lesmel - tickled ink in 2023

I started the year off with catching up on the Saga graphic novels.
#1 Saga, 8
#2 Saga, 9
#3 Saga, 10
You're only going to read these if you have already read the first seven. The storyline, while interesting, is violent. Also, I'd forgotten how absurd the storyline is.

I'm finally nearly done with Booth, Fowler. It's too long and too detailed. For being a character study with ZERO plot, I would expect to hate it. Instead, it's decent.

>1 lesmel: starred!

Finished #4 Booth, Fowler. Spoiler alert, the world hates the Booth family for a long while. Apparently, that part of human nature never seems to change no matter the century or decade. I'm glad the narrator read the afterword and the author note at the end. I spent most of the book trying to decide just how fictional/factual Rosalie was. Turns out, not that factual at all because there are so few primary source documents related to Rosalie.

Bookclub was pretty consistent about Booth, Fowler -- it's too long and would have done better with some strong editing. Overall, the book got mostly 8s and a few 6s. There were 12 or 13 of us in person and 2 online.

#5 We Love Color: 16 Iconic Quilt Designers Create with Kona Solids
I was expecting something...actually, I'm not sure what I was expecting; but this is just average.

#6 A Strange and Stubborn Endurance
I wasn't sure what to expect with this book. It's maybe a little longer than it should be; but I liked the book and now have to wait nearly a year for the next book.

#7 A Dangerous Business, Smiley
Boooooooring. I read about 30% and skimmed the rest before jumping to the end and discovering the ending is as boring as the beginning.

#8 Grievers, Adrienne Maree Brown
A novella. Kinda...weird? It's slow and methodical. Very low in plot. Very high in character study.

#9 How High We Go in the Dark
I was expecting to actively dislike this book. It keeps being called a novel; but it's a collection of interconnected short stories. I can't say I liked it; but it was...thought provoking.

#10 Just the Nicest Couple
Good thriller. Suffered a little too much obfuscation for the sake of obfuscation. Also, the end is a little weak.

#11 Remarkably Bright Creatures
Really sweet. A bit sad. I spent a lot of time wishing Cameron would run away to a circus even though I know his place in the story the entire time.

#12 Clean Sweep, Andrews
I wasn't sure about this mostly because I didn't really care for Magic Bites...or, I should say, I didn't like it enough to read the rest of the series. Turns out this is a fast, fluffy-ish read. Just perfect for a rainy Sunday on the couch.

#13 Magic Dreams, Andrews
Novella length. Read because the premise was interesting. The story makes more sense if you read the whole series; but it's not a requirement if you just focus on the events happening within this single story.

#14 Magic Steals, Andrews
Novella length. Read because it's the follow up to the first novella with these characters. The story makes more sense if you read the whole series; but it's not a requirement if you just focus on the events happening within this single story.

#15 Iron and Magic
Read because the premise was interesting. The story makes more sense if you read the whole series; but it's not a requirement if you just focus on the events happening within this single story.

I binged the rest of the Innkeeper Chronicles
I like the series. It's mostly lighthearted fantasy with an interesting premise and a main female character that isn't a damsel in distress.

#16 Sweep in Peace

#17 One Fell Sweep

#18 Sweep of the Blade

#19 Sweep with Me

#20 Sweep of the Heart

#21 Strange Practice
I want to like it more than I did. It's a weird mix of stuffy Victorian-ish (that's not exactly accurate) vibes kludged to contemporary London bolted to monster trope retelling fantasy. It's not terrible; but it had a lot of room to grow or fail...and it didn't really grow or fail.

#22 Servant Mage
Interesting story. Not super fleshed out. Ends...abruptly-ish. I'd totally read a sequel.

I've gone to Half Price Books at least twice this year. And maybe 10 times last year. Until my most recent visit, I walk out empty handed. I'm not sure if that is a reflection of my reading, the stock, my preference for the library, or some combination there of. Yesterday's foray saw me leave with a copy of an EQ workbook: EQ with Me Quilt Design: Design Tricks From EQ Experts

#23 Dead Space
I don't know how to describe this book. It's a sci-fi thriller. The main character isn't really likable; but that's not a requirement for me. I'd like a sequel.

