Weird, maybe bonkers, definitely ingenious dystopian fiction. It's unlike anything I've read before.

I need the sequel by yesterday.

#SeriesLove2024 @TheSpineView @Andrew65

It's 1926, Ringmaster and her crew of Sparks (people with magical abilities) travel across the US to bring people joy and to help "special guests" in which ever way possible. This also includes Ringmaster, her wife Odette and their friend Mauve to travel through time (⬇️)

It's also 1917, Edward was just rescued from a WW I trench by Ruth. The two run away to join the circus.

#buddyread @DuckOfDoom

Low pick for me, see comments

Out already

Debut SF novel with a bit of romance. Unique cultural approach: Korea is the leading nation for space exploration.

Found family, enemies-to-lovers(?), cliffhanger ending.

Nothing much happens in the first 3/4 of the book, unfortunately. Secondary characters are mere plot devices and can only be distinguished by their quirks.

#MountARC #NetGalley

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

A quiet week thanks to a public holiday on Thursday (May is full of public holidays here in Germany).

I should have added: a lovely cup of coffee and some Christmas biscuits (leftovers in a tightly closed tin) while sitting outside in the sunshine. 😜🙈

Holmes and Watson are trying to find out who the Black Baron is. Meanwhile bombings happen across London and draw ever closer to Buckingham Palace, the Queen might be their intended target, naturally Mycroft engages Sherlock to investigate.

Spoilers⬇️

Just a friendly reminder that we'll be reading #InterestingTimes and #TrollBridge next! Dig out your books, put in your library holds, or place your orders! The next Discworld adventure continues on June 8th! Woohoo!

Troll Bridge is in "A Blink of the Screen" or can be downloaded here:
https://jerrywbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Troll-Bridge-Pratchett-Terry....

ETA: changed link

#Discworld

#OokBOokClub-ers, our Discworld adventure continues TODAY with #BOOKTITLE!

Looking forward to our discussion next month!

Happy reading!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyRead

Hello friends! Open discussion is in the FOLLOWING POST marked as a spoiler. Find the Sourcery post & tap "show me" on the spoiler tag to join in the discussion. Join in whenever you can! Today. Tomorrow. Next month! The post will always be up so just tag each other & we'll jump in to discuss with you. Feel free to chat about anything!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyRead

It's Friday. 🎉🎉 And someone has to make a start. 😉

I cleaned my honestly tiny balcony on Wednesday, because the cat wouldn't let me do #audioknitting. As soon as I was done, #GhostCat vanished into her tent (pic above) and I could play with my yarn and knitting pattern.

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

Not a case of #KAL, but Her Feline Highness #GhostCat is sitting on my knitting pattern and hence I have to enjoy my #audiobook without #audioknitting.

The disadvantage of sitting here with idle hands, I see the dirty spots that need to be spring-cleaned.

#KnittersOfLitsy #CatsOfLitsy

Round up of my April reads.

Enjoyed the Hawthorne&Horowitz series. I hope there are going to be more books.

"Ready or Not" by Cara Bastone was a romance novel that surprised me very much.

#BookReport

#WorstRead2024 @CSeydel

I've read a lot in April. Not all of the books were good. None was abysmal, which is good actually. When choosing the Worst Read for April I went with the most disappointing book. Only to then realise, my March Worst Read was even more disappointing. So, here is the first third of the year reading disappointments summed up. 😁

Well, this was steamier and smuttier than I thought. And a good 150pp too long, or say 2-3 hours too long.

Layla is a successful business woman who has been on 120 first dates. She doesn't seem to be able to interest a man in her. Her friends/neighbours Luke, Zack & Josh, who do a relationship advice podcast, offer to take her out on fake dates to give her advice. There won't be any feelings involved, just dates and 🌶️

#AwesomeApril @Andrew65

😐

Bit underwhelming and an abrupt ending.

Gorgeous psychological descriptions of what goes on in Edward's mind, but all in all I was missing something.

#MoreMehThanYeah

#AwesomeApril #readathon @Andrew65

Low pick. Very low pick.

Not saying it's a pan, but it's definitely not a pick.

The Colorado Rockies, a billionaire with a vision to de-extinct the large animals from the pleistocene period and making them the attraction of his lodge and camping resort. What could possibly go wrong?

