Quests & Challenges

Wrote more today!
Have the Prologue and Epilogue finished, now just need to do the body.

Last book in 2023? Goodness.. That's hard to remember. Has to be one of the Twilight books I think?

For today's reading I read some more of The Hazel Wood and also a scientific paper I have to read for work that I am counting.

The last book I read in 2023 was The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic. This was for a book club with my friends and this first book was kinda slow and not very well written, but if you manage to look past that all the shenanigans that happen are quite thrilling!

Today I read some pages of a book about teaching kids to swim. I should start a course about that, my boss already gave me books about it, so I am trying to keep up with that.
It's pretty interesting and even though it might seem impossible to learn, I already know many things.

Last book of 2023 was Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I actually started late on the wagon, because the Italian version came out months after the English one.
It was a gift for Christmas and I ended up staying up until 6 am to read it. I kept telling myself I needed to sleep, but it was so interesting, I couldn't stop. I love dragons and it is very intriguing to me.

SPQR hasn't really picked up yet, but I'm just gonna have to push through. I'll probably pick up another book, as well.

Question:
I'm pretty sure the last book I read in 2023 was actually The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick. It was an ok read, but I wish it would've been more objective and with less political opinion from the authors.

I have been reading Jane Eyre! I already know the main twist of the book, since it's pretty famous, so mostly I've been enjoying the foreshadowing and red herrings with a lot of dramatic irony. I'm not far in it yet, but enjoying it quite a bit especially by imagining what it would have felt like at the time. I forgot yesterday's question, so I'm doing both at once! ... Because they're the same book [emoji=wildclaw tongue size=1] I read a ton of Agatha Christie (trying to read literally everything she's written) and the last book I finished in 2023 was the Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which was utterly phenomenal. I caught on to the twist a bit before the reveal and it still blew my mind when everything got explained. If you're into mysteries, give it a read! It's in the public domain so easy to find for free online.

Question of the Day
Had to look back a bit at my bookshelf, but I'm pretty sure the last book I read in 2023 was The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. I wanted a flashback to my childhood obsession, mostly because it had resurfaced in the discovery of the Lightning Thief musical and Epic: The Musical (which is still releasing music to this day; they have a new saga dropping on the 26th and I have been soaking everything in waiting for it). I think it was the drop of the Ocean Saga that inspired me to actually read that book again, just to see the contrast between Riordan's Poseidon and Jorge Rivera-Herrans' Poseidon (aka beach dad vs very angry dad).

I'm still on Good Omens for my read today. Got through what's covered in the first episode of the series before having to go off and deal with non-reading things. Not an entire quote this time around, but this is still one of my favorite scenes in both the book and the show. The description of eternity, the bird sharpening it's beak on a mountain at the end of the universe until it's reduced to nothing but silt... "-then you still won't have finished watching The Sound Of Music. And you'll enjoy it, you really will. You won't have a choice." Good way to put eternity into perspective, and to push the severity of the situation put forward in the story. I think even I would struggle with an eternity of just one musical, and I tend to love repetition. XD

Daily reading: wrapped up the book I was working on yesterday "Sanctuary of the Shadow". It was enjoyable enough to want to finish, though turned out to be more of a romance than anything else, and a little heavier on the intimate details than I prefer. There was some good scheming of Queens, and a couple of believable redemption arcs. But I think I'm more interested in what the best friend, a panther Hybrid, gets up to in the next story, after an obvious set up with a snake Hybrid - once it's available in my local library!

The last book of 2023 was "The Fold" by Peter Clines. Some modern science types with a start up figure out how to fold space so they can, in effect, teleport. But there are complications and they turn out to have done something entirely different and end up having to save the universe. In a nutshell. It was interesting!

[quote]Last book of 2023 was Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. ... I ended up staying up until 6 am to read it. I kept telling myself I needed to sleep, but it was so interesting, I couldn't stop. I love dragons and it is very intriguing to me. [/quote]@phoeey Another dragon series! Thanks, I'm in! Might be awhile before my Hold comes in, though, all copies are checked out...

Today I read about glue. Got a model kit to put together with instructions that are translated to English, (glue did not come included) and the translation recommends using "white latex glue" and "alcohol glue." Which are not familiar terms for me. So I found a site that's also translated to English (probably by a different company) that uses those terms and talks about what those glues are made of, then I went to a craft store and read a bunch of glue labels to compare ingredients and directions for use... and wound up coming home with just a bottle of Elmer's because I am not good enough at crafting miniatures to try it with a glue that specifically says to avoid skin contact XD



Apr 15 question - What was the last book you read in 2023?

Oh goodness. That was... four months ago? I have no idea. My sense of time is absolutely terrible, I can remember something I read recently but I couldn't guess if I read it a couple weeks or a couple months ago. Last year is eternity ago XD Making a total random guess...... yeah, no, ok, purely on the basis that I've re-read it before so I probably definitely did at some point last year?!...

gonna say The Accidental Warlord and His Pack by inexplicifics (yup, another fanfic). It's an alternate universe version of The Witcher where the main character monster hunter asks his fellows "We protect humans from monsters. But what about when the monster they need protecting from is another human?" Like for instance when a noble is REALLY misusing their power on a LOT of peasants under them.

And all the monster hunters think about it and decide yeah, that should count actually, heads up humans if you act like a monster from now on we're chopping your head off like we do monsters. And they chop the head off the king who really, really misused his power on a lot of the peasants under him.

And in response to the group of unbeatable superpowered monster slayers suddenly involving themselves in human affairs, having opinions about things like "morals apply to everybody" and "treat your people decently and we'll leave you alone", the political landscape of the entire continent shifts DRASTICALLY.

(probly not a rec for kids though, as the series includes some sexy scenes)