Wednesday Reading Meme
Sorry that I haven't been keeping up yet again. I thought work was settled and back to normal. And it's not. Still needing a lot of time at the site and trying to work out my time management.
What I Just Finished Reading: Since last week I technically read 3 books, though one was only a short story published individually: System Collapse by Martha Wells, The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner, and The Prince and the Troll by Rainbow Rowell. Reviews below.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I'm currently reading The War on Horror: Tales from a Post-Zombie Society by Nathan Allen. It's currently average.
What I'm Planning to Read Next: Next may be The Graveyard Book book by Neil Gaiman, and then I should probably get back to my library books.
08. System Collapse by Martha Wells
The 7th book in the Murderbot series, and the first one that I’ve been disappointed in.
The story picks up immediately after the action in Network Effect, the 5th book in the series. The problem being that not only was there a prequel since then, but I personally have read literally hundreds of other books since Network Effect. I definitely needed a bit of a primer to remind me of what had happened and who was who, but Ms. Wells just jumps right into the story so I found myself floundering quite a bit.
Then there’s an event which Murderbot redacts in his narrative, which was frustrating. And while I love Murderbot’s internal musings,this time around the musings almost took the place of any plot, which meandered around in slow motion until the final third of the book. It felt like everything that happened could have been streamlined as part of the story in a different book, instead of being drawn out in this one. It just became tedious.
Murderbot, tedious. Who would have thought.
Dates Read: January 21 to 25, 2024
Page Count: 256
3 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - March A - title begins with a letter in SPRING (08/74)
+ Around the Year in 52 Books 35 - science fiction (08/52)
09. The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner
30-something Abby has never found her niche in the world, and when her absolutely appropriate boyfriend Mark begins hinting that they should move in together, she panics and accepts a job leading a cycling trip for a few weeks so she can think. But she didn’t expect Sebastian, her one-night-stand from a few years back, to be part of the cycling gang.
This is not the sort of book I normally read, but I wanted a change and I’m glad I took a chance on it. Abby and the rest of the characters are written as mature, thoughtful human beings and I could relate to all of them. Abby is overweight but healthy and happy, but with a strained relationship with the mother who obsessed about her weight all through her youth (and who shows up unexpectedly to join the bike ride.) Abby’s confusion about her relationship with Mark is understandable, and Sebastian and Abby’s attraction to each other makes sense. There is also some drama involving a couple of the other riders that added some depth to the story.
The author made some choices I don’t necessarily agree with. I was hoping for a better resolution for Lily’s story arc, and I definitely don’t think that promiscuity has to be trauma-based or compensating for some other lack in a person’s life. But overall the story was fast-paced and kept me turning the pages long after I should have been snug in bed, and what more can a reader want?
Dates Read: January 25 to 27, 2023
Page Count: 384
5 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - January Y - title ends with Y (09/74)
+ Around the Year in 52 Books 47 - two word title beginning with The (09/52)
+ Challenges & Fandom - new to you author (06/16)
10. The Prince and the Troll by Rainbow Rowell
What in the hell did I just read?
A man drops his phone into the muddy water below a bridge that spans a road that he rambles on about continuously because it’s the Best Road Ever, and the phone is rescued by a mud-covered troll. The man then visits her every day. I have no idea what everything was supposed to symbolize in this book. If you fall down on the road they (who?) push you off (the struggle to succeed?) The man brings the troll specific Starbucks drinks every day (evil corporations pushing out small business?) The river is drying up (climate change?) because the road is killing everything (??). I have no idea.
Date Read: January 29, 2024
Page Count: 26
1 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 20 - water on cover/coastal town/on water (14/20)
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - February E - short book (10/74)
+ Around the Year in 52 Books 18 - botanical cover
.
What I Just Finished Reading: Since last week I technically read 3 books, though one was only a short story published individually: System Collapse by Martha Wells, The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner, and The Prince and the Troll by Rainbow Rowell. Reviews below.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I'm currently reading The War on Horror: Tales from a Post-Zombie Society by Nathan Allen. It's currently average.
What I'm Planning to Read Next: Next may be The Graveyard Book book by Neil Gaiman, and then I should probably get back to my library books.
08. System Collapse by Martha Wells
The 7th book in the Murderbot series, and the first one that I’ve been disappointed in.
The story picks up immediately after the action in Network Effect, the 5th book in the series. The problem being that not only was there a prequel since then, but I personally have read literally hundreds of other books since Network Effect. I definitely needed a bit of a primer to remind me of what had happened and who was who, but Ms. Wells just jumps right into the story so I found myself floundering quite a bit.
Then there’s an event which Murderbot redacts in his narrative, which was frustrating. And while I love Murderbot’s internal musings,this time around the musings almost took the place of any plot, which meandered around in slow motion until the final third of the book. It felt like everything that happened could have been streamlined as part of the story in a different book, instead of being drawn out in this one. It just became tedious.
Murderbot, tedious. Who would have thought.
Dates Read: January 21 to 25, 2024
Page Count: 256
3 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - March A - title begins with a letter in SPRING (08/74)
+ Around the Year in 52 Books 35 - science fiction (08/52)
09. The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner
30-something Abby has never found her niche in the world, and when her absolutely appropriate boyfriend Mark begins hinting that they should move in together, she panics and accepts a job leading a cycling trip for a few weeks so she can think. But she didn’t expect Sebastian, her one-night-stand from a few years back, to be part of the cycling gang.
This is not the sort of book I normally read, but I wanted a change and I’m glad I took a chance on it. Abby and the rest of the characters are written as mature, thoughtful human beings and I could relate to all of them. Abby is overweight but healthy and happy, but with a strained relationship with the mother who obsessed about her weight all through her youth (and who shows up unexpectedly to join the bike ride.) Abby’s confusion about her relationship with Mark is understandable, and Sebastian and Abby’s attraction to each other makes sense. There is also some drama involving a couple of the other riders that added some depth to the story.
The author made some choices I don’t necessarily agree with. I was hoping for a better resolution for Lily’s story arc, and I definitely don’t think that promiscuity has to be trauma-based or compensating for some other lack in a person’s life. But overall the story was fast-paced and kept me turning the pages long after I should have been snug in bed, and what more can a reader want?
Dates Read: January 25 to 27, 2023
Page Count: 384
5 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - January Y - title ends with Y (09/74)
+ Around the Year in 52 Books 47 - two word title beginning with The (09/52)
+ Challenges & Fandom - new to you author (06/16)
10. The Prince and the Troll by Rainbow Rowell
What in the hell did I just read?
A man drops his phone into the muddy water below a bridge that spans a road that he rambles on about continuously because it’s the Best Road Ever, and the phone is rescued by a mud-covered troll. The man then visits her every day. I have no idea what everything was supposed to symbolize in this book. If you fall down on the road they (who?) push you off (the struggle to succeed?) The man brings the troll specific Starbucks drinks every day (evil corporations pushing out small business?) The river is drying up (climate change?) because the road is killing everything (??). I have no idea.
Date Read: January 29, 2024
Page Count: 26
1 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 20 - water on cover/coastal town/on water (14/20)
+ Lost Challenges 74 Letters - February E - short book (10/74)
+ Around the Year in 52 Books 18 - botanical cover
.