It is co-hosted by (Linda from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Roberta from Offbeat YA, Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About, Berl's from Because Reading is Better than Real Life and me)
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In what seems to be a recurring theme - I don't blog for so long, I just do a recap of all the TMST topics I missed, hoping to get back on track and then vanish again lol
There's a lot going on right now. I am ok! Just things around me, that make it hard for me to focus on much, especially reading and blogging. So I fall back on this topic catch-up and hope I get back on track soon!
August 16th: What do your family and friends think of your blogging?
Answer: I didn't tell anyone, including Kevin, for the longest time. It didn't feel like a thing anyone would see and I felt awkward throwing my feelings about things out into the world. Eventually I did tell family and friends and, honestly, I try not to think about it very much so I don't censure myself.
At first, they all thought it was very weird but then saw the world it opened up for me. The traveling and book conferences. getting authors and publishers, getting arc's. They all think it's very cool now.
August 23th: Does length of series matter for you when you are picking out books to read?
Answer: I'm not reading any series right now! I had cut out about 40 years ago because I was losing track or hating how they ended. I'm not avoiding them or anything but I seem to be drawn to stand alone books right now. I was loving duologies for a while.
I'm not actively avoiding any series but I do kind of side eye the ones that go on forever, or have spin off series. I exclude romance from this because those are almost always new couples, stand alone stories - you just get the bonus of revisiting friends from past books but it's not necessary to read them all.
August 30th: Which books are you looking forward to reading this fall? (September-November)
Answer: NO CLUE. I have no idea what's coming out or what I'll be reading.
September 6th: Tell us about your library.
I also have a VERY small one in my new town. It's not open very often - could be a product of COVID still so I've never been. They have a partnership with the other one so my card covers both towns. We did just get this mural painted on the side.
September 13: Do you ever read outside of your comfort zone? And if yes, does it ever work out for you?
Answer: My reading is erratic right now that ALL I do is read outside my comfort zone! Everything I used to read and find comfort in sounds so *same, same, same* to me now.
Right now I'm reading very weird "{Insert title} A novel" fiction lol or trippy YA.
Does it work? That's complicated. I never get that soaring happy feeling like I did with my comfort reads (romance, light YA) but I have found myself liking messier, more complicated characters.
I still can't seem to get the hang of mysteries/thrillers though. I've tried but I don't think they are for me. I usually feel let down or duped by the required manipulation to end at the big twist. I would probably enjoy a straight forward this is the killer type of mystery. Maybe.
I think that's everything lol
I have to say, this was a fun post to read. I especially loved your thoughts on your erratic reading, especially when it came to mysteries. I read very few (usually YA and authors I have already read), and I tend to enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteI do like some YA mysteries. I loved Caleb Rohrieg's (sp?) Last Seen Leaving.
DeleteYeah I don't really tell many people in my personal life what I do, my sister knows and a few people at work. Its just not something I think many people can even understand how much it means to me so I just keep it to myself mostly.
ReplyDeleteYeah, no one I know reads blogs (other than maybe food ones) so they may think it's cool, but don't understand the long term commitment to it.
DeleteMy family knows I have a blog and my daughter will even take some pictures for me of stuff she spots around our complex but no one reads my blog. lol
ReplyDeleteI don't know if they read my blog. Honestly, I hope not lol I try not to think about it.
DeleteYea for catching up! I do wonder about your answer to "length of series" when you say you stopped read them 40 years ago... I know you are old like me, but not THAT old! LOL It's too bad your local library isn't open often. At least you can do digital. (It's me)
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I AM that old lol but I meant gave up 40 series - years ago.
DeleteI find that people (in RL anyway) don't really get blogging. My family know I do it but like many bloggers, I don't think they read it that often. They're just not that into books (or my kind of books lol). After reading the comments on my blog when I askedf that question recently I've really come to think that us book bloggers are a niche breed ha ha, and we do it for ourselves as a creative outlet or whatever. Speaking generally - everyone's different.
ReplyDeleteMy reading tastes have changed and I'm actually reading a fair amount of thrillers/ mysteries now! I haven't read a fantasy in ages. I'm really getting into so- called "cozy SF" too lately...
