"You are South Africa. Embrace it."
This is not the book for someone who is not a rugby (particularly a Springbok) fan. There are lots of play by plays of games and an assumption that you know the 2019/2024 team (he drops names like nobody's business not really telling you which side). Lucky me I am a massive Bok fan and was easily able to follow.
More than a rugby book though Siya takes us from his childhood poverty - going weeks living on ?

Book 1 of 4 for #20in4 and book 4 of 10 for #10BeforeTheEnd

I really enjoyed this ride! The character and world building were incredible. The idea of going to doppelganger planets and seeing how the people changed is such an interesting concept. There were a couple of things that I didn't really understand - most notably I didn't really understand the mechanics around the jump but I am sure that is a me problem.

Glad I got to this one finally!

Tell me what books are you most looking forward to comig out in 2025?

I am exited for:
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
We Could Be Rats by Emily R. Austin
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Don't Sleep with the Dead by Nghi Vo

Welcome back @Andrew65 !

I am joining #20in4 hoping 20 hours can get me through the 4 books I am in the middle of -
Jesus and John Wayne
The Space Between Worlds
The Little Friend
and
Rise by Siya Kolisi

My best friend borrowed The Bandit Queens for her choice in her bookclub and when we did Big Meal Day yesterday my niece (10 yrs old) told me she accidentally (it was very much an accident Aunt Shawna) spilled hot cocoa on it. When I left last night she also gave me a little note I wasn't allowed to read until I got home

Book problems

That free shipping gets me every time!

Out January 21, 2025

This was so much fun! A second in a loosely related series (I didn't read the first and it didn't matter). This has so much! A sort of love triangle, espionage, adventure, and a bit of spice. The pacing is quick and keeps you engaged the side characters are not on scene much but I appreciate they are diverse
I really enjoyed this!

Maybe I am alone here, because why are all the publishers doing it if it wasn't working in marketing meetings, but I had really hoped that 2025 would give us better covers.

#UnpopularOpinion I really am coming to dislike all the cartoon covers! I want good, artist made, gorgeous covers! Most of thees look like teen books to me.

I guess it is good becauase I want to buy less next year, and these covers are not screamig by me to me.

5 weeks to go!

How are everyone's challenges going? Are we feeling good?

Wow this list is very different from others I have seen. I have only read 7, but I have 5 more at home waiting for me.

I cannot wait to really go through this there are so many I didn't know and my TBR is going to explode.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/11/26/books/notable-books.html

Well this is exciting for the Becky Chambers fans!

Out 6 May 2025, one book with both Psalms and A Prayer For the Crown Shy all in one book! I can never justify buying her books, they are so small and cost the same as a full length book but with 2 in one I will definitely pick this up!

I am considering getting into TOB. It looks like it is 16 books from the previous year. I have been really confused about this event because they use pretty much the same symbol as the French Rugby team 😂

If you participate can you tell me what guy you into it and how much you participate? I read the website looks like random people are judges and 16 books are placed in brackets which the judges select a winner from.

#WeeklyForecast

I am making real progress on Tartt I really love the book but it is a slow read.
I started Cantoras since it needs to go back to the library it is lovely. I am almost half into Rise which is really making me want to do nothing but watch rugby! Rise and Jesus and John Wayne are some of my last for #NFNovember. Hoping to finish all 4 of these this week. Then onto December....

#BookSpin #BookspinBingo
@TheAromaOfBooks

December. oy vey.

Feeding, vaccines, education: the liberal agenda.

Some things never change.

😂
TBR range!

"may we all receive the help we need to make our lives a bit more bearable"

This biography is so well put together. I loved the mix of straight autobiography sections mixed with different medias - transcripts of interviews Alice has given, a couple of poems, & photos. You can feel her anger at some of the systematic issues & also clearly see her humor & good graces.
A well balanced and interesting read.
#NFNovember @Bookwormjillk

"I was born on the last day of apartheid."

I doubt I have many here who are big rugby fans, I got into rugby 4 years ago, which was the first year Siya was team captain at the World Cup, it was South Africa's 3rd win tying them w/ New Zealand for most cup wins. since then I have been enamored w/ Siya (& Faf but that is another story). Watching them win again in 2024 - Siya still leading was amazing. This is his story from poverty to fame.

