#librareadathon22

[logarithmicpanda]

Librareadathon22 Wrap Up!

Soooo I didn't get through all the books I had planned to read, but I borrowed some that weren't initially on the list.

I DNFed two books, because I lost interest and they were dragging. I'm still trying to learn to let go, because, especially with library books, there's no reason for me to force myself to finish a book that's not working for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Of everything I read, Klara and the Sun and Jade Legacy were my favorites!

[e-b-reads]

Book(s) of the month: April 2022

Plus: April Library Readathon wrap-up!

OK, the wrap-up is: thanks to a slightly ridiculous binge of one series in the middle of the month + the library’s ebooks system, I finished 29 books in April, 28 of which were library books (!). (A couple of those are technically novellas/short stories, but they still count on StoryGraph, so they get included.)  I didn’t actually finish all of the physical books I checked out during April (or even some of the ones I’ve had since March!) but this is pretty normal for me, just more noticeable with the end-of-month deadline.  I’ll get to them at some point!  For now, here’s my books of the month for April (all library books, which I guess was pretty statistically likely):

- Loot (Jude Watson): This middle grade heist book (and it’s sequel) are so readable. It’s like the adrenaline rush of an adult thriller, except you can be very sure the kids won’t die, so instead of seriously worrying about that, you’re wondering how the heck they’re going to work this issue out.  (The main character’s father does die in front of him right at the beginning of this book, which I was a little startled by just in terms of this being a children’s book, but it wasn’t incredibly graphic.)  There’s some sweet moments (and some drama) drawn from the found family relationships between the kids, but also there’s ridiculous, skillful hijinks.  Not a super deep book, but a very fun read.

- The Witness for the Dead (Katherine Addison): I wrote in an earlier librareadathon post that this reminded me a little of a Tamora Pierce book, in the way the worldbuilding is detailed and intense, but also revealed in ways that are directly relevant to the plot.  Also (like, it seems, everyone who’s read this) I want to shake Celehar and say “People care about you!” and then give him soup.  I look forward to the sequel!

- Death Comes to the Village (Catherine Lloyd): OK, bear with me here: I actually read 4 of the 8 books in this Kurland St. Mary Mystery series this month, and I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m liking them so much.  The mysteries are guessable but not too simple, twisty but light.  The regency romance between the two main characters that plays out in the background of the series is fun.  But there’s also something about the dynamic between those two that I really like; I think that in some way, despite some of the generalizations all the characters make (in a fairly period-typical way) about gender and gender roles, the two are way more equal than a lot of regency hetero couples.  This is, in a way, forced onto them by main guy’s permanent injury and PTSD from the Napoleonic Wars, and it took all 4 books for me to really decide, but I think it holds up so far.

[the-forest-library]

Here are the library books I’m entering April with for librareadathon (featuring only two romance novels, which is shocking).

[aliteraryprincess]

Joining #librareadathon22 for April!

The goal: read library books in 2022.

I’m currently reading:

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (Libby audiobook) - 71%

George Eliot and the Conventions of Popular Women’s Fiction by Susan Rowland Tush (university library) - like one chapter in 

I also have:

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris (local library)

Beartown by Fredrick Backman (local library)

And a million books on feminism and Victorian women writers for my exams (university library)

So I have plenty to read for the month. Let’s see what I can get to!

[rantreader]

Just my current library reads for #librareadathon22.

There are 16 to go.

Let's do this.

[potterandpromises]

Dinner and The Diamond Eye.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

#Librareadathon

I finished my first book for @logarithmicpanda ‘s library readathon :D

Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp wasn’t exactly my cup of tea but the characters and diversity was great and at least now I can say I’ve read all of Nijkamp’s books (well, the prose ones anyway)

I’ve got 2 other books out from the library at the moment and about a dozen holds in place so it’ll be interesting to see how many I get through this month ^.^

[logarithmicpanda]

Who has two thumbs and way too many books on hold?

So I'm thinking of making a librareadathon in April 2022! Only one goal: read as many library books as possible 👀📚

Feel free to join, use #librareadathon22 if you make any post, you know the drill

[e-b-reads]

OK, in my spirited start to the April library readathon (aka we’ll see what happens later in the month...), here are the books I have checked out of my library currently (the ones with check marks are the ones I finished in March):

And some notes on how I chose them:

Striding Folly - reread, ebook, was just feeling the need to reread some of the Peter Wimsey short stories

Detransition, Baby - already can’t remember if this was a hold or just something I saw on the shelf! checked it out b/c I’ve seen it a lot on tumblr and got curious about the gender of it all

The Golden Compass - saw the book on the shelf and decided it was time to reread this series for the first time in years

Loot - literally just walked thru the children’s section, saw this, grabbed it, decided it might be fun

Starlings - requested this b/c @wearethekat​ recced it at one point in response to an ask!

The Witness for the Dead - another tumblr book. waited until it had been a little while since I read The Goblin Emperor and then requested it

Educated - this was a book everyone I worked with was talking about a few years ago; saw it on the shelf and decided that I should (belatedly) read it, too

I plan to post again whenever I next go to the library, which might be tomorrow or might be in like a week, so stay tuned!

[logarithmicpanda]

My tentative tbr list for April's librareadathon!

