Okie!

I just finished a space-opera style graphic novel which shall remain unnamed because of its romantic choices but which had some very nice characterisation buildup from the first of its series.

Also: a picture book which was really very fun! It was my first time through How the Cat Swallowed Thunder by Lloyd Alexander and Judy Byron Schachner. It was a nice short tall-tale style fantasy with *extremely* expressive characters, and a lot of nice little background details in the art to reward close looking. It also actually made me laugh out loud, which I do not find to happen often with picture books.

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Another picture book, Emma and the Whale by Julie Case and Lee White. I found the illustrations a little underwhelming, although I did like the shift into sepia for flashbacks. But I really wound up enjoying the actual writing part of the story. It was sorta giving me junior secular A Ring of Endless Light, both with the bittersweet tone and the themes it was covering.

@SnowAngel, is the split time in Annie's Secrets of the Quilt a time-travel plot or two parallel storylines (one modern, one historical, maybe)? Sometimes it's nice to have books that were worth reading once but that you're not tempted to keep on your shelves. Oh dear. When you posted this, I was at two attempted murders and one completed murder; now I'm at one or two attempted murders (I can't decide if one was actually attempted murder or an accident) and three completed murders. XD Even though I think this book could be shorter and simpler, I'm also intrigued by the suggestion that Edmond is, in at least certain cases, acting less in a simple manner of revenge and more providing opportunities for people to fall into the pits they are already digging and the webs they have woven. I don't know yet if there's a meaningful distinction, but it's interesting to consider.

@coracle, children's classics and comfort reads are both good categories to have around! I do have some comfort reads, but they can vary a bit depending on the circumstance and timing and I'm not sure any of them count as children's classics, alas.

@Silverlily, sounds like you're making good progress on your to-read list! I'm happy to see you mention picture books - I almost never think to get those out of the library but they're a lot of fun to read.

Posted by: @valiantarcher

@SnowAngel, is the split time in Annie's Secrets of the Quilt a time-travel plot or two parallel storylines (one modern, one historical, maybe)? Sometimes it's nice to have books that were worth reading once but that you're not tempted to keep on your shelves. Oh dear. When you posted this, I was at two attempted murders and one completed murder; now I'm at one or two attempted murders (I can't decide if one was actually attempted murder or an accident) and three completed murders. XD Even though I think this book could be shorter and simpler, I'm also intrigued by the suggestion that Edmond is, in at least certain cases, acting less in a simple manner of revenge and more providing opportunities for people to fall into the pits they are already digging and the webs they have woven. I don't know yet if there's a meaningful distinction, but it's interesting to consider.

It was two parallel storylines (one modern, one historical - the modern follows the same character from book to book with historical changing in every book). It's not a style I really enjoy, but that hasn't stopped me from trying one every so often to which I still have not found one that I really enjoy. I did finish the last of the four books yesterday, they will not be remaining on my shelf...doesn't really free up any space because the shelves are already too full, but now the shelves won't be as much too full.  

My sister would totally have been banned from reading the book if she hadn't been reading it for school. I've never read it, but maybe one of these days I will. The length of the book kind of intimidates me.

One of the siblings had picked up a Bobbsey Twins book at the library recently, since they are just fun short reads I read most of it last night. It was book five, The Bobbsey Twins At Snow Lodge, I don't think it's one that I had read previously as I didn't recognize the plot. But once again I am regretting that I didn't keep a list of what I read when I was in school, so I would know for sure.  

SnowAngel

Just finished a poetry book. Don't think I should necessarily post the title here because a couple of the pieces were sexy, but it was extremely well-written, predominantly unrhymed work driven by introspection and thwarted desire, heavy on the nature metaphors. Two of the ones I found memorable were an eerie one about sharks and facing fear, and a multi-part poem themed around hummingbird myths.

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New picture book--The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base. Gorgeous, but obviously meant for somebody either cleverer or more detail-aware than me!

Posted by: @silverlily

New picture book--The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base. Gorgeous, but obviously meant for somebody either cleverer or more detail-aware than me!

You've hit on an Aussie legend!!!   I was in primary school when that book was published and I remember how fascinating it was. I could still tell you from memory exactly who stole the birthday feast and how, but that would spoil the mystery, wouldn't it...  

If you enjoyed that one, though, check out Graeme Base's other works. Not all of them have mysteries to solve or hidden things to find! My all-time favourite is Animalia (which has got to be THE greatest alphabet book ever created), but if you want one that's simply a wonderful story with no need to search for things in the pictures, my top recommendation would be The Sign of the Seahorse. I'd love to hear what you think of it or any of his other books if you do read them.

@SnowAngel, I hear you about continuing to occasionally try a style or trope or that you don't like, just in case this application works! And even if you're not making space on your bookshelves, it's an accomplishment to get rid of the extra books that don't fit on the bookshelves, so you're heading in the right direction. Ooh, The Bobbsey Twins at Snow Lodge was one of the few Bobbsey Twins books we had growing up and I read it over and over again. Not that that means I actually remember much about the story itself, but the general feel of the story and some details still remain.

With two more books out of the way, how's your currently-reading stack coming, @Silverlily?

I finished The Count of Monte Cristo, having found the last 600 pages or so fairly hard to put down (SA, my copy was something like 1458 pages, so it's definitely a commitment!), at least up until the final 100 pages. Overall, I don't know that I really like it, but it did have some pretty humourous parts.

@valiantarcher

I have... I think six that I regard as actually preferable to finish soon, the others are back burner for now. 