#24 The Prison Healer
Fantasy. I think it's billed as YA because of the character ages; but it reads more like new adult. The end was actually unexpected.

#25 Whisper
Fantasy. Ok read. It's a little predictable. Weirdly, the second book isn't anywhere online that I have access.

#26 The Gilded Cage
Not as good as the first. A little predictable.

#27 The Blood Traitor
Excellent finish. Stayed up to read it after finishing the second book.

#28 More 90 Minute Quilts
Eh. It's fine. There's not much new here. Some of the methods are worth a try.

#29 Terrific Tees
Interesting ideas. I like seeing different ways to create t-shirt quilts that aren't just squares or rectangles.

#30 How to Embroider Almost Everything
I really like this. It's far better as a print book than an ebook. Also, I'd still need videos to explain some of the stitches.

#31 A Canadian Werewolf in New York
Light-hearted. Almost pokes fun as the werewolf trope.

#32 The Girl from the Well
Creepy. If I were younger (and less immune to horror fiction) I'd probably find this incredibly scary.

#33 The Anthropocene Reviewed
Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Listen to it. John Green reads it. Then go follow his YouTube Channel. Now I think I have to go read everything else he has written.

#34 The Woman in the Library
Not a fan of metafiction; but this was a fast, compelling read for me. A friend says she knew almost fairly early who the villain was. She even pointed out why she knew...and she's right. This trend she pointed out now rubs me the wrong way. lol

#35 Murder at Haven's Rock
I don't know if this is really a spin off or a new series. It's the exact same characters just a new town. That doesn't mean it's good, it's just weird that the series has changed.

#36 Path of Bones
Ehhhh. No.

#37 A Solitude of Wolverines
Nope. Repetitive. Preachy. On the wrong side of unrealistic.

#38 Encore in Death
Reading it for the sake of the series; but I might be reaching my breakpoint.

#39 In the Quick
Interesting read. Ends before the ending if that makes any sense; but at the same time, the end of the story matters less than all the other action. Feels a little disjointed.

#40 The Sound of the Stars
Good read. It's emotional and a bit dark. Ellie and M0Rr1s are interesting characters. A few of the secondary characters feel flat; but I expect the next book may improve on them. At least, I hope there is a next book.

#41 The Queen's Price
Good read. I'm a little disappointed in the direction Bishop has taken Daemon and Surreal. I have this suspicion Bishop is trying to wrap of the series in a more permanent way.

#42 Song of Blood and Stone
Strong start to a new series for me. I'm please to realize that it appears to be a complete series.

#43 Weapon
Eh. Read it because I wanted to know how the story ended. It isn't terrible; it was just long too long in arriving via ILL and I'd lost interest.

I keep having these reading jags and then I stagnate. Neither is really long; but I feel like I have reading whiplash. 🤣🤣🤣

I think I need to start keeping a small notebook for my bookclub reads. I read the book, discuss it, and then forget what I've said when I'm ready to post here. {sighs}

#44 The Candid Life of Meena Dave
Decent read. I struggled some with the main character's behavior.

#45 Women Talking
Excellent book. I liked the movie better. For a book that is about women, women talking, and female agency at a moment in time that they desperately need it...Toews is weirdly focused on the male perspective.

#46 Traditional Quilts with a Twist
Good book; but not my aesthetic at all.

#47 Easy Stack Quilts
Yet another variation of "stack and whack." Very detailed. I'm never gonna do this style of piecing...at least, not from a book.

#48 Pillows & Quilts
Shabby chic-y? aesthetic. Interesting projects.

#49 Wild Blooms & Colorful Creatures
Really lovely projects that I'll never make; but I can oooh and aaah over.

#50 This Time Tomorrow
Eh. Didn't hate it. Didn't love it. It's character driven -- not a fan. It does have time travel (magical realism more than fantasy) in a manner I don't dislike. The story is basically a love story; but the love between fathers and daughters.