#Weeklyforecast
Chipping away at The Little Friend, picked up The Space Between Worlds on audio to move my #10BeforeTheEnd along.
Started Siya's book yesterday and I am hooked. I have loved his vibe and playing style for years now and this book is going to give me the biggest crush 🥰

I haven't been doing great on my #10BeforeTheEnd challenge. I am reading this longer Donna Tartt book, I am loving it but it is taking some precious time to get through. I am picking up The Space Between Worlds on audio to get me moving a bit this week.

So far I have love The Safekeep, thought She Would Be King was excellent - I wish more people talked about this one it deserves hype! And was disappointed in The Empusium.

#NFNovember @Bookwormjillk

We are half into the month and I am half through my picked NF books! I feel like this month is going reall well for me.

Of the 4 I have read so far I loved The Facemaker, Think Men Who Hate Women is hard but necessary, The Art of Power fell a bit flat for me, and while Why FIsh Don't Exist was very good (4/5) I was really taken aback by the last quarter of the book.

4 more to go!

Wow! This was excellent. Fitzharris takes us into the medic scene of world war one and the start of plastic surgery. When I was young I had thought this would be the very best career, and it was fascinating to read about how through trial and error and a lot of pain and trauma this field of medicine was created and advanced. A bit bloody, as it focuses on WWI injuries but it is done with care. I was fascinated throughout and love that 👇

Little book haul from Costco and the Goodwill.
I keep hearing great things about Frozen River. I liked this cover of Pillars maybe someday now I will read it.
I didn't realize Heyer had a mystery series, I know she was a terrible person but I do like her writing.

Has anyone read this God Save The Queen? Looks like a fun zombie series and the cover really drew me in I haven't heard anything about it before

How many have you read?

https://time.com/collection/must-read-books-2024/

I have only read 9 but have had many on my TBR.

#10BeforeTheEnd I have been wanting to read this for so long, and I think I did the book a disservice by reading it now. It is pretty grim (focusing on the founding of Liberia, involving a lot of slavery talk). But it is also magical, the characters are vivid and the writing is crisp and the storytelling well done. It just didn't land well with me in my state of mind, I still recommend it.
On another note isn't the table runner I got beautiful?

Biographies are always hard to judge. I feel like people should be allowed to tell their stories the way they want but I really found this lacking. The chapters are not chronological, but they also do not seem to build on each other. Which makes it feel like a hodgepodge of stories.

Overall it is fine (if you are not looking for humility or humbleness, which I think is okay). Really reminded me how awful Bush 2.0 was.

Needing a good escape I am diving into this regency romcom romp.

Out January 21, 2025

#10BeforeTheEnd

We are seven (7) weeks out fro mthe end of the year. How are your reading goals going? Chipping away?

Oh my. I really hate to say it because I adore Han Kang, but this didn't work for me. It is the longest short novel I have ever read. It just dragged. Which I guess works a bit for the plot, in the first half our narrator is going to check on a pet bird of a friend in the hospital. The snow is high and she is dragging herself and us through while also going back and forth in time telling us about herself & her friend. Things get weird and 👇

Low pick 3.5/5
I wasn't too interested in the book overall but there are some things I really enjoyed, mostly the structure. The book is laid out following the bracket of the tournament. We learn about each fighter as they fight. The story has a great flow back and forth from the boxers present, past and future. This kept me interested enough to finish the book even though the overall story was a bit bland.

"My compliments to Satan!"

Well. This was a wild ride. I have never really thought about classics being historical fiction of their time. This book was written about 200 years after some of the true events told. I think this is classified as an adventure book, honestly I found it more of a long winded book about soldiers run amuck. I didn't particularly like anyone and found most all of the characters immature.
#randomclassic @TheAromaofBooks

#weeklyforecast

I am reading the tagged on audio and need to start The Facemaker both for #NFNovember with @Bookwormjillk
Am half into Headshot (meh) library book that needs to go back
Not pictured #randomclassics The Three Musketeers with @TheAromaofBooks which I am determined to finish today so I can get back to chipping away on The Little Friend and start Flamingo both for #10BefiretheEnd
Reading As Escape!