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Just finished a nice medium-sized Middle Grade fantasy. The Bookweaver's Daughter by Malavika Kannan. A fairly solid magical Hero's Quest in an oppressed kingdom, clean, some reasonably good character development and believable emotional bonds, cultural flair inspired by India. I liked it and didn't feel like it had glaring missteps, but wasn't super impressed initially. I did start to reconsider that "not impressed" when I found out it's a first published offering by the author at age eighteen. I really hope she doesn't get discouraged by the number of mediocre ratings and reviews I'm seeing and stays in the game, as if she's writing like this as a teenager I think she could become something truly extraordinary.

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I just finished another poetry collection. Again can't name drop because there were sexy bits, but... it truly, deeply stunned me. The author deals with a weirdly wide variety of subjects with such intimate particularity and sense of wonder and affection, I am reminded of a child discovering the world under a microscope, or a photographer who brings one ordinary thing into sharp and perfect focus, and leaves the rest of the world as a backdrop of softly shining bokeh. In other words, I think I need to own this book.

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Completed Sea Witch by Sarah Henning, which was a YA fantasy attempting an origin story for the witch from A Little Mermaid. It was reasonable. I didn't entirely buy the worldbuilding, but there was some interesting characterization. I liked that two of the main characters had seemingly contradictory theories as to what was going on, and they both turned out to be partially right. Also, mild spoiler, Henning kept the octopus tentacles from Disney's version, even though she was mostly more inspired by the Andersen.

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@Courtenay - added The Sign of the Seahorse to my to-read wishlist. ^_^

I have a funny question/favor to ask you all. I'm on the hunt for this VERY SPECIFIC copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It's a first edition copy published by Bloomsbury, 1998. 

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31433504012

I'd like to learn the USBN number to help find a cheaper copy than the one linked above (and possibly in the USA instead of the UK), but I'm having a terrible time finding it, and I'm wondering if you book-a-holic sleuths can help me locate it?  

@SilverLily, congrats on finishing several more books! I'm enjoying hearing about your reads. Were those on your 6-item immediate-to-read list?

@fantasia, try looking up ISBN 0747538484 or ISBN13: 9780747538486. At a quick look, those appear to pull up the same edition.

@fantasia If it's OK to ask, what is it about that particular edition that interests you? Does it have different illustrations than others?

I'm in kind of a reading crisis right now. I'm part of this online reading group that's going through all of Charles Dickens's books and they're starting Dombey and Son. But I'm really in the mood to read Les Misérables, specifically the English translation by Christine Donougher, which is supposed to be the best modern one. And I want to reread Caging Skies by Christine Leunens, so I can write a blogpost comparing it to its loose adaptation, Jojo Rabbit. 

So I'm kind of overwhelmed.

Posted by: @valiantarcher

@SnowAngel, I hear you about continuing to occasionally try a style or trope or that you don't like, just in case this application works! And even if you're not making space on your bookshelves, it's an accomplishment to get rid of the extra books that don't fit on the bookshelves, so you're heading in the right direction. Ooh, The Bobbsey Twins at Snow Lodge was one of the few Bobbsey Twins books we had growing up and I read it over and over again. Not that that means I actually remember much about the story itself, but the general feel of the story and some details still remain.

I finished The Count of Monte Cristo, having found the last 600 pages or so fairly hard to put down (SA, my copy was something like 1458 pages, so it's definitely a commitment!), at least up until the final 100 pages. Overall, I don't know that I really like it, but it did have some pretty humourous parts.

Last year one of my sisters bought a vintage copy of The Bobbsey Twins in Eskimo Land, it's the first Bobbsey Twins book I have ever seen outside of a library.

I decided I should read a couple more of the books I might not want to keep before I start into my 2023 reading list, so I am reading Among The Innocent by Mary Alford. I'm almost finished with it and it's very much so standard Christian suspense fiction, at this point it's definitely going to come off my shelf. I don't dislike it, but the story is not one I would probably read again unless it takes an amazing twist before the end.

I enjoyed your spoilers for The Count of Monte Cristo, I will put it way down on my list to read some day which is probably almost the same as it not being on the list.  

I have made barely any progress on Do More Better, is that ironic or what?

SnowAngel

Posted by: @col-klink

@fantasia If it's OK to ask, what is it about that particular edition that interests you? Does it have different illustrations than others?

https://ibb.co/tcMFBgk

Back when I was a poor college student, I splurged on the books from the UK... with one exception, Chamber of Secrets. The reason was because I had a friend visit the UK and bought me a different version from the set I was collecting. Over the years it's bugged me because it sticks out like a sore thumb. So I'm looking around to see if I can find a copy to match the rest of my set, preferably that's less than $50.  

@Valiantarcher, close, but that's the paperback edition.

@Col-Klink, what you don't want to read two doorstop classics at once? I enjoyed Dombey and Son probably more than Les Miserables, but I'm almost certainly in the minority on that.

@SnowAngel, good for you on tackling a few more books to try to get them off your shelf! And it wasn't exactly my intention to dissuade anyone from reading The Count of Monte Cristo, but I suppose I did find it unsatisfying in the end.

@fantasia, oh, sorry, didn't catch softcover vs. hardcover. Try 9780747538493? If that's still not right, try looking at the Goodreads page here - each booklisting should have the ISBN listed under Book Details.

@valiantarcher Don't feel too weird. One of my favorite books by Charles Dickens is Barnaby Rudge which many people consider his worst. I mean it's not in my top three, but it is in my top six. And one that is in my top three is Nicholas Nickleby, which isn't super popular though it's more well liked than Barnaby Rudge. 

@valiantarcher Yes, those latest three were!

I actually turned most of my books in to the library, even the unfinished ones, because I'm about to be traveling and don't want them going overdue while I'm gone. I might make a small library raid with the help of my host on the other end, though, as I see the local system there has some things that are high on my to-read list which my local hasn't gotten yet... and it wouldn't due to be completely book-free, would it? 😉