>41 lesmel: I am not involved in a bookclub, but I try to write my LT review within 24 hours of finishing a book so I don't forget.

>49 fuzzi: I read a lot around my book club titles. I could post more frequently; but I never seem to manage it.

#51 The scourge between stars
Short, fast read. Very reminiscent of Alien.

#52 Black Cake
I really enjoyed this book. I listened to it. It really needed more editing; but I heard the original draft had seven parts and not just four.

#53 The Spare Man
Wonk. Wonk. This was a fail for me. It was trying to be too much all the time for all the reasons.

#54 The late great wizard
Wonk. Wonk. (Again) This was a fail for me. It was trying to be too much for all the reasons and has zero resolution which means forcing readers into the sequel if they can't not know. I am no longer a completionist.

#55 Calling for a Blanket Dance
Exceptional book for a debut. The author reads the audio version and it's worth listening. This isn't a novel in a conventional sense. It's more like interconnected short stories or essays (almost, but not quite).

#56 The Tell All, Howard
Eh. It's a cozy mystery of a sort. While it doesn't hit most of the reasons I don't like cozies, I still struggled with all the weird angst.

#57 Celebrate with Babs: Holiday Recipes & Family Traditions
I love Babs on Instagram. She's a hoot to watch. Her book packed with lots of info.

#58 Fourth Wing
REALLY good start to a duology (maybe a trilogy?). It loses a star to a variety of nitpicky things that add up for me (examples: Violet is supposed to be oh so smart, but she does really dumb things; the two major events and the one big twist I saw a few chapters into the book)

#59 A Tyranny of Petticoats
A collection of short stories. I'm not sure there was a single story I didn't like. Some were better than others; but overall, I enjoyed all of them.

#60 Damn Delicious Meal Prep
Interesting recipes. Fantastic pictures. I think I held onto four. Apparently, I like to figure out my own meal prep rather than follow someone else's process.

#61 Memphis, Stringfellow
Listened on audio. Really good book. There are a few things that irk me -- too many background characters that don't move the story forward or seem Very Important but have very little page time; some dumb not-really-magical-realism that is more like hand-waving-convenience-fairy-magic.

#62 Witch King, Wells
Not a Disappointment; but not Murderbot or cats with wings. I'm wondering if this would be better as an audiobook.

>62 lesmel: I’ve started the audiobook and I was irritated by the several pages of characters with such similar (but complex) names and functions.
I’m not having a problem yet following the narrative. But it doesn’t have the perfection of Murderbot stories.

>63 2wonderY: The NAMES! Oh my word. And the various connections between characters.

>63 2wonderY: I finally got the audiobook on Libby. Eh. I didn't listen to the whole thing since I've read the book; but I'm not really that impressed.

#63 Barbed Wire Heart
#64 The Girls I've Been
There's something...endearing? (that isn't the word) compelling? about spicy, morally grey girls/women that can kick ass. Tess Sharpe is great at delivering the right blend of tough, morally grey, kick ass girls/women without making them assholes.

#65 The Radical Element
A collection of short stories. The first collection (>59 lesmel:) was better.

#66 Savage Legion
Good, but the author wrote caricatures not characters.

#67 Savage Bounty
More caricatures rather than characters; but I need to know how the trilogy ends.

#68 The Christie Affair
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Misery porn. I have no problems with the setting (Christie's mysterious 11-day disappearance) or the focus of the story (Archie Christie's mistress). I even appreciate the homage to Agatha Christie. I don't like how this book fixates on everything terrible, horrible, miserable. I also don't like how the book just...ends. La la la. Lots of things happen. People canoodle. People die (are murdered). And then, the book ends. And the story just, dissipates.

#69 Savage Crowns
More caricatures rather than characters; but I know how the trilogy ends!

#70 Far From You
The main character is a teenage recovering drug addict playing amateur detective to solve her best friend's murder. The character and the premise feel realistic. There are a couple convenience fairies; but there's a level of grit that works and makes sense for the story.

