Friday May 24

[wesleycrusher]

What have you read this week and what are you currently working on?

QOTW: Since it's a holiday weekend (at least here in the US) any plans to kick off the summer? or anything you did growing up that remind you that summer's almost here?

[travella]

I am almost finished with the Huntress. The further I'm getting into the book and the closer all the storylines are getting towards coming together, the more I'm enjoying the book. I have The Lies We Told by Camilla Way to read next week.

QOTW: My birthday (this weekend) always indicated the beginning of summer for me since we always got out of school around my birthday. Now that my kids are in a school district that runs later, school ends late June, it doesn't feel like summer quite yet.

[wesleycrusher]

Read:
-How Did You Get This Number (audio) by Sloane Crosley - 3
-A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - 4. I liked the world the author created more than the characters themselves. I feel like I'm the last one to read this book. When I was checking it out, the librarian said "wow, she (Sarah J. Maas) really cranks them out" and I said I didn't know, this is the first one I've read.
-Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History by Keith O'Brien - 4. I didn't know that Amelia Earhart was not considered to be the best female flyer, only she was the most famous. And wow! aviation was hella dangerous back then.
-Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission by Hampton Sides - 4.
-The Dark Heart: A True Story of Greed, Murder, and an Unlikely Investigator by Joakim Palmkvist - 4.
-Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict - 4.

Lots of 4s this week- I feel like the stuff I've read so far this year hasn't been the greatest, so it was a nice change.

QOTW: No plans this Memorial Day. We were going to head to my aunt and uncle's beach house, but are too busy with other things. We live too far now to go frequently. We've always gone to the beach growing up. My family sold their beach house after my father passed away and I graduated from high school, but plenty of extended family still have them.

[rainbowchip]

I'm reading Circe and I'm liking it more than I thought I would.

QOTW: I kind of want to grow strawberries this year. I want to buy or build deck boxes to grow them in so I can keep the critters from eating them. So that's my plan for this weekend. Along with seeing Aladdin which is completely not related to QOTW but I'm excited!

[wesleycrusher]

rainbowchip DH took the kids to see an early preview of Aladdin last Tuesday! He said it was good, they expanded Jasmine's role which he liked. The kids loved it. We might try to go see Detective Pikachu this weekend, depending on weather.

[estrellita]

Currently reading Necessary People. So far it's ok. Not amazing, but good. Kinda has a slight Gossip Girl vibe to it because I picture Stella as Serena from GG.

QOTW: No plans for the weekend other than maybe some yard work and doing some house decluttering. We have vacation coming up mid June and haven't booked hotel rooms or anything yet. Should probably do that this weekend 😂

[susiebw]

I'm currently reading/listening to 3 books:
1) My Cross to Bear by Gregg Allman (audiobook) - I'm a big fan of rock n roll biographies and autobios, and it's read by Will Patton, who is one of my favorite audiobook readers, so it checks all the boxes.
2) The Castle on Sunset by Shawn Levy - it's like a biography of the Chateau Marmont hotel on the Sunset Strip, and I love the writing. I'm gearing up for a vacay to LA and San Diego next month, so this is helping me get psyched.
3) Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - I might be the last person to read this, and about 1/2 through, I'm really enjoying it.

QOTW: I'm hoping to get in some time cleaning up the yard and planting some stuff this weekend. We may have a kid-free night Saturday night, which will be cool, but no plans.

[meowmaps]

Barely started A Perilous Undertaking.

QOTW: I’m on vacation right now in the Great Smoky Mountains. It’s been a wonderful, relaxing week. Heading home tomorrow so we have two days of rest before my husband goes back to work on Tuesday. This is partially why I haven’t read much. I underestimated how much time would be spent socializing with my parents. I thought there’d be more down time for reading. Not complaining though!

[litskispeciality]

Currently reading "Tempting Fate" I'm 50% in, it's good, but curious where we're going. Home alone tonight, hoping to really make a dent. Not as good of a reading week due to a big house clean up.

QOTW: Having our annual BBQ. I'll get to see a few good friends from college for a night. Growing up we had a row boat, so going out on the lake sort of said the weather's nice enough to be outside. I miss that. I guess now it's the bbq that we have every year.

[AJL]

The Address by Fiona Davis --- 4/5*
The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis --- 3.5/5*
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren --- 4/5*
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan --- 3.5/5*

QOTW: We usually get together and have a cookout (hotbogs, burgers, fixins, the works.)  We'll likely do that again this year.  We usually celebrate by going to the pool for the first time of the season but we're doing that tonight as our neighborhood is having a School's Out pool party.

[minzy]

I've started Circe for book club and have been reading Falter: Has the Human Gene Begun to Play Itself Out? by Bill McKibben.  I forgot to mention, but last week finished The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates.  I thought it was pretty good, save for a huge blind spot where she failed to acknowledge the intersection of educating girls and family planning as huge players in reducing global warming.  She didn't really mention climate change at all which I think it was a big missed opportunity. 

QOTW: One summertime thing I did as a kid which I re-enacted with my own kids this week was race little boats in a creek.  They loved it.

[Vespasia]

I am about halfway through A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny. Enjoying it so much more than the last book. Glad I didn't give up on the series. I really want to stay at the inn where this book takes place!

QOTW: My family usually opens our summer cottage over Memorial Day weekend. I can't go this year for a variety of reasons so I keep forgetting it's a holiday weekend. ☹️

[mx27]

currently reading "This Is How It Always Is" by Laurie Frankel. The story really picked up for me about 1/3 of the way in, so I'm really enjoying it now.

QOTW: No big plans. It will be a fairly standard weekend for me - kid play date, parks, library, etc. Maybe we'll get our first ice cream cone of the season to kickoff summer!

[dontlook]

I finished pachinko: 5 stars. There were a few things I didn’t love but overall it was a terrific book.

Before She Knew Him by Peters Swanson: 4 stars. Still not as great as his first book but much better than the last 2 I read by him.

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover: 3.5 stars.

I’m currently reading The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls.

QOTW: no real plans other than to relax

[sassypants]

I'm reading The Princes in the Tower by Alison Weir. It's good but even as well-versed as I am in the period the honorifics sometimes leave me lost as to who is who.

QOTW: Monday is our 12th anniversary so we'd planned to go for dinner, probably on Sunday since so many places are closed on Mondays, esp. with the holiday.

[Nonny]

I'm still reading The View from Flyover Country, but I kind of set it aside to read Circe (which I'm really enjoying).

QOTW: We always went camping on the Oregon Coast when I was a kid, and I was reminded of that tonight when we saw a huge display of salt water taffy at the grocery store.  We haven't been down in a couple of years.

[gibbinator]

Two books this week.

Started with Quantum Night, which I found really interesting. It's psych si-fi basically.

And this morning I just finished Bird Box. I felt like I was holding my breath the entire book. Glad after 4 months on hold from. The library I finally got my turn!

[ssmjlm]

Finished A Simple Favor, I would say a solid 3*, but the twist was way too easy to figure out.

Currently reading An Anonymous Girl. I’m over it. By part 3, I’m just ready for it to end. It had a good base despite the boring plot, but they took too long and now I’m bored.

QOTW: We opened up our beach house this weekend. So cleaning, pressure washing, big spraying, etc. And getting in some sun.

[sassypants]

May 25, 2019 6:48:44 GMT -5 gibbinator said:

Two books this week.

Started with Quantum Night, which I found really interesting. It's psych si-fi basically.

And this morning I just finished Bird Box. I felt like I was holding my breath the entire book. Glad after 4 months on hold from. The library I finally got my turn!

So good! I rarely like both the book and the movie of something but this was a case where I did.

[Gato]

I finished An American Summer by Alex Kotlowitz, which was really great;I highly recommend it. I also finished Elsey Come Home by Susan Conley and liked that a lot too.

I’m reading Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken. So far it’s okay but for some reason it’s making me cranky.

My kids’ school doesn’t end for three weeks, then they head off to camp until July. We’re needing to take a trip on some canceled airline tickets that expire be the end of the year, but I am still completely up in the air about what to do!