Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

My husband really enjoys The Legend of Zelda games, and I've liked watching him play them, though I'm not as interested in them as he is. I found this book on Audible (I think it was included with membership) and thought that it sounded really interesting. The Psychology of Zelda  is a collection of essays from various people (mostly with doctorate degrees in psychology and related fields) about how The Legend of Zelda  games are impacted by psychology. From topics ranging from projection to the stages of grief, this book picks apart the games, the music, the characters, and the players to show why the games are so impactful and popular. This book was interesting, and was generally easy to follow. I didn't fully know what I was getting into when I bought the book, so I didn't realize that it was a collection of essays. Still, that didn't overly bother me, except that it made the audiobook version a little hard to follow. I couldn't keep track the author biograp...

 OK, I finished Sunreach , so now it's time for another dice roll.  I again rolled a percentile for the tens place and D10 for the ones place. I use 00 as nothing in the tens place, so this roll is 8. On my list, this corresponds to: The Psychology of Zelda . It's a collection of essays diving into why The Legend of Zelda  games are so satisfying.

 This was a result of my roll for audiobook. The audiobooks split the novellas into separate works, but I also have the book in which these novellas are included. Sunreach  follows the story of FM, Rig, and Jorgen on Detritus while Spensa is off exploring her Cytonic powers. FM is the viewpoint character, and after the battle where the Delver appears, becomes the keeper of the slugs - the little creatures like Spensa's Doomslug. They quickly discover that these creatures are the secret to hyperjumping and long range communication. Can they gain allies against the Superiority with this new knowledge? I personally really liked this novella. I thought it was short and sweet, and was purposeful in continuing the Skyward  storyline. I liked FM as a viewpoint character and how she was contrasted against Spensa (who I also love as a character). This is particularly seen as the novella explores FM's budding relationship with Rig. That little hint of a romance was cute, and I like...

 I've been loving this series, so I was very excited when I got to roll for mystery books and this is what I got. I was definitely eager to continue the series. Jameson has found a secret in Prague, but not one he's willing to let Avery in on just yet. As they're in London, Jamison is approached by his father, a British nobleman who has a request: join the mysterious, underground club: The Devil's Mercy, and win back his ancestral home. Do Avery and Jameson have what it takes to beat the odds? Can they get into the Most Dangerous Game? Meanwhile, Grayson finds himself in Phoenix, Arizona trying to break his half sister, Gigi out of prison. Once there, he finds his father's real family in deep financial trouble, and on the brink of ruin. Unable to leave the situation alone, guided by Gigi's digging into her father's whereabouts, Grayson finds himself tangled up in a complicated family battle. Can he protect his sister's while also staying loyal to his Haw...

 OK, it's taken me a bit to get all the way through my rotation again. I've had to focus down a couple of books in order to be ready for book club. So, here's where I'm at. Fantasy:  The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue  by V. E. Schwab (46%) Sci-Fi:  Legend  by Marie Lu (16%) Realistic Fiction:  Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe  by Benjamin Alire Saenz (8%) Young Readers:  The Fledgling  by Jane Langton (100%) - I'm eliminating this category from here on out. Brandon Sanderson:  Isle of the Emberdark  (2%) Nonfiction:  The Anxious Generation  by Jonathan Haidt (67%) Classic:  Les Misérables  by Victor Hugo (6%) Mystery/Thriller:  The Brothers Hawthorne  by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (63%) Historical Fiction:  Apeirogon  by Colum McCann (7%) Audio:  Sunreach  by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson (54%) English Department Book Club:  Death of the Author  by...

This was another book club book for my neighborhood book club. It's our middle grade choice, and I found the title and summary for it really intriguing. Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, live on a refitted school bus they've called Yager. They drive across the country in search of any adventure with the exception of Washington state. Washington is a "no-go." It was in Washington, five years earlier, that Coyote's two sisters and mother were killed in a car crash. In a weekly phone call with her grandma, Coyote finds out that the neighborhood park is about to be paved over. It was in that park, five years ago, that Coyote, her sisters, and mother buried a memory box, a time capsule that they promised they would dig up in ten years time. Can Coyote get Yager and Rodeo across the country without Rodeo knowing. I really enjoyed this book. It was cute, emotional, and funny. I found Coyote to be a really fun main character. She was witty, well-read, and sarcastic. I very much ...