It's been a whet. Some of the next books are going to be missing reviews. I've slept since reading them. 😂

#71 Meal Prep for Two: 8 Weekly Plans & 75 Recipes to Get Healthier Together
Is fine. I'm not built for someone else's meal prep plans.

#72 Working Remotely: A Practical Guide for Librarians
Read to see what the author says. Having WFH since the pandemic, it's interesting to see what the response is to WFH and return to office

#73 Between the Spreadsheets: Classifying and Fixing Dirty Data
Interesting but not really pertinent or what i was looking for. Also, learning data clean up via text is REALLY hard. Nigh impossible.

#74 The Ultimate Baking for One Cookbook: 175 Super Easy Recipes Made Just for You
If you like baking but wonder what to do with the 5 dozen whatevers, this is the book to borrow. Worth the read. Borrow it from the library as a physical book.

#75 Modern Triangle Quilts: 70 Graphic Triangle Blocks - 11 Bold Samplers

#76 A Court of Mist and Fury

#77 Lessons in Chemistry

#78 The Ghosts of Trappist

#79 The Hanging City

#80 Strange Love, Aguirre

#81 Love Code, Aguirre

#82 The Cardinal Bird, Smantz
No. Just. NO.

#83 Renegade Love, Aguirre

#84 Compulsory, Wells
Murderbot, FTW!

#85 Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory
Murderbot, always!

#86 The Other Side of the Sky
Eh. YA. It's fine; but not enough to read the second book.

#87 Educated, Westover
So much of this book feels unreal. I got the same vibes as The Glass Castle, Walls. I read this as a book club title for work. It was a really good discussion.

#88 The Storm's Whisper
Last book in the series, maybe??

#89 Heliacle Rising
Hell to the No.

#90 The Coffee Book, Moldvaer
Interesting read. Loaded with a ton of info. Lots of recipes.

#91 Raising the Bar, Adams
Tons of info. Interesting recipes.

#92 Artisan preserving, MacDonald
Interesting; but not was I was looking for.

For future reading...

https://johnnydecimal.com/
https://fortelabs.com/blog/para/ + https://www.google.com/search?q=%22PARA+method%22
https://www.google.com/search?q=Atomic+Notes
https://www.google.com/search?q=Zettelkasten

#93 Firekeeper's Daughter
Great read. Might be my second favorite of the year behind Remarkably Bright Creatures.

#94 A Court of wings and Ruin
You either like this series or you don't. I don't think there's a ton of middle ground.

A Court of Frost and Starlight
I wanted to spread these out a little so I could enjoy the story; but I couldn't just leave the previous book without knowing what happened next.

Payback in Death
Reading because I don't know how to quit this series.

The Sign for Home
It's good with some seriously improbable action.

Pharaoh, Gibbins
I have a feeling if I'd read Gibbin's before Cussler, I might like these; but they feel like a riff off (rip off?) of the Dirk Pitt books.

A Court of Silver Flames
Probably the last book; but I've heard murmurings of another book.

Wolfsong, Klune
Eh. It's too long. Too obfuscating for the sake of obfuscating.

The Measure, Erlick
What if. That's the basic question. I don't really care for the execution. Too much moving between stories/POVs.

Portrait of a Thief, Li
Improbable story. Interesting cast of characters.

Sea of Tranquility
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Listened on audio and when it ended I stopped dead on Costco and kept staring at my Libby app because no way was that the end of the story!

Under One Roof, Hazelwood
Novella length "STEMinist" romance. Basic romance trope -- each thinks they know the other based on easy assumptions. There's a lot of telling (and not showing) of how women are treated in STEM fields.

Stuck with You, Hazelwood
Novella length "STEMinist" romance. Basic romance trope -- lack of communication by both parties paired with trapped together. There's a lot of telling (and not showing) of how women are treated in STEM fields.

Below Zero, Hazelwood
Novella length "STEMinist" romance. Basic romance trope -- lack of communication by both parties paired with damsel needing saving. There's a lot of telling (and not showing) of how women are treated in STEM fields.

