Sunday, June 14, 2020

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | June 14

It's an absolutely gorgeous day, but I have to stay inside to catch up on reviews today. The summer blogging slump is real, and I'm going to fight it.

I think I'm going to go back to using half stars in my ratings. For the last year or two I've committed to not using half stars, but I've read a few books lately that felt clearly between stars so I'm thinking the half star is making a comeback.

Do you use half stars? Why or why not?

Finished Reading



I finished reading Benny Rose, the Cannibal King by Hailey Piper. It was a lot of fun. I'll have a full review up hopefully this week! ⭐⭐⭐⭐★

I also finished listening to Alien: Rio de dolor (Alien: River of Pain) by Christopher Golden. This series has been so great to listen to. I need to find more full cast audios in Spanish. ⭐⭐⭐⭐★

This week I also tore through You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. This was my first Hendrick and Pekkanen, but it definitely won't be my last. ⭐⭐⭐💫★

Currently Reading


Category Five by Ann Dávila Cardinal

I'm still reading and enjoying Category Five by Ann Dávila Cardinal.

Recent Acquisitions



Thank you so much to Sonora Taylor for sending me a copy of Seeing Things! I will be reading this one next.

Current Distractions



These are the new (to us) movies we watched this week.

I had never seen Blade Runner before and wow was it bad. I didn't learn my lesson, and I tried to rent Blade Runner 2049 the next night. It's a three hour movie, and I didn't manage to finish it before my rental time ran out. Oops! But it was a really bad movie, too.

I can't believe it took me so long to watch Midsommar. It was stomach churning, but I liked it!

I really liked Rocketman, too.

So what about you? Let me know what you're reading (or watching) this week or leave me some links!


This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Jennifer

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22 comments:

  1. I use half stars, and I'm still mad that Goodreads won't figure out how to let us rate books that way! I remember loving Blade Runner but if you don't watch the narrated version it's almost impossible to understand.

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    1. Wait, what? The version I watched had Harrison Ford explaining some stuff in a private dick voice. Is that the right version? I had no idea.

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  2. I would be bringing my laptop outside to enjoy the day. Fact: We had a training session the other day (dial in/WebEx), and I did it from the patio. Never pass up the good weather. I saw the original Blade Runner when I was very young, but have yet to see the update. Glad you are going with the original.

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    1. You are absolutely right!! I wound up bringing my notebook outside to jot down review thoughts. :)

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  3. Category 5 looks kind of awesome. Hope the ending doesn't disappoint.
    And I use half stars all the time, because many books live somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. ;D

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    1. I really enjoyed Category Five! I agree that a lot of books fall between a 3 and a 4.

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  4. Yes I use half-stars. I note in the text of my Goodreads review if I'm using them also.

    OMG I watched Blade Runner because of a story I was editing for someone and I just kept watching the clock oh I've watched 20 minutes, then really now it's only 22 minutes I thought it would never end.

    It's been a gorgeous 3 days between rain because north wind so not hot. But the next 5 days are rain. That's ok I planted grass seed and green beans so I won't need to water as much I had to get out today though.
    I'll do more cooking and review writing and reading on the rainy days ahead.

    Happy reading and stay well!

    Anne - Books of My Heart

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    1. I did the same on Goodreads when I was regularly using half stars. Blade Runner is such a painful movie. Haha.

      I could use some rain to motivate me to clean my house. I keep heading outside!

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  5. Blade Runner is so WEIRD at times lol. I like the cyberpunk neon atmosphere but the story- -not so much. And like Tammy said- the narration helped me a bit because if I had watched the non- narrated version first I think I would have been kinda lost? I didn't like Blade Runner 2049 really at all...

    You Are Not Alone looks so good.

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    1. It is so weird! Daryl Hannah - what on earth! LOL

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  6. No, I've never used half stars on my reviews. I don't mind if others do but I never found it useful for myself. It's been years since I watched Blade Runner.

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    1. Sometimes the whole star just doesn't feel quite right either direction for me.

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  7. I never really got the hype for Blade Runner, but it was probably regarded by movie audiences as something very different and edgy when it came out. I guess it's one of those "you had to have been there" movies :P

    ~Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum

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    1. That's what I was telling my husband. It absolutely had to have been the time it was released.

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  8. I only rate books with stars if I am required to do so like at Goodreads, LibraryThing and NetGalley. People's reactions to books are so individual that I really can't see rating books as helpful to most readers. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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    1. Oh, that's interesting. I went through a brief period years ago where I didn't use ratings because I felt the words spoke for themselves, but I realized how much I wanted to see them on other blogs so I started using them again.

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  9. I'm glad you liked Benny Rose. I want to read that one. We had a gorgeous weekend here and I was able to weed out the flower garden and do some planting. Of course Apollo loved helping - he loves digging and playing in dirt.

    I really wish I did use 1/2 stars but for the sake of Goodreads, even if I think it's stupid they don't allow it, I always use whole ratings.

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    1. Yay Apollo! Our dogs have been so happy about being outside with us, too. I filled up our empty sandbox with water Sunday so Lucy could have a "pool" to jump around and lie down in.

      I really wish Goodreads would allow half stars. It would make things easier.

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  10. I use half stars on the blog, but of course round up or down when posting to Goodreads/Amazon and the like. It depends why I did the halk star whether I round up or down. Honestly I would love to not rate at all, but such is life. I read so much, that most of my ratings fall in the 4-5 category especially since I've learned to DNF.

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    1. That's interesting. I always round up. It would make things easier if Goodreads/Amazon would just add half stars!

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  11. Half stars are helpful, and do denote to me where a book stands. I wish places like GR had them.

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