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BarbaraBB
Headshot: A Novel | Rita Bullwinkel
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#WeeklyForecast 34/24

I am reading the fun The Husbands, a #CampToB contender. I am in the middle of The Warehouse too, which is a good dystopian, based on a near-future Amazon kind of company 😱

Catching up on the #Booker longlist with the tagged book, once I finish one of my current reads.

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ImperfectCJ
All Fours | Miranda July
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#CampToB was very kind to indulge my rather extensive discussion questions for the second half of All Fours. You can check out the conversation here: https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/camp-tob-2024/week-10-all-fours

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ImperfectCJ
All Fours | Miranda July
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The first half (through Part 1) discussion of All Fours is up on the #CampToB website! https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/camp-tob-2024/week-nine-all-fours

Seeing the discussion here really helped me craft my questions (awesome leading, @Megabooks !). If you're interested in seeing my questions or jumping into the conversation, check out the link!

Megabooks Thank you so much!! Excited to take a look! 3mo
Megabooks Love that you asked about Parkers vs drivers. I couldn‘t fit that in but found it very interesting! 3mo
ImperfectCJ @Megabooks I had a lot more space in the ToB venue :-) I pushed the envelope on the second section questions and might have to pare them down. Once I started thinking about the book, there was just so much to say about it (and I don't even really like it that much, it just brings up so many questions for me!). 3mo
See All 7 Comments
Megabooks 💯💯💯 agree! 3mo
BarbaraBB Great questions and discussion! There‘s so much to discuss about this book. I already loved it but this again added much! 3mo
ImperfectCJ @BarbaraBB The discussion on the CampToB site is really interesting so far! There's a commenter there who says that they read the novel as satire (although they ultimately decided it wasn't), and now I feel like I need to go back and read the whole thing again through that lens! I'm really excited about how people engage with the questions I have for the second half! 3mo
BarbaraBB I always love Ridgeway‘s contribution to the ToB discussions. I know she‘s not the one you are referring to but she‘s always active in the discussions and she‘s very eloquent 3mo
29 likes7 comments
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ImperfectCJ
All Fours | Miranda July
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Day 3 of fever and fatigue and all the other fun stuff, and I need a change of pace. Which of these would be most likely to grab my wandering attention and divert me enough to forget both the nagging worry that I won't be able to come up with questions for the tagged for #CampToB by August 7 and that I won't be well enough to start teaching my class this coming Monday? Or maybe I should just binge-watch The Simpsons?

ImperfectCJ I also have The God of the Woods, which I bought this past Saturday because I'm incorrigible. 4mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I hope you feel better soon ❤️‍🩹 4mo
Jari-chan Get better soon! 🙏 When I'm sick I can barely read, so I'd binge watch the Simpsons 🤭 4mo
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ImperfectCJ @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Thanks! I'm at the grouchy stage, I think. 4mo
ImperfectCJ @Jari-chan I like your reasoning. I'm at the stage where I have enough energy to want to do things, but not enough energy to do them for longer than about 10 minutes (at best) 4mo
Mimi28 Can‘t go wrong with the Simpsons!! Get some rest also. I hope you feel better soon 🩷😊🫶🏽 4mo
dabbe I'd binge watch, too. Keep the mind busy while the body rests and gets better. 🩵💙🩵 4mo
Prairiegirl_reading I‘d also binge watch. 4mo
Prairiegirl_reading I hope you feel better soon 4mo
BarbaraBB Meg has come up with such great questions for #CampLitsy24; they‘ll inspire you for #CampToB! I hope you‘ll feel better soon. 4mo
52 likes10 comments
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Megabooks
Bear: A Novel | Julia Phillips
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I might‘ve gone a bit crazy with the book buying recently! Of course, I got Bear for #CampLitsy24🏕️ plus 2 other #botm AND 2 from #aardvark.

The remainder are from Amazon. Long Island was a preorder, but most others were from the 3 for the price of 2 deal. I‘ve almost finished Martyr!, which #CampToB is discussing right now. It‘s a #LikeNotLove for me. I‘m reading Jackpot Summer, too, and it‘s cute and light. 🏖️