The Untamed Heiress
Picked this up from a Name That Book post. It has an interesting if unoriginal trope. It also has a heroine that refuses to be anyone other than who she truly is...at least it feels that way.

System Collapse, Wells
100% fangirl and not even the least bit ashamed of it. Now I have to wait ages and ages for the next book. What is interesting is the story ends in such a way that Wells could walk away from the story and not leave everyone hanging. Disappointed, yes. Hanging, no.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
This is so incredibly sad to read. It's a little disjointed. You are thrown into the deep end of Perry's life and sort of agitated around all different points in his life. Now with the autopsy results out, the book is even more sad.

Scorpio, Kloos
Enjoyed the book; but I really don't want to read the other books to know more about this universe. This is the first in a secondary spin-off series from another of his series that has eight books and a first spin-off series with four books.

Her Deadly Game, Dugoni
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was pretty sure I had the mystery and the twist figured out within the first five chapters. Still, the characters are interesting.

Poet, Faye
There is something I really like about this series. This is not my most favorite of the books. I could walk away from the series at this book and be happy.

Holiday Season Cookbook, Favorite Recipes Press
I'm reading my way through Mom's cookbook collection. I really enjoyed this one. I spent a ridiculous amount of time looking for names I know (without luck).

Cake Decorating. Wilton Yearbook 1980
Filled with all kinds of tips, trick techniques for decorating. Also a ton of ads for Wilton supplies.

Homemade for the Holidays, Favorite Recipes Press
More recipes from HomeEc professionals! I'm hoping Mom has more from this publisher!

Lagniappe A Little Something Extra, Beaumont
There are some interesting recipes; but most seem very twee.

Some how, I missed two books from earlier in the year:

The Tobacco Wives
Reads like YA. Also, the book breaks hard and ends abruptly.

True Biz
Good book. It's interesting to read about a population I know nothing about.

On the border... by the sea cookbook
I really like regionally/community cookbooks. This was is packed with recipes. Some are incredibly ridiculous. A few are mostly suggestions.

Won't be the last book for the year; but I have to pause for the holiday.

Definitely going to need some piffle to get to the magic number. I've been going through Mom's cookbook collection. If I had more time, I could catalog the collection. Maybe I will have time after Christmas; but not likely.

Gonna piffle a little with LT's Year in Review

LT says I added 130 books to my catalog -- 12 were from 2022 reads. The other 118 were from this year's reads. That tells me at least one other title was already in my collection. I knew at the time; but now I can't remember which. I'd guess I will probably have another five books to add before the end of the year. Maybe Mom will be ok with me cataloging the entire rest of her cookbook collection. That would be a lot to add; but worth it.

Of the 130 added:

88 ebooks
11 audiobooks
31 print

This is not at all surprising. I favor ebooks because the font is easy to adjust up or down. I am surprised (or maybe not considering my year) there aren't more audiobooks. I've done so little crafting this year. That's when I listen to audiobooks.

I don't trust the publication date chart in YiR. There's a known issue with pub date and YiR. Also, I've never understood why LT kludges editions together when they already have a thing called work and a thing called book. That's 2/3 of the way to using RDA triplicates or 1/2 way to using FRBR's Works, Expressions, Manifestations, Items concepts.

Meh. Dewey. There's a lot wrong with Dewey as a system and as a person. I prefer not to use it unless I absolutely have to. Also, shocker (not), 65.4% of the books added this year are "literature"

Basic book cover color is just noise in the signal and tells me nothing of importance.

Measurements. If I cared enough, I would clean up all the data in my catalog for these charts. I don't care enough because the data entry points are a pain to get to. Too many clicks.

Reviews and ratings.

Huh. I don't remember reviewing even a single book here. Probably the one I hated this year. Oh, wait. It was the David Gibbins book that was an ER title that never made it to me. I have about seven books to catch up on ER. Not that it helps the authors or publishers at this point; but I should hold up my end of the bargain of a free book.

I also don't remember giving stars to any books. I don't even keep that in my display columns any longer. Oh. Yes. This is the book I hated. LT YiR says three books with stars. There's only one. So, another borked stat.

