Y‘all get a handwritten #BookSpinBingo list for June 2024 because I wrote the books down in the wrong order and can‘t be bothered to change my Word document to match 😂 As always this year it‘s half articles for school, half books, and three of the books are my Roll100 picks.
#5JoysFriday
1. My classmates in my master‘s program are always super encouraging. We pull each other through each assignment.
2. We‘ve had great weather at lunch, perfect for walking.
3. I‘ve enjoyed all the cat manga I read this week.
4. Chatted with 2 great friends today. I always feel uplifted talking to them.
5. I am off for 2 weeks! 😎
pickThis is cute and made me laugh out loud in places, but definitely better suited for reading in small chunks; it‘s a lot of single-page comics and it is possible to consume too many in one sitting.
Looking forward to this, one of my #Roll100 picks for June 2024!
pickThe manager of the local cat cafe recruits Mr Kanda and Kanda's former student Kuju to help him rescue a cat from an abandoned, garbage-ridden flat, but Fukumaru is not happy about yet another guest in HIS house. I loved this little friend, a talkative Siamese cat, and how he and Kuju have developed a bond.
With regard to the one-page stories, I laughed out loud at “The Cat Is the Hat“. Very simple and very silly. Loved it.
pickAnother great installment in the series. Things are getting serious for Nick and Charlie as Nick starts to think about university and how that will affect their relationship. I remember very well the pressure to know exactly what you want to do with your life at that age, and it's probably worse now. I love the text conversations and the glimpses of side characters' storylines.
#5JoysFriday
1.Afternoon tea with friends outdoors on a perfect sunny day
2.A housewarming gift of The Complete Far Side ❤️
3.A band I love is releasing a new album, first in 10 years
4.Played a bunch of Stardew Valley
5.Got good feedback on the first assignment of my next master‘s course (we won‘t talk about the struggle with assignment 2 ?)
#5JoysFriday on Friday this time ?
1.The in-law family had their 1st BBQ of the year for Mother‘s Day
2.The hosts have a beautiful tuxedo cat with green eyes ?
3.Saw a ? on the way to work on Tue
4.Had a great email discussion with a colleague about my course
5.Received pretty flowers ?from my nephew
pick3 stars so a pick. I really liked how the main case wrapped up. Was grinning to myself on the bus for that part! So I‘ll hang on to this one.
pickThis was very well done. I like David Mitchell‘s droll humour and he writes well about the subject. No endnoting, but the further reading list contains some good sources. I ended up buying the audio immediately afterward with a spare Libro.fm credit 😄
Once again #FiveJoysFriday goes into Saturday 👀
1. New episodes of Doctor Who dropped on Disney+ this week!
2. Today I had tea with friends I hadn‘t seen for a couple of years.
3. I then went book shopping with these friends 😄
4. We bought some local strawberries (probably greenhouse rather than outdoor), which were good
5. I‘ve been filling my calendar with cool concerts in the fall/winter!
I‘m behind with #5JoysFriday because I had a cold most of the week and was not very joyful ? I‘m feeling better now so here‘s my list.
1.Went for ?on Sunday
2.Played a LOT of Disney Dreamlight Valley while resting on the couch
3.Had a Zoom session with my master‘s course classmates. They keep me motivated!
4.Saw a ? IN OUR BACKYARD!
5.Yesterday was the first day warm enough for sandals ??
pickI really enjoyed this. I play some video games and like reading about how people make them. The brainpower needed to create a realistic world that covers a mind-boggling array of possible choices is fascinating. My favourite character was Marx because of how he quietly paved the way for Sam and Sadie to do great things. We should all be so lucky to have a Marx in our lives (and need to appreciate them when we do).
pickAnother volume of Dalek Empire begins, this time on the wildlife sanctuary planet of Graxis Major. The commander is a Judi Dench-like character who suffers no fools and takes the mysterious deaths of her crew personally. The Daleks seem to be on the prowl...but they say they're helping end the plague? Hmmm.
(Also of note: David Tennant is in this volume of Dalek Empire. I grinned like a fool when he started speaking :D)
pickA low Pick because I liked the setting (a book set in Montreal? yes please) and the fact that Denny Durant, the protagonist, has a cat. Cat-owning detectives seem less common in “grittier“ mystery novels. I did find the font annoying, but your mileage may vary.
pickThis met my expectations. It's an academic book and that definitely shows in the language, but I love that this book was written and hope there are many more books about Canadian television. (I think one like this book but about Vancouver's TV industry would be interesting.)
Had some nice moments this week so thought I‘d jump into #5JoysFriday ☺️
1.Reshelving books in our new house
2.Finishing the first course of my master‘s program
3.Seeing a ? on my way to work one morning
4.Attending a friend‘s craft night for the first time in a few months
5.Having a group video call with work friends
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)
pickA 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).
pickRob'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!
bailedDropped 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.
so-soStarted off all right, but the explanation for the person(s) behind the whole situation was convoluted and hard to follow.
pickI 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 😍)
pickA 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.
pickThis series is such a good pick-me-up, even if I am guaranteed to cry (usually happy tears) at least once per volume 😂
pickAn 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.
pickFascinating 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.
pickI 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.
pickThis 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.
bailedI 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).
so-soI 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.
pickThis 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.
pickThis 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.
pickThis 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.
so-soI 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.
pickI 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.
pickA 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.
pickMaurice 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.
