Wow, a #Roll100 list without an audiobook 😂

1️⃣ Maigret se trompe (Simenon)
2️⃣ Gideon‘s Risk (Marric)
3️⃣ Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden‘s Syndrome (Scalzi)

A quick and interesting history of the Soo Line, a little-known-today but much beloved railway line from the golden age of passenger rail travel in North America. The author draws on his personal experience working at the Banff railway station for this line, as well as his previous books, to tell the story. The photos and quotations are meticulously sourced (although citing a Wikipedia article felt a little bit shaky research-wise).

Rob's warmth and humour brighten every minute of this audiobook. The audio is a must-listen if you're a fan of Animaniacs. Narf! Zort! Poit!

Dropped this about 14 pages in when the main character and a few others started having a really racist conversation. I did not wish to spend any more time with these characters.

Started off all right, but the explanation for the person(s) behind the whole situation was convoluted and hard to follow.

I came to Mean Girls very late for a millennial (in my 30s) but ended up really liking the movie once I got there. The musical soundtrack is great too. This book is a great overview of the movie's genesis, production, and legacy. There are even a few photos, which I wasn't expecting. I would recommend this if you liked the movie.

Keeping things consistent with the #BookSpinBingo list, just changing out the books in the spaces dedicated to Roll100 picks. Still slogging my way through coursework… might do a 1:1 correspondence next month rather than having 3 papers in 1 space. We shall see.

April 2024 #Roll100 picks add yet more audio to the queue!
🎧 The Essential Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 2
📖 Trouble Follows Me, by Ross Macdonald
🎧 The Order of Time, by Carlo Rovelli (read by Benedict Cumberbatch 😍)

A soft Pick for this because I do love a Moon-based Doctor Who story and Eleven was credible, but the mechanism for alien invasion was not entirely satisfactory.

This series is such a good pick-me-up, even if I am guaranteed to cry (usually happy tears) at least once per volume 😂

An early Dalziel and Pascoe that was pretty good. The three storylines kept things moving well, and there were some thoughtful moments and conversations around aging. Not entirely sure I buy the resolution of one of the storylines, but whatever.

Fascinating and well put together. I think I‘ll have to get my own copy.

Of course the #BookSpinBingo gods chose the one of my three firm picks that is least likely to be read 🤣
#BookSpin: Le Matou, by Yves Beauchemin
#DoubleSpin: three chapters or articles for coursework

I just realized I never posted my original #BookSpinBingo board for February 2024 (just the list), so here‘s the wrap-up:
✅ BookSpin: readings (selections from 3 different course books)
❌ DoubleSpin: Dalek Empire 3.2
1️⃣ bingo: I1 to I5

The good thing about keeping things ultra-flexible for #BookSpinBingo is that I get my lists ready a lot sooner 😂 The firm picks for March 2024 are a French book, a Doctor Who audio, and an older thriller.

March 2024 #Roll100 picks:
1️⃣ Le Matou, by Yves Beauchemin
2️⃣ Destination: Nerva, by Nicholas Briggs (yet another Doctor Who audio 🤣)
3️⃣ The Satan Bug, by Alistair MacLean

I liked this. Some elements of the plot were a little far-fetched, but I was in a mood to roll with them. This was a fast read. I personally did not fear elevators while reading this, or at least no more than usual, but I don‘t hold that against the book blurb 😂

I am here for this double readathon of #20In4 and #FabulousFebruary. My goal will be to fill at least one more bingo square for course reading (I count 3 textbook chapters or articles as 1 square on my BookSpin bingo card) and to read one non-fiction book from the library.

This was good fun and a nice expansion of the Rivers of London universe. I do think calling a 200-page book a “novella” is a stretch though. Maybe it‘s a novella in relation to the 800-page-plus doorstoppers that come out these days.

I am less enamoured of fighter jets than I am of space travel, so this was a slog. I have so little time for pleasure reading these days that I can‘t spend it on books I‘m not enjoying.

Content warning for animal death (chapter 53).

I find the cover art super creepy and don‘t like that the Doctor Who logo is absent. It makes the story look pulpy (which it is, but shhh). This is one of those Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane ones where they get captured about four times and Sarah Jane nearly gets killed twice (not through anything she did, just the fact that she‘s travelling with the Doctor). It‘s a quick read and probably better if you‘ve watched and enjoyed the TV version.

This was a re-read and a good one. It feels quite sinister because of how “ordinary” all the deaths are. No fancy poisons or weird weapons. This is a stand-alone Agatha and works better for it.

This was darkly funny with a great pace. It was distressing how many of the narrator‘s many neuroses I found completely reasonable 😂 If I can get my hands on another volume in the series, I will read it.

This was lovely. I am 100% here for this trend of bookshop-related fiction from Japan, even if this particular example does not contain cats.

January 2024 #BookSpinBingo wrap-up:
❌ BookSpin: Dalek Empire 3.1: The Exterminators
✅ DoubleSpin: Three chapters of readings: Snook ch. 7, Amalberti chs. 1 and 2
1️⃣ bingo

I didn‘t read a lot of what I wanted to in January 2024, so keeping things loosey-goosey for #BookSpinBingo in February. The only firm choices are my Roll100 picks.

#Roll100 picks for February 2024:
1.Dalek Empire 3.2: The Healers (Big Finish)

2.Elevator Pitch (Barclay)

3.Doctor Who and the Masque of Mandragora (Hinchcliffe)

Dalek Empire 3.1 is on January‘s list but I haven‘t read it yet ?

I wanted to like this more than I did. The story was intriguingly told and the world being built had many interesting elements. However, it felt incomplete, possibly because it was a novella rather than part of a longer work. The storytelling was the sort of thing I‘d want in like a 500-page novel.

I have the feeling that younger me would have read a copy of this to death if she‘d had it back then. Current me liked this a great deal. I would pick up a copy if I stumbled across a nice edition.

A lowish pick because the last two chapters read like the translator got tired 🤣 some typos, repeated text, etc. I would love to get my hands on a copy in French to compare the two.

Maurice Druon‘s novels have proven quite zippy for me, relatively speaking. Although I‘m reading them in my second language, they are quite short (250ish pages including historical notes) and the story moves quickly. I don‘t know much French history so I‘m learning a lot.

I‘m off next week on a course, so the readathon comes at a perfect time! I plan to finish two of my Roll100 picks (Dalek Empire audio and The Empress of Salt and Fortune) for sure, then the rest will be left to chance.

I fould this really interesting and compelling. The most challenging part for me to grasp was what all those abbreviations stood for; the theory of practical drift made sense.

Several new characters to throw into the mix in this volume. Mr Kanda certainly had a full house 😄 Great fun to start 2024 off with.

Best of December for #12BooksOf2023 is Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents, by James Reason. I am a NERD, what can I say 😂😂😂

Best of November for #12BooksOf2023 is Writing for Busy Readers, by Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink. As someone who edits for busy readers, I found this book really helpful. It told me some things I was doing right and some things I should try.

Best of October for #12BooksOf2023 is The Last Devil to Die, by Richard Osman. I love the Thursday Murder Club series and this one provided a good stopping point for the characters to take a break while Osman writes something else for a bit.

January 2024 #BookSpinBingo board:
#BookSpin: Dalek Empire 3.1: The Exterminators
#DoubleSpin: Three chapters of readings
Both my audiobooks AND a print book I‘m currently reading are on the same line! Of course none of that line is a readings square 😂

Best of September for #12BooksOf2023 is Babel, by R. F. Kuang. Rich and thought-provoking, and as a former translator I loved reading a book with translators as protagonists.

December 2023 #BookSpinBingo wrap-up:
✅ BookSpin: An unowned book (The Stone, by Nigel Tranter)
❌ DoubleSpin: Transit, by Ben Aaronovitch
1️⃣ Bingo (O1 to O5)

Another book I forgot to review! This was my last book finished for 2023. I learned a lot and enjoyed making connections to other books I‘d read in the field.

My #BookSpinBingo will be a lot different this year because I am starting a part-time Master‘s degree. I did the math and figured that last year, I finished a book every 3 days, so to give myself the illusion of reading progress, I made half my spin list “three chapters of readings”. An article will count as one chapter. We‘ll see how well this works 😁

#Roll100 wrap-up for 2023: I read 21 of my 36 picks, and managed to read ALL of the picks for July, August, and September! I don‘t know how many other books off the list I read because I deleted the list from my master document after the December picks were announced (I was itching to create a new list for January 😆), but this year I‘m going to track that.

Best of August for #12BooksOf2023 was The Gifts of Imperfection, by Brené Brown. As a recovering perfectionist I found this book useful, especially the acknowledgement that working on accepting imperfection is a process, not a thing to check off a list ?

Best of July for #12BooksOf2023 is The LGBTQ+ History Book. DK‘s Big Ideas Simply Explained series is excellent.

Best of June for #12BooksOf2023 was a re-read, Emily‘s Quest by L.M. Montgomery. I love this trilogy!

Forgot to review this earlier. I liked the accident investigation details but found the characters‘ personal lives too messy.

Best of May for #12BooksOf2023 is Stone Blind, by Natalie Haynes. I adored this retelling of Medusa‘s story.

Looking forward to another year of #Roll100! Here are my picks for January 2024:

The Empress of Salt and Fortune (Vo)
Les poisons de la couronne (Druon)
Dalek Empire 3.1: The Exterminators (Big Finish)

Glad to have an ebook and an audiobook in the mix as I will be travelling in January 😄

Best of April for #12BooksIn2023: Love and Let Die, by John Higgs. This book compares and contrasts the cultural impact of the Beatles and the James Bond franchise. Fascinating!