Tag mirror -- I'm not sure how so few tags are associated with 130 books:

Then again, I didn't read very far into the weeds this year. I wish the number of books was included with the tag instead of having to click into it. Also, all the generic covers is boring. The size and weight of the tag seems to have no bearing on the number of books in my collection. Size does. Weight does. The two together, no. More noise in the signal.

Top authors -- top of what? This feels like more noise in the signal. The list accounts for only 31 titles in my collection. So is this supposed to tell me that six authors are repeats and none others repeat? So, there are 105 unique authors for titles I added in 2023?

Gender -- don't care. There's some data clean up there, though.

Nationality -- don't care. Probably some clean up, too.

The most popular Awards & Honors -- noise in the signal? There's no indication as to what this stat is supposed to be. Why should I care?

All LibraryThing -- eh. Whatever. A lot of free work was given to LT to repackage and sell as Syndetics Unbound, Talpa.ai, LTFL, etc. It's a fair deal. We get "free" accounts.

Community -- You wrote 612 Talk posts in 2023 (consisting of 38,447 words)...

That's about 2/3 of the way to winning NaNoWriMo.

...contributed to 134 Talk topics in 25 Groups...

Only 10 of those 25 groups are listed in "top groups" -- Guess I'm very selective about where I write.

Badges (3) and Medals (6) -- that's pretty spot on. I don't do a lot of data entry here or clean up.

>125 lesmel: only interesting to a few New York decorators. What about SPINE colors? Hmmm?

No books for Christmas, but that's ok. I have a ton of ebooks on my Kindle & a three foot bookshelf full of print titles.

For perusing later:
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/16/1218792445/cookbooks-2023

I wanted to stop at half-priced books today but life interfered. Last night we blew a tire while headed back to our hotel. Today we spent all morning getting the tire fixed. Then we had lunch with family. Then the fun part -- I picked up my puppy from my brother. I'll post a pic later. We had to leave shortly after because we had to pick up Mom's pup from boarding before 7.

Not sure I will have a chance to look through any more titles before the end of the year.

Maybe one more cookbook from HomeEc teachers. Maybe I can still start in on cataloging Mom's collection. That would be a nice, low-key, post-holiday activity.

>136 2wonderY: Spine colors aren't of any more interest to me than cover colors. Page edge art might be interesting, though.

I'm hitting up Mom's cookbook collection...

#120
Cookbook collection : twelve years of prize-winning recipes
This is sort of a walk through my childhood. It's not so much that I've had all the dishes in the cookbook as I've eaten, heard, seen a lot of them. It was also fun to look for names I might recognize.

#121
Saucy secrets : the fourth time around!
Some of Mom's recipes are in here. Also, I recognize most of the names of the contributors.

#122
The newcomers and friends of Laredo cookbook
Mom and Dad weren't Newcomers in the year that this cookbook was published. I recognize some names.

#123
La Piñata
This is crammed full of recipes. I've even copied some because they look worth a try.

I have a feeling this will be the last book for the year. That leaves me with just a few piffle posts to get to the magic number.

Mom still has an entire closet of cookbooks for me to catalog and read. I found the stash of HomeEc titles. I had a feeling there were more in her collection. I haven't attempted to pry any titles from her shelves in a few visits. I'll probably wait until later in 2024 before I ask for some. My house is too much of a mess to add to the chaos that will now include a puppy.

I don't track my re-reads. If I did this year, there's a chance I would double my numbers. I've listened to the entire Murderbot series at least 10 times. I use it to help me fall asleep every night.

I've also listened to most of the titles from Anne Bishop's The Others for the same reasons.

A friend mentioned there was a BBC production of The Dark Is Rising. I was hoping to listen in serial form; but life had other plans. I may try it on my drive home.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvp7/episodes/guide

I need to find another medium length audiobook series that would make good sleeping noise. I've become very picky about audiobooks that serve in my nighttime routine.

Piffle post 1

Piffle post 2

I came to piffle...