club The Great Reading Thread of 2023

[Artemis Prime]

1 hour ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

I just finished reading The Secret Life of Mary Bennett by Katherine Cowly and it's was such a delight to read. Mary is very Mary, but what happens when she's given an opportunity to be the main character? And then mysterious relatives offer her a chance to receive a proper education and maybe....a MYSTERY? WHO CAN SHE TRUST?

 

It's so much fun. 

Interesting. I have not had great luck with Pride and Prejudice retellings/spin offs/whatever you call this, but I have been in need of fun reads lately, so I'll give it a shot.

[Darciana]

1 hour ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

I just finished reading The Secret Life of Mary Bennett by Katherine Cowly and it's was such a delight to read. Mary is very Mary, but what happens when she's given an opportunity to be the main character? And then mysterious relatives offer her a chance to receive a proper education and maybe....a MYSTERY? WHO CAN SHE TRUST?

 

It's so much fun. 

Oh man, I was just watching a bunch of different P&P versions last night (it's my go-to when the man is out of the house.... I can never get enough) and I was just thinking about poor Mary Bennett. Now I have to read that because I just adore her

 

Also, happy Goodreads friendship!!! ❤️

[Shello]

One of my good friends has started writing some P&P versions.  I think she writes under the name Victoria Lynn if anyone is interested.  

[Snarkyfishguts]

On 4/20/2023 at 8:42 AM, Artemis Prime said:

Interesting. I have not had great luck with Pride and Prejudice retellings/spin offs/whatever you call this, but I have been in need of fun reads lately, so I'll give it a shot.

 Same! I think this one works because it's not Elizabeth focused  

On 4/20/2023 at 9:25 AM, Darciana said:

Oh man, I was just watching a bunch of different P&P versions last night (it's my go-to when the man is out of the house.... I can never get enough) and I was just thinking about poor Mary Bennett. Now I have to read that because I just adore her

 

Also, happy Goodreads friendship!!! ❤️

Same! I love how the author wrote her!

On 4/20/2023 at 9:30 AM, Shello said:

One of my good friends has started writing some P&P versions.  I think she writes under the name Victoria Lynn if anyone is interested.  

ooooooooh NICE. I will look for her today!

[MaeradCase]

On 4/20/2023 at 6:29 AM, Snarkyfishguts said:

I just finished reading The Secret Life of Mary Bennett by Katherine Cowly and it's was such a delight to read. Mary is very Mary, but what happens when she's given an opportunity to be the main character? And then mysterious relatives offer her a chance to receive a proper education and maybe....a MYSTERY? WHO CAN SHE TRUST?

 

It's so much fun. 

That sounds like fun! ?

[Artemis Prime]

It's May 3rd!!! My first installment of Dracula Daily just dropped into my email!

[MaeradCase]

5 minutes ago, Artemis Prime said:

It's May 3rd!!! My first installment of Dracula Daily just dropped into my email!

Oh oh oh!!! I'll make sure to read mine today! ?

[Darciana]

I finished One Good Deed by David Baldacci

It took me until about Chapter 13 or so to get interested in it. It was a necessary lead up of events, it created the backstory that really made the ending quite good, but it did feel like it dragged on. I'm used to stories that are fairly intense, or at least action packed, from the near-start and you learn characters and backstories through that.

I did, however, get super interested at the end. I couldn't seem to put it down and was looking forward to every time I could pick it up and read some more just to see what happened. The last two chapters were a bit of a dud. They were necessary to close out character stories but I could've been quite content with the book ending without them and not had a concern. That's me, personally, as I know some people would've preferred the book as it is with all strings tied up in a neat bow.

 

 

I'm now on to reading By Her Own Design: The Story of Ann Lowe, Society's Best-Kept Secret by Piper Huguley.

Putting a spoiler because these topics can be sensitive

As the title says, it's the story of Ann Lowe. She isn't just dressmaker to high society, but she designed and sewed Jackie Kennedy's wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses for her wedding to JFK. I'm definitely interested in the historical aspect of it and hopefully that'll be enough to see me through as this isn't my normal type of book.