If you liked Jurassic Park, think of this as the low budget version where two gruesome murders lead to an investigation with ice-age creatures in the background.⬇️

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

#AwesomeApril #readathon @Andrew65

I finished The Familiar already - #BuddyRead with @DuckOfDoom

Extinction and A Duke of One's Own are both #NetGalley #ARCs and were published a few days ago. 🙈🙈

🤣🤣🤣

Of course, Mr Preston, of course.

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

#AwesomeApril #readathon @Andrew65

Thanks for the tag, @Read4life!

I could have written down a few more things, it was an interesting week.

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

Second book in the Crow Investigations series.

Cosy(?) #UrbanFantasy

I like the series, but it's more "casual listening". It's interesting, yet doesn't require all of my attention.

First four or five books in the series are free with Audible subscription.

#SeriesLove2024 @TheSpineView @Andrew65

Thanks for the tag @julieclair

1) no one sticking out particularly 😬 maybe my grandmother
2) my children, my close friends
3) The Weasleys from Harry Potter - love how this family sticks together

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

#BuddyRead with @DuckOfDoom

I am immersing myself in ebook and audiobook.

Second book in the Scarlet Revolution series suffers from #MiddleBookSyndrome

The plot dragged on. It was too much about Eleanor being in her own head and asking the same questions over and over. The second half of the novel picks up the pace a bit, but by that point I was tired of reading "What would Sir Percy do?" or "If only Sir Percy was here," as well as reading about Eleanor getting into trouble just to prove her point.

#NetGalley #ARC

How to write a fantasy-ish computer game recap with lots of gore, sexual content/violence, self-harm/suicide from a female POV and fail at it.

Davi is the centre of her universe. Whenever she dies she respawns at the beginning of her adventure and has been doing so for over a thousand years. Yes, that would blunt the edges of any of us, but she was too blunt to be likeable.

DNF @ 22% - there was nothing that enticed me to read on.

#NetGalley

I fell into an #audiobook black hole. I started reading the Hawthorne&Horowitz series this week and finished books 3 and 4 today, started book 5.

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

#SeriesLove2024 @TheSpineView @Andrew65

Paul Kidby's iconic #Discworld pictures. I enjoyed browsing through this book.

Someone was looking for recommendations from ROMANIA. My brain won't come up with the @ right now.

1798: the protagonist has to flee her home to find her uncle in Bucharest. She's to retrieve the titular magical cook book, but finds her uncle dead and the book gone. All she has is a map that takes her from Romania to France and Germany. A journey that reveals her family's powers to her and her connection to the cook book's author.

#MotivationalMonday @Cupcake12

1) write reviews for ARCs and maybe wash the car
2) part of my balcony, the communal garden and my dirty car (pollen+Sahara sand = camouflage)
3) western Germany, it's cloudy with white fluffy clouds and some rain clouds. Wish it would rain, see 1+2 😉
4) one of the many 🙄😁

Here are my nominations for #CampLitsy24
@BarbaraBB @Megabooks @squirrelbrain

Three Eight One - 16 Jan, 269pp
The Persephone Code - 05 April, 384pp
Saltblood - 25 April, 386pp
Extinction - 02 April/23 April, 384pp

A few impressions from my day-trip to Berlin. We, my son and I, had tremendously good weather. We walked along "Unter den Linden" from the Brandenburger Tor to the Alexanderplatz.

Met a friend at the Nikolaikirche (bottom middle), where there are some of the oldest houses in the city (bottom left). The "Heinrich Zille" Museum is here, too.
The historian wanted to explore more, the teenager wanted food and a quiet corner.

The purchases. Or as my son called it: the spoils of war

We arrived in Berlin at about 9.30am and our first stop was at a small café to have tea. Then we went to Dussmann Kulturkaufhaus, which is a large department store for all things books and music and probably lots more, but we only went to their in-house English/Foreign Language bookshop.

Afterwards a tiny bit of sightseeing, food, meeting a friend, more food, and a bit more shopping.

It's #DewesReadathon and I'm on a train to go book shopping in Berlin.

Currently listening to the tagged #audiobook. No. 8 in the Alex Verus series.