I agree! I think bloggers understand other bloggers but outsiders only dabble in reading a few. And I think the whole reason we blog is that (for most of us) we do it to find people who understand our interests because our RL friends/family don't.
DeleteWhat is cozy SF???
Exactly.
DeleteTo me cozy SF is like Becky Chambers (anything of hers), The Last Gifts of the Universe by Rory August (I mean, it's got a CAT). Stuff like Date Night on Union Station by EM Foner (free on Amazon), Fly Me To The Moon by Diane Vallere...
Oooh, I will look into those. Maybe those will work better for me?
DeleteHave you read Becky Chambers? I was trying to remember.
DeleteI have not! But I'm going to check hoopla and libby. Any sourdough books you'd recommend?
DeleteSourdough??? Lol I meant specific. Also, I downloaded the cat one.
DeleteLove sourdough! :):) But anyway... well, Long Way To A Small Angry Planet is one of my favorite books, it's just such a slice of life onboard a small spaceship with this wonderful found family crew. The garden/ observatory where they can stare at the stars, the meals together... I love that. So start there. But all her stuff... the Robot and Monk novellas (her latest?) are supposed to be fantasitc, I need to get to those.
DeleteOh, and Sisters of the Forsaken Stars and the first one by Lina Rather (they're both pretty short) also fab.
I love catching up with you. I think it's cool your family and friends think your blogging's cool. Corey does know about my blog and reads it every now and then, but he's not into the books I read so he doesn't really care, lol. My family also knows about my blog, but they couldn't care less about it.
ReplyDeleteI've been more into stand-alone novels lately too. I do still enjoy series, but I haven't started any or continued with any that I was already reading.
Kevin used to help a lot with coding when he worked nightshift years ago. And proofread all my posts but now he has no idea what's going on lol
DeleteYou know... I've never thought about the fact that some series end not so well, and then it's like you wasted all that time reading, sort of. Ha ha. It's like the Practical Magic books; the first one was borderline cheesy Romance, but the two prequels she wrote after it were wonderful. Then the last book went back to the cheese with some D&D type fantasy. Why? Why did she do that. 😔
ReplyDeleteI do not like Mysteries or Thrillers, either. 😛
Cool mural. 🎨🖌
It really never occurred to me either before blogging. I think with the internet/blogging/fanbases - it changes your expectations and the disappointment hits harder some times. There's more build up to each one and it's like....I spent 3 years hanging my hopes on this???? lol
DeleteI feel like I'm reading more series these days than I used to, but I still really love a good standalone. So much easier to keep up with! LOL
ReplyDeleteI do love mysteries/thrillers but I don't necessarily read the really popular ones. For example, The Woman on the Train or whatever it was - I felt that one was just to obvious, so I don't really care to read anything else by the author.
Lauren @ www.shootingstarsmag.net
I've liked a few thrillers but it's rare for me. The YA ones seem to work better - probably because they tend to focus on interpersonal relationships as well. With the adult it's all unreliable and everyone is awful lol
DeleteCool mural
ReplyDeleteGo you Reading always outside your zone
Reading is so hard for me right now. I just don't care lol I pick up whatever hits at any given moment.
DeleteMy family still thinks blogging is weird, but I think they are weird so it all works out 😂 I feel you on series- I love them in theory, but in practice, I have been swearing I was picking up the sequel of some series for nearly a decade now! Kind of fun that you don't have a fall TBR picked out- you can read whatever strikes your fancy!
ReplyDeleteI feel you with the library- my town does not have one. My mom's does, and it is quaint but nice. There was one where I lived before, and it was small too, but it had a decent kids' section. Impressed that you do such a great job of reading outside your comfort zone, too! I think I am not so good at it but I have expanded my comfort zone over the years? So that will have to be good enough for now, hah.
I don't get reveiw books anymore and it's been really liberating. I'll just read whatever gets my attention any given day.
DeleteI love how you say all you do is read outside your comfort zone. :) Love that! Sometimes you need to shake things up. Sounds like all the "trippy YA" is working for you. lol
ReplyDeleteIt's not on purpose. I just really haven't felt like reading, so it's more if a book grabs my attention then I go for it. And different is what grabs my attention these days.
Delete