It's the first Friday of 2022! (1/7)

[ufcasey]

Quick reminder: Please vote in the Book Club 2022 polls to help us determine what books we will read this year for our book club discussions! Voting ends today!


What have you been reading this week? Any ratings/reviews/recommendations?


QOTW: What's a demographic that you can't recall seeing in a fictional book that you think should be represented more/better? (could be anything! religion/medical disorder/nationality/people who have snakes as pets/whatever)

[Vespasia]

Earlier this week I finished The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. This is an early contender for worst book of the year. Usually I give up on books I don't like but this kept me interested enough to carry on. The premise was so promising but the execution was awful. There isn't enough suspension of disbelief in the world to make the plot plausible. The modern day character is insufferable and makes terrible, nonsensical decisions. The poisoner is just dull. The younger character lacks basic knowledge that someone of her class and gender would absolutely have been familiar with. Plus the end is infuriating on several levels. I'd actually like to vent more but don't want to spoil everything. I originally gave it 3 stars but went back and changed it to 2. 

Then I read Ninth House by Leah Bardugo. I had a hard time putting this down but also continuously felt like I wanted more from the book. It was still a satisfying read and I look forward to the sequel. I almost didn't read this because the next book doesn't have a publication date but the end isn't a terribly painful cliffhanger. 


QOTW: This is purely based on my own perspective and in reaction to specific reads, but I'd like to see more women in their 30s-ish who are neither mothers nor fixated on motherhood. I've just read a few books recently where this was so heavily featured but didn't really have much to do with the plot.  

[meowmaps]

I read The Soul of an Octopus. Parts were really interesting, specifically about the octopuses and other similar animals and their displays of intelligence. But it could also veer into unbearably boring when the author described things like octopus tanks, etc. It was 3 stars for me.

I finished The Memory Police yesterday. It was a very simple story where not a lot happened. More atmospheric and character-driven. I liked it. 4 stars.

QOTW: I’m not sure. I’d have to think about this one. Good question!

[charlatti]

I just started my traditional January polar read — for several years now, I ask for an Arctic or Antarctic nonfiction book for Christmas and I especially enjoy reading them when it is cold and snowy IRL (just a little snow right now, but definitely cold here!). This year’s book is Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton. They have only just left Europe, but I like the writing so far.

QOTW: I would like to continue to see LGBQT+ characters as just normal characters and part of humanity. It seems like that is beginning to happen, especially in YA books.

[travella]

I'm nearly half way through Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone.

Qotw: I don't know. I'd have to think about that one.

[dontlook]

Jan 7, 2022 13:19:56 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

Earlier this week I finished The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. This is an early contender for worst book of the year. Usually I give up on books I don't like but this kept me interested enough to carry on. The premise was so promising but the execution was awful. There isn't enough suspension of disbelief in the world to make the plot plausible. The modern day character is insufferable and makes terrible, nonsensical decisions. The poisoner is just dull. The younger character lacks basic knowledge that someone of her class and gender would absolutely have been familiar with. Plus the end is infuriating on several levels. I'd actually like to vent more but don't want to spoil everything. I originally gave it 3 stars but went back and changed it to 2. 

Then I read Ninth House by Leah Bardugo. I had a hard time putting this down but also continuously felt like I wanted more from the book. It was still a satisfying read and I look forward to the sequel. I almost didn't read this because the next book doesn't have a publication date but the end isn't a terribly painful cliffhanger. 


QOTW: This is purely based on my own perspective and in reaction to specific reads, but I'd like to see more women in their 30s-ish who are neither mothers nor fixated on motherhood. I've just read a few books recently where this was so heavily featured but didn't really have much to do with the plot.  

I started the Lost Apothecary and quit about 25% in. I wanted to pick it back up because everyone raves about it but this review helps me feel better about my choice.

[dontlook]

I read The Selection by Kiera Cass. It’s a YA romance that can best be described as a cross between The Bachelor and Hunger Games. I enjoyed it for what it was. I’m planning to read the others in the series.

I’m currently listening To What Happened To You and reading The Reading List. Both are really good. I also stated The Sentence but I’m not feeling it. I’ll revisit it when I finish the other 2 books.

QOTW: I don’t have something that I want included more but I wish the unreliable narrator theme would go away.

[Vespasia]

dontlook  the first review on Goodreads is full of spoilers but really sums up my issues in hilarious fashion. I suggest checking it out if you don't want to bother with the full book.

[charlatti]

Vespasia, that review made my evening — thanks for the tip! A well-written scathing review is so satisfying. (I haven’t read the book, though I did admire its lovely cover.)

[tacokick]

Not a bad start to the year!

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner

Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up by Naya Rivera

The Lifeguards by Amanda Eyre Ward

Carefree Black Girls by Zeba Blay

Stepping Stones by Lucy Knisley

QOTW: I’d like to read more books with characters with a chronic illness. So many people have one and the pandemic really has driven home how little people know or care about people with them.

[tacokick]

Jan 7, 2022 13:19:56 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

QOTW: This is purely based on my own perspective and in reaction to specific reads, but I'd like to see more women in their 30s-ish who are neither mothers nor fixated on motherhood. I've just read a few books recently where this was so heavily featured but didn't really have much to do with the plot.  

Yes! I would like this too. I’d add women in jobs/situations where they aren’t caretakers as well.

[dearprudence]

Vespasia - read Lost Apothecary last year and similarly did not enjoy it. I actually thought it would have been better had they cut the modern part out completely and expanded on the actual apothecary story.

[dearprudence]

tacokick have you read "All's Well" yet? It deals with chronic pain, but it's a similar theme to chronic illness.

[dearprudence]

What have you been reading this week? Any ratings/reviews/recommendations?

Finished Girl, Woman, Other which is a bookclub read. I enjoyed it much more than I was anticipating. It's the stories of 12 women, each of which function as a standalone narrative, but what made it especially enjoyable for me was the intertwining of their stories, each woman connected to at least one other.

Currently reading Spinning Silver and listening to Beasts and Beauty . I'm REALLY enjoying Spinning Silver. Beasts and Beauty is different than I expected, retellings of almost every well-known fairytale. Some are better than others.


QOTW: What's a demographic that you can't recall seeing in a fictional book that you think should be represented more/better? (could be anything! religion/medical disorder/nationality/people who have snakes as pets/whatever)
I don't have a good answer to this one.

[tacokick]

Jan 8, 2022 18:18:47 GMT -5 dearprudence said:

tacokick have you read "All's Well" yet? It deals with chronic pain, but it's a similar theme to chronic illness.

No! I’ll have to add it to the list! Thanks!

[litskispeciality]

I'm making good progress on "Love Always and Forever Lara Jean" and "The Guest List", almost 50% through both.

QOTW: I'll echo Vespasia, about women 30+ who don't have kids. The few I've read they often end up pregnant by the end of the book, and just oh so happy after all. Also I wish LGBTQIA+ was more prominent, and not so much woo it's a new, just a normal category like straight love.