10/2: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (library, 2000) - Beautiful writing, but in the end I was a bit unsatisfied. 3/5 stars
10/3: Sacred Sins (D.C. Detectives #1) by Nora Roberts (library ebook, 1987) - Huh. Well, old Nora Roberts is still pretty good, tbh. Not the most engrossing read, but it was good enough for me to finish while I waited for my library holds to come in. 3.5/5 stars
10/5: A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams (library, 2013) - Historical fiction about a friendship gone terribly wrong. 3/5 stars
10/7: The Charm Offensive (The Charm Offensive #1) by Alison Cochrun (library ebook, 2021) - Charming romance novel about two men falling in love on a reality television show set. 4.5/5 stars
10/11: Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney (library ebook, 2022) - Fun thriller. There was a dog, which definitely influenced my judgment on this. 4/5 stars
10/13: Archer's Voice (Where Love Meets Destiny #1) by Mia Sheridan (library ebook, 2014) - I wanted to read this book because it comes up in lists of romances to read that have characters with a disability. This book does meet that threshold and that's about it. There are far too many unbelievable things in this book for me to even begin to deal with it. What is this 4.27 nonsense on Goodreads? 2/5 stars
10/14: A Girl of the Limberlost (Limberlost #2) by Gene Stratton-Porter (library, 1909) - Huh. Old skool YA. I wish I'd read it when I was younger 3/5 stars
10/15: Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1) by Rebecca Yarros (library, 2023) - I liked it, okay? Dragons. Magical boarding school. Could've done without the romance and oddly explicit sex scenes, but it was good. The dragons are wonderful. 4/5 stars
10/16: Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (library, 2023) - Just a brilliant fairy tale retelling. Loved it. Novella length, not a full novel. 5/5 stars
10/18: The One by John Marrs (library, 2016) - I was surprised by this book, but I didn't really love it. 4/5 stars
10/20: When in Rome (When in Rome #1) by Sarah Adams (library ebook, 2022) -Bland romance novel. 3.5/5 stars
10/26: Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun (library ebook, 2022) 4.5/5 stars
10/27: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (Days at the Morisaki Bookshop #1) by Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa (library, 2010) - Yagisawa's debut novel just translated to English for the first time in 2023. Lovely. 4/5 stars
Average star rating: 3.69/5 stars
Did not finish:
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer - I listened to about half an hour of this as an audiobook and just wanted to fall asleep. This is a beloved book, but I have tried to read it and listen to it, so I think this is just not a book for me.
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West - Truthfully, I didn't give this much of a chance. I read the first chapter and there was an abusive husband and a long-suffering wife and I just...couldn't do it. DNF at page 42 (10.3%).
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd - I got this from Libby because none of my ebook loans came in and then two books came in the next day and this one just fell off my radar. It's sort of an interesting beginning, but I didn't get very far. I might go back to it again when my Libby holds are less insane. DNF at 9%.
Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age by Dennis Duncan - This sounded fascinating, but was, in fact, quite boring. DNF at 44%.
That is a good amount of books and I would say that an average of 3.69 isn't too bad. I have a hard time giving five stars, as I guess I am waiting for the "perfect" book, which does not come along very often. I also give a lot of threes if I liked it but didn't love it, so my average is probably around the 3.25 - 3.75 range most of the time.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like you really love Kingfisher, as this is the second time I have seen you give him (her?) five stars! I looked at the first one you recommended (House With Good Bones) and it seems a little horror-ey...Does that detract from it? I would not say that I am a fan of horror, although I did read a lot of Stephen King when I was younger. I will probably give one a shot; in that case which ONE Kingfisher would you recommend to a first timer?
Yes, I think of a 3 as a fine book, but not particularly memorable or life shattering. Fives are rare for me, but not unheard of!
DeleteHmmm...I'd probably recommend A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking and Thornhedge for you for Kingfisher books, in that order. They aren't horror adjacent. The Clocktaur Wars duology is also great fun without being scary or horror-y.
I put Wizard on hold and will keep you posted!
DeleteYay! I thought it was very funny and sweet.
DeleteBraiding Sweetgrass: I've tried to read it, too. And like you it came highly recommended, but I just could get into it. All your other books look like ones I'd like so thanks for the suggestions.
ReplyDeleteYes, I really feel like Braiding Sweetgrass is a book I should read, but...eh. I don't eat Brussels sprouts, either!
DeleteAll you've written about The Fountain Overflows is enough for me to know this would be a HARD PASS for me.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure the girls and women in The Fountain Overflows were going to overcome all the obstacles and it would sort of become like Little Women, but it was just so hard to read the first chapter that I knew I couldn't wait for that to happen. *sigh*
DeleteOh so many thoughts today on your list of books.
ReplyDeleteA Charm Offensive sounded fun until I read it was at a tv set. I don't like the famous trope and keep picking up those books and then being disappointed. I am not going to add this to my list.
I agree with you on Fourth Wing. I could have done with those sex scenes or at least with the thrashing and intensity and explicit details. The rest of the story is great through. I am looking forward to the sequel. however today I did learn that Rebecca Yarrows is butchering Scottish Gaelic in this book and is ignorant of pronouncing it correctly. It is a whole issue that apparently is being ignored by her which is hard to swollow. Using a language and then not doing it correctly and dismissing it is very disrespectful.
And lastly I am reading Braiding Sweetgrass right now and I am really really struggling. I wanted to love it and was certain I will. But it is very very slow reading. maybe that is the way for this book, maybe I don't get it really or maybe it really is just on the boring side. I will finish but I am not yet sure what to think of it. There are nuggets of wisdom in there but it is hard work digging them up.
Hmm...the interesting thing about The Charm Offensive is that neither of them are particularly famous. The setting is a tv show, but they can still go out in public. I don't know. It's probably not for you.
DeleteAh, yes. I'm glad to hear other people not loving Braiding Sweetgrass. Sometimes I feel like it's one of my most unpopular opinions.
I've been stuck on the last 20 pages of Braiding Sweetgrass for the past three months. I need to just buckle down and finish it off - I can tell it will be beautiful and wise, but it requires a lot of mental energy from me. There are some parts that really stuck - like when she writes about wanting to learn why purple and yellow flowers look so stunning together and she unpacks that there is actually a scientific reason for this. And the way she talks about how a love for the earth comes from gratitude for it - it's really influenced how I talk to my children about nature. But each essay is such a meditative outpouring that I find it takes a lot of concentration to read.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked Charm Offensive! I thought it was pretty great too.
I KNOW I should like Braiding Sweetgrass more. I feel sort of terrible about it, but I have given it a shot as a book, as the YA book version, and audio. It's obviously not a fit for me. I am happy that so many people read it and loved and I'm super happy to hear it's impacted how you talk to your kids about the natural world!
DeleteAlas, I had not yet read your review of Girl of the Limberlost, but is very interesting to read it (I just did) given that I read it and loved it as a tween/teen. I honestly don't know what I would think if I read it today. One thing I remember loving was a"she showed them" aspect of the going-to-school stuff. Perhaps my memory is faulty, but I seem to remember a kind of mean girls scenario, where the popular girls looked down on her? I always loved those kind of underdog-beats-popular girls themes, because, well, I was (and probably still am) the unpopular one. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I think I would have loved it if I'd read it as a tween! It does have an underdog story, like A Little Princess or The Secret Garden. I just was reading it with adult eyes and finding it less enjoyable.
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