Are you planning to join? Which books are you hoping to get through?

[e-b-reads]

Library readathon 2022 update: Here’s the library books I’ve finished so far this month! Some I read and have nothing in particular to say about them; some I do have little comments on, so those titles are bolded and comments are under the cut.  (Whether I had something to say doesn’t really correlate to how much I liked the book.)

Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters

Striding Folly, Dorothy Sayers

What Angels Fear, C.S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr #1)

Skinwalker, Faith Hunter (Jane Yellowrock #1)

Loot, Jude Watson

The Witness for the Dead, Katherine Addison

Death Comes to the Village, Catherine Lloyd (Kurland St. Mary #1)

When Gods Die, C.S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr #2)

Whisper Down the Lane, Clay McLeod Chapman

Sting, Jude Watson (sequel to Loot)

OK, and some musings:

What Angels Fear, C.S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr #1) - was amused by the intro of the main character as, basically, “this is my detective, he can see in the dark and hear better than anyone and has yellow eyes like a wolf. also he has trauma.” but the author’s note does list a possibly plausible genetic reason for the eyes/seeing/hearing, so there’s that!

Skinwalker, Faith Hunter (Jane Yellowrock #1) - OK the weird thing is, the author’s note on the book above said that the seeing well/yellow eyes thing is also something that crops up in mixed Cherokee/Welsh populations in the US, and the main character of this book is a Cherokee skinwalker, so has preternatural abilities and yellow eyes (!). Obviously in this book the reason is magic, and I have done no other research on this connection yet, but I found it interesting!

Loot, Jude Watson - I liked that the thieves never had a moral panic over being thieves. (As far as I can tell, the only reason they consider not doing it is to avoid being caught.)  There’s enough other conflict; doing successful jewel heists is mostly just cool. And though I picked this one up randomly, I requested the sequel, so you can tell I liked it!

The Witness for the Dead, Katherine Addison - I did adore this gentle book, and look forward to the sequel! Reminded me in some ways of a Tamora Pierce, like her Terrier, possibly because of the solid plot and intense worldbuilding behind it.

Death Comes to the Village, Catherine Lloyd (Kurland St. Mary #1) - I liked this better than the other regency-era mysteries I read this month. Some slightly annoying but plausible for the setting “oh it’s because she is female”...“men are so bad at emotions”- type binary thoughts; but the MC guy (as opposed to the MC woman) is currently an “invalid,” literally not walking, b/c of the Battle of Waterloo, so he is unable to throw himself around heroically in the way other male protags of mysteries sometimes do (incl. St. Cyr, above). A nice change.  Requested the next one, we’ll see if it holds up.

Whisper Down the Lane, Clay McLeod Chapman - not a bad thriller, I just felt like everything that was supposed to be a twist was unsurprising? I think it’s reasonable that the MC/narrator is surprised, but I also think the reader is supposed to be sometimes, and I mostly wasn’t.  Could be because of reading a lot of mysteries/mystery-adjacent things and being aware of genre conventions, but idk. I usually don’t mind being able to predict twists, but this time instead of feeling like “I knew it!” (triumphant!) I felt more like “I knew it” (duh?).

[e-b-reads]

Went to the library today! Here’s all the physical books I have checked out currently.  (The bottom 3 I already had, the top 4 are newly checked out.)  Will do an actual update soon on what library books I’ve finished this month (so far).

[rantreader]

Librareadathon22 Week Two Update

I did some reading this week, but not a lot on the books I wanted to read. While some of them were also library books (such as a Batman comic), I didn't include them in this post because they weren't my original goals.

Get Parliament by the Parliamentary Education Office

In case you don't know, Australia's election is coming up. This made it a perfect time to learn a bit about parliament. It was an easy read at only twenty pages and it was quite validating as I already knew most of the information.

The Sound of Music: A Behind-the-Scenes Celebration of the World's Favorite Musical

The Sound of Music is one of my mum's favourite movies so I grew up on it. This was a nice read and I liked learning a lot of the information. Funnily enough, my favourite fact is that Sally Fields was the Flying Nun.

The Shortest History of China by Linda Jaivin

It is the complete history of China in 250 pages. It is quick and tries to explore the culture as well as the political aspects of Chinese history. If you have a strong memory, I think you can get a decent understanding history of Chinese history just by reading this book. I don't... so I kind of know random bits. My favourite aspect is how it perfectly explains Mao's rise to power.

[rantreader]

Librareadathon22 Week One Update

I'm actually content with the progress I have made.

I completed:

The Invisible Man by H.G Wells.

This was probably my favourite H.G Wells story. It was a little slow at first, but once I got into it, I was hooked.

The 100: Day 21 by Kass Morgan

I wanted a book that I could read in a day and that's exactly what I got. I do like Clark the most. The action is solid and the romances weren't too bad. It definitely ended in a cliffhanger and I want to read the third book quickly.

I Kissed a Girl by Jennet Alexander

... I'm not a massive fan of 'characters being open about their sexuality' as a major plot point. If you like that type of stuff, you would love it. The romance was cute, but I needed more conflict. There was one bit of added tension that was interesting and I wish there was more of that part. The final chapter, however, ruined my warm reception to it. Let's just say it had an 'and everyone clapped' vibe to it.