of costuming, I went as a cat with ears, eye-liner whiskers and a long tail, trend out to be okay as the decades loved cats. But there was a person at the memorial who dressed as the TARDIS and it was great.

How very peculiar, but I suppose if that's what the deceased wanted, good for them - I can appreciate memorials that aren't stuffy, somber affairs.

[rainbowchip]

Oct 6, 2017 20:45:06 GMT -5 dorothyinAus said:

Oct 6, 2017 15:14:21 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

That is AWESOME

We have that extension for the former PM in Australia. I didn't realize it was available for 45.

What does this mean?

[sassypants]

Oct 7, 2017 13:53:37 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

Oct 6, 2017 20:45:06 GMT -5 dorothyinAus said:

We have that extension for the former PM in Australia. I didn't realize it was available for 45.

What does this mean?

I can help you if you have chrome. Extension are modifications to your browser that you can add to the browser. The Make America Kittens Again takes anything with an image of Tr*ump and turns the image into a cute kitten so you don't have to see his face on every other website. Go to the three dots at the top right of the browser, click them, then hover over the More Tools arrow and then click extensions. It'll take you to a page where you can add them from there at the bottom of the extensions page. I have all kinds of extensions, usually for finding deals with online shopping but also for blocking ads on facebook (AdBlock Plus).

[spedrunner]

This week I am reading:

The Lake House by Kate Morton (love this, slow start, but I am really into it. About 3/4 way through!)

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter

I just finished:

Don't Close Your Eyes by Holly Seden (3.75 stars)  I really enjoyed most of this quick read, but was a bit disappointed with the ending 

QOTD:  Ugh, Halloween, its that holiday I always have ideas and intentions of dressing up but NEVER do it, or throw on a pair of cat ears last minute.........The best Idea i had (that never happened) was being smurfette, i even bought blue body paint......