#SeriesLove2024 @TheSpineView @Andrew65

I might have been on a tiny little murder spree these past weeks, thanks to #EasterCrime. @Leniverse

My latest adventure took me to Regency London where Sebastian St. Cyr was on the hunt for the person who murdered a bishop. A case that revealed secrets that had been buried for decades.

#SeriesLove2024 @TheSpineView @Andrew65

Jazz and magic and Peter Grant right in the middle of it all.

Includes a trip to the Bodleian Library.

#SeriesLove2024
@TheSpineView @Andrew65

It's @Ddzmini's fault. Her posts made me want to revisit Peter, Nightingale, Leslie, Beverly and Molly.

#SeriesLove2024 @TheSpineView @Andrew65

Just a friendly reminder that we are setting off on the second round around the #Discworld today with #Sourcery.

Looking forward to our discussion next month!

PS: this book might work for some of the #52bookclub24 bonus prompts for April - I'm definitely using it for "desert you"

#SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyread #ReadAlong

Thanks for the tag @TheSpineView

#Two4Tuesday

1) 🤔 not exactly most excited, but looking forward to: Extinction by Douglas Preston (Pub Day: 23 April)

2) Killing Time by Jodi Taylor (fifth Time Police book)

Three five stars, three DNFs.

Biggest disappointment: Mars House (DNF)

Biggest surprise: Greta & Valdin (5 Stars)

Entertaining and educating. If, like me, you've always wanted to know about the 'secret' language spoken in the emergency department of a hospital, or by cricket players, or among sound engineers, or... This book is for you.

#MarvellousMarch #readathon @Andrew65

Flew through the #audiobook today.

Veronica and Stoker needed some help to find the culprit and the identity of the victim. They might not have been at the height of their game, but it was an entertaining adventure nonetheless.

It didn't sound like this would be the last adventure either. 🥳🥳

#SeriesLove2024 @TheSpineView @Andrew65

#MarvellousMarch #readathon

#WorstRead2024 @CSeydel

There are several more hours left in the month, but I'm sure the worst read of March was "The Mars House".

A small island. About 125 inhabitants. One is found dead. It could have been any inhabitant. Because everyone's memory of the night had been erased including the AI's who was the only one capable of doing so.
The murder collapsed the barrier keeping the island safe. If the villagers can't find the murderer and get the AI to raise the barrier again they'll all die. It's a race against time, they have less than two days.

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

Demoted to a small dark office in the basement of the bank in Baker Street, Harry now has to answer letters sent to Sherlock Holmes. She comes across a letter from her home village and decides to not only write back as assistant to Mr Holmes, but to investigate herself. Of course she finds the missing maid, but also much more.

A short cosy mystery. Perfect palate cleanser.

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

#MarvellousMarch #readathon @Andrew65

Proper #EasterCrime reading: Sherlock - A Study in Pink & the tagged #ARC

@Leniverse

#MountARC #NetGalley

#MarvellousMarch #readathon @Andrew65

The one with the long legs is at home and #GhostCat is blissfully conked out.

I guess that means I'll be able to get lots of things done around the house while listening to an #audiobook.

#MarvellousMarch #readathon @Andrew65

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

1) I live in Germany. My kids go/went to a German school, but it's a very different school system from my own East German primary school experience: basic sewing skills, basic gardening skills, basic DIY skills. Yes, they learnt that at home, but it's different when they learn it at school among their friends.

2) Wow, tough question. Claire might be able to sew wounds and improvise a splint, but she can't cook.

#OokBOokClub

Just a friendly reminder that we'll be reading #Sourcery next! Dig out your books, put in your library holds, or place your orders! Our Discworld adventure continues on April 8th! Woohoo!

If anyone wants to be tagged/untagged for future posts please let me know! Happy to oblige!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyread

Dear #OokBOokClub-ers,

Following the suggested reading order we'll start off in April 2024 with the #RincewindNovels.

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyread

Dear #OokBOokClub-ers,

Here we go, my proposed schedule for our #Discworld re-read. I've included a few of the short stories and where to find them.

#SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyread

Dear #OokBOokClub-ers,

I am proposing a #Discworld re-read based on the above reading guide. #SirTerryPratchett himself suggested starting with Sourcery, so that's what I'd suggest too.

I can draw up a reading schedule.

Your thoughts?

Let me know if you want to be tagged in future postings.

#PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyread