Mars's Corkboard

Pages read: 1326/1917

Books finished: 4

I finished both When We Were Vikings and The MASH Up today! I really loved them both. I gave The MASH Up 4.5 stars (and did factor in the fact that, as a romance novel, it inherently lacks the depth I usually expect out of books), and When We Were Vikings got the full 5 stars. I was not sure where I would fall with that one for the longest time, but in the end I was really pleased with it, as much of an emotional roller coaster as it was.

It's been a very successful week so far - nothing under 4 stars! I have high hopes for my last two books, so hopefully they don't break the streak.

It was a rainy day today, and besides one ill-fated excursion around lunch (we got rained on) I stayed indoors and had a very bookish day. I bought a board game last month called A Place for All My Books and I brought it to the shore to play with my sister-in-law and board game-obsessed brother. We all really enjoyed it, and it was a great bookish way to spend the afternoon

Pages read: 1119/1917

Books finished: 2

Grandpa went home today and I had some time around the house all to myself - which I wasted watching YouTube videos and taking a nap.

But I did finish my reading for the day! First thing this morning I went to the nearby library, which, again, is tiny but I was able to find a nice little nook in the corner where I journaled a bit and continued reading The MASH Up. I got to the requisite first kiss and sex scene today, and while these were (unfortunately) nonexplicit they were still very swoony, enough to make me blush at reading it in public.

The Book of the Month picks were revealed today. For my main pick I chose the historical novel Meet Me in the Garden, but when it came to my add-ons, I've been so heartened by The MASH Up that I was tempted to order TWO romances (I tempered myself and only ordered one, along with a thriller that I've been interested in for a while).

Pages read: 900/1917

Books finished: 2

It's late and I'm tired (one downside of going on vacation with family is that they always want you to do stuff with them and it's exhausting) but I just finished my reading for the day before bed and I need to write my daily update!

I started two books today. The first was When We Were Vikings, which happens to be a library book (so no annotations for this one, unfortunately). I'm reading this book for my Comfort Characters reading challenge where I'm reading books based on my favorite characters, including the entire main cast of Ghosts US, including Thorfinn, a Viking ghost. I'm cheating a little because When We Were Vikings is not historical or necessarily about Vikings; it's a contemporary novel about a woman who just really likes them (and considers herself one). It's my challenge, though, and I say it counts.

The main character of When We Were Vikings, Zelda, has fetal alcohol syndrome and the writing reflects how she thinks and speaks - so, simple, plain, and a little stilted. There's still so much rich characterization that comes through that simple writing, and the story is already shaping up to be devastating. I think it's part of the novel's thesis that "heroic" and "villainous" are not straightforward and good people can sometimes do bad things, a moral that at this point seems like it's going to apply to Zelda's brother Gert; at this point I will say that, although I understand Zelda's love for her brother, at this point as an outsider I do think that Gert just sucks hard.

The other book I started today (after a big lunch and a much-needed nap) is The MASH Up. It's a romance and I'm happy to say that I think third time's the charm: I've finally found a romance novel that isn't hot garbage! It's no great literary feat, either, but it's cute and fun. I'll really only pick up a romance novel if it has a concept beyond just "people fall in love" to hook me, and this one reeled me in with its improbable, magical premise.

Pages read: 679/1917

Books finished: 2

I finished both of my first two books today!

I didn't have much left of Wife Shaped Bodies to read today, and maybe that's the reason the ending felt a little sudden and rushed. I don't totally understand Nicole's final decision before the epilogue, but overall I can't really complain. I gave this book 4.5 stars because the writing really had me hooked from beginning to end.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo grew on me the more I read it. I never really found Monique all that compelling, and the twist involving her at the end was pretty good but could have done with more foreshadowing. But Evelyn herself is really the focus for most of the book, and I thought her story was wonderfully and compellingly plotted. I was leaning towards 3.5 stars for most of it but by the end I think it earned a 4.

It's funny - the writing in Wife Shaped bodies was beautiful and the plot just okay and it earned 4.5 stars, while Evelyn Hugo had a wonderful plot but mediocre writing and it only got 4. On paper these books should rank about the same, but I think this really cements where my priorities lie when it comes to fiction. Good writing above all else!