Spoiler

The lady who passed it on to me said some parts made her really upset so I guess Piper does a good job at getting emotions through (Ann is black, living in Alabama, and her grandmother and mother were both slaves prior to an agreement between one of her relatives and their prior owner. Apparently this guy [I think it was the grandfather] bought them all out of slavery - his owner was willing to accept this if and only if the [slave] wife would stick around to design and sew dresses for his [slave owner's] wife because she loved them so much. It was agreed and hence why they are still in Alabama as freed [former] slaves. I think I got this right or at least close enough you can understand the emotions that might play out through the book due to sensitive subjects)

 

[Scaly Freak]

4 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

It's May 3rd!!! My first installment of Dracula Daily just dropped into my email!

 

Mine too! I've tried to plan ahead and created a folder for these emails so I can find them easily later.

[Sovalis]

I just found this thread and I am excited about it! I added a daily reading task to my tracker last challenge and kept it for this one. I am currently reading an English translation of “The Master and Margarita”, originally composed in Russian by Mikhail Bulgakov. I don’t often read translations and I am trying to diversify my reading. This came highly recommended to me by a friend, so I am giving it a shot. It’s different so far. Withholding opinions until I am farther in, I think. 

 

Happy Dracula Daily to those celebrating!  

[Artemis Prime]

I am really enjoying the little tagline Dracula Daily puts at the beginning of every email.

 

May 3: Meet Jonathan Harker, on a fun road trip for work, as he collects some new recipes

May 4: Jonathan feels ridiculous but also uncomfortable

[Scaly Freak]

On 4/10/2023 at 9:18 PM, Scaly Freak said:

I vaguely recall talking about Kobo Plus in last year's reading thread - a concept similar to Kindle Unlimited but for Kobo. Someone in the UK had it but it wasn't available in the US.

 

Well, now it is. If the other party in last year's conversation remember it, and sees this, would you mind letting me know if you still feel that paying for Kobo Plus is worth the money?

 

Since no one came forward with a review of the feature in question, I've now signed up for the 30-day free trial of Kobo Plus. 

 

Next step: Review my wish list and see how many of the books on it qualify, and read said qualified ones immediately.

 

I will try to remember to post a short review of the feature before the trial ends.

[Snarkyfishguts]

1 hour ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

Since no one came forward with a review of the feature in question, I've now signed up for the 30-day free trial of Kobo Plus. 

 

Next step: Review my wish list and see how many of the books on it qualify, and read said qualified ones immediately.

 

I will try to remember to post a short review of the feature before the trial ends.

Cool!! I hope you enjoy the trial!!

[MaeradCase]

2 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

Since no one came forward with a review of the feature in question, I've now signed up for the 30-day free trial of Kobo Plus. 

Sorry I had no help for you. Hope you find plenty to read, and can enjoy your trial!

[Scaly Freak]

I've added Open Library to the list of reading resources in the first post. Because I should have done that a long time ago and I feel bad that I haven't.

 

https://openlibrary.org/

 

 

[Snarkyfishguts]

On 5/11/2023 at 9:12 PM, Scaly Freak said:

I've added Open Library to the list of reading resources in the first post. Because I should have done that a long time ago and I feel bad that I haven't.

 

https://openlibrary.org/

 

 

Oooooh excellent!!! Thank you!

 

I’m currently reading  series by Josiah Bancroft called The Books of Babel. The first is called Senlin Ascends and it’s just an interesting fantasy and it’s fun to not know what will happen next! 
 

whats everyone else reading this week?

[Everstorm]

I have been reading the Grave Talker series by Annie Anderson.  It's almost as good as her Wrong Witch series, but not quite.

[Scaly Freak]

Since I love ebooks it is very rare for me to have a literal TBR pile... so now that I for once have one, I took a picture of it for posterity. Feisty Sidekick volunteered to be included for scale photo bombed because he was bored.  