marleed There‘s been an abundance of great book releases this summer! 4mo
Susanita That‘s some nice composition! 4mo
JamieArc I‘ve been on a book buying spree lately too 🫣. Here‘s hoping I actually read some of them soon! 4mo
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Bookwormjillk It seems like there were so many good new releases this summer! I‘m reading Lion Women now and like it. Also liked Long Island. 4mo
squirrelbrain Ooh, some great books there! 4mo
BarbaraBB Great stack! I have been buying a lot of books too, prepping for Japan 🤦🏻‍♀️. I‘ll share my stack later this week 😃 4mo
TheLudicReader Book buying is the best kind of “crazy” there is! 4mo
Megabooks @marleed @bookwormjillk Agree! Lots of good books this summer. Even more authors I love coming up in the fall, too. 4mo
Megabooks @Susanita Thanks! I need to power wash the porch, but otherwise I'm happy with the photo. 😂 4mo
Megabooks @JamieArc That's the flip side of the coin -- getting around to reading them! 4mo
Megabooks @squirrelbrain I'm excited to read them over the summer! 👏 4mo
Megabooks @BarbaraBB oooo...can't wait to get a look at that stack! 4mo
Megabooks @TheLudicReader 💯 🙌 💯 4mo
83 likes13 comments
review
BarbaraBB
Martyr!: A novel | Kaveh Akbar
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Pickpick

Cyrus is born in Iran but after his mother dies in a plane crash he and his father move to the US.
He beats alcoholism but life in sobriety still is challenging. Until he comes up with the idea to write a book about martyrdom. That changes everything.

The style reminded me a bit of Rushdie and I grew really fond of Cyrus. #CampToB

quietlycuriouskate It's interesting he's written a novel. I've read two poetry collections of his, one I really liked but the other... hmmm, not so much. 🤔 4mo
82 likes5 stack adds1 comment
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BarbaraBB
Martyr!: A novel | Kaveh Akbar
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#WeeklyForecast 28/24

I am starting The Alternatives for #CampLitsy24 because I‘ve got a borrowed copy. Thirst for Salt is a gift by Cindy and seems totally in my wheelhouse. Martyr! is a #CampToB book and has had such raving reviews on Litsy that I had to add it to my TBR.

sarahbarnes I liked Thirst for Salt! Martyr is on my TBR too - I‘ll look forward to your thoughts on it. 5mo
TrishB All look good 👍🏻 5mo
squirrelbrain I loved Martyr! - hopefully you will do too. Looking forward to gearing your thoughts on The Alternatives. 5mo
BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain I am halfway through now and it‘s good! 5mo
60 likes4 comments
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ImperfectCJ
All Fours | Miranda July
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Pickpick

This is a complicated pick for me. I really enjoyed Part 1 and Part 2, I liked Part 3 a lot (except the last paragraph...major eye roll), and I pretty much hated Part 4. I love what July has to say about aging in a female body, about the challenges of intimacy and breaking out of ingrained patterns of behavior that separate us, about trauma and how poorly our culture deals with it. The things I disliked are more specific and spoilery. #CampLitsy24

ImperfectCJ Now to come up with questions for #CampToB discussion I'm leading in August! I'm looking forward to hearing opinions about this one, both here with #CampLitsy24 and on the ToB site. 5mo
RaeLovesToRead I was all over the place with this book too 5mo
ImperfectCJ @RaeLovesToRead I thought about your review when I finished it and asked myself, "Would I recommend this to anyone?" and realized that I probably wouldn't. Well, maybe one friend. But not my spouse. I had him read Wellness... similar themes, different conclusion. 5mo
53 likes3 comments
review
BarbaraBB
Wandering Stars | Tommy Orange
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Panpan

“Lony feels worse because he doesn‘t even care about being Native or Indian and would rather just have a normal life and not have to always feel so heavy, have to carry more than it feels like he should have to carry.”

And heavy it is, this prequel/sequel to There There. Tommy Orange dedicates his second book to ‘everyone surviving and not surviving this thing called and not called addiction‘. ⬇️⬇️ #camptob

BarbaraBB And indeed, it seems everyone is addicted to something in this book and it‘s always so repetitive, reading about it.

I feel like Orange could have made much more of the potentially very interesting characters. I didn‘t enjoy the book half as much as I did There There.
(edited) 5mo
Soubhiville Thanks for your honest review. I‘ve wondered how this one is. 5mo
BarbaraBB @Soubhiville I am a minority here and I know it‘s probably based on true stories. I feel for them but it‘s not written in a way that engaged me 🤷🏻‍♀️ 5mo
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dabbe #fanofthepan! 🤩🤩🤩 5mo
Anna40 I agree. I liked the first half a lot though! 5mo
BarbaraBB @Anna40 Yes, I think too that the first half was better! 5mo
Graywacke @BarbaraBB - your 1st comment here is spot on 5mo
BarbaraBB @Graywacke I didn‘t reread There There either but I remember it as a much better worked out book. 5mo
tpixie @BarbaraBB @Soubhiville I agree. With both books. Lots of characters, lots of depressing stuff, which I understand, but not my favorite writing. 5mo
66 likes9 comments