I am no longer 100 percent certain which books I'm going to start tomorrow. I might have to consult my tarot cards for this...

Pages read: 434/1917

Books finished: None

Read a lot of tasteful lesbian sex today 👍

As I expected, I did a good chunk of my reading early in the morning before anyone else in the house woke up, which is generally when I'm most productive. I started with Wife Shaped Bodies today, which I'm still really enjoying. I don't really like how sporadically and randomly Teagan appears in the story, and I think a little too much time is spent describing Nicole's dreams, but the prose is still so beautiful and grotesque. I like this kind of thing, I like when a book doesn't necessarily make sense but is beautiful. I need to be reading more poetry.

My aunt, uncle, and grandfather are visiting for a few days and got here around noon. It's really nice to see them, especially since I don't get to see my aunt and uncle that often anymore, but I won't lie, it's a little overwhelming with so many people here in such a small space. My aunt has read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo before; she says she thought it was "mid" and I don't really disagree with that assessment, even though I did like my time with it a little more today.

We all went to the beach (except Grandpa, he stayed at the house with the dogs) and hung out under a cabana. I listened to my mom and aunt gossip and read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It's definitely getting more interesting the more marriages she racks up.

Right now I'm waiting for my brother to get out of the shower so I can wash the beach off me and pondering which video game I should start. Part of me really wants to play Citizen Sleeper 2 this week, but with all the reading I'm already doing I worry a text-heavy game like that will turn my brain irreversibly to mush. I will probably end up playing Rosewater instead.

Pages read: 218/1917

Books finished: None

I told y’all, part of me wants to be a reading vlogger now so I WILL be giving daily updates and also telling you how my vacation is going.

I started reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in the car ride to the beach (in the passenger seat, I’m not reading while driving). I’m 105 pages in and it’s fine so far, but nowhere near the revelation I’ve been led to expect yet. I mean, this amateurish writing? This is what made Taylor Jenkins Reid the sensation that she is? I do not need to know the color of every piece of furniture in a room or every article of clothing a character is wearing. Sometimes the curtains are just blue, sure, and it’s usually the sign of bad writing. The chapters from Evelyn’s POV are really interesting, though. I don’t care as much about Monique, but I am already seeing parallels between her and Evelyn so it’s not like the framing device of the interview is unjustified.

I honestly could have read more of Evelyn Hugo in the car - it was a pretty long drive - but if you’ll recall I had how much I needed to read of each book for each day pretty well calculated and I’m too much of a rule-follower to break from those numbers. So I just listened to music the rest of the way.

When we got to the house, I took a little bit to settle in and then got started on Wife Shaped Bodies, my horror novel for the week. This one I’m already liking a lot, at 113 pages. The prose is so beautiful, really visceral and evocative, and the disturbing world-building has been revealed at such a good pace. I thought this book would be fun beach horror because the creepy stuff is so organic and gross and would put me off going outside. But despite the grossness there is a beauty to the fungus as described that’s undeniable. Even the creepy cover gets kind of pretty the more you look at it.

Oh yeah, another thing I’m trying for the first time this week is annotating. I’m still too chicken to write in a book (even though I own most of these) but I bought some sticky tabs and have been marking passages I like. I really have no idea what I’m doing and the things I mark are kind of random at this point but I’m still having fun.

I’m going on vacation next week, and for the nine days I’ll be off work (including both weekends) I’ve challenged myself to read this entire six-book TBR! I’ve never read this much in such a short period of time, but I’ve been reading so voraciously lately that I think I can do it.

I’ve already done my calculations: there are 1,917 pages here, which means I’ll have to read 213 pages a day to do this. And I prefer to have two books going at once, so every day I’ll be reading about 106 pages of two books. I already have the order worked out and all the cutoff page numbers. I am very prepared.

I’ll keep y’all updated on my progress! I’ve been obsessed with BookTube vloggers lately and this will be my way of emulating them without a camera lol