"'What!" said he, "you have just lost a woman whom you thought good, charming, perfect, and now you are running after another?"
D'Artagnan felt the justice of reproach
"I love Madame Bonancieux," said he, "with all my heart; but I love 'My Lady's with my head; and by going to her house, I hope to enlighten myself as to the character she plays in court."
#randomclassics @TheAromaofBooks

"What do you do after letting go of hope?"

Well damn. LoL I should have done more research before starting this today. I didn't know the name David Starr Jordan so the first half of this lolled me into a false sense of feel good science story, then the book takes a shocking turn, and then a gross turn.
I do think the book is very well done, I just wish I was in a more stable mood for the twists and turns.
TW for eugenics

🎧 the tagged. A nature book in nature.

Book 2 #NFNovember has been on my list since 2022. @Bookwormjillk

Such an important read. I like that it is written by a UK author, so she looks throughout the world at this issue. Though unfortunately a lot of this has the US as ground zero. It is things I knew but didn't "KNOW"
Both enraging and informative.
First book for #NFNovember @Bookwormjillk

Incels.

Laura Bates

At its simplest the argument goes like this: if women‘s sexual autonomy has given them wicked & tyrannical control over men‘s lives, then women‘s liberation is at the root of all male suffering. Therefore, the obvious remedy is to remove women‘s freedom and independence and to use specifically sexual means (like rape & sexual slavery) to do so. In other words, the problem is not women having sex but women having the choice of whom to have sex with

“It is not women, or even feminists, who have limited, frustrated, diminished, hurt, and damaged men but masculinity itself or, rather, our society‘s constricting, toxic, self-defeating version of what it means to perform being a man. Yet every time anybody tries to make progress in tackling this particular version of masculinity, the MRM rises up as a united voice to condemn and undermine the attempt.”
Laura Bates

So glad I prioritized The Safekeep as one of my #10BeforeTheEnd because it might be one of my top reads of the year, I really loved it.

2 down, 8 to go. Got to pick it up!

Hoping my bookshop/library friends can help me!

I have been collecting Paper Mill Press editions of classics and have made a very preventable mistake. I didn't check before starting and now I am unsure if they have made literally all but one of Austen's completed novels?
I have been searching and googling for this collections Mansfield Park and am not finding it anywhere? They are soft leather bound editions.
If anyone could find the ISBN...👇

Making this my priority this week. And what a week it will be. Glad I can get into this a bit and tune out the American noise for a few minutes.

These French boys. Running around with such fragile egos! It is actually interesting to read this and Men Who Hate Women at the same time.

🗳️☑️
#RandomClassics @TheAromaofBooks

Oh my goodness. This is fantastic. I don't read many books around WWII and I am glad this one is written by a Jewish author, between that and the hype around the Booker I knew this would be a solid read but it was so much more. The tension and the evolution of the characters and story are masterfully done.
I am going to be thinking about this for a very long time.

Almost forgot to switch out the name of this month because HOW??

Here we go Nonfiction November!!
#bookspin
#Bookspinbingo

Feeling very lucky since I have already started both!

#Bookspin - Men Who Hate Women part of my #NFNovember with @Bookwormjillk
and
#DoubleSpin is my #RandomClassic which I will be completing this month! with @thearomaofbooks

October was not a great month for me in quantity, but I do think I read some quality books.

The tagged is an important and raw book about 1980s NYC
Nettle & Bone is a fun fantasy romp with a 30 year old hero.
Dancer is a beautifully told book about a Ballet dancer from 1950s Russia thru the 80s.
Interesting Facts About Space was interesting! & fun while tackling some heavy topics.
And I enjoyed learnig about Kelly Bishop in her new bio.

Remeber, remember I cannot believe it is already November.

#bookspin

Got to both my #Bookspin and #DoubleSpin and got one Bingo

"It is true that before moving to New York City in May of 1985, I turned my back on a six-figure trust fund."

Finished this today and it was so good! Focused on NYC, the AIDS epidemic and the start of Act Up.

I always love historical fiction books that parade through cameos of famous people of the time. This book centering on the 1980s NYC gay scene has so many cameos - Baynard Rustin, Fred Trump (not nice to see) Nora Ephron, Larry Kramer. Trey our main character is a bit annoying & a bit unbelievable but overall I really enjoyed the vibe and storytelling throughout. My favorite is the fictional look at the start of the Act Up organization.