 

Spoilered for size. The standing blue book is the only library book in the pile (for now), so it gets to be a little separate.

 

Spoiler

 

[Asha Phoenix]

So far the only books I've actually finished this year are children's board books. ? Oh, the joys of having a little one!

I think one of my favorites that gets read often is called The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen. It's such a cute book and currently the only one that holds BabyG's attention.

[MaeradCase]

On 5/28/2023 at 6:40 PM, Scaly Freak said:

Since I love ebooks it is very rare for me to have a literal TBR pile... so now that I for once have one, I took a picture of it for posterity. Feisty Sidekick volunteered to be included for scale photo bombed because he was bored.  

 

Spoilered for size. The standing blue book is the only library book in the pile (for now), so it gets to be a little separate.

 

  Hide contents

 

 

 

 

"What If?" has a laser question that has become an in-home meme between my husband and me thanks to how I read the article out loud. ?

[Scaly Freak]

Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone was a very pleasant surprise. I honestly borrowed it just because of the title, and it ended up being a sort of modern-day setting old-fashioned who-dunnit in the style of Ellery Queen and G.K. Chesterton and their contemporaries. With sarcasm.

 

Reminded me a little bit of the movie Knives Out, but with an even more dysfunctional family.  

[Snarkyfishguts]

6 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone was a very pleasant surprise. I honestly borrowed it just because of the title, and it ended up being a sort of modern-day setting old-fashioned who-dunnit in the style of Ellery Queen and G.K. Chesterton and their contemporaries. With sarcasm.

 

Reminded me a little bit of the movie Knives Out, but with an even more dysfunctional family.  

I really enjoyed that one! 
 

7 hours ago, Asha Phoenix said:

So far the only books I've actually finished this year are children's board books. ? Oh, the joys of having a little one!

I think one of my favorites that gets read often is called The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen. It's such a cute book and currently the only one that holds BabyG's attention.

Pout pout is so expressive and the name is fun to say! I wonder if the illustrator knew he’d be drawing Pout Pout forever 

[Waanie]

On 5/9/2023 at 2:48 AM, Scaly Freak said:

Since no one came forward with a review of the feature in question, I've now signed up for the 30-day free trial of Kobo Plus. 

Whoops, I haven't visited this thread for a while; it was me who had kobo plus for a while. I thought it was worth it since it has so many more ebooks than my library does, and I'm typically only a member in the months when I read a lot. How do you like it so far?

[Scaly Freak]

On 6/14/2023 at 5:16 AM, Waanie said:

Whoops, I haven't visited this thread for a while; it was me who had kobo plus for a while. I thought it was worth it since it has so many more ebooks than my library does, and I'm typically only a member in the months when I read a lot. How do you like it so far?

 

I like it well enough to pay for another month, at least. It does have a large selection of ebooks, and more importantly, and different selection than my library. (The book-banning fervor is strong in my poor library district.)  I also like that, unlike Kindle Unlimited, there doesn't seem to be a cap on how many Kobo Plus I can have at any given time. The way Kobo Plus proactively just "gifts" me books from my Wishlist when they become available is very nice too.

 

One thing I dislike is that the update that added Kobo Plus to the Kobo app for Android, seems to be unstable. More often than not, when I try to filter my books to show only Kobo Plus, the app crashes. I hope they fix this soon as my reading  is pretty evenly split between the app and my eReader.

[ninestoried]

Hello wonderful humans! I am joining in for the year. June is a good time to start right? lol

I find I have been eating up audiobooks all year as I can engage with them to stay focused on tasks I normally get bored doing - like walking, or grinding in video games.  I am almost 50 books in this year and I am so grateful to my library and libby app so I have materials. 

I just re-read all of Ali Hazelwood's books in anticipation of her new STEM romance novel. It is a delightful brain break as I find I don't have the stamina for harder hitting literature any more.  

Anyone else into contemporary romance or fantasty?